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Computer Tips

Making the most of a dialup connection

This tip has the dual function of teaching you how to not only get around the Internet faster, but also understand how Windows can allow you to do more than one task at a time.

First, when you use a search engine, it returns many different answers for you to sift through.  The common way to sift through these is to click on one of the answers, examine it and then hit the back button on the browser to return to the list.

A quicker way to find what you are looking for is to:

  1. Right Click on a link from the answer list
  2. Click on the open link in a new window option

This starts a brand new window for you to load the page.  So, instead of waiting for it download, immediately push Alt+tab on your keyboard OR click on the alternate browser button on your taskbar to return to the list of answers.

Repeat this process as much as five times to open up web pages simultaneously. 

Lose the ads in the Netscape Messenger (email) Preview Pane

Here is how to get rid of those email ads from Netscape:

1. Click on Start –> Find –> Files or folders 

2. Type: *prefs.js in the "find" box 

3. Make sure the Look in box says My Computer 

4. Click Find now 

5. The search should yield at least two files (depends on how many profiles you have set up in Netscape) 

6. RIGHT click on each of the files and click Edit 

7. Type or copy and paste the following line into the file: user_pref("mailnews.start_page.enabled", false); 

Learn To Identify Search Engine Ads

A search engine is a website or part of a website that allows you to search either the entire Internet, or a given website for specific information.
Google, Yahoo, Excite and Dogpile are just a few of the common search engines that search the entire Internet for information on any word or topic you type into their search box.

As you may well imagine, it is not an easy thing to create software that searches the entire Internet with accuracy. Rest assured, it is even tougher to find people to design such software for free.

Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, Excite, and every other search engine requires money to stay afloat.

Learn about Your Favorite Hobby or Share your Experiences

With over a half billion people online worldwide and growing by more than one hundred million annually, the Internet is a great place to congregate and discuss hobbies, politics, sports and more. Are you interested in Model A Ford restoration, raising cockatoos, RV traveling, cross breeding tulips, or programming Access? These and thousands of other topics are freely available for discussion on the Internet.

In the beginning, there were newsgroups. Now, email discussion groups are more popular and easier to participate and benefit from. Email discussion groups bring together people of like interests for discussion, information sharing and Internet camaraderie. 

Internet Speed Tip

The Internet’s prowess for finding almost any type of information continues to grow. 

Today’s tip focuses on how to get back to where we have been on the Internet. There are many times that I need to get back to a web page that I was viewing earlier in my Internet session and pushing the Back button a gazillion times seems silly and slow. 

Internet Explorer (version 4.0 and greater) users note that there is a little upside down triangle next to the Back button. Click on it and viola there is a list of all the sites you have visited so far. Just scroll through the list and click on any item to be instantly transported there!

Netscape users (version 4 and greater), the method is similar. Simply click and HOLD your mouse button down on the Back button and you will see a list of all the sites you have visited in the current session and can click on any one of them to leap frog to it.

Note also that the same technique can be used for the forward button as well. Sorry AOL users, this is yet another feature not currently supported by AOL.

Internet Explorer Quick Navigation Tip

Sometimes the simple tips provide the most usefulness. Try this tip to gain a little speed when navigating to a new or favorite web site. As the title suggests, this tip only works with Internet Explorer. Do not add or subtract any steps from this tip:

  1. Click on one time in the address bar at the top of the browser

  2. Type the name of the web site in the bar (eg. for www.helpmerick.com just type helpmerick, for www.foodtv.com just type foodtv, etc)

  3. Press Ctrl+Enter on your keyboard and boom the browser automatically adds the http://www to the beginning and the .com to then end of the address and instantly transports you to the web site.

Got something to say? Tell more than 600 million people!

If you have read our newsletter, or listened to the show at any time over the past two plus years, you have heard us mention the "Castellini on Computers Blogger". Hopefully many of you’ve already benefited from our Blogger as it holds many treasures. 

Simply put, a Blogger is a diary of sorts that anyone can start on the Internet. Three years ago, if you wanted to start a web page, you had to learn HTML, FTP and find a host. That was enough to scare most people away from even attempting the task. Then came Blogger. As their tagline says, "push-button publishing for the people", truly means push-button publishing. Visit the Blogger web site for more details.

Get Home and Back Quickly!

No, the Internet has not found a way to "beam" us hither and yonder…yet!  

I’m referring to navigating around your word processing, email or other text related documents quickly.

Don’t underestimate the power of the keyboard as you create your written masterpieces.  Moving quickly from one part of your document to another saves loads of time and the keyboard can help.  Try these keyboard shortcuts:

  • Home – pressing this key will move your cursor to the beginning of a line

Close all your applications at the same time

If you use multiple programs at the same time, when you’re done working on your computer for the day, you probably close each open application one by one. This week’s tip will show you how to shut down all open programs at the same time.

Follow these steps to close all your programs at one time:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on each application button on your taskbar (the bar next to your Start button)
  2. You will notice that each button remains selected. 
  3. Once you’ve selected all the application buttons on the taskbar, RIGHT click on any one of them
  4. Click Close from the shortcut menu that pops up. 
  5. Now all your applications will close. 
  6. If you have any application in which an open file hasn’t yet been saved, that application will prompt you to save the file.

One more tip to keep in mind is that the keyboard shortcut of Alt+F4 will also exit out of any open window or program. If no windows are open, then Alt+F4 will bring up the close windows dialog box.

Clone Your Printer

If you routinely print two or more kinds of documents (i.e. draft printing for email, normal for word processing, and high quality with photo paper for photos), each requiring its own printer settings, you’ve probably found it cumbersome to have to re-enter all the printer properties every time you change documents. 

You might find it easier to actually install the same printer twice, but with different names and settings. This way, you can simply select the "printer" (actually the group of print settings) that you like the next time you execute your print job.