RIVER BENDER - March,  2004

Here are a few old PC tips for new PC users. They are for Windows 98 users who still represent a majority but one can probably find a way to do the same thing in Windows ME and XP.

Clear out the history of where you've been on the Web: Don't want folks to see where you've been? Open up your Microsoft Internet Explorer and click on Tools/Internet Options/Clear History.

Clear out past search words in Google: Don't want folks to know what you've searched for? Go to www.google.com and move your mouse cursor to the search word area and click once. Highlight the first word on the drop-down list then without clicking the mouse hit the delete key repeatedly to clear the list of former search words.

Increase the size of Desktop icons: Are your icons too small? Right-click in space on your desktop and select Properties/Appearance. In the Item list click the down arrow to Icon. Select a larger size until you find the Icon size you like best.

Put a new Icon on your Desktop: You can put an icon for a file or folder on your Desktop by right-clicking on it and selecting Send to/Desktop. To put a web page Icon on your desktop, go online to the web page and select File/Send /Shortcut to Desktop.

Change an Icon on your desktop: You can download free icons at http://www.coolarchive.com/icons.cfm and save them in a folder perhaps called Icons (See create a new folder below). Right-click on the desktop icon that you wish to change and select Properties/Change Icon. If you don't like the Icons shown select Browse and go to the folder with the Icons you downloaded and saved and select one.

Change Icon spacing on your Desktop: If you want to spread your icons out or squeeze them together to make room for more icons click in a blank space on your desktop and select Properties/Appearance. Under Item, scroll down to Icon spacing (Vertical) or (Horizontal) and play around with the spacing numbers until you get your Icons spaced like you like them.

Create a new Folder: To create a new folder, say in the C: drive, go to My Computer and click on the C: drive. Right-click in a blank space and select New/Folder. It will be called "New Folder" unless you rename it. If you want the new folder to be within an existing folder, highlight the folder name with the mouse and select File/New/Folder.

Change the size of text on Web pages: When a web page displays, go to View/Text Size and select the size text you want.

Print out a web page in Black/White: Printing out a web page in color takes a long time and wastes ink. To print it out fast in black/white, select File/Print/Properties/Black text/Fast. This is usually available in HP printers but may not be an option in your printer.

Change your Desktop background to any color you want: Right-click in an empty space on your desktop and select Properties/Appearance/Color/Other. Move the cursor around in the color spectrum until you find the color you like then move the slider to the density you prefer. Click OK.

Icons I have on my Desktop: The following are just a few of the 57 icons on my desktop that I access often: (1)All my personal web pages have Goofy icons. (2) Finance web pages like Merrill Lynch, Yahoo Finance, etc., have green dollar-sign icons. (3) Web mail for Always-Online and Cconnect have Charlie Brown icons. (4) Personal folders that I access often have yellow folder icons. (5) Some miscellaneous icons are: Dialing my ISP, Eudora mail, Outlook Express, Google, MailWasher, Callwave, Symantec, MS Security, MS Help/Support, FTP, MS Front Page, Compushow, Epson camera, DOS, Genealogy, Paintshop Pro, TaxCut 2003, Word, Excel, Wordpad and Freecell and others.

Arrange icons on your Desktop: Right-click in a blank space on your Desktop and select Arrange Icons/Auto Arrange. After this you can hold your left mouse key down and drag an icon to a preferred location between other icons.

Copy folders or files to a diskette. Put a blank diskette in the drive. If you want to make sure it's blank first go to My Computer and click on 3 1/2 Floppy. Then go to the folder or file that you wish to copy to the diskette, right-click on it and select Send to followed by 3 1/2 floppy.