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Toolbar or Taskbar?
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Copy & Paste
Saving Your Files
Drop Down Boxes
URL's Do Not Work in Email's
"Page had Expired" Message
"The "What is This?" Message
Okay, when you are done laughing, realize that some of us
(yes, I was guilty of this myself) simply cannot remember
which is which. In fact, I had to write "TASK" on a little piece
of paper and tape it on my machine. In truth, that piece of
paper is still their - mocking me even as I type this! You see,
I was running into these two phrases: "on your toolbar" or,
"on your taskbar". I never could remember which was which
so I decided to clarify this in the event there are others
like myself who are as easily confused. The
TASKBAR is the bottom bar of your computer. On the left
is the "START" and on the far right is the time. Obviously
then, the top bar is your TOOLBAR. It makes perfect sense
when you think about it...
In defense of those like myself however, sometimes people
are thinking of much more difficult things which is why these
little things are difficult to remember. :)
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Copy and Paste
There is not much on the Internet or in your own files and
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Saving Your Files
Many people, when new at using a computer, are confused
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Drop Down Boxes
Drop down boxes are nice for telling a site your selection, be it
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URL's Do Not Work in E-mail's
Don't laugh - this is a question many people new to using the
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"Page has Expired" Message
Sometimes, when you wish to go back using your back
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The "What is This?" Message
On some programs, when you right-click a button, slider, or some
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Much More to Come!
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.
programs you cannot copy and paste so this is truly an
essential thing to know - and luckily, it is so easy you'll
be glad you finally found your answer. When I first began
using a computer, I saw this in e-mails and on web pages
but had no clue what they meant. I felt funny asking anyone
an finally, somewhere, I found the instructions and couldn't
believe how easy it is - and what a habit it became once I'd
learned to use it! I think you will, too. What you are doing
when you copy and paste is taking information from
one place and depositing it in another place.
For an example, let's say you are working in a word processor.
You find you need to copy and past a sectoin of your document
into an e-mail. Here is what you do:
The first step is to select the text you want copied. You do so
by placing your mouse cursor at the first character you wish to
copy. Hold down the left mouse button and drag your cursor
while you continue to hold down the left mouse button. Continue
to drag the cursor until you reach the last character you need to
copy. As you are dragging, you will see the information you've
selected will highlight. This is what you wish to happen. If it does
not, go back and start over again because it will not work. Next,
right-click the highlighted (or as some call it, the selected) area
and choose copy from the little menu that will come up. If you
prefer using keyboard shortcuts, you an also copy by using your
CTRL-C keys. Finally, go to the area in your e-mail you wish to
copy the word processor text. Right-click your mouse once and
select "paste" from the resulting menu. Or, again if you prefer
keyboard shortcuts, use CTRL-V. These steps will copy and paste
virtually anything you need or want to copy and place elsewhere.
If you have a lengthy document you wish to copy, you can get a
bit more advanced with copying and pasting. Place your cursor at
the first character you want to select. Hold down your SHIFT key,
click next to the last character you want to select. This should
highlight, or select, the entire area in-between. This tip is especially
helpful if you are dealing with a very long document.
Another fun way to use the SHIFT key is adding to an existing
selection. Let's say you select an area of text and you came up
short of what you really needed. Rather than trying to re-select
the whole thing, just hit your SHIFT key and click your mouse
where you would like the selection to end. After you use the SHIFT
key to get your text selected, follow the pervious steps to copy
and paste. You can apply this to shortening a selection as well.
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between "Save" and "Save As" in their file menu. I will do my
best to explain this as simply as possible. It really is not
difficult - just can be confusing until you are used to it.
When you are using your Word program and create a document
you wish to save, the first impulse is to go up to your standard
toolbar and click on "Save". When you do so, you will see a
menu come up with the "Save As" dialog box because Word
needs to know three things:
1. Where do you wish to save your document on the computer?
2. What do you wish to call your document?
3. What type of file do you wish it to be?
Now, once you have made the above selections,and saved
your document, clicking the save choice again will not give you
the three options again. This is because Word thinks you just want
to update the original copy by overwriting it with this new version
of the same file. If you want to put a new copy of the same
document in a new location, or if you create a new copy and wish
to give it a new name, or change the file type, you then go to the
"FILE" menu in the upper left corner and choose "SAVE AS". It is
impossible in Windows to save two files with the exact same name
in the same folder. As a result of this, when you save a file to a
location where that file already exists, Windows will replace the
existing file with your new one. If you do NOT want to overwrite the
existing file but wish to create a new copy with a new name or in
a new location or as a different file type, you must go to the File
menu and select "SAVE AS". Windows will replace the existing
file with your new one. When you choose File -->Save As, you
can use the dropdown box at the top of the Save As dialog box,
which says, "Save In", to select the location where you want to put
your new copy. You can also change the name of your new copy
in the "File name" box and save it either in a new location or in the
same location as the original (because this new copy now has a
different name), and you canalso change the file type by selecting
a new one from the dropdown box at the bottom that says "Save
as type". Let's look at some of these choices:
1. The first one simply says "Word Document", the format you would
choose if you want Word to open this file or some other compatible
word processor.
2. The next choice is "Web Page" (or in older editions of Word
and other programs, it may say "html"). This will save your
file in a format that is viewable through a web browser (such
as Internet Explorer or Netscape) and can be added to any
existing website or become a website all on its own.
3. The next choice is "Document Template" which allows you to
save this file as a template which can be used in place of a
plain blank document when you want to create a new document
with these particular settings. Notice that when you choose
this type, Word will automatically change the "Save in"
location to its Template folder so it will be accessible to you
when you choose File -->New to open a new document. If you
change this location to something else, you will not see this
template in your choices when choosing File -->New. It is a
good idea to let Word put it where it wants to put it.
4. Other choices you have in this dropdown list include various
plain text options, formats that are compatible with older
versions of Word, Corel WordPerfect types, formats for a Mac
computer, and a format that is compatible with Microsoft
Works. The type you choose will determine what program will
open the file, so make your choices based on this.
The main thing to remember is that "Save" will simply overwrite
your existing file with this new copy, whereas "Save As" will
give you the options discussed above.
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a state, hobby - whatever it is they are asking of you. But let's
take states for example. I am in WI - it is way at the bottom
and it is never going to change! In fact, I stumbled onto the
solution for this one by accident - I started to type in Wisconsin,
forgetting I was using a drop down box. What I discovered was,
in doing so, I went directly to the state names beginning with a
"W"! So, if you click the first letter of the word you are seeking
you only need to click it until you come to the word you wish.
Once you get used to doing this, you'll learn to appreciate it
and better yet, it will become a habit - one you'll be glad you have!
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computer ask! The best solution to this is for you to copy and
paste the URL - or web site address - into the address bar of
your browser. If you are not sure how to copy and paste, see
Copy and Paste above.
Perhaps you are wondering, as most of us do, why this happens.
Usually it is due to your e-mail client - who sends your e-mail
to you. For example, AOL does not show a clickable link
unless the link is written in HTML code and Netscape
Messenger 4.x won't show the link as clickable unless it
starts with http://. Outlook Express shows a link as clickable
as long as it looks like a valid web address, regardless ofKbr>
whether it has http:// in front of the address or is HTML.
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button, you get a message that says, "Page has Expired".
Just what does this mean? Well, if you notice, this will
usually happen when you have filled out a form, or in web
based e-mail, you often see this if you click on the back
button after sending out an e-mail. This type of code used
for these things is usually done in a script. The page cannot
reload in this case, so you get that expired message. Another
example is when you fill out an order form on the web. When
you click the back button, your computer tries to reload the
page. Were it not for the scripts used on such pages, you
could wind up ordering the same thing twice if the page were
able to reload. If you really want the page to reload, try the
refresh on your toolbar (top of the computer). That may allow
you to reload the page and re-post the information.
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other control, you see a little pop up menu saying, "What's this?". If
you click the What's This item once, you get a little box telling you
exactly what the item you right-clicked is and what it does. This is
really neat - and it comes in handy sometimes! Here is an example:
Right-click your desktop, select Properties from the resulting menu.
Your display properties screen will pop up. Right-click the sample
display and select "What this?" from the resulting menu. Try it with
some of the other buttons on the screen as well. You may run into
a few programs that do not support this, but most do. On the afore
mentioned Display Properties box, you may have noticed a little
question mark button next to the "x" button on the title bar. If you
click it, you get a "question mark" cursor. Now, just left-click on
any item to see the "What's this?" information.
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