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Drag and drop ~ Copy & Paste ~ Insert Key ~ Capitals ~ Broadband Troubleshooting ~ Administrator Rights ~ Webmail Address
Print Queue Clearing ~ How to Printscreen ~ Search only one folder ~ Cookies ~ Downloading, Uploading & Installing
Pictures not displaying ~ Backups ~ Breaking in a new PC ~ Common File Formats These tips are primarily for XP users – some tips will work the same in Vista but some will not. There is such a thing as trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’. What I will cover in these tips and tricks are
the more common ones I come across from my clients. But there are much better and more encompassing
tutorials on the net. One that I have been subscribing to for well over five years is www.worldstart.com. I have been receiving Steve’s ‘Just for Grins’ and ‘Computer Tips’ Newsletter every day and most always
find something to add to my knowledge. I would recommend signing up to the newsletter from Worldstart.
I can say from personal experience that unsubscribing (if you don’t like it) is easy, and I have not been
spammed (electronic junk mail) because of it. If you go to the Computer Tips Main Page, there are lots of
tips listed by category or you can search the tips for the one you want. The tips are sent by email and
they also have links for video tips. Another good resource is ‘The Computer Lady’. Her site is at www.asktcl.com. I have been receiving her
weekly emails for probably as long as the Worldstart one. There are lots of Windows and Computer
Tutorial sites out there, but these are just two of my favourites. More will be added as questions come in 
What the blazes is ‘drag and drop? This refers to an action made with the mouse where you click on the file you want to move and while holding down the mouse button, drag the file to where you want it (usually another folder) and then
‘drop it’, or let go of the mouse button.
Okay, so whats ‘copy and paste’ then? Copy and paste is when you want to make a copy of a file or folder to put somewhere else. You can
copy the file/folder a number of ways. These are universal in the Windows Operating system and many
other programs.
To copy...
1)
Right-click the icon (of
the file/folder you want to copy) and click copy (on the submenu) 2)
Click first on the file/folder (to select it) then click ‘Edit’ on the menu at the top of
the screen then click copy 3)
Click first on the file/folder (to select it) then hold down the Control
Key and push the ‘C’
key (Control+C) Then you will need to open the folder you wish to
paste the file/folder to. Then you need to paste
the file. There are a number of ways to do this also.
To paste...
1)
Right-click the white space in the folder and choose paste (on the
submenu) 2)
Click ‘Edit’ on the menu at the top of the screen then click paste 3)
Hold down the Control Key and push the ‘V’
key (Control+V) Sounds complicated but it’s a concept rather than a rule. Once you understand the concept, copying and
pasting becomes second nature. Many of us copy (or cut) and paste using the same method. Windows
gives a number of options for doing many basic tasks, you just end up using the one that works best for
you.
 to download a white A4 printable version of this tip
to download a Tutorial - a self running .exe file I made which shows you step by
step how to Cut & Paste and Copy & Paste
Help! when I type, the characters type over each other  Life is full of little annoyances, and the insert key is one of them. Word 2003 has a pesky habit of flipping
to overtype mode when we’re not looking. This is caused by an inadvertent touch of the Insert key on
the keyboard. So just hit the Insert key again to go back to insert mode and you’re away. Help! all the letters are in capitals You’ve hit the CAPS LOCK KEY. Just tap the ‘caps lock key’ again to unlock.
Why won’t the numbers on my keypad work Long story short, hit the ‘Numlock’ key.
Broadband – simple troubleshooting Try…turning your modem/router off for 30 seconds then turn it back on. Make sure all the lights come up. Power, ADSL, PPP should all be solid, the Ethernet light should blink. Try…restarting your computer Check…all the cables are plugged in Check…if you have dialup still installed (a very good idea) check your ISP’s (the people you pay for your
broadband) website to see if there are any problems on the network. Sometimes only the broadband goes down (ie stops working) and some ISP’s give you a free dialup account with your broadband. This
way you can at least get online to check your mail and check the ISP network status Phone…your ISP, check if there are any problems on the network. Choose the options for the technical
helpdesk. TOP
Is there an easy way to tell if I have Administrator rights or not? The quick and easy way is to 1) Right click on your Start button 2) If ‘Open all users’ and ’Explore all users’ appears in the menu, then you are an administrator of
that machine. If you just see Open, you're signed in under a limited account. For more advanced users… Microsoft Windows Vista 1. Click on the Start button. 2. Select Control Panel. 3. Make sure your Control Panel window is in Classic View. 4. In the Control Panel window, double click on User Accounts. 5. You will see information about your account in the window.: 6. On the right of the User Accounts window, you should see your account name, account icon
and a description listed. 7. If the word "Administrator" is in your account's description, then you are an administrator. If
you see "Standard user," then you are not an administrator and will need to log in as a different
user. Microsoft Windows XP 1. Click on the Start button. 2. Select Control Panel. 3. In the Control Panel window, double click on the User Accounts icon. 4. In the lower half of the User Accounts window (under the "or pick an account to change" heading),
find your user account. 5. If the words "Computer administrator" are in your account's description, then you are an
administrator. If you see "Limited user," then you are not an administrator and will need to log in
as a different user.
to download a printable version of this tip Webmail Address Never use your personal email address for subscribing to online newsletters or competitions. Always use
a ‘webmail’ address. There are hundreds of sites with free webmail, among the most common are
hotmail, yahoo, and gmail. I find that hotmail and yahoo have a number of issues so I personally use
gmail. It has one of the largest inboxes (2GB) – that means it will hold a TON of emails before throwing
out ‘inbox full’ errors to your friends and family. And it has lots of other features as well. Have a look at http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about.html for a rundown. For most, simply choose a username and a password, (sometimes you will presented with another form)
fill in the boxes and submit. And you’re away. And if you use it on a regular basis, you can even add the
account to your email program so that your webmail is downloaded to your computer (saves the hassle
of going to the site to look at your mail). This can be useful depending on your use of the webmail
address. If you get spammed (the email equivalent of junkmail) you can just close the webmail account
and open another. Easy. You can also use your gmail account as an interim backup. Just send yourself an email and leave it in your
Inbox, or you can even use it to transfer data between two computers in your house. If the other computer
doesn’t have a usb port just send an email from the computer you’re on, then go to the other computer
and download it to that computer. Isn’t technology wonderful?
to download a printable version of this tip
Printer Queue Clearing If you’ve been trying to print a document and have had errors etc, it’s likely that you’ve ended up with
rather a long print queue with a number of documents not printed. This is how to clear the print queue.
If the printer icon is in the System Tray (down where your clock is) (double)-click to open it, if not, click
on Start, Printers & Faxes, then
double-click on the icon of the printer that is jammed. Once open, click
on the document you want to clear, click Document, then click cancel. When the box comes up asking you
if you’re sure, click Yes. It might take a few goes to get it to release the file.
How to Printscreen Give a technician or repairman a printscreen of your error and he’ll love you forever. This doesn’t work
if you have the dreaded ‘blue-screen-of-death’ but will work for just about everything else (unless your
computer has frozen). When the error appears on your screen DO NOTHING! to make the error go away,
but IMMEDIATELY, hit the Printscreen button (just above the Insert key or to the right of the F12 key) and
then open a Word document or Image program and paste into the program. Save as usual. Save the file to
a pendrive or to your desktop and tell the technician where it is so he can have a look at it.
to download a Tutorial - a self running .exe file I made which shows you step by
step how to do a Printscreen
How to search just one folder If you have a file that you know is in a certain folder, but there is a vast number of documents in that
folder as well, it can be a real pain to find just the one you want. A quick alternative is to right-click the
folder that the file is in and click ‘Search’. Input your search terms as usual and Windows will search only
that folder for that file (not your entire hard drive).
Cookies - What are cookies used for, and is it OK to delete them?
Cookies are small text files that a website can leave on your computer for future reference. For the most
part, these cookies are used to remember login information, what you put in your shopping cart, or what
your preferences are. You will not hurt anything by deleting your cookies, but you might notice that you
will have to log in again at many websites that used to remember who you are.
You can easily delete your cookies by clicking on "Tools" and "Internet Options" from your Internet Explorer
window. Click on the "General" tab and then click the button that says "Delete Cookies", or tick the
Cookies box when you run CCleaner. Whats the difference between Downloading, Uploading and Installing? Here's a blow by blow: Downloading - This is moving a file that's on the Internet onto your computer. For most of us,
downloading is just a matter of clicking a download link on a web site and saving the file to disk. Uploading - This is the opposite of downloading. With uploading, you take a file from your computer and
send it to a computer on the internet. Often this is done with an FTP client, but some web sites you'll
come across will allow you to send files to them with your web browser. Sending email is a form of
uploading. (When you receive messages you are 'downloading' but when you send messages you are
'uploading') Installing - This is often confused with downloading, but it's a different animal. When you install something,
you basically "put" the program on your computer so you can use it. Normally this is done via a setup
program or "wizard" to make installation easy. Once you're finished installing a program, you can usually run
it from your Start Menu. TOP
Why are some of my images showing up as a red x when I try to view them?
 Reason 1 Your anti-virus or firewall might be set to disable web bugs. What is a web bug, you ask? Nothing
important; just a teeny, tiny image used for statistic tracking on websites. Sometimes this setting
prevents other images from being shown. How you fix it: Go into your anti-virus settings and look for a setting called “Disable Web Bugs” and uncheck it. Not all
anti-virus programs have it, mind you, so you might have to explore a bit!! Reason 2 Your Internet Explorer security settings are set too high. How you fix it: In Internet Explorer go to Tools>Internet Options and then click on the Security Tab. From there, take a
look and see what your security level is set to. Medium-High, allows for most things. Gauge how you use
the Internet and where you go to adjust this accordingly. Reason 3 Windows XP Service Pack 2 introduced a feature called “Block images and other external content in HTML
e-mail” This is a big one, and since it's automatically turned on in programs like Outlook Express, it's
probably the most common. How you fix it: For Outlook and Outlook Express you can fix this by clicking the info bar at the top of the message body.
This is just a per-message thing, however. If you want a more permanent solution, click on Tools>Options>
Security, and then uncheck the “Block images and other external content” check box. Click OK, and revel
in visual amazement!
to download a printable version of this tip Backups The general rule I use is….. If your computer crashed today, what do you have on there that you couldn’t afford to/wouldn’t want
to lose? Usually, this gets people thinking about the things on their computer that are most important to them.
Family photos, bank documents, hobby programs, emails from friends and family, databases, music,
movies and information.
Next, I ask questions about how you use your computer.
Do you visit a lot of websites and have a large file of bookmarks?
Do you take digital photos and store them on your computer?
Do you purchase music online?
Do you have a lot of emails and email addresses on your computer?
Do you create Word documents or Excel spreadsheets?
Once you have thought about these questions and identified what files on your computer are important
enough to be backed up, you will need to figure out where those files are located.
Most of your documents, pictures and music should be located in your "My Documents" folder if you are
using Windows XP or earlier operating systems.
If you are using Windows Vista, the folder structure is a little bit different. All your data is located in your
user folder. Your documents, pictures and music are located in the "Documents" folder. If you want to
view these folders, just click on start, then click on your user name located at the top of the right column.
Most of the time, you will want to backup your, "My Documents" folder in XP or your "Documents", and
other folders in Vista. An easy way to select files is just to backup your entire user folder.
If you want to save your internet favorites and are using Internet Explorer, the favorites folder is located
in your user folder along with your Documents and other folders.
Once you have located the files that are important to you, all you need to do is back them up. There are
backup programs to automate the process or you can do it manually. Devices to backup onto include, disk, pendrive, external hard drive or online (internet) storage.
Breaking in a new PC
So,
you’ve bitten the bullet and bought a new PC huh? What fun! But not if it’s
trashed by viruses or
trojans and doesn’t have all YOUR
stuff on it. What to do? Read on…
If you’re changing operating systems, is your new computers operating system
compatible with all your
hardware and software? Hopefully you
investigated this before buying your new PC.
This can be a time consuming and often frustrating process so don’t expect
it to happen in half an hour.
A lot of people don’t realize it’s not as easy as they think. There can be a
number of pitfalls from
incompatible software and operating systems, to no current drivers for your
hardware, to conflicts
between software and hardware. Be patient and prepared. A Checklist is at
the bottom of this article.
- o
0 o -
Is there anything you want from your old PC?
Do you want any of the programs or data?
Data is…movies, photos, documents, videos, favourites etc.
Programs are…Microsoft Office, Photoshop, accounting software like MYOB or
Microsoft Money,
shareware such as Winzip or Freeware such as Irfanview.
Have a look through your old PC for any data or programs that you may want
on your new PC.
Data transfer is relatively easy, however there are a few pitfalls. In most
cases you can simply burn the
data to a CD/DVD or copy to a
pendrive which you can then put into your new PC and copy over. If you
have large amounts of data on a
computer less than five years old, you can use a portable drive.
Note** older computers may detect a
large (e.g. 60GB) drive, but will not load it up, so they can’t be
used.
But as for your programs, you’ll need the original disk or the original
install file that you have backed up
onto disk or pendrive for just such
an occasion (haven’t you?) You cannot “reverse engineer’ software
by copying the ‘Program Files’ folder
– it just doesn’t work that way. You NEED the original disk or install
file with the product key or serial
number. (Some programs need a key or serial…some don’t)
If you're giving your old PC away and formatting the hard drive (wiping the
hard drive), then this is your
last chance to get that data or
program install file. Be very careful with your transfers because once the
format is done, that’s it. If you
backup your program install files and data with clearly marked labels on
CD’s,
then you won’t face problems down the
road. Personally I would recommend keeping your old PC for a
few months, even running the two
together (if you can) just in case there’s any obscure program you
haven’t remembered but can’t do
without.
You should also check your backups to make sure nothing is incomplete or
corrupt. Finding out that the
‘burn’ failed when you’ve already
given away/sold/formatted your old PC is one of those you moments
you never want to experience
first-hand.
There are other things to consider…
Hardware
You will also need to install all your hardware on the new computer. i.e.
your broadband modem, printer,
camera, scanner… you will need the
install disks or drivers for every item of hardware you are going to
connect to your new PC.
Internet and email access
After installing your broadband modem, you will need to configure your
internet access and once you’ve
decided what email client (program)
you’re going to use, you’ll need to configure it with your email address
etc. If you are changing from Outlook
Express to Windows Mail or another mail program you will need to
check you can ‘export’ your Address
Book into the new program otherwise you will be typing in your
hundreds of email addresses by hand.
I, personally have done that once, and I will never do it again!! A
backup is your best friend, and most
programs will let you export your address book in a format that
other programs can use.
Security
Be safe rather than sorry. Secure your new PC before you go online. If you
didn’t think about it before,
stop and think now about your
antivirus, firewall and spyware protection. If you didn’t pre-download
these programs, use another
(protected) computer to download the latest version of your software (free
or paid versions if you have paid for
a licence). Install your antivirus and spyware applications and turn
on the firewall of your choice. There
is a built-in firewall in XP and Vista as well as in your broadband
modem.
Stuff you don’t want
These new computers seem to have lots of ‘extra’s that we didn’t know we
were getting or ask for.
Like, ISP promotions (often for US
companies) and trial versions of software. If you don’t want it (and
its not crucial to a system service)
then uninstall it. You’ll get more hard drive space to work with, you
won’t have your Start Menu or Desktop
cluttered up with unused and unwanted icons, and whose computer
is it anyway?!
Note** Most if not all Vista computers sold had a trial version of Microsoft
Office 2007 installed. If you own
or bought a retail copy of Microsoft
Office 2007 DO NOT install this over top of the trial version. You
must
uninstall the trial version first.
Trust me, it gets very messy if you don’t.
Now its time for some fun…
Now you can change your desktop wallpaper, set your sound scheme, set up
your screensaver, create new
users, install your favourite games
or programs and run riot on your new PC. There’s a whole world of
possibilities and you have a new toy
to play with! Wohoo!
Checklist
1) Have all your data (music, photos etc) in one central place.
Preferably My Documents.
2) Backup your data to a pendrive, portable drive or CD/DVD. Do two
copies on different media if
you have a healthy level of paranoia.
3) Check you have installation disks or backup copies of the install
files for all programs that you
want to install on your new PC, with serial numbers or product keys.
4) Check you have installation disks or drivers for all the hardware
you want to connect to your new PC.
5) Check you have your Broadband Username and Password handy to set up
your internet access.
6) Check you have your Email Username, Email Address and Password
handy to set up your email.
7) Check you have decided on (and downloaded) your security options.
i.e. firewall and antivirus.
Install security apps, whatever you’ve chosen as soon as you have
set up your internet access.
to download a printable version of this tip
Common File Formats Sometimes a friend or relative may send you a file that your computer tells you it can’t (or won’t open).
First thing to do is check that you have a program capable of opening the file. It just may be that the file
they have sent has not been ‘associated’ with the program, so the computer doesn’t know what program
to use to display the file. Some file formats can be displayed by a ‘reader’ program even if you don’t own the full featured program.
For example, you may not have Microsoft Powerpoint installed, but you can download the Microsoft
Powerpoint Viewer which enables you to view a powerpoint slideshow. There is also a reader for Word.
Another reader program is Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing pdf files. Most users will not have the full
Adobe Acrobat Suite but will have the popular reader program. Below are some common file formats and the program that is usually used (or associated) to open them. | Text Files | | | doc | Word document | | docx | 2007 Word document | | rtf | rich text format file | | txt | plain text file | | wps | Microsoft Works Word Processor Document | | pdf | portable document format (Adobe) | | | | | Data Files | | | mdb | Microsoft Access Database | | pps | Powerpoint Slideshow | | ppt | Powerpoint Presentation | | wks | Microsoft Works Spreadsheet | | xls | Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet | | | | | Image Files | | | bmp | Bitmap Image files (icons, wallpaper) | | gif | Graphical Interchange Format Files (web buttons, animations, icons) | | jpeg/jpg | JPEG Image File (wallpaper, photos) | | png | Portable Network Graphic (photos & graphics) | | psd | Photoshop Document (graphics) | | psp | Paintshop Pro Image File (graphics) | | tiff | Tagged Imaged File (photo format) | | | | | Audio Files | | | mid/midi | Midi File | | mp3 | MP3 audio file (typical music format) | | ra/ram | Real Audio or Media File | | wav | Wave Audio File | | wma | Windows Media Audio File |
| | Video Files | | | | 3gp | 3gp Multimedia File-plays on cellphones etc | | | avi | Audio Video Interleave - common video format | | | flv | Flash Video File | | | mov | Apple Quicktime Movie File | | | mp4 | Mpeg-4 video File | | | mpeg/mpg | Motion Picture Experts Group - common video format | | | qt | Apple Quicktime Movie | | | swf | Macromedia Flash Movie | | | vob | DVD Video Object File | | | wmv | Windows Media Video File | | | | | | | System Files | | | | cur | Windows Cursor | | | lnk | File Shortcut | | | exe | Windows Executable File | | | | | | | Compressed (Archive Files) | | | | rar | WinRAR Compressed Archive | | | zip | Winzip Compressed Archive | | | | |
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