May 2002 Volume 20, Issue 5

Kokomo PC

Users Group

A geeat Users Group is the most important accessory you can buy for your computer !

Presidents Message!

The ugly spring weather outside makes it pretty easy to write my column this month. Wind, rain and cold make it a pretty typical Kokomo spring. ( I can almost pretend the dandelions are frozen solid.)

We had an excellent presentation from Peg Harmon of the Kokomo - Howard County Public Library on the Community Net service that they have begun to provide for the community. The Community net is like a Yahoo for Kokomo and Howard County Web Sites. They even had our web site listed. The Community Net site is available from the Library Home Page. (www.kokomo.lib.in.us)

We have passed the torch to our new treasurer. John Haynes is now officially in charge of the books. I handed them off at the April meeting. Please take the time to welcome John to a leadership role in the Group and thank him for his willingness to devote some time to helping us be successful.

Bill Gates has been in the news quite a bit lately. Seems everyone wants to sue him for something. My personal hope is that they will bust up Microsoft into three pieces by product line. (Operating System, Web and Office) I don't think this will fix anything in the short term, but it should allow innovation in the long term. Meaningful products will slowly mover in on Microsoft and they will not be able to shift funds or blackmail people with their vertical integration.

I don't like the 'baby Bill's' scenario of an even three-way split. I don't see what this does to fix anything. It just ensures that we will have three almost identical systems that will fight to the death and I believe that only one will survive. It seems like chaos waiting to happen.

The Public Library had their semiannual book sale last month and I was surprised to see that they auctioned off some of their old computers as well. There were about 15 computers, several monitors and a few printers. They used a closed bid auction format. I bid on four computers and a laser printer. I suspect I bid way too low, but I don't need four computers either.

If you have any ideas on how to make our. group better please let me know. We are always looking for ways to improve the Kokomo PC Users Group experience.

Also, if you have any ideas for increasing membership, please let me know. Our total seems to be going the wrong way.

Mark Pendergast

Da Prez

[email protected]

Time to renew .....

I have noticed that some people have not figured out our system of putting the membership renewal date on the mailing label of the newsletter. Right above your name you will see the year and month that your dues expire. Although we do continue to send the newsletter for a few months after your dues expire, we would like to be as prompt as possible with your renewal. We are happy to accept early renewals and multi-year renewals.

Below I have included a report of members who are currently past their renewal date. If you are on the list, please mail me your dues or bring them to the next meeting. If you know someone on the list, please encourage them to renew their

membership.

Mark Pendergast

Let your fingers do the surfing .....

I have finally gotten some free time to surf the web and have been annoyed with the amount of mousing around I need to do to get where I want to go. Click the link, down to the scroll bar, back up to the back button - I get a sore wrist just thinking about it.

Well, there is a better way to navigate the web. I guess I knew there was, but I didn't think about it until I read all the tips from the 1001 Windows 98 Tips book.

There are keyboard shortcuts for just about everything in Windows - That includes the lnternet Explorer web browser.

Here are some of the main shortcuts that I have started to use:

Down Arrow - Move a small amount down the web page. This is the same as clicking on the bottom arrow of the scroll bar.

Page Down - Move a full screen down the web page. This is the same as clicking on the scroll bar between the slider and the bottom arrow.

End - Move to the bottom of the web page. This is the same as dragging the slider on the scroll bar to the bottom.

Up Arrow - Move a small amount back up the web page. This is the same as clicking the top arrow of the scroll bar.

Page up - Move a full screen back up the web page. This is the same as clicking on the scroll bar between the slider and the top arrow.

Home - Move to the top of the web page. Same as dragging the slider on the scroll bar to the top.

Navigation on the web

Backspace (or Alt-Left Arrow)- Move back one page. This is the same as pushing the Back button on your navigation toolbar.

Alt-Right Arrow - Move forward one page. This is the same as pushing the Forward button on your navigation toolbar.

Alt+Home - Go to your homepage. This is the same as pushing the Home

Kokomo PC Users Group

button on your navigation toolbar.

Enter - Activate the selected !ink - This is the same as clicking on the link.

Tab - Move forward through the active items on the web page.

Shift-Tab - Move backward through the active items on the web page.

I am already at the page I want to be at. Also I lose any search results I may have had open.

To avoid this problem open a new window and do all your browsing in it. Minimize your original window and ignore it. Then when you are forced to reconnect the first window gets repainted and you can keep going where you left off.

Misc.

Ctrl-N - Open a new browser window'. This is the same as selecting File > New'> Browser Window from the main menu bar.

Ctrl-W - Close a browser window. This is the same as clicking the 'X' on the upper fight hand side of the browser window. Handy for closing popup windows.

ESC - Stop downloading a page. This is the same as pressing the Stop button on the navigation toolbar.

Ctrl-R (or F5) - Refresh the current page. This is the same as pressing the Refresh button on the navigation toolbar.

Ctrl-P - Print the current page or frame. This is the same as pressing the Print button on the navigation toolbar.

If you want the full list, just press F. 1 to launch Internet Explorer Help and look in the index under keyboard shortcuts.

Bonus Tip # 1:

When I get kicked out of the internet and reconnect, my ISP reloads my home page by default. This can be annoying when

Bonus tip #2:

Whenever you see a cool graphic or linked file while surfing the web you can usually snag it by using the fight click popup menu. The menu will display different choices if you are on a link a graphic or a link that is represented by a graphic.

Open Link - This will take you to the new web page pointed to by the link. Same as clicking on the link.

Open Link in Window - This will take you to the new web page pointed to by the link, but opens a new browser window and displays the page in it.

Save Target As - This will save the target web page or document on your hard drive. This is handy if you want to save a document that is shown as a link, rather than opening it.

Print Target - Print the target web page on your default printer.

Cut - Cut the selected link to the clipboard.

Copy - Copy the selected link to the clipboard.

Copy Shortcut - Copy the selected link as a shortcut.

Paste - Paste the clipboard contents into the browser.

Add to Favorites - This opens the add to favorites dialog. Same as pressing the add to favorites button of the navigation toolbar.

Properties - Shows the properties of the selected item on the web page.

Show picture - If you have turned off picture display on your browser, this will allow you to manually expand pictures form their icons.

Save Picture as - This will save the graphic to your hard drive.

Set as wallpaper- This will set the graphic to be your wallpaper backdrop for the windows desktop.

Set as desktop item - This will set the graphic as an active desktop item. ( I don't use active desktop so your guess is as good as mine.)

Zoom in - Expand the selected picture on the web page.

Zoom out - Shrink the selected picture on the web page.

Hope you enjoyed these tips. If you have any words of wisdom on how to make PC computing easier for the masses, please feel free to pass it on to me and I will include it in the newsletter. You'll be glad you did. It will be a great opportunity to contribute to the success of the Group. You will also get to see your knowledge pul to use by the rest of the members in the Group.

Mark Pendergast

Community Net Focus Groups

The Kokomo-Howard County Public Library. will be hosting a series of focus group sessions to get input on how to improve and extend the Howard County Community Net web site.

The workshops will be held on May 30, 2002 at the south branch on Center road.

The sessions will be from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m, 12 noon to I p.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m..

As a leader in PC computing in the county our users group should make an effort to attend these sessions and suggest improvements.

I remember that we had lots of questions and suggestions at our last meeting. This would be a way to get your suggestions implemented in the enhanced system.

If you are interested in participating in the sessions please contact Peg Harmon at (765) 457-3242 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Mark Pendergast

Micro-tip:

If you don't like the paper clip helper in some Microsoft applications you can go to preferences and change it to another image. There are several including super-dog and Einstein.

Computer Humor

Fred:

I just love to burn CDs.

Harry:

I don't know'. I burned some a few weeks ago and it didn't do a thing for me.

Fred:

What did you burn?

Harry: -

Just some old AOL CDs.

Fred:

Why would you burn old AOL CDs? Why not music CDs?

Harry:

No, I love my music CDs and want to keep them.

Fred:

I want to keep mine too. That's why I copy

them.

Harry:

Who said anything about copying C Ds. I just take a match and set fire to them. You know, burn them!

Fred:

Perhaps you're right. I would avoid burning CDs in the future. I wouldn't feel comfortable if I knew you were around matches.

Mark Pendergast

This Month's User Bucks M. Pendergast $3

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