Fonts controlled by Windows are available to all of your Windows programs. Many fonts are included with the Windows installation. However, sometimes you may find special fonts on the Web or elsewhere that you wish to add, perhaps for use with graphics or other specialized programs. Here's how to add them.
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Step 1. Windows 98: From the Start Menu, select Settings, then Control Panel. Windows XP: From the Start Menu, select Control Panel.
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Step 2. Double-click on the Fonts icon.
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Step 3. On the Menu Bar of the Fonts folder, click on File, then "Install New Font." Use the Folders box to locate the folder that contains the fonts you wish to install (perhaps a CD ROM or a folder to which you downloaded the fonts from the Internet, or a folder on your network).
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Step 4. Click the OK button. That's all there is to it.
In Microsoft Word, no matter what color your text is originally -- generic black or the color of a text downloaded from a website, you can change the color of all or a selected portion of it. You can also change the default color for new text typed.
To Change the Color of Text Already in Your Document. Select (highlight) all of the text you wish to change. If you wish to change all of the text in the document, you may highlight it by any of the following ways: (1) Drag the mouse (with left button depressed) from beginning to end, (2) Click at the beginning of the text, hold down the Shift key and click again at the end of the text (If you also hold down Ctrl and press the End key, you will be taken to the end of the document with it all highlighted). (3) On the Menu bar click on Edit, then "Select All," or (4) Just hold down Ctrl while you press the A key (Ctrl+A).
Now, while the text is selected, go up to the Toolbar and click on the little down arrow that is beside the A. In the color chart that drops down, select the color you want. Your selected text will immediately change to that color.
To select only a portion of your text, use either step (1) or (2) but only apply it from the beginning to end of the text you wish to change.
To Change the Default Color for Text You Plan to Type. Select a color as indicated in the previous paragraph and start typing. Change back to black the same way.
There are several ways to change the text's font size and characteristics.
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Method 1. Of course you are familiar with the most common way -- just go up to the Toolbar to select the font face and size, and whether you want the Normal style or another. Also, B, I, and U allow you to Bold, Italicize or Underline your text (Select the text and click on the icon, or click on the icon and then type).
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Method 2. On the Menu bar, click on Format and choose "Font." A dialog box will appear that will allow all kinds of changes.
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Method 3. The quickest way to make some changes is with shortcut keys (See on this webpage the Menu Item "Keyboard Composition Shortcuts.")
Brenda from California had a question that prompted me do an article on customizing Windows' splash screens. Windows 98 stores the startup and shutdown graphics in the regular bitmap file format (.BMP), but the developers use the .SYS system file extension for them. The Windows startup logo screen is named LO.SYS. LOGOW.SYS is the "Windows is shutting down your system" message and LOGOS.SYS is the "It is now safe to turn off your computer" message.
The startup screen LO.SYS is stored in the root directory (C:\). The two exit screens are stored in the Windows sub-directory (C:\Windows). These screens can be replaced or customized. They are visible for only a few seconds.
The following steps are important or this will not work. But before you start you will want to have your own replacement screens ready. You can use a digital camera or design them from scratch in a graphics proigram. You can use Windows 98's Paint (Start | Programs | Accessories). You may wish to make the startup screen show who owns the computer. This could be especially good for notebooks, in case they are stolen. It could read, "This Computer Is the PROPERTY of YOUR NAME or COMPANY. Just don't store the formula for customizing the splash screen on that same computer. These screens are visible only for a few seconds, so design for visual impact, with few words.
The bitmap files you make must be in a particular format or they will not load. The image size must be 320 pixels by 400 pixels at 256 color depth. Put these settings in your graphics program and you will wind up with a file size of 127K. That is the same size as Microsoft's splash screens. In Windows Paint program you can save your image in 256 colors by choosing File | Save As. Then in the Save As drop-down box, select 256 Color Bitmap. Or your graphics editor will have another method for doing this.
You know how Microsoft enjoys confusing people -- for instance, the similar names of Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express, pressing the Start button to shut down, etc. It is no different here.Replacing the start-up screen is a little different from replacing the shutdown screens.
To replace the shutdown screens you must rename the existing LOGOW.SYS and LOGOS.SYS files, then replace them with your own. To replace the start-up screen, you can just leave LO.SYS where it is and without changing it. Name your new startup splash screen LOGO.SYS and put it in the root directory also. When you boot up, Windows will load your file instead of LO.SYS, if it is the proper size.
In case your system is set to hide system files and you had rather leave it that way than unhide them, then hide them again, here's how to find and load the files.
1. Launch Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer). From the menu bar choose Tools | Find | Files and Folders. Type logo*.sys in the Search For field and click on Find. Windows will find and list the files with "logo" and have the .sys extension. From the list pick the files you are looking for. You might also find these files at another location on your hard drive. They might be backup files from your previous version of Windows.
2. Rename the two exiting files. You may do this by just changing their file extensions (ex.: .OYS for old sys or .SAV for saved). Don't delete them. Later you may wish to restore them. You can do the renaming right in Find's results window. Right-click on the file name in the list and select rename from the context menu. Change LOGOS.SYS to LOGO.SAV, for example.
3. Open Windows Explorer and move your new exit screen files into the Windows directory. Move your new startup screen to the root directory. Be sure they have the correct names -- LOGO.SYS for the startup screen, LOGOS.SYS and LOGOW.SYS for the exit screens.
When composing documents, a great deal of time can be saved by using some basic shortcuts. In the Archives I have a long list of them, but there are so many, it would be almost impossible to learn them all. Here I just wish to offer a few that accomplish frequently needed events in doing a document in Word. Many shortcuts available in Word also work in other Microsoft Office programs (and often in non-Microsoft programs for Windows).
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Reduce Font Size. Ctrl+[ (the left straight bracket) While holding down Ctrl, each press of [ will reduce the font size one step. You can reduce all the way to 1, which you cannot do by selection on the Toolbar.
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Enlarge Font Size. Ctrl+] (the right straight bracket) While holding down Ctrl, each press of ] will enlarge the font size one step.
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Left Align Text or Objects. Ctrl+L
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Center Text or Objects. Ctrl+E
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Right Align Text or Objects Ctrl+R
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Bold Text. Ctrl+B (Select text and press the shortcut, or press the shortcut and start typing).
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Italic. Ctrl+I
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Underline. Ctrl+U
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Copy. Ctrl+C
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Cut. Ctrl+X
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Paste. Ctrl+V
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Undo Last Action. Ctrl+Z
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Optional hyphen. Ctrl+Hyphen. This can be used to show Word where to break a long word at the end of a line. As the text is edited, the entire word may be on the same line. This key combination tells the program to remove the hyphen in such a case.
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Non-breaking Hyphen. Ctrl+Shift+Hyphen (Hold down Ctrl and Shift while you press the hyphen key). This is when you want to be sure that the hyphen stays and the entire word must be on the same line, even if it requires a new line before the current line is completely filled.
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Non-breaking Space. Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar (Hold down the first two while you press the spacebar). A new line does not start on either side of the space.
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Copyright Symbol. Alt+Ctrl+C (Hold down the first two while pressing C).
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Trademark Symbol. Alt+Ctrl+T.
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An Ellipsis (...). Alt+Ctrl+Period.
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Display Start Menu Windows Key (the one on the bottom row with the flag -- actually there are two of these, one on each side.
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Context Menu for the item in focus (the same as right-click with the mouse). Context Menu Key (the one on the bottom row, right side that has a menu icon on it.)
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Soft Line Break. Shift+Enter. This is useful when you want to start a new line but not a new paragraph,. such as lining up elements of a form. If you download a poem from the Internet, the line breaks will often have a soft return, with a new paragraph starting with each verse.
These keyboard shortcuts can save considerable time when editing a document:
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End. Moves the cursor to the end of the line.
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Home Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line.
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Ctrl+Home. Takes you to the beginning of the document.
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Shift+Right Arrow. Selects one character at a time to the right.
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Shift+Left Arrow. Selects one character at a time to the left.
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Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow. Selects from the cursor to the end of the word.
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Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow. Selects from the cursor to the beginning of the word.
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Shift+End. Selects from the cursor from the end of the line.
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Shift+Home. Selects from the cursor to the beginning of the line.
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Shift+Down Arrow. Selects from the cursor to one line down.
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Shift+Up Arrow. Selects from the cursor to one line up.
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Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow. Selects from the cursor to the end of the paragraph.
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Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow. Selects from the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph.
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Shift+Page Down. Selects from the cursor to one screen down.
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Shift+Page Up. Selects from the cursor to one screen up.
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Ctrl+Shift+Home. Selects everything from the cursor to the beginning of the document.
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Ctrl+Shift+End. Selects everything from the cursor to the end of the document.
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Alt+Ctrl+Shift+Page Down. Selects from the cursor to the end of a window.
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Alt+Ctrl+Shift+Page Up. Selects from the cursor to the beginning of the window.
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Ctrl+A. Selects the entire document.
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Ctrl+Shift+F8 and release (Hold Ctrl and Shift down while you press F8 and release all of them). Use the arrow keys to select vertical and horizontal content as desired, without having to select to the end of lines. Press the Esc to cancel the selection mode.
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F8 and release. Then use arrow keys to select vertical or horizontal content to the desired place in the document. You do not need to hold down the Shift key to select. Press Esc to cancel the selection mode.
Special characters can be inserted into a document by more than one method. I'll list three ways then provide a chart for a fourth method.
In Word place your cursor where you wish the symbol to be inserted. Go to the Insert menu and click on Symbol. A chart will appear that has two tabs. One tab is for symbols and the other for special characters. On the Symbols tab, notice at the top that there are several fonts and subsets from which to choose. One font may have the symbol you are looking for, while another may not. Just highlight the symbol you choose (click on it with your mouse), then click the Insert button. In the same way, on the special character tab, you can highlight a character and click on Insert. The symbol or character will be placed where your cursor is located.
Click the Start button on your desktop and select Help and Support (in Windows XP). In the search box type "character map" (without the quotes). One of the two topics that appear will be "Using Character Map." The other will be "Printing extended and international characters." Click on "Using Character Map." A short description will appear. Included is the phrase "Open Character Map,", with Character Map being a link to click. When you click it, the Character Map will appear. Notice that here you also have a selection of fonts. On this chart you select the characters you want. After each selection click on the Select button. The character you choose will be placed in the "Characters to copy" box. When you have selected the characters you want to appear together, click on the "Copy" button. This copies the characters to the Windows clipboard (just like right-click/copy). Now, in your document put the curser where you want it, then right-click and choose "Paste."
In Word, look up on the toolbar and you will see the box that has the name of your current font. If you click the little arrow at the right end of the font name, a list of installed fonts will drop down. There should be at least one font named Wingdings and maybe a Wingdings 1 and Wingdings 2. There may be other symbol fonts installed on your computer such as Marlette, Mediascape, MS Outlook, MT Extra, and/or others. With Wingdings you can print airplanes, and other fun stuff. To get an idea of what symbols are available, type each of the keyboard keys while in a symbols font. Highlight the symbols typed out on your screen and select a regular font again. The symbols will change to the keyboard characters. You may wish to compile a chart showing which key makes each symbol in a particular font and print it out for future reference.
If you want to miss all the fun of exploring, you can use the Alt+codes. For this, just hold down the Alt key and press the characters indicated on the Alt Code Chart. Click here for the chart.
Have you sometimes sent several documents to the printer, but you need one of them immediately? You can rearrange the printing order of the documents yet to be printed. The one currently being printed will continue until it is finished. Of course, if you are in a great hurry for the needed document, you can cancel the one being printed. The remainder of that document will be deleted from the print queue. You can later go back and print the remainder of it by choosing "Pages" in the print options and type in the page range you wish to print (ex.: 52-96).
Here's how to change the print order of documents already sent to the printer. In Windows 95/98/ME click on Start, go to Settings and select Printers. In Windows XP click on Start, then on Printers and Faxes. Double-click on the icon for the printer you are using.
A window will appear with the documents in the print queue listed in the order that they will be printed. Just drag a document up or down in the list to change the print order.
To cancel one document, highlight it and select Document, on the Menu bar, and Cancel Printing or press the delete key. To cancel all print jobs, select Printer, on the Menu bar, and Purge Print Documents or Cancel All Print Jobs, depending on whether you are using Windows 98 or XP.
Now there is another program that I think is fantastic. It is called GuruNet. With GuruNet installed, you can quickly look up answers. It is like having a shelf of reference books for instantaneous use. If connected to the Internet, you can Alt-click (hold down the Alt key while you click the mouse) on any word in any document of any program and GuruNet looks up the word in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Tabs above the definition window let you choose a thesaurus, translations and encyclopedia among other reference types.
If you wish to open GuruNet's main window, double-click on the GuruNet icon in the System Tray (or right-click and select "Show Window"). A right-click on the little pop-out tab on the right edge of your screen will give you the same options. At the top of the window are three tabs (1) GuruNet Today, which has the latest news headlines, (2) Using GuruNet, a quick source for user information and (3) My Home Page. This displays the website you use as your home page (QuestGems, of course!). You can have the opening screen of GuruNet to be any of these three options, with the other two available with just a click on the tab.
You can type a word or phrase into the topic bar at the top of GuruNet or in the pop-out topic bar and GuruNet will provide dictionary and/ or encyclopedic information. To select your reference source, just click on a tab along the left side of the GuruNet window and choose a category. The Library list consists of Business, General Reference, Government, Language, Legal, Leisure, Medical, Military, People, Places, Religion, Science, Shopping, and Sports. When you choose one of these categories, it will expand to expose subcategories. All of the features are clearly delineated in the program's help menu, with separate paragraphs for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.
The program does not get in the way. On the Desktop, all you see is the little end of the pop-out bar on the right side of the screen. You can drag this to where you want it on the side. I have mine about an inch above the System Tray. Just click on the pop-out tab and the bar extends to receive your entry.
You can download a free version. If you like it just pay a one-time fee of 39.95 for the full registered version. There is also a child-friendly homework version.
Perhaps your document contains URLs that are a different color and underlined. By default, Word automatically formats hyperlinks when a URL or e-mail address is typed. The link will work if you hold down the Ctrl key while you click on it. An Internet URL will take you to the website. An e-mail address will bring up your mail program's New Message box already addressed to the recipient. If the website URL is a relative address, that is only referring to another page or article on the same site, it will not work (You will receive a "Page cannot be found" error message). If it is an absolute address, giving the full URL for the page, it will work.
If you wish to turn off automatic formatting of hyperlinks, so they will be just plain text like the rest of your document, you can do so, but they will not be clickable. To turn off hyperlink formatting in Windows XP, go to the Menu bar and click on Format. Select AutoFormat. Click on the Options button. On the AutoFormat tab of the AutoCorrect box, in the "Replace" column, uncheck "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks." Then on the AutoFormat as You Type tab uncheck "Internet and Network Paths With Hyperlinks." Then click the OK button. If you exit the box without clicking OK the changes will not be made. Now, to removing the underline and color.
One way is to remove the hyperlink but leave the visible text. This text will no longer be clickable. To do this, just highlight the text, right-click on it and select "Remove Hyperlink." The text will be black and free of the underline. It will be just as other text on the page.
Another way to remove the underline and change the color to black (or whatever color you wish) for printing but keep the text as a clickable hyperlink is as follows. It will look like regular text, but by holding the Ctrl key down and clicking on it, the link will work the same as before. After printing you can replace the underline and/or color. Occasionally, the color on an isolated link will not change to black. Most of the time it does. Here's how to do it:
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Highlight the link or links.
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Hold down Ctrl while you press U twice (or just click the U on the Toolbar twice without holding down Ctrl).
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While the text is still highlighted, click on the A on the Toolbar.
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Click anywhere on the document to remove the highlight. If you press a keyboard key (with few exceptions) while the text is highlighted, the key character will replace everything that was highlighted. Of course there is an "undo" and "redo" on the Toolbar and on the Edit menu.
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To change back to the underline, highlight the link text and press Ctrl+U. To select your color, click on the small down arrow beside the A on the toolbar and pick a color from the chart.
When you reply to an Outlook Express Message, the recipient may see a > before each line. Here's how to keep that from happening.
On the Tools menu, select Options, then the Send tab. Look toward the bottom of that tab page and you will see a section called "Mail Sending Format." Click the elongated button that says, "Plain Text Settings." On the pop-up window, uncheck the box that says, "Indent the original text with > when replying or forwarding." Click OK and OK.
Now the recipient of your reply and forward mail should not see those >>.
In the past I have lauded the merits of Copernic, a multi-search engine tool. It comes in three versions. Copernic Agent Basic is free. Copernic Agent Personal is the next step up and Copernic Agent Professional is the most fully featured and powerful of the three. These can be downloaded atCopernic. If you like the free version, you can just keep it or buy a more advanced one. I use Copernic Agent Professional (formerly called Copernic Pro). After the search results are in, I prefer to click on the Browse button on the toolbar. Then I click on the little "x" in the sidebar's upper right corner to get rid of the sidebar. In this way the search results list is less cluttered and more easily read.
I recently installed the smoothest working network and Shared Internet access system I have experienced. In my home network are three desktop computers. They are Nora's (my wife's), my main computer and one in my shop building. No particular computer has to be turned on for accessing the internet. Each computer can simultaneously and independently browse the Internet. The gateway unit (a small box) with a built-in 56k modem takes the place of a server.
We have a dedicated phone line for the network, but had previously experienced disconnects. We have not had disconnects since installing this setup (unless the ISP is down for some reason). There seems to be no waiting for the modem to dial in. We have a dedicated line, and I think the gateway sends simulated traffic to keep the access open. Getting mail or using Internet Explorer to go to a website is like opening any other program.
There are no wires to the gateway and no wires from computer to computer and no antennas. Only the gateway plugs into the phone line. There have been no problems with our network or access.
What is this system? I thought you would never ask. It is the Orinoco RG-1000 Internet Gateway for broadband wireless Internet access and local area networking (LAN) for the home and small office. Broadband? On this one, don't let that fool you. The gateway has a built-in 56k modem as a backup in case the broadband access is down and also for those on 56k access. If you later plan to get broadband, you can still use the gateway. Our cable company says they will begin offering broadband this fall. The other Orinoco wireless models do not have the 56k modem. There are a few other similar setups on the market, but I know this one works.
If you have a notebook computer, you can roam all over the house, and in the yard and stay connected. If the distance is too great or the walls too solid for the radio waves to carry, you may need to add a small antena on the distant computers. They are available from those who carry Orinoco products.
Here is what you need to set up your LAN and shared Internet access:
1. A wireless adapter card for each PC. The PCI adapters fit in a PCI slot in your computer. On the website (given below) note the system requirements. For computers with both ISA and PCI slots, the ISA slot is recommended because of certain incompatibilities. Notebooks with PC (PCMCIA) slots will not need this adapter card. These cost me $63 (American) each.
2. Each computer will need a wireless network PC card. This plugs into the adapter from the back of your computer. Notebooks will use the built-in PC card adapter (PCMCIA). These cards come in two versions, the silver label and the gold label. The only difference is that the gold label allows 128 bit inscription rather than only 64 bit. These cards cost me $87.95 (gold) each. The silver label card was only $8.70 cheaper.
3. The RG-1000 Gateway. You only need one. Mine cost $219.95.
Software is included with the PC cards and Gateway. If you have Windows XP, you will need to download the XP drivers. Those on the CD-ROM are not compatible with XP. However, by the time you get yours, they may be included. Whatever OS you run, it is recommended that you download the latest drivers.
Orinoco guarantees performance for up to 10 LAN stations. Adding more computers leads to degradation in network performance. Businesses with over 10 stations should select another model, but will not have the 56k option.
Be sure and remove the modem card from your computer and uninstall it. Otherwise on boot-up your computer will re-install it. In the setup, show that you connect to the Internet by LAN, not by modem. At installation of the gateway, your ISP connection information will be entered.
Go to Orinoco for information on wireless networks and the available models. Follow the "Home and Small Office" links on the site. When you are ready to look at the RG-1000 specifically, click on Product Information, in the left panel. There you can click on RG-1000 Gateway.
At the Orinoco site, links are given for retailers that sell their products. Just click on "Buy this product." Orinoco is a part of agere systems, so at the retailer's site you may have to do a search on "agere systems." I compared prices and ordered mine from the Gateway link. Remember you have not committed to buy anything from anybody until you enter your credit card information and press ENTER. Sometimes you have to go all the way to the checkout to get the prices.
The Orinoco warranty is for three years. After successful installation you will be allowed one free technical support call for each Orinoco product. The call can be about any of the units, but each time you will be asked to give the serial number of a unit you have not given before. If you have four computers on the network (4 PC Cards) and a Gateway, you will be allowed 5 free tech support calls. After that there is a charge for such calls.
I recommend but do NOT guarantee that the Orinoco system will work for you. Please do not contact me for problem solving. The process worked smoothly for me, but I am no expert on networks or wireless. Besides, time-wise, I am swamped.
I hope that the above will be helpful to you if you have been considering wireless and fit into the profile for this setup.
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The use of information or software downloads from QuestGems©, or from any of its links, is at the sole responsibility and risk of the user.