Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Tips #1



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*1.   E-MAIL ON THE DESKTOP 

"When I read your Tip of the Day on adding e-mail addresses to
 Favorites, I thought it was a great idea. [From the desktop,
 choose New, Shortcut. When the Create Shortcut dialog box
 opens, type 

mailto:myaddr@whatever.com 

and then click Next. Enter a name for your new mail address, and
 click Finish. Then drag each new shortcut icon into
 Windows\Favorites\.] 

I modified the tip just a little to make it a bit easier for my
 wife and myself. We have a daughter in college, and both my wife
 and I send e-mail to her frequently. I created the new shortcut
 per your tip, but then I left it on the desktop. This might not
 work very well for someone wanting to make shortcuts for a large
 number of e-mail addresses, but if you e-mail only a few people
 frequently, this is a handy method." 


*2.   CLEAR ALL ADDRESSES 

Here's a Microsoft Internet Explorer question from
 subscriber Fran D.: 

"Is it possible to clear the drop-down list of visited sites
 that appears when you click the arrow on the Address bar? For
 that matter, can you tell me which addresses are stored there?
 Is it only addresses I type in, or are others stored also?" 

The addresses in the Address Bar are those you have typed in. You
 can delete these addresses by clearing the History. To do this,
 choose View, Options and click the Navigation tab. Click Clear
 History, then Yes in the dialog box that appears. The contents
 of the Address bar will disappear along with all the other
 information stored in the History folder. 


*3.   GO THERE NOW 

Several readers have asked about navigating to folders on the
 hard disk in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. As reader Ivan F.
 points out, the proper protocol is 

file:///c:\ 

However, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 makes it much easier for
 you than that. All you have to do is click in the Address bar
 and type 

c:\ 

to get to the Drive C root folder. 


*4.   PICTURE THIS SOFTWARE 

Reader Marion S. sends this request: 

"I get frustrated, because I do not know which software to get
 to open various files. How about a list of software -- hopefully
 freeware or shareware -- and how about telling us what types of
 files each will open?" 

We can't possibly cover all the file types that will open in
 specific programs. However, most of the questions we receive on
 this topic concern picture files. The most common are BMP, GIF,
 JPG, and TIF. BMP files open in Paint, and GIF, JPG, and TIF
 files open in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3. If you'd like to
 examine a shareware program that will allow you to open and work
 with most picture files, go to this URL: 

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-ie%2C00.html 

Here you'll find an excellent shareware program called PolyView,
 which will open almost any picture file you can imagine. You can
 also use it to convert one type of file to another.
 The registration fee is $20. 


*5.   GETTING RID OF HISTORY 

Subscriber Laura S asks the following question: 

"I like almost everything about Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.
 One thing I don't like is the way History, Favorites, and Search
 operate. When you click one of these buttons, that service takes
 over the left side of the screen. Then you have to click the
 little X in the upper-right corner of the new frame to close it.
 I liked the way Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 handled this. Is
 it possible to go back to the old way? Maybe a Registry change?" 

You don't really need a Registry modification for this. If you
 choose Favorites from the menu bar, you'll get the old type
 listing. In the case of History and Search, when you click their
 icons, they open in a new frame, just as you described. However,
 you don't have to try clicking on that tiny X to close them; all
 you have to do is click their buttons again. This is true for
 Favorites, History, Channels, and Search. The buttons are
 toggles--click to open, and then click again to close. 

To check this out, click Favorites. After the Favorites frame
 opens, click Favorites again. The frame will close. 


*6.   FAVORITES ORGANIZATION 

Here's a question from reader Charles W.: 

"Is there a way to organize the folders and URLs to appear in
 the order you want in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3?" 

No, the folders (and URLs) are placed in alphabetical order.
 However, you can place URLs in specific folders to make them
 appear near the top of the Favorites list. For example, if you
 create a new folder named All My Specials, that folder will most
 likely show up very near the top of the Favorites list. You
 could then move your favorite Favorites into this folder. 

To do this, choose Favorites, Organize Favorites. When the
 Organize Favorites window opens, right-click in the window and
 choose New, Folder. Name the new folder All My Specials. Now,
 you can start moving your files into the new folder. If those
 files are in another folder, double-click the folder that
 currently holds the URLs you want to move. To select more than
 one URL, click the first one and then hold down Ctrl while you
 click the remaining URLs. After you've selected all the files
 you want to move, click Move. Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 will
 now open the Browse for Folder dialog box. Click your new folder
 and then click OK. When you get back to Organize Favorites,
 click Close to dismiss the dialog box. 


*7.   TOO MANY HISTORY FILES 

Reader Jose B sent this question to us. 

"I recently started using Internet Explorer 4. I noticed a few
 days ago that my History folder contains all the information
 about every web page that I've visited since I installed the
 program. Is this a problem? Will it cause me to run out of
 disk space?" 

We often get this question from users. Fortunately, you can tell
 Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 how much space to use for your
 History files. Run Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and choose
 View, Internet Options. When the Internet Options dialog box
 opens, click the General tab. To simply clear all your History
 files, click Clear History. 

You'll see that Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 will retain your
 History for the past 20 days. If you'd prefer to keep your
 History files for a shorter time period, click in the spin box
 and enter a new value for the number of days to keep your
 History. The shorter the time period, the less space required
 on your hard disk. 

After you make your selections, click OK to close the Internet
 Options dialog box and record your changes. 


*8.   PASTING PICTURES 

Here's a comment from reader Joe L.: 

"You ran a tip a few months ago in which you stated that there
 was no way to paste pictures into a Microsoft Internet Mail
 message. This tip was incorrect. I paste pictures into mail
 messages on a regular basis. All you have to do is copy the
 picture and then run Microsoft Internet Mail. Compose a new
 message and then right-click in the message and choose Paste.
 The picture will be pasted into the message." 

The problem here is some confusion about what constitutes pasting
 a picture into a message. If you use the procedure as described,
 the picture will not actually appear in the body of the message.
 When you copy a picture and then go to Internet Mail and
 right-click in the message, you'll find that the Paste command
 is available. However, when you choose Paste, you add the
 picture to the message as an attachment. There's no way to paste
 a picture directly into a message using Microsoft Mail. 


*9.   KEY OPENINGS 

If your hands are cramping up from all that Web surfing with the
 mouse, it's time to learn some useful keystrokes. For example,
 you'll notice that the letter A is underlined in the word
 Favorites in Internet Explorer 3's Menu bar. To open your
 Favorites folder using the keyboard, simply press Alt-A. When
 the menu opens, you can use your up and down arrow keys to
 navigate the folders and URLs. To open a folder or URL, select
 it, then press enter. To open the Organize Favorites window
 directly, try pressing Ctrl-B--it's a shortcut. 


*10.   SOUNDS ON 

Here's a question that comes up periodically. This time, it's
 from new subscriber Georg Y. 

"I'd like for Outlook Express to make a sound when mail arrives
 in the Inbox. I have looked all over Outlook Express and can't
 find any way to tell it to make a sound. I know this is possible
 because the Outlook Express I use at work makes a sound when
 mail arrives. What am I missing?" 

This confuses many new users because you can't set a sound to
 announce mail in Outlook Express--you have to set the sound in
 Windows 95/98. To do this, click Start, Settings, Control Panel.
 When Control Panel opens, double-click the Sounds icon. When the
 Sounds Properties dialog box opens, look under Events for New
 Mail Notification and select it. Click Browse and select a sound
 from the dialog box. Click OK to close the dialog box. Back in
 Sounds Properties, click OK to close the dialog box and save
 your selections. 
