This is the place where you'll find helpful shortcuts, free advice, frequently misunderstood terms explained in real English, and new skills to impress your friends with. We've also included links to some of the free tools we used to create this website. This page will be constantly evolving as more content is added. Check back from time to time and see what we've added.
How Do I ...
Safely clean up unneeded files on my computer? For starters, there are temporary files on your computer that should be deleted automatically but aren't. Go to your C: drive | Windows | Temp folder and delete everything you see. Some of the files might not want to go, but you can clean out most of them. Also, go to Internet Explorer, click Tools | Internet Options | Delete Files | check the box to "delete all offline content" as well | click OK, and then click OK again. Close any open Internet Explorer windows. That's a good start. Your computer will feel like it has had a breath of fresh air!
How Do I ...
Find what I'm searching for on a really long, detailed web page? Let's say you search for a specific phrase on a search site, but when you go to a page that supposedly has the information, it isn't displayed in an obvious place. In your web browser (Internet Explorer for example) click on Edit (along the top menu bar) and select "Find (on this page)". Enter the phrase you need and click Find Next. It will go to the next instance of that phrase. Want to find more? Keep clicking Find Next. What a time saver!
How Do I ...
Turn off my computer when it is "stuck" and won't shut down like it's supposed to? Depending on the age of your computer, you can either push the power button once or push it in and hold it for five seconds. The five seconds allows the computer to shut down safely, while overriding whatever has caused it to freeze up. If you're lucky, when it restarts again it will have gotten past its temporary glitch. While this isn't the ideal way to turn your computer off, it won't hurt it.
Quick Trick
Save yourself some time and effort when typing in a web address online. In the address bar (not the search bar) of Internet Explorer or your web browser, type the name of the site without the "www." and ".com" (google for example). Then hold down the CNTRL key and hit ENTER. The "www." and the ".com" will be added for you, and you will be sent to the site. This time saver only works for ".com" addresses, so if you're going to another extension (like our ".net" or a ".org"), you still need to type the whole address.
Quick Trick
Get to know the F11 key. When you're on the Internet and want to see more of the web page and less of the toolbars and headings, press the F11 key. To undo the change, press F11 again.
How Do I ...
"Burn a CD" with the built-in software in Windows XP? Click here to see step-by-step instructions that can be printed out. If you don't have Adobe Reader, you'll need it to read the instructions.
Tool
The free stock photos used on this site came from stock.xchng, found here.
How Do I ...
Change my desktop background to display a favorite photo? You can "browse" to your favorite photo, and select it to be used as wallpaper by going to Start | Settings | Control Panel | Display | Desktop | Browse - and finding where the photo is stored. Select the photo, click Open | Apply | OK. Any photo from your digital camera or downloaded from some other source will work. The tricky part is remembering where it is stored on your computer!
Tool
The free background paper and button images used on this site came from
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