Computer Info – September 5, 1999

Underlining In MS-Word

        There are many ways to use the underlining in MS-Word. Most of you know how to use the icon on the toolbar to toggle the underlining on and off. Using this method will give you a single underline. The keyboard shortcut for this method of underlining is CTRL-U.
        But there are many other underlines you can use for effect – such as the double underline or dotted underline or thick underline or dash underline or dot dash underline or dot dot dash underline or wave underline. To use these different underlines, from the top menus, choose FORMAT – FONT. In the box labeled Underline, you will find this list of underlines. Choose the one that you want to use, then press the OK button. A easy way to stop using this particular underline, is to click twice on the underline icon on your toolbar (in effect, this toggles the underline on and off – which stops all underlining).
        In my version of MS-Word, the keyboard shortcut to using the double underline is CTRL-SHIFT-D. This acts as a toggle – doing it once, turns it on – doing it again, turns it off. In another member’s version, doing the CTRL-SHIFT-D brings up the FONT window.
        If you find that you would use the double underline or the dotted underline, you could add them to your formatting toolbar from the VIEW menu – TOOLBARS – CUSTOMIZE – then the COMMANDS tab. Scroll the left column and highlight FORMAT. Now scroll the right column and look for the double underline or the dotted underline. When you find the one that you want, click on it with the left mouse button and hold the button down while you drag it to your toolbar – right next to the U icon that stands for underline.

Animated Words in MS-Word

        Another feature you will find in the Font Screen is animations. In the FORMAT menu – then the FONT menu – you will find a tab labeled ANIMATIONS. This is something that you would only use sparsely in your document or report. If you highlight a word or words and then choose one of the animations (Blinking Background – Las Vegas Lights – Marching Black Ants – Marching Red Ants – Shimmer – Sparkle Text) – your word or words will have some kind of a flashing or moving animation that will attract people’s attention to that area of your document when it is displayed on your screen but, of course, will not show up on the printed document.

Internet Sites

Grandma has a second web page. Here is the web address
                      http://home.talkcity.com/SpiritCir/grandmashome/sitemap.html

Here is a good NASA site for viewing the shuttle while in orbit.
                      http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/realtime/JTrack/Spacecraft.html

A free question and answer site.
                      http://www.allexperts.com/

Incompatibilities With Programs

Hotburn
        Hotburn is a CD writer or rewriter program that is shipped with the new Sony USB rewriter drive. Remember how all programs when you install them will remind you to stop or disable all programs that are running – this includes your Virus Program. Well, this is one program that evidently means it. It will install just fine whether you disable your Virus Program or not, which makes it very hard to determine that is what the cause of your computer problems are after it is installed. Trying to run this program after it has been installed with your Virus Program running, will lock up your computer as soon as it tries to access your hard drives to locate the files that you wish to place on your CD.

MegaPhone & Windows 98 Service Pack 1
        MegaPhone is a fax-speakerphone-answering machine program by Cypress Research that is shipped on many Gateway Computers. It ran good until we installed the Windows 98 Service Pack 1 (which is suppose to fix some bugs with the original Windows 98). Shortly after that we went to run our MegaPhone program and it wouldn’t run. Uninstalled it and the re-installed it. Still didn’t work. Uninstalled the Windows 98 Service Pack 1 --- and then MegaPhone worked. By the way, we later installed the second edition of Windows 98 (which again was released to correct some bugs with the original Windows 98) and MegaPhone ran under it.

MegaPhone & Office 2000
        We recently received a copy of Office 2000 from Gateway. When we bought our computer, Office 2000 had not been released and we were given a coupon for a free copy when it finally came out. There was an important information note with it. It stated that all previously versions of MegaPhone do not work with Office 2000. Therefore, Gateway also shipped us the latest version of MegaPhone – Version 3.0 which will run after Office 2000 is loaded. When you are purchasing software, you do not think about a correlation between these types of programs.

MegaPhone & a Gateway Solo Laptop Computer
        Here is another strange one. The note for Gateway states that we cannot install the MegaPhone – version 3.0 – because it will not work. This is not the first time that we have found out that all programs will not run on laptop computers. If you will remember, we have mentioned that ScreenShot by Parsons will not install or run on our laptop.

Windows 98 Second Edition Upgrades & a laptop computer
        The Windows 98 Second Edition Upgrades disk will install the 128-bit encryption version of Internet Explorer 5.0 on a desktop computer; but will only install the 40-bit encryption version of Internet Explorer 5.0 on a laptop computer.

Interesting Roadsign

This picture of a roadsign was sent to us by John Watkins. Hope nobody is in need of that emergency help.