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Tips Part II:
Click on one of the following links to get to the tutor you need quicker.
If your modem connection breaks during a download or if a download times out, sometimes the download window will remain open. If you leave that window open, reconnect to the Internet, and start downloading the file again, IE will resume the download where it left off.
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Non USB or External devices have to be turned on before the computer is booted up. This is so your computer locates them. Some of these devices like scanners, external zip drives, and non USB printers can be a pain if all of the sudden you realize you didn't turn these devices on before boot up. There is a way around this that most newbies are not aware of, actually... most computer users are not aware of this trick.
Right-click "My Computer" and select "Properties"
Click the "Device Manager" tab and then highlight the "Computer" at the top.
Now look towards the bottom of that screen, you'll see a "refresh" button. Click this.
Sometimes, but not always, you have to do this twice, but your computer should now see the device as soon as it is done refreshing.
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Beta is a software that is currently in production. betas can be unstable and a pain to remove. They are also known to cause problems with computers. If you are a newbie don't touch a beta unless you are experienced enough to know how to get out of a problem with a beta on your own. Betas will sometimes have forums, but not much support comes with them because most beta testers know their computer stuff, and know what to do when issues arise.
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One of the first things on the web you will have to use and master is the Search Engines. They are not all created equal.
Some are case sensitive, others are not. The most popular like Google, AltaVista, MSN, Yahoo, Dogpile, etc have their own style for searching the web. Some like your business searches are picky on how you phrase your seaches. So if one style doesn't cut it, then try a different method. others want you to use just relevant words, and leave off common words like "and, in, a, the, is, for"
The + and -
Using the plus and minus in your searches helps to get rid a lot of the clutter, and narrow your searches down to what you are after in your results. Most however use these wrong. On Google, the + must have a space before it and then the word or term.
cool+icons will not get the results you are after. But
cool +icons will. The same with the - the minus sign is used to omit items in a search. Say you want cool +icons -animated this means you want cool icons, but you don't want animated icons.
Some searches want you to search in about the same style but not have any spaces in-between.
cool+icons-animated To narrow the search down even more use quotes. "cool+icons-animated" on some search engines, using the quotes is kind of tricky, Googles search you may need to add as many simular words as you can to the phrase to increase your odds of getting results. Other search engines are case sensitive too. You have to be as precise in what you are after as possible. typing in say the grand canyon is not the same as The Grand Canyon, the first one could get you results in every aspect of it. While the second knows you mean the park. You can even type in The +Grand +Canyon +Park and narrow your search down even further. Also if say it was a vacation you are planning, the you could type:
The +Grand +Canyon +Park +Vacations, or you could put this is quotes "The +Grand +Canyon +Park +Vacations"
If you are in doubt on how to use the different search engines, or your having trouble getting the results you are after, I haven't seen a search engine yet that didn't include search tips for their engines. Take a look around, and check out the links that your favorite search engine supplies.
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JustLinux
Linux for Newbies: A Series for Beginners
Linux FAQS
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What you will need to do, is a re-boot.
Now ...
* 1: first think up a new password.
* 2: reboot the machine
* 3: At lilo prompt type: Linux 1
* 4: at the prompt after you are in type: passwd root
* 5: enter your new password twice.
* 6: Reboot like normal
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type; umount /cdrom
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Some keyboards have this key, others do not. look on your keyboard to the right of the spacebar should be the Windows key. Now to the right of this key should be a key with a paper on it, half of the paper may be darker than the other, there will be a arrow pointing to this paper. This key is a shortcut key to copy and paste. you highlight text etc, and then press this key, your copy paste options should now show for you to select. Or you just press the key to copy. On some keyboards this key shows as just a paper with a arrow, there is no lite or dark side.
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1. Click Start, and then click Run.
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit.
* Press Ctrl-Esc to open the Task Manager.
If Windows is responding properly (even though you can't see it), you should find yourself at the DOS prompt in a few seconds. (This is presuming that there are no other programs running whose names start with the letter P, and that no other program is going to stop and ask you to save your work before exiting.)
Go to Start, then Settings, and then Control Panel. Click on the Network Icon and open. Change the item in the Primary Network Logon drop down box to "Windows Logon" Make sure you write down first what was in the drop down just incase there is a problem. Q. When I try to use a certain software I get the Microsoft dll error
notice: The operation failed due to problem blah blah.
Check and try again. I get the same result when using a different but
simular software. A. Try this, it may restore the option: go to... "Start" then "Run" and then type "REGSVR32 nameof.DLL" Click...OK. A dialog box should report the following: "DllRegisterServer in nameof.DLL succeeded" This happens when a software you install doesn't include it's own dll files.
It instead seeks out dll files used by other software on your computer.
This is a bad pratice, but not much you can do about it other than complain
to the offending softwares website that they should use their own dll files,
and not those already stored on your computer.
Select a Dvorak Keyboard Layout
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Accessibility Tutorials for each Windows Operating system 98-XP
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Keyboard instead of mouse --tips, for Windows 95
Windows 2000 Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard Shortcuts - Windows 98
List of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP
How to create a keyboard shortcut for a program in Windows XP
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If you've received some anonymous messages popping up on your windows XP or 2000 systems, it may be messenger spam, people are taking advantage of the messenger service that allows administrators to monitor servers and send out service messages over corporate networks. Friends of mine have been complaining about it, but now that we know where it's coming from, we can stop it.
open the Control Panel, and then double-click Administrative Tools icon and then double-click the Services entry. In the list of services listed in the resulting Services dialog box, locate the messenger entry, and double-click it. Click the Stop button in the service status section and then in the same dialogue box, change the start-up type to Disable. If you are on a corporate netwrok, check with your administrator before making any changes, and if you are behind a firewall, at work, or at home with some of the cable/dsl routers, then you probably won't have to worry about it at all.
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You can get rid of the Windows XP error report messages if you don't want to send another one in. Start the System Configuration Utility:
2. Type msconfig to open the System Configuration Utility.
3. Click the Services tab.
4. Clear the Error Reporting Service check box, and then click OK.
5. Hit Restart to reboot your system.
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One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
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Like many other audio players, Windows Media Player rushes out to the Internet to find information for you when you play a CD. Some of this information, such as song titles and album art, is useful, but Media Player also identifies your copy of Media Player to the site where it's getting data. Why? According to the help file, "The server uses this unique identifier to monitor your connection. By monitoring your connection, the server can make adjustments to increase the playback quality and to alert you about events that occur when receiving streams over the Internet."
If you're disturbed by this exchange of information, here's how to stop it.
In Windows Media Player, click Tools then Options and go to the Player tab. Notice the option that says "Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?" Turn it off.
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Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, Narrator. Or press the Windows key plus the letter "U" to open the Utility Manager. Microsoft Narrator, an accessibility option designed to assist readers who are blind or have impaired vision, starts automatically.
Once you've read through the intro screen (or let the Narrator do it), click OK and you'll see a dialog box of Narrator options. Assuming you want to leave Narrator running, select the desired options, then minimize its dialog box. And if you've opened the Utility Manager, feel free to close it.
To turn Narrator off, click the Exit button or right-click its taskbar item and select Close.
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In XP, the Documents And Settings folder holds all of your user information, including configuration settings, favorites, and cookies. The Documents And Settings\Username\Cookies folder is where XP stashes cookies. How do you control the number of cookies you allow on your system?
Click Start then settings Control Panel then (or)Network And Internet Connections then (or)Internet Options. Click on the Privacy tab,
then use the slider bar to modify your cookie settings. For instance, you can block cookies from sites that use personal identification without your consent. To increase your security, try out the other privacy settings in this dialog. The lowest level is Accept All Cookies while the highest is Block All Cookies, with low, medium, medium-high, and high settings in between. (An explanation of each appears as you move between settings.) Keep in mind that rejecting cookies may limit your actions on some Web sites, and some sites use cookies to track how many times you see a popup.
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If you can't see Windows for some reason (for example, the monitor died or your display settings are incorrect), you should know how to close Windows safely and blindly:
* Type P to select the Program Manager.
* Press Alt-E to End it.
* Press Enter to confirm that you want to exit Windows.
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If your computer requires you to log on and there are no multi users on the pc. There is a trick that could work for you. Just remember this trick only works if you are the only user, and no password is required.
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[ADVANCED TIP] Clean out hidden files
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To increase or decrease your font size in either Internet Explorer or Outlook Express, just hit the View menu, Text Size. The procedure is usually similar for other e-mail clients and web browsers.
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http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
SpybotSD Aims for the dialers, trojans,
hijackers and security/privacy issues.
http://www.safer-networking.org/
Spyware Blaster
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html
A-spy For trojans hiding in startup entries.
http://vipmeister.com/dl/aspy/aspy.html
StartupList, HijackThis and CoolWebShredder
http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip
http://www.merijn.org/files/cwshredder.zip
http://www.merijn.org/cwschronicles.html
http://www.merijn.org/htlogtutorial.html
Info on above and more.
http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/spyware.htm
Parasites: Cookies, Dialers, Keyloggers, Trackers
http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/bhoindex.htm
~ Spyware Information ~
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm
http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
Online Antivirus scanners:
================
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html
http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virusscan.aspx
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/activescan.asp
http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp
http://commandondemand.com/eval/index.cfm
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php
http://www.drweb-online.com/en/online_check.asp
http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp
http://scan.sygatetech.com/prestealthscan.html
Anti-virus programs: (not in any type of order)
--------------------
KAV (Kaspersky)
http://www.kaspersky.com/
eZ Antivirus (Computer Associates)
http://www.my-etrust.com/products/Antivirus.cfm
Vet (Computer Associates)
http://www.vet.com.au/html/products/index.html
Sophos
http://www.sophos.com/products/software/antivirus/
nod32
http://www.nod32.com/
Norton
http://www.symantec.com/nav/
ADVANCED does not mean that the newbies on this list should not read
these pages outlined below. Read them because I say to read them
regardless if you know what they are discussing or not. One day you
will pick up on this, and you will already have a some what general idea
of what the content is, and you will pick up on it very quickly. Far
better to read these pages than to keep yourself in the dark. So don't
ignore them. Some of these page are geared towards a regular user.
Others are geared towards a ADVANCED user, and the Professional.
The pages are just some I came across, that I thought others may
like to read. Post if you have questions. Some ideas on a few pages
may ruffle a few feathers. I don't expect you to agree with everything
they say. But before you get hot under the collar, do some research on
it first. Then post your research , along with your reason for disagreeing.
Installing the first three anti-spyware software is a personal preferance.
I say to do this because just like some anti-virus software can miss some
viruses, so can anti-spyware vendors miss a few.
Center for Internet Security - Standards
http://www.cisecurity.org/
http://www.cert.org/
http://isc.incidents.org/
ANS Top 20 Vulnerabilities - The Experts Consensus
http://www.windowsecurity.com/
http://www.sans.org/top20/
http://www.security-forums.com/index.php
http://www.securityfocus.com/
http://samspade.org/
http://www.itsecurity.com/
http://www.governmentsecurity.org/
http://www.bbb.org
Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Information Security {This page all
list members should get some valuable use from. }
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/infosecurity/
Home PC Firewall Guide
http://www.firewallguide.com/ Excellent page for everyone
Internet Security Tips
http://www.mbna.com/netaccess/mbnaspotlight.html
LINKS
http://www.isr.net/2005/NP01/cert_cybercrime.html
http://www.onlyreviews.com/index.html
honest opinions on internet oportunities keep in mind that just because
they get a review here check with the BBB and get their two cents worth
also. Regardless of how good/bad the review looked it still could be
biased.
http://www.secinf.net/
Network Security Library
http://www.bbb.org/wise/index.asp
The Wise Consumer: Online Newsletter
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