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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, October 16, 2005
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Internet Explorer – Full Screen
Tips & Tricks: Quick File Count
Featured Computer Term: MP3
This Week's Topic: Email Help
Question: Software Version Numbers
Websites of Interest: Live Science; United States; American Journeys; Traditions of the Sun
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Special Feature: Internet Explorer – Full Screen
In Internet Explorer you can switch to Full Screen to view more off the current web page. This will hide the menu bar, toolbars, and address bar at the top of your screen, and will hide the status bar and taskbar at the bottom of your screen. You will be able to see much more on the site by hiding items temporarily.
To switch to Full Screen, press the F11 key. To switch back, press F11 again.
One inconvenience to full-screen mode is the missing address bar. To view the address bar, right-click a blank area of the toolbar. In the resulting menu, left click on Address bar and that will be added to the toolbar.
If you want to see more of the website, you can Auto Hide any toolbars. This means that the toolbars will appear only when you point to them with your mouse. To set this up, right click on a blank area on the toolbar. From the resulting menu, left click on Auto Hide. Now, when you move your mouse away, the toolbar disappears. Move your mouse back to the top and the toolbar reappears.
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Tips & Tricks: Quick File Count
How many files are in this folder? To find out, follow these steps:
Right click on the folder. From the resulting menu, left click Properties.
In the Folder Properties window that you now see, look down to where it says Contains to see how many files and folders are in this folder.
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Featured Computer Term: MP3
Question: What is an MP3? I hear and read this all the time.
Answer:
MP3 files are audio files. MP3 is a format for saving sound files.
The .mp3 file extension stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3. MPEG stands for Motion Picture Experts Group, which is a format to store sound.
MP3s can compress sound into a small file. That makes it convenient to send sound files in this format. When the file is reopened, the sound quality is preserved better than by many other audio file formats.
MP3 files can be used for songs and audio books.
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Today's Topic: Email Help
Every email has its own little tricks and twists. In this newsletter, we try to give little tips and trips to help all of our readers out, but sometimes contacting your email provider directly can get you the best answer. Here are some resources to help you find the answers you need.
In Outlook Express, click Help on the menu and then Contents and Index. Click the Contents tab on the left to view general categories. If you cannot find your answer in there, click the Index tab and scroll down for the topic. You can also click Search and type in a keyword.
If you cannot find an answer in Help, try visiting Microsoft Outlook Help on the web. Click Help on the menu and then point to Microsoft on the Web. Click on Frequently Asked Questions or Online Support.
In America Online, click Mail on the menu bar and then Mail Center. Click help in the Mail Center window. This will direct you to a list of topics and answers on everything about AOL mail. If your question is not answered, you can get live, online help. Click the Contact Us link at the top of the window. You can then choose Technical, Billing or General Live Help.
You can find additional help with AOL at this link:
http://www.help.aol.com/help/supportcentral/supportcentral.do?id=m1
Earthlink users: The main support page at http://support.earthlink.net/ is pretty comprehensive. Answers to most of the common issues can be found by clicking Troubleshooting Problems in the Email Section. If you can't find your answer that way, there are links in the left column of the main support page under Contact Us for chat-, email-, and phone-based support.
Hotmail users: Click on Help, which is in the upper right corner of the Mail screen, just below the Web Search box. A Frequently Asked Questions list will appear in a separate window.
If your question is not answered by one of these FAQs, type a key word in your question into the box at the top of the column and click the arrow to the right of the box. A list of entries will appear on that topic. If none of the entries answer your question, you can ask Customer Service for some help. At the bottom of every entry, there's a Contact Us link that will take you to Hotmail's Support Form.
Yahoo users: From http://mail.yahoo.com/, there's a link to Help in the upper right-hand corner. This opens a new window. Scroll down to the Related Links section on the left-hand side, there's a Yahoo! Mail Help link that takes you to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/ and a page full of Yahoo-mail-specific topics. If none of them answer your question, there's an Ask Yahoo! Help box at the top of the page.
Links:
Microsoft on the Web Frequently Asked Questions
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=%2Fdirectory%2Fcontent.asp
Microsoft on the Web Online Support
http://support.microsoft.com/
AOL
http://www.help.aol.com/help/supportcentral/supportcentral.do?id=m1
Earthlink
http://support.earthlink.net
Yahoo
http://mail.yahoo.com/,
Yahoo Email Help
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/
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Question: Software Version Numbers
I see that programs have version numbers, usually something like 3.2.1. What do these numbers mean?
Answer:
To find the version number of a program, click Help on the menu and then About.
The first number, 3 in the example above, represents the major version number. Normally this number is updated only if there have been a lot of major changes to a program.
The next number, 2, represents a minor update. This number is changed when a feature or two has been added to the program, but the overall program remains the same.
The third number (1) represents a bug fix. Our example shows that version 3.2 has had 1 bug fix so far.
Occasionally you will see that some programs use letters rather than numbers, especially for minor update and bug fixes.
Version number changes are usually left up to the programmer whether the current update has major version changes or just minor enhancements.
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Websites of Interest:
Live Science
This is an fascinating Science site with many interesting articles on human biology, animals, dinosaurs, nature and the environment, technology and more.
http://www.livescience.com
United States
Visit this website for a map of the U.S. Point to any state and you will see the state and its capital. Click on the state for information, maps, geography, almanacs and much more.
http://www.netstate.com/states/study/map.htm
American Journeys
This site is full of interesting information. Find stories about North American exploration, read eyewitness accounts, manuscripts, letters and more.
http://www.americanjourneys.org
Traditions of the Sun
This site has some great information on practices, beliefs and traditions surrounding the sun. You can learn about the sun's affect on culture in the Yucatan Peninsula, Native American practices and more.
http://www.traditionsofthesun.org |
