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Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, February 17, 2002
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Internet Browser Tips
Featured Computer Term: Zip Drives and CD-ROM Drives
This Week's Topic: Changing Your Window Size
Question: Error Message - Illegal Operation Has Occurred
Learning Series: Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works - Creating A Numbered
List
Featured Website: This week we take a look at websites featuring information
on Presidents’ Day, George Washington and Random Acts of Kindness week.
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Special Feature: Internet Browser Tips
Is your Internet browser as good as it can be? Take a look. To learn more about your browser, click Help on the menu. Then click on About. That will tell you the version of your browser program. You should be using a browser in the 6.0 range if you're using Internet Explorer or Netscape.
Why use a later model? They're more versatile. They'll display websites and the things on them easier and faster. And if you're into printing web pages, Internet Explorer has a great printing feature that lets you preview your printed page first.
Here are a few extra tips:
To open a new browser window, hold down the Ctrl key and press 'N'. A New window will open. You can have more than one browser window open at the same time. A real advantage if you want to look at several things at the same time.
To visit a site you've typed into the address bar in the past, click the down arrow to the right of the address line. There will be a list of sites there. Find the one you want and click on it to go to that site.
If you remember a site, but can't remember its address, you can check your history. Internet Explorer has a nice history feature. Just click the History button up on the toolbar to start.
Want to get websites out of Internet History? Click on Tools on the menu bar, then Internet Options. Look for something that says Clear History. Click on the button and that will remove everything from History.
Can’t see your toolbar? Click on View on the menu, point to Toolbars and click on Standard buttons. If you lost your address bar, go through these same steps but click on Address Bar instead.
To pop Internet Explorer open to full screen, press F11. Press F11 again to put it back where it was. Full screen gives you lots more room to view what’s on a website.
Would you like your browser to display a certain website whenever you open it? Set that website up as your home page. Click on Tools on the menu bar, then Internet Options. Look for something that says Home Page. Type in the URL (address) of the website you want as your home page. Click OK when you’re done.
There are lots of things you can do with your browser. The best thing you can do is explore its features by clicking the buttons and menu items. Just click and see what happens.
Remember: you can’t break your computer by clicking on things.
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Today's Computer Term: Zip Drives and CD-ROM Drives
The following question is from a newsletter subscriber:
I received Your Buying The Perfect PC manual and it’s wonderful!
I’m not buying a new computer right now but I am thinking about buying a zip drive or a CD-ROM rewritable drive. I’m not sure which one is best to buy. What is the difference between the two? Any information you could give me would be most appreciated.
Answer:
In computers manufactured in the last couple of years with hard drives measured in Gigabytes, the small 1.44Mb floppy disk doesn't hold much in comparison. The newer programs create files that take up a lot of space, and if you have a lot of files or you’re using graphic, audio or video files, floppy disks just won’t meet your needs.
The first question you need to answer is this: can your computer use the drive?
Zip drives work just like big floppy drives, and most computers have no problem writing to them. CD-RW drives need a faster system to "burn" the information onto the CD and if the computer can't keep up, the CD you attempted to make will be useless. If you have a computer slower than 300MHz, a CD-RW probably won’t work for you.
A zip drive holds either 100MB, or 250MB depending on which type you buy. They come in many models; most cost around $100, with disks costing about $10 or $15. (Take a look at Iomega).
A CD-RW drive holds 650 MB on each CD. They also come in a range of options for how to use with your computer. The internal model is usually the better bet, but a little more expensive. The USB (external) is a good option as well if you’re trying to save a few dollars.
The internal models are coming down in price and are currently about $200.00 with each blank CD (you can only use them once) costing less than $1.00, or the re-writable CDs costing about $5.00 (much less if you buy in large quantities).
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Today's Topic: Changing Your Window Size
Thanks to a newsletter subscriber for the following question:
My email window has suddenly become very small. I can't read anything in it, how do I fix this?
Answer:
Most programs allow you to adjust their window size to any size you want. To do so, move your mouse pointer to the edge of the window. It will change from an arrow to a double-headed arrow.
Holding the mouse button down, drag the side of the window in or out to make it larger or smaller.
An alternative to this method is using the Maximize button to increase the size of your program window to fill the entire screen. Maximize is one of the control buttons found in the top right corner of the window.
You probably already use the X (close) button to close windows and exit programs. The maximize button is just to the left of the X button when your window is not full screen (when it's full screen, this button changes to restore - two little squares). Look for the button with the small square on it, click once and your program window will fill your entire computer screen, giving you lots of room to see what you're doing.
These steps work for any window, no matter what program is running in it.
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Question: Error Message - Illegal Operation Has Occurred
Thanks to newsletter subscriber Terry for the following question:
Thanks for the informative newsletter. I am glad that I took the classes at the Elmont Public library. I do have a question. What do I do if I am in an on line site and out of the blue I get a message that an " illegal operation has occurred and the program will be shut down?" Would I need to seek help from the on-line server or my computer help people?
Answer:
You'll get this message, Illegal operation has occurred from time to time, especially if you're using Windows ME (occasionally but not quite as often with the other versions of Windows). It happens, nothing to worry about as long as it's not happening constantly.
It’s a good idea, right after you get that message, to close all your open programs and shut down the computer (make sure you use Start, Shutdown to turn computer off). Let it sit for a moment, than turn it back on again.
Sometimes you just might have too many programs open and you need to reboot (shutdown and turn back on again). No need to get help from any kind of support, unless of course, it happens all the time.
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Progressive Learning Series: Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works - Creating a Numbered List
The following is a question from a newsletter subscriber:
I do the newsletter for my Women’s Golf Club. I’d like to list upcoming events with numbers on each line. Is there a way to do this automatically without typing the number at the beginning of each line?
Answer:
Numbered lists are used in many types of documents. For example, numbered lists are used in this newsletter to detail the steps that must be followed to implement a process.
Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works make it very easy to insert a numbered list into your document. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Type your list, only pressing Enter at the end of each item in the list. If an item runs more than one line, do not press Enter at the end of each line (let the text wrap to the next line automatically).
2. Select (Highlight) all the items in the list.
3. Click on the numbered list tool in the toolbar (look for the button that has 123 on it).
That will place numbers at the beginning of each item in your list.
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Today's Featured Website:
Presidents’ Day, George Washington and Random Acts of Kindness Week
For more information on Presidents' Day, look at the Family Education Network for articles, quizzes, and links for kids.
http://familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,1-4983,00.html
The Montgomery County Public Schools’ website has extensive information for Teachers, Parents, and Students on George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and all the Presidents including biographies, timelines, photographs and much more.
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/Presday.html
This week we celebrate George Washington’s birthday. Take a look at the
Whitehouse’s website for a biography of our first President.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html
This is Random Acts of Kindness week. Learn more about it at this website:
http://weinholds.org/kindness/issue1/article1.html |
