Computer Tutorials and Lessons For Beginners

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Windows XP & 7
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> Windows XP Tutorials
1 The Windows XP Desktop 2 Exploring the Start Menu 3 How to Create a Desktop Shortcut 4 The Hard Drive Explained 5 How Big is your Hard Drive? 6 The Windows Explorer tool 7 How to Create a New Folder 8 Moving Folders on your Hard Drive 9 Copy from a CD to a Hard Drive 10 Finding Files with Windows XP 11 Windows XP and Wallpapers 12 How to change your Screen Saver 13. Zip and Unzip files with WinZip
> Windows 7 (and Vista) Tutorials

1 The Windows 7 Desktop 2 Desktop Wallpaper 3 The Taskbar 4 Setting the Date and Time 5 Toolbars 6 The Windows 7 Start Button 7 Share your computer with others 8 Setting Parental Controls in Windows 7 9 hard_drives explained 10 The importance of file extensions 11 Copying Pictures to a New Folder 12 Adding Information to an Image 13 Sorting Images 14 How to take a Screenshot in Windows 7
> Windows XP - Delving Deeper

1 Accessibility Options - StickyKeys 2 Accessibility Options - FilterKeys 3 Accessibility Options - Mouse 4 How to Install a New Font 5 Power Options 6 Folder Options 7 Customize Your Folder Views
11 Windows XP User Account 12 Windows XP Security Centre 13 System Properties - General Tab 14 Take your PC back to an earlier Date 15 System Properties - Advanced 16 How to change your Home Page 17 Internet Options - Security 18 Privacy - What is a Cookie? 19 Internet Options - Content Advisor 20 Internet Options - AutoComplete
8 Change the Sounds that Window XP makes 9 Task Bar Settings 10 Customize Your Start Menu
> Outlook Express Email Tutorials

1. How to Set up an new Email account 2 How to Add Email Attachments 3. How to Backup Emails in Outlook Express 4. How to Restore your Outlook Express Emails 5. Backup an Outlook Express Address Book
6. Backup an Outlook Express Email Account 7. Set up a Second Outlook Express Account 8. Add a Signature to all outgoing emails 9. Outlook Express Stationery 10. Create your own stationery
> How to Secure your PC from Intruders
1 Are you infected with SpyWare? 2 How to tackle Spam 3 Anti-Virus Protection- Our Recommendation 4 Why you NEED a Firewall! 5 What is a Trojan, and should I be worried? 6 What is a RootKit 7 Online Banking - Essential Security
> Beginners Guide to Going Wireless

1 The Basics of Going Wireless 2 Wireless Adaptors - you need one! 3 Wireless Routers Explained - all the Jargon! 4 What are wireless signals? 5 Are Wireless Signals Dangerous? 6 Going Wireless - What to Buy 7 Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO Modem Router 8 US Robotics Wireless MAXg 9 Belkin Broadband Wireless Router 10 Buffalo AirStation G54 High Power
Beginner's Computing
The Windows XP Desktop
When you first switch your computer and monitor on, your screen might look something like this, in the link below (It's too big for this page!). Click here to see the desktop This is the Windows XP Desktop. There are a number of thing to notice about the Desktop. First, all those little pictures on top of the big picture. (Your screen may well be nice and colourful). There are 4 in the image above. The pictures are called icons. To get some practice with using your mouse, click on each of your Desktop icons. (If you have only one icon, the Recycle Bin, then practice with that for the time being. We'll see how to add shortcuts soon.) Click on them with your Left mouse button, a Single Click. You should notice that the icons change colour, usually blue. When they do change colour, the icon is said to be selected. Now click on any of your icons with the Right mouse button, again a Single Click. What happens now? You should see a menu popping up with a list of items on it. The menu pops up because of that Right Click - the Right click is usually a shortcut click. Each icon on your Desktop has a shortcut associated with it. Indeed, the icons themselves are shortcuts. Each picture is associated with a programme on your computer. When you clicked an icon with your left mouse button, the only thing that happened was that it turned a different colour. You had selected it by clicking the icon with your left mouse button. Now try to double click each icon with the Left mouse button and see what happens. You should find that some sort of software, or programme is launched. So the desktop icons are shortcuts to your programmes. That's why they are there - so that you can get at your programmes with a Double Click of your left mouse button.
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The Windows XP Start Menu

We saw in the last lesson that the desktop can be used to launch your software. Another way to launch your programmes is through the Start menu at the bottom of the Desktop. Your Start button should look something like the one below:
Click your Start button once with your Left hand mouse button. What you will see is a menu popping up. This one below:
Notice the name "KC" next to the image. Yours will show the name you typed when setting up Windows XP. The menu bar is split into three sections. The first section, the white one on the left, has seven items in it. The first three are shortcuts to a web browser, email software, and easyPHP. The four items under this are shortcuts to recently used programmes. These will change as you start up and close down software packages. Yours will probably be different items. One Single click with the Left mouse button on any of these items will launch some software. The second section has just one item in it: All Programs. There is a green arrow next to this text. Clicking on the green arrow will bring up menu where you can find all the software installed on your computer. And this is the one we're interested in. We'll explain it in more detail in a moment. The section on the right of the Start menu, the one in pale blue, is for special areas of your computer, and shortcuts to folders and files that are used frequently. You can also get help here, and search your computer for files and folders (we'll see how to do this shortly.) At the bottom of the start menu are two buttons, one for logging off and one for closing down your computer. There is a difference between the two, but the one you'll probably want when it comes to turning
off your computer is Shut Down. Clicking it once with your Left mouse button will give you this pop up box, called a dialogue box.
The dialogue box is giving you four options. Click the second option "Turn Off" with your left mouse button, a Single Click, if you want to completely close down your computer. The other popular option is "Restart". If you change your mind, click the Cancel button at the bottom. The dialogue box will disappear. But let's concentrate on that green button on the Start Menu, the one to the right of "All Programs." Click the button with your left mouse button. A menu will appear. Actually, it's a sub menu - a menu on a menu! It will look something like the one below:
As you can see, the Programs Sub menu is fairly small, but it gets bigger the more software you install. Your Programs menu may well be longer than this one. When you install some new software, a shortcut to it will probably be added to this Programs Sub menu. Notice the black arrows on the menu. This indicates that there is another submenu available. The menu will appear when you move your mouse to an item that has a black arrow next to it. Move your mouse over to the Programs Sub menu. Then move your mouse up and down it. You should see a light coloured line moving with your mouse. This line is telling you which item of the menu you are currently on. To launch one of your software programs, click an item on the list with your Left mouse button, a Single Click. When you do, the software is launched. To quickly close down the software you have launched, look in the right hand corner. Search for this, in the picture below
Click the red X to close down your software. The one on the left of the three, with the single line, will make your software disappear. But it will not have closed down. Look at the bottom of your Desktop. You'll see something like this:
The two long rectangles indicate that two programmes are still open. In the image above, the Firefox web browser is open, as well as the Home and Learn Web Editor. What we'll do now is to create a Shortcut to your "My Documents" folder, which we will place on the Desktop. You will then be able to open this folder by Double-Clicking its icon on the desktop.
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How to create a Desktop Shortcut in Windows XP

To create a shortcut to a programme, and display the shortcut on the Desktop, do the following: Click the Start button on your desktop From the Start menu, locate the "All Programms" item Move your mouse to the programme you want to create a shortcut to. In the image below, we've gone for the Home and Learn Web Editor
Right click on the menu item to see a new menu appear:
On this menu, locate the "Send to" item On the Send to item, Left click on "Desktop (create shortcut)":
When you left click Desktop (create shortcut), a new shortcut appears on your main screen - the Desktop. Double click your new shortcut to test it out. You should see a new window opening, and the programme will start Now that you've had a bit of practice with your mouse, we'll move on to exploring the files and folders on your hard drive. We'll start with the Hard Drive itself.
Windows XP Tutorials
What is a Hard Drive?
A hard drive is nothing more than a magnetised storage area. Your Operating System is stored on your hard drive, as well as all your software programmes, like Microsoft Word. The hard drive is actually a few circular disks stacked one on top of the other. A little arm moves over the disks and writes things to these circular platters, and reads them. When you save a file or create a new folder, think of these circular platters being written to and you'll have a basic idea of just what your hard drive is. A hard drive is given a letter of the alphabet for convenience sake, and in most computers this will be the letter C. That's why the hard drive is popularly know as the C Drive. There are other drives on your computer. These are the usual drives on modern Personal Computers: Floppy Drive or A drive CD Rom Drive or D Drive There will be a thin slot on the front of your computer. Into the gap, a disk is inserted. This is your floppy drive, and the disk is called a floppy disk Press a button on the front of your computer and a tray will probably slide out. The tray will accept a circular disk - a CD Rom.
DVD Drive
A DVD disk is the same size and shape as a CD, but can hold more information. You can play a CD in a DVD Drive, but you can't play a DVD disk in a CD Rom Drive
CD/DVD Writer
These types of drives are for creating your own CD's or DVD's. They are becoming statndard on a new computer
A modern Hard Drive is measured in Gigabytes. To find out how big your Hard drive is, click the next part of this lesson.
Windows XP Tutorials
How Big is your Hard Drive?
Find the "My Computer" icon Start menu, and click with your left mouse button. When the window opens it will look something like this one:
The "My Computer" screen shows you different areas of your computer. In the picture, there are icons for the Floppy Drive, The C drive, and the D Drive. Don't worry if yours is not the same. But you'll probably have a D drive icon. There is a CD over the D drive icon, indicating that there is a CD in the disk drive on this computer. The one we're interested in is the C drive icon. This is the Hard drive. There are two ways you can check your Hard drive to see how big it is. The easiest way is to click once on the C icon with your Left mouse button. The area on the left of the window will change to this:
The "Details" section at the bottom is showing how much space is free on your hard drive. It also shows how big the Hard drive is. GB stand for Gigabytes. So this Hard drive is just over 4 gigabytes. Not very big in today's computer market, where Hard drive ten and twenty times this size are common! There is another way to check how big your Hard drive is. Click on the C icon from the My Computer screen. But click on it with your Right mouse button. You'll get a menu similar to the one below.
Click on "Properties with your Left mouse button. You'll get the following dialogue box popping up.
Here, we get a pie chart showing us information about the hard drive: Used Space, Free Space and Capacity (How big your hard drive is). The Capacity is showing 19.0 Gigabytes, Used space 17.9 Gigabytes, and Free space 1.01 Gigabytes. Click the OK button to get rid of the dialogue box (One click with the left mouse button.) Get rid of the "My Computer" screen by clicking the red X in the top right hand corner. What we'll do now is create a folder on the hard drive. But we'll use the Windows Explorer to do it.
Windows XP Tutorials: The Windows Explorer

In this lesson, we'll create a new folder on the hard drive, but we'll use a tool called the Windows Explorer to do it. To bring up the Windows Explorer, do the following: From your Desktop, Click the Start button in the bottom left hand corner of your screen Click the green "All Programs" button From the Sub menu that pops up, click on Accessories The following sub menu appears. Click on Windows Explorer at the bottom:
The Windows Explorer is a great tool for finding your way around your hard drive. You can quickly locate files and folders, or browse for something in particular. Another quick way to bring up the Windows explorer is to do the following: Press the Windows key on your keyboard (The Windows key is located in the bottom left hand corner of your keyboard, in between the Ctrl key and the Alt key. If there is a gap between these two keys then you have an older keyboard, and the shortcut won't work. Sorry!) Once you've located the Windows key, keep it held down With the Windows key held down, press the letter "e" on your keyboard The Windows Explorer will appear, and should look something like the one below
If your screen is not split in two like the one above, do this: On the menu bar across the top that says File, Edit, View, Go, etc, select the View option by clicking on the word "View" with your Left mouse button A menu will drop down Move your mouse pointer down to "Explorer Bar" From the sub menu that pops up, click the word "Folders" once with your Left mouse button Your screen should split in two like the one above The left hand side of the Windows Explorer screen shows different areas of your computer. In the previous image, the left part of Windows Explorer starts with Desktop. Next we have My Documents, My Computer, 3 floppy, the C drive, the CD Rom Drive, Control Panel and so on right down to Recycle bin as the last option. Click on the first option, Desktop, once with your Left mouse button. This will show you all the shortcuts you have on your Desktop, including the "My Documents" shortcut we placed there earlier. But the list of shortcuts will appear on the right hand side. And that is the main idea behind the Windows Explorer Clicking something on the left hand side will bring up a list on the right hand side. Click on the letter C in the left hand side of your Windows Explorer. A list of all the files and folders on your hard drive will appear on the right hand side. Like the one below, but with different folder names on your computer.
When we create a new folder, it will appear on the right hand side. But because we clicked the letter C on the left hand side, the new folder will be created in the root folder of the C drive. The Root folder? What's that when it's at home? Well, the rectangular yellow icons on the right hand side are all folders. You can put one folder inside another. All of those folders on the right hand side, and all the single files, are inside the C Folder. The main folder on a hard drive is known as the Root Folder. This is the symbolic notation for the Root Folder on the C Drive C:\ You can see that notation in the Windows Explorer address bar. (If you can't see an address bar, on the menu bar across the top that has File, Edit, View, Go, click the View option. On the menu that drops down, move your mouse pointer to Toolbars. From the sub menu that pops up, Click the words "Address bar" once with your left mouse button.) The Windows Explorer address bar looks like this:
Notice how the address bar says C:\. This is the root folder of your C Drive, the folder in which all of your other files and folders are placed. Watch what happens when the folder on the right hand side called "Program Files" is double clicked with the left hand mouse button. We get this:
The address bar now says C:\Program Files. This means that there is a folder called Program Files, and this folder is on the C Drive. On the right hand side is a list of all the folders and files in the "Program Files" folder. Now that you know how the Windows Explorer works, we'll now create our new folder.
How to Create a New Folder in Windows XP

Following along from the last lesson, we'll now create a new folder using the Windows Explorer. So do the following: Click once with your Left mouse button on the letter C in the left hand pane of the Windows Explorer On the menu bar across the top that has File, Edit, View, Go, Click the File option once with your Left mouse button From the menu that drops down, move your mouse pointer to New A sub menu appears Click the word "Folder" once with your left Mouse button
A New folder will be created on your C Drive. The new folder will appear right at the bottom of all of your other folders and files, under the last one. So you might have to scroll across to see it. You can tell it's your new folder because it says, quite helpfully, "New Folder". When you clicked "Folder", a new folder was created. But it appears right at the end of your list folders and files, in the right-hand pane of Windows Explorer. That's why you might need to scroll down or across in order to see it. But it will look like the one in the picture below:
The words "New Folder" will be highlighted. It's highlighted so that you can rename it. After all, "New Folder" is not very descriptive. So go ahead and type in a new name for your folder. Type "wpProjects". As in the image below:
If nothing happens when you try to type a new name for your folder, do the following: Click on your new folder, but click on the folder with your right hand mouse button A menu appears
From the menu, click once with your Left mouse button on the word Rename Type a new name for your folder You have now created a new folder in the root folder of your C Drive. You can use this same technique to create a new folder inside any of the folders on your C Drive. If you make a mistake and decide you don't want this new folder, you can always choose the Delete options from the menu above, instead of Rename. But one more thing to notice about the Windows Explorer. In the left hand side, you see a lot of plus signs in a square box. Clicking one of these plus signs will expand your selection. The image on the left below show a plus sign before it is clicked, and on the right afterwards.
The plus sign turns into a minus sign. But the plus sign indicates that there are more folders inside the one that has the plus sign. When you click the plus sign, it will expand to show you all the folders inside a main folder. You can click on any of these folders to see what is inside it. As for the files inside the folders - try double clicking on one and see what happens. Don't worry: you won't do any harm! What we're going to do now is to move that new folder we just created, and put it inside our "My Documents" folder. We'll start that in the next part.
Windows XP Tutorials: Moving Folders on your Hard Drive

Drag and Drop Moving
The easiest way to move one folder to another folder is to use drag and drop. And the easiest way to explain drag and drop is by doing it! To drag the new folder you created earlier and drop it inside your "My Documents" folder, do the following: Click on your new folder once with the left hand mouse button The folder will be highlighted Keep you left hand mouse button held down Move your mouse around the screen. You should see a faint outline of the folder moving with your mouse Now move the folder over the top of the folder called "My Documents" (Still with your Left mouse button held down!) The My Documents folder will be highlight as well Once your My Documents folder is highlighted, let go of your left hand mouse button The new folder will disappear. It has been moved to My Documents In the image below, a folder called "MyWPProjects" is being dragged to the My Documents folder on the C Drive.
Cut and Paste Moving

If all that was a bit tricky, you can use Cut and Paste to move your folder instead. To cut and paste one folder inside another, do the following: Click on the folder you want to move (One click, left hand button), in our case "My WP Projects" From the File, Edit, View, Go menu bar in Windows Explorer click "Edit" From the menu that drops down, click the word "Cut" with your Left mouse button
The folder you selected will appear fainter Now, Double Click the folder you want to move your new folder into, or select one from the list on the left hand side. In our case that's the "My Documents" folder. So Click the "My Documents" folder Once in the "My Documents" folder, From the File, Edit, View, Go menu bar in Windows Explorer click Edit From the menu that drops down, click Paste Your folder will be pasted from your root folder on the C drive into your My Documents folder Instead of cutting the folder and pasting, you can just Copy the folder instead. To copy the folder instead of cutting, follow the steps outlined above, but when the menus drop down select "Copy". Then select "Paste" after you have double clicked on the My Documents folders. Everything we've said above about folders also applies to files. In other words, you can rename a file like you did above, you can copy a file, move it with drag and drop or cut and paste, and you can even create a file with Windows Explorer. Just click on File. From the sub menu select New. You'll see a list of software packages that you can create new files for. In the next lesson, we'll look at how to copy files from a CD Rom to your hard drive.
Copying from a CD to a Hard Drive in Windows XP

In this lesson, you'll see how to copy the files from a CD over to your own hard drive. Files load a lot quicker when they are on your own computer comapred to a CD. And you won't have to keep inserting the CD every time you need something from it. The folder we will be copying is called CD Rom Contents. Inside this folder there are more folders and files that are needed for the courses. When we copy the "CD Rom Contents" folder we will automatically copy all the folders inside this one. In other word, copy one folder and you copy everything inside it. To copy the contents of a CD Rom to your own hard drive, then, do the following: Insert the CD into your CD Rom drive Start Windows Explorer if you haven't already (see here for how to do this: Windows Explorer Lessons.) In the left hand pane, Click on the Drive letter for your CD Rom (It will probably be "D") In the right hand pane of Windows Explorer, you should see the name of a folder or folders (In our case, the folder is called CD Rom Contents.)
In the Image above, the CD Rom Drive letter is D. Clicking on the Drive letter displays the contents of the Drive in the right hand pane. The folder CD Rom Contents is displayed. Click once with the left hand mouse button on the folder "CD Rom Contents" The folder is selected From the menu bar at the top of Windows Explorer, click on Edit (once, left hand mouse button) From the drop down menu, click "Copy" with your left mouse button
In the left hand pane of Windows Explorer, Click on your hard drive letter, which will probably be C (click the letter C once with your left mouse button) When the folders and files from your hard drive are displayed in the right hand pane of the Windows Explorer, click on Edit from the menu bar
From the drop down menu, click on "Paste" (once with the left mouse button) The files will be copied from your CD Rom drive to your Hard drive
To check that all the folders have been copied over correctly, double click the "CD Rom Contents" folder on your hard drive. And that's it. Quite easy, once you get the hang of it! You can use the same method to transfer files from a floppy disk in the Floppy Drive (which is the A drive) to your hard drive. We'll now move on to finding files and folders that have gone missing.
Finding Files in Windows XP

Sometimes, you will have created a file or a folder and just can't remember where it is. If you have a very big hard drive, there are a lot of places to look for a single file. You may never find it, even with the help of Windows Explorer. One thing you can do to track down a missing file or folder is to use the Windows XP Search tool. Here's how to use it. Click your Start button in the bottom left corner of your Desktop From the menu that pops up, locate the Search item (in the blue section on the right, at the bottom) Click on Search When you click on Search, you'll get the following window popping up.
(If you see an animated dog, and it's annoying you, you can turn it off by clicking it with the right mouse button. Then click "turn off animated character".) Under "What do you want to search for" click the option "All files and folders". You should see the following:
You are given a number of different option to conduct your search. Click inside the top text box, under "All or part of the file name". Enter the name of the file, then click the Search button. (Just enter a few lettters of the file name, if you can't remeber exactly what it's called.) Windows XP will start the search, and you'll see something like this:
In the image above we're searching for a file called "wp projects". If XP finds any files or folders with your search term in it, it will display them in the window to the right. In the image below XP has found two folders with our search term in the name.
Even though we typed all our letters in lowercase, the folders found have capital letters in them. In others words, the search is not case sensitive. Notice in the picture that under the heading "In Folder" it says "C" and "My Documents". These are the two place where the folders are. So we have a folder called "My WP Projects" in the "My Documents" folder of the hard drive, and we also have one called wpProjects. This one is in the main C:\ root folder. You can open any of the files or folders found simply by double clicking on them. But double click a file or folder under the "Name" heading of the Window, and not the "In Folder" heading. Finally, to get rid of the Search Window, click the red X in the top right corner of the box. The last part of Computing for Beginners is a section without which no beginners guide would be complete - Wallpapers and Screensavers!
How to change your Windows XP Desktop Wallpaper

Wallpapers are images that appear in the background on your Desktop, behind all your icons. To change your Desktop wallpaper, do the following: Click anywhere on the Desktop that is not an icon, but click once with your right hand mouse button A menu pops up. The one below
Click on Properties, once with your Left mouse button The following dialogue box pops up
This is the Display Properties dialogue box. As you can see, there are tab strips for Themes, Desktop, Screensaver, Appearance, and Settings. Click on the Background tab strip and the dialogue box will change to this one:
There is a list of wallpapers we can use. Click on one, and you get a preview of what it will look like. Scroll down to see more wallpapers. If you're satisfied, click the OK button to set your wallpaper. You can use your own images. You are not limited to the ones on the list. If you have an image somewhere on your computer, and you want to use that instead of the ones on the list, you can click the Browse button, in the image above. Doing so will bring up the Browse Dialogue box:
In the image above, no background files are showing. You can click one of the folders on the left to search for a picture, or use the "Look In" drop down box at the top. When some background image are showing,
click on one to select it. The name of the file you have selected will then appear in the File name text box. Click the "Open" button to return to the Display Properties dialogue box. A preview of your image will be displayed. If you're happy with your selection, click the "Apply" button then OK. Your desktop will change to your selected image. In the next part, we'll take a look at Screensavers.
Setting a Screen Saver in Windows XP

A Screen Saver is something that kicks in when your computer has been idle for a set period of time. They are usually some form of animation, or moving imagery. To pick a Screen Saver for your own computer, select the Screen Saver tab strip from the Display Properties dialogue box by clicking on the word "Screen Saver" once with your left mouse button. It looks like this:
Click the little black down-pointing arrow to see a list of available Screen Savers. This one is set to the Windows XP Screen Saver.
You can see that it also says "Wait 10minutes". This means that the Screen Saver will kick in if the mouse has not been moved for 10minutes. You can change this figure. The values go from 1 minute to 60 minutes. When you're happy, click Apply then OK. But play about with the settings on the Screen Saver tab strip. The Energy saving features of the monitor section is not available for all computer monitors, so you may or may not have the part available to you. There are lots and lots of Wallpaper and Screen Saver web sites out there internet. These sites will offer a
wide variety of wallpapers and Screen Savers that you can use to liven up your own computer. But be careful of files sent to you by email that pretend to be a Screen Saver (Check for a file that ends in .SCR). There is a good change it will be a computer virus! If the file has been sent to you from somebody you don't know - don't open the attachment. Just delete the whole email. In the next section, we'll take a look at how to configure a new email account, and email things in general.
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How to Zip Files with WinZip

UnZipp Files
Zip a file you want to send to somebody else Unzip a file that has been sent to you
If you have one really big file, or lots of small files, it's better to squash them down in size.You do the squashing with a zipping programme. The most popular is called WinZip. It's so popular that you may even have it on your computer already. So popular that the Word spellchecker doesn't even give it a red wiggly line when you type it out! To check if it's on your machine, click the Start button in the bottom left of your computer screen with the left mouse button. When the menu pops up, look for WinZip at the top. (But DON'T click it! You don't need to open the software up.)
As you can see, this computer has WinZip installed. If you can't see it on the Start menu, click on All Programs, and look for it there - again, don't open it! If you don't have it, you can get it from the CD Rom of practically any computer magazine at your newsagents. Or download a free trial version from the internet. Just type WinZip into any search engine.
Zip a file you want to send to somebody else

When you want to send somebody else a big file (or more than one file), you can zip them up. First, you need to locate the file you want to send. So, do this: Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop Double click the icon for your Hard Drive (probably C:\) Navigate to the place where your file is In the image below, we've navigated to a folder called Downloads.
Click on the file you want to zip with your Right mouse button, and a menu will appear Look for the WinZip item on the menu From the sub menu, choose Add to ...
You may then get a box popping up asking you whether you agree or disagree. Click I agree, and Winzip goes to work. Your file will be zipped up:
Our file has now been zipped up. Note that it has the same name as the original file. If you want to zip an entire folder, then do exactly the same as above.
Unzip a file that has been sent to you

To unzip a file that has been sent to you, or that you have downloaded from the internet, perhaps, do the following: Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop
Double click the icon for your Hard Drive (probably C:\) Navigate to the place where you downloaded the Zipped file Locate the file you want to unzip Click on the zipped file with your right mouse button A menu pops up The easiest way to do it is to select the Extract to . . . option, as in the image below
Click the option with your left mouse button, and WinZip unpacks the file for you.
It's quite easy, once you get the hang of it. And it could save you a small amount of money in internet telephone bills! <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
The Windows 7 Desktop

When your computer starts for the first time, what you see is called the Desktop. It will look something like this:
The Desktop is split into two areas. The strip at the bottom, with the clock to the right and the round Start button to the left, is called the Taskbar. We explore this area in a different section (the Taskbar). But here's a closer look at it:
The Taskbar above is from Windows 7. Windows Vista users will see the round Start button on the left, but will have smaller icon just to the right of it. You'll still have the clock on the right hand side, though. The rest of the Desktop is the space where all your programmes will appear when you start them up. This space contains a default background wallpaper, but it can also contain shortcuts to programmes, documents and folder. You can change the default background wallpaper, and we'll do that next.
How to Change you Desktop Wallpaper >> << Back to the Windows 7 Tutorials View all our Home Study Computer Courses
Desktop Backgrounds and Wallpapers

Windows 7 lets you easily change the image you see on your desktop. This is called the Desktop background, or Desktop wallpaper. To chage your Desktop Wallpaper, click anywhere on the desktop with your right mouse button, and you should see a menu appear:
One of the items on the menu allows you to personalize your desktop screen. So click on Personalize with your left mouse button to see a window appear. This one:
The main area in the screen above let's you select a Theme from the available list. A Theme sets not only your desktop background, but also a screensaver, the colour of windows, sounds, and mouse pointers. And all that with just one click! If you just want to set background wallpaper, however, select Desktop Background from the bottom left. The default is called Harmony.
When you click on Desktop Background you should see something like the following:
You can select a picture from the ones available by clicking on it with your left mouse button. Your desktop background will then change. To make the change permanent, click the Save Changes button at the bottom. If you have a picture of your own, you can use this instead of the ones built-in to Windows 7. To set your own picture, click the dropdown list at the top, where it says Windows Desktop Background:
Here, we have moved to the Pictures Library folder to see what images are available. Another option is to click the Browse button. When you do, you'll see a dialogue box appear:
Browse to the folder where your images are and click OK. We have a folder called York with some images in it, so we've selected that one. When you click OK, you'll see the images in that folder:
Select the image you want to appear on your desktop from those available. If you would like a slideshow of all the images in the folder, then click the Select All button. If you click the Select All button then the dropdown list at the bottom becomes available:
This list lets you choose how often each image in the slideshow is displayed before moving on to the next one. The default is 10 seconds. Another area to play around with is the Picture Position. Click the black arrow to see a dropdown list:
Select each one in turn and watch what happens. When you are happy with your choices, click Save Changes. You will then be taken back to the first screen:
Windows Colour
Another interesting area to play around is the Windows Colour area, circled in red in the image above. Click the link to see the following screen:
Things like the start menu, the taskbar, and the areas around programmes can all have the same colour scheme. The default is called Sky. Click one of the other colours above and watch what happens to your Taskbar at the bottom. Click the round Start button on the left of the Taskbar and you'll see that its colour too has changed. Uncheck the box that says "Enable transparency" and you'll see a deeper colour for the one you have chosen. If you don't like the colours available, click the arrow to the left of Show Color Mixer. Then play around with the controls. To get back to the default colours, just click the colour square in the top left of the screen, which is Sky. In the next section, we'll have a closer look at the Taskbar in Windows 7.
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The Windows 7 Taskbar

The taskbar is the thin strip that runs across the bottom of your screen. It is split into a number of different areas: a round Start button, Quick Launch icons, a notification area, and a clock. All other areas are the Taskbar itself. The image below shows where the different areas are:
The Start button is explained in a section all of its own, as it's probably the most important area of the Taskbar. Click here to go the Start button page: The Windows 7 Start button There is one more area on the Taskbar, and it's easily overlooked - the Show Desktop button. In the images above, you can just see a narrow rectangle to the right of the clock:
Click this button to minimize all open programmes and reveal the desktop.
Quick Launch Icons

In the main image above, take a look at the three big icons to the right of the round Start button. These are quick launch icons, meaning you can quickly launch any of the programmes you see there. When you hold your mouse over one of the icons, you'll see a small popup rectangle that shows you a preview of any open windows. In the image below, we're holding our mouse over the Firefox icon. (Firefox is a web browser used to display internet pages. It's Internet Explorer's main competitor.) In Windows Vista, however, the icons will be smaller, and there's no popup.
Click on the preview window and it opens the programme up in full screen. There are several ways to add new programmes to the Quick Launch area, but Windows 7 makes it a lot easier. Open up a programme using the Start menu. When it's open, use the right mouse button to click its icon in the Taskbar. A new menu appears:
In the image above, we have Microsoft Excel open. Right-clicking its icon in the Taskbar gave us the above menu. Once "Pin this program to the taskbar" is clicked with the left mouse button, it will appear permanently in the Quick Launch arrear. If you want to get rid of any Quick Launch programmes, the item on the menu will say "Unpin this program from the taskbar" when you right-click. You can also use the Start menu to add programmes to the Quick Launch area. Again, right-click the programme you want to add. From the menu, select "Pin to Taskbar". In the image below, we're adding Notepad as a Quick Launch icon:
The result is a new icon in the Quick Launch area:
Notification Area
(NOTE: The Notification area saw a big change from Windows Vista to Windows 7. You should recognise a lot of the icons below, however, if you have Vista.)
The Notification area, formally called the System Tray, is the area of the Taskbar where you can view programmes and tasks that are running in the background, as well as view important messages about updating your computer. (Although the clock is considered part of the Notification area, we'll look at this separately.) In the image below, the Notification area shows three icons:
The first one, the white arrow, is for hidden icons. Click the white arrow to see which icons have been hidden:
Probably the only one of the four icons above that you'll have is the speaker icon. This sets the volume for your speakers. If yours is too low, click the speaker icon to see a slider that you can move up and down:
The second of the three icons in the Notification area is a white flag. This flag alerts you to issues that need to be taken care of. Click the flag icon to see if there are any problems:
As you can see, Windows 7 is telling us that there is 1 message, and that it's to do with Windows Defender. You can click on the "1 message" heading at the top, or on the message itself. You can also open the "Action Center" from here. The third icon that appears in the Notification area (on our computer, anyway) is a Network icon. This tells us that we have an internet connection, and there are no problems. If the internet access is down, there will be a red X through this icon:
The red X will disappear when the problem with the internet is solved. In the next part, we'll take a look at the Windows 7 clock, and the date and time.
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The Date and Time in Windows 7

The default clock shows you the date as well as the time:
You can change how Windows 7 displays these. You can even add clocks for other time zones. Click on the clock to see a new popup window:
As you can see, as well as a clock you get a calendar. Click the arrows to display new months:
To change the settings for the clock, the date, and the time, click on "Change date and time settings". You should see the following dialogue box appear:
If your clock is showing the wrong time, or the wrong date, click the button "Change date and time ..." When you do, you'll see the following dialogue box appear:
To change the date, click the black left and right arrows to move to the correct month. Then select the date you want. To change the time, click the up and down arrows below the clock. Click OK when the date and time are correct.
If you want to play around with the way Windows 7 displays the Date and Time, click on "Change calendar settings" then play around with the settings. You may need to restart before the changes take effect.
If you want more than one time zone to appear, click the" Additional Clocks" tab at the top of the Date and Time dialogue box:
Click the box to the left of "Show this clock" and the drop down list will become available. Select a time zone from the list. Type a name for you clock in the box below the heading "Enter display name". Then click OK. Click OK again to get rid of the Date and Time dialogue box. Now click the clock area again in the bottom right of the taskbar. You should see your new clock appear:
In the next lesson, we'll have a look at adding toolbars to the Windows 7 taskbar.
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Toolbars in Windows 7
You can add Toolbars to your taskbar area. A toolbar is a list of shortcuts to favourite areas of your computers. Right click the Taskbar to see the following menu:
Select Toolbars to see the built-in Windows 7 ones:
As you can see, there are entries for Address, Links, PowerDVD 8, Desktop, and New toolbar. (Unless you have the PowerDVD programme on your computer, you won't see this one.) To see what they do, click the first one, Address. You should see the following appear in your Taskbar:
This is similar to the Search bar on the Start menu. You can type a web site address in the text box (but see the warning below, before you do). When you click the blue double arrows it will launch your browser and navigate to the website you typed. Or just navigate to areas on your computer. Click the black down arrow to see some shortcuts:
Click on a shortcut to launch that particular programme or dialogue box. The entry for "notepad.exe" in the image above is there because we typed it in the Address bar. When we pressed the enter key on the keyboard, this programme was then launched. If you know the name of a programme on your computer, type it in the address bar to open it up.
WARNING: Deleting Items From the Address Bar

When you type a web address in the Address Bar above, it will add it there on a permanent basis. If you were to close down the computer and opening it again, the address will still be there. This could be quite problematic, if the web address is a sensitive one. Sadly, Microsoft haven't provided an easy way to delete single URLs from the Address bar above. Doing so means opening and editing the Windows registry, which is beyond the scope of this artcile. However, you can clear all the entries in the Address bar quite easily. Click the Start button. From the Start menu, select Computer from the list on the right hand side. You should see an Explorer window open. The Address bar is at the top, and will say Computer:
DON'T left click inside this Address bar, but right click. (It's easier if you simply right click the word "Computer".) You're looking for a short menu to appear. It will have four items on it: Copy Address, Copy Address as Text, Edit Address, and Delete History. This one:
Select Delete History. It should clear the items in your Address bar. Not only the Address bar at the top, but also the one in the Toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
The Links Toolbar Item

The Links item on the menu refers to the Favourites Bar folder that appears in Internet Explorer. These are shortcuts to websites you've added. The Links toolbar looks like this, when you add it to the Taskbar:
Click the double white arrows to see a menu appear:
But you can also right-click the word "Links". A new menu appears:
Select "Open Folder" to see the shortcuts:
You can add your own shortcut items to the favourites bar folder. In the image below, we've right-clicked on the Documents folder under Libraries, and selected Copy:
We've then right-clicked inside of the favourites bar folder and selected Paste Shortcut:
The Documents folder will then appear as a shortcut on the Links bars:
Creating New Toolbars

At the bottom of the toolbar menu there is an item for "New toolbar". This allows you to create a toolbar of your very own:
When you click on "New toolbar", you'll see an Explorer window open. Select a folder to add to your new toolbar. In the image below, we've selected the Pictures folder from the list on the left:
The Folder text box at the bottom then says "Pictures". Click the Select Folder button. Your chosen folder will appear on your Taskbar at the bottom of your screen:
You now have a handy shortcut to any images that you save in the Pictures folder. In the next lesson, we'll take a look at the Start button.
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The Windows 7 Start Button

Arguably, the most important part of the Taskbar is the Start button. The Start button is where a lot of the action takes place in Windows 7. The Start button can be found in the bottom left of your screen, and looks like this:
Click the Start button once with your left mouse button and you'll see a menu appear:
The Start menu is split into two different areas. The white area on the left is for software programmes that you have installed on your computer. But these are the programmes you have recently used. If an entry has a black arrow it means that documents can be opened by clicking the shortcut. For example, here's what happens when we click our Microsoft Word entry above:
We have four recently opened documents that we can click on. These will then open in Word. Notice the small pin icon to the right of the Recent list. Clicking the icon will pin that document to the Word shortcut menu. This is useful if you open one particular document all the time.
You can see more software by clicking on "All Programs" at the bottom of the Start menu. The area on the left will be replaced by a list of programmes available to you:
Software can be launched by clicking on an icon with the left mouse button. However, the yellow folders will expand when you click on them, revealing more options available to you. For example, clicking on the yellow Games folder will reveal the following:
To start the programme, click once with your left mouse button on your chosen item. To return to the first list of programmes, click < Back at the bottom of the menu. The other area is the darker strip on the right. These are shortcuts for locations on your computer. We'll explore these options in later sections, especially the Control Panel and Computer options. But one more thing to notice in the dark area on the right of the Start menu is the Shut down button. Clicking this will obviously shut down your computer, but click the arrow to the right of the Shutdown button to see the following options:
As you can see, there are five options on the menu. The first is useful if you share your computer with others, and have set up multiple accounts. Click Switch user to see other account names. A user can then enter login details without the need to shutdown the computer and start again. The Log Off option logs you out of your account. Again, the computer doesn't shut down. Instead, you'll see a screen where you or others can log back in again. The Lock option prevents others from using the computer until you enter your password again. (You'll learn how to set up multiple users accounts in a later section.) The final two options are Restart and Sleep. The Restart is self-explanatory. But the Sleep option is useful if you're not going to be using the computer for a while. It powers down the hardware, saving you energy.
Start Menu Picture

If you look at the top of your Start menu you'll see a picture, which is a flower in the images above. You can change this. Click the picture with your left mouse button and a new screen will open. This one:
Click the link for Change you picture. You'll then see others images you can use:
Select a picture from the ones available, or click the Browse for more pictures link. When you're happy with your selection, click the Change Picture button at the bottom.
Searching from the Start menu

At the bottom of the left-hand area of the Start menu is a Search area:
If you have forgotten where you stored or downloaded a particular file, simply type its name (or just part of its name) in the search box. You should then see search options appear:
In the image above, we're searching for anything related to the search term "york". Window 7 has found 15 documents, 3 pictures, and 215 files. In the files section, you can see little envelope icons, meaning Windows has searched all our emails as well. If the file you're looking for is not there, then click where it says "See more results". In the next part, you'll learn how to set up a new user account, so that others can share the computer.
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User Accounts in Windows 7

If you have more than one person using the computer it makes sense to create a user account for them. That way, they can have their own backgrounds, themes, internet settings, etc. To create a new account, click your picture on the Start menu:
This will open up the following screen:
Click on the link that says "Manage another account" and you'll see this screen:
There are already two accounts set up here. One is a Guest account, and the other is an Administrator account. If an account is set up as Administrator then you have full control of what happens on the computer. The other type of account is called a Standard account. This is the type of account you should set up for other people, as it means they don't have full control on the computer. For example, if they wanted to install software, they would have to type in an Administrator's password to do so. Which means they'd have to ask you. This makes your computer more secure than it otherwise would be. (Only Administrators can set up accounts for others.)
So to create a new account, click on the link "Create a new account", which is circled in red above. You'll then see a new screen:
Type a name for the account in the text box. (We'd just called ours User2.) Keep it on the default option, Standard user. Then click the Create Account button at the bottom. You'll then be taken back to the account page:
As you can see the new account is created, along with a random picture (a balloon, in this case). The Owner account will still be selected, however. Click on your new account and you'll be able to change some settings for it:
"Change the account type" means setting it to either a Standard user or an Administrator. But you can create a password for this account by clicking the link. You'll then be taken to the password screen:
You can ignore all the dire warnings if this is a new account, as they won't have any encrypted files, certificates or website password. But type a password, and a password hint. Then click the button at the bottom "Create Password". You'll then be taken back to the account options. In the next part we'll take a look at Parental Controls.
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Parental Controls in Windows 7

In the last lesson, you'll learnt how to set up a new user account. However, If the user account you're creating is for a child, you may want to set some Parental Control. We'll do that now. Make sure you are logged in to your own account, and that you are Administrator. (if you're not sure what this means, go back to the last lesson.) To get to the accounts page, click your picture on the Start menu:
When the User Accounts screen appears, click the link in the bottom left that says "Parental Controls", circled in red in the image below:
This will take you to a screen showing all the user accounts available:
Click on the account you'd like to change, which is User2 in our case. When you click on account, you'll see the following screen:
Select the option at the top for "On, enforce current settings". The three options below that will then become available. The first option, Time limits allows you to set when that user can use the computer. Click the link to see the settings below:
Here, we've blocked access for the user from half past eight at night till 9 in the morning. Click the OK button (not shown above) to get back to the Parental Control options. The Games options let's you control which types of games can be played by the user. Click the Games link to see this screen:
If you don't want this user playing any games at all, select the No option. The rest of the options will then be greyed out. For the less draconian parents, click the Set games ratings to see this rather long screen:
The first thing we've done is to block games that haven't set a rating. (These types of games tend to be from non-mainstream developers.) We've also selected the option for Parental Guidance, which has a PG certificate in the UK. Any game that has a higher category will be blocked. We've also selected all six of the options at the bottom. Click OK to confirm your choices. The other option you have as a parent is to block or allow specific games:
These are games that are installed on the computer for all users. Click the link and you'll see a list of the games you can block or allow. Click OK on the Games section to go back to the Parental Controls section. If you want to block certain programmes, click the link that says "Allow and block specific programmes":
You'll then see the following screen:
The list is quite long and bewildering! In fact, it so confusing you may be better off just leaving this altogether, unless you're an expert user. When you're done with these options, click the OK button to get back to the Parental Control option. Click OK on this screen and you're done - your new account is ready to be used. To see if it works, click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen. From the Start menu, select Shut Down > Switch User:
You'll then see the Windows 7 login screen. You new user account should be there, along with your administrator one. Click the new user account to see it in action. If you want to set up another user account, log in as Administrator and start the whole process all over again. In the next lesson, you'll learn about the basics of your Hard Drive.
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Hard Drive Basics

The Hard Drive on your computer is where all your files are stored. Not only that, it's the place where the Operating System itself is installed. A hard drive is a physical thing inside of your computer. If you were to take it apart, you'd see one of more disks (called platters), one on top of the other. In a modern hard drive, however, there's usually just one platter. The disks are magnetised and can be written to and read from. The writing and reading is done by an arm which moves across as the disk is spun round. If you were buying a new hard drive, you'd see a figure like 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute) or 10, 000 rpm. This refers to the speed at which the disks spin. The higher the spin speed the faster the hard disk will be. Not all hard drives use the spinning disk and arm approach, however. A modern laptop or Netbook may use something called a Solid State Drive (SSD). These have no moving parts, and are considered faster than a hard drive. However, the space available on a SSD is a lot less than on a hard disk, but this could change over the next few years or so. At the moment, SSDs are lot more expensive than hard drives. But again, this could change. Whichever drive you have, hard or Solid State, just bear in mind that a drive is a physical thing that you use to store files, install programmes and Operating Systems. The size of a hard drive does not refer to its height or width but to how many Gigabytes of data can be stored on it. If you're wondering how big a Gigabyte is then think of a single byte as holding, say, one letter of the alphabet. A kilobyte can then hold a thousand letters (actually, 1024 letters as there's just over a thousand bytes in a kilobyte). A Megabyte could hold 1, 000, 000 letters (1, 048, 576 bytes), and a Gigabyte 1000, 000, 000 letters (1 073, 741, 824)! But those numbers are fairly meaningless in modern-day computing. Think of how big a picture is that you take on a camera phone. A medium sized image will be about 250 kilobytes. So you could get four if the memory held only a megabyte and about 4 000 if you had a Gigabyte of memory on your phone. You can check to see how big the hard drive is on your own computer. To do that, start up Windows Explorer by clicking its icon just to the right of the Start button:
When Windows Explorer starts, you'll see this screen:
The default location is inside of the Libraries folder. Click the Computer section instead:
You'll then see this:
This area should display a graphic of how much space you have left on your hard drive, and how big it is. In the image above, this computer has a hard drive size of 465 Gigabytes (GB), and there is still a roomy 410 Gigabytes of space free to use. The image also shows other drives attached to the computer, a DVD writer in this case. If you have a USB memory stick, it should show up here when it is inserted. Note also that the drive has the name Local Drive (C:), or just the C Drive for short. This C Drive is also known as the root drive, as everything is stored on it. Think of it as the master folder that holds all other folders and files inside of it. Now click on the C drive to highlight it. You should see some extra option become available at the top:
The one we're interested in is the Properties option. Click on this and you'll see a dialogue box appear. This one:
Again, we see a graphic of how big the hard drive is, and how much space is free. The graphic this time is a pie chart. One thing to note here is that the size of the hard drive is 465 Gigabytes, even though it was marketed as having a 500 gigabyte hard drive. So why the discrepancy? It's because the manufactures uses a small "g" for gigabytes, and they use 1 gigabyte to mean a billion bytes. However, a true Gigabytes has a capital "G" and means 1 073, 741, 824 bytes. So a 500 Gigabyte hard drive actually has 35 GB missing!
Hard Disk Cleanup

If your hard drive is showing a lot of used space, and not much free space, then click the button "Disk Cleanup" to see if you can rescue some space. You should then see a small dialogue box like this one:
When Windows has finished its calculation, you'll then see this:
Disk Cleanup is telling us that it has found 90.0 Megabytes of files that it can safely delete. These are the ones with check marks. You can check any of the other boxes, as well. For example, the image above shows that the Recycle Bin has 1.97 GB of files in it. If you're sure you haven't accidentally sent an important file to the Recycle Bin then you can safely delete these files as well. In which case, give it a check mark by clicking inside of its box. The same applies to all the others on the list (scroll down to see more). Click on an item to see a description of just what each item on the list does. You can also click the button at the bottom "Clean up system files". All this does is to add even more areas to the list. But you need to delete the system files with care. If you're not sure about an area, leave it unchecked. When you're happy with your selections, click the OK button to free up disk space. Windows will then go to work erasing the files and documents you have selected. When it's done, it will return to the Disk Cleanup screen:
In the image above, we're freed up 2 Gigabytes of space. Another area worth exploring in the image above is Tools. Click this tab at the top to see the following screen:
You only need to click the Error-checking option if you've been having a few problems with your
computer. Otherwise, you can leave it alone. The Defragmentation option is really a matter of choice. If you have a big hard drive with lots of space, there's little point in defragmenting. It's supposed to speed up file access times, but is really only relevant on older hard drives that don't have much free space. The Backup option is worth exploring. When you click the button, Windows will search your computer for other drives, like DVD writers. If it finds one, it will ask you to use that to backup your files. More expensive versions of Windows 7 will have better options for back up, like a network drive. You should always back up your important files and documents, but cheaper versions of Windows 7 are not that much help - you could easily copy your files to a DVD yourself, without Window's help! Click OK on the dialogue boxes to get rid of them. You'll meet Windows Explorer again in the next section, when we explore the important subject of file extensions.
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File Extensions
In the next section, we discuss how to work with images. Before we get to that, it's a good idea to check to make sure you have files extensions switched on. A file extension is the dot and letters at the end of a file name. For example, a picture you take on your camera phone will probably end in .JPG or .JPEG. The letters stand for Joint Photographic Experts Group, and tell Windows and other programmes that it is an image file. Other file extensions for images are GIF, PNG, and TIFF. If you have file extensions switched off you won't be able to tell what sort of image you have. Not only that, somebody could send you an attachment to an email that looks like this: picture_file.jpg If you just saw the JPG ending, you might open the file, thinking it was an image. However, the real file ending could be this: picture_file.jpg.exe But you won't see the .exe at the end if you have file extensions switched off. The exe means it's an executable programme that will be installed onto your computer. If you opened the file, the programme would install automatically. And it certainly won't have your best interests at heart! In the image below, we have four files showing, but no file extensions, so we could be vunerable to this sort of attack:
To switch on file extensions, start Windows Explorer by clicking its icon just to the right of the start button:
The default for Windows Explorer is to hide the menu bars. To view them, press the left ALT key on your keyboard (the one to the left of the space bar). You should see this at the top of Windows Explorer:
If you still can't see the menu bars click Organize > Layout > Menu Bar:
Now that you have a menu bar, click the Tools item. From the Tools menu, select Folder Options:
You should see the following dialogue box appear:
Click on the View tab at the top to see the following:
Have a look at the list of options and locate "Hide extensions for known file types":
As, you can see there is a check mark in the box next to this entry. If yours is the same, click the box to remove the check mark. Then click the Apply button at the bottom. Click OK to get rid of the dialogue box. You should now be able to see the extensions on the end of file names:
Our four images are now showing the JPG file extension. Now that you can see file extensions, we'll make a start on working with images in Windows 7.
Copy an Image to a New Folder -->

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Copy and Paste Pictures to a New Folder

In this tutorial, you will learn how to copy and paste pictures to a new folder. Once you've done that, you will learn how to add information to each image, so that they can be located and referenced more easily. Let's start by creating a new folder. Start the Windows 7 Explorer by clicking its icon to the right of the Start button:
When Windows Explorer starts, click on Pictures in the Libraries section of the Navigation pane (If you can't see the Navigation pane, click the Organize button at the top. Then select Layout > Navigation pane):
On the right, you'll see folders that are in this library. Windows 7 has some Sample Pictures in this library. But you can add your own, and create folders for them. Create a folder by clicking the New Folder button at the top:
The new folder appears, with blue highlighted text:
The blue highlight means that you can go ahead and type a new name for that folder. In the image below, we've changed the name to York:
If you've clicked away from the new folder, click back on to it once with your left mouse button. Pause for a second or two and then click again with your left mouse button. It should turn blue again. If it doesn't, right click the new folder and select "Rename" from the menu that appears. Now that you have a new folder, you need to add some images to it. Use the Navigation pane on the left to navigate to a location on your computer where you have some image. In the image below, we've found some images on our Network drive. (If you have a images on a USB stick or data card, insert it and then click Computer. Your USB stick or data card should show up there as a drive.)
If you're not sure where you have any images, look inside of your Downloads folder, or your Documents folder:
Once you've found some images, select the ones you want to add to your new folder. To select one image, simply click it with your left mouse button. To select more than one image, hold down the left CTRL key on your keyboard. With the CTRL key held down, click each file you want to add. If you've made a mistake, click the file again to deselect it. Once you have selected your images, right click on any of them. From the menu that appears select Copy:
Now navigate back to the new folder you've just created in the Pictures library. Double click the new folder to move inside of it. You should see a message on the right saying "this folder is empty". Right click anywhere inside of the big white area, and right-click again. From the menu, select Paste:
The images will be copied and pasted over to the new folder:
If your pictures are not showing as thumbnails like ours, click the icon and arrow circled in red below:
From the menu, select Tiles. (But click each one in turn to see what they do):
Now that you have some images in the folder, you can add some information to them. We'll do that in the next section.
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Adding Information to an Image

Windows 7 lets you add lots of information to an image. In this section, you'll learn how to do this. (If you haven't yet created a new folder and moved some images to it, then we did this in the last section.) To add information to an image, you need to be able to see the Details panel at the bottom:
(If you can't see this, click the Organise button at the top. From the menu, select Layout > Details pane.) With the details pane showing, select an image in your folder. You should then see the details for that picture, as in the image above. The information about the selected image is shown on the pane. However, this information can be retried by others, if you give them a copy of the picture. If you want to remove image information, right click on the Details pane to see the following menu:
The Size is how many items can fit onto the Details pane. The values are Small, Medium, and Large. Click each one in turn and see what they do. But click the Remove properties option to see the following dialogue box:
Scroll down to see what properties are recorded about the image. There's an awful lot! If you don't what to share this information with others, tick a box. Once you're happy with your choices, click OK. If you don't want to change anything, just click Cancel.
Rating your Images

Give the picture a Rating out of 5 by moving your mouse pointer over the stars. Click the score you think your picture deserves. We've given our first image a Rating of 1 out of 5:
Once you click on the stars, you should see Save and Cancel buttons appear. Click Save if you're happy with the rating. (You can change it.)
Add a Title to your Images

To give your picture a Title, move your mouse just to the right of the word "Title". You should see a black rectangle appear:
Click once with you left mouse button to see a text box appear, along with the Save and Cancel buttons again:
Click inside the text box and type a title. Then click the Save button You can add comments and the Author's (photographer) name in the same way:
Adding Tags to Images

The Tag section is used for searching. You can add as many Tags as you like. Click inside the Tag area and type a word or two that describes the image:
Notice the semi-colon at the end of our "York minster" tag. The semi-colon is used to separate each tag. When you add a second tag, Windows will insert a new semi-colon at the end:
Click the Save button when you've finished typing your tags. Add information to the other images in the folder.
In the next lesson, you'll see how to use the information you have just added.
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Sorting Images in Windows 7

In the previous section, you learned how to add information to an image. In this section, you'll se what you can do with all this information. This comes under the topic of Sorting. First, though, change your View slider from Tiles to Details:
When you arrange the window to Details view, your screen should look like this one:
We now have a list of images with the Name, Date, Tags, Size and Ratings showing. These headings can all be used to sort your images. Click on the Ratings, for example, and you'll see a dropdown box:
You can choose to display only images with 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 stars. All you need to do is to check each box. The ones not checked will then be hidden:
Here, we're choosing to display only 1 and 2 star images, perhaps with a view to deleting them. (To delete an image, rightclick. From the menu that appears, select Delete. Or choose Rename to change the name of the image.) To view all your images again, uncheck the boxes. Try clicking some of the other headings. Try a sort by Tags to see what happens. If you want more choices right-click anywhere on the headings to see the following menu:
The ones we have displayed have a check mark next to them. Click an item on the list to either select or deselect it. In the image below, we have deselected the Size and Date and added the Dimensions instead:
And here's the result:
To see other sort options, select the More option from the menu. You should then see this dialogue box:
Scroll down to see a huge list of options you can choose from.
Arrange By options
Another way to sort you images is via the "Arrange by" dropdown list. Click the arrow to see the following:
In the image below, we've chosen to arrange our images by Month:
Play around with the various options on the menu and see what they do. Change it back to folders, if you want the Windows 7 default view.
Searching for Images

One good reason to add Tags to all your images is that it helps in a Windows search. In the example below, we've typed "York minster" into the search box on the Start menu:
Notice that Windows has found all the images from our folder, even though none of the pictures was called "York minster": it found them because of the tags.
And that's it for images in Windows 7. We'll move on. In the next part, you'll learn how to take a screenshot and then manipulate it in Windows 7 Paint.
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How to Take Screenshots

In this lesson you'll learn how to take a screenshot, and how to crop that image down to size. For example, suppose you were getting an error message on screen and wanted to send it to us to see if we could help. Instead of typing the error message, or trying to explain it, you could take a screenshot, crop to reduce the file size, and then insert the image into your email. Here's how. First, you need to locate the Prt Scrn button on your keyboard. This stands for Print Screen, and is usually located on the right hand side of a standard keyboard, just above the Insert, Home and Page Up keys. However, if you have a laptop, the Prt Scrn button can be hard to locate. Look in the very top right of your keypad. Not only that, you may have to hold down your laptop's function key first, which is usually found in the bottom left of the keypad. Press the Print Screen button once on a PC, or use the Function Key > Print Screen combination on a laptop. This will copy whatever you see on your screen to the computer's memory. Once the screen is in the computer's memory it can be pasted into an image editor for manipulation. The image editor we'll use is Paint. This has been much improved with Windows 7 and can be found by clicking your Start button. From the Start menu click All Programs at the bottom:
Now click on Accessories, and Paint:
When Paint starts up, click the Paste button at the top:
The image you captured on the desktop should now appear in the main viewing area. If it doesn't, it means you haven't captured the image. So try pressing your "Prt Scrn" button again. You now need isolate just that part of the image you're interested in. After all, there's no sense in sending anyone the whole of the screen when you only want to capture the error message. To isolate just part of the screen, click the Select button on the Paint toolbar:
Now move your mouse back on to your image. The cursor should have changed shape. Hold down your left mouse button on the top left of whatever it is you're trying to capture. Keep your left mouse button held down and drag to the bottom right. In the image below, we're trying to isolate some code and the error message:
Unfortunately, Paint is not very good when it comes to resizing a selected area. You might think the white squares are sizing handles. But if you hold your mouse over one and try to drag to a new position it will cut and move the image instead. It's better if you press the Select button again. This will deselect your chosen area, and you can have another go. If you accidentally move your selected area, click the Undo icon at the very top left of Paint:
Once you have a selection, right-click this area and you'll see a menu appear. Select Crop, and the image will shrink to your selected area:
Paint is also not very good at refining the cropped area, either. If you want better screenshots then you would need a decent image editor like the free Gimp (which is quite hard to use). Photoshop Elements is also a very good image editor, and is well worth paying money for. The best professional image editor is Photoshop, (Elements is a stripped down version of this), but it's quite expensive. For quick screenshots and basic cropping, however, Paint should be fine. Once you have cropped your image down to size, you can save it by clicking the dropdown menu at the top:
From the menu, select Save As to see the following options:
As you can see, there is a bewildering array of options! If you want to keep the file size down to a minimum, use GIF or PNG. (GIF is the more common of the two.) For better quality images, but large file sizes, use JPEG. If you're sending somebody a screenshot in an email, GIF is the better option. But you should now know how to take a screenshot, and crop the image in Microsoft Paint.
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Accessibility Options - Windows XP StickyKeys

This tutorial assumes that you have set the Control panel to Classic View in Windows XP. To see how to do this, click this link (opens in a new window): Set the Control Panel to Classic View
The StickyKeys Option is for people who have problems holding down two or more keys on the keyboard at the same time. If you want to bring up the Task Manager, for example, you'd hold down the CTRL and ALT keys on your keyboard, and then press the Delete key. If, for whatever reason, you're not able to do this, then StickyKeys can come in handy. To bring up the StickyKeys dialogue box, click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen, then click Control Panel on the Start menu. From the Control Panel, double click "Accessibility Options". You'll see the following dialogue box:
Put a tick in the box where it says "Use StickyKeys". Then click the Settings button. You'll see this dialogue box:
There are only five settings, grouped into three categories. If your keyboard is making srtange, high-pitched noises, then you might have a tick in the box at the top "Use Shortcut". This switches StickyKeys on or off when you hit the Shift Key 5 times in a row (the Shift key is the one with the up-pointing arrow, usually just below the Caps Lock key). The first Option, Press modifier key twice to lock, is probably the most useful one. When this is ticked, it locks the CTRL, Shift, ALT, or Windows logo key. Then you just need to press the shortcut key on the keyboard. You wouldn't need to hold two keys down at the same time. For example, the keyboard shortcut to copy things to the Windows clipboard is CTRL + C. To paste, it's CTRL + V. With the "Press modifier key twice to lock" option ticked, press the CTRL key twice. This locks it. Now you don't have to keep holding down the CTRL key when you want to copy and paste. Just press C then V. Unfortunately, activating this option means you can't switch between programmes! You're stuck to using one programme at a time until you turn it off. The Notification area is if you want Windows to make that awful high-pitched noise when the modifier keys are pressed. (The modifier keys are CTRL, Shift, Alt, or the Windows logo key.) If you want some visual notification that StickyKeys is on, tick the final option: Show StickyKeys status on screen. Selecting this option will make an icon appear near the clock, as in the following image:
The StickyKeys icon is the one on the far left - the one with the black rectangles. If you really do have problems holding down two or more keys at the same time, then StickyKeys can come in useful. But you may need the Valium handy to cope with that nerve-jangling, high-pitched noise that Windows make!
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Accessibility Options - Windows XP FilterKeys

This tutorial assumes that you have set the Control panel to Classic View. To see how to do this, click this link (opens in a new window): Set the Control Panel to Classic View
If you or a member of the family have difficulties using the keyboard (trembling hands that produce multiple keystrokes, or difficulty pressing and releasing the keys quickly enough), then Windows XP has an option called FilterKeys. This is on the Accessibility Options dialogue box. To see it, click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen. From the Start menu, click on Control Panel. Double click the Accessibility Options icon to see the following screen.
With FilterKeys, you can control how long the keyboard takes to respond before the next key press is ready (under normal circumstances this is immediately), and tell XP to ignore repeated keystrokes. To see what you can do with FilterKeys, click the Settings button. You'll see the following dialogue box:
The shortcut for FilterKeys is to hold down the RIGHT Shift key for 8 seconds. When you do, it switches FilterKeys on or off. Put a tick in the box Use shortcut if this will be useful to you (a non disabled person sharing a disabled person's PC, for example). The second set of options are: Ignore repeated keystrokes Ignore quick keystrokes and slow down the repeat rate If you select the first option (Ignore repeated keystrokes) you can set how long it takes before the next key is ready to be pressed. To try it out, click the settings button to see this dialogue box:
Click inside the Test area and try to press a letter on your keyboard twice in under half a second. You won't be able to. If that's not slow enough, click the drop down list to select a new value. You can choose from between 0.5 seconds and 2 seconds. The second option, Ignore quick keystrokes and slow down the repeat rate, allows you to set the repeat delay and repeat rate. Click the Settings button to see the following options:
Repeat delay is how long it takes for a key to respond to a single key press. The value go from 0.3 seconds to 2 seconds. The repeat rate is how fast the letters appear if you hold down the key. Or, to put it another way, you have up to 2 seconds to take your finger off the key before it will repeat the letter. But you can choose values from 0.3 seconds to 2 seconds. The Slow Keys option lets you slow down the keys on the keyboard, so that a key needs to be held down for a certain length of time before anything happens. The intervals go from 0 to 20 seconds. If you have FilterKeys turned on, you may see the following icon near the clock in the bottom right:
The FilterKeys icon is the one on the far left - the one that looks like a stopwatch.
Switch Off FilterKeys

A lot of people have accidentally switched FilterKeys on. Symptoms are a keyboard that keeps beeping whenever you press a letter, and/or a delay before you can press a new key. To turn off this feature, uncheck the box on the Accessibility Options dialogue box that says Use FilterKeys. Next, click the Settings button and uncheck the option for Use Shortcut. Click OK on all the dialogue boxes and your problems should now disappear! If the problem doesn't disappear, try the following: Press and hold down the Right shift key Press the F7 key Then, with the Right shift key still held down, press the other shift key three times Or just try holding down both Shift keys at the same time.
Control the Mouse with the Keyboard in Windows XP

This tutorial assumes that you have set the Control panel to Classic View. To see how to do this, click this link (opens in a new window): Set the Control Panel to Classic View To move your cursor around the screen, you use the mouse, of course. But if using the mouse is difficult, impossible, or just plain painful, then why not control the mouse with your keyboard keys instead? To set this up, do the following: Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen From the Start menu, click on Control Panel From the Control Panel, double click Accessibility Options Click the Mouse tab at the top to see the following:
Put a tick in the box where it says "Use MouseKeys", and then click the Settings button. You'll see the following screen:
You can set the pointer speed to how fast you want it to move when the numeric keys on your keyboard are pressed (these are the ones on right of the keyboard. Look out for NumLock. In the image above, we can only use MouseKeys when this is on). We've set the mouse pointer speed to High, and Fast. Click Ok on all the screens, and test it out. With the NumLock on, press the Up (number 8), Down (number 2), Left (number 4) and Right (number 6) arrow keys. You should see your mouse move around the screen If you want to access a menu, move the mouse pointer up to the menu item you want. Then press the big 0 key on the numeric key pad. The menu should display. You can then use the normal arrow keys to highlight things from the menu. Press the Enter key to select a menu item, and to bring up dialogue boxes. You can use the Tab key on the keyboard to move around dialogue boxes. The normal arrow keys and the enter key are used to select things from the dialogue box. If MouseKeys is active, you may see its icon in the bottom right, near the clock (the icon on the far left, in the image below):
The MouseKeys option can be very handy, if using the mouse is difficult. You should still be able to use a computer, if you can't use a mouse!
Install a New Font in Windows XP

If you've ever had to choose a Font for some word processing you've been doing, then you've probably heard of Arial, Times New Roman and Courier. You may well have wanted something a little different for your work, and chosen Fonts, like Bookman Old Style or Comic Sans MS. There will also be plenty of fonts to choose from if you have Microsoft Word, as it comes with its own set of Fonts. But even if these are not enough, there's some great Fonts out there on the Internet. You can use a Control Panel icon to install new Fonts. First, though, you need to get hold of a Font that you like. Most Fonts are copyrighted to the people or organizations who created them. So you just can't install a Font without reading the copyright information attached to it. But there are plenty of free Fonts you can download. A good place to start looking is this website: http://www.pizzadude.dk/fonts.php Pizzadude is the alias of Jakob Fischer, who has been designing fonts since 1998. He has some great free fonts that you can use. We've chosen his "Words of Love" font. After it has been downloaded and unzipped, you'll see this:
Double click the Text Document to see what you can and can't do with the Font. As Jakob says, "This font is copyright (c) Jakob Fischer at www.pizzadude.dk, all rights reserved. Do not distribute without the author's permission. Use this font for non-commercial use only! If you plan to use it for commercial purposes, contact me before doing so!" So as long as we don't use the Font directly in any commercial work, we should be all right. But you should
always get the Font creator's permission, if you're not sure. Once we have downloaded the Font we're looking for, we can go ahead and install it. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen From the Start menu, click on Control Panel Double click the Font item in the Control Panel to see a list of all the Fonts on your computer. (In the image below, there's not a lot of Fonts! But your computer will probably have quite a lot)
The TT on the icons stands for TrueType. TrueType is a Font scaling technology, developed by Apple for the Macintosh. They then got together with Microsoft so that the technology could be implemented on both Mac and PC. The O on the icons stands for OpenType. (Microsoft had also teamed up with Adobe, and together they worked on another Scaling technology called OpenType.) To install your new font, click File from the menu. Then click Install New Font. You'll get the following dialogue box popping up:
You now need to navigate to where on your computer you downloaded the font to. In this type of dialogue box, you select a drive from the drop down list. Then you double click a folder to see what's inside of it. We downloaded the font to the F drive, but yours is probably C. Make sure there is a tick in the box "Copy fonts to Font Folder".
Once you have found your font, it will appear in the text area under List of Fonts:
Click on the Font to select it, and then click OK. You should then see your new font on the list:
Double click the font and it should open in the Windows Font Viewer. You will then see some more information about the Font, including copyright information:
With the Windows Font Viewer, you are also able to see what the Font looks like in different sizes. To use your new font, open up a programme like Microsoft Word (if it's already open, close it first, and then reopen it). It should then be available in the list of fonts:
Start typing to see what your new font is like on the page.
Computer Power Saving Schemes in Windows XP

You can set up various power saving option in Windows XP. These are things like turn off the hard drive, go in to hibernation, turn off the monitor, and even settings for Uninterruptible Power Supply units (surge protectors). We'll take a look at the Power Options now.
Power Schemes
Open the control panel by clicking the Start button. Select Control Panel from the Start menu, and look for the Power Options item. Double click this to bring up the following screen:
You can select a built-in power scheme by choosing one from the drop down list:
When you choose an option, you'll see the settings change for the other three drop down lists. But you can change these to anything you like: If you select the laptop power scheme, the settings will be as follows:
So XP will switch your monitor off after 15 minutes of inactivity. It won't turn off your hard drive, and will go into Standby mode after 20 minutes. Again, you can set these times to any you like from the drop down lists From an energy point of view, or if you want to save a few pennies off your power bills, switching off the monitor on a Home/Office PC after a certain length of time can help. NOTE: When XP goes in to Standby mode, it will disconnect any internet connection you may have. When it comes out of Standby mode (after you move the mouse, for example), it won't reconnect you to the internet.
Power Options Advanced

If you click the Advanced tab, you'll see this screen:
The icon for the power options looks like this (the one on the far left):
If you see that icon near your clock, you know you have power options set on your computer. You can also get XP to prompt you for your password when the computer comes out of standby. Put a tick in the box to keep prying eyes from your PC. The power buttons are on the PC itself (the off button, if you like), and on the keyboard. Not all keyboards have a "sleep" button, but setting this option can be a quick way to switch the PC off.
Power Options - Hibernate

The Hibernate option only has one tick box on it. It's a bit like standby, but it stores a few settings in memory, so that it can return to the previous state it was in before hibernation. At least, that's the theory!
Power Options -UPS

UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. In the UK, it's commonly know as a surge protector. This is a device that sits between your electric wall socket and the PC. If you get some kind of power surge or outage, they protect your PC. They can also protect modems, and we've known quite a few of these taken out by a storm! They can be a good investment. Here's what the UPS screen looks like:
From this screen, you can select the make of your UPS, and configure a few settings. Click the Select button and choose your model from the list. If it's not there, choose Generic. When you click OK, the Configure button should become available.
If the UPS device detects a power failure, XP picks it up. It then gives you warnings. In the UPS configuration screen, you can set the number of seconds for the first warning, and subsequent warnings. You can also set what happens when you hear the alarm going off. (Panic is not an option!) You'll probably want XP to switch the computer off, though.
Windows XP Folder and File Options, Associate a Program with a File Type
If you want to control how Folders operate on your PC, and files in folders, then the Control Panel icon you need is called, not surprisingly, Folders. There are some quite useful options here that you may want to set, and we'll see what they are now. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen. From the Start menu, click Control Panel. Then double click the Folder Options icon to see the following screen:
There are three tabs on the Folder Options dialogue box: General, View and File Types.
General Folder Options

The image above shows the General Folder options you can set. The first one, tasks, sets how the Folder looks when you open it up. The two views are Show common tasks in folders, and Use Windows classic folders. The first one looks like this:
The Tasks pane is on the left, in blue. If you select Use Windows classic folders then this will disappear. The two Browse folders options do exactly what they say. If you choose to open the folders in a new window then when you double click a folder to see what's inside of it, you stay on the same screen. The other option is to open a new window every time you double click a folder. The Click items option can speed things up a bit. If you choose this option then there's no more double clicking a folder to open it. Just point your mouse at a folder and then click just the once.
Folder Options - View

When you click the View tab, you'll see the following screen:
There are some interesting options you may want set here. One that we recommend is the one at the bottom, in the image above: Hide extensions for known file types. If you check this box, your files will look like this:
But if you uncheck "Hide extensions for know file types" your files will look like this:
In this view, you can now see what type of file it is: a ZIP file, in this case. The three letters on the end, after the full stop, tell you this. We recommend you uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types", so that you can see what type of file you have downloaded, or are trying to open. (Be wary of files that end in EXE. These are the ones that you double click to install things. Some viruses and Trojans end in EXE as well. That's why you should scan all EXE files with you Anti Virus software before opening them. If you have the habit of simply double clicking every file on your PC, without realising what it is, then you're asking for trouble! Another useful option on the Advanced Settings list is "Show pop-up description for folders and desktop items". When you have this option checked you will see a little pop up, when you move your mouse over a file or folder. It will look like this:
File Types
The File Types tab shows you which programme is used to open certain files. For example, if you double click an MP3 music file then it may automatically open in the Windows Media Player. If you'd rather have some other programme open up your MP3 files instead, you can change it from here. The File Types tab looks like this.
In the image above, we've clicked on MP3. This details section tells us that it is set to be opened with the Windows Media Player. There is a Change button that you can click to set this to another programme. The screen looks like this:
We've gone a free programme called BSPlayer. When OK is clicked, all our MP3 files will then open up in this programme. NOTE: If you double click a file and get an error message telling you that the programme associated with this file is missing, and XP can't open it, then it means that the Registered File Type needs resetting. Choose a new programme from the list of options above. Or click the Browse button to search for a programme.
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Customize Your Folder Views in Windows XP

As well as the folder options from the dialogue box, you can do a certain amount of customization of you folders. Here's how.
Change how the Files are displayed

In the image below, the files in the folder are displayed as Tiles:
To change how the files are displayed, either click the View menu at the top, or click the Views icon in the toolbar:
The black dot shows you which View is currently selected. The five different Views in XP are Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, and Details. When you click Thumbnails, you'll see your files set out like this:
When you click Icons, you'll see your files set out like this:
When you click List, you'll see your files set out like this:
When you click Details, you'll see your files set out like this:
The only two views where file information is directly displayed are Tiles and Details. Otherwise, you have to move your mouse over a file to get more information. If you need to see how big a file is (if you're emailing an image, for example, then select Tiles or Details. If you want to add more details than the ones above, click View from the menu bar. From the View menu, click Choose Details. You'll then see a dialogue box that allows you to select the items you want in Details view. In the image above, only Size, Type and Date Modified are shown. But you can add details like Date Created, Owner, Author, Title, and a whole lot more.
Change the Sounds that Window XP makes

You can change the sounds that Window XP makes when it's doing something (displaying an error message, starting up, emptying the recycle bin, etc). If you're getting tired of that short musical burst when XP closes down, then why not replace it with something of your own? Here's how. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen. From the Start menu, select Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click Sounds and Audio Devices. The first Tab will be the Volume controls for your computer. Click the Sounds tab at the top to see the following screen:
The first drop down box is for any Sound schemes you may have on your computer. Yours will probably say Windows Default. The Program Events list is all the XP events for which you can change the sound. Scroll down the list to see what's on it. To assign your own sound to a Program Event, your first need a new sound. There are plenty of free sounds available on the internet, and this is a good place to start is with these two websites: http://www.eventsounds.com/ http://www.wavsurfer.com/ Or type the following into a search engine (include the double quote marks): "free sounds" +wav WAV is a type of sound file. Others are MID and, of course, MP3. In the following image, we've downloaded a few WAV files to a folder on the hard drive:
You can either keep them in your download folder, or copy them to the place where XP stores all of its own sounds. Navigate to the following folder on your hard drive: C:\Windows\Media folder Then copy and paste your new sounds to this "Media" folder. (If you're not sure how to do this, see the section on "Moving Folders on your Hard Drive".) If you copy your new sounds to the Media Folder they will be available in the Sounds drop down list. In the image below, we've selected the "Program Error" event. The Sounds list then becomes available:
Select the sound you want from the list. If the sound you want is not on the list, click the Browse button. You can then search your hard drive for the location of your WAV file. To hear what you WAV sound like, click the arrow circled in the image below:
If your sound card is working OK, you should hear something. Click Apply and OK when you're happy with your new sound.
The Windows XP Task Bar

You can change the settings on the Windows XP Taskbar (that thin strip running across the bottom of your screen - from the Start button to the clock). Play around with these settings as we go along! To get at the settings for the Taskbar, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click Taskbar and Start Menu. This will bring up a dialogue box. You can also bring this dialogue box up by clicking the Taskbar with your Right mouse button. From the menu, select Properties. You should see the following:
Lock the Taskbar

Some people like to have the Taskbar at the top of the screen, or at the sides. To move the Taskbar, you click on it with the left mouse button. Keep the mouse button held down and drag to the very edges of your screen, or to the very top. Let go of the left mouse button and your Taskbar will be relocated. To stop this from happening, put a tick in this box Lock the taskbar.
Auto-hide the Taskbar

If you want you're your Taskbar to disappear when you move your mouse over it, place a tick in the box Auto-hide the Taskbar. If you've accidentally enabled this, and are getting tired of your Taskbar hiding every time your mouse is at the bottom of the screen, then take the tick out.
Keep the Taskbar on top of other windows

If you have this box unticked then the Taskbar will disappear altogether when you have a programme maximized on your screen. It means, for example, that you won't see the clock or the Start button if you're
typing away in Microsoft Word.
Group similar Taskbar buttons

By similar, Microsoft mean similar programmed. It's when you have say Internet Explorer windows staked one on top of the other. Put a tick in the box and you may see the preview window at the top of the Taskbar properties page change to this:
The number 2 means two Internet Explorer windows are open. To see which pages you have open, click on the white arrow.
Show quick launch

Arguably the most useful item on the Taskbar! When you put a tick in this box, you'll see some shortcuts appear, just to the right of the green Start button. This allows you to click the shortcut and quickly launch the programme. If you've ever had a version of Windows before XP then you would have seen this all the time. But of you upgrade to XP then it's hidden by default. To get it back, put a tick in the box Show quick launch. You'll then see something like the following appear:
The three new icons are, from left to right, shortcuts to Internet Explorer, a shortcut to quickly minimize or maximize all open programmes, and a shortcut to the Windows Media Player. You can delete these and add your own. Right click an icon, and then select delete from the menu that appears. To add a quick launch shortcut to a favourite programme, you can drag and drop into this area. The image below shows the process in action. We want to drag the Firefox icon to the Quick Launch area. Click on an Icon with your Left mouse button:
Hold down the left mouse button and drag to the quick launch area:
Let go of the left mouse button when the cursor changes to a black line:
When you let go of your left mouse button, the new icon should appear on the Quick Launch bar. Click it once to start the programme:
Hide Inactive icons

The inactive icons are the ones near the clock. If you have too many icons there, then they can occupy a lot of the Taskbar area. Much more than you'd like. To hide the ones you don't use often, put a tick in the box Hide Inactive Icons. Your taskbar will then change to this:
The white arrows indicates hidden icons. Move your mouse over the arrows to reveal the hidden icons in the Taskbar. NOTE: We've missed out Show the clock. It does exactly what it says on the tin - shows or hides the clock in the bottom right of the screen. If your clock has gone missing, then put a tick in the box.
Customize the Windows XP Start Menu

You can customize your Windows XP Start menu. To get at the settings for the Start Menu, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click Taskbar and Start Menu. This will bring up a dialogue box. You can also bring this dialogue box up by clicking the Taskbar with your Right mouse button. From the menu, select Properties. Click the Start tab from the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties box. You should see this:
There are two options on this screen: to have the new-look XP start menu, or the older one (Classic) familiar to Windows 9X/Windows 2000 users. We'll stick with the first one, Start menu. But if you prefer the Classic menu, then select it from here. Click the Customize button to see the options. But with the first option, Start menu, selected click the Customize button to see the following dialogue box:
The general tab has three sections. The first of these allows you to select the size of the icons on the start menu, Large or Small. The second option, Programs, lets you select how many programs to display in the "most often used" section. This is the section highlighted in the image below:
The Show on Start menu option is for which Internet Browser or Email programme you prefer. Select one of these, and the drop-down list becomes available. The Advanced tab has more options. Click this tab to see the following:
The first two options are easy ones. If a menu item has a black arrow next to it, it's know as a submenu. To save you actually clicking on it, you can just display the submenu by hovering your mouse over it. Untick the box if you prefer to click. If you place a tick in the box "Highlight newly installed programs" then new items on your All Programs list will have an orange tint to them. To really customize your Start menu, the list under Start menu items is the one to concentrate on. Scroll down to see the options. But here's an image of the full list:
There's a lot of things you can change. For example, if you don't want the My Document folder on your Start menu, select the option "Don't display this item". The same goes with the My Music, and My Pictures folders. You'll have your own preferences for your Start menu, so play around with the above options. XP also lists, by default, a list of your recently opened documents. If you want to hide this list from prying eyes, uncheck the box "List my recently opened documents".
Add a programme to the Start menu

If you want to add a programme to the Start menu, there's an easy way to do it. Locate the programme on the All Programs menu. Right click the programme to see a pop up menu. From the menu, select "Pin to Start menu":
After you left click Pin to Start menu, click the Start button to see your new menu item.
Windows XP User Accounts

If you have only one computer in the house, but more than one person who uses it, you can set up a separate user account for each person. That way, they can have their own settings, and customisation. For example, they can have their own desktop wallpaper that you won't see when you login to your account. Here's how to set up a new user account.
User Accounts
To get at the settings for the User Accounts, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click User Accounts. This will bring up the following dialogue box:
In the image, we have two accounts already set up. We have an account called kc, and one called limited. Each has its own icon. But notice that one account has "administrator" next to it, and the other has "limited account". It's important to know the difference between the two.
Administrator Account or Limited?

An administrator account is one that has full rights over what you can do on the computer. You can install software, make changes to the whole of system, and generally create merry havoc, if you wanted to! A limited account, as its name suggests, limits what you can do to XP's settings. For example, if you're logged in as the administrator, you can change the password for all User Accounts that have been set up. You can even delete accounts, if you want. If you're logged in with a limited account, you can't do any of this. If you access the User Accounts screen on a limited account, you'll see this:
If you compare the two, you'll notice that there is no option to change an account, or to create a new one. It's a good idea, if you have children using your computer, to set them up with a limited account. That way, you control what they can and can't do to your PC. There is another issue, as well. When surfing the internet, if your kids have full admin rights then all kinds of harmful programmes can be run in the background, unbeknown to them. On a limited account, these programmes won't have the rights to install themselves. In fact, some experts advocate that you yourself shouldn't surf the internet on anything but a limited account. If you need to install software, or to make system changes, then you can always switch users to the main Administrator account, and do so when you're offline. If you have already set up another User Account, then check what rights are given. If they both say Administrator, and one of you is not a responsible adult, then you may want to change the rights that the other has. Of course, there are plenty of responsible, security-conscious kids about who have parents or guardians who are a danger to the computer (and the rest of us)! If so, you may want to change their rights!
How to set up an XP User Account

To set up a new account, then, you need to be logged in with an Administrator account. Click on "create a new account" to see the following screen:
Type a name for the account, and click the Next button. You'll then see this:
By default, the Administrator account is chosen. The bulleted lists tells you what you can do with this type of account. Click the Limited option to see the following:
As you can see, the full rights granted to the Administrator are not available to a limited user. Whichever account you choose, though, click the Create Account button. You will then be taken back to the main screen. Click the icon for your new account to see the following options:
There are five options, in the image. Click an option to make your changes. Click "Change the picture", for example, the see the following screen:
Select a picture from the list, and click Change Picture. Or you can click Browser for more pictures, if you prefer to use one of your own.
Switch Users
Windows XP allows you to switch between users with a click of a couple of buttons. To set this up, go back to your main administrator account page (click the Home button at the top). From the list, select "Change the way users log on or off." You'll see the following:
To allow you to switch users, make sure there is a tick in the box "Use Fast User Switching". Then click the Apply Options button. What this allows you to do is to click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen, and then click "log off":
Then click the Switch Users button to get back to the Welcome screen, where you can select a new account to log in to.
Without a tick in the box for Use Fast User Switching, nothing happens when you click the Switch User button above.
Windows XP Security Centre

Windows XP comes with its own rudimentary security centre. This consists of a Firewall, and settings for Automatic Updates. It also tells you if you have anti virus software enabled. To get at the Security Center (note the American spelling, for you Brits!), click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen. From the Start menu, click Control Panel. You should see an item for Security Center. Double click this to bring up the following screen:
If you can't see the Security Center icon in your Control Panel, then you need to update your version of Windows XP. The Security Center was part of Service Pack 2. Click Start > All Programs, and look for the Windows Update item at the top of the menu. Or go to the following internet address: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ The page should (if you're using Internet Explorer) detect if you need to update your version of XP.
Windows XP Firewall
A software firewall is a programme that sits between you and the rest of the world, when you're on the internet. A good firewall will detect if anyone is trying to get at your PC, and automatically block the attempt. Firewalls like the free Zonealarm will even alert you if anything on your computer is trying to contact the outside world. It will then ask your permission for this programme to go ahead. You can, typically, click on a Block or Allow button. Windows XP came with a firewall. But until Service Pack 2, this was turned off by default. When Microsoft updated the XP operating system, it revamped the firewall, and turned it on by default. The Firewall option in the Security Centre tells you straight away of it is on or off. Click the down arrows to see more options:
If you have a separate firewall on your PC, you might see this instead:
As the message says, having two or more firewalls on the PC can be a hindrance rather than a help. If you have something like Zonealarm, or Norton Internet Security, then you won't need the Windows XP Firewall. These programmes will even turn off the XP firewall for you. If you're only relying on the Windows XP firewall, however, there is an obvious danger: if Zonealarm and Norton Internet Security can switch off the XP firewall behind your back, so can things like viruses, worms and Trojans. It's recommended that your get a separate software firewall for your pc. But to see the settings for the XP firewall, click the icon under "Manage Security Settings For":
When you click the Windows Firewall option, you'll see the following screen:
We'll get on to Exceptions in a moment, but the only things you need to do on this screen is make your choice: On, or Off? Click OK to get back to the Security Center screen. You'll then see the Firewall section reflect your changes.
Firewall Exceptions
An exception, in firewall terms, is a programme or service that you would like to access your PC, and don't want your firewall blocking. Click the Exceptions tab at the top to see the following screen:
In the list box, you see the programmes and service that are allowed. Here, we're only allowing three. Two of them are for AVG anti Virus, and the other is the Windows XP service File and Printer Sharing. Check your list to see if anything suspicious is on it. You should be wary if Remote Assistance and/or Remote Desktop are ticked. These are XP services that allow other people (PC technicians, for example) to control your computer. If you haven't allowed say the man form Dell to tinker with your PC over the phone, then you should ask why these are ticked. Remote Desktop is useful if you're away from home and want to access your PC. There is even software that allows you to do just that. If you have such software, it would explain why Remote Desktop is ticked. Check which programmes you have that might explain why these are ticked. If you have a version of XP other than XP Home Edition then there are separate settings for the Remote Desktop. In can be really handy if you're away on holiday and want to check your email! Some even hook up a few web cams so that they can keep an eye on things remotely. If you're interested in a free online service that allows you to do all this, then pop along to https://secure.logmein.com/products/pro/ for more information. You can add a programme to the list of exceptions by clicking the button. When you do, you'll see a list of programmes. Select the one you want to allow (or click Browse), and then click OK. If you're trying to get your computer to play an online game, then you may need to allow traffic on a certain port. The makers of the game will tell you which port number you need, and any other settings. Once you have these, click the Add Port button and enter the details. If you click the Advanced tab at the top of the dialogue box, you'll see a list of network connections for which the XP firewall is enabled.
Automatic Updates
Windows XP is prone to security attacks, as everybody knows. Microsoft try to keep on top of things by releasing updates to the operating system. If you have Automatic Updates turned on, then you don't need to do anything else: XP will connect to the internet, and check if any updates are available. If so, they will automatically be downloaded and installed. If , in the security center, Automatic Updates says "Check security settings", then you haven't got it turned fully on. Click the link for Automatic Updates, under "Manage security settings for", to see the following settings:
In the image above, we specified that XP should notify us if there are any updates available, but it won't download them or install then unless we say so. It's recommended thatselect the first option, though Automatic. You definitely don't want it on the last option - Turn off Automatic Updates!
Virus Protection
Another setting under Security Center is the Virus Protection. Click the down arrows to see more information:
XP is telling us that we have AVG Anti-Virus, and that it is up to date. If you have less well know anti virus protection then it may not show up here, and Virus Protection may give you a false reading. As long as your Anti-Virus is running, then you don't need to worry about this. Security Center is a good addition to Windows XP, and if you don't have it in your Control Panel, you
defintely need to update your computer - you could be, and probably are, at risk!
Windows XP System Properties - General Tab

The System Properties dialogue box gives you information about your PC. There's quite a lot of useful areas here, so we'll go through some of them. To bring up System Properties, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click System. Another way to bring up this box is to right click the My Computer on your desktop. From the menu, select Properties. A keyboard shortcut is to hold down the Windows Logo key in the bottom left of your keyboard. Keep it held down and press your Pause/Break key. You should see something like the following:
The first tab of the System Properties box, General, shows you information about your version of Windows. As you can see, this computer is running XP with Service Pack 2 installed. The area at the bottom is just additional information. For the more adventurous amongst you, you change the logo and text below to something of your own. The part you'll be changing is this part:
Here's how. Navigate to this folder on your hard drive: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 Look for a file called oeminfo.ini. Double click this, and it should open up in notepad. Here's what ours looks like: [general] Manufacturer = Home and Learn Model = Self-Built [Support Information] Line1 = Phone: 01642 868839 Line2 = Email: online@homeandlearn.co.uk You file needs to be set out like the one above. Just leave the parts that have square brackets - [general] and [Support Information]. Then change anything after the equals sign ( = ). We've highlighted in blue the parts that you can change. Add your own text in place of the blue text above. You don't need any Support Information. But if you only have Line1, then the Support Information button will be unavailable. If you add a Line2, then you'll be able to click the button and see the rest of the text you typed. To change the image to one of your own, you need an image that is no larger than this: width = 180 pixels height = 114 pixels You can create your own in something like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (or even Paint). Then save your work as a BITMAP file (.bmp). But you need to save your work with the following name: oemlogo.bmp Once you're happy with your new logo, copy and paste it to the folder you opened above (C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32). Launch the System Properties box again to view your work. Here's another General tab logo we created:
The image was created using a Tube in Paint Shop Pro. Very easy to do! If you'd like to practice with some
Bitmap images we created, then download the images below. Change the name of an image to oemlogo.bmp before you copy and paste to the your SYSTEM32 folder. Download the LOGO Bitmap Images Have fun! <--Back One Page Move on to the Next Part--> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
Take your PC Back to an Earlier Date with System Restore

Windows XP let's you do something called a System Restore. This is when you take your computer back to an earlier time, typically done when something goes wrong with your PC. You simply select a Restore Point from a list (which we'll see how to do), and then restart. You cross your fingers and toes, and then hope the problem goes away! The settings for System Restore can be found on the System Properties dialogue box. To bring up System Properties, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click System. Another way to bring up this box is to right click the My Computer on your desktop. From the menu, select Properties. A keyboard shortcut is to hold down the Windows Logo key in the bottom left of your keyboard. Keep it held down and press your Pause/Break key. Click the System Restore tab to see the following:
To activate System Restore, make sure there is NO tick in the box "Turn off System Restore on all drives". Clicking the Settings button just brings up a box with a slider on it. This lets you adjust how much hard disk space to let Windows XP use for your Restore Points:
If you have a hard drive that's about 200 gigabytes, then you may want to adjust the slider down. Allow about two gigabytes.
Create a Restore Point

Windows XP creates its own Restore Points, but it's a good idea to create your own. Create one every time you install software like Anti-Virus, or software that you're not sure about. Do the following. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools. You'll see the following menu:
Click on to System Restore and you should see the first screen of the Wizard:
Select "Create a Restore Point", and then click Next. You'll see this:
Type a name or description for your Restore Point, and click the Create button. Windows XP then tells you that it has created your Restore Point, and displays the date and time for it. Click Close and you're done!
Restoring Your Computer using a Restore Point

To use the Restore Point that you have created, or any one on the list, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools. Select "System Restore" from the menu:
Select "Restore my computer to an earlier time", and then click Next at the bottom of the screen. You'll see
this:
You can use the calendar on the left to select a date. Then on the right, you'll see all the available restore Points. Choose one from the list on the right, and then click Next. Windows XP will then ask you to confirm the details. If you're happy with your choice of Restore Point, then click Next to take you PC back to the settings you had on that day. After a restore, or will be well. At least, that's the theory!
Windows XP System Properties - Advanced

Ever wondered how to turn off Error Reporting? That's the annoying box you get popping up asking if you want to send an error report to Microsoft. You then get two buttons Send or Don't Send? In this section, we'll see how to switch it off. You can do this via the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialogue box. To bring up System Properties, click Start and then Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double click System. Another way to bring up this box is to right click the My Computer on your desktop. From the menu, select Properties. A keyboard shortcut is to hold down the Windows Logo key in the bottom left of your keyboard. Keep it held down and press your Pause/Break key. Then click the Advanced tab to see the following:
To turn off Error Reporting, click the button at the bottom. You'll then see the following box:
Select Disabled error reporting to switch it off. But you may want to keep a tick in the box to notify you of critical errors. XP won't fix them, but at least it will tell you about them! (If you've been wondering why you didn't get a reply when you click the Send Error Report button, it's because clicking Send just notifies Microsoft about the problem. They then collect this information for future reference. If a lot of people are suffering similar problems, then Microsoft may work on a fix.)
Performance Settings
The only other useful button on the Advanced tab is the Settings button under Performance. This allows you to do things like switch off the shadows under menus and the mouse pointer. Click the button to see the following box:
You can select the Custom option from the list of four. Then check or uncheck an item. If you're system is really struggling for memory, you may want turn a few of these off: Animate Windows, Show shadows, and the Fade options. If you click on the Advanced tab above, you'll see an option for Virtual Memory:
Virtual Memory is used when your computer hasn't got enough to work with. XP will then use some of your hard drive to bail you out. In the image above, XP will use just over 3 gigabytes of this hard drive, if there is not enough real memory to work with. You don't need a massive amount of Virtual Memory, so if yours says something like 20 gigabytes, click the Change button and type a new value. If you're a bit uncertain about all this, it's better not to change anything! But in a modern PC running Windows XP, it's recommended that you have at least 1 gigabyte of real memory. Many computers have only half of this. It can make a big difference to how fast your programmes run. To see how much real memory your computer has, click the General tab on the System Properties dialogue box:
The processor above is 2.25 gigahertz (GHz), and the real memory is 1.00 gigabytes (GB). Consider adding more memory to your PC, if yours is only half this, and running Windows XP.
Control Panel Icons

Internet Options - General
For this tutorial, you'll need the Internet Options dialogue box. To see how to bring it up, click this page (opens in a new windows): How to bring up the Internet Options Dialogue Box
There are quite a few changes you can make on the General Tab of the Internet Options dialogue box. First, you'll learn how to change your Home Page. But if your browser is really crawling along, or odd things are happening when surfing the internet, then you'll need to know how to Delete Temporary Internet Files, how to Clear Cookies, and how to make sure you get the latest version of a website. So bring up the Internet Options dialogue box (see the link above for how to do this), and we'll begin.
How to change your Home Page

When a browser like Internet Explorer is first started up, its default behaviour is to go immediately to a web page. Which web page it tries to go to is the one on the General tab of the Internet Options dialogue box:
The area highlighted in blue, under Home Page, is the internet site that you will be taken to when Internet Explorer first starts. In the image, we've set it to go to google.co.uk. If you don't want Internet Explorer to go to any web pages at all when it starts up, click the button Use Blank. (This is useful if you're creating web pages, and just want to test them out.) Clicking the Use Blank button will change the text box to this:
If you see this in the Home Page text box then you should be looking at a blank white page when Internet Explorer starts. However, there is a notorious browser hijacker called about.blank. If, when Internet Explorer starts, you see any pop up windows telling you about Spyware and how to remove it then you've probably been infected. (Please don't buy anything from these people!) If you are infected, then you may also notice a slow internet connection. Other symptoms are search areas with "Quick Web Search", "Search for ", or "Search The Web". What the creators of this Spyware are trying
to do is to re-route all your internet searches through to their own paid listings, or serve you up lots of ads scaring you into buying something. You may also get an unwanted toolbar in Internet Explorer. To cure the problem, try this web site: http://www.pchell.com/support/aboutblank.shtml But to change your Home Page to something else, do the following: Close down the Internet Options dialogue box and navigate to the web site that you want explorer to go to when it first opens Once you have the page open, click Tools from the menu bar From the Tools menu, select Internet Options:
Once you see the Internet Options box, click the button that says Use Current. Your text box should now display the address of your chosen web site Click OK Close down Internet Explorer, and then open it back up again. Do you see your chosen website? If you don't see your chosen web site, but some other page instead, then there's a very strong possibility that your computer has become infected with Spyware. See the internet page above for removal of Spyware (scroll down until you see the links).
Clean up your Browser Files

When you surf the web, Internet Explorer stores a copy of your sites in an area called Temporary Internet Files. It will also store things like images and scripts. This is to speed up your web surfing. If you're not on a fast broadband connection, this can be a real help. If you don't clean out your Temporary Internet Files, however, they can be a bit of a hindrance. As well as occupying lots of space on your hard drive, some malicious web pages can cause you problems. To clean the folder, though, you need this area on the General tab of the Internet Options dialogue box:
Click the button Delete Files, and you'll see this box:
Put a tick in the box "Delete all offline content", if you want to really spring clean. Then click OK. If you have a lot of files in the Temporary folder, then it may take a few minutes to complete the deletion process. Make yourself a cup of coffee, and wait for XP to finish! To see more Options, click the Settings button. You'll then see this:
You may think that you are getting the latest page from a site like ours. But if you have Never selected under "Check for newer versions of stored pages", then you may be missing out. That's because of something called caching. If a web site is on a server in say the UK, and you're in the US, then the first time that you visit the site, a copy will be held on a computer (server) near to you. The copy is said to be held in a cache. The next time that you visit the site, you may just get the copy (the cached version). Select the option "Every visit to the page" to ensure that you're getting the version from the original computer that the web site is held on (at least, that's the theory). In the image above, you can also change how much of your hard disk space that XP uses to store the Temporary Internet files. If yours is really big, perhaps in the Gigabytes, then you'll definitely want to change this. Move the slider to the left, to adjust the size downward. In the image, we've gone for only 400 megabytes. But even this may be too much for some! Clicking the button View Files will bring up the folder containing all of the files and folders in Temporary Internet Files. If you've never deleted your Temporary Internet Files then there could be quite a lot to see. (Hopefully, there won't be any nasty surprises lurking there!) The View Objects button brings up a screen containing something called Browser Helper Objects. Expect to see things like Flash, Java, and Shockwave. These help Internet explorer to display things like animations created for the Flash Player. Or even help to display Adobe Acrobat PDF documents, Microsoft Word, and Excel files. But this folder can also contain some very unhelpful Browser Helper Objects. If you've become infected with Spyware it may place its own items here. The following site is a free check for Internet Explorer issues. If you have any parasites on your PC, it should find them: http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/
The site will also give you information about the parasite, and removal instructions. But it can't check for everything our there!
Clear your Browsing and Address Bar History

You can clear the Address bar of website in the drop down list. This usually appears when you start typing an web site address. Select an address from the list to go to that page. However, if you have embarrassing websites on the list, they are there for all to see. To clear your Address bar list, click the button Clear History:
If you don't want any addresses appearing in the drop down list at all, then set the value to 0 next to "Days to keep pages in History".
Additional Buttons
Also on the General tab of the Internet Options dialogue box, you'll see these buttons:
The buttons allow you to change the colours of hyperlinks on a web page from the usual blue to a colour of your choice. You can also set which fonts and font sizes for all the text on web pages. In the next part, we'll take a look at the Security tab of the Internet Options dialogue box.
Internet Options - Security

If you want to protect your PC while surfing the internet, then the Security tab of the Internet Options dialogue box has some essential settings. Bring up Internet Options (follow the link above, if you don't know how). Click the Security tab to see the same screen as in the image below (Internet Explorer 6):
The idea here is that you split your internet surfing in to Zones. There's four Zones to choose from (Internet, Local intranet, Trusted sites, Restricted sites). Once you have selected a Zone, you then click the Custom Level button to select the settings for that Zone. If you click on Trusted sites or Restricted sites, the Sites button becomes available. The Sites button is not available if Internet is the selected zone. The first Zone, though, is Internet. A highly recommended strategy is to disabled just about everything in the Internet zone. You do this by clicking the Custom Level button, and unchecking just about everything on the list. Then select Trusted sites, click the Custom Level button, and turn most things back on. Sites that you trust can then be added to your list by clicking the Sites button. This way, things like pop ads, harmful JavaScript, or Spyware are less likely to damage your PC. The snag is, there's quite a lot of options to choose from when you click the Custom Level button! You should see this:
A scroll down the list will reveal a lot of bewildering Security Settings. To see which settings you need for your Internet and Trusted Zones, and thus a safer browsing experience, see the following site (opens in a new window): http://www.jfitz.com/tips/ie_security_config.html The site (not ours) has screenshots of recommended settings, as well as how to add new sites to your Trusted zone. If you have kids in the house, it's a good tactic to use: disable just about everything in the Internet zone, and add Trusted sites to a list you don't mind them viewing. This does NOT mean they won't be able to see un-trusted sites - it just means that if they come across anything that may harm your computer then, because you've disabled everything, your Security Settings should deal with the attack. Surfing the internet this way can be annoying at first. Those shiny, all-singing, all-dancing websites don't look half as good with JavaScript turned off! Put the website in the Trusted site, though, and you'll be able to see it in all its glory.
Control Panel Icons

Internet Options Dialogue Box
To bring up the Internet Options dialogue box, do one of the following:
Through the Control Panel Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen From the Start menu, select Control Panel If you see a mainly blue screen, click on Network and Internet Connections:
Then, from the next screen, select Internet Options under the heading Pick a Control Panel Icon:
If, instead of the blue screens above, you see along list of icons, simply double click Internet Options from the list:
Through Internet Explorer If you have Internet Explorer open, click Tools from the menu bar From the Tools menu, select Internet Options, as in the next image:
Whichever option you choose, you should then be looking at the following dialogue box:
Once you see this dialogue box, you'll be able to follow along with all of the Internet Options tutorials.
Internet Options - Privacy

Another tab on the Internet Options dialogue box is Privacy. This allows you to choose your Cookie settings, and whether to allow popup windows. The Privacy tab looks like this:
Before you play around with the slider above, you need to know what Cookies are.
What is a Cookie?
A Cookie is a small text file that a website places on your computer. It does this because web pages are not good at remembering things. If you select an option a form, and then go to another page on the same site, the next page won't know what you selected on the previous one. This is important if you do any online shopping, for example. If you order two things on two different pages, and then click the "Check Out" button on the second page, only one of them will be remembered - the one on the same page as the "Check Out" button. So that your choices can be remembered, a text file is placed on your PC - a Cookie. This, in most cases, is just a record of what you selected on a previous page. If you navigate to the following folder on your hard drive, you'll be able to see the Cookies on your own computer:
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Cookies Because they are only text files, you can double click to open them. Here's what a Cookie looks like:
As you can see, this one is from the BBC website. The numbers won't mean anything except to the website which placed the information on the computer. But it could be anything: the 1024 above, for example, may be the width of your computer screen. You'd then be served up a page that suits your screen size. But it could very well mean the 24th day of the 10th month. This would then be the date that the Cookie is deleted from your PC! A reputable site will have a Cookie policy telling you why they use them, and what they do with any information stored. (We don't use Cookies at all, in case you're wondering!) The fuss about Cookies is that the website doesn't ask you - it just goes ahead and places itself on your PC. This raised quite a few security scares because people didn't know exactly what these things did. Plus, a Cookie can be used to store personal information about you that a web site gathers when you visit it. If you're worried about Cookies, then you can change the settings from the Internet Options Privacy tab. In our first image, we had the slider at the top - this will block all Cookies from the computer. If a web site we trusted, and needed to use, was asking to place a Cookie on the PC, then we could easily put the slider down to low. If you click the Advanced button just below the Cookie slider, you see more option:
If you place a tick in the box "Override automatic cookie handling" then the rest of the options become available. A first-party Cookie is one that comes from the website you're visiting. A third-party Cookie is one that comes from somewhere else. This could be from an advertising banner on the page, for example, which will then dump its own information onto your PC. A session is the time you spend on the internet with one browser window open. When you close the
browser down, the session will end. If you have a tick in the box "Always allow session cookies", then any Cookie that a website placed on your computer will be deleted when the session ends. The settings in the image above, incidentally, are not a recommendation for you to select the same options. In fact, we'd recommend that you uncheck the box "Override automatic cookie handling", and then set your slider to Block all Cookies. If a web site you know and like is complaining that you need to enable Cookies in your browser, then simply move your slider back down.
Block Popup windows

Also on the Privacy tab is an area for pop up windows. Most of these are just annoying adverts that you close down straight away. But a few can be malicious, launching harmful scripts in the background, or trying to get Spyware onto your PC. If you want to block all pop up windows, put a tick in the box:
When a tick is in the "Block pop-ups" box, the Settings button becomes available. Click the button to see the following:
If you prevent all pop ups then things like a banking site, which may launch in a separate window, won't be available. You can add a site you trust to the list of Allowed sites. Just type the address in the first text box, and click the Add button. In the "Notifications and Filter Level area", you'll notice a tick box that says "Show Information Bar when a pop-up is blocked". The Information Bar looks like this:
So Internet Explorer tells us that the Pop-up was blocked. Click the icon to see the additional options:
If you want to turn off the pop-up blocker, then select Settings from the menu above. You will get another menu allowing you to turn it off.
Internet Options - Content Advisor

For this tutorial, you'll need the Internet Options dialogue box. To see how to bring it up, click this page (opens in a new windows): How to bring up the Internet Options Dialogue Box The Content Advisor allows you to set what sort of content you want to allow on to your computer when surfing the internet. If you don't want the kids coming across adult material then Internet Explorer can block this. It is not, however, entirely effective, and you shouldn't rely on it as your only content blocker, if this is a concern to you. Software like Netnanny and Cybersitter can do a better job. But to see how the Content Advisor works, click the Content tab of the Internet Options dialogue box. You'll see the following:
The Content Advisor is at the top. If your button says Disable instead of Enable it means that you already have Content Advisor switched on. We'll assume that you don't, though. So click the Enable button to see the following:
The idea is that you select a category from the list, and then adjust the slider. The description area tells you more information about that setting, and what will be allowed. So a setting of Level 0 for the Language slider means users will be allowed to view content that contains inoffensive slang. Any other form of bad language (not the same as bad grammar, for those of you whose first language is not English!) will be blocked. The other four Levels in the Language category are: Level Level Level Level 1: Mild expletives 2: Moderate expletives 3: Obscene gestures 4: Explicit or crude language
It's important to remember that these are what you are willing to allow, when you adjust the slider. They are NOT what you are blocking. But select the other three categories and adjust the slider according to your needs. The letters RSAC, incidentally, stand for Recreational Software Advisory Council. This organization no longer exists, which you'll find out when you click the More Info button at the bottom. You'll get a web page telling you that it's now called ICRA - the Internet Content Rating Association (www.icra.org/about/). When Internet Explorer blocks or filters content it will be using this organization's rating system. To add or block sites that you don't want users to see, click the Approved Sites tab at the top. You can then allow or permit websites by typing them into a text box. The General tab is where you can set a password for the Content Advisor, preventing other users from switching it off:
Click the Create Password button. You'll then see an area with a couple of text boxes that allow you to type your new password. Make sure you don't forget this password as you'll be stuck with a browser that can be very restrictive! A good hint to create a memorable password is to use the initial letters from a favorite song or phrase. For example, here's a password that looks complex but is easy to remember (please don't use this one - we don't!) hb2y_hbdM The hb2y is "happy birthday to you". After the underscore character is, "happy birthday dear Mark". But the longer your memorable phrase is, the more secure it will be. Passwords of four or five characters can be cracked very easily!
How to Delete a Forgotten Content Advisor Password

If you already have forgotten the password for the Content Advisor, it's quite complicated to reset it. You need to access something called the Registry Settings. This is an area of a Windows PC that has all the settings for the various programmes on your computer. If you damage your Registry it can really trash your PC! Before doing any of this, create a Restore Point. This will save your current settings. If anything goes wrong, you should be able to take your PC back to how it was. (How to create a Restore Point). To access the Registry, click Start and then select Run from the Start menu From the Run box, type regedit:
You will then see the Registry Editor:
Click the plus symbols, and navigate to this area: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ratings On the left hand side, you'll see the Registry entries. Click on Ratings, and you should see something like the following:
The Key is the one that's the password. It's in encrypted form. Click on the word Key to highlight it. Then press the Delete key on your keyboard:
Select Yes from the Confirm Value Delete dialogue box to delete the password. If you have a Filename0 entry and a Hint entry, then delete these as well. You can leave the Default entry:
Close down Internet Explorer and reopen it. You should now have the Content Advisor disabled. To test it out, click the Content tab of the Internet Options dialogue box. If the button says Enable in the Content Advisor section, then you have successfully deleted the password.
Internet Options - AutoComplete

Internet Explorer has a feature that allows you to type in the first few characters of form field and it will finish the rest of it for you. For example, if a text box on a from is asking for your email address, then you would only need to type in the first few letters. Internet explorer would then add the rest of it. This feature is called AutoComplete. You can turn this off and on, depending on your tastes. You can also clear any entries that have already been added. We'll see how it works now. So click the Content tab of the Internet Options dialogue box. Then look for this area:
Click the AutoComplete button to bring up the following:
As you can see, we've checked all the options in the image above. To see what effect this has, here's what happens when you have a tick in the box for "Web addresses". In the next image, we've started to type the address of our web site in Internet Explorer (home and learn):
As soon as we start to type the address, we get a drop down list of other web sites that we've visited. Only the ones that start with "www.ho" are on the list. If we typed "www.homea" then the second one would disappear. To quickly select our address, we can either click on it with the left mouse button, or use the down arrow key on the keyboard, and then press enter. Internet Explorer would then go to that address. If you don't want the drop list to appear at all, take the tick out of the Web Addresses box on the AutoComplete settings. To clear the drop down list of web address, you need to be on the General tab of the Internet Options dialogue box. Then click the Clear History button. AutoComplete works the same way for textboxes on forms. Start typing the first few characters, and Internet Explorer will finish the rest of it for you. This can save you time if you have to type say a long email address to login. But there are some security concerns. Public computer may suggest your login details to others in a drop down list. Or if another person uses your computer, they may be able to see your details. Or if the worst happens and someone steals your laptop, then AutoComplete would be a great help to them filling out all your cherished logons! If you put a tick in the box "Prompt me to save passwords" then Internet Explorer will display a message box asking you if you'd like to save the password that you have entered. Passwords are saved in encrypted format, and are not displayed for all to see. But if the username is typed correctly, the password will be automatically filled in. If you want to start afresh with login and form details, then click the two buttons Clear Forms and Clear Passwords. All of the details previously stored will then be erased. If you don't want any of this, then uncheck all the boxes in the section Use AutoComplete For. This is the safest option.
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How to Set up an Outlook Express Email Account

Your Internet Service Provider has probably given you the option to set up more than one email address. Most come with at least five. So you're not limited to just the one. If somebody else in your household wants his/her own address, you should be able to do it. You'll learn how to configure a new address right now (We're using Outllook Express, the most popular Email software.) To set up an email address, make sure you are looking at an Outlook Express screen and not a New email screen. Then do the following. From the menu bar, click on Tools From the drop down menu that appears, click on Accounts (one click, left mouse button)
When you click on Accounts, you get the Internet Accounts dialogue box popping up. Click the Mail tab at the top to see the following:
The Mail tab shows you all the email accounts that you have set up. In the image above, there are no email accounts set up yet. To set up an email account, do the following: Click on the Add button in the top right hand corner A popup menu appears Click Mail with your left mouse button
When you click on Mail, you get an Account Wizard popping up, which will ask you a series of question. We'll run through the various pages of the Wizard in the next part.
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Adding an Attachment with Outlook Express

To add a document as an attachment, do the following. Create your new email Then click Attach (the paper clip icon) in the toolbar
The Insert Attachment dialogue box appears. You now have to search for that file you want to send
To search for your file, click the little black down-pointing arrow, to the right of "Look in". A drop down list appears. In the image we have moved the mouse pointer down to "Local Disk (C:)". A list of files and folders will be displayed. In the image below, we have double-clicked the wpProjects folder to get inside of it:
Click on the file you want to attach (click once, left mouse button) Then click the grey button that says Attach. A copy of the file will be added as an attachment to your email You email will now look like the one below
As you can see, there is now an Attach text box. The document we wanted is displayed in the text box, along with how big it is: imageFile.jpg (39.0KB). In other words, we'll be sending an email with an attachment that is 39 kilobytes. You can click the Send icon to send your email.
In the next lesson, you'll see how to Backup Emails in Outlook Express. <--Back One Page Move on to the Next Part--> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
How to Backup Emails in Outlook Express

Backing up emails in Outlook Express is not for the faint hearted! It's a lengthy process. If Microsoft decide to update this free email client, a "Backup" button would be a welcome addition. However, the software giant shows no sign of doing anything with Outlook Express, and haven't changed the look and feel of it for some years. (They do security updates, though.) You can backup individual Outlook Express email folders, or backup all of them. The process is the same, so we'll see how to backup all Outlook Express folders in this tutorial. Off we go. First, create a folder on your hard drive. Call it something like "backupOE". This folder is where we're going to be saving copies of all of Outlook Express's email folders. Once you have created a new folder, we can begin. (If you don't know how to create a new folder on your hard drive, the tutorial is here: how to create a new folder.)
Outlook Express email folders

Outlook Express keeps all of your emails in folders. When you send an email, Outlook Express keeps a copy of it in the Sent Items folder. Likewise, there is a separate folder for emails in your Inbox. You can see all of Outlook Express's folder by clicking on the View menu. Select Layout from the menu. From the dialogue box, make sure there is a tick next to Folder List. On the left hand side of Outlook Express, you should see something like this:
These are the folders that we will backup, ensuring that we have a copy of all our emails.
Where Outlook Express saves your email folders

All of these folders are stored on your hard drive, in a special location. Because that location may differ from user to user, we can find out where the email folders are stored. So do the following: From the Outlook Express menu bar, click on Tools From the drop down menu, select Options. On the options dialogue box, click the Maintenance tab Then locate the Store Folder button, as in the image below:
Click the Store Folder button, and you'll see another box pop up. This one:
This is the location on your hard drive of your emails and email folders. We need to copy this location. Using your Right mouse button, click where it says "C:\Documents and Settings\user " etc You'll get a menu popping up Click Select All with you Left mouse button
When you click Select All, the location turns blue Right click on the Blue highlighted area, and select Copy from the menu
Clicking on Copy will copy this location to the Windows Clipboard. It will then be available to other programmes. Now that we've copied the location to the Clipboard, we can come out of Outlook Express. So, Click Cancel on the Store Location dialogue box When you get back the Maintenance tab of the Options box, click the Cancel button Then close down Outlook Express altogether
In the second half of this tutorial, you'll learn how to open up the emails folders, copy them, and paste to your new backup folder. Continue with the tutorial --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
How to Restore Outlook Express Emails

In a previous tutorial, you learnt how to backup your Outlook Express emails. In this tutorial, we'll see how to restore them if anything goes wrong with your PC. The process is not quite as long as it was for saving them. Here's how to do it.
How to Restore Outlook Express backups

Open up Outlook Express Click on the File menu From the File menu, select Import > Messages, as in the image below:
When you click Import > Messages, you get a Wizard popping up. The first screen looks like this:
Select Microsoft Outlook Express 6 from the list, then click Next. You'll then get this screen:
Select "Import mail from and OE6 store directory", as in the image above. Then click OK. You'll then be taken to the next step of the wizard:
You now need to select the folder where you saved your Outlook Express backups. So click the Browse button. You can then navigate to where you saved all those DBX files. In the image below, we've navigated to our second hard drive. If you have your backups on a backup CD, you would navigate to there:
Click the OK button when you have located your backup Outlook Express folder. Click Next when you are return to the Location of Messages step of the Wizard. The next step of the wizard will then look like this:
You can select either individual folder to import, or import all the folder that the Wizard finds in your backup folder. We've chosen All folders. Click the Next button to continue. Outlook Express goes to work, importing your backup DBX folders:
When your emails have been imported, click the Finish button on the final step of the Wizard. You will be congratulated on successfully importing your messages. Such a lengthy process is it, you deserve those congratulations!
In the next tutorial, you'll learn how to backup an Outlook Express Address book. Learn How to Backup an Outlook Express Address Book --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
How to Backup an Outlook Express AddressBook

If something happens to your PC, the loss of your Outlook Express Address Book can be devastating. Imagine all those valuable contacts disappearing when you computer refuses to ever boot up again! In this tutorial, we'll see how to backup your Address Book. That way, you can restore it at the click of a few mouse buttons. Off we go.
Backup an Outlook Express AddressBook

Open up Outlook Express From the menu bar, click Tools > Address Book When your Address Book opens up, click the File menu Then select Export > Address Book (WAB)
Choose a location and file name for your Address book, then click the Save button. Outlook Express will save your address book.
Note the location in the Message Box. This address book is being backed up to a folder on the F drive called Backups. The name of the file is AddressBook.wab. You now need to learn how to import this file, just in case anything goes wrong with your PC.
How to Import an Address Book in Outlook Express

The process to import an address book into Outlook Express is quite straightforward. Do this:
Open up Outlook Express Click the File menu From the File menu, select Import > Address Book Navigate to where you saved your Address Book Then click the Open button If all went well, you'll see this message:
All your contacts will then be restored to Outlook Express.
Another useful backup is Email Accounts. Rather than typing out all your account details again, why not just import it from your backup folder? You'll learn how to do that in the next lesson. Learn How to Backup an Outlook Express Email Account --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
How to backup an Outlook Express Email Account

When you create a new email account in Outlook Express, the process can be quite tricky - especially if you don't know the pop and smtp details, and have had to phone up your ISP to find out! Now that you've set up the email account, it's worth backing up these details, just in case something happens to your PC. Here how to do it. Open up Outlook Express From the menu bar, click on Tools From the tools menu, select Accounts From the Internet Accounts dialogue box, click on the Mail tab at the top From the list of available account, select the account you want to backup Then click the Export button on the right, as in the image below:
In the Image above, we've clicked on the Home and Learn email account to select it. The Export button is on the right hand side, near the bottom. When you click the Export button, you'll get the follow dialogue box popping up:
The file extension is IAF. This tells you that it is an Outlook Express email account. The name of the file is Home and Learn. We're saving it to our F drive for safe keeping, in a folder called backupOE. When you click the Save button, the email account will backed-up. (The only thing not saved will be your password.) If anything happens to your PC, you can import the email account quite easily. Just click the Import button on the Internet Accounts box, instead of the Export button.
In the next tutorial, you'll learn how to set up an identity with Outlook Express. This is very useful if you have only one PC but more than one user. Use an Identity to set up a second Outlook Express Account --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses
Use an Identity to set up a second email account

If you have more than one user on the same PC, you can set up a separate identity for them. That way, they won't get their account mixed up with yours. They won't be able to see your emails, and you won't be able to see theirs. To set up a separate identity in Outlook Express, do the following: Open up Outlook Express Click on the File menu at the top From the File menu Select Identities > Add New Identity The New Identity box appears, and looks like this:
At the top of the New Identity box, type a name (We've called ours Second User.) You also have the option of setting up a password for the identity. But as the help button informs you, this is not terribly secure. We'll leave it blank. Click the ok button and you get a message box popping up:
Click Yes to switch to the new identity. Your Outlook Express screen will then tell you that you have one unread message (this is just the Microsoft Welcome email.)
Notice that the name of the Identity is showing - Second User, in our case. If you look on the left, you'll see the folder bar is showing 1 message in the Inbox.
Any folders you set up for your main account will not be there: the two accounts are kept separate. You now need to set up an email account for this Identity. Click Tools > Accounts, then click the Mail tab. You'll see that the text area is blank:
The email account you set up in your identity is missing! You can only see your email account if you switch to your identity. To set up a new email account, click the Add button. Then click Mail. If you're not sure how to create an email account, see the following tutorial: How to set up an Outlook Express email account.
Switching Identities
To switch back to your email account (your Identity), click the File menu. From the File menu, select Switch Identities. You'll see the following box:
The Log Off identity button is quite confusing. If you click it, it closes down Outlook Express. To switch identities, select the Identity you want from the list, then click the OK button. You will then be able to access your own emails.
Delete an Identity
To delete an identity, click the File menu. From the File menu, select Identities > Manage Identities. You'll see the following box:
Select the Identity you want to delete, and then click the Remove button on the right. You can't remove your own Identity, though. If you were logged on as Second User, for example, and then tried to delete this Identity, the button would be unavailable. When you click the Remove button, you'll see this warning message:
So, think carefully before you delete an identity - you might be deleting a lot of important emails by mistake!
In the next part, learn how to add a message to all outgoing emails. <--Back One Page Move on to the Next part -->
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Add a Signature to all outgoing emails

You can add a message to all outgoing emails in Outlook Express. If you have received an email from somebody with AVG anti-virus, for example, you'll see something like "Checked by AVG Free Edition" at the bottom of the email. This gets added automatically by the programme. It's called a Signature. To set up your own Signatures, or perhaps just to have your name added automatically to all outgoing emails, do the following.
How to add a Signature in Outlook Express

From the main Outlook Express screen click the Tools menu at the top. From the Tools menu, select Options. From the Options dialogue box, click the Signatures tab, as in the image below:
Click the New button to create a new signature. It will have a default name of something like "Signature #1":
In the "Edit Signature" text area below, make sure Text is selected:
Click inside of the text area and type the text you want to add to all outgoing messages:
At the top of the Signatures tab, make sure "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" is ticked:
To give your signature a more memorable name, click the Rename button. Then type a new name for your signature:
If you have more than one signature set up, you can make one of them the default. Just click a signature to highlight it, and then click button "Set as Default" To test out your new signature - send yourself an email. The email you get back should now have your new signature on it. If it's not quite what you wanted, go back to the signatures tab and edit your work. If you have more than one signature set up, you can choose which one to insert. Create a new email, then click the Insert menu at the top of the new email. From the Insert menu, select Signature. You should see the signatures you have set up. Select one to insert it into your email. (If Signature is unavailable, it means you haven't clicked inside the Body of the email. Your cursor is probably in the "To", "CC", or "Subject" areas.)
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Outlook Express Stationery - Brighten up your Emails

You can brighten up your emails with the use Outlook Express Stationery. This usually consists of a background image, and formatted font. It's very easy to add Stationery to your emails. Try the following. Open up Outlook Express, and click the icon for "Create Mail". This will open up a new email, with its own menu bar From the New Message menu bar, click Format and make sure that "Rich Text (HTML)" is selected:
NOTE: If you use Rich Text, it means your emails will be sent using HTML. This means you can do all the fancy formatting you want (bulltes, italics, Bold, etc). However, a lot of people don't like to receive emails that have been formatted using HTML, because there are some security issues involved. For example, some dangerous JavaScript can be executed in the background, if you receive HTML emails. If you use Plain Text, then potential for harm is greatly reduced. You can't do any text formatting, though. To change an email into Plain text, simply select it from the Format menu.) Click Format again, and select Apply Stationery > More Stationery:
You should get the following dialogue box popping up:

You can select one of the inbuilt templates. Tick the box "Show preview" to see what your email will look like. If you like any of these, click OK. Your new message will then have a background image. If you don't like any of these (and you won't!) then you can create your own stationery in Outlook Express. To see how to do just that, move on to the next part.
Create your own Stationery in Outlook Express

You can create your own stationery in Outlook Express, and add any images you like. Your new stationery will then be available any time you need it. From a new email, click Format > Apply Stationery > More Stationery from the menu bar. This will bring up the Select Stationery dialogue box:
Click the button Create New. You'll then get a Wizard popping up. Click next to see the following screen:
From this screen, you can select an image to use as your stationery, and specify where it should go on the page. Click the Browse button to select the image you want to use for your stationery. (You don't want to select images that are very large, because the size of the file would be too big. Aim for an image that's no more than 10 to 15 kilobytes in size.) In the images below, we've clicked the Browse button to navigate to an image we want to use:
In the two images above, we've chosen a picture called piano.jpg. The location of this image is then placed in the textbox (F:\stationery\piano.jpg). We want this image to appear on the left of our email, and for it to be tiled vertically. This will get us the same image repeated down the page. From the Position drop down lists we've chosen Top, Left and Tile Vertically. A preview of what this will look like appears on the right:
If you would like a different colour for the main body of the email, tick the Color checkbox. You can then select your colour from the list:
There's not too many to choose from, but we've gone for Silver. When you're happy with the Preview, click Next. The next screen allows you to select the Font you want to use for your email text. This, unfortunately, does not work too well. You can select the font you want to use, along with the colour and size. But when you try to write your email with your new stationery, Outlook Express will often revert to the default of an Arial font in size 10! All the same, we've chosen a Comic Sans MS font in size 12. We've kept the colour on black, and don't want Bold or Italic.
The next screen is an important one. It allows you to set how far from the left the text should start. The size is in pixels. The image we're trying to use is 200 pixels high by 200 pixels wide, so we need the left margin to start at a number higher than 200. Otherwise our email text will end up over the image. You can also specify how far down the page you want your text to start. In the image below, our left margin is 225 pixels and our Top margin is 50 pixels:
Click next, and give your new stationery a name (it's better to use just one word). When you click Next, you're done. So click the Finish button and you'll be returned to the Select Stationery screen. The name of your new Stationery will already be in the File Name box, so just click OK to see your new stationery added to you email. Type some text to see what it looks like. Has Outlook Express ignored your Font choices and gone back to Arial 10 points? In the image below, it has! The only solution is to type the email text in the default font and then format it later :(
There's plenty of stationery on the Internet, if you want to see what others have created. Try a Google search with "Outlook Express Stationery". (Include the quote marks.) Your emails need never be plain again!
Secure Your PC
All about SpyWare
What is Spyware?
Broadly speaking, Spyware is something that sneaks on to your computer, usually with the intentions of extracting money from you. At its worst, Spyware can take control of your computer, directing you to web pages you didn't want to go to, downloading other nasty stuff in the background, and even harvesting email address, passwords and your credit card details. But even a mild case of Spyware infection can be nuisance. If you've ever been plagued by annoying pop-ups when your computer loads, or have strange new icons where your clock is (bottom right, called the System Tray), or if you're directed to a strange webpage when you try to go on to the internet, then you may well be infected. Spyware, in the main, gathers information about you and your online habits, and sends that information to third party. And all without asking for your permission!
Where does Spyware come from?

Spyware can come from a whole host of different sources. But Spyware mainly gets on to your PC through deception. For example, suppose you receive this email:
You'd assume that this email was sent to you in error. Can you resist clicking on the link? After all, what harm can it do? Well, a lot actually! There well may be a joke on the site, but there's something less funny going on in the background - the web page is trying to sneak something on to your PC! You may also have seen a harmless-looking popup window asking you to click a button to proceed. You'll click it anyway, just to get rid of it. Clicking OK is what's infected your PC! Other sources of Spyware infection are freeware or shareware software, an operating system that is unpatched and hasn't got the latest security software, downloading stuff from peer-to peer applications - the list is long!
And don't think your Anti-Virus software will protect you - it won't! Spyware is not considered to be a virus, so your Anti-Virus software won't spring in to action once an infection takes place - it will stay sleeping in the background, unaware that anything malicious is going on. The best tool for the job is a dedicated Spyware Detection system.
Beware of the Scam Merchants!

You may have come across a website that promises to check your PC for Spyware infection. All for free. All you need to do is to click a button to scan your PC. So you download, scan, and lo and behold - it's found something! Then up pops a message directing you to a website that lets you buy the software. Except, it didn't really detect anything. Or if it did, it's what's know as a false positive (Something that sounds dangerous but isn't). The job of the scan is to scare you into buying their software. If you type in "Spyware detection" into Google, most of the results that come back are for these types of programmes. According to Suzi Turner, writing on Zdnet , some of the most popular Spyware scams are these products: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. SpyAxe SpySheriff PSGuard WorldAntiSpy Spy Trooper Razespyware SpywareNo or SpyDemolisher WinAntiVirus or WinAntiSpyware 2005 SlimShield tied with "Winhound Spyware Remover" Spyware Bomber (shut down by the FTC)
Hopefully, you haven't bought anything on the top ten list! Even if you haven't, check out the alarmingly long list of scam Spyware on spywarewarrior.com (Fortunately, they also have a good-software list!) If you've bought any of the software on the bad list then the protection you have is at no protection at all. At worst, these pieces of software can be incredibly difficult to get rid of - Spyware themselves!
How to get Rid of Spyware

As a computer owner, you really need your wits about you in the Spyware detection game. So what are you to do if you can't even trust the very people who say they are going to help you clean your PC? Well, you can fight back! The best way to do that is with software from very reputable companies. The following are the most well-known (and free) anti-spyware solutions: Ad-Aware (SE Personal Edition) SpyBot Search and Destroy Microsoft Windows Defender Ad-Aware is probably the easiest to use of the three. SpyBot is good, but a bit complex for beginners.
Microsoft Windows Defender is well worth getting, too. However, it's not the easiest piece of software in the world to use. You do get some good tools with it, though. Check out the websites by clicking the links above (there's a tutorial on the Microsoft site for Windows Defender). Once you download your chosen anti-spyware solution, you need to install it on to your PC. After you have installed it, start the software and do a full scan of your computer. (Ad-Aware has a nice big button that says "Scan"!) Unlike anti-virus software, it IS recommended that you have more than one anti-spyware solution on your PC. This is because spyware can be very difficult to get rid of, and anti-spyware software will rarely find 100 percent of threats. By having more than one solution, what one piece of anti-spyware programme misses, the other should (hopefully) pick it up.
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Secure your PC
All about Spam
What is Spam?
It's a rare computer user who hasn't been bothered by Spam at some stage. By Spam, we mean unsolicited emails that try to sell you things of a dubious nature that you certainly didn't ask for and, in all probability, don't need. Everybody hates spam. It can clog up your email box, threaten the security of your PC, try to trick you into opening dangerous attachments, and even render the mail box entirely unusable. Here at Home and Learn, we've had to close down many email addresses due to spam. (We've only ever met one person who liked spam. This was a pensioner, new to email, who complained that something was blocking her advertisments. She wanted to know how she could get them back!)
How do the spammers get hold of my email address?

Spam can come from a wide variety of sources, and the spammers have many techniques to get hold of your email address. Here's just a few: > From a web page If you have ever posted to an online, public forum, and left your email address on the page, then it will almost certainly end up in the hands of the spammers. If you have your own website, and include your email address in plain text, then that will also get stolen by the spammers. In fact, anywhere on the web where you leave your email address is a source for the spammers. If you can see it, so can they. The way they get the address is by something called harvesting. This is done with a piece of software called a Spider. The sole job of the Spider is to trawl through website looking for email addresses. Once the spammer has enough addresses, he (they are usally "he's") can sell them to third parties, and other spammers. > From an infected PC. A lot of viruses these days contain code to trawl through your email address book. These will then be sent to the spammer. If you have sent an email to somebody who is infected, and that person has you in his/her address book, then your address will be sent to the spammer. > From YOUR infected PC If you have a virus, the chances are that it will contain code to control your email. It will then contact another computer and receive a list of instructions, and email addresses. These instruction say something like, "Send the following email to this list of addresses". Your PC won't be sending out thousands of emails, but just a few. This is because your PC is just one of many thousand that are controlled by the same spammer (called a botnet). If your computer sends out just, say, 100 emails a day, then 100 times 1000 computers that the spammer controls totals 100,000 emails a day. If the spammer controls 10,000 computers then that's a million emails a day he can send out! > Trial and Error if you have an email address based on your name, and if your name is quite a common one, then the spammer will simply send out email trying to guess the first part. For example, suppose the end of your
email address was "smith.co.uk" And you added "John" to the start, your email address would be easy to guess, and you'd have a very busy inbox indeed! If it was "john12_KJ876@smith.co.uk", it's unlikely the spammers could guess the first part.
Worst case scenarios

If your computer is infected, there could be another nasty side-effect - YOU get banned! Because your computer has been indentifed as sending out spam, you may well receive a message from your service provider telling you that your account has been suspended. You then have to go to the trouble of contacting your service provider, telling them that you're not a spammer, and asking what to do to get off their "bad books". A more likely scenario is that your email gets bounced back to you by someone like SpamCop. The email will identify your IP address, and let you know that you're on a blacklist. SpamCop will keep you on the blacklist until it receives no more spam from your IP address in a 24 hour period. (It may not be your IP address but the address of your email servers. In which case, there's nothing you can do about it but notify your service provider. Your service provider will then totally ignore your call, and heap the blame on you!)
How to Defeat Spam

You can defeat spam (well, most of it). Here's a few ways. Don't post your email address on a web page, unless you're disguising it in some way. As an example, an email address in this format is very difficult for a Spider to read, but quite easy for a human: firstBit @ co. uk. homeandlearn (re-arange the ending) Be wary of giving your email address to websites. Ask yourself, is there a privacy statement anywhere on the site? (Ours is here Privacy Policy) Can you easily opt-out if they send an email or newsletter to you? Do you trust them? Never reply to a email sent to you by a spammer. If you do, you're telling the spammer that the email address is live and active - the very thing that he was looking for! (Remember: the spammer probably bought his list off someone else, and has no idea whether an address is active or not.) Careful when opening attachments. Save the attachment to your hard-drive first, scan with your (upto-date) Anti Virus software, and only then consider opening it. If you weren't expecting an email with an attachment, it's safer to just delete the entire email! Set your email software to view message as text and NOT as HTML. In Outlook Express you can do this by clicking Tools > Options from them menu bar. From the Options dialogue box, click the Read tab. Put a tick in the box "Read all messages in plain text". The reason you'd want to do this is
because HTML emails can be very helpful to spammers. They insert an image that tells them the email has been read, and thus that it's a live email box. Consider getting some Anti-Spam software. The best of these are very good at detecing spam from the genuine emails. Here's two that Computer Shopper recommended in a recent review. (Dec 2006) Allume SpamCatcher 4 Cloudmark These both got 5 stars out of 5 in the review. The second one is only for Outlook or Outlook Express users. (Mcafee anti-spam got 4 stars out of 5, incidentally, and Norton only got 2!) A good free anti-spam solution is SpamPal. This got 4 out of 5 stars, but Computer Shopper noted that it was a bit "clunky to set up". But we recommend you start with the free software first, and test it out. If it's not catching at least 90% of spam coming in, then uninstall it and try something else!
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Secure Your PC
All about Viruses
What is a Virus?
A computer virus is a programme, or piece of code, that is written to interfere with, and harm, your machine. A virus can replicate itself, spread to other computers, and attack other programmes on your computer. (By attack, we mean change or delete files.) Computer experts distinguish between a virus, a worm, and a Trojan. Here's the differences: Virus - Can replicate and spread to other computers. Also attacks other programmes Worm - A special type of virus that can replicate and spread, but generally doesn't attack other programmes Trojan - Doesn't replicate, but can spread. Doesn't attack other programmes. Usually just a way of recording and reporting what you do on your PC Viruses are split into different categories, depending on what they do. Here are a few categories of viruses: Boot Sector Virus The Boot Sector of a PC is a part of your computer that gets accessed first when you turn it on. It tells Windows what to do and what to load. It's like a "Things To Do" list. The Boot Sector is also known as the Master Boot Record. A boot sector virus is designed to attack this, causing your PC to refuse to start at all! File Virus A file virus, as its name suggests, attacks files on your computer. Also attacks entire programmes, though. Macro Virus These types of virus are written specifically to infect Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel PowerPoint, etc.) A Word document can contain a Macro Virus. You usually need to open a document in an Microsoft Office application before the virus can do any harm. Multipartite Virus A multipartite virus is designed to infect both the boot sector and files on your computer Polymorphic Virus This type of virus alter their own code when they infect another computer. They do this to try and avoid detection by anti-virus programmes.
How do Viruses get on my computer?

The most common way that a virus gets on your computer is by an email attachment. If you open the attachment, and your anti-virus programme doesn't detect it, then that is enough to infect your computer. Some people go so far as NOT opening attachments at all, but simply deleting the entire message as soon
as it comes in. While this approach will greatly reduce your chances of becoming infected, it may offend those relatives of yours who have just sent you the latest pictures of little Johnny! You can also get viruses by downloading programmes from the internet. That great piece of freeware you spotted from an obscure site may not be so great after all. It could well be infecting your PC as the main programme is installing. And if you or your children download software from peer to peer networks (like Kazaa, Morpheus, Shareaza) then you could be downloading more than you bargained for! If your PC is running any version of Windows, and it hasn't got all the latest patches and updates, then your computer will be attacked a few minutes after going on the internet! (Non Windows users can go into smug mode!)
Could I be infected by a Virus?

If you are infected by a virus, your computer may exhibit some well-known symptoms. Here's a few signs that you may be infected: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Your computer starts running more slowly than it usually does Your computer keep crashing Your computer keep crashing and then restarting Programmes you normally work with suddenly start behaving oddly You can't access your disk drives
Other symptoms to look out for are strange error messages, documents not printing correctly, and distorted menus and dialogue boxes. Try not to panic if your computer is exhibiting one or two items on the list. The first thing to do is to scan your PC with your (up-to-date) anti virus software. If your anti-virus software fails to detect anything, then that doesn't mean you're NOT infected - it may just be poor anti-virus software. And remember, most popular doesn't mean most effective. While Norton and Mcafee are good, extensive tests in respected computer magazine show that they are not the best. Not being the best means that they may fail to detect the virus on your PC! Not only that, Norton and Mcafee are becoming really expensive to maintain!
Free Anti-Virus software

There are some good free anti-virus solutions out there. The most popular is AVG. This has gotten results that are as good as the market leaders. You can check it out here (this page also tells you what you DON'T get with the free edition): AVG Free Edition Once installed, AVG will update itself on a regular, daily basis. It will also scan emails for viruses, and alert you if it finds anything. The interface is a bit old-fashioned but, hey, it's free and it does a quite a good job! Another good solution is AntiVir from Avira. The classic edition is free, as well. Check out their website here: Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic AntiVir will also protect users of non Microsoft computers (Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris). It is, of course, debatable whether you need anti-virus protection if you don't have a Windows machine!
NOTE: If you're changing AV software, you MUST make sure that the old one has been completely uninstalled first. Norton and Mcafee can be difficult to uninstall, and you should consult their website BEFORE uninstalling - they may even have a special tool to do the job. Some people have said that trying to uninstall Norton or Mcafee was worse than getting a virus. (If you see an ad below for either of these two - it's not because we chose it!)
Secure Your PC
Why you need a Firewall
What is a firewall (and why you need one)?

A firewall is protective barrier between you and the rest of the computers you are connected to. When you go on to the internet you are visible to the outside world. (If you weren't, then there would be no way to get a web page to your browser!) You are visible through something called a port. A port is service available to you. There are many thousands of these ports (services), and each is given a number. The three ports (services) you use most often are the world wide web (port 80), Incoming email (typically port 110), and outgoing email (usually port 25). The idea of a firewall is to close off the ports (services) you're not using. If you don't, then your open ports are an invitation to others to raid your computer! If you only have one piece of security software on your computer then it has to be a firewall. Unless your computer is not connected to the outside world, this is a must-have.
What kind of things can happen if I don't have a firewall?

If you do a fresh install of Windows XP, and leave it unpatched, your computer will be attacked within minutes. You'll be attacked through your open ports, and bombarded with popup messages; Trojans, viruses and worms will be loaded behind your back; Spyware and Malware will clog up your browser. In fact, PC Format magazine recently (issue 194) ran this very experiment. Their unprotected PC was unusable after about 2 and half hours! Having a firewall in place would have prevented some of these attacks. (But not all - XP should have Service Packs 1 and 2 installed before it's allowed on the internet.) Even if you have all of XP's service packs and updates, not having a firewall means somebody will eventually find an open port on your computer. If they can install a Trojan on to your PC, they'll be able to control it! (See our Trojan section for more details on this topic.)
How Firewalls help protect you

Most firewalls, like the one built into Windows XP, will alert you about suspicious incoming traffic. Anyone trying to gain access to your PC will hit the firewall first. The firewall deflects the attack, and gives you a warning about it. But a good firewall like ZoneAlarm will also warn you about suspicious outgoing traffic (XP's own firewall doesn't do this). So the best firewalls do both - tell you about incoming and outgoing traffic.
The Types of Firewall

For the general user, you can place firewalls into two simple categories: hardware and software. A hardware firewall can be a router that sits between your computer and the outside world. You can plug more computers into the router, and each will be protected by the firewall that's part of the router. A software firewall is one like ZoneAlarm. You install it on your PC, and it will hide open ports, deflect incoming attacks, and warn you about suspicious outgoing traffic. For added protection, you can have a software firewall on each computer that sits behind the router. An attacker would have to be very determined to get through your router's firewall and your software firewall!
Which firewall should I get?

If you have something like a wireless router then you'll probably already have a firewall. You should check your router's configuration pages to make sure it's turned on. (Some of them are actually turned OFF by default!) Once your router's firewall is turned on, you can install a software firewall on each PC that's connected to the router, just for added protection. If you're not behind a router, then you need a software firewall. If you have Internet Security software like Kaspersky then it will probably include a firewall as well. You should check, though. If you haven't got any Internet Security software then we highly recommend the free version of ZoneAlarm. This piece of software has been available from ZoneLabs for some time, and has a very good reputation. Home and Learn Recommended Free Firewall: ZoneAlarm Basic But to recap: If you don't have a firewall, and your computer is connected to the Internet, you NEED to get one!
Secure Your PC
Trojan Detection
What is a Trojan?
A Trojan is small, malicious programme that is installed along with a more attractive one. For example, that great freeware programme you got from that dodgy website? It may well be the programme you wanted. But someone (usually a 3rd party) may well have attached a Trojan to it. The Trojan will be installed as well as the software you wanted. Trojans are not viruses, in the sense that they don't replicate or send copies of themselves to others. They are just another programme that can be installed on your computer, albeit a nasty one!
What do Trojans do?

A Trojan can be very malicious indeed. Most of them are intent on controlling your PC. These are called Remote Access Trojans, or RATs for short. If someone has placed a Trojan on your computer, they'll be able to see everything that you can. Some of them can even controll your webcam. That means the attacker can see you! If you have speakers attached to the PC, they can even hear you! If that weren't bad enough, the attacker will have access to your computer, enabling him to upload nasty things to your PC. After all, why should he store these things on his computer when he has access to yours? Most Trojans these days, though, are placed on your computer by criminals. If you type your credit card details in to a website, for example, then the attacker can record what you type. If a criminal has controll of a lot of computer, he could also launch something called a Denial of Service attack. A DoS attack is when a lot of malicious computers attack a particular network or website. The network has so many request that it can't cope, so has to shut down. The criminals then blackmail the owner ("We'll let you have your site back if you give us money".) Many gambling sites have been hit by this type of attack. A Trojan can also disable your security software, leaving you wide open on the internet.
How do trojans get on My Computer?

If you have an unpatched version of a Windows operating sytem (XP, ME, W98, etc) that is allowed on the internet then you have a very high chance of becoming infected. Install Service pack 2 as matter of urgency. And get all the other Windows updates. If you browse using Internet Explorer then be aware that it is notorius for being unsecure. (At one stage, it was known as the Swiss Cheese browser because it had so many holes in it!) even with all the latest patches, someone is always trying to find a new hole in
Internet Explorer. If an attacker can guide you to a particular website, then your browser's security holes can be a way for them to load programmes onto your PC. A lot of people have switched to using a browser other than Internet Explorer, the most popular choice being Firefox. But Trojans can get on to your PC many other ways: email attachments, software/music downloads, unsafe Instant Mesaage clients, IRC, Peer 2 peer downloads, open ports not protected by a firewall - the list is long!
If I have Anti-Virus software, does that mean I am protected?

You are not necassirly protected from Trojans, just because you have Anti-Virus software on your computer. If you have Norton or Mcafee please remember this: Most popular does NOT mean best! (See our Anti-Virus section for more details.) The problem faced by the makers of Anti-Virus software is that Trojans are easily adapted, and new versions come out all the time. Anti-Virus software makers are constantly playing catch-up. That's why it's important to update your Anti-Virus software on a regular basis. Besides, a really good trojan can disable your Anti-Virus.
How Can I Protect Myself?

The best defense against Trojans is a dedicated Trojan scanner. There is a free online Trojan scan you can do here: Free Trojan Scanner Consider buying separate software just for Trojan protection. Not only will these detect the latest threat, but they will also rid your computer of any infection. Trojans can be far more harmful than viruses, so it's well worth getting the right tool for the job. Don't skimp in this area!
Secure your PC
RootKit Detection
Why are RootKits so dangerous? How do I know if I'm infected?
What is a RootKit?
A rootkit is a programme, script or set of software tools that allows an attacker full access to your PC or network. By full access, we mean administrator-level access. A rootkit is really the technique for getting harmful things like Trojans, Spyware and Viruses on to a system.
Why are RootKits so dangerous?

The main form of an attack for a rootkit is stealth. They will hide away, deep in the recesses of your computer. Because they have administrator-level access they can do things like hijack your Windows searches and hide any information about the RootKit, control your Anti-Virus software and tell it to ignore the RootKit, hide from the list of active processess. And a whole lot more besides! The most famous RootKit was one that was installed by some Sony audio CDs. Sony hid a RootKit on people's computer as part of its Digital Rights Managment strategy. This gave them effective control of a user's PC. A security expert called Mark Russinovich (of Sysinternals) discovered the Sony RootKit, and it made the news the world over. Sony had to issue a download so that people get the RootKit off their computers. They also recalled all the music CDs that had the RootKit software. It's the fact that RootKits are so difficult to detect that makes them dangerous.
How do I know if I'm infected?

With great difficulty is the answer to this one! Don't expect your Anti-Virus software to help you out here. The very best RootKits can easily defeat Anti-Virus software, so you need a specialist tool for this job. There's a really good website that explains in more detail just what a RootKit is. They also have links to some free RootKit Detection tools. Free RootKit Detection Tools We highly recommend you pop along to this website, and get your PC checked for RootKits.
Secure your PC
Online Banking - Essential Security Measures
Online banking is quite a handy way to keep track of your finances. You simply log on through your bank's website, and you can do things like set up standing orders, transfer money to people or other accounts, and order cheque books. Online banking also allows you to get financial deals that are just not on offer in the offline world. For convenience sake, you can't beat an online bank! However, this popularity of online banking has not gone unnoticed by the criminal fraternity. We'll show you some popular attacks on your money, and what you can do to prevent them.
Phishing
One of the most common ways that a criminal will attempt to part you with your money is through something known as Phishing. Phishing is pronounced FISH-ING. It's the Internet's equivalent of this popular sport. The fisherman is a criminal, the bait is usually an email that attempts to panic you into action, and the fish is you! The criminal will send out thousands of email using a list he got from a spammer. The email that is sent pretends to be from a bank. Let's call it the Wee Bank. Most people the criminal sends the email to will not have an account with the Wee Bank. But some will. It's those few that he's after. In the email, you may be warned that your banking details need updating, and that it's essential that you act now to protect your account. They'll usually try to scare you into taking action. And there's always a link for you to click on. All you need to do is to click on the link and you'll be taken to a secure area where you can enter your details. If you click on any of these links, you'll be taken to a page that does indeed look like your bank's website. Except it's not. One trick the criminal may use is to have an address that looks similar to your bank's. Your real bank is this:
Take a closer look at the address bar, though, and you may see something like this:
The address has been spoofed. The "w" is now "vv" - two V's and not one W. But some spoofed addresses are quite difficult to spot, and even fool the more experienced surfers. You need to look for other clues in your browser. One thing that all browsers will have are padlock icons. These are supposed to tell you that the site is using security measures. If you're using Internet Explorer 7, you'll see this to the right of the address bar:
Click on the padlock and you'll see information about the security certificate (the one in the image below is for 2checkout - a genuine source):
Click the link that says View Certificates, and you'll see something like this:
Click the Details and Certification Path tabs at the top. There should be plenty of details for you to view. Make sure the certificate has not expired. In the image above, the security certificate is from a good source, and it's still valid (at least, it was when this article was written). The Firefox browser has more visual clues than Internet Explorer. Notice the address bar from Firefox:
The address bar will turn yellow on a secure site, and the padlock is just to the left of the blue down arrow. Firefox also has another padlock. Look in the bottom left and you'll see this:
Double click the padlocks and you'll see the security certificate. Notice the name of the website to the left of the padlock. This one is from a legitimate source - 2checkout.com One more thing to note. The address for a secure site normally starts with https. If the "s" is missing, it's not a secure site! A last word of warning, however: these visual clues have been know to be spoofed by the criminals! If in doubt, remember this: You bank will NEVER send you an email asking for your login details! If you receive such an email, forward it to your bank. And DON'T click on the link! The same is true for other secure websites that hold your money - PayPal never send you emails asking you to confirm your details! For a more detailed look at Phishing, there's an excellent Wikipedia article here: Phishing Article The latest versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer have anti-Phishing measures built in. You should make sure these are turned on when accessing secure websites. (In Internet Explorer 7, click Tools > Phishing Filter > Check this Website.)
Password Protection
We've all got passwords. In fact we've all got LOTS of passwords! We've got so many that it's become increasingly difficult to keep track of them all. Banking passwords are no different. But the recommendation is to keep changing each one every few months or so! Because the whole password process is cumbersome, some people have one password for all of the sites on the internet that ask for them. This is something you should NEVER do! You need a different password for each site. The reason is simple - if a criminal has your password for one website, he's got them for all your sites - he could clean you out! The problem is, how do you remember them all? One technique for password creation is to take letters and numbers from a favourite song, saying, or something that's special to you. For example, a favourite song of yours may be "happy birthday to you"! To turn this into a password, take the initial letters of each word. You'd then have this: hbty Not very secure, but easy to remember. Let's complicate it a bit, by adding some capitals: HBty Slightly more secure. Let's add a number:
HB2y
Getting better. How about a non alpha-numeric character? HB_2y Adding non alpha-numeric character helps password security enormously. Let's make the password longer by singing Happy Birthday to Home and Learn: HB_2y_HBdhAL Now, not only is the password longer, but it has a mix of numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters, and non alpha-numeric character. This makes it more secure, and harder for criminals to guess. (The password is now "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Home and Learn".) A password like this is also easier for you to remember. Passwords should never be just four characters long! The reason is that criminals may have passwordcracking software. Using such software, short passwords can be cracked in no time at all. Use at least 8 characters. Duke University have a good page here that tells you how long it would take to crack a password of up to 8 characters. The amount of time needed to crack a password rises dramatically: Duke University Password Information
You and Your PC

You should never log in to your bank account using somebody else's computer. Simply because you have no idea what security measures they take, and whether or not the computer is infected. Internet cafes are also not somewhere you should be entering security information. In an internet cafe, all the data you enter is logged and saved by the owners (they may be forced to do this by law). You can never be sure that your data is safe from prying eyes. Also, what if you forget to log out properly? The next person who uses the computer could see all of your details, and have access to your bank account! The only place you should be entering your bank details are from your own PC. Of course, you need to make sure that your own computer is safe from infection, and take sensible security measures when it comes to the emails you receive. Follow the suggesting on our site and your PC will be just that much more secure than it was yesterday!
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Beginners Guide to going Wireless

The Basics of Going Wireless
In this guide, we'll discuss the basics of connecting your computer to the internet wirelessly. It's easier to grasp what's happening if we concentrate on connecting just one computer. We'll then move on to adding more PCs. (It is assumed that you have a Broadband connection, and not a slower Dialup connection plugged straight in to your phone line.)
An ADSL Broadband Setup - Without Wireless

In the image below, you'll see a typical scenario of one PC connected to the phone line via a ADSL modem. (ADSL broadband is the one that goes down your BT phone line, if you're in the UK. If you have cable broadband then it won't.)
The image shows a red wire and a blue wire. The red wire goes from the PC to the modem. The blue wire goes from the modem to the phone line. Because it's ADSL, the blue wire first plugs into something called a Filter. The Filter then goes into the phone socket.) If you request a web page from your computer, the signal goes down the red wire to the modem. It then travels through the blue wire, and down your phone line. The image below shows this (the yellow signal):
When the web page is found on the internet, it is sent down the blue wire, through the modem, then the red wire, and to your PC. Here's a new image:
To go wireless, the bit you get rid of is the ADSL modem (the one on the floor in the image, with the red and blue wires plugged in to it). You'll swap this with something called a Wireless Router. This can have the ADSL modem built in.
An ADSL Broadband Setup - Wireless

In the next image, the red wire is gone. It's wireless! You are requesting a web page from the internet. Notice the yellow signal. Now it doesn't need to travel down the red wire. (It still needs to travel through the blue wire, though.) It travels through the air to the modem (now a ADSL wireless router), and then down the blue wire:
When the web page is found on the internet, the signal travels through the blue wire, and then to the modem (or ADSL wireless router, as we're now calling it). After the modem, the signal travels through the air to your PC.
The great thing about wireless is that the PC doesn't need to be as close to the wireless router as it is in the image above. It can be right across the room, in another room entirely or, if you're really lucky, at the bottom of the garden! There is something else you do need, however, as well as the wireless router - a wireless adaptor. We'll see what these are in the next part. Move on to the Next Part --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses

Wireless Adaptors
In the last part, you saw a basic wireless setup. Here's the image:
If you look at the image above, you'll see that the yellow signal is travelling from the wireless router to the PC. However, the computer can't do anything with the wireless signal if it hasn't got a device to detect it. The device you need is called a Wireless Adaptor. For PCs, Wireless Adaptors come in two varieties - ones you plug in to a USB port on your computer, and ones that you fit inside of the computer. Here's a Wireless Adaptors that plugs in to a USB port:
And here's one that fits in to the computer:
If you're nervous about opening up your computer, then go for the USB variety. But notice the antenna on
the one that fits in to the computer (called a PCI card). These screw out so that you can fit bigger and more powerful antennas. If you have a fairly modern laptop, the chances are it will come with a wireless adaptor inside of it. If it's not modern, then you can add a wireless adaptor to it. These are called PCMCIA cards. They look like this:
You probably have a slot for a card like this in your laptop. If you don't, then you can always use one of the USB adaptors. But to go Wireless for your Internet, you'll need some form of Wireless Adaptor for your PC or laptop.
Wireless Standards
Wireless adaptors and routers has some strange numbers and a letter associated with them. They start off like this: 802.11 But they will end with a letter. Older forms of wireless adaptors will have a b at end: 802.11b The numbers 802.11 are known as a Standard, and refer to the way one wireless device communicates with another. The letter is a sort of amendment to the 802.11 Standard. An update, if you like. A newer amendemnt is g: 802.11g The 11g wireless adaptor is the most common. The main difference between b and g is one of speed. The more modern 11g can transfer the wireless data at a rate of 54 megabits per second at its maximum. If you look again at the picture at the top of the page, this is the speed of the yellow signal from the router to the computer. Typically, however, the speed of 11g is only about 12 megabits per second! The older 11b standard can move data at a maximum rate of 11 megabits per second, but usually works at about 5 megabits per seond. If you have a broadband connection of 8 megabits per second, you can see how this would be a problem! The latest standard, though, is 802.11n. The N standard promises faster data transfer rates, longer range, and is supposed to more reliable that b and g. The data transfer rates are at a maximum of 540 megabits per second, but in practice will be about 200 megabits per second. Frequency is another important aspect of wirelss signals. The 802.11g operates at a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz. Other household devices also operate at this frequency range. Common ones are microwave ovens and cordless telephones. Bluetooth devices are on this frequency range as well. Devices that operate on the same frequency range can intefere with each other. Most of the Wireless Adaptor on the market at the moment, though, are either 802.11g or 802.11n. But the
g routers are beginning to disappear, leaving just the newer n routers. You should be able to buy any 802.11g or 802.11n Wireless Adaptor for your ADSL wireless router.
In the next section, we'll take a look at just what a router is, and some of the jargon you'll encounter.
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Wireless Routers
What is a Router?
A standard modem allows you to connect one computer to the internet at a time.
A router allows you to connect one or more computers at a time:
It's called a router for the simple reason that signals are being routed back and forth. The computers can be connected to the router either with a wire (called an Ethernet Cable), or without wires. We're interested in a Wireless Router. Here's a picture of one:
This model is a Linksys, one of the big players in the wireless game. Other big players are Belkin, D-Link and Netgear. Notice the two anetennas sticking out. Most wireless routers have at least one. The antennas can be unscrewed and replaced by something bigger and more powerful. Data from the internet will travel through the router and then those antennas. They are then broadcast to the Wireless Adaptor on your computer or laptop. (And any other wireless adaptor in range - whether it's yours or not! See the security section below for how to solve this)
Wireless Jargon
There's a lot of jargon associated with the wireless router you buy. In the previous section, we discussed what 802.11g was. The 802.11 is a common standard that helps devices talk to each other. The g is an improvement to the 802.11 standard. However, as of September 14th 2009, a new standard has finally been ratified, seven years after it was first put forward! The new standard is 802.11n. This newer standard offers faster and more reliable wireless signals. You have been able to get Draft N routers for some time now. But the ratification of the treaty by manufacturers means that a wireless adaptor bought from one company should work with another's routers, and vice versa. Another bit of jargon you'll see is MIMO. This stands for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output. Which does, of course, tell you nothing! But MIMO is a technology aimed at giving you a better range for your wireless signals, and can carry more data in those signals (throughput). But you need a wireless adaptor that supports the MIMO technology, if you buy a wireless router with the words MIMO on it. If you have a 3G connection, look out for MiFi. This is a way to share computers using a 3G connection, rather than a fixed line ADSL connection, or cable broadband. With a MiFi router you insert your SIM card into, and this connects to the internet, rather than your USB dongle. The router should then let you connect several computers to the Internet at once using wireless, ethernet, or both.
What's involved in setting up a Wireless ADSL Router?

Manufacturers like Linksys are making it easier to set up wireless routers. Look for an Installation CD, or a Quick setup option. At the very least, there should be some instructions to follow along with. If you have an ADSL broadband connection, then you'll want to buy a wireless router with a ADSL modem built in. (It will say this on the box.) The model below, for example, is Linksys WAG200G - Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway:
The ADSL in the product name means it has an in-built ADSL modem. In other words, you won't need the modem that your Internet Service Provider gave you. If you look at the image below, you'll see a socket for Line (the white one). You plug your phone cable (called and RJ11) in to this socket. At the moment, you probably have this cable plugged in to a USB modem that you got from your internet provider:
The four yellow sockets are for ethernet cables, allowing you to connect up to four computers with a wired connection (as well as the wireless computers). But the wireless router above comes with a User Guide and Setup Wizard on CD-ROM, and it will explain all this as you're setting it up.
The first step is usually to set up your router with a direct cable connection. (Called an Ethernet or Network cable. This is usually supplied with the router). The wizard should then take you through a few steps to get you connected to the router, and on to the Internet. Before you do this, you should contact your ISP and get any router setting they may have. You'll also need your broadband username and password. But once you have a wired connection set up, you can then set up a wireless connection. When you have your wireless connection up and running, you can then unplug the Network cable. Look out for all those lights on your router. You'll see the following lights on the Linksys WAG200G Wireless-G ADSL router above: Power Turns Green when you plug the power cable in Wireless Turns green if you get a successful wireless connection. Flashes green if data is being transferred from the wireless adaptor on your computer Ethernet Turns green if the supplied Network cable is plugged in correctly to the router and computer. Starts flashing green when data is being transferred DSL This is the ADSL light. It starts flashing green if it can't get a connection from your phone sockets. If it stays solid then your ADSL connection is OK Internet Tells you whether the connection to your Internet Service Provider is OK. Will be solid green if everything is OK. This light will be red if the connection fails (if there's outage at your ISPs end, for example.)
What's involved in setting up a Wireless Cable Router?

If you don't have an ADSL connection, but have a cable broadband connection, then don't buy an ADSL wireless router. You want one that you can plug your modem in to. Look for any wireless router that DOESN'T have the words ADSL in the title. The modem you got from your ISP will probably be connected to your computer via an ethernet cable. Unfortunately, you can't just plug this in to your shiny new wireless router and expect it to work! When you plug your Ethernet cable in to your computer, you're plugging it in to an ethernet card. Your ethernet card has a unique address called a MAC address. Cable providers connect you via the MAC address of your ethernet card. Your new router will have a different MAC address. So if you plug your ethernet cable in to this, your provider won't know where you are, and you won't get any web pages! The good news is that there's something called MAC address spoofing. This is when the router pretends to be your ethernet card. If you get a wireless router like the Buffalo AirStation G54 High Power then the install process will take care of this for you. The process will be fairly painless. The bad news is that some routers expect you to do all this for yourself! The manual will then explain how to get the MAC address of your ethernet card, and how to enter this information in to the router. The wireless cable routers we've chosen on our recommended pages all have easy setup options for MAC address spoofing.
If something goes wrong, then you may need to gain access to what's called the Configuration pages.
What are Router Configuration Pages?

Each router will have what's called Configuration pages. You access these through a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. These don't come from the Internet, though, so you don't need an active broadband connection to see them. In the configuration pages, you can do things like set your broadband username
and password, set up wireless security, set up online gaming, see the current status of your connection, and a whole lot more besides. To get in to the configuration pages, you need to be connected to your router. This can either be with the Network cable, or via your wireless adaptor. Start up your browser, and enter the address for your router. These differ, but for the Linksys router it will be: http://192.168.1.1 You will then be asked for a username and password. Routers will have a default for both of these. For the Linksys, it's admin for the username and admin for the password. (Look in your manual for the router's address and default username and password.) Click OK and you'll be in to your configuration pages. If you can't see any configuration pages then the connection from your computer to the router is not working. So don't blame your ISP! Time to pour over those manuals!
Wireless Security
Another thing you may need to do in the config pages is to set up wireless security. If you don't have security switched on, anyone within range of your wireless router will be able to connect to it. There are two forms of security that most wireless routers use, WEP and WPA. What you are doing here is encrypting your signals with a key. With wireless security turned on, the router needs your key before it will allow any traffic through it. No key means no access. WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy. This is an older form of security and is not as safe as WPA. There are programmes around that hackers can download to crack WEP. Once they have WEP cracking software, they may be able to gain access to your router and get a free ride on the Internet At the very least! The WEP key, though, will be either 64 bits or 128 bits in length. (128 bits is 26 characters, and will be mixture of the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to F.) If you have a Livebox from Orange, for example, then it comes with WEP security. When setting up the router for a wireless connection, you have type out all 26 characters. Get one wrong and it won't connect! WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access. WPA security is really an update to WEP. It uses different and stronger encryption, and so is harder to crack. It's easier for you to set up, as well, because you just need to set up a short pass phrase instead of typing out 26 letters and numbers! You should use WPA and not WEP A lot of wireless routers don't have security turned on by default. Your configuration pages will allow you to turn it on, and there is usually a help menu which explain the various security settings.
In the next section, we'll take a look at what exactly a wireless signal is.
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What are wireless signals?
We have these boxes in our living room that send wireless signals to the computers. The computers then sends wireless signals back to the box. But what's being sent? Just what, exactly, is a wireless signal?
Electromagnetic Radiation
Think of the Sun. It blasts out energy. This energy is called Electromagnetic Radiation. It is electrical and magnetic. In the diagram below, the Electromagnetic wave is coming from the sun.
The energy is given different names: Gamma Rays, X-Rays, Ultraviolet, Radio waves. The length of each wave is what gives rise to the names. In the image below, we see the depiction of a wave. Notice the crests and troughs. A wave is measured from one crest to another. Gamma Rays will have a very short distance between the crests; radio waves have a longer distance.
Radio Waves
So the wireless signals in the home are radio waves. Radio waves from a wireless router are pumped out at between 2.4 and 2.5 Gigahertz (GHz). This means 2.4 to 2.5 billion waves per second. The width of the wavelength, though, will be about the same. Waves of the same length can interfere with each other. If you have a Microwave oven, for example, the distance between the crests will be the same as the signals from your wireless router. Your wireless signals will be disrupted if they meet those of your Microwave oven, say. Other electric devices know to clash with your wireless signals are: Digital phones A Baby's cot monitor Bluetooth gadgets Other wireless router
This is because the distance between the crests of the waves is more or less the same for all these devices, and so they clash. To solve this problem, you can change the frequency of the radio waves. On a wireless router, this is called changing the channels. What you're doing here is changing the number of waves per second. The changes you're allowed to make are from 2.4 to 2.5 GHz. You make these changes from the router's control panel (called the configuration page). So channel 1 will mean 2.41 GHz, channel 2 will mean 2.42 GHz, channel 3 will mean 2.43 GHz, and so on. Other problems are objects getting in the way. If a signal is sent to your computer then it may get bounced off walls, windows, glass mirrors, carpeted floors, and many other objects, before it reaches your computer. At the PC end, this can mean a slow connection. The radio waves are travelling at the same rate but, due to signal bounce, it's taken longer to reach its destination. Things that can cause problems for your wireless router are: Glass doors, glass mirrors, glass in windows Shiny metallic surfaces Fish tanks (it's the water) Internal walls made of brick Stud partitioning in walls Carpets
Conclusion
So, the wireless signals bouncing around the home are radio waves. And radio waves are a form of electromagnetic energy. It may not be such a comforting thought that we've introduced electromagnetic radiation into the home, and that's it's travelling back and forth between the computer and the wireless box! Which begs another, far more important, question: Are these radio waves a danger to your health? In the next article, we'll investigate that very worrying possibility.
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Are Wireless Signals Dangerous to your Health?
As we found out in a previous article (What are Wireless Signals), we have this electromagnetic radiation pumping around the home. This electromagnetic radiation is in the form of Radio Waves, and is coming from the wireless router and wireless adaptor. The wireless signals are Radio Waves, and the Radio Waves are electromagnetic radiation. What we want to find out is this: Are Wireless Signals dangerous to your health?
The Hypersensitive
There is a group in Britain called ElectroSensitivityUK, who are campaigning for a greater awareness of electro-sensitivity. According to this group, some people are hypersensitive to electromagnetic radiation. The group has been campaigning for some time on the issue. Recently, people have been contacting them claiming that wireless signals in the home are causing them to fall ill. Symptoms include nausea, exhaustion, headaches, sleepless, stomach upsets, tinnitus, short-term memory loss, and I forget what else. Respected author Kate Figes is one such sufferer. After installing a spanking new wireless system in her home, Kate began to feel ill. She felt sick, run-down, and experienced a sensation she describes as like "being prodded all over your body by 1,000 fingers". Getting rid of her wireless equipment cured her illness. Being the mother of two children, she's naturally concerned about the dangers that these wireless signals may pose. Kate Figes is certainly not alone in her suffering. Many others have reported feeling ill when around wireless equipment. Rod Read, of ElectroSensitivityUK, thinks that between 1 and 3 percent of the population could be hypersensitive to the electromagnetic radiation pumped out by things like wireless signals and mobile phones.
The Scientific View

However, the scientific view on this, and the one adopted by governments around the world, is that the Radio Waves emanating from the likes of wireless routers and mobile phones are harmless. Wired magazine and website quotes one such scientist (Ed Mantiply, of the FCC's radio frequency safety program): "There is no conclusive evidence that electromagnetic fields hurt health. We have a standard for exposure, which is essentially like a speed limit --there's no guarantee that you're safe below it or unsafe above it." Mantiply goes on to say, "I believe a good number of people who complain about these things have trauma or obsessive disorders." Note that he doesn't say "everyone", but a "good number". After all, if there's no guarantee that you're safe below the "exposure standard" then you can't dismiss entirely those who claim to be failing ill from the electromagnetic radiation received from wireless equipment. One thing that does stand out, however, from Ed's quote is mention of an "exposure standard". What is this? And who set's this standard?
Exposure Standards
An Exposure Standard is how much of a phenomenon (like Radio Waves) you can be exposed to before it is deemed unsafe. Safety guidelines, in other words. The body who oversee these safety standards in the US are the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). The FCC listened to two august bodies: the NCRPM (National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements) and the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). These two organisations in turn gathered evidence from scientists and engineers from a wide-range of fields. They came up with something called the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). SAR is a measure of how much Radio Frequency energy is absorbed by living tissue. It is measured in Watts per Kilogram, or Milliwatts per gram. So a value of 1.6 W/Kg for mobile phones means that your head can receive up to this amount of Radio Frequency energy with the phone in use. High levels of Radio Wave exposure causes tissue to heat up. So the higher the level of SAR the more dangerous it is considered to be. A value of 1.6 is considered safe for American heads, but European heads are considered tougher (or denser), so a value of 2 Watts per Kilogram was set. Any higher than about 4 Watts per Kilogram and brain cells tend to bail out. Some people think that even 1.6 and 2 are too high. For those in the UK, you may be delighted to know that there is no legislation that deals with compliance to any Electromagnetic Frequency guidelines. Though the Health and Safety Executive do acknowledge the SAR values above, and some sort of slap-wrist policy is in the pipeline for 2008. Or possibly not. In the US, meanwhile, you can be reassured that there is a government body responsible for protecting you from the harmful electromagnetic effect of microwave ovens, television sets and computer monitors - it's the Food and Drug Administration! To see why this energy is being closely observed, you have to understand the two types of radiation.
Ionising and Non-Ionising Radiation

Radiation is broken down into two categories: Ionising and non-ionising. Ionising radiation is the kind that strips electrons from your body, and is dangerous. Very. Non-ionising radiation doesn't strip away electrons, and is considered sort of safe. Think of these terms as the difference between an X-Ray machine and a toaster. The toaster can be harmful if you stick you fingers in the grill while it's warming up your muffins; the X-Ray machine, meanwhile, can be so harmful that the person operating it has to hide behind protective shielding. So, X-Rays are ionising, toaster non-ionising. The wireless signals in your home, you'll be glad to hear, are a form of non-ionising radiation - Radio Waves. The Radio Waves emanating from your Wireless router and Wireless adaptor are about 15 to 20 times lower than that from a mobile phone. However, the SAR values for phones were derived from short bursts to the head. Wireless signals are constant, so it is difficult to compare the two. But the energy intensity is considered to be fairly low. Nevertheless, I couldn't find any SAR values for wireless routers and adaptors, in the same way that mobile phones usually include the SAR value somewhere. The best I could come up with is reassurances from wireless manufacturers that their devices "meet the safety guidelines".
Conclusion
After all this research, we're not that much the wiser, I'm afraid! The jury still seems to be out on whether or not wireless signals are a cause for concern. A World Health Organisation report into the issue concluded: " ... there is no convincing evidence that exposure to Radio Frequencies shortens the life span of humans,
induces or promotes cancer. ... further studies are needed to draw a more complete picture of health risks, especially about possible cancer risk from exposure to low-levels of RF exposure." Unless you're one of the unlucky Hypersensitives, try not to worry about it!
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Further Reading about Wireless Signals and Health Electrosensitivity's website The UK's Health and Safety Executive World Health Organisation's Report on Electromagnetic Fields And Public Health International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection About SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) Questions and Answers from the FDA The UK's Health Protection Agency's take on the matter Article from the Evening Standard

Going Wireless - What to Buy
In this section, we'll discuss what wireless kit to buy. We've scoured the PC magazines, poured through oodles of reviews, and come up with some hand-picks for you. If you're not sure about what exactly wireless is, then read the first part of our guide.
What to look for

When your buying a wireless router and wireless adaptor, there are a few things to look out for. For wireless routers, the first decision is whether your need one with an in-built modem. These are for ADSL broadband users. If you're on cable broadband, then DON'T buy a wireless router that has ADSL in the title. Over the next four pages, we've picked two ADSL wireless routers, and two wireless routers for cable broadband users. Here's a checklist of things to consider when buying wireless routers and wireless adaptors. Wireless Router Checklist Is it easy to set up? Does it have an ADSL modem built-in? Will it work with the laptop/notebook I have? Is security easy to set up? What kind of distances can it cope with? Wireless Adaptor Checklist Do you need a Wireless Adaptor, or have you got one built-in to a laptop? Should I get a USB wireless adaptor or one that fits in the computer? Will the adaptor I buy work with the wireless router? We've chosen four wireless routers - two for ADSL broaband users and two for Cable users. We've also chosen wireless adaptors that go well with the router. There's a review for each router and adaptor on the next four pages, along with some scores out of 5. The first two pages are for ADSL users. The first Cable router is here: Cable Wirless Routers
< --Back one Page | First Wireless Router and Adaptor --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses

Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO Modem Router
The Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO Modem Router is for those who have an ADSL connection. If you have a Cable broadband connection, your first router is here: Cable Wirless Routers. Here's a nice picture of the Belkin, though. Click on it for a bigger image (opens in a new window):
Big Image
Use with: Wireless G+ MIMO USB ADAPTOR
Big Image
Review The Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO Modem Router is quite easy to set up for novice wireless users, which can be a big plus. It produces great wireless results from 1 to 25 metres in range. But only when used with the Wireless G+ MIMO USB Adaptor above. It can be difficult to get a Centrino laptop to communicate with this router. And when you do, the results are not that impressive. Sometimes won't pick up a signal at all over wider ranges with a Centrino laptop. One other negative point is that it doesn't ask you to set up WEP/WPA security, so you have to set this up manually in the confuguration pages. This is relatively straightforward, though.
Antennas are fixed in place on the router, so you can't unscrew and replace them with bigger and better ones. This is not too much of a worry, if you're using it with the recommended USB adaptor.
Positve Points Easy to set up Great wireless results when used with the Wireless G+ MIMO USB ADAPTOR Adsl modem built in
Negative points No security prompts when you're setting up Doesn't play well with other wireless kit
Scores Computer Shopper - 4 out of 5 Home and Learn Score - 4 out 5 The Belkin Wireless G+ MIMO Modem Router is a good choice for those new to wireless, despite the reservations about security. You need to use a wireless adaptor like the Wireless G+ MIMO USB one above to get the best reults. Think twice if you have a Centrino laptop and are trying to connect this to the Belkin Wireless G+, though. Great results, otherwise!
< --Back one Page | Next Wireless Router and Adaptor --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses

US Robotics Wireless MAXg ADSL2+ Gateway
The US Robotics Wireless MAXg ADSL2+ Gateway is for those who have an ADSL connection. If you have a Cable broadband connection, your first router is here: Cable Wirless Routers. Here's a picture of the MAXg, though. Click on it for a bigger image:
Big Image
Use with: MAXg Network adaptor
Big Image
Review The MAXg in the title is a technology that was designed to improve the speed of the wireless signal, and how much data can be carried. This US Robotics router works well at ranges of up to 10 metre, and decent (but hardly impressive) results over longer ranges. Signal range is vastly improved with with a MAXg Network adaptor like the one above. Centrino laptop users will pleased to hear that this router plays well with your notebook at ranges below 20 metres. Above that is a different story! Another good feature is the built-in ADSL2+ modem. This is designed to support ADSL speeds of up to 24 megabits per second. If you're in the UK, you won't be getting speeds above this any time soon, so it's a good buy. Setup is quite easy with this router, and it even prompts you for WEP/WPA Security. The router's firewall is turned on by default, which is another plus point. If your computers are only going to be less than 20 metres away from the router then this is the one to buy! If you have had problems with wireless signals in the past, then buying this router won't solve them. For most people, though, you can use this with almost any wireless adaptor and get great results. Using a MAXg Network adaptor, however, will see the best performances. Positve Points Negative points Easy to set up Great wireless results with any adaptor at ranges below 20 metres Excellent results with a MAXG adaptor ADSL2+ modem built in Not a router to buy if you PC is going to far from the router
Easy to configure WEP/WPA Security Firewall is turned on by default Score Computer Shopper magazine score - 5 stars out of 5 Home and Learn Score - 4 out of 5 There's a lot of positive points for the US Robotics Wireless MAXg ADSL2+ Gateway, and they far outweigh the negative. An excellent all-rounder, and one that Computer Shopper magazine have hand-picked for many months. Recommended!
The next two routers are for Cable Broadband users. (If you have an ADSL modem that plugs in to an ethernet port, you can use the next two as well. Most ADSL modems in the UK, however, are USB ones.) <<- Previous Wireless Router and Adaptor | Next Wireless Router and Adaptor --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses

Belkin F5D7230uk4 54Mbps Broadband Wireless Router
The Belkin F5D7230uk4 54Mbps Broadband Wireless Router is for those who have a Cable broadband connection. If you have an ADSL broadband connection, your first router is here: ADSL Wirless Routers.
Big Image
Use with: Belkin F5D7050uk 54Mbps USB 2.0 Wireless G Adapter:
Review Setting up a router for use with Cable broadband can be a tricky affair. This is because your cable provider will have the address of your ethernet card. This is unique, so you can't just plug your cable modem in to the router and expect it to work. You need something called MAC Address spoofing. This is when the router pretends to be your ethernet card. Belkin claim to have you up and running with this router in under 3 minutes. Which is a big plus point! For those users with children in the house, the Belkin F5D7230uk4 wireless router comes with Parental Control settings. This is built in to the router, and you get a free 6 months trial. You can set which web sites or services you don't want the kids accessing, so as to minimize the harmful material they may come across. Performance is excellent, too, with a good signal up to 25 metres. With all wireless routers, though, the farther you are away, the more the signal quality drops. When used with a Belkin USB adaptor, you can still surf the internet at the longer distances. Another plus point is that this router supports Apple OS 8.x to 10.x and some Linux boxes (Ubuntu users should be OK).
Positve Points Low cost Easy to set up Parental Control built in to router Supports for Apple and Linux users, as well as Windows Excellent results for a low-cost router Good wireless signals at low (1 metre) and far ranges (25 metres) Score BroadbandBuyer.co.uk rating 4 out of 5 - 4 out of 5 Home and Learn Score - 4 out 5 A good all-rounder that you can get at a bargain price these days!
Negative points Getting on a bit now
<<- Previous Wireless Router and Adaptor | Next Wireless Router and Adaptor --> <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses

Buffalo AirStation G54 High Power
The Buffalo AirStation G54 High Power Router is for those who have a Cable broadband connection. If you have an ADSL broadband connection, your first router is here: ADSL Wirless Routers.
Big Image
Use with: Buffalo's High Power PC Card (for latptops)
Big Image
Use with: Wireless-G High-Speed USB 2.0 Adapter
Review The Buffalo AirStation G54 High Power Router has been a top performer with computer magazines for
some time now, and has still got what it takes when going up against more expensive kit. Set up is very easy, with the help of the wizards, and it should even detect your Cable broadband connection straight away. Singal strength is impressive with this router, due to the built-in amplifier. Plays well with most wireless adaptors, getting a signal at even 20 metres in testing conditions. If you use one of Buffalo's High Power PC Card's or High-Speed USB 2.0 Adapters (above), the signal is even better! Configuration pages are relatively simple, with an advanced section for the more adept users. Security is not switched on by default, though, and there's no prompt to use it when you're setting up. So you need to get in to the configuration pages after you've got everything up and running, and switch on WPA or WEP security. Luckily the firewall is switched on by default. This wireless router has something called AOSS (Buffallo's Airstation OneTouch Secure System). This automatically transmits wireless settings, and works well with Buffalo's own wireless adaptors, as well as Centrino laptops. Positve Points Negative points Built-in Amplifier Easy set up Detects your cable connection Great wireless performance Works well with most wireless adaptors but especualy well with the two mentioned above Score Computer Shopper magazine score - 5 stars out of 5 Home and Learn Score - 5 out 5 All in all, a top pick! This is a good router to buy if you've ever had problems with wireless signals in the past. A recommended all-rounder, and still competes well with all the MIMO and Pre N routers currently flooding the market. Works especially well when you use one of the wirless adaptors mentioned above (Buffalo's High Power PC Card). <<- Previous Wireless Router and Adaptor <--Back to the Beginner's Computing Contents Page View all our Home Study Computer Courses No prompts for security when setting up Newer models coming out

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The Windows XP Start Menu

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How to create a Desktop Shortcut in Windows XP

Right click on the menu item to see a new menu appear:

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Windows XP Tutorials: The Windows Explorer

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How to Create a New Folder in Windows XP

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Windows XP Tutorials: Moving Folders on your Hard Drive

Cut and Paste Moving

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Copying from a CD to a Hard Drive in Windows XP

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Finding Files in Windows XP

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How to change your Windows XP Desktop Wallpaper

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Setting a Screen Saver in Windows XP

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How to Zip Files with WinZip

Zip a file you want to send to somebody else

Unzip a file that has been sent to you

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The Windows 7 Desktop

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Desktop Backgrounds and Wallpapers

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The Windows 7 Taskbar

Quick Launch Icons

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The result is a new icon in the Quick Launch area:

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