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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, March 30, 2003
In this Issue:
Tips and Tricks: The Mouse Wheel on Internet Explorer
Tips and Tricks: Netscape Keyboard Shortcuts
Featured Computer Term: Daemon
This Week's Topic: Microsoft Outlook Express - Tips and Tricks
Learning Series: Microsoft Word - Always Show Full Menus
Featured Website: Palindromes; April Fool’s Day; Travel
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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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Tips and Tricks: The Mouse Wheel on Internet Explorer
That wheel on your mouse (if your mouse has one) can be useful with Internet Explorer.
With the Ctrl key depressed, moving the wheel forward or backward resizes the font. With the Shift key depressed, the wheel moves you backward or forward to other sites visited in the current browsing session.
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Tips and Tricks: Netscape Keyboard Shortcuts
Here are some shortcuts you may find convenient if you use Netscape to surf the Net:
Used with the Ctrl key, B opens bookmarks, F finds page contents, H opens history, M composes email, N opens a new browser window, O opens a local file in the browser, P opens the Print dialog box, and R refreshes the page.
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Today's Computer Term: Daemon
Pronounced DEE-mun, a daemon is a process that runs in the background and performs a specified operation at predefined times or in response to certain events. For example, if an email is sent to an address that does not exist on the ISP sent to, a mailer daemon will be sent to the sender of the email notifying them of the error.
The term comes from Greek mythology, where daemons were guardian spirits.
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Today's Topic: Microsoft Outlook Express - Tips and Tricks
Outlook Express automatically checks for new messages every 30 minutes. If you want to check for new emails more often, you can change this setting. Click Tools on the menu, and then click Options. Click on the General tab. In the Send/Receive messages section, reduce the number of minutes by clicking the down arrow next to the current number of minutes.
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You can sort your messages by clicking any column heading in the message list. For example, clicking the From column heading will sort your messages by who sent the message. If you’d prefer to see your most recent messages first, click the date/time column heading. Click it again to go back.
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You can customize your toolbars in Outlook Express. Right-click on any toolbar and select Customize. Then choose large or small buttons, with or without text labels, even select what buttons are shown and in what order.
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Make your program fit the way you work. You can customize how Outlook Express looks. Click the View menu then click Layout. You can choose to hide or show the preview pane, the Outlook bar, the Folders list, or the Contacts area.
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You can read, move and compose e-mail when disconnected from the Internet. Any e-mail you send when offline will go in the Outbox. When you connect later on, go into the Outbox, open the email, and click Send. Or, you can just click Send/Recv on toolbar without even having to go into your Outbox.
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Do you regularly send e-mail to a group of people? Click Addresses on the toolbar, click New on the address book toolbar, then click New Group. Add the names and email addresses of the people you’d like to include in this group. Next time you’d like to send an e-mail to the group, click the To: button in the new message and select the group you created.
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To quickly locate certain messages, click Find on the toolbar. Type in what to look for, such as a name in the from address or a word in Subject.
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If you’ve been letting your emails pile up and want to clean house, it’s easier to do then you thought. Rather than deleting them one by one, you can select multiple messages by holding down the Ctrl key and then clicking the messages you want to select. This makes it a lot quicker delete a large number of emails all at once (like all that junk email we receive!)
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You can create folders for storing your messages. Click the File menu, click Folder, and then click New. After you've created the new folder, drag and drop messages into it.
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Progressive Learning Series: Microsoft Word - Always Show Full Menus
Question: When I go into any of the menus in Word or Excel, I will only see a few choice there. If I click on the two little v’s at the bottom of the menu, I will then see all the choices. Can I get the menu to open up in its entirety immediately when I click on the top menu?
Answer:
Yes, you can. You have to customize your program to always show full menus. To do this, click on Tools on the menu bar (you can do this in Word or Excel), then click on Options. Click on the Options tab, and then you can put a check in the checkbox next to Always show full menus.
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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.
Palindromes
If you enjoy studying the English language and plays on words, here’s an interesting site for you. This site has what is possibly the longest palindrome, a total of 4963 words and 18,860 characters not counting spaces. What’s a palindrome? A word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward, such as A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.
http://www.palindromelist.com/
April Fool’s Day
Tuesday is April Fool’s Day. What is April Fools Day and how did it begin? See what this website has to say:
http://www.web-holidays.com/fools/
Want to play an April Fool’s practical joke on someone but can’t think of a good one? This site may help with the Web's biggest collection of April Fools Day freebies including practical jokes, gags, pranks, free gag software and more.
http://www.thefreesite.com/Seasonal_Freebies/April_Fools/
Send an April Fool’s e-card to your friends and family, free at:
http://freewebcards.com/cards/aprilfools/
Travel
Take a weekend and get away from it all. Not sure where you want to go? Let the Internet help you decide and find all the information you need for your trip.
http://www.travelsites.com/
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