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Page 3
As stated on the preceeding page, I just got through a teaching/learning experience by giving a course on computer basics to a group of students here on Manitoulin through Cambrian College.
I have to admit that it was my first time at the front of a classroom other than years and years ago when Christian Brothers called me up to the front of the class for a demonstration of corporal punishment. It was rather refreshing not having to bend over and have a goaltenders hockey stick applied to my bottomside.
So, .......to continue on...
Personalizing Your Browser Cont'd:
The next area at the top of your browser can be personalized using the controls available in Tools. For example, right-click on Tools and in the dropdown you can either tick or untick
- Menu Bar
- Links
- Status Bar
So why not check that out now in your browser. You can always go back and modify it to what it was before. You'll note that on my browser I've added an additional bar - the AccuWeather Bar. This gives me current weather, what is expected the next day, and a button to click for a fifteen day forecast and you can select the weather of your nearest listed city. In my case Gore Bay, Ontario Canada was available.
To get this AccuWeather Bar, or Addon, click on Tools, then select Manage Addons and follow onscreen instructions.
There are more mofifications that can be made to personalize your browser and to do this go to Tools then Toolbars and you can tick or untick the various options listed there or click on Customize and add or delete further options.
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Personalizing The Firefox Browser:
In Firefox go to View and you can modify settings there. Then go to Tools and click on Addons. A window opens listing your present addons and gives you the ability to add more.
It's that simple !
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What Happens When I Go to Bed ?:
Your computer just sits there just like your toaster, fridge and juicer. - Not necessarily !
If you are not on dialup you can accomplish a lot while you are sound asleep in your bed. Any of your programs that allow updating can be set to run overnight.
If you wish you can contribute "computer time" to one of several worthy causes:
There is something else you can do after light out and it will save you a bit of money. Right-click on an empty piece of your desktop and select Properties, then go to the Screen Saver tab of the window that opens. There you'll see a button labelled Power that will allow you to power down your monitor and harddrive. You wouldn't leave the kitchen light on all night - makes sense to save a few kilowatts with your 'puter.
You get up in the morning and move your mouse and it all comes back to life.
What about us Dialup Users? Any words of wisdom for us?
When I was on dialup I never turned my computer off at night. There are two schools of thought on this. One says all the on/off will just wear out the electronics of your 'puter. The other tells you that you are nuts to leave it running - it's like your tv which you turn off when you are finished with it.
Your call ! But think about this if you will: the web page you are now reading comes compliments of a server situated in Arizona. This server runs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. What does that tell you?
Up at the top of this section I wrote, "If you are not on dialup...". I excluded dialup users because providers like Vianet expect you to log off their servers when you are finished with the internet, even if you have "unlimited". Think of it from their point of view - if all of you left your connection on they would have to purchase additional equipement to handle it all and that would mean your monthly charge would have to rise. In fact, a lot of service providers, if not all, have a built in feature that cuts your connection if they sense that your online activity has stopped for a certain length of time.
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Personalize Your Desktop:
When your computer boots up you are presented with a gui, a graphical user interface - if you've been around for a long time this graphical interface thingie was a godsend to those of us who didn't have a clue about Dos commands and the computer gibberish that was displayed on our screens.
Your Desktop is your "jumping off point" to do whatever it is you wish to do with your computer. So why not make the experience something you enjoy. If you are a grandparent gleaming with pride about your grandchild why not use that fantastic picture of the baby taking "her first step"! If you are a diehard fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs why not put up a picture of the Stanley Cup as that's probably the closest any Leaf fan will get to ever seeing the cup!
There are many things you can do to personalize your desktop and the one I'm going to discuss now is the Quick Launch Bar.
So what is it ?
It's just another way to launch programs from the desktop. "Do I need it?", you ask. Not really, but you should know about it, try it, and then determine if you have a need for it.
Looking at the screen capture above, it is the little gismo just right of the Start Button. And the first icon in it (on the left) is the "Show Desktop" shortcut - and this alone is why I employ the Quick Launch Bar.
In the above example I have two applications running with them showing in the taskbar. As both those windows are active, (click on image to see) I cannot see my desktop. By clicking the "show desktop" icon, both these programs are minimized to the teskbar revealing my desktop.
You can drag as many shortcuts into this bar as you want, but I wouldn't do that - I just keep a small assortment of shortcuts that I find handy in the way I work with my computer. I have Show Desktop, Windows Explorer, and Disk Cleaner there. I'll discuss Disk Cleaner later in this tutorial.
How do I get it ?
Right-click your taskbar where it is empty then click on Properties. In the window that appears, ensure that you are in the Taskbar Tab and tick Show Quick Launch. Apply and OK this and bingo - you have it.
To get rid of it, you just untick it as above.
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Got A GUI Louie?:
Many people mistakenly attribute the invention of gui to Bill Gates, but this is far from true. The idea was conceived way back in the 1930's and many companies took an interest in it and kept up with its developement. Bill Gates' Windows 95 operating system really brought it under the microscope for the general public.
For a fact-filled history of GUI, I suggest you read
A History of the GUI.
Pictured here are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and for a hilarious look at a tv commercial spinoff,
check out this page. (Quicktime Plugin req'd) And for even more hilarity, go to
YouTube and watch "The Fued To End All Fueds". (Flash Plugin req'd)
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More on the Desktop:
Boy, that systray (just to the left of your clock) can get clogged with icons. It seems that every program you download wants to put a shortcut into the systray.
Clean up that mess!
Right-click your taskbar and select Properties again. Ensure you are in the Taskbar Tab and tick Hide Inactive Icons then click the Customize Button. A window now opens allowing you to customize your Current Items.
The right column allows you to modify the shortcut's behaviour - if you click on an entry you can change it to one of:
- Hide When Inactive
- Always Hide
- Always Show
OK that window then Apply and OK the other window and presto - your Systray is modified.
Great feature, but I'm danged if I can figure out how to keep those settings there all the time. You'll find that sometime later, after a reboot, the behaviour you selected gets nixed and you have to do it over. I dunno - maybe a registry modification will fix that, but certainly not something to be discussed in a Newbie Tutorial.
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Whats This Registry Business All About?:
Just like a human being, a computer has internal organs that must be kept running or the patient dies. In the case of the human being, they dig a hole and bury you. In the case of the computer, it's just a pile of plastic and metal as it won't boot up so you have to give it a little first aid and loving attention.
When your computer was brand new the registry was lean and mean, but after you got your hands on it by installing, uninstalling, deleting, modifying, and God knows what else - the registry became elongated, disjointed, truncated, discombobulated and .... What I'm trying to convey here is that you've taken a sleek, well-oiled machine and made it fat and overweight. And just like an overweight human being, you are tempting fate and a heart attack is in the offing.
Where the computer used to purr along at an acceptable speed, it now limps along and is slow as molasses.
So What Do I Do About It?
Remember - you're a newbie and playing with the registry is verbotten. One slip here and you can kiss your operating system goodbye!
Call in your mentor if you have one. He or she will install and run a registry cleaner and Erunt. Erunt is a backup application for the Windows XP registry. Anytime you work on your registry you do a backup first.
Your mentor can download Erunt
here. There are many registry cleaners out there and everyone has their own favourite - some are freeware and some you can buy. I have a registered copy of
Registry Mechanic and it has served me well. Let your mentor decide which one he/she wants to use. Note that the trial version offered in the download indicated is a "limited edition" and it does not clean the complete registry so you should just pass on it and get a full version.
Newbies Beware
Screwing Aound With The Registry Can Be Fatal !
Let Your Mentor Do This !
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" in my dreams "
I would've had this company do a web page, but Marie wasn't too keen on it.
Go ahead and call me henpecked. You weren't the guy who had to sleep with her.
We could have wiped out the Nazis in eight weeks if only we had this guy in our IT department.
I asked him but he had the idea that I was connected to a porn site.
Tony Curtis was hot, but I would never had sung to the President if this guy was born twenty years earlier.
I bet I'd still be alive too!
Yes, it's true
I sleep very soundly and when I do I am prone to talking with dead people and sponges. Don't let that scare you away - you can depend on a well-designed website and it is guaranteed not to be spooky.
I'm just a cartoon character from
Day by Day but I know a whiner winner when I see one. Visit us on our web page.
And Please...
If it's past your bedtime and you can't sleep, please think of your good friends around the world who just may or may not be in bed.
Being Indispensable
Sometime, when you are feeling important,
Sometime, when your ego's in full bloom,
Sometime, when you take it for granted,
You're the only qualified one in the room...
Sometime, when you feel that your going,
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these few simple instructions
And see how it humbles your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up tio your wrist,
Pull it out, and the hole that is remaining,
Is the measure of how you'll be missed!
You may splash all you please when you enter,
You can stir up the water galore ~
But stop and you'll find in a minute,
That it looks quite the same as before.
The moral of this quaint observation,
Is to do the very best that you can,
Be proud of yourself, but remember,
There is only one indispensable man.
This above Is Dedicatated To The Memory Of Correctional Sergeant Hal Burchfield
12/16/47 - 6/8/85
Killed In The Line Of Duty
San Quentin State Prison, California Department of Corrections
Dang,
Looks like I gotta find some content to fill this thing up more...
'You know Bert, that POKO
sure is opinionated !'
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