Marion-Grant County Senior Center
Computer Corner

Dick's Recommendations
for your Computer

And they are all FREE.

(Some have pay versions, so you might have to do a little searching.)

Attention
**These tools are free versions.**
There are NO charges that you should be responsible for, so don't pay anything if asked.
If asked to pay something, don't pay it and contact me.
(Copy and paste the sites address to your e-mail)

Anti-Virus Scanner

Avast2

Spyware Scanners

SpywareBlaster 3.4

AVG AntiSpyware
Free to try.
Security protection against spyware, adware and other malicious programs. This is only a trial version and is available for you to try as fully functional product, with no obligation, for a period of 30 days.

See if your SpyWare Remover is legitimate

Firewall

Firewalls are security software system, that limits the exposure of a computer or computer network to attack from crackers; commonly used on home computers and they are usually plenty of protection

Zone Alarm

A better, safer browser

Firefox

E-Mail Programs

Thunderbird

Fun E-Mail

Better Business Bureau Online
Check out those online sites your not sure of.

Microsoft Windows XP Upgrade Requirements

Windows XP Home

Windows XP Professional

233 MHz CPU,
64MB Ram
2 GB hard disk space.

233 MHz CPU,
64MB Ram
2 GB Hard Disk space.

Recommended: 300 MHz CPU and 128MB Ram

Recommended: 300 MHz CPU and 128MB Ram

Practice using your mouse

Setting System Time Over the Internet

You can set your system clock to a time server on the Internet.

1. Double-click the time on your taskbar
2. Click the Internet Time tab
3. Check Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server
4. Click on the Update Now button

Old Tips

Computer Tips

Also Visit http://www.cmillercomputers.com

Watch out for these gotcha's...

1. Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 7 is Microsoft's new browser. It looks interesting from the quick look I got of it. Now for the "GOTCHA": It only works with Windows XP and Vista. If you have the right Operating System....Good luck! Give it a few months to get some of the bugs out before getting it.

2. Windows Vista
The jury is still out on Microsoft's newest Operating System. Don't get in a hurry with this one. Wait a year and see how it fares. You won't regret it. VISTA FAQ's

Changing the Internet Explorer Start Page

To change your start page:
1. Go to a web page that you want to have as your initial page when you start IE
2. Select Tools / Internet Options
3. In the Home page section, simply click on the Use Current button

Right Clicking on a Web Page

Right-click on a blank area of the page. A pop up menu opens and the top choice is back and second choice is forward. You can use this instead of using the back or forward button.
Right-click on the URL (page address), it will highlight it and a menu will open with cut, copy, paste and delete. Handy tool for copying that URL to the email you are going to send to your friend.
Right-click on a link (a clickable) in a web page and it will give you an option to open that link in a New Window. A very useful tool when checking a lot of links on a page.
Right-click on any highlighted text to give you cut, copy, paste and delete. When you want to paste whatever you copied into your email or word processing program, just right-click where you want it and you will get the paste option.
Right-click on a picture or a graphic on a web page and you get a Save Picture as option. Pick the directory of your choice and save picture.

Open A Program Fully Maximized or Minimized

Description -

This recipe explains how to open a program full maximized and should work with all flavors of windows including 95/98/NT/2K/XP.

Directions -

Several programs open into a little biddie window when they open. Here's how to force it to open maximized.

Create a shortcut to the program in which you are interested. Then you just change the properties of the shortcut to make it run maximized or minimized.

Here's how to do it for notepad for example.

1. Right-click on a blank area of your desktop
2. Select New and then Shortcut
3. Browse for the program. In this case since notepad is in our path, you can just type in notepad.exe
4. Name the shortcut
5. Click Finish
6. Right-click on your newly created shortcut
7. Select Properties
8. Under Run you can select Minimized, Maximized, or Normal Window
9. Click OK

By editing any shortcut, you can force the program to come up either minimized or maximized.

Windows XP ( WINXP )

How Run System Restore in Windows XP ( WINXP )
1) Click on "START" then "RUN"

2) Type "MSCONFIG" and click on "OK"

3) Now Click on "LAUNCH SYSTEM RESTORE"

4) Leave Defaults and Click "NEXT"

5) Select a date to restore from, (Warning all software installed after date will be completely removed) and click on "NEXT"

6) You will be asked to confirm date, if you are happy then click on "NEXT"

7) Your computer will now reboot, do a bit of work and when finished the below screen will be seen, your problem should now be solved, if not try another date prior to this.

8) Done. You can undo system restore by simply launching it again and selecting "UNDO RESTORE"

Windows 95\98

Using Windows98's Disk Cleanup

Windows98 has a built-in utility called Disk Cleanup.
You can run it from either the Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Cleanup or directly run CLEANMGR.EXE

Select the drive you want to clean
From here you can delete:

• Temporary Internet Files
• Downloaded Program Files
• The Recycle Bin
• Temporary Files
• Non-Critical Files

You can also view the files before they are deleted
If you have the Plus Pack for Windows98, you can install the Disk Cleanup addition.

It will build a index of several other file-types.
They are:

• Archives (Zip)
• Backup
• Clipart
• Icons and Cursors
• Empty Folders
• Fonts
• Help Files
• Lost Cluster Files
• Multimedia Files
• Screen Savers
• Setup Files
• Temporary Files
• Text Files
• Wallpaper Files
• Zero-Byte Files

You can then delete any individual files you want. You can also sort by name, type, size, date or location.
Note: If you want to run this last program directory, it is \ PROGRAM FILE \ PLUS! \ CLEANUP \ FILECLN.EXE
This program will also run on Win95, NT 4 and NT 5 without the Plus Pack being installed.

Marion-Grant County Senior Center Computer Corner