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COMPUTER TERMS

The difference between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
What’s the difference between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer?

A:
Actually, nothing. It’s a program with a split-personality. The Internet Explorer side of the program is for surfing the web. The Windows Explorer side is used for exploring the files, folders, drives, and directories on your computer.

What’s cool about it is they work very much the same manner. For example, click the Back button on Internet… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Computer Terms, Windows Explorer |

MS WORD

Stop the Open/Close Madness
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Stop the Open/Close Madness

You’re working in, oh, let’s say, MS Word and you need to switch to a new document.

Tell me. Do you close MS Word, saving the current file, and then open Word all over again? Are you one of the many people I see everyday who spends an unbelievable amount of time opening and closing the same files and programs over and over again?

Hopefully that’s… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Word |

MS OFFICE HELP

Landscaping in October?
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Landscaping in October?

Ever have a file that you wanted to print on the paper sideways or “landscape”? Not sure how to set landscape printing? Would you like to know? (Not a bad idea to to find out because even if you don’t need it now, it could come in handy in the future.)

If you’re in an MS Office Suite program, then you’re going to need to go to… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Office Help |

MS WORD

Working With Multiple Files In MS Word Simultaneously
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Working With Multiple Files In MS Word Simultaneously

So, here you are feverishly working on several different MS Word files trying to read, copy / paste and type all at once.

You’re in file A, read a few lines, flip over to file B and type. Now over to file C, copy a paragraph, back to file B and now paste. Back to file A for another copy. Return to… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Word |

MS WORD

Seeing Blue
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Seeing Blue

Are you one of the many people who find it easier to read light printing on a dark background?

Would you like to see the “light” in MS Word?

Word has the option of setting your screen to display a blue background with white lettering!

And I don’t mean actually changing text to white and the background to blue. No, this setting in Word that makes the color… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Word |

HARDWARE & PERIPHERALS

My mouse is acting funny
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
My mouse is acting funny. Yes, it’s one of those ancient roller-ball mouses and sometimes I have to move it a few inches before the cursor starts to move. Is it time for a new mouse?

I’m guessing the problem is that your mouse guts are dirty. Don’t worry, you don’t need to get in touch with some sort of computer vet to fix the little… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Hardware & Peripherals, Uncategorized |

MS OFFICE HELP

Save vs. Save As… Is There A Difference?
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Save vs. Save As… Is There A Difference?

Ever find yourself thinking that exact question when you were trying to save your work? Is there a difference?

Yes, there is, but I think you knew that. I mean, why else would they both be listed in the File menu?

Well, to put it simply, Save will save the current file under the same name in the same location. (Meaning it… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Office Help |

COMPUTER TERMS

POP3 Email
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
What is POP3 Email?

A:
POP3 means “post office protocol, version 3″. It is a protocol for getting e-mail off of a web server. If you use Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape Mail, or Eudora you’re using POP3.

Some web-based e-mail accounts use this protocol as well. I know that Hotmail and Yahoo (for a price) allow you to get your mail via POP3. AOL does not.

~… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Computer Terms, E-Mail Help |

E-MAIL HELP

Improve the Quality of Graphics in AOL
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Improve the Quality of Graphics in AOL

If you browse the web with AOL, you know that sometimes graphics just don’t look so purdy. Never fear! I’m here to show you how to turn off the built in image compression.

AOL says this image compression helps images download faster. Blah! This may be, but a typical human can’t see any significant difference in speed between having compression on vs off… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: E-Mail Help, Using The Internet |

MS EXCEL

Mouse-less Cell Formatting
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Mouse-less Cell Formatting

So, you’re working in MS Excel and you’ve got some cells to format. What do you do?

Oh, wait, I know.

You highlight the cell(s) to be formatted and then use the Format menu, Cells choice (or Ctrl + 1) to open the Format Cells window. This is followed by some “quality mouse time” spent scrolling through the choices until you find the right format.

What was… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Excel |

MS OFFICE HELP

The “Save All”
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

The “Save All”

Have you ever had several MS Word documents open at once and want to quickly save them all?

Maybe you’re going to close the program and would like to avoid the continual pop-up boxes asking you to save each document.

Or, maybe, you’re going to walk away from your computer for a few minutes and would like to quickly save everything “just in case”. You know how… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Office Help |

FILE & DISK MANAGEMENT

Make Your Own Document Shortcuts
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

They often call me the “Hotkey Master” around here because I like to use keyboard shortcuts. Well, I found out something cool in Windows Vista and XP—I can create my own document short cuts! I have a few files that I’m always using and having hotkeys for my shortcuts is a real time saver.

First thing to do is create a shortcut on your desktop. Bring the… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: File & Disk Management, Shortcuts & Keyboard Tricks |

MS WORD

Above The Table
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Above The Table

Have you ever created a table in MS Word at the beginning of the document only to find that it was a mistake? Since you began this document you’ve re-thought the layout and some text just has to go above that table.

But, of course, you’re learning the hard way that MS Word isn’t going to easily cooperate.

Every time you try to get to the top… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Word |

MS WORD

Creating Custom Shortcut Keys In MS Word
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Creating Custom Shortcut Keys In MS Word

Are you a keyboard enthusiast who finds yourself constantly wishing you had a shortcut key combination for one thing or another? Maybe a keyboard combination for the “Save All” trick from Tuesday’s newsletter?

If your answer is “Yes!” and you’re a Word user then this is a tip for you. (I tried this in Excel and PowerPoint and couldn’t find it—but it’s still… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Word |

MS OFFICE HELP

Take a look at the command just above Save All…
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Let’s take a quick minute to expand on last Tuesday’s (11-2-04) “Save All” tip.

Last week we discussed that when you hold the Shift key down and go to the File menu you get a new command on the menu, “Save All”.

Take a look at the command just above Save All…

See it?

Close All works pretty much like you’d expect. It will close all open… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Office Help |

MS EXCEL

Three Key Range Highlighting in MS Excel
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Office Tip of the Day

Three Key Range Highlighting in MS Excel

Have you ever found yourself playing the highlighting game in MS Excel? You know, where you’re trying to highlight with the mouse and find the file flying by creating incredibly huge highlighted areas?

Many of you may know lots of keyboard tricks for highlighting using the Shift key combined with the arrows, Page Up, Page Down, Home and… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Excel |

FILE & DISK MANAGEMENT

How to Empty My Recent Documents
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
In Windows XP, is there a way to empty “My Recent Documents” or to just get rid of it ?

A:
“My Recent Documents” holds the last 15 items that you opened. You can delete individual items in the usual manner (Right-click then choose “Delete”), but the number stays at fifteen. That’s because the contents are in a hidden file called “Recent” that is… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: File & Disk Management, Windows Explorer |

MS OFFICE HELP

The Mouse-less Right Click
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

The Mouse-less Right Click

There are many people who are new to the right click menus that my tips are always referring to.

These right clicks are great for everyone who’s comfortable with the mouse. And many people aren’t even remotely interested in trying to remember all the key combinations necessary to replace all the stuff the that right click can do.

But what about the rest of you? The… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: MS Office Help |

FILE & DISK MANAGEMENT

Hitting the Target
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Have you ever needed to get at a program’s folder? Usually, it involves opening Windows Explorer , then the Program Files folder, then sifting around through all the sub-folders until you find what you’re looking for. Heck, even then you sometimes have to sort through more sub-folder before you actually get to where you want to go.

There’s gotta be a better way, right?… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: File & Disk Management, Windows Explorer |

SYSTEM TUNE-UP HELP

Over-Clocking
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by Andrew

What is Over-Clocking? Find out here! Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: System Tune-Up Help |

DESKTOP ENHANCEMENT

Adding Shortcuts to the Taskbar
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Adding Shortcuts to the Taskbar

I know, this is kind of a basic tip for you long time Windows users, but we’ve been getting a lot of questions on this lately. So, if you want to add icons to your taskbar – or make the ones you already have on it bigger, read on!

OK, first we’ll talk about getting the icons there in the first place. By… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Desktop Enhancement, Shortcuts & Keyboard Tricks |

DESKTOP ENHANCEMENT

Change Your Search Companion
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Change Your Search Companion

If you search for a file in XP you’ll notice the little dog at the bottom. Rover is there to help you sniff out files you need. Well, what if you don’t want him sniffing around? Maybe you’re a cat person. Did you know you can change the Search Companion? Here’s how…

Go to Start/Search and click “Change Preferences”. If you don’t want any character, choose… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Desktop Enhancement, File & Disk Management |

FILE & DISK MANAGEMENT

Find that File
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
HELP! I lost a file and now I can’t find it!

A:
So, you’ve misplaced a file. It’s easier to find than you think.

Click the Start button and select Find or Search . A screen will open up that allows you to search for files. (If you’re in Windows Vista the Search Box is directly above the Start… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: File & Disk Management |

PRINTING HELP

Save Color Ink: Print in Grayscale
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Save Color Ink: Print in Grayscale

Printing is expensive, especially when you’re printing out web pages and such because there is so much color ink involved.

Well, if you don’t mind black & white, you should be able to set your printer to print in either a grayscale or B&W mode by default. You can later turn this option off if you decide you need a document printed in color.… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Printing Help |

FILE & DISK MANAGEMENT

Hidden Files
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Hidden Files

Windows is keeping something from you. It’s for your own good that Hidden Files exist, but should you ever need to access them, then this tip is for you!

In Windows XP it’s as simple as opening the folder in question and going to Tools>Folder Options. Once there, click the View tab and select the little dot next to Show Hidden Files. That oughta do… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: File & Disk Management |

MULTIMEDIA

Can’t hear sounds on some sites
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
I can hear instrumental music on websites, but on other sites that have sounds I don’t hear anything. Is there some way to fix this?

A:
Most instrumental music on web pages are MIDI files while other sounds like “You’ve got mail!” are usually WAV files. Rather than representing musical sound directly, MIDI files transmit information about how a song should sound that is then processed by… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: Multimedia |

E-MAIL HELP

More Color Options for Email
Monday, November 15th, 2004 by

Q:
I would like to use different colors to highlight my email, but I seem limited to the 16 colors listed. Is there a way to get more colors?

A:
If you are using Outlook Express in “Rich Text (HTML)” mode, then you can change the font color by clicking the “A” in the message toolbar and choosing one of the sixteen colors listed, BUT… you can easily… Continue reading

Comments | Filed under: E-Mail Help |

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