What's New at Linda's Computer Stop

This has been a very busy month for me.  I've been doing a lot of site cleaning and reorganizing again.  I was getting emails from people telling me they couldn't find some pages since my total reorganization two month's ago, so I have once again changed my homepage so there are links from there to most everything, and I hope you can find your way around better.  See my homepage's new look here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com

also...if you want to see how my site has changed over the years, you can always visit this page that shows the evolution of Linda's Computer Stop.
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/evolution.htm

I've also changed the whole way I track my webstats now, and if you want to read the whys and hows of  that, it's covered in this month's Soapbox article, which you can read here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc3/v21/linda21.htm

Also, I've added PayPal donation buttons to each page of ABC. Now, I don't want anyone to think that ABC isn't free anymore, becuz it is and always will be.  But, sometimes I just feel so guilty that the Fleet works so hard to produce these wonderful articles and I want to give them something.  So, just know that if you ever feel inclined to thank the Fleet for what they do, clicking on the PayPal buttons will generate some money that I can then distribute among them.  Boy, would that make ME feel good!  For those afraid to use their credit card online, I can assure you that PayPal is very secure (all of their pages begin with https://, instead of http://, which is how you can tell you are on a secure site) and their privacy statement is quite clear.  You can see that here:
https://www.paypal.com/privacy

But, rest assured that if you don't donate money to ABC, I will still love you.  For all I know, you are even more broke than I am LOL

I guess you've seen, in ABC, that I've finally twisted Vic Ferri's arm and convinced him to share some of his multimedia knowledge with us.  See?  He's not just a whiz at Registry hacking, but he's also a genius when it comes to this audio/video stuff.  And his articles are just a tip of the iceberg.  If you want to REALLY know about multimedia, you HAVE to check out his Expert Guides page.  There is SO much there that you can learn if audio/video is something that interests you.  And he even has stuff on Sony PlayStation!  Check it out here:
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/expert_guides/

And speaking of Vic Ferri.  Remember that great article he wrote to help you locate your lost Windows Install Key?  Well, he's made a page of downloadables that will find the Install key on your computer no matter which version of Windows you are using.  Go back and re-read his article...the links are all there now:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v15/vic15.htm

Lately, since I've been teaching a PhotoShop class at the college, and becuz I've been playing around with colors more on my website, I've been finding a need for html color codes when I want to duplicate an exact color. So, I usually hop onto the web and look for some article somewhere that gives the codes.  So, I thought to myself. "Self...why don't you just make a chart of all these colors so you will have them all available to you when you need them?"  So, I spent hours slaving over my graphics textbooks copying these colors into an easy-to-use chart and figured, now that it's done, I might as well share it with you all.  So, it's on my website now...feel free to print a copy for yourself or just bookmark the page so you can access it when you need it.  It's here:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/colors.htm

I wrote a pretty good tutorial for TechTrax this month, called What Is That Thingie Called, Anyway?, that describes all the stuff you see on your screen.  I recommend it for newbies and techies alike.  Newbies can use it to identify the part of their screen where a problem may lie and techies can send newbies there to do this also.  No more will the techies have to endure questions from the newbies like "What happened to my doohickey on the whatsis on the bottom of my screen?"  This one's a good one to bookmark:

TechTrax version:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=155

Copy on my website:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/thingie.htm

Of course, I've also added some new links to my favorite links page, so go there and check out the revolving Ns:
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/internet.htm

Well...that's about it for this month.  Please come back to my site often to see what else I've added and drop me a line if you have any suggestions.

Linda
linda@personal-computer-tutor.com

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Tip #1 from Tom Glander:
The Right Click Way To Speed Up Downloads

Is there a best way to download from an Internet web page? Do you end up watching the hourglass, never to see the Save As window appear that lets you get the download started? It's happened to me. And here's what to do to ensure safe and sane downloads ALL the time.

1. You can click the download link with your left mouse button. If the download "hangs" (you get to watch the hourglass), then try the next thing.

2. The next thing is to click the download link with your RIGHT mouse button. When you do, you should see the context menu appear. On that menu you'll see "Save As..." or "Save Target As..." and when you do, left click that line item. The Save As window should appear, giving you the contents of your hard drive and allowing you to select the location for the download.

Okay, already know about this right clicking method? Great! But if you don't, you learned something new. Oh, one more thing. If you right click and use the "Save As..." method, and you still get hung up, you may need to see a specialist. Or reboot (restart) your computer and try again.

Tom Glander specializes in making information easy to understand, writing and speaking primarily to those with little computing experience.

Tip #2 from Linda:
Deleting Temp Files...revisited

Reader Frank G. recently sent me this note:

Dear Linda,
I have one you can help me with. I lost the link for my **Chk** files and cannot delete them. Would you be kind enough to send it again. Might be a good idea to add it to one of your future newsletters. I am sure there are others who would appreciate it.  
Love, Frank

Sure thing, Frank!

One of the most popular pages on my website is my Deleting Temp Files 101 tutorial.  Some people write to me in a panic and tell me that they regularly empty the contents of their Windows/Temp directory, but when they tried my method, they found THOUSANDS more temp files and they were scared to get rid of them.  I usually reply and tell them the story of the time when I visited a senior center to teach an email class to some elderly people who wanted to get into the email thing with their grandkids.  One of the women there was having some really screwy problems with her computer (missing fonts, toolbars all messed up, constant errors and BSODs, etc.), so I told her this is often caused by some temp files that are hanging around and wreaking havoc (they TRULY are little gremlins in your computer and need to be exorcised regularly).  So, I used my method of searching for temp files (which doesn't just search your Temp directory, but searches your whole computer ..... and it doesn't just search for *.tmp files, but also searches for files beginning with a tilde [~] left behind by all of the Office programs and *.chk files left behind when you run scandisk).  Anyway, I did my search and found over 4200 temp files!  Well, I have to tell you that this poor ol' gal LITERALLY dropped her teeth when she saw me hit the delete key on her keyboard.  LOL  I thought we might have to call the paramedics.  But, after I deleted them and rebooted her computer, all of her nagging problems had vanished.  And this is NOT unusual.  It's not just a good idea to delete temp files regularly....it's a necessity!  And my method is easy and even teaches you how to make a shortcut on your desktop so you can do it anytime you want, with a simple click of a button.

So...make sure you have LOTS of Fixadent holding your dentures in and go to the link below and give it a try.  I only wish I could be there with you when your eyes pop out in amazement at the number of temp files you didn't know you had.

Have fun!
Deleting Temps 101
http://personal-computer-tutor.com/deletingtempfiles.htm

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