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Bullet Points
Prevent Program From Appearing in Most Frequently Used Programs List
There is a feature in Windows XP that causes your most frequently used
programs to be displayed in a special section of the Start menu so you can
find and launch them quickly. However, there may be times when you do not
want a program to be displayed there, possibly because you would rather some other
program be listed in the limited amount of space there. To do this:
Click Start
Click Run
Type in regedit and press Enter
In the tree on the left side, click on the plus sign next to HKEY CLASSES ROOT
Scroll waaaaay down to Applications and click the plus sign next to it
Scroll to the [program name] and select it. (For example, the program name
would be winword.exe for Microsoft Word).
Click Edit in the horizontal menu at the top of the RegEdit window
Click New
Click String value
Name the new string value NoStartPage. Leave the value empty.
Exit RegEdit and any other applications that are running
Restart your computer
Folders View and Tasks View in Windows Explorer
There are two basic appearances that you can have when running Windows Explorer:
Folders View and Task Pane View. To run Windows Explorer, right click on the Start
button and select Explore. To toggle between the two views, click the Folders
icon in the tool bar just below the horizontal menu.
In Folders view, you'll see a hierarchical list of the folder tree for the
computer in the left pane (labeled Folders). If you click the Folders
button in the top toolbar to deselect it, you'll see the Task Pane instead. The top
section of the Task Pane is labeled File and Folder Tasks. If you select a
file in the right pane, you'll see icons for the following:
Rename this file
Move this file
Copy this file
Publish this file to the Web
E-mail this file
Print this file
Delete this file
(If you've selected a folder in the right pane, you'll see similar options,
but in the place of Print, you'll have the option to Share this folder).
This makes it quick and easy to perform these common tasks without having to
drag and drop or copy and paste.
Drag and Drop Tips
For all of you that are scared of drag-and-drop (and even you seasoned drag-and-droppers), here are a few tips:
(Note that MB1 = mouse button 1 = normally left mouse button; MB2 = right mouse button)
To Cancel a drag and drop operation: press Esc
To Move an object: use MB1 to drag the object from one folder to another on the same drive.
Copy an object: use MB1 to drag the object from one folder to another on a different drive.
Drag from application to application: use MB1 to drag an object, hold it
over the tray button for the application until the application window is
opened in the forefront allowing you to continue without rearranging the
open windows.
Drag and Drop Dialog Box: use MB2 to drag an object from one folder to another.
From the drag and drop dialog box, select whether to Move Here, Copy Here, Create Shortcut(s) Here, or Cancel
Drag and print: Assuming you have created a printer shortcut on the desktop, you can print to it by dragging a file
and dropping it onto the printer shortcut icon.
Drag to Run Dialog: Drop a program on Run and it will start up. Drop a file and if it has a program association,
the program will start up with the file opened.
Drag a group: To drag and drop a group of objects, hold down the Shift key and select the object you want to operate on as a group.
When you left-drag a file or folder, pay attention to the icon on what is being dragged:
a small plus sign on the icon means the file or folder will be copied
a small curving arrow means a shortcut will be made
no change on the icon means the object will be moved
The Undo command works if you deleted or moved or copied it to somewhere by
mistake: either click Edit | Undo or Ctrl-Z
Outlook Attachment Security
Outlook 2002 checks the file type of each attachment you send or that is sent to you
against an internal list of file types. A default list is included with Outlook.
Level 1
These file types (including .bat, .exe, .vbs, .lnk, and .js) are blocked by
Outlook. You will get a warning message if you receive at attached file with one
of these extensions and try to preview or open it. For a complete
list of the Level 1 attachment types, go to http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2003/three/ch12/OutG07.htm)
Level 2
There are no Level 2 file types by default; you have to add them yourself.
With Level 2 attachments, you can see the icon for the attachment, and when
you double-click it, you are prompted to save the attachment to your hard
disk, but you can't run it directly from its current location. After you
have saved the attachment, you can decide how to handle it. This is supposed
to make users think before blindly double-clicking every attachment they get.
When you attach a file to an outgoing email, Outlook checks the file type
against the Level 1 list. If you've attached any Level 1 files, a dialog box
warns you that the recipients might not be able to open the attachment.
Clicking Yes in this dialog box sends the message as is. (This warning
message can be turned off.)
When you receive a message that contains a Level 1 attachment, a paper clip is
displayed in the attachment column to let you know that the message includes an
attachment. When you open an email message containing an attachment, the
attachment is blocked, and Outlook warns you that the attachment is untouchable.
Clicking File and then Save Attachments (as well as clicking
View Attachments on the shortcut menu that opens when you right-click)
shows only attachments that aren't blocked, rendering the others completely
inaccessible. When you open the message itself, you'll see a warning listing
the blocked files, but you can still get to all attachments that have extensions
that aren't on the banned list.
If you receive a message containing a Level 2 file as an attachment, the
attachment appears normally. However, when you try to open it, you'll get a
warning dialog box telling you that it's a bad idea to run the attachment
directly and offering to let you save it to disk.
Numbering Pages in a Section With MS Word
Displaying the proper number on a page can be extremely important in large documents,
especially if that page is referenced via a table of contents or an index, or is used in
a footnote reference.
The process to display page number information based on the number of actual pages per
section rather than actual pages in the entire document is relatively simple. However,
Microsoft has chosen not to make the method as simple as clicking a button on a toolbar,
which is all that is required for many other numbering schemes.
The first step is to break your document into sections. Place the cursor on the line
where you want your next section to start and navigate to the Insert | Break menu to get
the Break dialog box.
Under Section break types click the Next Page radio button and click the OK button.
Now you need to set the page numbers for each section to start at the number "1."
This step is a little tricky--place the cursor at the beginning of each section and
navigate the menu to View | Header and footer. The resulting screen will
reveal the appropriate toolbar
Click on the Format page number button on the toolbar. There are other ways to
reach this dialog, but this way is simpler. Since page numbers are most often displayed
in either a footer or header, this method serves two purposes. Besides setting the
proper page number for a section, this method also brings you to the toolbar where
headers and footers are defined.
After setting the page numbers as you want them, click the OK button to return to
your document. You'll have to set the page numbers for each section in your document.
Now that everything is all set up, you can display the page numbers anywhere you feel it
is appropriate. The header and footer toolbar from above has several default field code
inserts you can use, but if you want to display "page X of Y" where "Y" is the number of
pages in the particular section, you will have to do a little more work.
To get this format you have to enter this set of field codes in your document or in the
header or footer areas:
Page {PAGE} of {SECTIONPAGES}
The key to inserting field codes is that you do not just type in the curly brackets.
The curly brackets are inserted by typing CTRL-F9, which will create an empty
set of curly brackets that you then fill in with the appropriate codes.
Blocking Popups in Internet Explorer
While there are many software packages designed to block popup ads,
there is a feature of Internet Explorer that you can use to block
popups yourself:
In Internet Explorer, click Tools
Click Internet Options
Click the Security tab
Click the Restricted Sites icon
Click the Sites... button
Enter in the last portion of the site of the advertiser you wish to block.
For instance, if the popup ad is coming from www.widget.com, then you can enter in widget.com
Click Add
From now on, any page from that company will be blocked, including ads.
Here are 5 basic tips on how to make sure your PC continues to run
optimally and let you get productive work done:
Most importantly, have an automated backup process for crtical files, or
better, do a full disk image. The process must be automated. Internet-based
backup systems are ideal for backing up workstations. Contact us if you are
interested in implementing this.
Defrag you hard disk at least once a month.
Make sure you have at least twice the recommended memory for your
operating system if you want to execute programs more quickly. We recommend
at least 256MB of RAM if you are running Windows XP.
Protect your computer from viruses, malware and pop-up's. Norton (Symantec)
and McAfee make excellent anti-virus products. Make sure you keep up your
subscriptions and get automatic updates. We find Pest Patrol works best in
removing spyware/malware/adware/..., but SpyBot Search and Destroy and AdAware
also work reasonably well.
Keep the operating system and Microsoft Office up to date. If
you have Windows, the update process is well defined and somewhat automatic
(critical only). Most newer software products (Adobe, for instance) can be
configured to check for updates automatically each time you execute the
software.
