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Changing file-program associations – Video Tip

Have you ever wondered how to get your picture files to open directly in your image editing program? Read on to learn how to get your files to open where you want them to when you double-click on them. For example, by default JPEG picture files open with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Maybe you want it to open with Adobe Photo Deluxe. Here’s how:

  1. Find a file on your computer that you would like to have open in a different program. 
  2. Hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys on your keyboard 
  3. RIGHT Click on the target file (while you are still holding the Ctrl + Shift keys) (Windows 98 & Me users only)

Internet Explorer prints only HTML

Today I ran into a problem that I hadn’t seen before. A customer’s MSN and Internet Explorer browser (including MSN email and web mail) would only print the HTML coding of a web page or email.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is the programming that is used to present web pages to us and the coding behind text color, bold, etc. in email. We had cleaned some spyware from this users computer earlier in the day, and even printed out some pictures, but a few hours later I received a call about this strange symptom. At first, I thought it was just a forwarded email gone awry, but after arriving on the scene and seeing that word processing documents, test pages, pictures, and spreadsheets all printed fine, the culprit was definitely in Internet Explorer 7.

Create Calendars Easily and for Free

If you have been frustrated at trying to create an attractive and simple monthly calendar, then you have come to the right place. 

Days Ease is a free program from the folks at PC Magazine. It allows you to create and print customized monthly and yearly calendars…easily! You can add your own text to the days, customize titles, fonts, colors and more. Follow these steps to start using Days Ease today:

  1. Click on this link to initiate the download of the program 
  2. When the ‘save as’ box pops up, click in the Look in box and click Desktop
  3. Click Save
  4. Wait for the download to finish (approximately 4-6 minutes with a 28.8 connection) and close your open programs
  5. Find the ‘daysease’ icon on your desktop and double-click on it
  6. Click OK
  7. Click Unzip
  8. Click OK
  9. Click Close
  10. Double-click on My Computer
  11. Double-click on your "C" drive
  12. Double-click on the "daysease" folder
  13. Drag the Days Ease icon to your desktop
  14. Close any open windows and then double-click on the Days Ease icon to start printing calendars!

 

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.

CTRL+ALT+DEL in Windows XP

With all previous versions of Windows, save Windows 2000, pushing Ctrl+Alt+Del on a keyboard would bring up the Close Program dialog box.

 

In Windows XP, pushing this combination of keys brings up the multi-tabbed Windows Task Manager. A much more ominous looking version of the former Close Program box. The only tab where you will want to occasionally end a program is the "Applications" tab. The programs listed here can be safely terminated using the End Task button.

The processes tab can be a little more touchy. The cryptic descriptions there are hard to decipher. My advice is leave it alone unless there is something obvious to you that you would like to delete.