Computer tips
Page 2
TIP #18
To place a mailto command on
the start menu, you
just create the mailto shortcut as you would normally: Right-click on
the Desktop and choose New, Shortcut. In the Command line, type
mailto:
and then give your Shortcut an appropriate name, something like Blank
Email. Then drag your mailto shortcut to the Start button until it
opens, and place it wherever you like on the Start menu.
TIP #19
The tip above explains how
to put a mailto shortcut on the Start Menu.
If you've played around with it at all, you probably discovered that
you can also create mailto shortcuts for individual email addresses.
Start by creating one the way we did before. Just right-click on the
Desktop and choose New, Shortcut. This time, after typing
mailto:
in the Command line, follow the colon with the email address you want
this shortcut to place into the To field. Then click Next, choose an
appropriate name for your shortcut, and click OK to finish. Now you
can double-click this shortcut and have the designated address in the
To field, ready to go.
TIP #20
This will be the last
mailto: tip for a while, now
how about putting all your favorite mailto shortcuts
into a single folder on the Start menu, so you can open a
pre-addressed email at any time. First, navigate to your Start folder
at C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu. Then right-click in the window and choose
New, Folder. Give your folder a name that makes sense, then drag any
of the mailto shortcuts you've already created to it. Now, you can
open any of your mailto shortcuts just by clicking on the Start menu
and accessing the folder you created.
TIP #21
If you want a shortcut for
the run command,
when you're opening programs like regedit, the best way is to use the
Run command. Normally, you would go to
Start, Run. But there is a keyboard shortcut. Just press
Windows Key-R to open the Run command.
TIP
#22
Most of the time I look for a file,
I have an idea of which folder
it's in. If you're searching for a specific file and you know which
folder it resides in, remember to right-click the folder and choose
Find. This launches the Find application with the Look In field
already filled in, which saves you a step.
TIP #23
You
could save yourself a step when
searching for a specific text in files by right-clicking in the folder where the
file
resides and choosing Find. You can use the same technique to search
for strings of text in a document. This is a feature that I use all
the time, when looking for a phrase or heading I might have used
before. Just right-click on the folder where you want to start your
text search and choose Find. Then enter the word or phrase in the
Containing Text field and click Find Now. Searching in a specific
folder like this is necessary when it comes to searching for text, as
it takes your computer quite a while to scan the text of each
document.
TIP #24
If you're navigating through
folders and you want to jump quickly to
the level just above the current one, remember that you can always use
your Backspace key. Just press it to correspond to the Back button and
move up a level.
TIP #25
If you're navigating through
your computer and you find you want to
eject a CD without having to reach for your computer, it's easy enough
to eject a CD from a folder. Just open My Computer, right-click on
your CD-ROM drive, and then choose Eject.
TIP #26
To create a shortcut. First,
find the program or folder in
Windows Explorer. Now, right-click the folder or program
and hold down the right mouse button. Next, move the mouse
off of Explorer and onto your desktop (the main Windows
screen that appears when Windows first starts) and let go
of the mouse button. At this point, a small menu will
appear asking if you want to create a shortcut. Click the
shortcut option, and a small picture will appear with a
tiny arrow within it that denotes it's a shortcut.
Now, to get to your program, just click on this new
shortcut and the program will start.
TIP #27
The fastest way to close a program after its
maximized, is to
right-click on the program on the task bar at the bottom of
the screen and select 'Close.' And thats it.
TIP #28
If your modem disconnects
for no real
reason? then try this tip.
Go to Modems in Control Panel (Start - Settings - Control
Panel)
From Modems select
Properties, select the Connection Tab,
then click the Advanced button
In the Extra settings dialogue box, enter S10=50; this
will force the modem to stay connected without a carrier
for up to 5 seconds.
TIP #29
If your computer ever locks up in the suspend mode.
This is a little known bug
in Windows 98 that causes the
computer to hang when it is in suspend. You get this bug,
believe it or not, when a drive letter is lower case in the
SYSTEM.INI. You can fix this by doing the flowing:
- Select Start, Run, type msconfig in the Open: box, then
press OK
- Select the System.ini tab
- Click the + sign next to the [386Enh] section to expand
it
- Select the line PagingFile= and click Edit
- Change the lowercase drive letter to uppercase
- Click Apply, then OK
- When prompted, restart your computer.
TIP #30
A few of my friends have had
this problem with their CD-ROM
drives after installing Windows 98. Many CD-ROMS are dual
channel IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) devices.
Windows has a special setting you need to set in order to
accommodate these devices. Try this fix if you experience
the problem:
- Select Start, Settings, and Control Panel; then
double-click System
- Select the Device Manager tab
- Double-click the Hard Disk Controllers branch to expand
it, select your IDE controller, and then select Properties
- Select the Settings tab
- In the Dual IDE Channel Settings box, select Both IDE
Channels Enabled, and then click OK (2 times), and restart
your computer.
TIP #31
If you have multiple windows open and want
to quickly click
between them and do not want to have to pull up the task
bar every time, well here is a tip. There is an option
in Windows that lets you have the windows all side-by-side
on the desktop, but still
remain as separate
entities so you can choose which one to go into.
Right click on the task bar and select Cascade Windows.
This will put all of the open windows in a nice neat format
for you to play around with.
TIP #32
Sometimes, Windows 95, 98,
and Me can experience all kinds
of problems when you're attempting to uninstall a program.
Let's talk about the five ways you can uninstall a program:
1) Go out and just delete the files from your hard drive.
- This is a BAD solution. There are literally hundreds of
places that any program can keep files, registry entries,
and such -- and there is no way to tell what kind of damage
would be done by simply deleting these files.
2) Use the program's uninstall procedure.
- Many programs now come with their own uninstall program
that will quickly and effortlessly (yeah, right) remove
programs from your computer. The problem? Many of these
programs simply don't do a complete job.
3) Reinstall the program!
- Yup! You heard me correctly. Sometimes the easiest way to
uninstall a pesky program is to reinstall it, then remove
it using its own software (or combine this method with #4).
4) Use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel.
- This is a standard Windows removal tool that actually
does a fairly decent job of removing programs from your
hard drive.
5) Use a third-party removal tool.
- A third party tool (such as Norton Uninstall or Clean
Sweep) will be extremely thorough in removing programs.
Some software will detect 'orphans,' which are programs to
which there is no connection.
TIP #33
Here are a
couple of things you can do to help speed things up:
1) Take away any unneeded files, fonts, programs and any
other junk taking up hard drive space. Also, remember to
defrag the hard drive once you do this.
2) Buy more memory! You can never have enough memory. Reading your hard
drive is one of the most draining tasks your computer
undertakes. If you can add more memory, this gives Windows
more room to play while caching and speeds up your
processing as well.
TIP #34
Screen Savers used to
provide
protections against monitor burn, but with newer monitors,
burn is no longer a problem.
To select a screen saver, right-click
anywhere on the desktop where no icon resides. Now, select
the Properties option. When the menu appears, click on the
Screen Savers tab. Here, you can select any screen saver
currently on the system by clicking the small down arrow
and picking the screen saver you want, Good luck.
TIP #35
You can resize a window that
is not Maximized or Minimized
by clicking on the edge and dragging it to the size you
want. You can also click and drag on a corner of the window
to resize the height and width at the same time.
TIP #36
To install Resource Meter,
go to the Control Panel and
select Add/Remove Programs. Now, click the Windows Setup
tab, then choose System Tools and click the Details button.
Find the entry for the System Resource Meter and select it
by checking the box. Click OK to accept this selection.
TIP #37
To change the default
printer, open the printer control
screen from the Start Button, then go to Settings, and
choose Printers. Now, right-click the printer that you WANT
as the default printer. On the menu that pops up, click
'Set Printer as Default' and a checkmark should appear (if
not already there). Now that selected printer is the
default, you should be able to print without any problems.
TIP #38
If you have a keyboard with
one of those Windows buttons,
then you have a few extra keystrokes that regular people do
not have. Here's a small list of some of the commands you can use.
- SHIFT+WINDOWS+M Undo Minimize All
- WINDOWS+R Open the Run dialog box
- WINDOWS+F Open the Find Files or Folders dialog box
- WINDOWS+E Open an Explorer window
- WINDOWS+M Minimize all open windows
- WINDOWS+F1 Open a Help window