Tech Talk

[CooL HanD]

OUTLOOK EXPRESS - ADDING NEW IDENTITIES



Identities make it easier for several people to use the same computer to get their e-mail and read their favorite newsgroups. Unlike user accounts or profiles, which affect all of you Windows settings, identities only affect Outlook Express. You can easily add or remove identities at any time. Each identity has its own accounts, newsgroup subscriptions and maintenance, signatures, and settings. You have to set up all of these items separately for each identity. By default, Outlook Express comes with only one identity set up. It's called the Main Identity.

To set up a new identity, click on File, then on Identities, and then click on Add New Identity. In the Type Your Name field of the New Identity dialog box, type a name for your new identity (different from all other existing identities). Click OK, and click Yes in the Identity Added box to switch to your new identity. Outlook Express will close and then reopen with the Internet Connection Wizard.

You can follow the wizards through and make your new identity your default identity, or not using the Manage Identities window.

In the Properties section of the Identities dialog box you can add password protection by clicking in the box next to Ask Me for a Password When I Start.

[CooL HanD]

WINDOWS XP - WINDOWS UPDATE FEATURE MANUAL vs AUTOMATIC





Windows XP may routinely activate the Windows Update feature to scan for and download updates to the Windows XP Operating System automatically. If you have a fast Internet connection and usually don't remember to check for updates yourself, you may want to keep this feature turned on. On the other hand, if you remember to check for updates on a regular basis, or if you don't want to be interrupted while you're working on the Internet, you'll want to disable automatic updating. It's easy enough to do and you can go back and forth between automatic and manual updating.

Hold down the Windows key (lower left side of the keyboard) and press the Pause/Break key (upper right side of the keyboard). You can also click on Start, right-click on My Computer and left-click on Properties.

Click on the Automatic Updates tab. Click next to Download the updates automatically or Turn off automatic updating, depending on what your choice is. Click OK to close.

If you elected to turn off automatic updating, you can manually search for updates to Windows XP while you are on the Internet by opening Internet Explorer, clicking on Tools and then clicking on Windows Updates. It's that easy.

Even if you have enabled automatic updates, Windows XP may only install what it considers to be "critical" updates, so it's a good idea to chech with Windows Update manually every once in a while to make sure the updates you want are installed.

[CooL HanD]

WINDOWS XP - USING THE SEARCH TOOL



Windows XP has a powerful search tool that makes it easy to find files folders and even words or phrases in files. Here are a few simple tricks to help you use the search tool.

From the Desktop press the F3 key to launch the search tool. Select "All files and folders". To find a file or folder by its name, type the file name in the box under "All or part of the file name:". Here are the search rules:

NAME FIELD SEARCH FOR AND DISPLAY

* All files & folders

*.* All files & folders abc

All files & folders with abc in the name or extension exe

All files & folders with exe in the name or extension *.exe

All files with exe in extension only *abc*

All files and folders with abc in the name *abc

All files with abc as the last letters in the name *abc?

All files with abc as the second to the last letters in the name

You can use multiple search criteria separated by commas, like -

*.bat, *.exe, *.doc

to search for all files with a .bat, .exe or a .doc extension.

You can search for text "strings"
Using these search techniques should enable you to find just about any file or folder on any drive on your computer.

[CooL HanD]

LET WINDOWS XP TELL YOU WHEN TO DEFRAG



Knowing when to defrag your hard drive is like knowing when to clean your computer. You don't have any visible signs to watch for to let you know it's time to do the job. Windows XP can let you know when you should defrag your hard drive. Here's how it's done.

Click on Start, and then on All Programs. Click on Accessories, and then click on System Tools. Click on Disk Defragmenter, and then click to highlight your hard drive. In the Estimated disk usage before fragmentation: box your hard drive is represented if four colors. Blue areas represent contiguous files (files without spaces between them), red shows fragmented files, green represents unmovable files and white shows free space (no files) available on the drive.

Click on the Analyze button, and XP will check the drive and let you know if you need to run defrag, which you can then do by clicking on the Defrag button.

[CooL HanD]

CONTROLLING BROWSER FONT SIZE





If you spend hours on the Internet, changing the font size in your browser can give your eyes and your brain a break. Here's how to do it.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 and 6, click on View and on the drop-down menu click on Text size. Now you can select from Largest, Large, Medium, Small and Smaller.

In Netscape Navigator click on Edit and select Preferences. Navigator will present you with a dual-pane window. In the left pane click on Fonts. If you don't see the Fonts option, click next to Appearance to bring Fonts up as an options. On the right, click on the Size menu next to the Variable Width Font menu ahd pick a new size.

If you use Earthlink's 5.0 browser, click on Tools and then on Configure In the Manage Profiles window click Browser in the left pane. In the right pane click on Font size and select a new size.

[CooL HanD]

SENDING BLIND COPIES OF E-MAILS



Outlook 2000 and Outlook Express allow you to send e-mail messages and secretly send copies of those same messages to others. The process is called sending a "Bcc" or blind carbon copy. Here's how its done.

In Outlook 2000, compose your outgoing e-mail message the way you normally do. Before sending the message, click on View on the toolbar in the message window and select Bcc field. When the Bcc field appears, type in the appropriate e-mail address in that field. When you send the message, those who recieve it at the Send To and CC addresses will not be able to see that a copy of your e-mail message was also sent to the blind carbon copy address.

In Outlook Express, create your outgoing e-mail message as usual, and before sending the message, click on View on the message window tool bar and then click on All Headers. This will enable the Bcc option. Fill out the appropriate e-mail address in the Bcc field and send the message.

[CooL HanD]

OUTLOOK'S JOURNAL FEATURE

HIDDEN MESSAGE IN WORD/WORD PERFECT

Microsoft Outlook offers a combination of contact and schedule management, to-do lists and memos. It can also be used to manage e-mail. A little-known feature of Outlook is the Journal, which can keep track of letters you write using Microsoft Word and e-mails you send with Outlook. Journal remembers whom they were for, when you sent them and what they were about. It records this information in one central journal so you won't have to search your entire hard drive or jog your own memory.

In order to do this, the journaling feature has to monitor the opening, closing and saving of every document you create. While useful, the Journal feature tends to slow the opening and closing of files. Not a bad price to pay for the convenience it offers.

To use Journal, from within Outlook, click on Tools and then on Options. In the Contacts section of the Options window, click on Journal Options. Now you can select the features that you find useful and the applications you'd like to keep track of. For example, you can track e-mails from any number of contacts. You can also specify that Journal record files from Word and Excel.

[CooL HanD]

A HIDDEN MESSAGE IN WORD & WORDPAD? ABOUT THE ATTACK ON NEW YORK?



Open word, or open WordPad by clicking on start, then on run, & then type WordPad & click ok or press enter. Click on the down arrow to the right of your default font, typically times new roman - and select Wingdings.

Not Wingdings 1 or 2, but Wingdings. Now click on the down arrow to the right of the default font size - which is 10. Select 72. Now turn on your caps lock key - this is important

press the Q key = airplane - press the 3 key twice - Looks like the twin towers - now the 3 keys that stand for the abbreviation for York City - N + Y + C keys

Look closely - you have an airplane headed toward 2 twin towers, the skull & cross bones, a star of David ( Isreal) & a thumbs up!!!!! Where did that come from?

[CooL HanD]

OUTLOOK EXPRESS STATIONERY



Outlook Express has a feature called "stationery". You can send e-mail messages that look great by using stationery, which is actually a template that can include a background image, unique text font colors and custom margins. Outlook Express even lets you apply stationery to all of your outgoing e-mail messages, or on individual messages when you want to.

To apply stationery to all of your outgoing messages, click on Tools, Options, and then on the Compose tab. In the Stationery area, you can click on Select to view existing stationery templates (double-click on any available stationery template to view it), create a new stationery template using a wizard (helper) by clicking on the Create New button, or you can download even more stationery templates (you'll have to be connected to the Net to do this) by clicking on the Download More button.

To send an individual message on stationery, click on Message, click on New Message Using, and select the stationery you want to send that message on. You can also apply stationery or change your selected default stationery after you start a new message, by clicking on Format, and then on Apply Stationery. Now select the new stationery. You can also choose to send an e-mail message without using your default stationery by clicking on No Stationery in New Message Using.

If you get an e-mail on stationery that you want to use, from within that message click on File and then on Save as Stationery.

[CooL HanD]

INSIDE INFO ON RECYCLE BIN



When you delete files, Windows stores them in a special place on your hard drive. The files can be restored by double-clicking on the Recycle Bin icon on your Desktop, right-clicking on the file you want to bring back and then clicking on restore. The size of the Recycle Bin is set to 10%, but that is 10% of the available hard disk space. I have suggested that you reduce that 10% default to 1% by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin, clicking on Properties and then dragging the sliding pointer left to 1%.

Windows has a quirk that I want you to be aware of. You can bypass the Recycle Bin by holding down the Shift key while you delete. The quirk is that if the file you delete is larger than the available space in the Recycle Bin, Windows will simply delete the file and you can't recover it.

If the file you want to delete is large, and you're not sure you want to really delete it, I have a solution. Right-click on My Computer and left-click on Explore. Double-click on the Icon (located on the left side of your screen) that represents the drive you will be working with. In most cases that will be the C drive.

Right-click anywhere in right pane (Explore provides a 2 pane display) and select New. Click on Folder. A new folder will appear with the words New Folder highlighted. Type "Hold for Now" and press the Enter button. Now you can use Explore to drag and drop large files into the Hold For Now folder. If you decide to delete files stored in that folder, double-click on it in the Explore view, right-click on that particular file and then just click on Delete. Confirm by clicking on Yes.

[CooL HanD]

HOW FAST IS THIS COMPUTER?



Windows has never been able to give us an accurate picture of the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Bring up the System Properties by clicking on Start, Settings and on Control Panel. Double-click on the System icon and look at the information available in the Computer: section of the General tab. Alternatively, If your keyboard has a "Windows key" (located between the Ctrl and Alt keys in the bottom-left corner of your keyboard) press and hold it down while your press the Pause/Break key (it's located at the right side of the top row of keys).

The CPU in your computer will be described as either a "GenuineIntel" or "AuthenticAMD" processor. The rest of the description doesn't really give you much useful information. There's a better way if you have a fairly new computer.

If your computer uses an Intel processor, on the net open "http://support.intel.com/SUPPORT/processors/tools/frequencyid" (don't use the quotes). Click on "Download Utility",then click on "Download Windows version of the utility". Note that you can also download a bootable version of this software product and save it to a bootable floppy disk. In that case the utility will run every time you boot the computer from that bootable floppy disk.

Select the English version of the file and then click on "fidenu13.exe". Click on the North America download location. In the File Download box. With "Save this program to disk" selected, click on OK. The "Save As" windows will open and Windows will want to save the file to your Desktop. Click OK. Click on the new icon on your desktop to install the ID utility. Follow the prompts to complete the install.

When you run the utility it, will display both the expected and the reported Processor and System Bus speeds. Click on the CPUID Data tab for more information, including the amount of Level 2 and Level 1 cache memory available.

If your computer is powered by an AMD processor, go to the Web and open www.amd.com/products/cpg/bin/. Download the file AMD CPUID by clicking on Web Only, the first entry in the second column (titles File).

Once the file is downloaded, run it from the Desktop and it will display a single window containing information on the CPU speed, level 1 and 2 Cache, the presence of MMX, extended MMX, 3DNOW and extended 3DNOW. The processor's family, model and step rate will be listed as single digit numbers.

[CooL HanD]

E-MAIL MESSAGE RULES



E-mail has become the most popular way to communicate with friends, relatives and business associates. There are no toll call rates to pay and you can send messages in the middle of the night without waking people up.

Managing your e-mail messages is much easier if you set up message rules that store e-mail in separate folders. M/S Outlook Express lets you specify the criteria it will use in saving messages to various folders. Here's how it's done.

From within Outlook Express, click on Tools. Click on Message Rules and then on Mail. You can now select the conditions for your new rule by clicking in a box in the "Select the Conditions for your rule:" section of the New Mail Rule window. Sections in this window are numbered from 1 to 4. There are several choices here, ranging from words contained in the From or Subject lines, to messages that have attachments.

In our example, I'll click on the "Where the From line contains people". The line "Where the from line contains people" will appear in section 3, Rule Description. The words "contains people" are underlined and appear in color. Click on "contains people" and the Select People window opens.

You can type in one name at a time or click on the Address Book button to add people in your address book to this rule. The People box will display each name you type in quotes. Click OK when you are finished adding people. The "contains people" line will now contain the names you added, underlined and highlighted in color.

Now select an action for the rule by clicking next to one of the available actions in section 2 of the New Mail Rule window. Choices here allow you to move or copy messages that meet the criteria for your rule to separate folders. One of the choices here is to highlight selected messages with color, making it easy to identify.

This is a good choice if you don't want your e-mail messages saved in different folders. I use different colors for different people. Each time you click in the box next to an action, that action appears underlined and in color in box 3. Clicking on it in box 3 allows you to set up conditions. If you specify moving messages to a specified folder, clicking lets you create a new folder or pick one that already exists.

Outlook Express will give your new rule a name, e.g. New Mail Rule #1 in section 4. you can click on that name, use your backspace key to remove it, and then type the name you want to assign to the rule. Click OK when you are finished.

Click on the "Apply Now" button on the Mail Rules tab, highlight the new rule and click the "Apply Now" button in the Apply Mail Rules Now window. Outlook Express will apply your new rule to any existing e-mail messages that meet the conditions for that rule. Click OK. Click on Close and then on OK.

Managing your e-mail messages in Outlook Express just got easier.

[CooL HanD]

INSIDE MICROSOFT WORD WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW



Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software package available for the PC. There are several things your mother never taught you about Word. Here are some inside tips you should be aware of.

If you should need technical support with Word, the tech support person you will speak with will ask you to give the product I.D. and who the program is registered to. You can locate this information in both the Office 97 and Office 2000 versions of Word by clicking on Help and the on About. The About Microsoft Word screen will display both the product ID and who Word is registered to.

While in the About Microsoft Word window, click on the System Information button. The Microsoft System Information screen displays information about your system, including the amount of RAM installed, the version of Windows you are using, the amount of system resources available and the size of the Windows swap file. The amount of hard drive space free and available is also listed, along with other system information.

The Office 2000 version of Word has a software tool that searches for disconnected shortcuts, missing .EXE and .DLL files and Registry errors in any installed Office application program.

To run the Detect and Repair tool click on Help and then select Detect and Repair. Windows will repair errors located by this tool. You may be required to insert the Office 2000 CD-ROM disk into the CD-ROM drive.

Finally, there are several keyboard shortcuts that save you the time it takes to move from the keyboard to your mouse. Here's the list:

F3

Insert an AutoText entry F4

Repeat the last action F5

Go To command (from the Edit menu) F6

Move to the next pane F7

Spell check ESC

Cancel an action CTRL+Z

Undo an action CTRL+Y

Repeat an action CTRL+N

Create a new document CTRL+O



Opens a document CTRL+W

Closes a document CTRL+SHIFT+F

Changes the font CTRL+SHIFT+P

Changes the font size CTRL+SHIFT+>

Increase font size 2 points CTRL+SHIFT+<

Decrease font size 2 points CTRL+]

Increase font size one point CTRL+[

Decrease font size one point ALT+F4

Exit from Word ALT+CTRL+P

Switches to Layout page view ALT+CTRL+O

Switches to Outline page view ALT+CTRL+N

Switches to Normal page view

[CooL HanD]

Often wonder what your IP address was.. CLICK HERE to see it..

[CooL HanD]

Change you sound Scheme

1. Open the Control Panel

2. Open the Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices Tool

3. Open the Sound Scheme

4. Choose a Sound Event to Change

5. Play the Sound

6. Select a Different Sound

7. Save Your Sound Scheme