Quick Tweaks to Make Windows Snap

When I make a house or office call during the week to work on a computer, I almost always run through a few quick tweaks to make Windows perform just a little bit better. No matter how new a computer may be, it can’t be too fast. Try these tweaks on your computer to see if you can eek out a little more performance. Disable Visual Effects Starting with Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft added visual effects to menus...

Adding a Mail notification sound to your email

OK, I?m going to pick on AOL a little this week. Who believes that ?You?ve got mail!? is not only horrible grammar, but also pretty corny! If you are an AOL user and want to change that sound or are an independent Internet user who uses Netscape, or Outlook Express, Eudora, etc for their mail, this tip will help you add your own customized sound to your email. The first thing you need is a sound file. You can get this one...

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...

Customize Office Toolbars

Starting with Microsoft Office 2000 and the XP version afterward, software engineers in Redmond decided that showing an entire menu in Word, Excel or any of the Office programs would confuse software users. Instead of showing the entire menu when clicking on File, Edit, Format, etc, from the menus, we are presented with an abbreviated menu showing only two or three options. In order to view the entire menu, we can either wait...

Customizing the Windows XP Start Menu Part II

If you RIGHT click on your Start button in Windows XP and click properties, you will be presented with the “Taskbar and Start Menu properties” box.  From here, you can further put your own personal touches on the new Windows XP start menu. Fist click on the “Customize” button next to the Start menu option. From this screen, you can choose either large or small icons for Start menu display, select...

Changing Shortcut Icons – Video Tip

Lately many of our tips have focused on Internet and computer safety and security. As important as these topics are, computers still do have a fun side. In fact, Adam and I often refer to computers as the ‘hot rod’ of the new millennium…you can customize it to your own liking. In today’s tip, you will learn how to customize boring old shortcuts on your desktop. Since Windows 95, Microsoft gave users...