Q:
When my printer prints, I get black streaks across the words. What’s causing this?
A:
Sounds like your printer’s ink jet heads need cleaning. Now the procedure for this varies from printer to printer. Some printers (HP) have the ink jet nozzles built into the ink cartridge. Remove the cartridges and wipe their little bottoms with a soft, lint-free cloth. Make sure you clean both the color… Continue reading
Get Your Money’s Worth
We often mention various Windows tools only get emails from readers who say those tools are missing. Many times this happens because the feature is not installed (for instance Task Manager in XP—see 8/4/04 ). Especially if your system came with the OS already on it, you might not have all the tools and toys available.
What to do?
Go to Control Panel… Continue reading
Q:
I installed a pop-up blocker, but now I can’t get my web-based email. Do I need to uninstall the program?
A:
This is one of those cases of something working “too good”. A popup blocker kills any javascript that tries to open, and will prevent new windows from opening, for instance, when you click on a link that comes up in a new window. Sometimes it can… Continue reading
If you would like to see more web page and less web browser 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. This works in both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
OK, many of you are sitting there thinking, yeah, I know all about that one. Well, here’s a… Continue reading
Q:
My firewall keeps telling me that someone is trying to get into my computer, but all it shows are a bunch of numbers. Is there a way to find out who this is?
A:
This digital trick is actually pretty easy to pull off:
For Windows Xp users:
1. Hit the Start Button / Run . Type… Continue reading
Scanning Resolution
So, you have a photo and want to scan it. Well, what resolution should you scan it at?
Depends.
If the photo is just for your computer, e-mail, or the web, then 72 DPI (Dots Per Inch) would be just fine. (72 DPI is kind of the “standard” resolution for computer images). If you scan it too high (say 600 DPI), you’ll end up having an image that’s… Continue reading
Q:
How do I add a picture to an email (not as an attachment)?
A:
First, you should make your picture a manageable size. More info on this can be found at our website…
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/41
Here’s how to insert pictures with Outlook Express (Thunderbird & Netscape Mail info is below)
1. First, Create a new message and make sure that you have Format set to… Continue reading
Win XP Time Travel
Have you ever made a change to your computer that messed everything up? A great feature of Windows XP is System Restore. You can go back to a previous setup without losing your documents, jpegs, emails, or other files. It keeps track of changes in your system and automatically creates what are called “restore points”. These points allow you to travel back in time to when… Continue reading
Q:
What does it mean to Partition your hard drive?
A:
When you partition something in a computer, you divide it into isolated sections. For the most part, when you’re talking about partitions, you’re talking about hard drive partitions, so we’ll take a closer look at those.
First off, when you partition a drive, each partition will act as an… Continue reading
Windows XP can automatically update itself. That means any time you go online it will look for any new Hotfixes that you might need. But, what if you don’t want more control over the updating? Maybe you want to see what the hotfix does before you install it. Guess what? You can.
Right-click “My Computer” and choose “Properties“. Click on the “Automatic Updates” tab. There you’ll find… Continue reading
