Archives, Page 12 for Computer Stuff

Another Way to Open Your CD-ROM Drive (7-1-03)

If the eject button on your CD-ROM drive fails to open the drive , try this before resorting to the paperclip or other manual means. Hold down the Windows key (the one with the Windows emblem) while you press E (Win+E) to open Explorer. In Explorer, right click on your CD-ROM drive and click on Eject in the context menu.
If the above procedure fails to eject the tray, take a paperclip, straighten most of it out and insert it in the little emergency eject hole on the front of the drive and press the eject button again. If that does not work, you are on your own.

Create an Organizational Chart in Windows XP (7-1-03)

     An organizational chart can be difficult to create in the Microsoft Office programs of Windows 9x but in Windows XP, they make it easy. Here's how.
     Microsoft Office XP has an option called "Organizational Chart." It is found in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Just go to the Insert menu and put your mouse pointer on Pictures, then select "Organizational Chart." A basic Organizational diagram will appear. A floating Organizational Chart toolbar will also appear that will allow you to adjust the layout, add or subtract from the diagram and make other changes such as the font face, size and format.
     To delete a position, just click on the box you wish to delete in the chart. Then, on the floating toolbar, click the down arrow beside "Select," and choose one of the options. Now, just hit the Delete key on your keyboard.
     To add to the chart, highlight the box to which you wish to add a position. Then, on the floating toolbar, click on the little down arrow beside "Insert Shape" and select one of the options. The position holder box will be added to the chart.
     On the floating toolbar you can click the down arrow beside Layout to get a variety of layout choices.
     To insert or edit text, just click on a box in the chart and start typing. Select font choices as you normally would. You may wish to click on the Text Wrapping icon on the dialog box for choices of text layout. You can also click on the Autoformat icon (the circular one) on the floating toolbar for many options such as "Thick Outline," "Primary Colors," "Shaded," "3-D Color" and others.
     The above process is identical for Microsoft Word 2002 and Excel 2002 as found in Microsoft Office XP. I am also almost positive it is identical with that found in PowerPoint 2002. However, I do not have PowerPoint in my Office XP, so I cannot verify it.
     If you open an organizational chart that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Office, it will automatically be converted so you can use the new tool to edit it. Just click on it and the floating Organizational Chart toolbar will pop up.

Create Picture Bullets for Lists. (7-1-03)

In Microsoft Word 2000 and 2002, you can enliven your document or Web page by creating a picture bulleted list. The process is slightly different in the two versions. Here are the directions for Word 2002. If you have Word 2000 you may notice minor variations in the steps.
     1. Select the list to which you want to add picture bullets.
     2. On the Format menu, click "Bullets and Numbering," and then click the Bulleted tab.
     3. Click the List Styles tab. In the Show field at the bottom of that page select "User-defined Style," by clicking on the small down arrow. and click the Add button.
     4. On the New Style dialog box that appears, click on the Picture icon.
     5. Now, you can select an image that is already in the Picture Bullet dialog box or you can click on the Import button. That will open up a Windows Explorer type window titled "Add Clips to Organize." Here you can select any image on your computer. After selecting your image, click on the Add button. You will now see your newly selected image added to the Picture Bullet dialog box.
     6. Select the picture and click OK. Click OK again on the New Style dialog box and click OK or Close on the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. That's it! You will see the new picture bullet inserted for the list items. The next time you wish to use this image as a bullet, it will be quicker and with fewer steps. Your image will already be available in the Picture Bullet dialog box.

Create Special Bullet Symbols for Lists in Word 97 Through 2002 (7-1-03)

In Microsoft Word 97 through 2002, you are no longer limited to the bullet symbols listed in the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. Instead, you can use almost any symbol for your bullet that is available with the fonts you have installed. To change the bullet character, click in the paragraph you want bulleted, and then click "Bullets and Numbering" on the Format menu. Select a bullet format, and then click Customize. Under Bullet Character, click the Bullet button. In the Symbol dialog box, select the font that has the symbol you want to use, click the appropriate symbol, and then click OK. Enter any additional information in the Customize Bulleted List dialog box, and then click OK.

Just Spike It! (Word 2000-2002) (7-1-03)

Do you sometimes want to move several non-contiguous items to another place in your document or to another document? You can do this and place them all as a group. How? Just Spike them. It's a variation of Cut and Paste. Here's how:
     1. Select an item you wish to move, and press CTRL+F3. Repeat this action until all the items you want to cut are on the Spike.
     2. Click the location at which you wish to paste the items.
     3. (A) If you only wish to paste the items once, press CTRL+SHIFT+F3.
         (B) If you wish to paste the items multiple times, type the word "spike", without the quotes, and just press F3. When you press F3 to paste the spike, the word you typed will disappear.

Resize Font for Viewing Without Using Menu (7-1-03)

     You probably already know that you can change the size of the viewable font in your browser, mail program, and other programs by using the view menu. This does not change the size of the font you print.
     If you have a mouse with a wheel, you can do this quickly by simply holding down the Ctrl key and turning the wheel. Turning it one direction enlarges and the other direction reduces.
     If you have a small screen, this can help to make the text more readable. In Microsoft Word you can adjust the text size by using the toolbar field (at the top of the window) that shows viewable size of your document (press the little down arrow and select a percentage, etc.), but you can also use the mouse roller method and do it faster and with more size options. You can see the changes registered in the toolbar's size field.
     You can also change the printed font size by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the "[" or "]" key. Each press of the open bracket reduces the font by one size and each press of the close bracket increases the font by one size.

Sharing Documents (7-1-03)

     Share Documents as Web Pages. Need to share a Word document with someone who does not have Microsoft Word or who has another operating system? This is often true when several people are working on a project. With Word 97 through Word 2002, an easy way to do this is to save the document as a web page (an HTML document). The other person only needs a browser to view your documents. The format and appearance of your documents are preserved. Here's How:
     1. On the File menu: (A) In Word 97, click "Save As HTML."
           (B) In Word 2000, click "Save As Web Page"
     2. Select the folder where you want to save the file.
     3. In the File Name field, enter the name of the file.
     4. In the Save as Type box: (A) In Word 97, select "HTML Document"
           (B) In Word 2000, select "Web Page."
     5. Click Save.

Who's Behind Those Websites? (7-1-03)

Some websites make it difficult to identify the persons behind them. Here is a free "whois" utility that simplifies the matter. Its name is WhoIs, written by Karen Kenworthy. In fact all of Karen's Power Tools are free. Just click on the hyperlink in the previous sentence to find them. Karen will be happy for you to download all the programs you want. While you are there, you might as well subscribe to her free newsletter. It includes quality technical information.

You Can Edit Outlook Express Messages (7-1-03)

     Sometimes I receive newsletters and other messages that have portions I want to save but I don't want to take up space for the entire message or have to hunt through a long message for the parts I want to keep. Hopefully someday Microsoft will include an editing feature for OE's received messages. But there is a way to do it in OE without having to forward the message to yourself or cut & paste into a text file outside of OE. Here's How:
     1. In the message window, highlight a block of the message that contains all of the portions you wish to save.
     2. Position the mouse pointer on the highlighted area and with a left-click drag the selected block to one of the folders in OE (any folder except the Outbox). That will open a New Message window.
     3. In the New Message window, delete the portions you do not wish to keep. Do any editing you wish. Don't worry about your email address in the From field at the top, as it will not show. In the subject field, put whatever identifiers you wish, such as who the original email was from, the type of content, etc.
     4. From the File menu of the New Message window, select Save. Your edited message will be saved to the Drafts folder.
     5. Click on the Drafts folder, right-click on the message header and choose "Move to Folder." A window with the OE folders will pop up. Select the folder to which you wish to move the message and click OK.
     Actually it's a lot quicker and easier than the above steps might seem. You can create OE folders by subject and organize your information in them. You can even add content from related messages to the same window with this method.

        The Registry is a system database that is necessary for the operation of Windows. It provides user information, access permissions, information about the software installed, the hardware connected to the computer and a host of other information.
        If you decide to edit the Registry, but do so improperly, you can render your computer unbootable. You edit the Registry at your own risk, so be careful. You should always backup the Registry, or the key involved, before editing it and know how to restore it if something goes wrong.
        Below, I will explain how to back up the Registry and how to restore it. I will also tell you how to access the Registry and provide some insight for editing it.

Backing Up the Registry.

        If you simply wish to export the sub-key that you are editing instead of backing up the entire Registry, follow these steps:
    1. Click on Start and then on Run.
    2. Type "regedit" (without the quotes) in the "Open" box.
    3. Navigate to the subkey containg the value you plan to edit and click on it.
    4. On the File menu, select "Export." A window with your folders will appear.
    5. Navigate to the location you wish to save these Registration files, type in a file name, and click Save.

        To back up the entire Registry, use the following steps:
    1. Click on Start, and choose All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.
    2. In Backup, select "Backup files and Settings" and click Next.
    3. Select "Let me choose what to back up" and click Next.
    4. Under "MY Computer," in the left pane, double-click on "System State" to select it and show the files in the right pane. Now click on the checkbox in front of "System State" to place a checkmark in it.
    5. Hold down the Ctrl key as you click on "COM+ Class Registration Database" and "Registry." You can select "Boot Files" also if you wish. Click Next.
Note: When holding down the Ctrl key, you can select multiple files by clicking on them, even if they are not contiguous. To select files that are all contiguous, you can hold down the Shift key as you click the first file you wish to select. Continue to hold it down as you select the last file you want. All of the files in between the two will be selected.
    6. In the "Choose a place to save your backup" field, type in the path to the location you wish to save the backup, or click on Browse and navigate to the location and click on Save. You may prefer to save this backup on removable media, an external hard drive, or another computer (connected by cable or a network).

Restoring the Registry.

        If you just exported the sub-key that you planned to edit, here is how you would restore it, in case of a problem: Just navigate to the location where you saved it and double-click on the Registration Entries file (It will have a .reg extension).
        If you backed up the entire Registry, take these steps to restore it using Windows XP's Backup utility:
    1. Click on Start, and choose All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.
    2. In the Backup/Restore utility, click Advanced Mode.
    3. Select the "Restore and Manage Media." tab.
    4. Expand "File" or the media device on which you saved the backup. The file name you want will have the name given to it, followed by the date and time of the backup.
    5. Check the boxes (click on them) for the folders you wish to restore.
    6. In the "Restore files to" box, choose "Original location."
    7. On the Tools menu, select Options. On the Restore tab, click the method for overwriting a file on your computer. Click OK. For our purposes here, click "Always replace the file on my computer."
    8. You may get a message:"Warning: Restoring System State will always overwrite current System State unless restoring to an alternative location." If so, click OK.
    9. At the "Confirm Restore" prompt, click OK. The restore begins. A dialog box will show the progress.
    10. On completion of the Restore, click Close. You may be prompted to restart the computer. If so, click Yes.

        What if the worst has happened and the computer won't reboot? Follow these steps:

Turn your computer on and keep tapping the F8 key. A menu should appear with some options. Select "Safe Mode" and hit Enter to see if it will boot into this diagnostic mode. If so, restore as noted above.
If you cannot boot to the Safe Mode, turn off the computer, wait about 10 seconds and turn it back on, tapping F8 as it boots. This time select "Last Known Good Configuration and press Enter." When it boots, the Registry should be restored to its condition before editing it. Note: This does not change other system settings that may be giving trouble. System Restore (noted below) can restore the system to its condition on a previous date that you select.
Another approach is to use System Restore to restore the system back to a given date. After booting into Safe Mode, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore and follow directions to restore the System as it was on a selected previous date. Caution: By doing this, you may have to re-install programs that you have installed after the date selected for restore.

Editing the Registry.

        First, I want to state that you edit the Registry at your own risk.
        To open the Registry Editor click on Start, then on Run. In the "Open" box, type "regedit" (without the quotes) and click OK.
        When Microsoft or an expert you trust tells you how to edit the Registry to accomplish a desired action, be sure you follow the directions exactly. To do otherwise could get you into trouble.
        Sometimes your are instructed to make certain changes to the Registry, but are not told how to make them. My purpose here is to simply help you know how to make changes you are instructed to make. Instructions for self-determining changes you may wish to make would be too extensive to deal with here. There are some good books on the Registry at many computer stores.
        Terminology has changed slightly over recent years. The five top-level folders are now called Subtrees. Each one starts with "HKEY." The subtrees are: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS AND HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG. When you expand a subtree (by clicking on the + sign), its keys will be displayed. Many keys have subkeys. These are in the left pane. When you click on a key or subkey, information about its value name, value type and value data appear in the right pane.
        Here are some things you can do in the Registry: Add a key or value, change a value and rename or delete a key or value.
        To add a key, go to the edit menu, point to New and click on Key. Type in the name of the key you wish to add.
        Adding a value is similar. Point to New on the Edit menu and click on the option that applies (String, Binary, DWORD, multi-String, Expandible String). If you are entering a new DWORD, give it the correct name. Right-click on the DWORD, click on Modify and enter the desired value. Current values can be modified by right-clicking on the value and selecting Modify.
        To rename a subkey, right-click on it and select "Rename."
        Other editing options can be seen when doing the actions stated above.

     Many people have received emails that appear to be from U.S. Bank, Citibank, or other financial institutions that try to trick them into giving out personal information. For example, one starts out like this:
     "In cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal, State and local governments your account has been denied incurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation due to suspicious violations of the Patriot Act..." (Refers to Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge)..."Please verify through our IDverify below. This information will be checked against the federal government database for identity verification," etc.
     A web address is given that starts out http://www.fdic.gov/, but after the slash is "idverify" (...gov/idverify) and the rest of the uRL, which re-routes the link to the scammer's computer. It also contains a warning that bad things will happen to your account if you do not use the "idverify" in the URL. It appears to be signed by important government people.
        Here is one that came in my e-mail:
    Header info: From: U.S. Bank; Subject: Your account at U.S. Bank has been suspended.
    Message: Dear U.S. Bank account holder,
    "We regret to inform you, that we had to block your U.S. Bank account because we have been notified that your account may have been compromised by outside parties.
    "Our terms and conditions you agreed to state that your account must always be under your control or those you designate at all times. We have noticed some activity related to your account that indicates that other parties may have access and or control of your information in your account.
    "These parties have in the past been involved with money laundering, illegal drugs, terrorism and various Federal Title 18 violations. In order that you may access your account we must verify your identity by clicking on the link below.
    "Please be aware that until we can verify your identity no further access to your account will be allowed and we will have no other liability for your account or any transactions that may have occurred as a result of your failure to reactivate your account as instructed below.
    "Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
    "https://www.usbank.com/account_verify/" (I purposwly left out the remainder of the URL)
    "Before you reactivate your account, all payments have been frozen, and you will not be able to use your account in any way until we have verified your identity."
        Recently, The Michigan Department of Treasury received an alert from the Internal revenue Service about another scam that you should know about. A non-IRS source has sent emails to a number of taxpayers. It refers to an "e-audit" and the IRS form 1040 and states that the taxpayer is under audit and needs to complete a questionaire within 48 hours. Otherwise, penalties and interest will be applied. The taxpayer is asked for social security numbers, bank account numbers and other personal information.
         NOTE: The IRS does not conduct e-Audits, and it does not notify taxpayers of a pending audit by e-mail. Do not provide any information. It may be an attempt at identity theft. please contact the Internal Revenue Service office in your area.
        Another scam goes after your Bank of America login and personal information. The link contained in the message appears to go to the Bank of America website, but instead goes to a website in Colorado. The message is the same or similar to the following:
   "Dear valued customer,
   "Our security system will help you to avoid frequently fraud transactions and to keep your deposited funds in safety.
   "Due to the tecnical update we recommend you to reactivate your account.
   "Click on the link below and login and begin using your updated Bank of America account. To log into your account, please visit the Bank of America website at https:--www.bankofamerica.com/index.html. To review your statement, log into your Bank of America account and click the eStatements and eNotices button in the left navigation of your Account summary page. Your new statement is listed in the left navigation of the page.
   "If you have questions about your online statement, please send us a Bank Mail or call us at 1-888-BKONWEB (256-6932).
   "Bank of America Customer Care
   "This email is for notification only. To contact us, please log into your account and send a Bank Mail."
        I found the one above at HoaxBusters. Another good source to check for hoaxes, fraud & scams is Snopes. These and some other sites exist to keep you informed of hoaxes and to check out whether the rumors that get forwarded by email are true or urban legends (false). You can find links to many of these sites here on Questgems. Just go to the Resource Center and click on "Hoaxes, Fraud, Scams, "or click Here.
        These scams are known as "phishing." The Federal Trade Commission defines phishing as "a high-tech scam that uses spam to deceive consumers into disclosing their credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information"
        Misspellings are commonly used by spammers to bypass e-mail filtering software. E-mail phishing (or spoofing) may have different forms but the purpose is similar -- The recipient gets an e-mail that seems to have originated from one source but it actually was sent from another source. Phishing is often an attempt to trick the recipient into making a damaging statement or releasing sensitive information (such as passwords).
        What to Do? Here's what the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommends to avoid identity theft and other harmful effects:
        "If you get an email that warns you, with little or no notice, that an account of yours will be shut down unless you reconfirm your billing information, do not reply or click on the link in the email. Instead, contact the company cited in the email using a telephone number or Web site address you know to be genuine.
        "Avoid emailing personal and financial information. Before submitting financial information through a Web site, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar. It signals that your information is secure during transmission.
        "Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to determine whether there are any unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.
        "Report suspicious activity to the FTC. Send the actual spam to .
If you believe you've been scammed, file your complaint at www.ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC's Identity Theft Web site (www.ftc.gov/idtheft) to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from identity theft."

        Do you ever want to transfer information from one computer to another when the computers are not connected by network or cables? Or perhaps you have prepared a Power Point presentation to deliver at a remote location. A computer is available on site and there is no reason to wag your notebook computer along, except that it has your presentation on it.
        There is now a solution in which you may be interested. It is a device about the size of a finger that plugs into your USB port. It is called by a variety of names, depending on the manufacturer, but "Flash Drive" is a generic name by which it is generally recognized. I have seen them listed with storage capacities from 8MB to 1GB and probably will increase with technology development. Most computer stores seem to handle the 16MB through 512MB models. They are even available at stores like Wallmart. I have the Attaché, by PNY Technologies (pictured at the beginning of this article) Mine holds 256MB. I can just drop it in my pocket. When I get to the other computer I can slip it into the USB port (without even rebooting the computer) and immediately the computer will show another drive. It will be a drive letter following the last drive already installed, and it does not move the CD-ROM drive to a new letter.
        Your files and folders on the flash drive will be displayed just as those on any other drive. You can access, copy, cut, paste, add to, delete and work with the files in exactly the same way you would with a diskette or your hard drive.
        I mentioned the flash drive to a man who was going to another state to lead a conference in which he would use some PowerPoint presentations. He purchased one and later told me it worked like a charm. He could just drop it in his pocket or brief case until he was ready to use it.
        These devises are in their own hard case. The portion that covers the USB plug, just slides off when you are ready to use it.
        A CD-ROM containing the drivers usually comes with the flash drive, but you only need to load them if you have Windows 98. Later versions of Windows have the drivers already installed and you should not load the drivers in them. Just plug the flash drive into your USB slot and you are in business.

        Well, that's about it for this time. Go to church somewhere Sunday. -- Don

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Menu for Page 12 of Computer Stuff Archives

• Add a Screen Saver
• Another Way to Open Your CD-ROM Drive
• Back Up and Restore the Registry in Windows XP
• Bank Account Scam (and Other Phishing Activity)
• Flash Drives
• Create an Organizational Chart in Windows XP

• Create Picture Bullets for Lists
• Create Special Bullet Symbols for Lists
• Just Spike It!
• Resize Viewed Font Without Using Menu
• Sharing Documents
• Who's Behind Those Websites
• You Can Edit Outlook Express Messages

Another Way to Open Your CD-ROM Drive (7-1-03)

Create an Organizational Chart in Windows XP (7-1-03)

Create Picture Bullets for Lists. (7-1-03)

Create Special Bullet Symbols for Lists in Word 97 Through 2002 (7-1-03)