Computer Info – April 25, 2001

This Week’s Meeting

        John Watkins will be hosting the meeting this week and next week. He says his meeting will be "Windows for beginners hints and tips" followed by "For you who know a BIT more "

Clearing your temporary internet files

        In Internet Explorer, you can adjust your settings to clean out the Temporary Internet Files folder each time you close the browser. To do this, select Internet Options from the Tools menu. Then choose Advanced, scroll down to the Security heading, and check the box next to "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed."
        In Netscape, you have to do this procedure manually. From the Edit menu, select Preferences. Then choose Advanced, and select Cache, then click on both "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache."
Internet Explorer Problems
        Freeze-ups ---- If you are having too many lockups in Internet Explorer – try this. Clear the cache regularly and increase the cache file size. From the TOOLS menu, go to INTERNET OPTIONS, GENERAL – click on CLEAR HISTORY and set the Days to Keep Pages in History to 1 or even 0.
Letting Windows Manage Virtual Memory
        If you are having numerous lockup Windows problems – maybe this is worth looking into. I have heard about changing the way that Windows manages your virtual memory could help this problem. The swap file on the hard disk is dynamic (shrinks and grows). According to the article I read, Windows does a poor job of managing this dynamic memory and can overwrite files necessary for normal operation that causes lockups. To change this, go to System Properties, Performance and click on Virtual Memory Settings. Deselect Let Windows Manage Virtual Memory and select Let Me Specify My Own Settings. Enter an amount that’s 2.5 times the value of your onboard memory. This block of memory is fixed and Windows cannot overwrite clusters that contain files needed for normal operation.
BackUp – Windows ME
        Have you been wanting to use the BACKUP feature of Windows ME – but couldn’t find it. It is not automatically installed when you install Windows Me and it is not listed in the Windows Setup tab of Add/Remove Programs like it is in Windows 98.
        If you would like to use it, Insert your Windows ME CD-ROM, choose BROWSE THIS CD, click the ADD-ONS folder, click MSBACKUP, then click MSBEXP.EXE. Once installed, it works the same as the backup in Windows 98.
Find
I cannot find a file I save to my hard drive. Where can I begin to look?
        This is an easy one if you remember what you named the file. Click on Start and then Find File or Folders. Make sure you are looking on the appropriate drive and type the name into the box. The file locator will bring up all files with that name and location path. If you don’t remember the name of the file, try searching in a broader sense. Try looking for all files of that type. For example, if you had an image file and want to browse through all the JPEGs on the hard drive, search for *.jpg. This will bring up all of the files with that extension. You can then open each one until you find your missing puzzle piece. The only downside is that you will need to look through your entire archive of those specific files.