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Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, February 23, 2003
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Receive Notification of Phone Calls While Online
Featured Computer Term: Write-Protect
This Week's Topic: My Recent Documents
Question: For Left Handers: Change the Mouse Buttons
Featured Website: Movie Revues; Encyclopedia Britannica; Soccer Coaching; Internet Radio
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Using Links
A Link is a reference to a website. In this newsletter you will see links to many worthwhile, informative and fun websites. Here are the instructions on how to use links:
A link will be used one of two ways, depending on your email program.
If you see the link in blue, underlined text, all you have to do is click on it and a window with the Website in it will automatically appear on your screen.
If you see the link in plain text, you can copy and paste it into the address bar on your browser. Highlight the link with your mouse, click Edit up on the menu bar, and then click Copy from the menu that you just opened up. Open your browser (click the Start Button, point to Programs, click on Internet Explorer); click on the address bar. Click Edit up on the menu bar, and then click Paste from the menu that you just opened up. Press the Enter key on the keyboard and this will take you to the Website.
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Special Feature: Receive Notification of Phone Calls While Online
Question: A friend of mine gets a notification on her screen when she’s online and receives a phone call. It tells her the name of the person calling, and she can answer the phone call or not. Do you know anything about this?
Answer:
You can receive notification of incoming phone calls while you’re online. With most services, you will be notified by a window that pops up in the middle of your screen when a call comes in. At that point, you have several options.
America Online
On America Online this is called a Call Alert. This feature notifies you of incoming calls as they happen when you’re connected to the Internet with AOL via your phone line. When someone calls you, the call is directed to AOL Call Alert.
When you’re online and a call comes in, a window will pop up on your computer screen, letting you know of an incoming call. The window will show you the name, number, city, and state of the person calling, if you have caller id on your phone line.
You have several options on how the call can be handled:
Take A Message. The caller can leave a message for you which you can listen to later.
Send a Message. The caller will receive a prerecorded message such as Call Back Later.
Ignore Call. The call won’t be answered.
You have to sign up for this feature with America Online and notify your phone company that you will need an additional service on your phone line called Call Forward Busy (your phone company may bill you a one-time setup fee and will probably bill you a monthly fee for this service. Check on any additional charges with your phone company).
America Online charges an additional $3.95 per month for this feature.
Pagoo
This service, with the same features as AOL, is available at pagoo.com for $4.95 per month.
CallWave
This service offers a few different features, with prices ranging from $2.95 to $9.95 per month for various packages. callwave.com
BuzMe
Offers this features without having to add any additional services to your telephone line -it works in conjunction with your answering machine. There’ s a 30-day free trial with a $5.95 charge per month after that. buzme.com
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Today's Computer Term: Write-Protect
To mark a file or disk so that its contents cannot be modified or deleted. When you want to make sure that a user cannot destroy data in a file, you can write-protect it.
Many programs include a command to write-protect files (also known as Read Only).
You can also write-protect floppy disks. Three and 1/2-inch floppy diskettes have a small switch that you can set to turn on write-protection.
Write-protected files and media can only be read; you cannot write to them, edit them, append data to them, or delete them.
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Today's Topic: My Recent Documents
Documents, or My Recent Documents if you’re using Windows XP, is one of the entries in the Start button menu. If you point the mouse on this, you will see a list of the 15 last documents that you created or modified. You can click on one of those, and your document will open in the program that you used to create or modify it. This can be a very helpful feature if you’d like to quickly open a file that you just worked on.
Windows XP may not display this option in the Start button menu. If your computer doesn’t show this, you can turn it on. Here’s how:
- Right Click on the Start button and click on Properties.
- In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window, click the Start Menu tab, click to Select Start Menu and then click the Customize button.
- In the Customize Start Menu window, click the advanced tab, and look down near the bottom for the Recent Documents Section. Click the checkbox next to List my most recently opened documents and then click OK.
You’ll now have access to your most recently worked on documents.
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Question: For Left Handers: Change the Mouse Buttons
Question: I’m left handed, and, even though everyone tells me that most left handed people use their right hand for the mouse, I’m having a lot of difficulty doing that. Can I change this to a left handed mouse?
Answer:
You can use the mouse with your left hand and just switch fingers: click with your middle finger and use your index finger on the right button; or, you can change the clicking options. It is possible to change the clicking options of mice so that the click is driven from the left-hander's index finger.
To do this, click the Start button, click control panel and select the mouse icon (if you’re using Windows XP, click on Appearance and Themes, then click Mouse on the left). Under the buttons tab is the option to alternate your mouse buttons. Since the option will vary, depending on your version of Windows and the mouse software, look for either Change Primary Buttons, or right-handed/left-handed. Make the switch and then you can click with the index finger.
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Today's Featured Websites:
Note: if you're not sure how to use the following links to websites, take a look at the instructions on using links at the beginning of this newsletter.
Movie Revues
IFILM is a movie guide and a great site to visit for what's new in theaters, good to watch on video and DVD, Hollywood gossip and headlines, and more. Visitors can also watch shorts and movie clips online. Note that this site contains revues and information on movies of all ratings.
http://www.ifilm.com
Encyclopedia Britannica
The most famous of encyclopedia has a wonderful Web site, where you can read the top news stories, or go on an exploration of whatever topic interests you.
http://www.britannica.com/
Soccer Coaching
The weather’s awful now but believe it or not, spring will be here soon. For all the soccer moms, dads and grandparents, just in case you’re asked to coach the team, or if you want to know a little more about the rules, here’s a great website to brush up on the basics of the game. You can even subscribe to a free email newsletter.
http://www.soccercoaching.net/
Internet Radio
If you use a high speed internet connection and would like to listen to radio stations from anywhere in the world, here’s a search engine where you can find whatever kind of radio station you want.
http://www.radio-locator.com
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