Cleaning up Headers in Email

This tip was prompted by an email from Jean. She, like many other people, is frustrated with email header information and wanted to learn how to print email without all the headers. This technique will work no matter what email program you are using. The only way to get rid of headers when printing is to follow this procedure: 1. Start your Email session as normal 2. Keep your email open, but now Click on...

When Should You Use the RIGHT Mouse Button?

Many people ask me when is the appropriate time to click the RIGHT mouse button. My short answer is to try it everywhere. The RIGHT mouse button (or secondary mouse button) provides quick access to many common functions via a pop up menu. And those functions change depending on what program you are using and where you are in that program. For example, in almost any application, if you click the RIGHT mouse button, you will...

Save Files to your ZIP, CDR/RW or other Removable ...

First, create a shortcut to your drive on the desktop following these steps: 1. Double-click on My Computer 2. Drag the icon of your removable disk to the desktop 3. When you let go of the mouse, the computer will inform you that you can’t move the item there, but would you like to create a shortcut…answer ‘yes’ Now that you have the icon for you drive in place, you can simply drag and drop...

MP3 Players

You can legally and in good conscience use and enjoy an MP3 player. An MP3 is a special compression code used to store music using less space. You may remember the now extinct Napster service where millions of people shared songs online using the MP3 format and the ongoing battle the music industry is fighting against ‘song swapping’. If you have your own CD collection, you can create your own digital music...

Flash Memory Drives

A flash memory drive (a.k.a. thumb drive or USB drive) consists of a chip of memory (flash) mounted in a plastic case with a USB interface on one end (see the illustration for some examples). With Windows Me, 2000, XP and Macintosh computers, flash memory drives automatically get recognized as another storage drive on your computer. No installation CD’s, no formatting, just fast, safe removable storage. In addition to...

CDR vs. CDRW

This week’s newsletter sparked a tremendous amount of email already about the use of CDR/W drives and their use. Specifically, newsletter readers were interested in knowing the difference between CDR and CDRW. In a nutshell, CDRW allows you to use a CD like a floppy disk and copy, delete and recopy files. CDRW’s do NOT work for music CD’s, and are not easily shared with other computer users. CDRW media also...

Automatically Starting Favorite Programs

In the past, we have discussed how to stop certain programs from automatically starting in Windows.  Listener, James G. points out that he would like certain programs to start automatically in Windows.  For example, you may want your computer to automatically open and check for email in the morning when you turn on your computer.  Or, maybe you have a daily routine with your Quicken that you complete first thing and you...

Add a new entry to the Send To menu

With the proliferation of the CDR-RW drives, wouldn’t it be nice to have an entry for your CDR (or other disk drive like a ZIP) on your Send To menu? The Send To menu is the handy little menu item that is accessible from a RIGHT click on any file or folder. The most common use is to quickly copy a file to a floppy disk. Follow these steps to add your own entry: Double-click on My Computer...