Announcements

Lots of stuff / updates today!

# 1 Your Questions

I wanted to put in a reminder about asking questions. If you send a Windows question to us, we will read it and consider it for the Computers 101 section below. However, we simply can't answer all the questions with personal responses (we now get between 100-150 a DAY).

Don't worry though, I'm not leaving you out in the cold. If you have a question, try searching our message board. There are over 40,000 posts, so there's info on just about any computer topic you can imagine.

However, if you can't find your answer by searching, hit the New Topic link at the top of the board and post your question. There are lots of fantastic people on the board who are always trying to help.

Of course, a big Thank You to all of the folks who take time to answer questions on the board :-) Here's the link:

http://www.worldstart.com/ctmb.htm

# 2 More XP Compatibility

The other day we had a tip on XP compatibility for older programs. One part of that tip was how to trick stubborn older programs into installing on XP.

Well Daniel, one of our readers, reminded me of way we didn't discuss. If you hit the Start button, All Programs, Accessories, you should see a Compatibility Wizard. Go through the wizard if you have a program on a CD that just isn't installing. There's an option in the wizard for tricking the setup program into thinking it's on an older version of Windows. It's actually easier than finding the Setup.exe program and setting up compatibility by going into its properties screen (described in Monday's tip).

As for regular programs, I still like to set up compatibility for them through the Start menu, All Programs and doing the right-click thing.

If you are running XP and want to see the original tip, head to:

http://www.worldstart.com/tips/xpcompatibility.htm

# 3 And Finally -

Take a look at the sidebar on the left. We've added a bunch of new titles!

Speaking of new titles, check out all the new stuff in our online store at:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/newtitles.htm

Oh, and there's new stuff in the Bargain Bin. All titles on that page below are only $3.97-$7.97 and include FREE Shipping!

http://www.worldstart.com/store/bargainbin.htm

Computers 101

Q:
How do I hide my Taskbar?

A:
I forgot to mention this in our taskbar discussion yesterday.

Right-click any blank area on your taskbar (your taskbar is what your Start button sits on) and select "Properties" from the menu that pops up. Select "Autohide" or "Auto-hide taskbar" from the resulting screen.

Now, your taskbar will disappear when you move your mouse away from it and re-appear when you bring your mouse back. And that's not the only "autohide" trick today!

Tip of the Day

Full Screen Fun

Web Link - http://www.worldstart.com/tips/iefullscreen.htm

If you would like to see more web page and less MS Internet Explorer toolbars, here's a little trick you'll like. Hit the F11 key. It will put you into "full screen" mode. Hit F11 again to go back to normal mode.

OK, many of you are sitting there thinking, yeah, I know all about that one. Well, here's a bonus!

One complaint people tend to have with full screen mode is that you don't have stuff like your address or menu bar. Well, in this case, you can actually have your digital cake and eat it too!

Just right-click a blank area of the toolbar. A menu will pop up that lets you add your address bar, menu bar, and any other Explorer bars you feel the need to have.

Since it's in full screen mode, you won't be able to squeeze too many of these extra little bars in, but at least you can get the essentials.

The above is all well and good, but what if you want even less Explorer toolbar at the top of your page?

Easy - right-click the toolbar and select Autohide from the resulting menu (same one as mentioned above). Now, when you move your mouse away, the toolbar disappears. Move your mouse back to the top and the toolbar re-appears. Kind of like magic - only since it's from Microsoft, there's a few more bugs...

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Personality Test

Try Colorgenics, a personality test based on color. You choose colored cubes in the order of your preference, with the one you are most drawn to first until there are no cubes left. This determines your personality traits based on color. After you are done choosing it generates a personal profile made just for you based on your choices. I was surprised how easily it applied to what's going on in my life, and it only takes about 5 minutes of your time. For some easy fun check out Colorgenics.

http://www.colorgenics.com/

Do you have a cool site that you want to share? Send it to Amanda! Here's her address:

amanda@worldstart.com

Oh, and we're looking for non-commercial sites. We generally don't run sites that are strictly for shopping.