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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, April 4, 2004
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Scanning Text Documents
Tips & Tricks: Computer Dictionary
Tips & Tricks: Windows XP – Show the Date on the Taskbar
Tips & Tricks: Windows XP: Locate the Mouse Arrow Quickly
Keyboard Shortcuts: Internet Explorer
This Week's Topic: Save Email to Floppy Disk
Question: Restore Outlook Express Contacts
Question: Cookies
Websites of Interest: Holy Week; Passover; Happy Easter!
In observation of the upcoming holidays, we will not be publishing this newsletter next Sunday.
See you on April 18!
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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: Scanning Text Documents
Question: I tried scanning a typed paper into my computer. My results were not very good and I had to do a lot of editing. Can I do anything to improve the results?
Answer:
The quality of your OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program has a lot to do with the results you get. Scanners usually come with a low end OCR program. While you could purchase a better OCR program, there are other things you can try which may give you acceptable results.
Take a look at about.com for a good article on some of the things you can try before going out and buying an expensive program. Here is the link:
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/ocr/a/ocr.htm
This article lists and describes the top four OCR programs for Windows:
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/win/tp/ocr_win.htm
For an article on the basics of OCR:
http://printscan.about.com/cs/scanners/a/about_ocr.htm
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Please tell your neighbors, friends and family about our classes and our
email newsletter.
If you would like us to send this newsletter to a friend, please send your
name and their email address to info@computerkindergarten.com with the words
Subscribe to Newsletter in the subject line of the email.
If you think a friend or family member would like to attend our classes,
we'll send them a printed list of upcoming classes. Send a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to: STSI - Class Schedule, 50 Lee Avenue, Babylon NY 11702.
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Tips & Tricks: Computer Dictionary
Do not be confused by computer words that you read or hear. Look up their meaning at our website:
http://stsico.com/html/dictionary.html
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If you are reading this newsletter because someone forwarded it to you, there are directions for subscribing at the end of this newsletter. Or you can go to our website at http://stsico.com/html/newsletter.html where you can subscribe and view our newsletter archives.
http://stsico.com/html/newsletter.html
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Tips & Tricks: Windows XP – Show the Date on the Taskbar
Question: When I point the mouse arrow on the time on the taskbar, the day and date displays and then goes away. Is there was a way to always show the day, date and time on the taskbar rather than just the time?
Answer:
Yes, there is, if you are using Windows XP.
To do so, expand the height of the taskbar to a two-line taskbar. Point to the top edge of the taskbar. When the mouse pointer changes into a double headed arrow, drag (press and hold the left mouse button) the taskbar up until it is double its original size.
Now you will see day, date and time.
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Tips & Tricks: Windows XP: Locate the Mouse Arrow Quickly
Sometimes it can be hard to find the mouse pointer on the screen. In Windows XP, you can press the CTRL button on the keyboard and a circle will appear around the mouse pointer.
To set up this feature, click the Start button and click Control Panel. Click Appearance and Themes. (if you do not see Appearance and Themes, double click the Mouse icon and proceed to the next paragraph). On the left side of the screen, click Mouse Pointers.
Click the Pointer Options tab and click to check Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key.
Click the OK button.
Now, to find the mouse pointer, just press the CTRL key and you will se circles appear around the arrow.
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Keyboard Shortcuts: Internet Explorer
Instead of clicking the Back and Forward buttons to navigate around the Internet, you can use your keyboard:
To go back, hold down the ALT key and press the left arrow.
To go forward, hold down the ALT key and press the right arrow.
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Today's Topic: Save Email to Floppy Disk
I enjoy your newsletter and learn so much from it. I have been printing the newsletter each week but that uses a lot of paper. Could I save this to a floppy disk instead? If I can, could you tell me how to do this? Thank you so much!
Answer:
Yes, you can save any email to a floppy disk. Here is how:
Open the email that you want to save, click on File and then Save. You will see the Save or Save As dialog box.
To the right of the Save in field, click the small down arrow. A drop down list will open; from this list, click to select 3 1/2 floppy A:
At the bottom of the dialog box, click in the File name box and type a name for the email message.
In the Save as type field, which you will see right below the filename box, click the down arrow and click to select text file. (This will allow you to read the saved email in any text program.)
Click the Save button.
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Do you have friends who aren't as computer literate as you but would like to
be? Tell them to attend our Computer Kindergarten for Grownups class at the
library. To send them our schedule, send a stamp, self-addressed envelope to:
STSI, Class Schedule, 50 Lee Avenue, Babylon NY 11702.
Or, visit our website and print our schedule:
http://stsico.com/html/classes.html
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Question: Restore Outlook Express Contacts
I use Outlook Express for my email. Up until this week, I had a list of contacts on the left side of the screen with names and email addresses of the people I email with. It was under the list that says Local Folders, Inbox, Outbox, etc. What could have happened to this? Can I make it appear again?
Answer:
It is pretty easy to close your Contacts list. Once you restore it, you will see a small X to the right of the word Contacts. One click on that and the list is gone!
To get the list back, click on View on the menu bar and then Layout.
In the Layout window, you will see a list of the things that you can show in the Outlook Express window such as Contacts, the Folder Bar, the Status Bar and more.
To restore Contacts click the small box to check Contacts. Click the OK button.
You will now see Contacts below the folder list.
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Question: Cookies
My neighbor said that my computer will run faster if I delete the cookies. What are cookies and how do I delete them?
Answer:
You can read all the articles we have done on cookies at our website. You will learn what they are and how to remove them from your computer.
http://stsico.com/html/cookies.html
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If you are enjoying this newsletter and find the information useful, please
feel free to forward it to your friends and family members. If you would like
us to subscribe a friend, please send your name and their email address to
info@computerkindergarten.com with the words Subscribe to Newsletter in the
subject line of the email.
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Websites of Interest:
Holy Week
The most important events of Christianity occurred during Holy Week. Learn more about these events and their observations at this website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/
Passover
Passover begins this week. Learn more about the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Pesach.
http://www.passover.net/
Take a look at koshercooking.com for Passover recipes.
http://www.koshercooking.com/recipes/passover/
Send a Passover greeting card, online, free at:
http://www.123greetings.com/events/passover/
Happy Easter!
Visit these websites for information about the religious traditions and history of Easter.
http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm
Easter Page -- Traditions, History, and Dates of Easter
http://www.easterincyberspace.com/
How is the date for Easter computed? Find out at this website:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/easter.html
For the kids: to learn more about how the fun traditions of eggs, bunnies, and candy got started and for some fun Easter projects, take a look at these websites.
Kids Domain: http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/easter/
BillyBears Happy Easter:
http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/easter/fun.htm
For Easter menus and recipes including dinner, brunch, egg dyeing, Easter baskets, and Easter leftovers, check out this website:
http://holidayrecipe.com/features/easter.asp
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