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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- How do I adjust the Windows background?
- How can I play a DVD movie in Windows XP?
- How do I get into Windows Safe Mode?
- What is a computer virus?
- Where can I find free online virus scanners?
- How do I create my own program?
- What are the differences between hardware and software?
- Question: How do I adjust the Windows background?
- Open Control Panel.
- Open Display Properties in the control panel.
- Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 users click the Background tab, Windows XP users click the Desktop tab.
- Question: How can I play a DVD movie in Windows XP?
- Download the VLC movie player from: http://www.videolan.org/
- Once downloaded run the file to install the program on your computer.
- Insert a DVD movie into your computer and open the VLC media player.
- In the VLC media player, click the Play button. If the movie does not start automatically, you'll be prompted with what to play. Click the Disk tab and select the DVD to start the movie immediately or DVD menu to start the DVD from the menu, and then click Ok.
- Question: How do I get into Windows Safe Mode? To get into the Windows 2000 / XP Safe mode, as the computer is booting press and hold your "F8 Key" which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" as shown below. Use your arrow keys to move to "Safe Mode" and press your Enter key.
- Question: What is a computer virus? A computer virus is a software program that has been intentionally created to cause a user grief, spread to other computers, or destroy data on an individual's computer. To help prevent a computer from becoming infected by a virus, software developers have developed anti-virus programs that stay active on the computer helping to protect it. It is important to realize that many computers do not come pre-loaded with these already installed and that if computers do come with these programs, the programs may expire within 90 days.
- Question: Where can I find free online virus scanners? Below is a listing of available online virus scanners that can be used to scan your computer virus over the Internet. These virus scanners require AcitveX to run properly, it is recommended if you are not using Internet Explorer and encountering issues with these virus scanners that you temporarily run Internet Explorer
- Housecall (Runs on Java and not ActiveX)
- Panda
- RAV Anti-virus Online
- eTrust Anti-virus Scanner
- Question: How do I create my own program?
- Question: What are the differences between hardware and software?
The Microsoft Windows background can be adjusted by opening the background display properties. To do this, follow the below steps.
By default, Microsoft Windows will have a listing of default Windows backgrounds. If you wish to change the background to a different picture, such as a family picture, click the browse button and browse to the directory of the picture.
Note: Microsoft Windows 95 users only have the ability to set the background as .BMP images; therefore, if you have a different format of image you will need to convert it to .BMP image before setting it as the background. All other Windows users should be able to set a .BMP, .JPG, or .GIF image as their background.
Microsoft Windows XP users that do not have a Windows DVD player program installed, DVD codec, or a DVD decoder will be unable to play a DVD movie using the Microsoft Windows Media player to play their DVD movies. Often you'll get an error similar to the below message.
Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a problem occurred with digital copyright protection.
To play a DVD movie in Windows XP, we suggest using a third-party software DVD player. Although there are dozens of different programs available to play DVD movies, we suggest the free media player VLC, which is fully capable of playing all DVD movies and other movie files. Below are the steps required to play a DVD movie in VLC.
Note: In order for the below steps to work, your computer does still need to have a DVD player in order to read the DVD.
Many time users who get into computers, who want to learn more about computers, or who think they have a good idea for a program may wish to create their own program but are not sure where to start. For users who are interested in developing their own program we suggest learning to program. Learning to program is the most important step in creating your own software programs.
There are numerous types of programming languages; often the type of program you wish to develop will decide which language you should learn.
There are several differences between computer hardware and software. However, the fundamental difference between hardware and software is that hardware is a physical device something that you're able to touch and see. For example, the computer monitor you're viewing this text on or the mouse you're using to navigate is considered computer hardware.
Software is code and instructions that tell a computer and/or hardware how to operate. This code can be viewed and executed using a computer or other hardware device. However, without any hardware software would not exist. An examples of software is Microsoft Windows, an operating system that allows you to control your computer and other programs that run on it. Another example of software is the Internet browser you're using to view this page.