Computer Info – September 20, 2000

This Week’s Program

        We will look at a few features in MS-Word and then take a look at customizing your own page in Yahoo!

Help The Technician

        If you have ever walked into a computer repair store, you have probably seen this exchange: Customer sets computer on desk and waits for technician to end three harried, simultaneous phone calls. Technician finally stops running long enough to listen to customer. Customer says, "My computer is broken". Technician asks for some – any – details. Customer can’t provide any. Technician sighs heavily and says repairs will take at least a week. Customer balks and ponders whether to try another shop. In the meantime, harried technician answers seven more phone calls and a dozen e-mail messages. By the time the customer makes up his mind, repairs will now take two weeks.
        You can help the repair technician help you – and probably cut down on the amount of time a repair will require --- by following these two tips.
        Keep track of error messages and warning signs. Write down any specific error messages you see. They will give the technician important clues. If the computer made any strange noises or exhibited any strange behavior before crashing, make note of them, too.
        Walk through the final minutes. No matter how painful it is, you’ll need to relive the final few moments before your system crash. "Remember the last thing you were doing."
        Don’t be surprised if the technician recommends completely replacing any worn out or malfunctioning parts inside your computer rather than suggesting fixing the parts. "Parts repair isn’t done much; it’s just not worth it."
The Fine Print – Licenses and Warranties
(from Smart Computing – November, 2000)
        License agreements. Not everyone realizes that they are actually, well … license agreements. When you pay for your software, you do not own it when you get it home. Instead, the publisher has licensed it to you. You’re merely purchasing the right to use it under certain conditions. If you violate those conditions, you can, theoretically, be required to return or destroy the software.
        In most cases, opening and installing the software constitutes agreement with the terms of the license. And most software comes in envelopes or packages that explicitly state that. In some cases the license agreement is one of the first dialog boxes you see during installation. The dialog box will be accompanied by ACCEPT and DECLINE buttons; if you choose DECLINE, the software will not install.
        Warranties and service agreements are even more treacherous than license agreements. Here is an example ---- Acer’s ScanPrisa 640U scanner is a fine piece of equipment that will almost certainly give you no trouble, but if it does, watch out. Its warranty lets Acer make "repeated efforts" to correct a problem. Then if Acer simply gives up trying to fix the scanner, you will get a refund of the purchase price, minus a "reasonable charge for usage". Another example is Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus warranty which notes that Symantec doesn’t guarantee that the product "…will meet your requirements or that …. the software will be error-free." Symantec’s users manual is "…provided to you as-is…." and the company "…makes no warranty as to its accuracy…" There’s a guarantee that’s literally not worth the paper on which it’s printed.

Finding a Synonym in MS-Word

        In Word 2000, you right click on a word in your document and you will find the choice of SYNONYMS with a pull out menu showing you the choices.
        In Word 97, you place your cursor on a word in your document and from the TOOLS menu – choose LANGUAGE – and then Thesaurus. This will open up the Thesaurus window and show you the choices.

Sorting a list in MS-Word

        There are two ways to sort your information in Word – manually and with the SORT command.
        To sort manually, you would move your cursor to the spot in your list where the new data you are going to enter would naturally occur.
        Example ------
                    Davis, Jim & Barb                DeBary, FL
                    Davis, Wes & Alice              DeBary, FL
                    Taylor, John & Betty             Bay City, MI
        In this example, to add in "Johnson, Bob & Shirley Mt Morris, MI", you would place your cursor in front of the line for Taylor and hit the ENTER key to create an empty line for entering Johnson.
        To sort with the SORT command, you would type your list and don’t worry if they are in alphabetical order. When you are finished typing your list, then you would go to the TABLE menu and choose SORT and then SORT BY PARAGRAPHS. Each of the lines in your list would be considered a paragraph because you have hit the ENTER key at the end of each line.

Place Hyperlink in Word Document

        (1) Highlight a word or phrase that you are going to want to jump to in your document.
        (2) then choose INSERT - BOOKMARK --- and give it a name – then choose ADD. This will create a bookmark to that spot
        (3) then go to the spot in your document where you want to place the HYPERLINK. Highlight that word or words and then choose INSERT - HYPERLINK. That screen is divided into two parts -- work with the second half and choose BROWSE -- that will list your BOOKMARKS.

Portal Sites on the Internet

        A portal site (such as AOL – MSN – Yahoo) is a web site where you can customize it to include the type of information that you are interested in. You determine the type of news and other information you would like to see.
        Yahoo!’s personal site is called My Yahoo!. Setting it up is a rather involved process, but the results are excellent. To set it up, go to http://www.yahoo.com and click the MY icon. This will open up another web page where you click on SIGN UP FOR MY YAHOO! link to get started. First, you will fill out a form and create a user ID and password. Once completed, click the CONTINUE TO MY YAHOO! LINK TO OPEN YOUR PERSONALIZED PAGE. Next click on the CONTENT button to choose the information that you would like on your page. The Content area consists of 12 sections, including HEADLINES, STOCKS, WEATHER, AND SPORTS. Click the FINISH button when you have completed your choices. When you are back to your page, you can click the EDIT button in any of these modules to change some of the information in that module. Avoid placing too much information on the one page by clicking the ADD PAGE link at the top right of the My Yahoo! page. You can have up to six pages. To change the color of the page, click on the OPTIONS link next to the ADD PAGE link. Smart Computing believes this is the best of the three personalized portals.
        MSN is one of the most popular online destinations in the world. When it comes to content, MSN has it all. MSN wins the content battle hands down. There’s more content here than in a New York City landfill.
        You can reduce some of the cluster by personalizing your own MSN page. One nice thing about the setup is that you don’t have to sign in or use a password. Your changes are remembered because MSN places a cookie on your system. To make your changes, find the section labeled CHANGE just below the big list of links and click CONTENT. Also next to that CONTENT button, you will find LAYOUT and COLORS – to help you personalized your own page.