Handy QuickTip - Close a window

If you have multiple windows open on your computer, rather than closing them all down with the mouse press "ALT"+"F4", this will close the curent open window.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are items on your computer that make it easier to run your favourite software.

The software on your computer is installed in a particular place, to find this would be both time consuming and sometimes confusing, for this reason in Windows there are shortcuts.

The "Start" menu consists mainly of shortcuts and also your desktop can have shortcuts on there as well, a lot of the software you install on your computer will place a shortcut on the desktop of your computer.

The shortcut has a small arrow on the bottom left hand side of the icon.

It is perfectly safe to delete these shortcuts from your desktop, this will not remove the software you have installed on your computer.


You can also create your own shorcuts:

1. Click on the software icon you would like to create a shortcut to, this will open a seperate box of options.
2.  Here you will see a command called "send to", highlight this option by moving down to it with the mouse and this will open another box with options.
3. You will then see a command called "Desktop (create shortcut)", left click on this option to create your shortcut.

Handy QuickTip - "Pinning"

If like us at PCQuickTips you use a particular item of software on your computer a lot and would like easier access to it you can "pin" it to the "Start" menu.
If you find the software you need on your computer and then right click on the name of the software this will bring up a box of options one of these options is "Pin to Start Menu", click this and a shortcut is added to your "Start" menu giving you easier access to your favourite software.

To "The Cloud"

You may have seen advertisments on TV or in print using the words "The Cloud".

In computing terms this is an area of the Internet that you can use for storing your files, you can store documents pictures videos all on some virtual space (usually free) that is allocated to you by various Internet companies. a good example of this Microsofts, Windows Live Skydrive.

At PCQuickTips we use "The Cloud" to store backups of the files we use and also personal photographs and documents. These services provide a way of backing up your items so if something happens to your computer you can easily get them back. You can also log in on any computer anywhere and still access your files.

Another example of this would be an email service that you use on the Internet such as Yahoo Mail, Google Mail and Hotmail.

Service Packs

You may have seen your computer downloading various updates at certain times and you may have come across an update called a Service Pack.

A Service Pack is generally a collection of software updates and security fixes to help your computer perform better, most of the time the Service Pack is simply a collection of updates that your computer may have missed at the time of release.

• Windows XP is currently at Service Pack 3
• Windows Vista is currently at Service Pack 2
• Windows 7 is currently at Service Pack 1

Some of the items in the Service Pack can also bring extra improvements such as with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP which added the security centre and major improvements in the way security is handled within Windows.

In Windows Vista the main emphasis was on speed and stability of the system.

Windows 7 is based more around the collection of updates.

To check which Service Pack you have installed click on the Start menu and hover of the the My Computer icon or Computer icon depending on your version then Right Click and select Properties, another window will appear showing you information about your computer, you should here be able to see which version of the Service Pack you have.

Most computers will be up to date with the Service Packs as they are "delivered" to you from the Internet directly and automatically.

Handy QuickTip - Renaming a file continued

Following on from our earlier tip of renaming a file, in version of Windows Vista and 7, if you have a large amount of files to rename in one folder, you can use the TAB key to move onto the next file to rename automatically, this saves you time highlighting each file individually.

Microsoft Updates

From time to time, Microsoft sends out various updates for your computer, you generally notice when this happens as a small symbol will appear in the bottom corner of your computer screen and a box will pop up telling you that updates are ready to install on your computer.

These updates are perfectly safe and are generally there to help improve the security of your computer from on going battle against things like computer viruses.

These updates can also provide increased funtionality to certain Windows tasks, although these are generally updates that won't have any impact on the way you use your computer.

It is important that you keep your computer up to date with these updates as thet not only provide your computer with added security thet may just help others too if your computer is blocking a certain virus from entering your system it wall also ensure that you cannot pass the virus onto anybody else.

Handy QuickTip - Renaming a file

To quickly rename a file, highlight the file you wish to rename by left clicking it once andthen press F2 this, will highlight the name of the file for you, so you can type in the new name of the file.

Drivers

Drivers are a small program that allows another peripheral to connected to your computer so that the 2 machines can "talk" to each other.

Drivers usually come on a seperate disc that comes with the peripheral you have bought, this disc usually has to be used with older versions of Windows such as XP as newer versions the Operating System has most of the drivers "built in".

Windows XP is an older Operating System now and although perfectly good at doing the daily tasks you need to do, technology has moved on, with newer versions of Windows such as Vista or Windows 7 if the driver isn't already "built in" the computer will connect to the Internet and search for the driver from the relevant makers web site.

Internet Explorer 9

This week, Microsoft updated its popular browser Internet Explorer to version 9.

We will be proving more detailed information about the browser at a later date but from our first impressions and testing we are very impressed.

The speed has been greatly improved and the browsing window has been made larger for a better Internet experience.

You can get more information and if you would like to install Internet Explorer 9 by clicking here.

Recommended Downloads - CCleaner

Over time your computer collects information whether its is from the Internet or just day to day tasks whilst using Windows.

These files although are generally harmless can slow down the performance of your computer and every now and again it is good practice to have a "spring clean".

The "spring clean" can be handled in two ways, you can use various options in Windows and your browser to clean the unwanted files or you can use software to do the task.

Here at PCQuickTips we recommend CCleaner.

CCleaner from a company called Piriform handles all of the task of cleaning browsing history and also temporary files from your computer that are no longer needed, this can all be done using just one click, you can even analyze the procedure before you go ahead and remove them, just to double check the amount of space you will be saving and what will be deleted.

The software will also allow you to "untick" all of the items that you would not like deleted such as the contents of the recycle bin, just in case you are unsure as to whether you have sent important files there.

CCleaner is not just a cleaning tool, it also allows you to uninstall software from your computer and clean up the registry (a feature we only recommend experienced user to use!).

One of the best thing about all the features of this software is that it is free.

CCleaner is available to download from here.

Handy Quick Tip - Help!

Pressing the F1 key when using your computer will bring up a handy help window.

Internet Explorer Part 3

In part 1 of this series we looked at the very top section of Internet Explorer, in ths part we will give an overview of the what is under that top area.

This area is known as the browser window, all of the common browsers have them, this is your "window" into the Internet.


Here we have highlighted the browser window area in red.

Now we will look at the lower area of the browser, this gives a small about of information about the site you are visiting.

The image below shows the left hand side of the bottom bar, this basically tells you when the site you are visiting has loaded, sometimes this can also display an error, if the site has loaded incorrectly.

 

 

The image below show the right hand side of the bar, this side shows a little more information.

As you can see here the bar is showing a symbol that looks like an eye with a red circle and a line through it, if you click on this, Internet Explorer will tell you if anything has been blocked to protect your computer and your privacy.

If you double click on the next icon along that reads Internet you will see that this is a shortcut to your privacy settings.

The next icon looks like a little lock symbol, if you move your mouse over this, a small amount of text will pop up and tell you what Internet Explorer is blocking on this site, this could be annoying adverts which pop up from time to time.

The next icon along is the zoom option, if you click on this a smal window will pop up and ask you which size you would prefer the screen to be viewed, this especially good for people who have poor eyesight.

Handy Quick Tip - Full screen browsing

Pressing F11 on your keyboard whilst browsing the Internet will make your browser go into full screen mode, giving you a larger reading area.

Internet Explorer Part 2

In this part in our series we will look the section right under the top bar, this section holds an areea to hold all of your most commonly used favourites and also just underneath this area is the "tabs" section.

This image shows the left hand side of the area.

1. This is the area where you can store your most commonly used favourite web sites, as you can see we have already placed some favourites of our own in this area. To add your favourite sites just click on the website name in the address bar, hold the mouse button down and move into the favourites area then let go of the mouse button, if this is done correctly the web site should appear in this area.
2. This icon refers to tabs, using tabs allows you to open multiple websites without opening up Internet Explorer over and over again, this icon lets you see a preview all of the sites you currently have open.
3. This is the current tab you have open.
4. This is a tab we have already opened, we can easily go back to this tab by clicking it.
5. This allows us to open a new tab, when you click on this new tab icon you will see another page that asks you what you would like to do with the new tab.

This image shows the right hand side of the area.

1. This is your home button, clicking this will go to the home page that you prefer and have chosen.
2. This icon refers to RSS feeds or Really Simple Syndication, these are smaller versions if you like of web sites that you have visited, they are text only and usually load a lot quicker, when you visit a web site this icon will light up an orange colour this means that the site has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to.
3. This icon is directly linked to the email software that you use and is installed on your computer, this icon will not work with web based mail, such as YahooMail, Gmail & Hotmail.
4. This is the print icon and will allow you to print the web page you a viewing.
5. Clicking here will give you more options to do with the page you are on, such as email the page to a contact.
6. The safety option allows you to clear all of your browsing history and also allows InPrivate browsing.
7. Tools allows you to set various options in the browser, these seperate items we will look at in a future post.
8. Last but not least is the help icon, click this and you can not only find out about the browser, but also get help when you need it.

Internet Explorer Part 1

Microsoft's own browser, Internet Explorer is currently the most popular of the Internet browsers.

In this three part series we will give a brief descriptions of the icons and options you can see in front of you as you open the browser.

Internet Explorer also has options that are "hidden" away that you don't use everyday, we will cover these options at a later date.

If you have used the Internet before there is a very good chance you have used it through Internet Explorer, most computers have it as the main browser installed.

Most browsers work the same way and the options in them are very similar, we will start with the top left of the browser.

This picture shows the top left of the browser, taken from the latest version of Internet Explorer which is version 8.

 

1. This tells you which site you are currently on, it may also contain words that relate to the site you are on to aid search engines such as Google to find the site quicker.
2. This is the "Back" button, if you have visited a site and have clicked on a link within that site you can click here to go back one page at a time.
3. This is the "Forward" button, this means that when you have gone back through the pages of a website you can easily move forward the the pages you have visited.
4. If you click this button you will see a list of page that you have visited on a particular site, if you select one of these pages you can easily jump straight to that page without having to use the forward and back buttons.
5. The Address Bar, This is where you would type the site you are looking for directly in so if you know the name of the site you are looking to visit you can type this in here for example if you where to look at the BBC website you would type in www.bbc.co.uk

 This next picture is from the top left of the browser.

 

1. If you click this downwards pointing arrow you will see a list of sites that you have already visited so that you can easily select the one you would like, this especially useful if you visit a site regularly these site will be stored here.
2. This little icon only appears when the site you visit is an old site, sometimes you may experience a web site not looking correct on the screen, it may be that the pictures and the text overlap each other or are generally messed up, if you click this little icon this will correct this problem.
3. This icon is to refresh the page, if you are visiting a page that is regularly updated such as a news website you could click this to refresh the page and update it.
4. This icon stops a page from loading, is a page was taking a long time to load you can click this to stop the page from loading, this is a little used icon and was mainly used during the days of slower internet connections.
5. This small box to the right of the browser is a search box this lets you serach the internet without leaving the page you are currently on, so for example if you are doinf some research you can stay on the page you have found whilst looking for more information.

Handy Quick Tip - Close the current window

Pressing the Alt key and F4 will close the current window you have open.

The Internet Browser

The Internet browser is your main "gateway" into the Internet, the browser is a piece of software that enables you to access and "browse" the world wide web through your computer.

Your Computer may come with a number of different Internet browsers already installed, the main ones are Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

We will look into the features and benefits of the browsers in more detail as we go along and which browser you use is one of personal choice. Some browsers are built for simplicity and some are built for the user to expand using "add-ons" to perform certain tasks.

You should always have the latest internet browser installed on your computer as the latest versions have various updates to make the browser run faster and they usually have security improvements.

Handy Quick Tip - Refresh A Web Page

Whilst browsing the Internet, press the F5 key to refresh the current page you are on.

The World Wide Web

Ok, so you have your computer up and running and you have a basic idea of some of the items on there, but one of the main reasons for you new purchase was probably to use the Internet.

The Internet opens up you computer to a world of information, a world where you can find out virtually anything and the click of a mouse. But where do you start.

The first thing that you need to choose is who will provide you with this fantastic connection to all this information in your home? This is not an easy question to answer,as it can all depend on cost and the speed you require, and for these reasons we have provided a link to the Top 10 Best Broadband. If you are reading this from your home, you are probably already connected to the Internet, but the list may help you decide if you would like to swap from your exisiting provider.

The speed of your Internet connection depends on what you would like to use the Internet for, you could just be somebody who just wants to browse the web and send the occasional email, for this we would suggest a lower and possibly slower connection. You may like to watch your favourite TV shows on the Internet in which case a faster Internet connection would suit your needs.

Readers Questions - Draft Emails

We have had an email from Alan who asks,


When I am writing an email in Yahoo Mail it keeps getting saved in drafts, what does this mean?

Well Alan, this means that the website is saving the email as you go along so if you lose connection to the Internet or are called away from your computer as you are writing the email you have not lost everything.

What is InPrivate Browsing?

InPrivate browsing, is a feature in Internet Explorer and basically means that you can surf the internet and your computer will not save any information about the sites you have visited, this is especially useful if you are buying a gift for somebody online and using the family computer.
Using InPrivate browsing will allow you to cover your tracks when purchasing a gift and you would like to keep it a secret.

• In Mozilla Firefox, this feature is call Private Browsing.
• In Google Chrome this feature is called Incognito.
• In Apple Safari this feature is called Private Browsing.

The "Start" Menu Part 3

In this concluding part, we will look at the more obvious sections of the "Start" menu.

When you "open" the "Start" menu you will notice that as well as your most commonly used software situated to the left, there are also some sections on the right that are always there, they are really self explanatory but we will expand on them a little more here.

1. Documents (or My Documents) - this is where you can store all of your letters, or files that you would like to keep for future reference.
2. Pictures (or My Pictures) - this is where your pictures taken from your digital camera or saved from an email will be stored.
3. Music (or My Music) - again this is where you will store all of your music that you download or copy from a compact disc, most portable music players such as the Apple iPod will use this section to look for music to copied onto it.
4. Games - again this section has some built in Windows Games. ( This section of the "Start" menu is not available in Windows XP).
5. Recent Items (or My Recent Documents) - this section stores the last used files you used so that you can access them more quickly, if you are writing a letter late at night and decide to go back to it the day after, you can click on this section and the last saved version of the letter will be there.
6. Computer (or My Computer) - this area gives you access to the file structure of your computer, this area really doesn't need to be touched and really should only be used by the more confident and advanced user.
7. Control Panel - this section links to an area where you can make changes to your computer settings. This will be an area we will expand on later.

There are other options on the "Start" menu but these a specific to the version you are using, for more detail on these sections please choose the version that is relevant to you at the top of the site.

Handy Quick Tip - Switching Windows

If you are useing more that one program or folder press the Alt key and the Tab key together to show open windows, then release to select the one you want.

The "Start" Menu Part 2

In Part 1 of this series we looked at what the "Start" menu is, in this part we will expand on the information and start to talk about the various items you will find on the "Start" menu.

When you click the start menu, you will notice a box jumps up and gives you a list, this list will vary from computer to computer as it will all depend on which programs (software) is installed on every individual machine.
Software that you use most often will be automaticallay tagged onto the "Start" menu, you can also tag the software that you choose to the "Start" menu so that it is always directly to hand.

You will also notice on computers that are running Windows Vista and Windows 7 the box at the bottom of the menu that says "Start Search", this box will allow you to search for files and software on your computer, it will also give the option to search the Internet directly from that box. Windows XP does not have this box, instead this version of Windows has a search option, this version will only search for files on your computer and not the Internet.

The way the search works in the newer version of Windows, is that the files on your computer are always collected as the computer is in operation this is also know as indexing. Windows XP however searches after you have typed in the item you are looking, in other words it goes looking for the file rather that finding it instantly in the newer versions of Windows.

Handy Quick Tip - Selecting All Files

If you want to select all files within a folder press Ctrl key plus A.