MS-Word --- Letter Wizard

Computer Info – July 5, 2000

This Week’s Program

Miscellaneous topics to include DON’T COPY SHORTCUTS WHEN YOU WANT TO BACKUP YOUR DATA and creating a folder on the Start button to only include your favorite programs.

Moving Around The Desktop Without A Mouse

        The tab key will move you between the various parts of the desktop. When you press the tab key, you will move between the desktop – the Start button – the quick launch area – the open programs area – and back to the desktop. If you watch closely, you can see that something in each of these areas will be selected as you move through them.
        The arrow keys will move you between the various parts of the area that is selected with the tab key. For example, if an icon on the desktop area is selected, then pressing the arrow keys will move you to other icons on the desktop. You do have to press the correct arrow key. If there are no icons above the one that is selected and you press the up arrow, nothing will change. But if you press the down arrow key or the right or left arrow keys, the selected icon will change. This also works in the quick launch area and the open programs area.
        The enter key will "open" or start the item that is selected – whether it be the Start button – an open program – something on your quick launch area – or an icon on the desktop.
        The esc key (which is short for escape) will close a menu for you that you have open.

Copying Shortcuts Doesn’t Work !!!

        Again, we have had people try to save their data or copy their programs – only to find out that what they had copied was only a shortcut.
        WHAT ARE SHORTCUTS? Shortcuts are instructions that tell where a file or program is located. Most of the icons on your desktop are shortcuts (NOT THE ACTUAL PROGRAM ITSELF). Shortcuts are usually identified by the bent arrow in the lower left of the icon. Also, when you go to START – PROGRAMS – you will find that all of these are also shortcuts. Even though you do not see the bent arrow on these icons – if you right click on them and choose PROPERTIES – you will see a tab for SHORTCUT.
        Okay, you have copied your shortcut and placed it on your floppy disk. Then you have even tested it out. You double clicked on it and the program ran and the correct file opened. That’s right – it will – as long as you are still on your computer (and you haven’t deleted the file or moved it) – it will be able to follow the instructions for locating the file or program. The problem comes when you give it to someone else and they try it. The computer can not locate the program or file because it does not exist on their computer.

Making A New Programs Menu

To make this new Program Menu, right click on the START button and choose OPEN from the menu. This will open up a window entitled START MENU. Right click in this window (on an empty spot) and choose NEW – FOLDER from this menu. Name this folder --- maybe MY FAVORITE PROGRAMS. Double click on this folder to open it. Leave that window open while you right click on the START button and choose OPEN from the menu. Now double-click on the PROGRAMS folder to open it. Size these two windows so that you can see both of them. In the Programs folder, locate a program that you would like listed in your MY FAVORITE PROGRAMS. Right click on this Program and drag it to your MY FAVORITE PROGRAMS folder. When you release the button, you will be given a menu choice --- choose COPY HERE. Repeat this procedure to finish creating your MY FAVORITE PROGRAMS folder.

Mouse Buttons

        The left mouse button is the most frequently used and has a variety of functions; it opens and closes menus and dialog boxes, selects items, move the insertion point, resizes windows, and drags items to new locations.
        The right mouse button is a valuable time saver because it accesses shortcut menus.
        The wheel – which is between the left and the right mouse buttons – is multi-functional. It can be rotated and clicked. The actions that are carried out depend on the application in use. Some applications do not use it at all.
        Typically, rotating the wheel allows you to scroll through the text, document, or graphics in a window to view all the contents. Clicking the wheel sets the window in a continuous scroll mode. To stop the continuous scrolling, click the wheel again.

More Choices When Purchasing a New Computer
(From the News Journal on June 26, 2000)

        Shopping for a new computer has always been tough. Last week, it got a little more complicated, courtesy of CPU-maker Advanced Micro Devices, better known as AMD. The company began selling a brand new chip dubbed Duron.
        Duron would be compariable to the Celeron chip made by Intel. But AMD claims the new Duron is 25 percent faster than Celeron, megahertz for megahertz, because of special performance features in the chip.
        If you are not completely confused by now, and want even more computing power, consider a computer powered by a Pentium III or Athlon chip. Both Pentium III and Athlon are sold with speed ratings up to 1GHz, but these super-fast chips are very expensive. PCs equipped with these top-of-the-line chips are the best choice if you use your computer for PC gaming (the most demanding applications of all, believe it or not), complex graphics work or simply want to have the fastest computer on the block.
        While the CPU is often the focus of the buying decision, it should not be the only consideration. Equally important, especially for gamers and graphics developers, is the video card. Top performers in today's market are cards powered by Nvidia's GeForce or GeForce 2 graphics chip or the 3Dfx Voodoo 4 and 5. But you can probably get by with a graphics card powered by Nvidia's less powerful TNT2 chip if cost is a concern.
        Computers with built-in graphics chips from ATI or Intel are generally among the slowest performers and should be avoided if speed is important.
        Also, try to buy a PC with at least 64 megabytes of RAM for best performance - or 128 megabytes if you can afford it. Inkjet Cartridges Affordable Computer Supply Marketplace (ACSM)
        Here is another web site where you can purchase discounted inkjet cartridges. This company is located in Florida.
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