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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, December 21, 2003
From All of Us at Sharper Training Solutions, we wish you Happy Holidays
and a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.
Merry Christmas!! Happy Hanukkah!
Ceil, Lynn, Kristin, Francine, Maryanne
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In this Issue:
Special Feature: High-Contrast Color Schemes
Tips & Tricks: Change Web Page Text Size
Featured Webpage: Celebrate the Holiday Season
Featured Computer Term: HDD
This Week's Topic: Cleaning Your Computer
Featured Webpage: Happy New Year!
Questions: Missing Computer Clock
Websites of Interest: Google News Alerts; International Snow Sculpture Championship; Ask Dr. Universe; BrainBoost
This will be the last newsletter of this year. See you in 2004!
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Using Links
A Link is a reference to a website. In this newsletter you will see links to
many worthwhile, informative and fun websites. Here are the instructions on
how to use links:
A link will be used one of two ways, depending on your email program.
If you see the link in blue, underlined text, all you have to do is click on
it and a window with the Website in it will automatically appear on your
screen.
If you see the link in plain text, you can copy and paste it into the address
bar on your browser. Highlight the link with your mouse, click Edit up on
the menu bar, and then click Copy from the menu that you just opened up. Open
your browser (click the Start Button, point to Programs, click on Internet
Explorer); click on the address bar. Click Edit up on the menu bar, and then
click Paste from the menu that you just opened up. Press the Enter key on the
keyboard and this will take you to the Website.
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Special Feature: High-Contrast Color Schemes
High-contrast color schemes can make the screen easier to view for some users by heightening screen contrast with color combinations and font sizes.
To turn on a high-contrast color scheme:
Windows 95, 98, ME
Click on Start, then Settings and Control Panel.
In Control Panel, double click on Accessibility Options. In the Accessibility dialog box, click on the Display tab.
Click to place a check mark in front of Use High Contrast.
Click the OK button.
Windows XP
Click on Start, then Control Panel.
In Control Panel, click on Accessibility Options. In the Accessibility dialog box, click on Adjust the contrast for text and colors on your screen. Click to place a check mark in front of Use High Contrast.
Click the OK button. Close any open windows that you do not need.
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Tips & Tricks: Change Web Page Text Size
Question: Some websites have text that is so small I can barely read it. I cannot figure out how to make the text larger and more legible. Can you help?
Answer:
You can click View on the menu, point to text size, and you’ll see five choices ranging from Smallest to Largest. Click one to make the text appear larger.
But here is a shortcut if you have a scroll mouse and Windows XP:
Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard. Scroll down with the mouse scroll wheel to enlarge the font size. Scroll up with the mouse scroll wheel to reduce the font size. Release the Ctrl key when you are done.
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Featured Webpage: Celebrate the Holiday Season
T’is the Season. We've compiled a long and interesting list of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa websites for you. For traditions and history, recipes, entertainment for children, e-cards and more, visit our holiday website:
http://stsico.com/html/christmaskwanzaa.html
If you know of a holiday website that we should add to this list, please send the address to info@computerkindergarten.com
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Featured Computer Term: HDD
HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive. Usually called a Hard Drive or C: drive, it is where all your data is stored. Think of it as your computer’s filing cabinet.
Hard drives are called hard drives because years ago disks that stored data were made of a very thin plastic material and were bendable, hence the term FDD, or Floppy Disk Drive.
Though the 3 1/2" floppy (not bendable but the term stuck) is still in use today, it is quickly losing popularity due to the fact that the disks are often unreliable, slow to use, and hold a very small amount of data compared to other storage devices like ROM disks.
Hard drives today are astronomical in size compared to disks of the 80s and 90s. The very first hard disk drives could store only a few MegaBytes of data and were very expensive. Right now, the smallest hard drive available is 20 GB (GigaBytes).
Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes
1000 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB)
1000 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)
1000 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte (GB)
Here are some examples to help understand these numbers:
1 KB is about 140 words, around half a page of typed double-spaced text.
1 MB is about 500 pages of text, or one large book.
1 GB is over 1,000 books of text.
What size is your hard drive? If you don’t know, double click on the My Computer Icon on your desktop. Right click on the C: drive icon. From the resulting menu, left click on Properties. You will see a dialog box that will tell you the storage capacity of your hard drive and how much space is still available.
Is there a computer term or phrase that you'd like to see an explanation of?
Email it to info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll put the term and its
definition in an upcoming newsletter.
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Today's Topic: Cleaning Your Computer
Question: I have a couple of cans of compressed air to clean out my computer. I used a vacuum once and did some harm to the computer. Can you tell me how I should clean out the dust and how often should I be doing it?
Answer:
It is a good idea to clean out the inside of your computer every six months or so. You won't need two cans of air to do it though.
Open the computer case, and use short bursts of air to blow out the dust. Make sure you hold the can upright, and only use short bursts of air. A vacuum cleaner is not good to use because it can generate static electricity and cause damage to your computer.
To clean the monitor, you can purchase a screen cleaner at a computer or office store. You cannot use window cleaner on the soft screens.
You can use that other can of compressed air to clean the keyboard. Shoot some air under the keys and that should remove any dust.
If the mouse has a ball, you should remove it and use a q-tip to clean the gears inside.
For cleaning the case, use a non abrasive cleaner. You can’t go wrong with water and a little scrubbing!
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Featured Webpage: Happy New Year!
Visit our website for links to New Year’s sites that you’ll find fun and interesting.
http://stsico.com/html/happynewyear.html
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Question: Missing Computer Clock
Suddenly the clock is missing from the taskbar. How can I put it back?
Answer:
Right-click on a blank area on the taskbar. From the resulting menu, left click Properties.
Click Taskbar Options or the Taskbar tab (depending on your version of Windows), and then click to place a checkmark in the Show Clock check box. Click the OK button and the clock should return to your taskbar.
Note: if you don’t want the clock on your taskbar, you can remove it using the same steps. Access the taskbar dialog box by using the above steps; click to remove the checkmark in the Show Clock check box.
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Websites of Interest:
Google News Alerts
With Google News Alerts, you can keep track of the news that you are interested in. Alerts are sent by email when news articles appear that match the topics you specify. To sign up, visit their website:
http://www.google.com/newsalerts
International Snow Sculpture Championship
Every January, Breckenridge Colorado hosts the International Snow Sculpture Championships. Visit this website to view some photos of amazing works of art in snow.
http://www.themoens.com/Photos/Events/snowSculpture/overview.htm
Ask Dr. Universe
A great website from Washington State University with answers to thousands of questions about science, nature and much more. Visit to get an answer to your question or to just learn something new today.
http://www.wsu.edu/DrUniverse/
BrainBoost
This is a search engine where you ask questions instead of entering keywords. Similar to AskJeeves.com but (so far) the answers seem to be a little more on target. Give it a try next time you have a question.
http://www.brainboost.com
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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