October 2003
Volume 21, Issue 10
Kokomo PC
Users Group
President’s Message:
I apologize for the short newsletter this month, but I have been very busy at work deploying a multi-million dollar computer system for Engineering. The long days and nights seem to have paid off and we survived our first week of production operations. My thanks for your patience through this difficult project.
With this major effort behind me, I am ready for the start of prime PC computing season. The leaves are already falling and I think I even saw some frost on the ground—or perhaps it was just wishful thinking. Soon the brisk evenings of fall will set in and we can all settle down around our toasty PCs and cuddle up with a good web site.
We continue to offer warm hospitality and engaging meetings. Please take a moment to invite a friend (or enemy for that matter) to one of our regular meetings. We offer first class presentations, good fellowship and an informative question and answer period. If they join our group they will also receive our wonderful newsletter, mailed directly to their home or office. A good users Group is the most important accessory you can buy for your computer.
If you have any tips or tricks for improving our enjoyment of our PCs, please write them up in a sort article for the newsletter. We would love to hear how clever you are and would like to learn your secrets. This is a great way to provide a service to the club. You can also earn User Bux for each full page of original text.
If you have a computer passion you would like to share with the Group, we would love to have you present it at one of our regular meetings. Some of our best presentations come from our own Group members talking about the programs and hardware they love. Just let one of the officers know that you would like to present and what topic you will be presenting. This is a great way to provide a service to the club. You can also earn User Bux for providing this service to the Group.
If you feel that you would like to become involved in the leadership of the group, please volunteer to be an officer. We are looking for warm bodies … I mean visionary leaders to participate in the leadership of the Group. Just contact one of the current officers and we will put you to work changing the destiny of the Group.
Mark Pendergast
Da Prez
Ask Doctor XP
Dear Doctor XP,
What do I do when a window is off the screen so far that I can’t get it back by dragging it?
Signed - Out of the box
Doctor XP responds:
Dear Out of the box,
This is common problem if you change the resolution of your screen for various applications. Just right-click the task bar and select :Cascade Windows" from the popup menu. All your windows will line up in perfect cascade order and then you can resize them as you wish.
Dear Doctor XP,
Every now and then accidentally grab my taskbar and drag it to the top or side of my screen. How do I keep this from happening?
Signed - Task Crazy
Doctor XP responds:
Dear Task Crazy,
You are suffering from a sticky drag finger. You seem to be unable to let go of your mouse button when you click on things. Fortunately there is a cure. Just right click on the task bar and select "Lock the Taskbar" from the menu. A small check mark will appear on the selection and your Taskbar will stay where it belongs in the future.
Dear Doctor XP,
When I get a number of Internet explorer windows up on the screen, they all clump together as one entry on my Taskbar. I hate this. Why can’t they just stay where they were?
Signed - Piles of trouble
Doctor XP responds:
Dear Piles of trouble,
This is a new feature of Windows XP. It is called grouping similar task bar buttons. To remove this feature right-click on the Taskbar and select Properties. This will display the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" Dialog. In the "Taskbar Appearance" section uncheck the "Group Similar Taskbar buttons" option. This will resolve your problems.
Dear Doctor XP,
Sometimes when I am running a program, part of the program window is hidden behind the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. How do I get to see the full screen.
Signed - Under the bar
Doctor XP responds.
Dear Under the bar,
You can manually hide the Taskbar by hovering over the top edge of the taskbar until your cursor turns into a double arrow. Then dragging the taskbar to the bottom of the screen and hiding it. If the bar will not hide it is probably locked. Just unlock it by reversing the directions I gave Task Crazy. You can restore it is a similar manner.
Computer Humor
Fred: I heard that Bill Gates fired his maid last week.
Joe: Why did he do that?
Fred: She said she didn’t do Windows!
Fred: How many Microsoft programmers does it take to find a bug?
Joe: I have no idea.
Fred: None, Why should they look for bugs when they can just ship the software and have the users find the bugs for them!
Fred: I heard that they are planning to use Windows to run the computers in new cars.
Joe: Yeah, The gas mileage will probably be great, but if it stalls you will have to close all the windows before it will restart.
Fred: Did you hear about the new Windows virus?
Joe: They say it will crash your computer and delete your files.
Fred: Sounds just like the last Windows service pack.
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