Learn to Use your Computer

Face it — you can do quite a bit to clean the average Windows XP system. Files proliferate, programs fall out of favor, viruses reproduce, e-mail clusters, and pop-ups populate. Throw in a little system neglect and before you know it, you have a messed-up system that badly needs cleaning.

Cleaning a Windows system is more about behavior than it is about one or two tasks. Granted, you need to do some remedial work to get your system back in peak condition, but once you do, keeping your system clean on an ongoing basis is much easier than doing the remedial work in the first place.

Essential tasks
In general, you should work on the most accessible parts of the system first and then move on to the rest. Following is a list of essential tasks to do even if you're really pressed for time.

If you have only limited time available, get rid of unused and unneeded files. Archive your old-but-still-valuable files to get them off your system. When you have more time, you can go back and deal with your programs and your system as a whole. (Generally you should get your programs under control before worrying about your data, but the key here is time restriction. Working on programs simply takes longer than does taming your data.)
If you have more time available, do a program inventory and remove the programs you no longer need. You'd be amazed at how much clutter this can remove from your system. Then go back and clean up your data and archive your older information.
Get rid of spyware and spam and get your Internet environment under control. If you do this, you find that using the Internet can again become productive, rather than frustrating.
Closely examine what your computer loads without your knowledge. This is one of the key places many people overlook (even when suggesting ways to clean your computer), but Windows encounters instructions to automatically load different programs from a myriad of places (most on the Web). These programs can hog resources and slow down your system's overall performance.
Of course, tracking down such unseen scoundrels can take a bit of time. When you have that time (and after you've done the other things in this list), jump in and try to figure out what's going on. Windows provides some utilities that can help, such as the System Configuration Utility (msconfig).
If you really have some extra time, you can wade into the murky waters of the Windows Registry. The Registry is the centralized database that controls virtually everything that happens in the operating system. It is mind-numbingly complex and staggeringly obtuse for normal humans to deal with. However, you can do things in the Registry that you cannot do in any other way.
Working in the Registry is not for the faint of heart. Make sure you double-check every action before you take it. One wrong step and you can bring your system to its knees.

Precautions for safety's sake
Cleaning a Windows system necessarily involves moving things, adding things, deleting things, and sometimes renaming things. Any of these tasks, while necessary, can have unintended consequences. Heaven forbid you should delete a critical system file or wipe out the wrong data key in the Registry.

These precautions help you avoid the bad things:


Don't delete files without knowing what you are deleting. If you're in doubt, simply move the file to a different directory or rename it. Then, if you restart your system (or the program) and find out you made a mistake, you can always move the file back or restore its original name.
Make periodic backups of your system. If you're getting ready to do a huge cleaning session, you might want to make a backup right before you start. If you want to rely on an older backup, you might want to have it close by, in case you need it when you start your cleaning session.
Be careful how you delete programs. In the wonderful days of DOS, in the misty past, programs usually consisted of a couple of files or all the files in a given directory. Not so in Windows. When you install a program, the installation program can move pieces and parts all over the place. When you run the program, it can move more of itself to still other places. Because of that, the best way to delete a program is to use either the uninstaller provided with the software or the Add/Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Don't just delete the main folder for the program — pieces and parts will remain scattered everywhere.)
Know what you are doing with the Registry. The Registry is a largely incomprehensible place. Be careful when you are changing or deleting things in the Registry. In fact, you should create a backup of the Registry before you do any big changes, or simply export a data key when you are getting ready to make more minor changes. (A data key is geekspeak for a branch in the Registry.) Windows does not have a Recycle Bin for the Registry — if you delete something by mistake, you will be glad you made a copy ahead of time.


If a new icon shows up on your desktop one day, don't double-click it. If you don't know why it's there, someone (or some program) has possibly deposited it there. If you don't know what it does, why double-click it and run it? A safer course of action is to right-click the icon, choose Properties, and then examine what programs the icon runs.
Keep your original program discs accessible. If you change the a program's installation, you probably need the discs. If you delete a part of the program you shouldn't, you probably need the discs. If you want to reinstall the program, you probably need the discs. Just keep them close. And it wouldn't hurt to have any necessary software keys (those pesky ten-character — or longer — codes required to install or unlock your software) for the discs, either.
Use only programs from reputable sources. There are lots of programs you can use to help with your system cleaning. You can download most of these programs from the Internet. However, some of the software you find on the Internet may not have been tested and can be reliable. If you download and run a program from a disreputable source, you could possibly infect your system with a virus or do some other system-crashing function.


The preceding precautions aren't in any particular order. They simply give you some guidance as you start on your cleaning quest. Rest assured, however, that you already possess the best safeguard you can have: common sense. Trust your common sense and it'll help you through a large number of the problems you may face.

As you're cleaning your system, keep a notepad and pen nearby. Jot down each cleaning step you take, along with any oddities you observe. This could be helpful if you later need to track down a problem that crops up.

Keep holding Alt & type in tha #'s (numbers) & then let go.

(Ex. If you press alt & the # that what you'd get if you want to use these alt codes in your s/n.)


€= alt 0128

„= alt 0132

ˆ= alt 0136

Œ= alt 0140

=alt 0144

”=alt 0148

˜=alt 0152

œ= alt 0156

=alt 0160

¤=alt 0164

¨=alt 0168

¬=alt 0172

°=alt 0176

´=alt 0180

¸= alt 0184

¼= alt 0188

À= alt 0192

Ä= alt 0196

È= alt 0200

Ì= alt 0204

Ð= alt 0208

Ô= alt 0212

Ø= alt 0216

Ü= alt 0220

ì= alt 0236

ð= alt 0240

ô= alt 0244

ø= alt 0248

ü= alt 0252

= alt 0129

…= alt 0133

‰= alt 0137

= alt 0141

‘= alt 0145

•= alt 0149

™= alt 0153

= alt 0157

¡= alt 0161

¥= alt 0165

©= alt 0169

­­= alt 0173

±= alt 0177

µ= alt 0181

¹= alt 0185

½= alt 0189

Á= alt 0193

Å= alt 0197

É= alt 0201

Í= alt 0205

Ñ= alt 0209

Õ= alt 0213

Ù= alt 0217

Ý= alt 0221

á= alt 0225

å= alt 0229

é= alt 0233

í= alt 0237

ñ= alt 0241

õ= alt 0245

ù= alt 0249

ý= alt 0253

‚= alt 0130

†= alt 0134

Š= alt 0138

Ž= alt 0142

’= alt 0146

– = alt 0150

š= alt 0154

ž= alt 0158

¢= alt 0162

¦= alt 0166

ª= alt 0170

®= alt 0174

²= alt 0178

¶= alt 0182

º= alt 0186

¾= alt 0190

Â= alt 0194

Æ= alt 0198

Ê= alt 0202

Î= alt 0206

Ò= alt 0210

Ö= alt 0214

Ú= alt 0218

Þ= alt 0222

â= alt 0226

æ= alt 0230

ê= alt 0234

î= alt 0238

ò= alt 0242

ö= alt 0246

ú= alt 0250

þ= alt 0254

ƒ= alt 0131

‡= alt 0135

‹= alt 0139

= alt 0143

“= alt 0147

—= alt 0151

›= alt 0155

Ÿ= alt 0159

£= alt 0163

§= alt 0167

«= alt 0171

¯= alt 0175

³= alt 0179

·= alt 0183

»= alt 0187

¿= alt 0191

Ã= alt 0195

Ç= alt 0199

Ë= alt 0203

Ï= alt 0207

Ó= alt 0211

×= alt 0215

Û= alt 0219

ß= alt 0223

ã= alt 0227

ç= alt 0231

ë= alt 0235

ï= alt 0239

ó= alt 0243

÷= alt 0247

û= alt 0251

ÿ= alt 0255

In Quicken, to calculate the loan principal amount, select the Loan Amount option button under Calculate For in the Loan Calculator dialog box. Then enter all the other variables.

For example, those monthly payments of $29,977.53 for the monster mansion seem a little ridiculous. So calculate how much you can borrow if you make monthly payments of $1,500 over 30 years and the annual interest rate is 6 percent:

Select the Loan Amount option button.

Type 6 in the Annul Interest Rate text box.

Type 30 in the Number of Years text box.

Type 12 in the Periods Per Year text box.

Type 1500 in the Payment Per Period text box.

After you click the Calculator button or move the selection cursor, the Loan Calculator computes a loan amount of $250,187.42.

Don't be confused by a program's icon on your desktop and a program's button on the taskbar along the bottom of your screen. They're two different things. The button at the bottom of the screen stands for a program that has already been loaded into the computer's memory. It's already running, ready for immediate action. The icon on your desktop or in Windows Me Explorer stands for a program that is sitting on the computer's hard disk waiting to be loaded.

If you mistakenly click the icon in the Windows Explorer or desktop rather than the button on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, you load a second copy of that program. Two versions of the program are loaded: one running as a window, and the other running as a taskbar button waiting to be turned back into a window.

Running two versions can cause confusion -- especially if you start entering stuff into both versions of the same program. You won't know which window has the right version!

Create a Shortcut to a Screensaver and Password Protect ItEver have the kids walk in when you were kneedeep in a website not appropriate for their young eyes?

Ever been surfing the web at work and the boss walks by?

Ever been involved in the "Young Babes Looking for Married Men" chatroom and the wife comes home early from grocery shopping? (tsk. tsk.)

(I made a free screensaver if anyone wants a copy. Click here to see a demo. Click here to download your own FREE copy.)

Here's a way to instantly launch your screensaver and lock it with a password so no one but you can turn it off.

** These screen captures are from Windows 98. Dialog boxes may appear slightly different in other versions of Windows, but, basically, the process is the same **

First, go to your Start button and choose "Settings", then "Control Panel", then "Display".

In the Display Properties dialog box, click on the Screensaver tab at the top, then choose the screensaver of your choice from the Screensaver dropdown list. Also, put a check beside "Password Protected" and click on the Change button to create a password:



Note the name of the screensaver you have chosen (and memorize that password!!!), then click "Apply", then "OK".

Now, go back to the Start button and select "Find", then "Files or Folders" and when the Find Files dialog box comes up, make sure it is looking in your C: drive and "Include subfolders" has a checkmark beside it. Type in the name of your screensaver and click on the "Find Now" button. Note the location of your .scr file (you need to remember this location to setup a shortcut to launch the screensaver):



Now, close or minimize all open programs and windows so you are back at your Windows Desktop. Right click on any blank area of the desktop and you will get a menu. Choose "New", then "Shortcut".

In the Create Shortcut dialog box, click on the Browse button. In the Browse dialog box, be sure the "Files of Type" box at the bottom displays "All Files", then browse to locate your .scr file, click on it to select it, then click on "Open". Select "Next" all the way through this Wizard, and, finally, select "Finish".

You now have a shortcut to your screensaver on your desktop, which will launch your screensaver when you doubleclick on it. You will also see that, after your screensaver is launched, when you move your mouse or hit a key on your keyboard, your are prompted for a password to deactivate the screensaver.

Unfortunately, when we need this screensaver most, we are not on our Windows Desktop, so doubleclicking an icon is not convenient nor "instant", so we need to assign a hotkey combo to this shortcut.

Rightclick your new shortcut icon on your desktop and select "Properties" from the menu. Select the "Shortcut" tab at the top of this dialog box and put your cursor in the box next to "Shortcut key" where it now says "none" and hit the letter of your choice on your keyboard (in this example I chose "S" for screensaver, but you can use any letter or character on your keyboard). Notice, this box now displays "Ctrl+Alt+" This is the hotkey combo that will launch your screensaver instantly.



Click on "Apply" then "OK".

Now, go into any program or any website and hit your new hotkey combo. Your screensaver will instantly launch and it is password protected!!

# posted by John @ 8:01 AM 0 comments

In Excel, you can put a picture into the chart area or plot area. The method is to select a graphic file on your system and the picture becomes the background of the chart area or plot area.

Be sure to use a picture that doesn't make reading the chart difficult.

Here's how to put a picture in the chart area:

Select the chart area by right-clicking on it.

From the pop-up menu, select to display the Format dialog box.

If necessary, click the pattern tab to bring it to the top.

Click the Fill Effects button.

The Fill Effects dialog box appears.

On the Picture tab, click the Select Picture button.

The Select Picture dialog box appears.

Browse through your computer to a desired graphic and click Insert.

Click OK twice to close the other dialog boxes.

Today's hard drives rarely have errors, so you probably don't need to check for any. But if you think your hard drive's acting strangely and defragmenting it doesn't fix the problem, tell Windows XP to check it for errors. Open My Computer, right-click on your hard drive, and choose Properties. Click the Tools tab and click the Check Now button. (Leave the two options blank.)

Click the Start button, and you hear your hard drive whirring away as Windows probes it for problems. If it finds any, follow the Windows instructions for making repair attempts. Also start saving your cash and backing up your data -- repeated errors mean your hard drive may be on its last legs

To determine the name of an archive file you need to open in Outlook 2002, choose File, Archive and look in the box labeled "Archive File." Be very careful not to change anything about the information in that box; otherwise, Outlook may start sending your archived items someplace else.

The information in the Archive File box is usually complex gobbledygook with colons and slashes and all sorts of stuff that normal people can't remember. One good trick for capturing a long name in a dialog box is to copy the information. Do this by clicking the name once, pressing Tab, pressing Shift+Tab, and pressing Ctrl+C. Next, click Cancel. After you copy the file name, you can follow the previous steps, except that you can paste the name you want into the File Name box by pressing Ctrl+V, and you don't have to remember that long, crazy file name.

Most newspaper articles, at least, are fact-checked by editors, but any fool can post anything on the Internet and be certain that somewhere another fool will read and believe it. You owe it to the people who will make use of research you do on the Internet to make certain you get the facts straight.

You can start by examining the Web site itself. A sloppy Web site with grammatical errors and many misspellings is automatically suspect. Next, consider the motive of the people who constructed the Web site. Many sites have a commercial motive. Others are pushing a political agenda.

News about technology and political news, for example, gets stale quickly. Online articles should be marked with the date of publication in plain display.. A Web page with a number of dead links — hyperlinks that lead nowhere — is most assuredly out of date and doesn't deserve your attention.

Maybe the best way to judge whether information at a Web site is valid is to use your intuition. What does your gut tell you? When someone stops you on the sidewalk with a long tale about needing a quarter to make a phone call because the car has broken down on account of the rain, et cetera, et cetera, you can usually tell right away whether you're being conned. You just know. The same is true when judging the validity of a Web site.

Technology For Country Folk 1. LOG ON: Makin a wood stove hotter.

2. LOG OFF: Don't add no more wood.

3. MONITOR: Keepin an eye on the wood stove.

4. DOWNLOAD: Gettin the farwood off the truk.

5. MEGA HERTZ: When yer not kerful gettin the farwood.

6. FLOPPY DISC: Whatcha git from tryin to carry too much farwood.

7. RAM: That thar thing whut splits the farwood.

8. HARD DRIVE: Gettin home in the winter time.

9. PROMPT: Whut the mail ain't in the winter time.

10. WINDOWS: Whut to shut wen it's cold outside.

11. SCREEN: Whut to shut wen it's blak fly season.

12. BYTE: Whut them dang flys do.

13. CHIP: Munchies fer the TV.

14. MICRO CHIP: Whut's in the bottom of the munchie bag.

15. MODEM: Whut cha did to the hay fields.

16. DOT MATRIX: Old Dan Matrix's wife.

17. LAP TOP: Whar the kitty sleeps.

18. KEYBOARD: Whar ya hang the dang keys.

19. SOFTWARE: Them dang plastic forks and knifs.

20. MOUSE: Whut eats the grain in the barn.

21. MAINFRAME: Holds up the barn roof.

22. PORT: Fancy Flatlander wine

23. ENTER: Northerner talk fer "C'mon in y'all"

24. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY: Wen ya cain't 'member whut ya paid fer the rifle when yore wife asks.

25. MOUSE PAD: That hippie talk fer the rat hole.

1. LOG ON: Makin a wood stove hotter.

2. LOG OFF: Don't add no more wood.

3. MONITOR: Keepin an eye on the wood stove.

4. DOWNLOAD: Gettin the farwood off the truk.

5. MEGA HERTZ: When yer not kerful gettin the farwood.

6. FLOPPY DISC: Whatcha git from tryin to carry too much farwood.

7. RAM: That thar thing whut splits the farwood.

8. HARD DRIVE: Gettin home in the winter time.

9. PROMPT: Whut the mail ain't in the winter time.

10. WINDOWS: Whut to shut wen it's cold outside.

11. SCREEN: Whut to shut wen it's blak fly season.

12. BYTE: Whut them dang flys do.

13. CHIP: Munchies fer the TV.

14. MICRO CHIP: Whut's in the bottom of the munchie bag.

15. MODEM: Whut cha did to the hay fields.

16. DOT MATRIX: Old Dan Matrix's wife.

17. LAP TOP: Whar the kitty sleeps.

18. KEYBOARD: Whar ya hang the dang keys.

19. SOFTWARE: Them dang plastic forks and knifs.

20. MOUSE: Whut eats the grain in the barn.

21. MAINFRAME: Holds up the barn roof.

22. PORT: Fancy Flatlander wine

23. ENTER: Northerner talk fer "C'mon in y'all"

24. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY: Wen ya cain't 'member whut ya paid fer the rifle when yore wife asks.

25. MOUSE PAD: That hippie talk fer the rat hole.

Sending someone an instant message is the online equivalent of walking up to someone on the street and starting a conversation. If it's someone you know, it's one thing; if not, it's usually an intrusion.

Unless you have some sensible reason, don't send instant messages to people you don't know who haven't invited you to do so. Don't say anything that you wouldn't say in the same kind of situation on the street.

Most instant message programs allow you to send and receive files. Leave the file feature off except when you have a specific file you need to send or receive. Unsolicited files from people you don't know are generally spam, viruses, or both. Most virus-checkers don't monitor file transfers via an IM program.

The messages that you send with AIM and other chat programs may seem like they're going to disappear in a mist pretty quickly, but it's easy for anyone in the conversation to store the messages. Most IM programs have a "log" feature that saves the series of messages in a text file, which may be embarrassing later.

Finally: If someone tells you to give a series of commands, or download and install a program, don't do it. And never tell anyone any of your passwords.

The IE Page Transitions effect provides animated transitions when you enter or leave a Web page. If you've ever seen transitions used in a PowerPoint slide presentation, then you have an idea what IE Page Transitions do.

The caveat, however, is the "IE" you see at the front of the name. IE stands for Internet Explorer, which means that these effects work only in IE browsers. Because IE has the vast majority of browser market share, most of your visitors will be able to see them, but you can't count on it, especially with the recent surge in popularity of the Mozilla Firefox browser.

To add an IE Page Transitions effect to your Web page, follow these steps:

Choose Insert, Page Effects, IE Page Transitions from the main menu. An IE Page Transitions icon drops into the Page Effects pane, and the IE Page Transitions Properties dialog box appears.

For the transition that kicks in when the visitor enters your page, choose a transition effect from the Enter Effect list.

Specify the speed of the Page Enter transition in the Enter Time list.

Use the Exit Effect drop-down menu to declare the effect you want to have kick in when the page is exited.

Specify the speed of the Page Exit transition in the Exit Time list.

Click OK to save the effect. The IE Page Transitions icon in the Page Effects pane stores your effect settings.

You can choose among over 25 page transitions. In trying to decide which ones look best, experiment. To do so, double-click an icon in the Page Effects pane to display the IE Page Transitions Properties dialog box. Choose a different transition effect, and click OK. Then preview the page by pressing F12. Repeat for as many of these transitions as you wish.

In Microsoft Money, one way to take some of the tedium out of setting budget goals is to click the Autobudget link in the Enter Your Income window and the Enter Your Expenses window. An Autobudget is a bit like the 1040EZ tax form: It does the job as long as your finances are not particularly complicated and you don't have a lot of categories to budget for.

When you click the Autobudget link, you see the Autobudget dialog box. The dialog box analyzes your past spending and lists the amounts that it thinks you should spend in most of your categories. Autobudget doesn't work, however, if you haven't entered at least a month's worth of transactions.

To enter new budget goals quickly, get the numbers from the Autobodget dialog box. To do that, click the Clear All button, select the check box next to each category and subcategory that you want to enter in your budget, and then click OK. The numbers from the Autobudget dialog box are transferred to the Enter Your Income and the Enter Your Expenses windows.

In the old days, hard drives were large and couldn't fit into the computer case. Many hard drives were external, out of necessity. Then drives started getting compact, and storing them inside the computer case became the norm. With the advent of FireWire and USB 2.0, drives are crawling back out of the computer case. External drives can be found on any computer retailer's shelves. The price for an external drive ranges from $150 to $400, depending on its capacity.

The interest in external drives is driven by two primary reasons: easy backups and easy data transfer.

As the amount of data on a typical PC gets larger, the ease of doing backups -- even on CDs -- gets harder. CDs can handle just over 600MB of data, but most hard drives are now at 40GB or more. That's a lot of CDs to use for backup!

An easier and faster solution is to use an external hard drive. Plug it in -- normally via a USB or FireWire cable -- and Windows XP recognizes it as just another hard drive. You can copy your files to the hard drive, unplug it, and store it in a safe place. The process is much faster than using either CD or DVD solutions.

Recognizing that external hard drives are being used for backups, Maxtor recently came out with a line of external drives geared toward doing them. The drives have a capacity of anywhere from 160GB to 350GB. (That's a lot of data.) The drive enclosure even has a button that can be programmed to do the backup for you. Plug in the drive, push the button, and the backup automatically occurs. Pretty cool!

Regarding data transfer, suppose that you work part time at an office and the rest of the time at a client's location -- or even at home. If you work on the same projects in both places, synchronizing data between locations quickly becomes a big chore.

The solution is an external drive. If you store your data on the external drive, you can take it with you and plug it into all the systems. When you do, the data is immediately available and ready to use.

One way to move or copy a block of text in Word is to use the F2 key after you select the block. This can be very handy, but it works best if you're copying or cutting and pasting immediately. If you need to copy, work, and then paste later, use Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V. Otherwise the F2 key works like this:

Select a block of text.

Press the F2 key.

Notice how the status bar says, "Move to where?"

Move the toothpick cursor to where you want to paste the text.

Press Enter to paste the text.

To copy a block instead of move, press Shift+F2 in Step 2.

If you select a chunk of text with the mouse before Step 4, the block you're pasting will replace that chunk of text.

The Excel AutoFormat feature applies attractive formatting to a table automatically. To use AutoFormat, follow these steps.

Move the cell pointer anywhere within a table that you want to format. (Excel determines the table's boundaries automatically.)

Choose Format, AutoFormat.

Excel responds by opening its AutoFormat dialog box.

Select one of the 17 AutoFormats from the list, and click OK.

Excel formats the table using the selected AutoFormat.

If you attempt to apply an AutoFormat in a cell where all the surrounding cells are blank, Excel displays an error message.

You can't define your own AutoFormats, but you can control the type of formatting that Excel applies. If you click the Options button in the AutoFormat dialog box, the dialog box expands to show six options.

Initially, the six check boxes are all selected, which means that Excel applies formatting from all six categories. To skip one or more categories, just deselect the appropriate check boxes by clicking them before you click OK.

Even though you delete items from your Outlook 2000 folders and clear out the Deleted Items folders, your Personal Folder file can continue to grow. The reason is that Outlook doesn't automatically recover the space that was used by items that you've deleted. You must tell Outlook to compact your Personal Folder file to recover that space.

To compact your Personal Folder file, follow these steps:

Select Tools, Services to display the Services dialog box.

Select Personal Folders from the list of services.

Click the Properties button to display the Personal Folders dialog box.

Click the Compact Now button to remove the wasted space.

If you haven't selected this option for some time, you may have to wait a few minutes for the task to complete.

Click OK to close the Personal Folders dialog box.

Click OK to close the Services dialog box.

Be sure to compact your Personal Folder file regularly -- especially if you've just eliminated a lot of old files from your Outlook folders.

Text files are much more efficient for computers to store and transmit across the network than graphics files. Why? Text is very tightly coded; you can fill a typical Web page with solid text using about 1,500 characters, which can be represented in 1,500 bytes, or 1.5KB, of space. Graphics, on the other hand, require a lot of storage. An uncompressed full-page, full-color image takes up about 1.5MB of space -- roughly 1,000 times more space.

In order to transmit quickly, the best Web graphics are small in size and then compressed even further -- mainly by using fewer colors. Graphics packages such as Adobe Photoshop allow you to save images in a compressed format, with a smaller number of colors used to convey almost all the original image. That's why some Web images are too small and have jaggy edges.