| Computer Tips |
| FILE EXTENSIONS
Unless disabled (invisible) most filenames end with a 3 letter extension. .doc is a document, .txt is text, .exe is a program, .jpg, .bmp, .gif are picture files etc. PART OF THE TOOLBAR/TASKBAR IS MISSING Grab the edge of the toolbar with the left mouse click and drag downwards. If it is the taskbar grab the edge and drag upwards. OR go to toolbar top and click View/Toolbars and make sure Standard is checked. FIND OUT WHAT OPERATING SYSTEM YOU ARE RUNNING To find out what operating system you are running, How much RAM you have and what devices you are using: Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/System Devices Or Start/Programs/Accessories/ System Tools/System Information GET PROGRAMS (GAMES) THAT ARE ON THE START MENU INTO ALPHABETICAL ORDER Start/Programs (or Games) Right click on the list Click Sort By Name NOTE: Larger programs have sub-categories And will be sorted in alphabetical order at the top of the list. Smaller programs without sub-categories will be sorted into alphabetical order below them. SENDING FILES TO APPLE COMPUTERS Most Apple computers cannot accept .exe programs unless they have a special program on them to allow them to accept Windows programs. Make pictures .jpg and documents should be converted to .rtf files PROGRAMS FROZEN..NEED TO CLOSE With Windows use CTRL/ALT/DEL at the same time and wait for window to open with request, then click on program you want to close and click End Now With Windows XP use CTRL/SHIFT/ESC A window will open. Highlight the frozen program and click End Now. Be patient. If you can�t close the program try rebooting your computer. If everything is frozen up, as a LAST RESORT you can press the Reset button on the front of your computer tower. RENAME A FILE OR FOLDER Right click on the folder. Click Rename. Type in new name. Click away from the folder. NOTE: Files are restricted as to what characters can be included in a name, and always remember the dot and file extension. EMPTY THE CLIPBOARD If in MS Works, Word, Excel or Word Pad, Type one word or one character. Right click on it and click CUT. All previous information on the clipboard will now be removed and the new character placed there. Most programs like PhotoShop will ask you when you exit the program if you want info on the clip board saved or not. CHANGING A GAME/PROGRAM ICON There is an icon file in Windows. Some programs or games come with their own icons. You can also download some from the web and pout them in your Windows/ Icons folder. Start/Windows Explorer Locate the program or game folder. In the folder right click on the .exe file. Click Properties/Program/Change Icon If you aren�t taken directly to the icons folder browse to it. Select the icon you want to use. Click Apply or OK and close the windows. CLEAN THE MOUSE The mouse rollers need cleaning on occasion or they build up with debris and tend to skip, drag or lock. When the computer is shut down turn your mouse over and remove the bottom plate. Some twist off, others require a very small Phillips screwdriver. Remove the ball. You will now see several rollers and little wheels. The ball can be wiped with a damp cloth. I use a fine tipped pair of tweezers to gently scrape the debris off the rollers, then I wipe with a bit of alcohol on a Q-tip. Do not let the debris fall into the mouse. Reassemble the mouse. PATHNAMES A pathname is a map that leads to the location on the computer where the folder or file you want can be found. First comes the drive that the file is on (C:/ for your hard drive, A:/ for your floppy drive etc.) Then there is a list of folders leading to the one you want. For example : C;/Program Files/Common files/Microsoft Shared/Buttons/ (and the name of the button you want to use) SEE WHAT IS ON YOUR COMPUTER Click on the My Computer Icon on the desktop Click 3-1/2� Floppy A:/ to see what is on a floppy disk in your A Drive Click C:/ to see what is on your C Drive Click on any other drive letters to see what you have on a CD ROM or DVD ROM or if you have a Zip Drive to see what is on a Zip Disk CHANGE YOUR CURSOR/POINTER APPEARANCE Start/Settings/ Mouse/Pointers Select a new pointer icon from whatever is available. Click �Apply� and close the window CHANGE SOUNDS Start/Settings/Control Panel/ Sounds (or Sounds and Audio devices) Click on the Sounds tab. See the list of functions in the window. Click on the function of the sound you wish to change. Click the arrow to preview the selected sound. Click Browse to find the sound you would like to replace the present sound. Select it and click OK to close the selection window. Click OK to close the sound window. Note: There are some great sounds available for downloading from the web. They should be short and in .wav format CHANGE TOOLBAR OR TASKBAR APPEARANCE RE: Quick-launch icons Right-click on an empty spot on the taskbar. Click Properties/Customize Click on the icons you would like hidden. Specify. Click OK to close that window. Click Apply to close the toolbar window. MOVE PROGRAM ICONS TO TASKBAR FOR QUICK LAUNCH Right click an empty spot on taskbar. Deselect Lock Taskbar From Program files or Start menu/Programs Right-click the program (.exe or shortcut) Copy Right-click the taskbar. Paste. Continue till satisfied. Right click the taskbar Select Lock Taskbar CHANGE TOOLBAR OR TASKBAR APPEARANCE RE: color and size Click on an empty spot of the Desktop Properties/Appearance Explore color schemes which will affect the windows and toolbars/taskbar appearance When satisfied, click Apply CLEARING CACHES It is very important to clear out all the temporary files that accumulate on your computer as these take up space, hog resources and often can contain spyware and ad-ware. I clear my caches twice a week before my Norton Antivirus does its full system scan and before I run AdAware, SpyBot and defragment my hard drive. 1) Start/Settings/Control Panel/Internet Options. Click delete cookies. Click Delete files (select all offline files and click Delete) If you wish select Delete History (I have my History saved for only 2-3 days) 2) Open Windows Explorer. C:/ Windows/Temp Highlight and delete any files you do not need. Then go to Recent folder and highlight and delete all. 3) If you have ICQ installed go to C:/Program Files /ICQ/Ate Browser. There will be a folder with your ICQ number on it�..click it to open. Click on cache. Delete all but the .dat file at the end. 4) If you have Ad Aware installed go to Program Files/Lavasoft/Ad aware and remove all but the latest log.txt file 5) If you have Easy Screen Capture go to Program Files/Longfine/escrcap Open History folder and remove all image files. 6) If you have Zone Alarm go to C:/Windows/Internet logs and delete temp files and all but the top log .txt. 7) If you have Instant Messenger go to C:/Documents and Settings/ click to open the folder with your name on it. Click My Documents/My Received Files open the folder with your Instant messenger ID name and click on History. You can delete all the logs except the MessageLog.xsl file 8) Empty Recycle bin. You can always do a search (Start/Search/For files and folders and type in .tnp and see what it finds. But ONLY delete the .tmp files NOT files with tmp in the extension such as .tmpl which is actually a template file. I recently had my computer Technician over, and he showed me where more .tmp files can be found. I will only do this once a month or so as it is a bit of a nuisance. 9) Restart your computer in Safe mode. ( see instructions for starting a computer in Safe Mode below) Once you are in the Safe mode desktop, Log in as �Administrator�. Go to C:/Documents and Settings/ Open the folder with your name on it. Click on Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files/Content. IE5 and delete everything you find in there. Then return to Local Settings/Temp and delete everything you find in there as well. These files are not necessary and can often not be seen when the computer is started in the regular manner. You can now go to Start/Turn Off Computer and either log off or restart in the regular way. IF YOUR SYSTEM IS SLUGGISH If you have made sure cache is cleared regularly, and disabled any unnecessary programs that are running at Startup, ask your tech to enable DMA access if it is supported by your system. This transfers data directly from memory without passing through the CPU. COMPUTER STILL DRAGGING? but you want to use a large program or a game. Use the Control/Alt/Delete or Ctrl/Shift/Escape commands to open the Windows Task Manager. Close Applications and under Open Processes you may safely shut down everything except Explorer.exe and Systray (or your system processes if you are nervous about shutting everything) This should free up enough resources for the program or game you want to use. Afterwards just restart your computer. COMPUTER STILL DRAGGING? WinXP with Pentium Re-Install Intel Application Accelerator: Start/Settings/Control panel/ Add-remove programs Find Intel Application Accelerator and highlight it. Remove it by clicking Add/Remove. Install Intel Chipset Software that came with your Pentium chipset. Re-Install Intel Application Accelerator INSTALLING NEW PERIPHERAL HARDWARE (PRINTER, SCANNER ETC) Plug in the new hardware, run the driver from the CD that came with it, and follow instructions. OR Install driver or place driver in a folder and go to Start/Control Panel/ Add New Hardware. Follow instructions. (Your peripheral hardware will need it�s drivers updated any time newer versions are made available. Check the manufacturer�s website frequently) DRIVERS All of your peripherals (Scanners, printers) as well as your hardware (soundcard, video card etc) require drivers in order to run. When the item is new it likely comes with a disk which contains the set-up program and the latest driver. However, companies upgrade their drivers frequently. It is a good idea to keep the URL�s (Web addresses) of each company in your Favorites folder and go to each site and check for new drivers at least every 3 months. 1) as well as the web address of the company of each peripheral and card, you will need to know the name, model numbers and manufacturer�s names. 2) Go to the manufacturer�s website and locate where they have their downloads or drivers. 3) Correctly fill in the information (Device, make, model number etc) to be directed to the right driver. 4) Download the driver to your downloads folder. 5) If you have a previous driver installed, go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/ Add-Remove programs. Locate the name of the driver (ie: Iomega for the Zip Drive etc) Remove and reboot the computer 6) Click the file in your downloads folder to start installation and follow instructions. I always back my driver onto a disk and replace as new ones become available. It saves me going to each website and re-downloading if I have had to have a reformatting of my computer done. I put the driver in folder with the name of the driver and the date of download (eg: Canon Printer May03) so I can tell at a glance what the driver is for as the downloaded filenames are often unclear. It also lets me know if I might have to check for an update. NOTE: Check Microsoft Windows Update frequently, as well as Media players, Internet explorer, messengers etc. The most important of all is your antivirus software, though you should have that set to update frequently by itself. SPONTANEOUS REBOOTING Your computer spontaneously reboots at start up or during a program or game. Reboots are generally a sign that a hardware driver is out of date or that there is a problem with the driver. Check all of your hardware websites to see if there are any new drivers available. It is generally a graphics driver problem. It could also be that the fan on the graphics card (which works hard in graphics intensive programs and games) is breaking down. In XP you barely get a flash of the blue screen before the reboot begins. What you want is to get the information from the blue screen so � Right click on the My Computer Icon on your desktop, go to Startup/Recovery. Click Settings under System Failure. Deselect �Automatically restart� Now when there is a problem that used to cause rebooting you will get a screen that will give you a number you can click on to see what the problem might be. CHECK COMPUTER DEVICE COMPATIBILITY For Win 95/98: Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Device manager For Win XP: Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/hardware/Device manager Look for error (!) symbols anywhere down the list. This denotes either a device incompatibility or that the device is not installed properly (you could uninstall and reinstall, then reboot and check again) or not recognized by the computer. It could also denote shared function problems. START A COMPUTER IN SAFE MODE Start/Shut Down/Restart/OK When the computer starts to restart and is still in DOS (Black screen) start tapping F8 to bring up the Start-Up menu. When the menu comes up hit 3 or use the up or down arrows to highlight Safe Mode. Press enter. Another window will open to tell you that it is entering Start-up mode. Then the screen will reboot and the Windows screen will begin to load but will look funny. Another window will tell you that you are in safe Mode. Click OK The window will continue loading. This mode allows only the very basics to load and is the perfect mode for running Scan Disk, Defragmenting your drive or getting rid of pesky Adware or Spyware programs that will not allow themselves to be removed as they run at start-up. When done Start/Shut Down/Restart to return to Windows. MAKE WINDOWS XP RESEMBLE WINDOWS 98 Right click on the Start button. Properties Select Classic Start Menu Apply. OK SCAN DISK/DEFRAGMENT HARD DRIVE Once a week if you are using the internet and downloading/installing/uninstalling a lot (once a month otherwise) you should defragment your hard drive. The first thing you need to do is empty all your temp folders and your recycle bin. I like to run an antivirus program and AdAware and Spybot first and get rid of anything harmful or unnecessary. For Windows 98 or any operating system that came before XP, you will have to shut down all programs and power saving features before you run defrag as any program starting will stop the defrag and it will have to start over. TO TURN OFF/ON SCREEN SAVER right click the desktop. Go to Properties/Screen saver and set to None. Click Apply and close the window. TO TURN OFF POWER SAVING FEATURES go to Start/Settings/Control panel/Power management. Leave �Standby Always On� but everything else should be set to �Never� then click Apply and close the window. I used to start in safe Mode to make sure that nothing had loaded. Close any open programs. (eg: in the lower right hand side of your taskbar are icons. Right click on them and close each one.) For Win XP this is not necessary. Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools If you are not running Windows XP you will want to run a Scan Disk first After that is done or if you have XP run Disk Defragmenter. Click on defragment and go and do something away from the computer while it is defragmenting. When it is done close the defragment window and reboot your computer. You may now go and turn on your power saving features and screen saver if you turned them off prior to defragmentation. SCANREG/RESTORE INSTRUCTIONS FOR WIN 98 Start/Restart in MS DOS Mode When the black screen with C:\Windows> appears, type scanreg /restore (note the space between scanreg and restore) then hit Enter A screen will appear with 3-4 date options for you. Choose the one furthest away from today�s date. Another screen will appear and tell you that you have chosen a date that is error free. Press Enter and the computer will reopen in Windows again. SCANREG/RESTORE INSTRUCTIONS for WIN XP Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore Pick an earlier date and sit back. It will inform you when the system has been rolled back. CHECK FOR SYSTEM REGISTRY ERRORS Win 95/98 Start/Shutdown/Restart in MSDos Mode At the prompt type: scanreg/fix then hit enter When done, a window will tell you that the registry has been fixed. Hit enter to close window. After the C:/Windows type exit and hit enter CHECK FOR SYSTEM REGISTRY ERRORS in Win XP A good way to check for errors is to check recent logs and see if anything is amiss. Start/Settings/Control Panel Click on Event Viewer On the left hand side click Application You can scroll down recent dates and see where there are any red circles with a white cross in them and read what the error was with. There also may be some yellow triangles with an exclamation mark in them. These are warnings. Make note of any recent warnings. Then click on System on the left hand side and check that as well. When something goes wrong as in a freeze and you have to reboot you can check these again to see what may have been noted. Then tell your technician. NO SOUND Exit the program or remove CD Try a reboot first, then if program still not displaying any sound, close it. Click on the speaker icon near the clock in your lower right hand corner of the monitor. Make sure nothing is muted. Reboot and test again. If you have Windows Instant Messenger open the window (You do not have to log on) Click on Tools/Auto Tuning Wizard and follow instructions. NOTE: I had a sound problem whenever I needed to use my microphone. I later found o9ut that it was plugged into the wrong plug. START A PROGRAM USING THE RUN COMMAND You must know the name and the full path of the program you are trying to access. You can also use Run to open a folder, document or another drive. Start/Run Type in the full pathname If you aren�t sure of the path click Browse and find it. LOST A .DLL FILE It might be on the CD of the specific program or on your Windows Operating System CD. It may have been deleted or corrupted when you installed or uninstalled another program. 1) Put in the CD and when it starts up click the X in the upper right hand corner to close it or click on Exit. 2) Click Start/Find/ Files or Folders , type the name of the missing file and instruct it to search the CD on your CD ROM drive by using the drop-down window. 3) If the file is there open Windows Explorer and go to the CD Drive and copy the file. Close the Find Window. If it is not there, remove the CD and do an online search. 4) If it is there, right click the file, copy and paste it in Windows/ System folder. Close Windows Explorer and restart your computer. 5) When you start up open the same program that gave you the error notice and check and see if you still get the error. NOTE: The trick is figuring out which folder the file belongs in, though System is a safe bet. |
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