Taming the Beast
Your computer can be personalized to perform to your liking, the trick is how. As an example, when you try to print a web page, you may only see part of it. If you try to print these PC Tips pages, you may get what you see, involving emptying the red ink cartridge on your printer. There is a simple solution to both of these problems. We will tackle this and other dilemmas on this page.
Background printing. When you have either of the problems listed above, the problem is usually that the background printing feature is turned either on or off. To set the background printing feature open your Internet Explorer browser. Click on TOOLS in the toolbar at the top of the page, and select INTERNET OPTIONS. Click on ADVANCED and scroll down the list to PRINTING. PRINT BACKGROUND COLORS AND IMAGES will have a box to check beside it. If your page is not printing entirely, place a check in the box and now the computer will print the page as displayed on your screen. If you want to print a page without all of the colors and images (to save printer ink), make sure the box is NOT checked (recommended for printing out these web pages).
Setting the Home Page. When you start Internet Explorer, a web page will appear automatically. This is called your "home page", and can be accessed at any time by clicking on the house icon at the top of your screen as well as loading in automatically when the browser starts up. This page was pre-set when you received your computer, and in most cases will be msn.com. If you normally go to a certain web page when you turn on your computer, it makes sense to make that page your home page. I usually go to the newspaper USA Today first so my home page is USA Today. To change your home page is a simple process. First, go to the web page that you want to be your home page, next click on TOOLS in the toolbar at the top of the screen, then click on INTERNET OPTIONS. The old home page will appear in the box inside the window labeled home page. Now click on USE CURRENT, your new web page address will now appear in the window. Now go to the bottom of the screen and click on APPLY then OK. You home page is now changed to the one of your choosing.
Deleting Programs. I hear a conversation similar to this frequently. " My cousin (or whatever) visited recently and installed a program on my computer and it has been slow every since, how do I get rid of it?". Deleting the icon on the desktop will not remove the program. Go to START at the bottom left on your screen, then SETTINGS. Now open CONTROL PANEL and double click on ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS. Next click on the program that you want to remove, then click on remove and follow the instructions. A word of caution, remove ONLY programs that you know what they are, make sure that you clicked on the right program. Removing some of the programs on the list can result in severe problems. As an example, one of the programs on my computer is listed as Broadcom 10/100 controller. If that program were removed, the computer's broadband access would be gone. But if you knew that "Space Freaks" was the program causing the problem, then just delete that one. If you are installing a new virus program, then DO delete the old virus program.
Free Stuff. Some free stuff is good, some is bad, (very, very bad). Free screen savers (as an example), sometimes carry adware or spyware piggybacked as well. If your computer handles pop ups well, then no problem, if not and it annoys you, delete the program. Beware of programs that want to download onto your computer and scan it for viruses, speed up you computer or otherwise help the performance of your computer. I encountered one such program installed on a computer that hid itself so that it could not be deleted. The computer hard drive had to be reformatted (not a task for the faint of heart), to destroy it. If you need a free program, www.download.com has a list of tested programs to download for free. Some of these programs are trial programs and will require a fee after the trial period. One of the best free (and it is free), virus programs is AVG Free Edition available on this site as well as their free AVG Anti Spyware. While you are downloading "freebies", Ad Aware SE personal edition is also a great program. I scan my computer weekly with these programs and am always amazed at the number of "intruders" on my computer, and believe me, I am very cautious about what I download and what sites I visit.
Mastering the Mouse. If you are not satisfied at the way your mouse operates, there is a way to customize it's operation. Some people have a problem double clicking with a mouse button, that can be changed as well. Go to START, then SETTINGS, then CONTROL PANEL. Double click on the MOUSE icon and the mouse controls will be displayed. Selecting the BUTTON tab will allow you to select the double click speed and even provides a sample file folder to try out your new setting. Don't forget to click apply and OK when you are done, if you just made it worse, click cancel. Open the tab POINTER OPTIONS. In the box labeled MOTION you can set the speed at which the pointer moves across the screen. If you have a problem losing the pointer on the screen, check the "show location of pointer when I press ctrl" box. Now the location of your pointer on the screen will be shown when you press the ctrl button. Remember to select APPLY and OK when you are finished.
More to come . . . . .(later)