Help Line
Keyboards and cats not a good mix
By JAY LEE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Q: My cat walked on my laptop keyboard. I think he must have hit just the right combination of keys to make it so that some letters are now numbers (indicated in the smaller, alternate colored font on the keys themselves). I used to know how to toggle this. Can you recall the commands?
A: Many of the better laptops have what is called an integrated 10-key keypad. These can be very useful for those used to inputting numbers using the 10-key input method.
I first encountered one of these a few years ago and it was somewhat confusing until I realized what it was.
It was very common for me to find a user who had inadvertently toggled this and was unable to log into his or her laptop because the password couldn't be typed correctly.
To toggle this on the Dell computer, press the Scroll
Lock key while holding down Fn key. That will clear it right up.
Q: I have heard that you should not apply the paste-on labels on DVDs. Is this true? I had planned to copy all of our old VCR tapes to DVDs and paste on labels for identification.
A: I guess it all depends on how good the labels are and your ability to apply them to the disc evenly. Many people like to label their CDs and DVDs to identify them. It can also be a lot of fun creating them.
My rock star friend Jim recently presented me with a stack of home-burned CDs of his music. For each CD he created a great label. When I put one into my front loading CD player it jammed and I had a devil of a time getting it out. The labels looked fine and seemed to be applied correctly, but they still jammed the player.
For me, I think it would be best to simply mark the disk itself with a Sharpie and label the jewel case.
That way you don't run the risk of gumming up your DVD player, and you still have a way of keeping track of your recordings.
Q: Every time I try to run SpyBot Search and Destroy my computer shuts down. I don't know what to do.
A: Sometime when a computer is infested with spyware, your attempts to remove it will cause the computer to lock up or even reboot.
You can try another spyware removal tool like Adaware SE from www.lavasoftusa.com or even the Microsoft Spyware Tool from www.microsoft.com — both are free — and see if they can run without a problem.
Something else I strongly suggest is scanning your computer while running in safe mode, something I have found to be much more effective in removing spyware.
Q: The Address Bar has mysteriously disappeared from Internet Explorer after I log into my Internet account. How can I restore this?
A: There are many, many different toolbars, status bars and explorer bars within Internet Explorer. Most of us don't need them all to be able to browse the Web.
You can turn them on and off from the View menu.
In this case, you want to enable the Address Bar. To do so, click View then Toolbars and click Address Bar so that a check mark appears next to it.
HoustonChronicle.com - Help Line
By JAY LEE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Q: My cat walked on my laptop keyboard. I think he must have hit just the right combination of keys to make it so that some letters are now numbers (indicated in the smaller, alternate colored font on the keys themselves). I used to know how to toggle this. Can you recall the commands?
A: Many of the better laptops have what is called an integrated 10-key keypad. These can be very useful for those used to inputting numbers using the 10-key input method.
I first encountered one of these a few years ago and it was somewhat confusing until I realized what it was.
It was very common for me to find a user who had inadvertently toggled this and was unable to log into his or her laptop because the password couldn't be typed correctly.
To toggle this on the Dell computer, press the Scroll
Lock key while holding down Fn key. That will clear it right up.
Q: I have heard that you should not apply the paste-on labels on DVDs. Is this true? I had planned to copy all of our old VCR tapes to DVDs and paste on labels for identification.
A: I guess it all depends on how good the labels are and your ability to apply them to the disc evenly. Many people like to label their CDs and DVDs to identify them. It can also be a lot of fun creating them.
My rock star friend Jim recently presented me with a stack of home-burned CDs of his music. For each CD he created a great label. When I put one into my front loading CD player it jammed and I had a devil of a time getting it out. The labels looked fine and seemed to be applied correctly, but they still jammed the player.
For me, I think it would be best to simply mark the disk itself with a Sharpie and label the jewel case.
That way you don't run the risk of gumming up your DVD player, and you still have a way of keeping track of your recordings.
Q: Every time I try to run SpyBot Search and Destroy my computer shuts down. I don't know what to do.
A: Sometime when a computer is infested with spyware, your attempts to remove it will cause the computer to lock up or even reboot.
You can try another spyware removal tool like Adaware SE from www.lavasoftusa.com or even the Microsoft Spyware Tool from www.microsoft.com — both are free — and see if they can run without a problem.
Something else I strongly suggest is scanning your computer while running in safe mode, something I have found to be much more effective in removing spyware.
Q: The Address Bar has mysteriously disappeared from Internet Explorer after I log into my Internet account. How can I restore this?
A: There are many, many different toolbars, status bars and explorer bars within Internet Explorer. Most of us don't need them all to be able to browse the Web.
You can turn them on and off from the View menu.
In this case, you want to enable the Address Bar. To do so, click View then Toolbars and click Address Bar so that a check mark appears next to it.
HoustonChronicle.com - Help Line
posted by hkghkghk at 10:53 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home