Windows Tips

Last week , Rocky R. asked how to turn on the AutoComplete feature found in Internet Explorer. A quick recap: what is AutoComplete? When enabled, the AutoComplete feature remembers (and completes) frequently used form data on web pages. An example ... of a form might be one that asks you a name and password, such as the login form used at Hotmail.com. After providing instructions on how to enable / disable the AutoComplete in last week's newsletter, I furthered the discussion by introducing a dilemma of my own. My problem was that I sometimes have to revert back to an old image (backup) of ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John S. writes: " Quite often, my web browser displays gibberish characters throughout the entire web page, instead of the web page itself. I have to refresh the screen (sometimes repeatedly) to get the page to display correctly. ... This also sometimes happens to my emails, too. I did a clean reinstall of Windows, but it didn't help. Any suggestions? " My response: I was plagued with a similar problem for quite some time. After upgrading to Windows XP, my old firewall program (Black Ice) didn't work properly. I decided to replace Black Ice with Zone Alarm ... which ... (view more)

Yesterday, Bill B. sent me a question regarding Adobe Acrobat Reader. Wait a sec -- what is Adobe Acrobat Reader? Acrobat Reader is a free-to-use tool which reads documents which contain the file extension ".PDF". The Portable Document Format has ... been around for quite some time and is supported by all major computer platforms (PC, Mac, Unix, OS/2, etc). Acrobat is a popular pick among eBook developers because it provides many useful features, including: document encryption (IE: the ability to copy-protect all / certain aspects of a document), bookmarks, clickable links, clickable ... (view more)

A few days ago, Ramnik S. asked how to alphabetically sort favorites (web page bookmarks) using Internet Explorer: " Hi Dennis! I thoroughly enjoy your newsletter. I find it informative and, even more importantly, fun to read! I have one question ... regarding the Favorites in Internet Explorer. Over time, as I keep on adding new favorites, the list of favorites no longer remains in alphabetical order. Under 'Organize Favorites', other than manually moving each address, there does not seem to be a way of automatically getting the list in alphabetical order. Is there a simple way to do this ... (view more)

Today's Feature Article about Sorting Favorites in Internet Explorer spurred some further thoughts about organization. I decided to write a separate "how to" article in this section of the newsletter because the two topics -- although slightly ... related -- deserve separate space. Cleaning up items: using Explorer instead of the Organize Favorites option I mentioned earlier that there is an option in the Favorites Menu which allows for the manual manipulation of bookmarks. The Organize Favorites option houses 4 basic operations: Create Folder, Rename, Delete, and Move to Folder. ... (view more)

Last week, Dee N. had a question concerning the Internet Explorer download-dialogue box: " On the download Window, there is an option for 'Always ask before opening this type of file'. Well, I accidentally Unchecked this option -- and now, all my ... .ZIP files open automatically after each download completes! How can I turn this option back on? " My Response: I didn't know the answer to this question, so I asked Infopackets Readers for help. Mike K. [and about 40 other readers] informed me that the 'Always ask before opening ... ' option for .ZIP files can be resolved through modifying ... (view more)

Over the weekend, Lanny B. indirectly asked me a question about how to span an archive using WinBackup : " Hi Dennis! As always, love your newsletter! Keep up the good work. I'm writing today about WinBackup . It seems that the program currently ... does not support my CD-R/W burner (LITE-ON LTR-24102B). Whenever I try to run a backup and record to the burner, all I get is an error message which states that my 'CD-R/W drive is not supported.' There is no mention if / or when WinBackup will support the writer in the future. What can I do? " Recall -- WinBackup is a simple-to-use backup ... (view more)

When a download link is clicked using Internet Explorer, a Window normally pops up asking where to save the file. Dee N. recently wrote me a very interesting question concerning the download-dialogue box: " On the download Window, there is an option ... for 'Always ask before opening this type of file'. Well, I accidentally Unchecked this option for my .ZIP files -- thinking that I wouldn't be prompted this Window any more and it would save automatically to my computer -- but, now it opens every single .ZIP file I download! Do you know how I can have Windows prompt me to save my files again ... (view more)

Not long ago, Barry M. from Africa sent me this email: " First off, thanks for all the great info! You've helped me come a long way with my PC confidence and knowledge. Much appreciated! I am running Windows XP Professional. The multiple user ... profile feature of XP is really handy, but I don't want to have separate email accounts in my Outlook Express. If it is possible, I would like all users to access the same information from their XP login accounts. At the moment, if I receive e-mails into my inbox while logged on under my profile, then those e-mails won't be visible to the next user ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I can't seem to get my Spell Check to work in Outlook Express. Whenever I try to run the spell check, Windows gives me an error message. I don't know how to correct this problem. Can you help? " My ... Response: Believe it or not, I've been asked this question many times. My own experience when searching for the answer to this question has always turned up quite a few results using Google -- most of which contained outdated information. I decided to do some thorough digging and eventually came across two Microsoft Knowledge Base articles ... (view more)