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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, January 11, 2004
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Windows Updates
Tips & Tricks: Don't Unsubscribe from a Spammer's List
Tips & Tricks: Copy and Paste Keyboard Shortcuts
Featured Webpage: Weather
Tips & Tricks: Erase Text Quickly
This Week's Topic: Change Icon Spacing
Questions: Create a Desktop Icon for a Website
Websites of Interest: City Data; National Eye Care Month; Cold Weather Safety Precautions; Religious Freedom Day
Here in the Northeast, we're experiencing bitter cold, dangerous weather. Please stay warm and safe and check on your elderly friends and family. Take a look at our Websites of Interest section of this newsletter; we've listed several websites where you can get tips on cold weather safety precautions.
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Special Feature: Windows Updates
Question: I use Windows XP. Every few days or so I get a message telling me that I should download updates. Should I do this?
Answer:
Yes, you should download the Windows updates.
You should download these updates to protect your computer. Most of these updates fix parts of the Windows or email programs that could potentially let hackers have access to your computer. These updates patch the programs so that access is no longer available.
It’s very simple to download and install these updates. In fact, all you have to do is click where you are told. Once you are in the update dialog boxes, just click the Next button until the process is completed. The computer takes care of the entire process by itself.
Windows XP automatically reminds you to download these updates. If you are using an earlier version of Windows (98 or ME), which does not automatically check for updates like XP does, you should check the Microsoft website for updates. Here’s the link:
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
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Tips & Tricks: Don't Unsubscribe from a Spammer's List
Never believe anything you read in a junk email, least of all any unsubscription information it contains. Spammers (people and businesses who send junk email) rarely remove addresses from their list, even if they assure you that they will.
If you try to unsubscribe, the best that can happen is nothing; you’ll still receive junk email from that spammer. More than likely though, you will get more spam, since you have just verified that you receive messages at that email address.
Just delete spam!
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Tips & Tricks: Copy and Paste Keyboard Shortcuts
Highlight text with the mouse. Instead of clicking Edit on the menu and then Copy, hold down the ctrl key and press the letter c. That will copy the highlighted text.
Click where you want the copied text to appear. Instead of clicking Edit on the menu and then Paste, hold down the ctrl key and press the letter v. That will paste the copied text.
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Featured Webpage: Weather
Baby, it’s cold outside! Remember that song? Well, we’re all singing it this week. Check your town’s weather and forecast at our website:
http://stsico.com/html/weather.html
Stay inside if you can. If you can’t, dress warm in layers and limit your exposure. Take a look at the Websites of Interest section of this newsletter for links to websites with things you can do to stay safe in cold weather.
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Tips & Tricks: Erase Text Quickly
Ctrl+Delete deletes text from the insertion point to the end of the word. For example, if you want to delete three words in a row, click before the first word, hold down the Ctrl key and press and release the Delete key three times.
Where this command is especially useful is when you want to erase part of a word. It is not easy to highlight part of a word, so you would have to press delete or backspace each character. Here's an example of how ctrl+delete will work better: If you want to change the word northwest to northeast, click to place the insertion point between the h and w in northwest, hold down the Ctrl key and press and release the Delete key.
Similarly, Ctrl+Backspace deletes words to the left of the insertion point.
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Today's Topic: Change Icon Spacing
You can adjust the spacing between icons. This can be useful if the names under the icons are so long that they overlap other icons. Or maybe your icons are just too close together and you don’t like that crowded look.
To change the spacing, right-click on a blank area of the desktop. From the resulting menu, left click on Properties. In the Display Properties dialog box that is now displayed, click the Appearance tab.
In Windows 95, 98, ME:
Once you are viewing the Appearance page of the Display Properties dialog box, click the down arrow to the right of the Item drop-down box. You will see a list appear; click on either the Icon Spacing (Horizontal) or Icon Spacing (Vertical) entry. You can then adjust the spacing size with the numbers next to the drop-down box. Follow these steps for both the horizontal and vertical spacing. Customize the spacing to whatever looks best to you.
In Windows XP:
Once you are viewing the Appearance page of the Display Properties dialog box, click the Advanced button. You will now see the Advanced Appearance dialog box. Click the down arrow to the right of the Item drop-down box. You will see a list appear; click on either the Icon Spacing (Horizontal) or Icon Spacing (Vertical) entry. You can then adjust the spacing size with the numbers next to the drop-down box. Follow these steps for both the horizontal and vertical spacing. Customize the spacing to whatever looks best to you.
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Question: Create a Desktop Icon for a Website
There are several websites I open on a very regular basis. I would like to be able to double click on an icon on my desktop that will open those websites for me, without having to first open Internet Explorer and then open the website. Can I do this? If so, how? Thank you for your wonderful email. Keep up the good work!
Answer:
Yes, you can do that. Go to the website you want. Right click on a blank area in that website; you’ll see a menu will appear. Left click on Create Shortcut. A small dialog box will display telling you that a shortcut will be placed on the desktop; click the OK button.
You’ll see an icon on your desktop with the name of the website. Double click on it whenever you want to visit that website.
If you would like to change the name on the icon, right click on the icon. Left click on Rename from the resulting menu. Type in what you would like to name it; press the Enter key on the keyboard.
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Websites of Interest:
City Data
Here is a very interesting website. You can look up the city or town you live in and see information on size, population, demographics, how it compares to other cities, weather and much more. Thinking about moving? Learn everything you need to know about the area you are going to.
http://www.city-data.com/
National Eye Care Month
January is National Eye Care Month. Take a look at eyecareinfo.com for an interesting website created by an optometrist to aid ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians and patients in finding information on eye care. And make an appointment for an eye exam!
http://www.eyecareinfo.com/
Cold Weather Safety Precautions
Here are several websites where you can take a look at some of the things to do to keep warm and safe in extreme cold weather:
Weather Eye – Winter Weather Safety Rules
http://weathereye.kgan.com/expert/blizzard/WinterSafe.html
New York City Department of Health
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doh/html/public/press01/pr1161228.html
http://www.scchealth.org/docs/ems/docs/prepare/cold_weather.html
http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/doh/cold.html
Religious Freedom Day
Friday January 16 is Religious Freedom Day as proclaimed by President Bush in 2002. Visit the White House website to read and learn more about this Proclamation. Also an interesting website to browse through for news, information about the government, the White House and much more.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020116.html
If you have a favorite website that you think might be of interest to members
of this newsletter, email the address and a short description to
info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll spotlight it in an upcoming newsletter.
Does your business, club, organization or group have a website that you think
would be interesting or useful to members of this newsletter? If so, email
the address and a short description to info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll
spotlight it in an upcoming newsletter.
Do you know of any holidays or observations coming up that you'd like us to
spotlight in this newsletter? If so, let us know; we'll research them and list
some websites here. Send an email to info@computerkindergarten.com.
Questions? Send an email to info@computerkindergarten.com.
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