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This page contains a selection of tips and advice, contributed or forwarded by individual members. They are presented here in good faith but are not necessarily endorsed by SeniorNet Eastern Bays Inc. All new material, corrections and refinements are very welcome.
Windows XP Home, Media and Professional
Have you ever clicked "Shutdown" and realized you forgot to save something or wanted to finish
something before you shut down, and it was too late? And you sure don't want to wait for it to
shut down then have to re-start Windows all over again - because you’re already late for dinner.
I’ll show you how to put an anti-shutdown shortcut on your desktop - so the next time you click
"Shutdown" and your computer starts tumbling toward oblivion, you can stop the shutdown
process, finish what you need to finish, and then shutdown.
Sound good? OK! Here's what you
need to do to create the Anti-Shutdown shortcut on your desktop.
1.
Right-click an empty space on your desktop
2.
Select the option "new shortcut"
3.
Type "shutdown -a" (Exactly as shown but without the quotes.)
4.
Click Next
5.
Type a name for the shortcut (e.g.
Anti shutdown) and click Finish
6.
When you're all done you can leave the shortcut on your desktop or drag it into to your Quick
Launch toolbar or your Start Menu.
Most Internet Service Providers now provide good anti-malware protection for you in the first instance, so most nasties are "shot on sight" before they ever get sent to you. However, other malware could still enter your computer from any floppies, CDs, USB disks that you or yours may insert or even from other networked computers (if you have a wired or wireless home network).
So, yes, you still need to have an anti-virus program installed on your computer. You might still have one of the better known programs (such as Norton), if only because it was pre-installed when you bought your computer. That program may start to nag you well in advance of your subscription expiry date, wanting you to either renew or upgrade it. In practice, that could involve de-installation of the old one and then e-payment, validation, downloading and activation for the new one. I, for one, have often found this to be a time consuming, difficult and expensive exercise.
You may prefer to de-install this rather overbearing program and install a good, free one like AVG Version 8. If so, this is what you should do:
De install the old program using the general methods above
Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
Open your Internet Browser and enter freegrisoft.com in the Address Bar. You should go to Grisoft’s site, where you will have the choice of the free antivirus program or paying for the Internet Security Suite. Click on the Free Basic Anti-virus.
Take the option to "Save to Disk".
The download takes a while, even with
Broadband.
Close the window when it finishes.
Close your browser, find the newly arrived file which should now be on your desktop and click on it.
It will start to install itself.
Follow the default clicks, enter the appropriate information when requested and that should do it.
You might leave its default settings for updating schedules or else set them yourself.
At this initial phase, it will need to update the virus definitions right to the current day and this may take a bit more time.
After this, provided you ask for updating every day (as it invites you to do), it should be seamless.
GriSoft also offer excellent, fully featured versions of AVG which you do need to pay for but the prices are very reasonable
Q: Please explain the Backup procedure for when I want to Backup my files on my
computer.
A: In XP if wanting to Backup all of the files in “My Documents” folder to CD’s or DVD
be aware of the capacity of the disk(s), usually about 650 or 700 Megabytes (10
times as much for DVD’s).
Open My Computer, highlight a number of folders by
holding down Ctrl key on the keyboard and clicking with the mouse pointer on the
folders one after the other then click on File/Properties.
The number of files will be
shown, the size and the size on disk.
This is the size to note.
If less than the
capacity of the disk then continue adding more folders by holding down Ctrl and
clicking with the mouse pointer.
If more than the capacity of the disk then
remove folders by holding down Ctrl and clicking on the folders to un-highlight
them.
When the appropriate number of folders have been selected click on “Copy the
selected items” in the left-hand Task Pane.
The Copy Items dialogue box opens
and select from it the CD or DVD drive and click the Copy button in the dialogue
box.
The folders will be copied to a temporary folder and a balloon will appear at the
bottom of the screen with the words “You have files waiting to be written to the
CD; to see the files click this balloon.
It means what it says, Click the middle of
this balloon, NOT the small close cross in the top right of the balloon.
If satisfactory put a CD in the CD drive and click on Write these files to CD in the
left-hand Task Pane.
The burning of the CD will begin.
More and more people are purchasing an external hard drive with the capacity to
Backup their whole hard drive several times over.
For these follow the instructions
that came with the external hard drive.
Q: I have recently had broadband installed but my phone emits a crackling noise.
I
was advised by Xtra that the filter needed replacing I have tried 4 filters but still it
persists.
How do I correct this? I have 5 phone outlets.
A1: Until a few years ago all of the phone jacks (sockets) were earthed.
Now they are
not.
Disconnect the earth connection, or get a technician to do it, and the noise
should stop.
A2: Ensure that there is a filter connected in each of your phone jacks.
You have 4
filters, buy another and fit one to each jack point.
If you are having trouble with your Broadband,
try turning off the modem by the switch on the back
(or turning off its power switch/pack at the wall),
leave it off for 30 seconds and then turn it back on
again.
About 80% of all Broadband problems can be cured by this simple measure.
When you're creating a bulleted or numbered list in Word or PowerPoint, you might
want an item to appear on the list without a bullet.
You can start a new line without a
bullet by pressing Shift-Enter.
The next time you press the Enter key, the new line will continue the bulleted or numbered list.
I developed this chart a while ago from the course descriptions of the time.
The courses contain many more things but you should certainly be able to do these for a start.
First check you have Adobe Reader (which you probably do) and then click on
this link.
You may need to reassure your pop-up blocker.
Save a copy if you like and then print it out and fill it in.
Here is my latest version of this handy collection of tips you can print out and have ready.
Click here.
If you don't already have the (free) Adobe Reader, click
here
Q: How do I Copy and Paste?
A: In any program highlight the word, phrase, paragraph or picture that you wish
Cut, Copy or Paste.
If it is text, you can either swipe across it with the mouse
pointer so that it is highlighted or a much more accurate way is to click the mouse
pointer before the first letter of what you want to highlight, hold the Shift key on
the keyboard down and using the right and/or down arrow keys in the middle of
the keyboard highlight the part wanted.
When the required text is highlighted, hold the Ctrl key down and then press the C
key.
This copies it to the Clipboard.
Move the cursor to the place elsewhere in the document, in another document or
in another program where you wish insert the text you have saved.
Hold the Ctrl
key on the keyboard down again and press the V key.
This will Paste the saved
text to the new location.
Why the Ctrl + V key instead of the Ctrl + P key?
Because the Ctrl + P has already been assigned to Print.
The text will be inserted
in the chosen place.
If it is a picture you wish to copy and paste, highlight the picture by clicking the
mouse pointer in the middle of the picture so that the resize handles show around
the edges of the picture.
Repeat the instructions above i.e.
Ctrl + C, find the new
location with the cursor and then Ctrl + V will insert it in the new location.
Tip!Handy keyboard shortcuts to use for Copy, Cut and Paste are:
With the text or picture highlighted;
To Copy to clipboard - Hold Ctrl + the letter C
To Cut onto the clipboard – Hold Ctrl + X (looks like scissors)
To Paste – Hold Ctrl + V
Q: I have too many icons on my Desktop. How do I get rid of some of them?
A: Click on the icon which you wish to remove.
Press the “Delete” key on the
keyboard.
That removes the icon from the Desktop to the Recycle Bin but does not
remove the program to which it is a shortcut.
The program can still be opened by
clicking on the “Start” button, clicking on “All Programs” and then clicking on the
program which you wish to open.
Q: How can I put an icon, for opening a program, on the desktop?
A: In XP, click on the “Start” button.
Click on “All Programs.” Find the icon for the
program you want and holding the Ctrl key down click on that icon and while
holding down the Ctrl key drag the icon out onto the desktop.
If you do not hold
the Ctrl key down as you drag the icon onto the desktop, you remove it from
the list of programs and will have difficulty finding it again if you unintentionally
remove the icon from the desktop.
Q.
I wish to have open, on my computer, two versions of the same document, side
by side, so that I can copy from one to the other and still have the original
document as it was and also have the edited document.
A.
Open MS Word, or whatever Word Processor you use.
Open the document that you wish to edit.
While it is still open, open a new document.
Rename the new document with a different name (e.g.
if the original was
named My Story.doc name the new document My Story 2.doc The new
document will cover the original on the monitor.
Right-click on a blank piece of the Task Bar and left-click on Tile Windows
Vertically.
Both windows will now be side-by-side on the monitor.
Any part of one copy can be dragged across to the other with the mouse.
If you
want the original to retain that part as well as the new document then hold
down the Ctrl key on the keyboard while dragging.
The problem with this method is that the size of the typing is very small and
difficult to read while working on it.
This can be overcome by zooming in on each document by clicking the view size
in each of the toolbars and selecting another amplification.
Q.
Sometimes when I am typing an email the email window just closes down by itself
and I have lost what I was typing.
What causes this?
A.
Possibly you have accidentally pressed the Esc key at the top left corner of your
keyboard (the Esc is an abbreviation of Escape!!!)
Q.
When I try to open an attachment on an email, in Outlook Express it will not open.
How can I read the attachment?
A.
Often Outlook Express has the “Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened
that may potentially be a virus.” Any attachment may potentially be a virus but if
your Anti-virus program is up to date it should stop any virus.
In Outlook Express click on Tools in the Menu Bar/Options then the Security Tab
at the top of the Options dialogue box.
To un-tick the box beside “Do not allow
attachments to be saved or opened that may potentially be a virus” click on it.
Attachments should then be able to be saved by clicking on File/Save
Attachments.
To read attachments directly from the email double click on them.
Q: When I want to put an address into an email I start to type the person’s name
into the address bar and as I type their full name appears in the address bar,
because their name and address is in the Address Book.
A: This is the Auto Complete function which, in this case, automatically completes
the address.
Of course, if the name inserted is not the one you want just continue
to type until the correct name appears.
Q: Doesn’t Outlook Express put the addresses into my Address Book
automatically?
A: You can ask it to automatically put the addresses of emails that you reply to
into your Address Book.
To do this, from the Inbox select Tools/Options and the
Send tab.
Click in the tick box beside “Automatically put people I reply to in my
address book.” It will do so until you un-tick the tick box.
The problem with doing
this is that it puts the address into your address book but not the recipient’s name
and often the address has no relationship to the name.
Tip.
Too many emails stored in the Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items and other
folders in Outlook Express, in time will cause Outlook Express to slow down.
To avoid this and to make it easier to back-up the email folders when backing up the
other folders in My Documents, or Documents in Vista, create a folder in My
Documents called Emails.
To do this, in My Computer open My Documents and click
on File in the menu bar.
Hover over New and click on Folder.
Type in the name for the
new folder, e.g.
Emails, and then press Enter (as always).
Then open Outlook Express;
Click on Tools, in the menu bar, and then Maintenance;
Click on the Store Folder button.
This will show the location of the present store
folder.
Click on the Change button;
Select the new folder created in My Documents and click on the OK button.
Now, all emails should automatically be stored in the new folder.
The files are still viewed in the same way that they were by opening Outlook Express
and they still appear in the folders there as if you had not decided to store them in
another folder.
Q: How do I block a sender?
A: In Outlook Express highlight the message from the sender you wish to block, on
the Menu bar click on Message/Block sender.
The sender will be added to your
Blocked senders list.
Q.
When I reply to an email the sender’s address automatically goes into my address
book.
How do I stop that from happening?
A.
In Outlook Express, Click on Tools/Options.
In the Options dialogue box Click on the
Send tab.
In the Sending section at the top, click on the tick box beside
“Automatically put people I reply to in my address book.” Click on the Apply button,
at the bottom of the dialogue box and then OK.
This will un-tick the box and ensure
that people you reply to will not automatically go into your address book.
Q.
In Outlook Express I wish to change the Font in which emails are displayed.
How
do I do this?
A.
Open Outlook Express and click on Tools in the menu bar.
Click on Options in the drop-down menu.
Click on the Read tab at the top of the window.
At the bottom of the window in the Fonts section, click on the Fonts button.
In Proportional Font bar click on the reveal button at the right-hand end (the blue
button with a down-pointing arrowhead).
From the drop-down menu select the font that you would like and click on it.
In the Font Size bar select the size of the font in the same way.
When you’ve made all the adjustments that you want, in the Fonts window, click on
OK.
Remember to click on the Apply button at the bottom of the Options window.
Then,
click on OK.
If you neglect to click on the Apply button the changes will not take
effect.
Q. How do I change the size and colour of the font in emails I send in Outlook Express?
A.
With Outlook Express open, in the menu bar click on Tools/Options.
In the dialogue
box click the Compose tab.
In the Compose Font section at the top, click on the
Font Settings button for Mail.
Select the font and size that you want and, in the colour bar, click on the reveal button (the blue one with the down arrow) and select the colour that you want.
Click on the Apply button and then the OK button.
Emails that you compose will now have the font that you chose.
Q: Sometimes I find in Outlook Express, in my Deleted Items folder, an email from a
friend that I never received in my Inbox.
How do I correct this so that future
messages do not go into my Deleted Items folder?
A: Sometimes a sender’s name will get into the Blocked Senders list, even though
you haven’t put that name in there yourself.
Open the Blocked Senders list by
clicking on Tools/Message rules/Blocked senders list.
Highlight a name that you
wish to remove from the Blocked senders list and click on the Remove button.
If
there is another name that you wish to remove from the list click on it and click
the remove button.
Have you ever received an e-mail with loads of e-mail addresses in the
To: or CC: fields.
Names of people you don’t even know and your e-mail address is
amongst the mass? This method of sending e-mails breaches everyone’s privacy
and exposes everyone to the spread of viruses and/or spam.
This is like giving
out someone's telephone number without their permission.
The Bcc: field is the preferred way to send an e-mail to a group of people who don’t necessarily know each other.
Bcc: means Blind Carbon Copy and is used to hide the e-mail addresses of the recipients.
To show Bcc: on your outgoing e-mails, open an e-mail, click on the View menu, All headers.
To place someone in Bcc, click on BCC, this will open your address book, click
on the desired Bcc: recipient, click on the Bcc: button.
You can add as many
to the Bcc: field as you desire.
If you want to forward an e-mail that has heaps of e-mail recipients, click on the Forward button and then highlight the header, the part that says: ---
Original Message--- From: To: Sent: Subject: there may be several layers, press the Delete button on the keyboard.
This will remove all the previous recipients.
Q. I send regular emails to a group of recipients. How do I create a Group email?
A.
In Outlook Express, click on Address Book in the Toolbar.
Make sure that you are in the folder where the recipients are listed.
Click on New and then New Group.
Enter
the group name where the cursor (or I beam) is flashing.
Click on the Select Members
button.
Select the members by clicking on a person required for the group and then
click on the Select button between the two panes.
The person and their email address
will be transferred to the group list in the right-hand pane.
Several can be selected at the same time by holding down the Ctrl key on the keyboard as you click on each name then click on Select.
When all of the group’s names are in the right-hand pane click on OK and the group’s name will be displayed in Bold in the address list.
When selecting the recipient from the list of addresses the groups name will be
displayed in Bold in the list of addresses.
One click on that will put all of the group into the address bar of your email.
When selecting contiguous addresses, if the Shift key is held down, on the
keyboard, while clicking on the first name and also held down while clicking the last
name then all of the names between the two will be highlighted.
If wanting to select
non-contiguous names just hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on each name.
I suggest that you don’t select too many names at a time as when you
accidentally click on a space (as you will from time to time) the highlighting
disappears from all of the names and you’ll need to start all over again.
Hello Eddie,
My Problem: When Emails are received with quite small type (say 6 or 7
or 8 points)which with long messages, causes a lot of eye strain for old
eyes, how does one increase the Font size to say 10 or 12 or even 14
points when one wants to print off a hard copy to read?
Lloyd
Hello Lloyd.
I will assume that you are using Outlook Express.
With the Inbox open;
Click on "Tools" in the Menu Bar across the top.
Click on "Options" at the bottom of that menu.
Click on the "Read" tab across the top of that window.
In the bottom section is "Fonts" click on the "Fonts" button.
In the window that opens you can select the size font and other
specifications.
By clicking on the reveal button at the right of the bars you
can select from the choices given.
I have Largest and Arial selected but even then some emails are hard to
read so;
Highlight all of the text by sweeping across it with the mouse pointer or
holding the Ctrl key on the keyboard and the A key at the same time.
Click on Edit in the menu bar and click on Copy, or hold the Ctrl Key + C
key.
Open Word and then click on Edit and then Paste, or hold the Ctrl key +
V.
You then have it in Word and can highlight it and select whatever size
font you want.
Q: Sometimes when I have sent an email I get it returned because of an incorrect
address.
Is there any way I can resend it with the correct address without retyping
it all?
A: Yes! Find the email in the Sent Items folder.
Highlight it and then Forward on
the menu bar.
The email will appear.
Put the correct address in the To: bar,
delete the text that was inserted into the email in the sending process and remove
the Fwd: from the Subject.
Then Send it as a normal email.
Q. How do I put background music into an email that I wish to send?
A.
Ensure that the recorded music is saved to you’re my Music folder.
Open a new email.
In the menu bar click on Format.
Rest the mouse pointer on Background.
Click on Sound.
Browse to folder your sound is saved to.
Click on it.
Click on Open.
Click on OK.
Sound should immediately commence.
There are various options shown, when selecting sound.
Choose whatever you
want.
Remember to start your email with the warning to, “Turn your sound on.”
A recording of your voice can also be inserted in the same way if you have
created it first.
Q. How do I put music into an email?
A.
The sound must first be stored in a folder on your computer.
With the new email
open click on Format in the menu bar.
Then rest the mouse pointer over
Background and select Sound.
Browse for the sound that you want, highlight it, click
on the Open button and then the OK button and the sound will start immediately
(providing the computer sound is switched on).
Of course when Background was open there was also a choice of Picture and Colour.
They are inserted in a similar way.
REMEMBER, inserting Pictures and/or Sound adds to the size of the email in massive
amounts and the recipient may not have Broadband.
When I experimented with the
backgrounds of Picture and Sound I increased the size of the email file by 446
Megabytes.
That would be several days of uploading and downloading time on my
dial-up connection.
Q: In Outlook Express, how do you insert a picture into the main body of an email when Picture in the Insert Menu is greyed out?
A: You must have the cursor (insertion point) in the main body of the email when you try to insert text, pictures or other files DIRECTLY there.
Note that the simple way of sending a picture, word document, spreadsheet and any other item is to send it simply as a file. Then the insert menu DOES let you do it, regardless of whether you have already filled in the To, Cc or Subject fields or not. The drawback is that the recipient must also have a copy of the program (Word, Excel, etc) you used to create the file if he wants to open it successfully. His anti-malware filters (or your ISP provider's) might also reject the file.
Q. I have a notebook as well as a main computer. The main computer usually downloads my email but I also want to read my email when I travel with my notebook. However, the notebook downloads my emails so that the main computer misses them and the record is incomplete.
A. Open Outlook Express on your notebook, click on Tools -> Accounts. Select the Mail tab and then click on the account indicated (there's usually only the one but select your ISP based one if there are two or more). Click on "Properties" and then on the "Advanced" tab. Then tick the box beside "Leave a copy of messages on server". Click "OK" and Then "Close". Your main computer (which will have that box unticked) will be able to download its own copies of all those messages when you get back.
Don't forget that you can always read your email from any browser, anywhere in the world by visiting the ISP mail box itself. Have your password ready but beware of internet cafe hackers with spyware.
Q: How do I make the text in an incoming email larger?
A: From the Inbox open Tools/Options and select the “Read” tab.
At the bottom of
the dialogue box is Fonts.
Click on the Fonts button and select Largest.
Eddie, I have 57 addresses listed in my Address Book and am inquiring if there is
a recommended maximum number that one should adhere to.
If I don't
enter these addresses I have to list them on a sheet of paper.
This
method doesn't seem to be reliable because the list could be mislaid.
What do you recommend?
Mary
Hello Mary
I have 740 addresses in my address book and adding all of the time so I
think that you have quite a few to go yet.
The number will depend on the
Hard Drive space that you have, just as that determines what other
information you store on your computer.
We should back them all up, of course, so that in the event of a hard
drive failure they won't be lost.
They can be backed up by opening your
address book, choose Export and "As a Microsoft address book
(.mab)” and exporting it to another folder in "My Documents".
You can
then save it to a CD.
Do this regularly.
Q: When I start my computer the desktop shows but underneath my Outlook Express
icon my password is showing.
How do I get rid of my password from my desktop?
A: How it got there I have no idea, but to get rid of it try right-clicking on the icon.
A drop-down menu should appear.
Select “Rename” and type in the correct name of
the icon.
Press “Enter” on the keyboard.
That should fix the problem.
You might receive a photo by email in one of two ways:
a) As an attachment, when someone has used the Insert->File ... Option. They have chosen the photo (eg MyPhoto.jpg) as the file to be attached. Here, you double click to open it and then do a File->Save As to the appropriate folder and supply a descriptive name.
b) Embedded in the email itself. Here, you right click inside the body of the photo, choose the Save Picture As option and again click your way to the appropriate folder and supply a descriptive name.
One of my students asked: "My computer shows that I have 6 e-mails in but I can't see them anywhere!"
After establishing that she was using Outlook Express I then asked her to point to the word "Received" at the top of the list in the Inbox and click on it. Voila! the e-mails all arranged themselves in order of the date and time received and the new e-mails were at the top of the list.
By clicking on the titles of the list of e-mails they will be arranged in alpha/numerical order of that column. i.e. "From", "Subject", "Received". A further click on the title will reverse the order of the sorting.
Q: How do I send a web page by email?
A: In internet Explorer Version 7, to which all of those using Internet Explorer should
have updated by now, open the page you wish to send then, on the toolbar, click
on “Page” and there is the choice of either sending the whole page or just the link
to the web address.
When you click on your choice your email program opens
with the page/address inserted in a new email.
Whichever one you use, please
add a message before the address or web page so that the recipient understands
what the H… it is all about.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox it appears that you only have the option of sending
the link, to the address of the web page.
In the menu bar click on File/Send link
and your email program will open a new email with the link inserted.
Of course, a link in any email, document or other automatically opens your
browser and takes you to the web site or page.
I have been called several times regarding this mystery, so I thought it worthy of communicating.
The mystery begins with sending an e-mail to a friend or associate and they do not receive it. So, you send them another one and again they do not receive it! You’re baffled because you know that you have the correct e-mail address. So, you have them send you an e-mail message and you reply to the e-mail and they still do not receive it.
Inevitably this mystery needs to be solved on the recipients computer. Ask them to open Outlook Express, click on Tools, Message Rules, Block Senders List…
Click on the Blocked Senders tab.
This will produce a list of e-mail addresses that the recipient has either intentionally or non-intentionally blocked. If they find you listed there, have them click on your e-mail address then click on the Remove button and click on Yes then click on OK. This will remove you from the Blocked list.
Another way to test if your outgoing e-mails are working is to send yourself an e-mail, if you receive it back, then you know your send function is working!
Q: In Outlook Express my folders and contact list have disappeared from view.
How
do I get them back?
A: In the Menu bar, click on View/Layout.
Click the tick box beside the items you
wish to display i.e.
Contacts and Folder list.
Click on Apply at the bottom of that
dialogue box and then OK.
Q.
When I open emails with sound in them I cannot hear the sound.
My speakers are
plugged in and turned on.
Do you have any suggestions?
A. In the notification area, at the bottom right of your screen (around the clock), there is an icon of a speaker (you may have to click on the button with an arrow that reveals hidden icons). Double-click on the icon and the volume control for all audio inputs and outputs are then shown. Un-tick any of the “Mute” tick boxes that are ticked. This should cure the problem. Many computer keyboards have a volume control, either in the form of a knob or a slider which alters the Master volume control shown in this display.
The Yahoo/Xtra Mailbox spam filter is too dumb! Important and urgent messages will, sooner or later, be diverted straight into your webmail spam folder and then deleted altogether after a month without you ever knowing about them.
To turn it off, go to your mailbox and click on the "Options" link on the top far right. Then click on the "Spam Protection" link. Click on the "Don't block any images" first and then on the "Turn Spam Guard Plus Off" link. Ignore all the dire warnings and don't forget to click on the "Save" button (upper left, alongside the "Cancel" button).
That's basically it. Yes, you'll then receive a steady stream of rubbish emails but you'll get very fast at highlighting and deleting them (unopened, of course) and you'll be secure in the knowledge that you won't have missed anything.
Anti Spam filtering is a talent starved branch of Artificial Intelligence and, as a former researcher in the Vision aspects of this, I can assure you its much more difficult than you might think. When computers really can pass the Turing Test, I'll change my mind!
Q: When I open Outlook Express I cannot see the margin on the left-hand side of the
screen.
I have XP as my operating system.
A: The easiest way to see the screen properly is to click on the resize button (the
middle of the 3 buttons at the top right-hand corner of the window).
That should
increase the window to full size and it should be positioned correctly.
If not click
on the resize button again so that the window is reduced in size and then move it
by clicking and holding the blue title bar along the top of the window and the
window can be moved around to wherever it is wanted.
When Outlook Express is
opened the next time the window will be in the same position as it was when last
closed down.
Q: A member wanted to print a
sheet of paper full of blank cells like the Excel worksheets but, on default settings, Excel only prints the cells with data in them.
Thus she could only get a blank sheet of paper.
What to do?
A:
Having opened a new Excel page, select the area you want.
You can get about 10 cells across and about 55 cells down.
So select all of those cells.
Go to FILE select Print Area.
That has now selected the print area you want to print.
Then go to Page set up in Menu, go to Sheet and tick the Gridlines.
Then go to print and you should get what you want.
Q.
When using Excel Spreadsheets only 3 worksheets are shown: Can I insert another
worksheet?
A.
Yes, you can insert another worksheet by clicking on Insert in the menu bar, then
Worksheet.
The worksheet’s tab position, at the bottom of the window, can be altered by dragging
it across to where you want it.
The name can be altered by right-clicking on the tab and selecting rename from the drop-down menu.
If desired the colour of the tab can also be altered from the same right-click, drop down menu.
In Excel, you can press Alt-Enter to start a new line within a cell.
In Excel if you wish to make a series of titles such as the day of the week or series of months, it can be done using the Auto-fill tool. Select the cell in which you wish the series to begin by clicking in it. Enter the first title, such as Mon, or Monday, April or Apr and click and hold the mouse pointer on the Auto-fill tool which is the small black square at the bottom right of the cell. Drag the square across, or down, for as far as you wish the series to extend.
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
If you wish to do the years or any other series, type in the first 2 or 3 titles in the series (as the years above), select those 2 or 3 cells by clicking in the first cell and dragging across to select the other 2 or 3 cells, take hold of the Auto-fill tool and drag it across as far as you want the series to extend.
As the Auto-fill tool is dragged it displays, just below the mouse pointer, the next title in the series.
Microsoft Excel: Sometimes in Excel our numbers in a cell turn to a series of hashes (#####) This indicates that the number has become too large for the cell to display all of it. To overcome this just slowly run the mouse pointer over the divider between the columns, in the row of column headers (A, B, C, D, etc.) and when it changes to a two-way arrow (<-|->), hold the left mouse button down and drag the column wider. In the same way the rows can be increased in height by dragging the dividers between the rows, in the row numbers to the left of the cells.
When wanting to highlight the whole spreadsheet, just click on the blank cell to the left of the column headings and above the row numbers.
Q. On Google’s website, on the link to "Others", they have an item called "G Mail". Is this any use to a casual user such as I?
A. Probably the main use for this is as a free casual email facility. A new email username and address can be created for use when visiting sites that offer free downloads or require registration for some other reason. Then, if too much spam is received, the address can be abandoned and another username and address can be created for free.
Another facility on Google is Storage, where files can be stored.
When traveling
overseas all photos on a Digital Camera can be uploaded to Google Storage then on
your return to home they can be downloaded onto your computer or other storage
device.
SeniorNet provides the very first source of help, of course, but once you start to "fly solo", try using each program's own help files. Yes, the early versions of these were typically geeky and confusing but they've become a lot more friendly over the years. The Help menu of any given program is invariably the rightmost one at the top. Click on it and you usually have the choice of viewing the contents, the index or a search facility. Many also offer one or more tutorials
Windows XP has its own help and support page called, er, Help and Support, which you can get to from the Start menu. There are major sub-topics presented or else you can go to the Search box on the top left and take it from there.
Generally, most searchable help facilities present an easy-to-follow set of links. With practice, you'll soon get good at zeroing in on the part you want.
If you have a problem with your computer and swearing doesn't fix it, try
pressing the F1 function key (one of the top row of keys on your
keyboard) enter a keyword for your enquiry (like toolbox for a lost
toolbox) and press Display.
The more that we use the Help function the better we get at it, and the
less frustration we have.
Q.
When I am typing an email, or another document, and I go back to make a
correction, what I type in just types over what comes after the cursor and the
letters just disappear.
How do I get it to insert what I type and move ahead
what comes after my typing?
A.
The solution is just so-o-o-o easy.
Just press the Insert key situated next to the
Home and End keys near the top right of your keyboard.
Your problems
probably started with you inadvertently pressing that key sometime.
Q.
On my computer keyboard, next to the Ctrl key on the right, I have a key with a
square.
What does that key do?
A.
When pressed the key performs the same function as Right-clicking on the mouse.
In other words, in an open program, or desktop, a drop-down menu appears with
various options.
Nic asks:
A few days ago I purchased from the Warehouse a new keyboard.
When I unpacked the box I also found in there a disc of the usual size without any indication what I should do with it.
Seeing I have a keyboard installed to accommodate the present set up should I now go into the Control Panel, keyboard Properties and take out the existing disc .The account reads Standard 101/102 key or Microsoft Natural P keyboard.
Hello Nic.
Computers are always a problem.
I suggest that you just plug the new keyboard into the back of the computer where the old one was plugged in.
If it works as you would like it to then all is well.
If it doesn't work as it should then put the disk in your CD drive, wait, and it will give you instructions of what to do.
Note: Nic gave the properties of the new keyboard as being 101/102 key which shows the settings should be the same as his old keyboard.
Q: I wanted to create a name card, with borders around it. I typed the text, selected it, went to format, borders and shading, box. This is what I got. The border went to the end of the line instead of stopping where the text stopped. Now I can't even get out of the square. What did I do wrong?
A:First type your paragraph (as you did)
Tap the Enter key several times to get the cursor spaced below the end of the paragraph.
Then, highlight the text by dragging across it with your mouse pointer.
Go to Format/Borders & Shading/Borders and click the Frame box to the left (you did this part).
Now click OK.
You now have the frame as before (i.e.
with a space right up to the margin.
While the text is still highlighted, at the top of the page get a grip on the right-hand page margin pointer, with your mouse pointer, and drag it in to the position that you want it.
Click OK and the border will be the size you want it, in the place that you want it.
The cursor will be flashing in the place that you left it a couple of lines below the frame and you can continue typing outside the box.
Don't forget that when creating the border you have the choice of selecting the thickness and style of the border that you want.
The AutoCorrect feature in Office can automatically place symbols in your documents.
To find the dialogue box to do it click on Tools, in the menu bar, and then AutoCorrect Options
(c) will do this: ©
(r) will do this: ®
(tm) will do this: ™
==> will do this: Ë
<== will do this: Á
--> will do this: ?
<-- will do this: @
Q: When I just want to enter a competition on line I am asked for my password.
I
have been told many times not to give my password.
What should I do?
A: The password asked for is the password which you create and use for that site and
is NOT the password you use for your ISP or Internet Banking.
It requires keeping
a number of passwords, all different.
Q: When I only want to browse Trademe it asks for a password.
Which password
does it want?
A: When browsing the items for sale it is not necessary to Login using a password.
Just ignore the Login box and password and continue to browse.
If you wish to
trade it is necessary to register (there is provision for this) and the password you
create for this is the one they ask for when you Login.
Q: How do I save just a section of a pdf document, like the Emailed Newsletter?
A: Open the document in Adobe Reader.
At the top left there should be a button
titled “Save Text.” The other button beside it is “Save Image.” Click on the “Save
Text” button and then highlight the required text in the normal manner.
Hold Ctrl
on the keyboard and press the C key.
This copies it to the clipboard.
Open a Word
document or WordPad document and holding the Ctrl key again press the V key to
paste the selected text into Word, or WordPad as the case may be.
Tip: When sending a list by email try enclosing it in a table.
This anchors the text
neatly in the email.
Q. How might I print a photo or more than one different photos on a single sheet without using the likes of Presentation Plus or Photoshop?
A. Go to your "My Photos" folder (or wherever the images are), right click on one of them, select "Open With" and then "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" (which everyone with XP or Vista has).
Then click on the printer icon (fourth from the right at the bottom). The Photo Printing Wizard will pop up. Click "Next" and select the other pictures you want to include in the page you are about to print. Click Next and proceed from there.
Thank you Margaret Bates for pointing out this very handy, freely available tool "hiding in plain sight"!
Q: The window, for any of the programs on my computer, are too far up the
monitor and I can only see a little of the Close, Resize and Minimise
buttons.
How do I move it up so that I can see these buttons? I have
Vista and Word 2007.
A: It appears that the window in one of the programs has been moved, thus the
windows in all of the programs follow suit.
To move it down click on the title band
at the top of the window, hold the mouse button down and drag the window
down.
If it moves it is in the Resize mode.
Run the mouse pointer over the
bottom corner until it shows a double-headed arrow, hold the mouse button down
and drag the window to a smaller size.
Click on the resize button and the window
will fill the whole screen in the correct position.
At the rooms we continue to have difficulties with switching off the computers at the wall.
Switching off the computers and monitors at the wall is a good thing to do as it reduces the
likelihood of a power surge burning out the computer, especially its power supply module, and
causing a fire.
It is usually switched off by the tutors.
However, many students neglect to
switch off the monitor on their computer, which is understandable as often their own monitors
switch off automatically as the computer is shut down.
The problems occur when the wall switch is switched on again and several monitors come on
together.
Switching on is the time when the monitors, and all other electrical equipment draw
the most power.
Thus with up to four monitors powering up in the same instant a massive
peak is created in the electrical circuit, which trips the circuit breaker on the switchboard.
We
suspect that our neighbour’s circuit breaker is also tripped.
To avoid this, please check that all monitors are switched off (no light showing) before
switching off the wall switch supplying the computers and monitors.
When the circuit breaker trips, or the power does not come on to the computers, go to the
switchboard above the table in the office beside the toilet, and switch down the circuit breaker
that is up.
Remember, as you shut down your computer turn off the monitor.
Q: I have scanned a photo and want to make it larger.
I have looked for the resize
handles but cannot see them.
How do I resize it?
A: The picture may still be in the scanning program.
It must first be saved to “My
Pictures”.
Then open it in a Photo-Editing program to resize it.
Microsoft Picture It
or some other program will be able to do it.
From the menu bar open
Image/Resize.
Be careful to ensure that the picture is re-sized proportionally.
Be
careful not to resize it too large as the pixels will become visible and blur the
picture.
The more that we use MS Word the more we become familiar with it’s amazing range of functions, so much so that we forget how strange many of these functions are to the less experienced.
One such function is the use of the Print Screen key (it’s just above the Delete and Home keys).
To insert the picture of a screen in a document try the following:
With any program open (even the desktop) press the Print Scrn key.
This places a picture of the screen that is on the monitor on the clipboard.
We don’t see the picture on the clipboard but it is there.
(Wait for the clever ones to tell me that you can see what is on the clipboard, but it is unnecessary for our purposes and a little difficult, so let’s keep life simple).
Now open MS Word (you don’t need to close what is already open) and place the cursor, or I beam, where you want to insert the picture of the screen. Click on Edit in the menu bar and then Paste. The picture of the screen appears in the document.
You can move the picture by clicking in the middle of it to show the resizing handles and then dragging the picture to where you want it with the mouse pointer. Remember to hold down the left mouse key as you drag the picture.
A more convenient way of moving the picture while the resizing handles are showing is to just tap the arrow keys on your keyboard at the bottom right (below the Delete, End, Page Up and Page Down keys). To make finer adjustments, hold down the Ctrl key while using the arrow keys.
You may wish to reduce the size of the picture. To do this v-e-r-y slowly, pass the mouse pointer over one of the resizing handles in one of the diagonal corners. When a double-headed arrow appears hold the mouse pointer down and drag the corner of the picture to the required size. Using the resizing handles at the corners of the picture keeps the picture in proportion both vertically and horizontally. If you use one of the intermediate handles on either side, top or bottom the picture will distort.
If you wish to crop the picture be sure that the resizing handles are visible (click in the middle of the picture if they are not) and then click on Format on the menu bar and then Picture at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
From the dialogue box that appears you can crop from Left, Top, Right or bottom.
You’ll need to experiment to get the distances right.
After each unsatisfactory attempt just click on Format and
Picture and try again.
Good luck, and who said computers are a great time waster?
Windows XP Home, Media and Professional
Windows XP, by default, requires double-clicking to open programs, documents, and short-cuts.
If you're like us you want to make your system respond as quickly as possible and doubleclicking
everything you want to open isn't the fastest way to do it.
You can easily configure
Windows XP to open programs, documents, shortcuts, etc.
by doing the following:
1.
Double Left-Click on "My Computer"
2.
Click on Tools
3.
Click "Folder Options"
4.
On the main dialog, tick: "Single click to open an item (point to select)".
Then, choose one of
the two options - whichever you prefer:
a.
"Underline icon titles consistent with my browser" or
b.
"Underline icon titles only when I point at them"
5.
Then click "Apply" "OK" and you're on your way to saving clicks and saving clicks saves your
wrist and saves you time!
OK, your not-so-old computer seems to be running a lot more slowly than it once was.
DON'T just rush out and buy a new one! There are many reasons, simple and complicated why this might be so.
Go through the list of tips one by one.
If your disk is too full, the whole computer will slow down dramatically.
Have a regular clean-ups and backups. Images and videos take up a lot of space, so start with these first. Its a very good idea to invest in the new generation of portable USB hard drives. Most come with intelligent, built-in software which, after the initial mass backup, will only copy new or newly changed files.
To check how full your disk is, open My Computer and right click on it. Choose Properties and note the Pie Graph.
After you've removed all superfluous files, you need to look at de-fragmentation (see accompanying article)
I use Diskeeper ($US30) to keep my disks in a minimally fragmented state but XP has its own (free) defragmenter which is better than nothing. To use it:
Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools>Disk Defragmenter
Click on the required drive (probably C:)
Do this at least once a month
Take a look at your email In-Box. Whenever your email program (Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Eudora or whatever) starts up, it must re-initialise your In-Box. The more emails there, the longer this will take.
To fix this, and become much better organised(!) CREATE SUB FOLDERS:
Repeatedly right click on the In Box and take the "New Folder..." option.
Give each folder a name you feel comfortable with (Friends, SeniorNet, Accounts, Financial, whatever).
You can even create sub folders of these new (sub) folders.
Having created all these new categories, drag and drop each email from your In Box into the appropriate sub folder (or maybe just delete it!).
At the end of this process you should have either an empty In Box or, at least, one containing a small number of the latest, most urgent, unread messages.
And, guess what, it all starts up and updates a lot faster!
When your computer goes slower than usual, especially for some time after being turned on, it may just be doing updates or other regular maintenance tasks like de-fragmentation (QV) or file compression.
You probably have an anti-malware program which needs to update its virus and other definitions every day. If it misses its last scheduled update because it was turned off, it tries to do so the moment you turn it back on.
For Internet based updates, this becomes worse if you only have dial-up, because it must wait until you actually connect to the internet and then probably compete with your email and your browser traffic. This is another good reason for getting broadband.
The key thing is that once you have turned your computer (and internet connection) on, give all the updates time to take place. If you have Windows (or Microsoft) Update permitted (another good idea), then large program and device driver updates will periodically become available and will temporarily slow down your system.
As the saying went at the KZ1 camp - "Hurry Up and Wait!"
In addition to the above points, there are many other ways of actually or effectively speeding up your computer without buying a new one. I'll deal with them in coming weeks as time permits
Want to know some good sites to help check on virus hoaxes? Most of us from time to time will
get an email passed on by somebody alerting us to a virus warning.
Almost everything that is
sent by friends to their friends to their friends and so on, are usually always scams or hoaxes.
The problem is knowing what we should do about it, and is it for real.
Personally, I ignore such
emails, and delete them even though they urge me to forward it on.
But there are several web sites you can use to check to see if something is a hoax or scam.
First, you can always use Google to check out a hoax or scam.
It's likely that the scam or hoax
is either an old one just making the rounds again or it's a variation of an old one.
Most scams
and hoaxes have a name or key word you can search in Google.
You'll get better results if you
type in the name of the scam or hoax then use a + sign and "Hoax" or "Scam" after it.
For
example "School Days+Scam" (leave the quotes off).
Snopes.com - This is probably the most well-known of all sites that offers valuable and mostly
accurate information about a huge number of scams, rip-off, virus and other hoaxes.
If you get
a lot of hoax and scam emails from friends, you might want to bookmark Snopes and have your
friends check out what they forward before they forward it.
Educating people is a good way to
stop these hoaxes and scams from circulating and recalculating endlessly.
You can find Snopes
at http://www.snopes.com/snopes.asp .
Truth Or Fiction - This site deals with Internet rumours, email scams, some email hoaxes and
other misinformation that is generally spread by email or Web sites.
You can find Truth or
Fiction at http://www.truthorfiction.com/
FBI - Believe it or not, the U.S.
Government runs a pretty good email anti-scam site that will
help you detect scam emails and also give you a heads-up on what to be on the lookout for in
the future.
It's fairly well updated and full of information you might find useful.
FBI Cyber
Investigations- Email Scams site http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm .
As a rule of
thumb, almost all "virus warnings" and "watch out for this" type emails that spread among
friends are hoaxes.
Keep that in mind - and if you're not sure check it out on one of the sites
above.
Remember passing along hoaxes or fake virus warnings just keeps these scams and
hoaxes alive.
Tip for Vista Users Would you like the icons and fonts on your
desktop to be larger, or smaller?
Just hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and roll the scroll wheel on your
mouse.
XP users will have to go to Control Panel and adjust the sizes in Display.
A bug on Microsoft's means you can't set and retain a language for Word (such as NZ English).
Click here and follow the instructions carefully.
Q: On my old version of MSWord I had a frame around the page where the margins
are.
With my newer version I do not have that frame.
Can I get it to show?
A: Yes! Click on “Tools” in the Menu Bar.
Click on “Options” in the drop-down menu.
In the “View” tab click on the tick box beside “Text boundaries.” That should
display frame.
Close MSWord.
Any new documents should now display the frame.
Do you need to swap the second and third paragraphs in the document you're working
on? Don't waste time dragging text around within your document using the mouse.
Just
click on the paragraph you'd like to move, hold down Shift-Alt, and move the
paragraph up or down using the arrow keys.
Each press of the arrow key causes the
selected paragraph to jump over one adjacent paragraph.
A: Click in the row above the place you wish to insert the rows and drag the
mouse pointer upwards for the number of rows you wish to insert.
Click on Table in the menu bar.
Click on Insert and then Rows
In the same way columns can be inserted.
When sending documents through the ether by email or as a webpage the layout
often goes wrong, with spaces, returns at the end of lines and column alignments
going awry.
To ensure that the layout survives the transmission it is wise to use
tables that can easily be inserted into an email or webpage.
You may notice that this
newsletter has the type in Text Boxes, which act in the same way as tables to hold
things in place during the emailing of the Word version between the Newsletter Editor
and your Chairman.
To create a table open MS Word and click on Table in the menu bar.
The easiest choice in the drop-down menu is to rest the mouse pointer on Insert
and then click on Table.
The resulting dialogue box gives the choices of the number of columns and rows.
Type in your choices or use the arrow buttons to select.
Click OK and the table will appear where you had your cursor, or I beam, showing.
To enter type in a cell, click in that cell so the cursor shows and then start typing.
Pressing Return causes the cursor to go down to the next row, as is normal, and
the cell increases its height accordingly.
To insert a tab space at the beginning of a line hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard
and press the Tab key.
To insert another column or row click in a cell below or above where you wish to
insert a row, or to the left or right of the place you wish to insert a column.
Then click on Table in the menu bar, Insert on the drop-down menu, then Row
Above, Row below, Column to the Left or Column to the Right as you require.
To delete a row or column click in the row or column to be deleted and then Table
in the menu bar, then Delete, then Row or Column.
To insert more than one row you
can drag the mouse pointer down or across to select more than one row or column
and then Insert Rows or Columns.
Play around with it and get to know its little quirks.
It’s great for making lists of all
kinds, unless you want to do more advanced calculations which are best done in a
spreadsheet such as MS Excel.
The table can be copy and pasted into an email by sweeping across it with the mouse
or by clicking on the little square just outside the table at the top left.
This button will
appear when the mouse is rested over it.
With the table highlighted hold the Ctrl key
on the keyboard and press Ctrl + C (for copy to the clipboard.
Position the cursor in the body of the email, hold the Ctrl key and press the V (for
paste) key to paste it into the email.
Try it!
To select a non-standard font size in Word, Excel, PowerPoint (or an Open Office equivalent), simply highlight the existing number in the font selector on the tool bar and type in the size required. Then press Enter. In this way you can choose almost any size for most font styles.
Some of the features that are supposed to help you can just be downright
annoying.
Take those squiggly red and green underlines Word puts under words and
sentences.
Intended to point out spelling and grammatical errors, these are often
wrong or inappropriate.
To turn off the squiggly lines, choose Options from the Tools
menu, select the Spelling & Grammar tab and then uncheck Check spelling as you
type and Check grammar as you type.
Similarly, the Smart Tags that appear
under dates, telephone numbers, pasted text, and so on can be distracting.
You can
choose AutoCorrect Options from the Tools menu, and then select the Smart Tags
tab to turn off individual features or all Smart Tag displays.
Q.
In Word, do you need to swap the second and third paragraphs, or any other
paragraphs in the document you're working on?
A. Don't waste time dragging text around within your document using the mouse. Just click on the paragraph you'd like to move, hold down Shift-Alt, and move the paragraph up or down using the arrow keys. Each press of the arrow key causes the selected paragraph to jump over one adjacent paragraph.
When you copy text from the Web or another document into a Word file, Word will
reproduce the typeface, color, and font size displayed in the original page.
If you want the pasted text to match the formatting in the destination document, use Edit/Paste Special, and choose Unformatted Text.
In MS Word you can use the scroll button on your mouse to zoom in and out of
documents quickly.
Just hold down the Ctrl key and roll the scroll wheel forward to get
a closer view of the document, or roll it back to shrink it.
