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SCREEN GEMS
SPIN THE SCREEN
On many XP (and some Windows 9x)
PCs there is a hidden facility, built into the graphics card/adaptor software
that lets you rotate the screen display. This can be quite useful when using an
LCD monitor, for example, some of which can be rotated to provide a ‘Portrait’
view, which some users prefer, when using Desktop Publishing (DTP), web layout
and word processing applications.
On some PCs with ATI and
NVIDIA graphics adaptors the screen rotate function is assigned to a memorable
keyboard shortcut; Ctrl + Alt + left/right cursor arrow is used on several
graphics cards. On others it’s buried in Display Properties (right-click empty
area of desktop, select Properties, click Settings then Advanced button. If
your PC doesn’t have this facility you can try it out with the 30-day
trial-version of Pivot Pro, the screen rotation program supplied with many
rotating monitors. If you fancy a little fun try a tiny freeware utility called
Rotate. It randomly flips and rotates the screen but returns it to its proper
state when a key is pressed.
SNEAKY SCREENSAVER SHORTCUT
Quick, the boss is coming!
Here’s an easy way to swiftly hide that web page or personal email you’ve been
working on in company time. The idea is you click on a desktop icon and it
instantly fires up a screensaver, blanking out whatever is on the screen. It’s
also a good way of hiding your screen from prying eyes if you are only going to
be away from your desk for a couple of minutes, and you can tell when you
return if anyone has been having a peek. Here’s what to do, go to Search on the
Start menu and type ‘*.scr’ (without the quotes) into the filename box, click
the Search button and in a couple of moments a list of all the screensavers
stored on your PC will appear (most of them live in C:\windows systen32). Right
click on the icon of the one you want to use and select Send To > Desktop
(create shortcut) then exit the Search box. To start the screensaver simply
double-click on the Desktop icon, moving the mouse or tapping a key restores
normal service. By the way, right-clicking on the desktop icon brings up the screensavers settings menu
READER'S TIP
QUICK
LEGIBILITY FIX
With
my rather dim eyesight I often find it hard to read some coloured texts on web
pages when they are on a coloured background.
The answer is to left click and hold on the start of the text then drag
down to the end - in other words, "select" the text, which will then
show up as white on blue, which is easier to read
P
Buchan
Extra Info:You can also change the
colour of the highlight by going to Display Properties (right-click desktop
select Properties then Appearance tab and click Advanced button, on Item
drop-down menu click ‘Selected Items’ and use Color box to change colour.
CLASSY GLASS
Today’s Top Tip is a little
freeware utility called Glass2k. Once installed simply right-click on any open
window, or press a keyboard shortcut, and you can change the window’s
transparency, so you can see what’s underneath. It can also make the taskbar
transparent and there’s the option to store your settings and load it with
Windows. The download is tiny (just 54kb) and it takes only a few seconds to
install. It’s Beta software, so the usual warnings about using it at your own
risk apply but it’s been working flawlessly on our office PCs for weeks so why
not give it a try?
SHARPER DISPLAY ON LCD MONITORS
LCD monitors are now as good as CRT displays but it’s important to make
sure that you are using the correct settings, in particular resolution and
refresh rates. For best results an LCD screen should run in what’s known as ‘native’
resolution, so if the screen has 1024 x 768 pixels, that’s the setting you
should use in Windows Display Properties. Another little known facility is Clear Type fonts, which
are available in Windows XP and these are optimised for desktop and laptop LCD
displays. To switch it on go to Start > Control Panel and click the Display
icon. Select the Appearance tab followed by the Effects button, select ‘Fade
Effect’ on the drop down menu and check the item ‘Use the following transition
effect for menus and tooltips’. Next underneath check the box ‘Use the
following method to smooth the edges of screen fonts’ and select ‘Clear Type’ on the drop-down menu. Exit the
dialogue boxes and reboot. You can also fine -tune the settings using a free online
or downloadable optimisation tool on the Microsoft
web site.
QUICK SAVER
If you want to launch a
screen-saver quickly -- maybe you're going out to lunch or prevent others from
seeing what's on your screen -- open Windows Explorer, go to the Windows folder
and open the System file. There you will find all of the Windows screen-saver
files. They're easy to spot as they have monitor-shaped icons and end with the
file extension *.scr. Right click on the icon, select 'Send To' then 'Desktop
as Shortcut', when you want to start it in a hurry just double-click on the
desktop icon.
QUICK PEEK
Here is a nifty little
trick to access the contents of your desktop from the Start button, without
having to close or minimise any windows. Right click on the Start button and
choose Open then on the Start Menu window that appears go to the File menu,
select New and Shortcut. The Create Shortcut window opens and in the Command
Line box type in the following: 'Explorer /root,' ignore the inverted commas
but be sure there's a space between Explorer and the forward-slash, and don't
forget the comma after root. Click Next and a window opens asking you to
'Select a title for the program'. Back space to delete the default entry and
call it 'Desktop' (or anything else you fancy) and click Finish. The item
should now appear on the Start menu, if you click it a window containing the
contents of your desktop will open. To remove it from the Start menu go Start
> Settings > Taskbar & Start Menu > Start Menu Programs tab and
click the Remove button. Find the shortcut on the directory and click Remove.
CUSTOM COLOURS
If you’re bored with the
standard Windows 98 & ME colours for title bars on windows and message
boxes here’s a quick way to cheer them up with a very snazzy ‘gradient’ colour,
which changes gradually from one colour to another. This trick works best if
your PC is set to True Colour or High Colour, to check right-click onto an
empty part of the desktop, select Properties from the menu and click the
Settings tab. To create your colour gradient stay with Display Properties and
select the Appearance tab. Click on the Active Window title bar in the display
window then click on Colour, a palette of 12 colours appears, with the facility
to create a colour of your choice by selecting the ‘Other’ button. Now click on
Colour 2 and select a second colour, the effect is immediately displayed. Have
fun, experiment with some bright and outrageous shades; it can really brighten
up your desktop!
SCROLL SENSE
Newcomers to Windows often
find the scroll bars at the side and bottom of word processors and spreadsheets
screens quite difficult to use. The bars are narrow and the slider can be hard
to control, until you get used to it. It's easy to change the size of the bars;
even seasoned users may prefer to make them a little wider. To make the change
go to Control Panel, click on the Display icon and select the Appearance tab.
Click in the middle of the scroll bar shown in the 'Active Window', in the
display. The word 'Scrollbar' should
appear in the box below marked Item, along with a pair of up/down arrows and
the default setting of 16. Try 20 or 25 but if you want to see something really
funny whizz it up to the maximum of 100!
PERSONAL SCREENSAVER
Create your own personal
screensaver. If you have the OSR2 release of Windows 95 or Windows 98 onwards
click on the Start button go to Settings, then Control Panel and double click
on the Display icon. Select the Screensaver tab and scroll down the list until
you come to '3D Text'. Highlight the entry and click on the Settings button.
You can enter your name or a message -- up to 16 characters and spaces long --
in the text field, that will bounce or wobble around the screen, or you can
choose an animated digital clock display. Click on the Texture buttons and try
some of the *.bmp files in the Windows folder. This screensaver also contains
an 'Easter egg' a hidden novelty feature planted by the programmers. Type the
word 'Volcano' into the text field, click OK and see what happens…
MOVE THE TASKBAR
A pound to a penny says
your Windows 95/98 Taskbar is still in its default position at the bottom of
the screen, taking up valuable screen space. Maybe you’ve enabled the Hide
Taskbar facility (Start > Settings Taskbar & Start menu) so it doesn’t
take up any room when you are working, but it still pops into view every so
often, when your mouse strays close to the bottom of the screen. So why not
move it? The most logical place has to
be the right or left side of your screen. The right hand side in particular is
often a ‘dead’ area in programs like word processors and since a VDU screen is
over 30% wider than it is tall; you can afford to loose a little room at the
side. To move the Taskbar simply put the mouse pointer into an empty area of
the Taskbar, right click and hold and drag it to its new location. You can
enable Auto Hide, or better still, leave it on show and more accessible, then
re-size your application to fit, so that it doesn’t obscure scroll bars: most
Windows programs will ‘remember’ a new layout whenever they are opened.
SEE THE COLOURS
It's all very well your PC
being able to process over 16 million colours but can you see them all on your
monitor screen? This simple little freeware monitor test program will help you
find out and adjust your settings to produce the best possible picture. The
self-extracting 'zip' file is only 278Kb and should only take a couple of
minutes to download from:
http://www.monitortest.net/monitortest.html
When you see a picture displayed
on your monitor how big is it and what size will it be when it’s printed out?
Screen Ruler is a brilliant little freeware program that superimposes a ruler
on your screen. You can move the ruler around the screen and make it longer or
shorter with the mouse; a right-click menu sets the scale and units (pixels,
inches, centimetres or picas) and flips between horizontal or vertical layout.
The download zip file is only 143kb and it can be downloaded from: http://www.spadixbd.com/freetools/jruler.zip
AVOID REDEYE
Whilst it’s easy enough to
remove red-eye in a digital image, it makes sense to avoid it happening in the
first place. You can’t do much about the position of the flashgun on most
compact cameras but a lot of models nowadays have a red-eye reduction mode.
This is usually a bright light or weak ‘pre-flash’ before the main flash that
reduces the size of the subject’s pupils. If your camera hasn’t got this
facility you could try asking the subject to look at a bright light, just
before you take the picture. Alternatively try covering the flashgun with a
paper tissue or handkerchief, which has the effect of diffusing the flash.
SMARTER SCANNER
If
you have a scanner here’s a quick, simple and very cheap trick that might help
to improve picture quality, especially if it's a budget model with only
rudimentary scan controls. Try this - place a sheet of black paper or card
behind the picture or image that you are scanning. The card will cut down
reflections and glare from the normally white backing pad, which can result in
better contrast, crisper colours and more accurate mid-tones.
SMALL ICONS
If your screen resolution
is set to 1024 x 768, or higher, you may find your desktop icons are a bit on the
small side and any you’ve made from pictures may look indistinct. You can
change the size of icons (make them smaller as well as bigger) by
right-clicking into an empty area of the desktop, select Properties then the
Appearance tab. In the ‘Item’ drop-down menu select Icon and in the Size box
increase or decrease the value as necessary.
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