Make A Mistake? Undo It!

Make A Mistake? Undo It!
Don't worry if you've just deleted a file by accident, or erased an entire block of text. To get it back, just click on EDIT | UNDO at the top of your screen.

Save Hard Drive Space
Do you frequently forget to remove files from the Recycle Bin? If so, you're keeping a lot of junk on your computer and it's using up valuable hard drive space. You can force the Recycle Bin to only use a small percentage of your hard drive. On your desktop, right-click on the Recycle Bin and choose PROPERTIES. A scroll bar appears on the multi-tabbed dialog box which follows. Adjust it.

QuickView Utility
Do you know about the Quick View utility? It's an excellent feature of Windows that allows you to view many kinds of files without actually opening them up.
To use it, just right-click on a file and select "Quick View." Is "Quick View" not present, even for things such as Notepad text files? Maybe you did not install it. To remedy this situation, click on the "Start" button, choosing "Settings."

On the window that appears, double-click "Add/Remove Programs." On the multi-tabbed dialog box that appears, click the "Windows Setup" tab. Double-click "Accessories." Now, check "Quick View" if it isn't already. Keep clicking OK until all of the windows that you open close down. You may need to insert the original Windows disk if prompted.

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5 Steps To Keep Your PC Safe Online

There are some simple steps you can take to ensure your PC remains protected while you surf the Web. Following these tips can help protect your PC from virus, spyware and other online threats.

1. Update Windows
Microsoft regularly releases free downloads to fix security problems with Windows, Internet Explorer and other Microsoft software such as Office. Read Update Windows to find out how you can get these important updates.

2. Install A Firewall
A good firewall such as ZoneAlarm will prevent programs from accessing the Internet without your permission, and block access to your PC from intruders.

3. Check For Viruses
Malicious virus code can infect your PC’s system files and damage your important data. Read Check For Viruses which explains how to use an anti-virus program to find and remove malicious programs.

4. Remove Spyware
Spyware is malicious code that tracks your movements on the Internet and can even affect your PC's performance. Read Remove Spyware which explains how to get rid of malicious spyware and adware.

5. Browse More Safely
The latest web browsers such as Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 offer security features like pop-up blockers and phishing filters to keep you safe when visiting web sites.

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Watch As Your Computer Boots Up

In computer language, "Boot Up" simply means start up. You can watch what happens during the boot up process by pressing the Escape key on your keyboard, "Esc," just as the Microsoft Windows logo comes up.

You'll see a lot of text scrolling by. To stop the text so you can see it more closely, hit your Pause key. To continue scrolling, hit any key on your keyboard.

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Remove Spyware

Spyware tracks your movements on the Web and can affect your PC's performance. This guide explains how to protect your PC and remove spyware.

What Is Spyware?
Spyware is malicious code that infects your PC and can manifest itself as things such as unwanted browser toolbars and pop-ups, or if your browser homepage suddenly changes without your knowledge. Spyware also takes the form of tracking files that watch where you go on the web in order to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Not only is it a source of irritation but it also infringes on your privacy too.

Removing spyware is an important step in the process of cleaning unwanted files and programs from your PC, keeping it secure and fixing problems. Fortunately there are programs available to help you track down and remove these unwanted files. There are several commercial security packages that offer antispyware tools as well as other features.

Ad-Aware and Spybot are two free programs you can use to fight spyware.

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Restore A Deleted File

If you've deleted something that you wish you hadn't, it may not be too late to get it back. As long as you haven't emptied your Recycle Bin you can restore it to where it once was.

On your desktop, double click on your Recycle Bin icon. Find the file you want and click on it once to highlight it. Then, at the top of the screen, click FILE | RESTORE. The file will disappear right before your eyes.

However, if you go back to where you deleted it from, you'll find it, safe and sound.

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Add A Program To Your Desktop

Sometimes going through that START menu can be a chore. It can be easier to add a shortcut to a frequently used program to your Desktop. To accomplish this, navigate to the desired program by clicking on START | PROGRAMS | DESIRED PROGRAM.

Once there, right click on the name of the program. Choose SEND TO | DESKTOP (Create
Shortcut). An icon will be added to your desktop.

By the way, this technique will also work with other things as well. Documents or Favorites, for instance. Don't be afraid to experiment.

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Expand Your Taskbar

If you have too many programs open, you can expand the taskbar can get pretty crowded. If you need more room, carefully hold your mouse over the top of the taskbar until the cursor changes shapes. It will become a line with an arrow at both ends. Once you've got the arrows, drag your Taskbar up as far as you need to. Follow step to expand the taskbar.

Move Your Taskbar
Your Taskbar does not have to be at the bottom of your screen. You can move it anywhere you like. Hold your mouse over the Taskbar. While holding the left button down, drag it to the top or the left or right.

Using FIND
Ever forget where you placed a file? Use your FIND utility. Click on START | FIND | FILES OR FOLDERS. Type in the name of your file and search.

View All Open Programs At Once
If you'd like to view each and every open program at the same time, you can. Find an empty space on your Taskbar and right click. Choose either "Tile Windows Vertically" or "Tile Windows Horizontally."

Add A Program To Your START Menu
If you want to add a program that is on your desktop to your START menu, just drag and drop. Hold your mouse over the program icon, left click. While holding the mouse button down, drag it and drop it onto your START button. Now you can read Hide Your Taskbar after expand the taskbar.

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Keyboard Repeat Rate

When you hit the Backspace key on your keyboard and hold it down, the cursor just continues to
move until you let go of the key.

If the cursor is moving too slow, or too fast, you can change the rate. Open your Control Panel
and double click on Keyboard. Under the "Speed" tab you can increase or decrease the repeat
rate.

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Check For Viruses

Malicious virus code can infect your files and cause you to lose important data. This guide explains how to install an anti-virus program to protect your PC.

What Are Viruses?
Computer viruses are malicious programs designed to cause annoyance and even damage to computer data. They spread by infecting files and by automatically sending e-mails to everyone in your address book. There are new virus threats everyday. It is essential to take steps to protect your PC.

What Can I Do About Them?
If you suspect you already have a virus on your computer, or if you just want to keep your computer safe from the threat of viruses, there are several virus-detection programs which will scan your system and let you know if any malicious programs have been found.

There are many commercial and free anti-virus programs available on the Web, all with different features and levels of security. This tutorial uses AVG Anti-Virus.

Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
AVG Anti-Virus can be downloaded from the AVG website. Scroll down the page and click Download Free Version. Under the Windows section, click the link to download the file under AVG Free for Windows installation files. Click OK to save the file to your PC. Scroll down the page and click Download Free Version. Under the Windows section, click the link to download the file under AVG Free for Windows installation files. Click OK to save the file to your PC.

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Update Windows

Microsoft regularly releases free downloads that help fix security problems with Windows, Internet Explorer and other software including Office. This guide explains how you can get these important updates.

What is Windows Update?
The Windows Update service provides a way of checking whether your Windows operating system needs any updates.


This can include security fixes, and software and hardware updates. It is essential Windows is kept up-to-date to prevent malicious programs taking advantage of security flaws to harm your PC.

You can download and install updates by visiting the Microsoft web site, or set your PC to automatically download the files in the background while you work. Note that ‘updating’ is not the same as ‘upgrading’. To upgrade your version of Windows from an older version to XP you would need to buy a Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade package. Updating Windows only ensures that you have the latest files for your particular Windows version such as XP.

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Check Your System Resources

Do you ever get a message telling you that your system resources are low and that you should quit some programs? Annoying, isn't it? Anyway, you can keep tabs on just how much of your resources you're using by going to your desktop, right clicking on My Computer and choosing PROPERTIES.

Under the Performance tab you can view the percentage of resources you're using. If your available resources are below 40% you might want to open less programs at start up. To learn how to do that, view our start up tip.

View Your Hard Drive Space
To see how much hard drive space you've used, and more importantly, how much you have left, Windows offers you a handy pie graph.
Open up your My Computer program. Right click on [C:]. Click PROPERTIES.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Did you know that technically your mouse is a luxury? If for some reason you find yourself without a mouse, don't panic. Visit this page to learn the necessary keyboard shortcuts.

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View Your IP Address

First, what is an IP address? The technical definition goes something like this: "An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a 32-binary digit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent across the Internet.

When you request an HTML page or send e-mail, the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP includes your IP address in the information." To find out what your IP address is, click on START | RUN. Type in "WINIPCFG" without the quotes.

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Quick Minimize & Maximize

Quick Minimize & Maximize
To quickly minimize any open window, double click on its "Title Bar." Double click again to maximize.

Remove Your Speaker Icon
To save a little room, you can remove the speaker icon that resides in your system tray on the bottom right corner of your screen. Click on START | SETTINGS | CONTROL PANEL. Double-click MULTIMEDIA. Click on PROPERTIES. the box next to "Show volume control on the taskbar" so it is unchecked. Click "OK."

See How Long Windows Has Been Running
Click on START | PROGRAMS | ACCESSORIES | SYSTEM TOOLS | SYSTEM INFORMATION. In the window that pops up, look at "Uptime" on the right side. You'll see many days, hours, minutes, and seconds Windows has been running since your last restart.

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Delete Your Temporary Files

Unfortunately, many Windows files leave unnecessary files in the TEMP directory from time to time. These files may be unneeded data files, files that the program has simply "forgotten" about, or files created and not deleted due to a program's abnormal termination.

You can free up some room on your hard drive by visiting the WINDOWS\TEMP directory in your Windows Explorer and delete the files there.

Be Careful! Definitely DO NOT delete files that were created today, or yesterday... files created several weeks ago are usually safe to delete. If you are not sure which files to delete then do not worry about using this "trick" unless your drive space gets too low.

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Opening A Program With Keystrokes

Did you know you can assign certain keystrokes to open a program? This way you won't have to stop what you're doing and double click on it with your mouse. Right click on the chosen program on your desktop and select PROPERTIES. Click on the Shortcut Tab. In the text box labeled SHORTCUT KEY, type your chosen letter. Ctrl + Alt will automatically be added. Click OK. Now hit CTRL + ALT + letter.

Shrink Your Toolbar Size
Is your toolbar taking up too much room? Customize it! You can shrink the size of the buttons, and if you know what each button does, you can remove the text labels underneath the buttons.

Click on the "View" menu, choose "Toolbars", and then select "Customize". On the "Customize Toolbar" dialog box that follows, you can add or remove icons (buttons) to and from the toolbar, shrink the size of the icons, and change how text is displayed near the icons, if at all.

When you are done modifying the toolbar, press "Close" to exit this dialog box.

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Hide Your Taskbar

Your "Taskbar" is the tool bar at the very bottom of your screen. It's where all of your open programs and applications reside.

To hide it, find an empty space on the Taskbar and right click your mouse. Select PROPERTIES. Under the "Taskbar Options" tab, check the box next to "Auto Hide." Click OK.

Now, to view your Taskbar, move your mouse down to the bottom of your screen. Your Taskbar will appear.

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Bypass Your Recycle Bin

Most of us know that when we delete a file, we're not really deleting it, but sending it to our Recycle Bin. There, the file will sit until we empty the Recycle Bin, or restore the file to it's original location.

If you are sure that you want this file gone, and don't want it hanging around your Recycle Bin, hold down the SHIFT button on your keyboard while deleting it.

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Windows Clipboard

This should really be under the heading of "Copy And Paste." Copying and pasting is merely a way of moving something from one place to another. The most common thing moved around with this technique is text. You have a program on your computer that you can't see. It's called a "Clipboard." It is there for one purpose only; to hold the text (or graphic, or whatever else you're moving) as long as you need.

The catch is, the clipboard will only hold that text until another block of text is placed on it. It only holds one clipping at a time. Let's say you've typed out a letter to your mother in your Windows Notepad. Now, you're ready to move it to your e-mail program to send it. To do this, you need to first "Copy" it to your clipboard. To copy the text, place your mouse at the beginning of the text you want to copy. Hold down your left mouse button and drag the cursor to the end of the text. Lift up your finger. The entire text will be highlighted.

To save it to your clipboard, or "Copy" it, you can do one of two things. You can go to the top of your screen and click EDIT | COPY. Or you can hold down CTRL + C on your keyboard. Now, although it seems like nothing happened, it did. The highlighted text has been placed on your Windows Clipboard. Don't believe me? You can view it. Click on START | PROGRAMS | ACCESSORIES | SYSTEM TOOLS | CLIPBOARD VIEWER. See?

Now, to put the text into your e-mail program, or wherever else you want to move it to, you need to "Paste" it. Go to wherever you want to paste the text in. Click your mouse where you want the text to start. To paste the text, you can do one of two things. You can click on EDIT | PASTE or you can hit CTRL + V on your keyboard. While this sounds very confusing, it's really not. Once you've done it once or twice, you'll be a pro.

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Add Frequently Used Programs To Your QuickLaunch Bar

In Windows 98, you have a handy tool bar called the "QuickLaunch Bar." It allows you to start up a program with just one click without having to go to your desktop or using your START button. The QuickLaunch Bar is located directly to the right of your START button. If you've never customized it, you probably have icons for Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express, and a button that takes you directly to your desktop, among others.

It's easy to customize your QuickLaunch Bar. To remove an icon, simply right click on it and choose DELETE. Don't worry, you're not removing the program from your computer. Just from your QuickLaunch Bar.

To add an icon, simply left click on the icon on your desktop (If the program you want isn't on your desktop). Without lifting your mouse finger, drag it to your QuickLaunch Bar. Once there, lift your mouse finger and the icon will appear. (This technique is called "Drag and Drop" and is outlined)

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Changing Your Desktop Icons

If you ever get bored with the same old icons sitting on your desktop, there is a solution. Many of the programs on your desktop offer lots of different icons.

First, right click on the icon you'd like to change. Select PROPERTIES. Then, click on the "Change Icon" button under the "Shortcut" tab. Select the icon you prefer and click OK.

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