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BOOT CAMP 106
TOP TRAUMAS part 2
This week we conclude our roundup of Connected reader’s ten most
frequently requested solutions fixes and tips, which have appeared in past
editions of Boot Camp and Faqs! Facts! Fax!
6. SLOW SHUTDOWN
We get a lot of requests for this one. The symptom is
Windows or Office applications taking progressively longer to close. Nine times
out of ten it’s caused by Outlook in Office 97 creating an automatic Journal
entry, and this happens if Outlook isn’t running. The solution is to Open
Outlook and select Options on the Tools menu, then click on the Journal tab.
Deselect all of the check boxes under the 'Also record files from' list and click
OK.
7. PRINT SCREEN
This is a very useful utility that allows you to make a ‘screen
grab’ of whatever appears on your monitor display. Pressing the Print Screen
button on the keyboard takes a snapshot the desktop, which is copied to the Clipboard
as a bitmap image file. The image can be viewed in Paint (Start > Programs
> Accessories). The Clipboard is available to most Windows applications. The
image can be pasted into a document or graphics program using the Paste command
on the Edit menu, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V. Pressing Alt + Print
Screen captures only the active window.
8. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Word 97 and Word 2000 has over 200 useful keyboard shortcut
commands, however you will have a hard time finding a master list in Help or any
of the user manuals. You can easily create your own, which you can print out
and keep for reference. In Word go to the Tools menu then Macro and Macros. Now
look for the 'Macros In' drop-down menu and select Word Commands. In the Macro
Name window click to highlight ListCommands select Run and choose ‘Current Menu
and Keyboard Settings’. Select OK and a new document opens with a table showing
all of the available commands and shortcuts. Use Save As to give the document a
name and print it out.
9. FREEING UP HARD DISC SPACE
Running out of room on the hard disc is much less of a
problem these days now that most new PCs are fitted with multi gigabyte drives
but a lot of users, especially those with older machines and smaller drives,
face a continual space problem, when trying to install large software applications.
The only long-term solution is to upgrade to a larger hard disc drive – it’s
not difficult, or expensive (see Boot Camps 87 & 88 August 26th/September
2nd) -- but for a quick fix on most systems it’s possible to reclaim
several tens of megabytes by deleting files that you no longer need or use. Start
by removing redundant programs or applications listed in the Add/Remove
Programs utility in Control Panel, or use the program’s own Uninstaller. Windows
housekeeping programs like CleanSweep, Uninstaller or WinDelete are a good
investment and will always backup or compress deleted files for a set period,
in case of problems.
You can safely remove some types of files with Windows
Explorer. Old ‘.zip’ files for programs or software downloaded from the Internet
can go, and temporary and backup files (with the extension .bak or .tmp) are
also safe to remove though avoid emptying the Recycle Bin for a day or two,
just in case. If you upgraded from Windows 95 to 98, and have no wish to revert
to the old operating system you can safely delete the previous version of
Windows and reclaim between 60 and 80 megabytes of space. The option can be
found on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disc
Cleanup. Select drive C and the Disc Cleanup tab. Highlight the item ‘Delete
Windows 98 Uninstall Information’ and click OK, you can also use this utility to
clear temporary Internet Files and Temporary files.
10. PRIVACY AND SECURITY
The password features in Windows can be defeated by most
ten-year olds so if your PC is going to be used by others, and you want to keep
your files or documents private you have two options. You can hide them away in
innocuously named folders deep inside other applications, or better still,
encrypt them. This turns the data into gobbledegook that can only be
unscrambled when you enter your PIN code or password. You’ll find a good
selection of such programs on shareware sites such as www.tucows.com and www.shareware.com.
Another concern for many users is the way Windows
meticulously logs all of your Internet activities. Tweak UI, the essential
Windows customising utility has a feature called Paranoia, which will automatically
clear most of your PCs Internet and document ‘history’ files every time the PC
is switched on. Tweak UI is included on many PC magazine cover mounted CD-ROMs,
it can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site. It’salso on the Windows 98 CD-ROM (version 1 only) in
Tools > Reskit > PowerToys. In all cases take time to peruse the Readme
file for installation instructions.
Lastly there’s Cookies, small (mostly harmless) data files stored
on you PC, generated by many Internet web sites. They can be safely deleted
from within Internet Explorer by clicking on Internet Options on the Tools
menu, select the General Tab and then select the Settings button under
Temporary Internet Files.
Next week – zipping for beginners
JARGON FILTER
CLIPBOARD
A Windows utility where you can temporarily copy chunks of
text, data, graphics or pictures. Once on the clipboard the item can be pasted
into another part of the document, or transferred to any other Windows application
with a copy and paste facility.
ENCRYPTION
A process that renders files unreadable by any conventional
means without the correct decryption software and a unique 'key' code, which is
needed to unlock the data.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUT
A simple and ideally memorable sequence of two or three
key-strokes, used to invoke a frequently used action or activity within a
program or application
TOP TIP
If you haven’t yet got around to thanking everyone for their
Christmas cards and presents, because you’ve lost their address or phone
number, then there’s no longer any excuse. Both the Royal Mail and British
Telecom now have powerful search facilities on the Internet. The Royal Mail web
site (http://www.royalmail.co.uk/paf/)
lets you find an address using just the postcode, or you can look up the
postcode, from the house number a street name. It’s free but you can only use
it 50 times in a 24-hour period. BT’s on-line Directory Enquiries (http://www.bt.com/phonenetuk/) is also
free and it allows you to look up personal or business phone numbers, searching
by name and area
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