Announcements

XP Comments

We've been getting a lot of (OK, maybe not "a lot" but enough) mail from people who say I'm ignoring everything but Windows XP lately. Well, the screen shots may be from an XP computer, but if you go through the tips, you'll find that 95% of them are for all versions of windows - don't let the pictures fool you!

I normally try not to run more than one "XP Only" tip a week. All the tips tend to mention XP frequently because XP users have to jump through different hoops than users of previous versions of Windows.

So, sorry for any confusion :-)

Message Board

I thought today would be a good day to remind everyone to check out our free message board at:

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

It's the best way to find a solution to your computing problem. If you want to send us your computer questions, remember we can't personally answer them (we get over 100 a day), but we do consider them for the newsletter.

Computers 101

Q:
What is "Safe mode"?

A:
Safe mode is a Windows maintenance mode where only the bare minimum of drivers are loaded. You don't have access to CD ROMs, printers, or other non-essential devices.

It's helpful to use this mode when you are having problems with your PC. For example, maybe you just installed an awesome new video card, but in all the excitement loaded the wrong driver for it. This in turn caused your video display under windows to be non-existant. If you go into Safe mode, you can fix it.

I also use it to help find problems with programs. If I get lots of "illegal operation" messages, I try running the program in safe mode to see if the program itself is the problem. If the program runs fine in safe mode, I can assume I have another program or driver that's interfering with the program's operation and causing the error. (Note that not all software runs in Safe mode - especially more robust programs, but it's still worth a shot).

To get to Safe mode, press the F8 key when Windows starts to boot. You have to do this BEFORE you see the first "Windows" screen. I start tapping away at mine when as soon as I get by the BIOS startup screen or the manufacturer's splash screen. Experiment and you'll get it.

Tip of the Day

Expanding Explorer Menus

Web link - http://www.worldstart.com/tips/expandingexplorer.htm

Newer versions of Internet Explorer use a Favorites menu that "remembers" the sites you visit the most. So, when you click your Favorites menu, you may only see 5 or 6 of your favorite sites and need to click the little double-"V" looking thing (see picture below) at the bottom of the menu in order to see the rest.

Personally, I kind of like the feature, but I know that some people don't. So, if you want to make your favorites menu show you all your favorites all the time, here's how:

1. Open Internet Explorer and hit the Tools menu, Internet Options.

2. Click the Advanced tab and look for an entry called "Enable Personalized Favorites Menu". Just uncheck it and your Favorites menu should go back to showing you everything.

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Movie Mistakes

Have you ever been curious what mistakes were made in a particular movie? Do you enjoy bloopers? I know I do. That’s why I found this site fun to visit. Over 12580 mistakes from 1762 films are on the site for you to read about and enjoy. Here’s an example off their top films list:

Titanic (Insert swelling, dramatic music here)

Mistake: When the old Rose is shown at her house, she has three fish in the fish bowl. When she arrives at the place where they are exploring the Titanic, she unloads her fish bowl, which now has five fish.

Interested in what else is there to discover? Check it out.

http://www.movie-mistakes.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.