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Jewish World Review Jan 23, 2001 / 28 Teves, 5761

The Computer Maven by James Derk

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Consumer Reports


Cool computer tricks

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- ONE OF the best ways to learn about using your computer is to fiddle with it and just see what happens. Here are the tips and tricks I have picked up over the years.

  • If you right-click on My Computer in the upper left corner of Windows 9x, and hit PROPERTIES, you get a quick way into the SYSTEM part of Control Panel.

  • If you right-click on any part of the desktop that is blank and hit PROPERTIES you get quick access to the DISPLAY part of Control Panel.

  • To find the 10 most-recent documents you have looked at, hit START then DOCUMENTS.

  • To open a MS-DOS Window, hit START, then RUN, then type COMMAND. Hit ENTER.

  • -If you hit ALT and TAB together, you can toggle between open applications on the Windows Desktop.

  • If one of your programs locks, you can hit CONTROL, ALT and DELETE keys together to call up the Task Manager. From there you can try and just shut down the misbehaving application. Hit it again and you can restart your computer, most of the time.

  • To tell what your IP (Internet Protocol) address is (important sometimes for online gaming), hit START, then RUN, then type in WINIPCFG and hit OK. Select your network card and away you go.

  • Packard-Bell computers suck.

  • Hewlett-Packard printers don't.

  • Most every problem related to gaming can be traced to old video card drivers. Find and download some new ones.

  • Every computer game I buy already has five patches available on the Web site before I even get it home. One, the other day, had a patch that was 31 MB in size. Woe are those still on modems.

  • You can get rid of program listings on your START menu (but not the programs themselves) by going to START, then SETTINGS, then TASKBAR. Select Start Menu Programs.

  • If you have Windows 98 or newer, you can have your computer maintain itself. Go to START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, then SYSTEM TOOLS and select MAINTENANCE WIZARD. Follow the prompts.

  • Anyone with a cable-modem connection to the Internet (or DSL or ISDN) without a firewall program is a moron. Either buy Norton Internet Security 2001 or download ZoneAlarm ( www.zonelabs.com) for free. I'm no hacker but I can walk through a hundred hard drives in the next half-hour.

  • Even then, if you work for the CIA, leave your classified stuff at home.

WEEKLY WEB WONDER: The real-life Truman Show is here...meet Baby Kimmy, online nearly 24 hours a day. See her at http://www.discovery.com/cams/baby/baby.html


James Derk is computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. Comment by clicking here.

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