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Prevent Kids From Downloading
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Prevent Kids From Downloading
Open Internet Explorer (double click the blue "e" icon)
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Computer Hangs on Shut Down Command
First, please note that if you have this problem only occasionally,
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Computer Hangs on Shut Down Command Two
Here are a few other possible problems for your computer hanging
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Storage Options
The primary location where your computer stores data is on your
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Firewalls
A firewall is a good thing for any user to use these days, but if
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Clean-Up Your Start Menu
Is your Start menu full of programs? Most software you download
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Re-Size Your Scrollbar
Would you prefer your scrollbars be bigger - or maybe smaller?
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Easy Scrolling (Internet Explorer)
Here's a little tip for your MS Internet Explorer's scroll bar.
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Removing Commands from Start Menu
You probably already know that you can right-click the
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Check Your System Resources
To check your system resources, right click on your "my computer
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Using Special Characters
Stumped how to make symbols, or characters, such as a degree
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Closing Multiple Programs
The fastest way to close multiple programs is to hold down
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Determine What Type of Equipment is on Your Computer
Sometimes you are asked a question for whatever reason, asking
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Using List Boxes
You know those little list boxes you see on so many web
Disclaimer: These tips are intended to help you work with your computer and learn a few tricks with it. Should anything go wrong while you are trying a tip, this site and it's owner holds no responsibilty! These tips, if followed properly, are harmless and fun. Not a one of them can hurt your computer in any manner. If you are doubtful or unsure, do not try one.
Computer Hangs on Shut Down Command
Computer Hangs on Shut Down Command Two
Storage Options
FireWalls
Clean-Up Your Start Menu
Re-Size Your Scrollbar
Easy Scrolling (Internet Explorer)
Removing Commands from Start Menu
Check Your System Resources
Using Special Characters
Closing Multiple Programs
Determine What Type of Equipment is on Your Computer
Using List Boxes
Click Tools, Internet Options, Security Tab. Click the
Custom Level button.
Scroll down to the Downloads section. You'll see 'Enable'
and 'Disable' as options. Click the Disable item. Click OK,
then click OK again and you're done.
This procedure will tell your browser it cannot download any
files from the Internet. If you look around while you're doing
this, you will see there are many more browser options.
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this can and does happen to most. You really need not do anything
until and if it becomes a frequent or permanent problem. I do get
this occurence from time to time and that truly is nothing to fret
over. Just manually shut the computer down.
If you use your computer a lot, you've probably encountered this
problem. I once did my usual shut-down routine and as I was
very, very tired, I shut off the speakers and went to bed. The next
morning, my computer was still on, with the screen saying,
"Windows is shutting down". Well, that sure was taking a long
time! I had no clue what to do so I just shut it down manually
and all was well upon reboot. I have learned since, there are
a few things you can try should this occur. When you command
your computer to shut down, Windows attempts to shut down
all running programs. Sometimes a program will stop responding,
causing Windows to "hang". The first thing you want to do, is try
to find out what program is causing the problem. You have to
check all running programs, including the ones in your system
tray - next to your clock in the right corner. If you have programs
running in the sys tray, right-click on them once and a little menu
will come up. There should be an option to "close" or "exit". Close
them all and try shutting down Windows again. If Windows shuts
down properly, you've found where your trouble maker is. If you want
to figure out the exact program, it is easy, but a little time consuming.
You could try closing one program (from your system tray) at a time
and trying the shut down after each. By the way, if you have the little
yellow speaker active in your system tray, you needn't worry about
that. If you run into a program you cannot get to stop running, you
may wish to disable it in your start up menu. Click start, run, now
in the dialog box, type "misconfig" (no quotes). Try unchecking
everything, then reboot. In order to figure out which one, you'll
have to run msconfig again, re-checking one program at a time
and doing a restart. When it hangs, it's the program from two times
ago, not the last time since you have to go through a re-boot in
order to get it to run.
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on shut down:
There were some versions of Window's 98 that had a bug causing
the shut down problem. There is an update available for it at the
Window's Update site. Click here for Windows Update
If you have a sound file that plays when you shut down Window's,
it may be corrupted. Get rid of the sound and see if that helps. This
same problem could occur on start up.
Another possibility is new hardware you may have added recently.
If you just added something new, for example, a scanner, and you
notice the problem began about the time you installed your new
hardware, you may want to check with the manufacturer for any
driver updates. (The manufacturer of the new hardware).
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hard drive. (Some call it hard disk - same thing). Here a a couple
simple facts to understand all these storage optons. New users
can be easily confused and overwhelmed on this matter. I sure was!
*If a storage device is inside your computer, it's a hard disk. In
other words, you would have to get into your computer to remove
it.
*If you can remove the disk, it's called 'removable storage'. These
items are floppies, Zip disks, etc Zip disks are popular and do hold
the Zip 250 megabyte device. For Zip disks, you do need a disk
reader, which you can get at just about any office store. To read
more information about Zip disks, go to Iomega.com
About that CD I mentioned. This storage device is known as "optical
storage", or the CD itself. As I mentioned, they hold much more than
a 250 megabyte Zip disk - they hold up to 700 megabytes! Another
plus with the CD's is you can create them yourself if you have a burner.
A few more tidbits on storage:
All computers have a hard drive. Most now come with at least
a floppy drive using 3.5-inch floppy disks. This is referred to as
the "A drive on your computer (Or the "B drive" on some). If you
open up your "my computer" icon, the "A drive is clearly listed there
along with all your other drives.
Storage and memory are not the same. Your hard or soft drives store
data even when the computer is off. The computer's memory,
or RAM only holds data when the computer is turned on. As soon
as you turn it off, all the data in RAM is lost.
There are external hard drives, too. These are special units that
attach by a cable to your computer, and are great for laptop
computers, or anyone who doesn't want to open their computer
case and install an additional hard drive. For this, you really should
be very confidant you know what you are doing.
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you have an "Always On" connection such as cable modems
and DSL lines, a firewall is a MUST HAVE. An excellent free
firewall is available at Zone Alarm. The basic version is
free to non-commercial users. You also could use Norton Internet
Security or a hardware firewall included with many personal routers
if you have other computers that will be sharing your connection.
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loves to put their program right in your start-up menu without asking.
(How rude!) What occurs after a time is, your start menu gets
a bit too cluttered which will, in turn, bog down your computer,
eating at your virtual memory. There are a couple options to
solve this. First, when you are all booted up, you can simply
right-click the icons you no longer want and select Delete from
the resulting menu.
OR
Right-click the Start button, Explore. Explorer will open with focus
on your Start menu items. Just right-click any you would like to
be rid of and select Delete. Do not worry; when you click these
delete icons, you are not deleting the program, just the shortcut.
If you have a program you do wish to remove, you'll need to do
that from the Control Panel Add/ Remove programs section.
Extra Tip Regarding the Start Menu for Windows ME and 2000 -
Hit your Start button, Settings, Taskbar & Start menu,
then the Advanced tab. Here you have a nice little system
for managing all your Start menu items built right in.
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If so, let's get you fixed up! Here is what you do:
Right-click your desktop; select Properties
You should now be viewing a settings screen; select the
Appearance tab.
The second drop down box should be labeled "item".
Select "Scrollbar" from it.
You now are able to increase or decrease the size of your
scrollbars by using the little box to the right of the drop down
box (it's labeled "size"). The choices are numbers, so you may
wish to try a few different settings until you find the right one
for you.
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Most of us just grab the scroll bar when we go to scroll
the length of a web page unless you have one of those little
scroll mice. Well, you can find many options for your scroll
bar by right-clicking on it. A little menu will open up. You
can use scroll options by simply clicking on your choice!
This can be fun and you may find it helpful.
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Start button on the taskbar to quickly access handy
features, such as Windows Explorer and the contents of your
Start menu. Some programs, such as anti-virus software, add
a shortcut to that menu when they're installed, providing a
convenient way for you to access the program. But if you
remove the program from your system, that item on the
context menu no longer serves a purpose. Fortunately, you
can easily remove it.
From Windows Explorer, choose View, Folder Options from the
menu and click the File Types tab. Scroll through the list
of registered file types, select Folder, and then click Edit.
The item you want to remove should be listed in the Actions list
box. Select it and click Remove. Choose Yes when prompted
to confirm, and click OK through the remaining dialog boxes.
Right-click the Start button to confirm that the item is gone
from the menu.
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icon on your desktop. It is usually in the upper left corner. Now,
click on "Properties" and a small screen will come up with four tabs
on top. Click the "Performance" tab and you will system information
such as "memory" and right underneath on most computers, "system
resources" - that's the one you want. It should be a percentage amount.
It is best if it is 80 or higher, although you aren't in too much danger of
crashing until you get to 50 and lower. Just the other night my computer
was acting very strange and suddenly it clicked I should check those
resources and I was down to 4%! Something must have "hung up" on
my system and was draining my resources horribly. I came so close
to crashing and was so glad I knew to do this. It took many tech support
calls before I learned of the importance of those system resources so
do try to remember to check this if your computer begins to act strange.
You could save youself a lot of trouble!
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symbol, a small square (checkbox), or copyright symbol, etc.?
If so, you've found your answer. Here is what you need to do:
Click the Start Button, Programs, Accessories, System Tools -
Select Character Map. You should now see a screen that has
many different symbols. When you click (and hold) a symbol, it
gives you an enlarged preview of it. To select the symbol you need:
1. Click on the symbol you need.
2. Click the Select button, then the Copy button.
This copies the symbol onto your clipboard where you can then
paste it into any word processor. Some word processors give you
direct access to the character map. In Word for example, click the
Insert menu and select Symbol. You will receive a "customized
screen that can automatically insert a symbol into your current
document. If there is a particular symbol you use frequently, check
the lower, right hand corner of the above window. It is on the status
bar. This will give you a keystroke combination to generate the
current character.
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your CONTROL key as you click the open program buttons on the
taskbar. (Bottom of your screen) Right-click, while still holding down
the CONTROL key, one of the depressed buttons and select
"close" from the resulting menu. You can also minimize, maximize,
restore, cascade, or tile these windows using this technique.
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about the type of equipment you have on your computer. Do not
feel bad if you do not know - many of us don't and some of the
information is not all that easy to get to. What you need to do is,
go to a separate area in Windows.
For RAM and Windows Version -
Right-click My Computer, select Properties. A screenwill pop up
giving you info on what version of Windows you are running as well
as how much RAM is installed in your compute.
Hard Drive Space -
Open My Computer, right-click the C: drive,select Properties from
the resulting menu. You should see a little Pie chart that gives you
used and available HD space.
Screen Resolution -
Right-click the Windows Desktop, Properties. Hit Settings tab on
the resulting screen. Here you will see your resolution and color
depth listed.
CPU Speed -
XP will actually give you this if you right-click My Computer,
Properties. Older versions of Windows won't give you the
the CPU speed.
Is there anything you can do? Yes...
First, look toward the top of the screen when the computer first
starts. Some machines will display the type of processor and
its speed. If you have a splash screen come up when you turn on
the computer, try hitting the Escape key. Sometimes that will
remove the splash screen allwoing you to see the "real" screen
behind it which may give you your answer.
If none of the above works, you may need a third party software
utility to check CPU speed. Here are a couple download sites
that may have what you are looking for:
ZD Net
Hot Files
Type "CPU speed" into the search engine box (no quotation marks
The results should have several good and more than likely free to
boot, utilities to help you find out what your CPU speed is.
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sites? The item-by-item lists that ask you to select those
that apply to you - or whatever information they are seeking?
These buggers confuse many people, so don't feel alone if you
are one of them. Here are a few tips on using these boxes
that will make them a breeze next time you encounter one.
When you are dealing with one of these, click the first item on
the list you wish to select. Next, hold down your SHIFT key,
click the last item you would like selected. That will not only
select the first and last selection you made, but all those that
are inbetween as well. Okay, now, do you just want specific
items selected, not all of them? Here is what you do:
Hold down your CTRL key while you make your selections.
As long as you hold the CTRL key down while making your
individual selections, you can click as many - or as few- items
of choice. Please note that not all list boxes support multiple
selections. If you want to experiment right now, go to your
Outlook Express inbox and follow the instructions - you'll have
the hang of it in no time and will find it very helpful with those
select boxes.
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