If you find that your dial-up often disconnects when you leave your PC, try changing the idle time.
Here's how:
In the Start menu, open Settings,then Control Panel..
Press Internet Options..
Click the Connection tab..
Press the Setting button..
Press Advanced..
Uncheck the box next to "disconnected if idle for (blank) minutes."
Your ISP shouldn't disconnect you again without your permission. The only way this won't work is if your ISP is doing the disconnecting. Many ISPs will boot you off for an idle connection whether you want them to or not.
Cyberspace is an international community. You can chat with people from Spain, France, Germany, or a whole host of other places. It's fun to type in the language of your cyberpals, but how the heck do you put the tilde over the n?
Use these Alt key shortcuts and become multilingual.
- -- Alt + 165
a -- Alt + 0224
ß -- Alt + 0225
F -- Alt + 0232
T -- Alt + 0233
+ -- Alt + 0200
= -- Alt + 0242
= -- Alt + 0243
Have you ever noticed when you click on an email link while surfing online your browser automatically sends the address to a blank message of an email program? This is a great feature of most browsers, but only if the program that appears is the one you'd regularly use. If Internet Explorer is your preferred browser, then you can quickly change this to correctly display the email client of your choice.
To change the default email program, follow these steps.
A device driver is the routine program that links the driver to the operating system. Whenever you install a new piece of hardware, such as a CD-RW, to your PC, it is necessary to install the driver to run the hardware.
Drivers are frequently updated to eliminate bugs or incorporate other changes. To download and install a new or updated driver, follow these steps:.
Connect to the Internet.
Right-click on My Computer.
Click on Properties.
Click on the tab marked Device Manager.
Click on each device and a new window will open.
Click on Drivers, and it will tell you what drivers you have.
Click on Update and it will check to see if you have the latest driver, and update it if you want to update it.
You can also find updated versions of drivers by visiting the manufacturers' websites.
In Microsoft Excel, the scroll lock is a useful navigation option.
Typically, with scroll lock off, you use the arrow keys to move the active cell pointer around a fixed worksheet. The active cell location changes with each arrow key pressed.
When you use the scroll lock option, the active cell pointer remains in the current cell and the sheet moves rows or columns depending on the direction of the arrow key pressed.
This option is very useful when you want to view other areas of the spreadsheet without losing your current active cell position.
This tip can work in any Windows program that lets you type ù not just your word processor.
Sure, you can delete a word by highlighting the entire word and pressing Delete, but is there a faster way? If the word is to the left of the cursor, press CTRL and hit the Backspace key.
If the word is to the right of the cursor, press CTRL and hit the Delete key..
Voila! No more backspacing character by character or highlighting to delete a word.
If you don't use your CD-ROM often you can free up some of your computer's memory to do other tasks.
The CD-ROM has something called cache memory that is set aside for the CD-ROM to use. It helps the CD-ROM run more efficiently if it's frequently in use.
To free up some of this memory for other programs to be able to use, follow these instructions:.
Right-click on My Computer.
Choose Properties .
Choose the Performance tab.
Click the File System button.
Choose the CD-ROM tab.
Adjust cache memory down as far as 244.
You'll have to restart your computer for the setting to take effect.
If you find your CD-ROM runs poorly, just go back in and raise the cache memory until you find an acceptable level.
If you're like most computer users, you may find it easier to organize files with detailed names. For example, a file named taxdocumentsfor2000.doc is easier to identify and organize than a file named taxes.doc.
Did you know you can use up to 255 characters for a file name? You can use an additional 260 characters to name a folder.
Be warned though, the entire path is restricted to only 260 characters. Because of this, it is advisable to keep your folder and file names down to 50-70 characters each.
Send To enables you to open a file with almost any program (as long as the program can read the file extension), create one-click shortcuts to the desktop without cutting and pasting, and export files to any removable storage device.
Where is this coveted feature of the Windows OS? Well, it's right beneath your fingertips and waiting to be revealed with a simple right-click of your mouse.
To best illustrate the use of Send To, we'll send a .doc to be saved to a floppy disk. Make sure and put a floppy in your A: drive before proceeding.
To learn how to use the Send To feature, follow these steps:
To start, find any .doc (a Notepad or a Word file) that resides on your computer.
Right-click the file and highlight Sent To, and then select 3+ Floppy (A)..
You just used Send To. Congratulations.
We learned to use Send To by saving a .doc to a floppy disk. That's not all the Send To feature is capable of, though. Basically, you can customize your Send To menu with any program executable and removable storage shortcut of your choice.
Customizing the Send To menu involves creating a shortcut to the Send To menu and pasting it inside the Send To folder within the Windows directory folder, and then creating a shortcut for any programs or functions you wish to add to the Send To menu. This sounds confusing, but really it's not too complicated.
Hold down the Windows Button + E (or double-click the My Computer icon) and click on your drive where Windows is installed.
Open the Windows folder by double-clicking it.
Warning: Don't delete or play with any of these files or folders within the Windows folder unless you know what you're doing or are instructed to do so.
Find the Send To folder, right-click it and choose "create shortcut."
Now, single-click the shortcut you just created and press CTRL + X. You just Cut the folder.
Next, double-click the Send To folder to open it up. Once it's opened, hit CTRL + V to paste the shortcut inside the Send To folder and you're done.
You just created a shortcut to the Send To menu that will show up inside the Send To menu. Why? To speed up the process of populating the Send To Menu.
If you get the concept of what you just did, then begin customizing your Send To menu however you choose by always placing a shortcut of your executables or functions inside the Send To folder.
One of the best features in Windows is only a right-click away. It's such a timesaver that I'll bet you probably didn't even know it was there. The mystery I'm referring to is the Send To command. The purpose of this feature is to allow you to rapidly save to any storage device or bypass a file association and easily open a file in the program of your choice. Although the basic Send To menu is a short list of commands, it's rather simple to populate this list with any program or storage drive of your choosing.
Before you start, please read this short tutorial on how to place a shortcut to the Send To menu inside the Send To menu itself. I know this sounds confusing, but really, it's an additional timesaver to be used later on down the road.
Follow these steps to populate the Send To menu:
Start by finding an .EXE or a storage medium you'd like to place inside the Send To menu.
Perform a right-click on the chosen item and select Send To > Desktop (create shortcut).
Now, go to your desktop and right-click on the shortcut you just created and select Send To > Shortcut to Send To.
You now just placed the shortcut inside the Send To menu without having to manually cut and paste it inside of the Windows > Send To folder.
Now, right-click on anything and select Send To again. You should now see the program or storage device listed in the menu.
.
Please remember you must create a shortcut to the item you wish to include inside the Send To menu. This means you can't place the actual .EXE or storage device itself inside the menu. Now, send to your heart's content.
Kill Logon Screen.
If you're the only user on a computer, odds are you don't need a logon screen to appear every time you boot up.
Eliminate the need to input your user name and password with these steps.
Open Control Panel.
Double-click on the Network icon.
In the Primary Network Logon, choose Windows Logon.
Press OK.
In the Control panel link the Passwords applet.
Click Change Passwords tab.
Press Change Windows Password button.
Type in your current password and in the Old Password box.
Leave both the New Password and Confirm New Password boxes blank.
Click OK.
Select the User Profile tab and make sure the "All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings" is selected.
Click OK.
Restart Windows.
Change my video options.
This tip does not work if you use Windows NT or use profiles.
Have you ever downloaded a program, only to find you weren't paying attention to where it was being stored? What about losing a copy of that crucial document or resume? Chances are that both of them are still on your hard drive. Without spending precious time to investigate each folder on your system, you can quickly uncover those lost files in no time at all.
To find files fast, follow these steps: .
Hold down the Windows keyboard button plus F, or hit Windows > Find > Files or Folders.
In the "Name" field, type the name of the file you'd like to find.
In the "Look In" field, select "My Computer"
Hit "Find now".
This will bring up a list of all the files on your computer containing the same text..
If you still don't uncover the missing file, keep reading.
Refining your search: .
Keep the same information in the "Name and Location" tab.
Select the "Advanced" tab.
Select the "Of Type" pull-down menu. Choose the type of file extension you're looking for.
Change "Size is" to "At least".
Set "KB" to 4096 (for example).
Click on "Find Now".
This should bring up a list of all available files on your machine bigger than 4096KB with the same file extension and name.
Have you ever come across the command, "press any key," while computing? If you wonder which key is any key, you are not alone. The question users ask tech support technicians most often is: "what does this key mean?"
Key definitions.
Any Key: This is another name for the Space Bar.
Insert: This key lets you type directly over text when activated.
Home: Use this key to move to the beginning of the line.
End: Use this key to move to the end of the line.
Page Up: Use this key to move to the top of the page.
Page Down: Use this key to move to the bottom of the page.
Print Scrn: Print Screen allows you to take a picture of the screen. Paste it into an email to let others see what you see.
The properties dialog box is a rather useful tool. This feature is a pop-up box that displays important information about any file on your computer. In the general tab you'll find the name of the file, when it was created or last modified, the file type, and the size of your file.
To access this information, follow these two steps: .
Find a file you'd like to learn more about.
Right-click on the file.
Choose Properties.
Investigate each tab that appears in the Properties box. You never know when one will serve you later on down the road.
Speed up your startup time by turning off those little system-level tasks you don't need. Every application that launches at startup munches a few clock cycles, pulling power away from your CPU that could focus on more interesting stuff, such as games.
To run MSCONFIG, follow these steps.
Go to the Start menu.
Choose Run.
Type in msconfig.
Press OK.
Now that you are in MSCONFIG, go to the Startup Tab. Only uncheck any programs that you are familiar with. Otherwise, you may inadvertantly turn something off that you need to compute normally. When you are finished selecting programs, click OK. Next time you start your computer, it should launch faster.
If you turn off a program that you need, simply restore it. Open MSCONFIG and click on the General tab. Selct the box stating Normal Startup - restore all drivers and software.
MSCONFIG is not available with Windows 95. To speed your startup with Windows 95, download PC Magazine's Startup Cop,,,http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,000YKL,.html. This free program will manage your startup programs.
If you're like me, you delete everything before you know what it is. If you accidentally trash your tax files, don't panic. Even when a document has been deleted, it's possible to recover it.
Follow these three steps.
Double-click the Recycle Bin icon.
When the window is open, select the file you want to recover.
Open the File menu and select Restore.
The files will be returned to their original file location.
Tricky Text.
If you use word processing programs on a regular basis, here are text tricks. Use these keyboard shortcuts to save time the next time you use your word processor or email.
Move one word at a time.
Press the CTRL key as you hit the left or right arrow key. This moves the cursor to the end or beginning of the word.
Move to end or beginning of line.
Press Home or End and move to the end or beginning of the line.
Move to top or bottom of screen.
Press Page Up or Page Down to scroll to the top or end of the screen.
Move to top or bottom of document.
Press CTRL + Home to move to top of document. Press CTRL+End to move to the end of document.
