(Tech Tip) Daily Tips and Tricks

[Ronn]

I will be posting some "Tips and Tricks" updated Daily under this thread.

[Ronn]

By Guy Hart-Davis
06/26/2006

Your iPod's battery is a lithium polymer that's rated for 500 or more charging cycles. (A charging cycle is a full discharge--that is, when you run the battery all the way down until it has no charge left and follow it with a full charge.) If you recharge your iPod's battery every other day, 500 charges should last you the best part of three years (though some claim you'll get only about 18 months). If you recharge your iPod's battery less frequently, there's a good chance the battery will outlast the hard drive. Here's how to get the longest life possible.

Don't let the battery die completely
To get the most life out of your battery, don't let it discharge fully--that is, don't run it until it's dead. However little you use your iPod, recharge it fully at least once every three weeks to prevent the battery from going flat. If you go on vacation for a month, you should take your iPod with you and recharge it during that time. (But you were going to take your iPod with you on vacation anyway, weren't you?)

Reduce demands on the battery

* Play your music by album or by playlist, rather than hopping from one track to another. Remember that your iPod can cache an album or playlist to minimize the time the hard disk is spinning. But when you ask your iPod to produce another track it hasn't cached, it has to spin up the hard disk and access the song.

* Use AAC or MP3 files rather than WAV or AIFF (Mac users only) files. Because WAVs and AIFFs are uncompressed and, therefore, much bigger than compressed files, they prevent your iPod from using its cache effectively, so the hard disk has to work much harder.

* Minimize your use of the backlight or turn it off completely. To control the backlight, go to Settings > Backlight Timer. Here, you can designate the amount of time you want the backlight to remain on (2, 5, 10, or 20 seconds), set it to Always On (not recommended, obviously, for saving your battery), or for maximum conservation, just turn it off.

[Ronn]

BASIC SHORTCUT KEYS
The below basic shortcut keys are a listing of shortcut keys that will work with almost all IBM compatible computers and software programs. It is highly recommended that all users keep a good reference of the below short cut keys and/or try to memorize the below keys. Doing so will dramatically increase your productivity.

Shortcut Keys Description
Alt + F File menu options in current program.
Alt + E Edit options in current program
F1 Universal Help in almost ever Windows program.
Ctrl + A Select all text.
Ctrl + X Cut selected item.
Shift + Del Cut selected item.
Ctrl + C Copy selected item.
Ctrl + Ins Copy selected item
Ctrl + V Paste
Shift + Ins Paste
Home Goes to beginning of current line.
Ctrl + Home Goes to beginning of document.
End Goes to end of current line.
Ctrl + End Goes to end of document.
Shift + Home Highlights from current position to beginning of line.
Shift + End Highlights from current position to end of line.
Ctrl + Left arrow Moves one word to the left at a time.
Ctrl + Right arrow Moves one word to the right at a time.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS SHORTCUT KEYS
If you're looking for shortcut keys or information about how to navigate Microsoft Windows using your keyboard instead of the mouse see document CH000791.

Shortcut Keys Operating System Description
Alt + Tab 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Switch between open applications.
Alt + Shift + Tab 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Switch backwards between open applications.
Alt + Print Screen 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Create a screen shot only for the program you are currently in.
Ctrl + Alt + Del 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Reboot the computer and/or bring up the Windows task manager.
Ctrl + Esc 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Bring Up start menu.
Alt + Esc 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Switch Between open applications on taskbar.
F2 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Renames selected Icon.
F3 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Starts find from desktop.
F4 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Opens the drive selection when browsing.
F5 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Refresh Contents.
Alt + F4 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Closes Current open program.
Ctrl + F4 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Closes Window in Program.
Ctrl + 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Automatically adjust the widths of all the columns
in Windows explorer (the '+' key on the keypad)
Alt + Enter 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Opens properties window of selected icon or program.
Shift + F10 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Simulates right-click on selected item.
Shift + Del 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Delete programs/files without throwing into the recycle bin.
Holding Shift 3.X / 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP Boot safe mode or by pass system files.
Holding Shift 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 / XP When putting in an audio CD, will prevent CD Player from playing.

WINDOWS KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Below is a listing of Windows keys that can be used on computers running a Microsoft Windows operating system and using a keyboard with a Windows key. In the below list of shortcuts, the Windows key is represented by "WINKEY". If you are looking for Windows shortcut keys, see the above Microsoft Windows shortcut key section.

Shortcut Keys Description
WINKEY + D Brings the desktop to the top of all other windows.
WINKEY + M Minimizes all windows.
WINKEY + SHIFT + M Undo the minimize done by WINKEY + M and WINKEY + D.
WINKEY + E Open Microsoft Explorer.
WINKEY + Tab Cycle through open programs through the taskbar.
WINKEY + F Display the Windows Search / Find feature.
WINKEY + CTRL + F Display the search for computers window.
WINKEY + F1 Display the Microsoft Windows help.
WINKEY + R Open the run window.
WINKEY + Pause Brk Open the system properties window.
WINKEY + U Open Utility Manager.
WINKEY + L Lock the computer (Windows XP and above only).

EXCEL SHORTCUT KEYS
See our Microsoft Excel page for additional help and information.

Shortcut Keys Description
F2 Edit the selected cell.
F5 Goto a specific cell. For example, C6.
F7 Spell check selected text and/or document.
F11 Create chart.
Ctrl + Shift + ; Enter the current time.
Ctrl + ; Enter the current date.
Alt + Shift + F1 Insert New Worksheet.
Shift + F3 Open the Excel formula window.
Shift + F5 Bring up search box.
Ctrl + A Select all contents of the worksheet.
Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + I Italic highlighted selection.
Ctrl + K Insert link.
Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + 5 Strikethrough highlighted selection.
Ctrl + P Bring up the print dialog box to begin printing.
Ctrl + Z Undo last action.
Ctrl + F9 Minimize current window.
Ctrl + F10 Maximize currently selected window.
Ctrl + F6 Switch between open workbooks / windows.
Ctrl + Page up Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel document.
Ctrl + Page down Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel document.
Ctrl + Tab Move between Two or more open Excel files.
Alt + = Create a formula to sum all of the above cells
Ctrl + ' Insert the value of the above cell into cell currently selected.
Ctrl + Shift + ! Format number in comma format.
Ctrl + Shift + $ Format number in currency format.
Ctrl + Shift + # Format number in date format.
Ctrl + Shift + % Format number in percentage format.
Ctrl + Shift + ^ Format number in scientific format.
Ctrl + Shift + @ Format number in time format.
Ctrl + Arrow key Move to next section of text.
Ctrl + Space Select entire column.
Shift + Space Select entire row.

WORD SHORTCUT KEYS
See our Microsoft Word page for additional help and information.

Shortcut Keys Description
Ctrl + A Select all contents of the page.
Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + C Copy selected text.
Ctrl + X Cut selected text.
Ctrl + P Open the print window.
Ctrl + F Open find box.
Ctrl + I Italic highlighted selection.
Ctrl + K Insert link.
Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + V Paste.
Ctrl + Y Redo the last action performed.
Ctrl + Z Undo last action.
Ctrl + L Aligns the line or selected text to the left of the screen.
Ctrl + E Aligns the line or selected text to the center of the screen.
Ctrl + R Aligns the line or selected text to the right of the screen.
Ctrl + M Indent the paragraph.
Ctrl + Shift + F Change the font.
Ctrl + Shift + > Increase selected font +1pts up to 12pt and then increases font +2pts.
Ctrl + ] Increase selected font +1pts.
Ctrl + Shift + < Decrease selected font -1pts if 12pt or lower, if above 12 decreases font by +2pt.
Ctrl + [ Decrease selected font -1pts.
Ctrl + Shift + * View or hide non printing characters.
Ctrl + <left arrow> Moves one word to the left.
Ctrl + <right arrow> Moves one word to the right.
Ctrl + <up arrow> Moves to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
Ctrl + <down arrow> Moves to the end of the paragraph.
Ctrl + Del Deletes word to right of cursor.
Ctrl + Backspace Deletes word to left of cursor.
Ctrl + End Moves the cursor to the end of the document.
Ctrl + Home Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document.
Ctrl + Spacebar Reset highlighted text to the default font.
Ctrl + 1 Single-space lines.
Ctrl + 2 Double-space lines.
Ctrl + 5 1.5-line spacing.
Ctrl + Alt + 1 Changes text to heading 1.
Ctrl + Alt + 2 Changes text to heading 2.
Ctrl + Alt + 3 Changes text to heading 3.
Ctrl + F1 Open the Task Pane.
F1 Open Help.
Shift + F3 Change the case of the selected text.
Shift + Insert Paste.
F4 Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
F5 Open goto window.
F7 Spell check selected text and/or document.
Shift + F7 Activate the thesaurus.
F12 Save as.
Shift + F12 Save.
Alt + Shift + D Insert the current date.
Alt + Shift + T Insert the current time.

Mouse Shortcuts Description
Click, hold, and drag Selects text from where you click and hold to the point you drag and let go.
Double-click If double-click a word, selects the complete word.
Double-click Double-clicking on the left, center, or right of a blank line will make the alignment of the text left, center, or right aligned.
Double-click Double-clicking anywhere after text on a line will set a tab stop.
Triple-click Selects the line or paragraph of the text the mouse triple-clicked.
Ctrl + Mouse wheel Zooms in and out of document.

INTERNET EXPLORER SHORTCUT KEYS
See our Microsoft Internet Explorer page for additional help and information.

Shortcut Keys Description
Alt + Left Arrow Back a page.
Alt + Right Arrow Forward a page.
F5 Refresh current page / frame.
F11 Display the current website in full screen mode. Pressing F11 again will exit this mode.
Esc Stop page or download from loading.
Ctrl + Enter Quickly complete an address. For example, type computerhope in the address bar and press CTRL + ENTER to get http://www.computerhope.com.
Ctrl + N Open New browser window.
Ctrl + P Print current page / frame.
Spacebar Moves down a page at a time.
Shift + Spacebar Moves up a page at a time.

OUTLOOK SHORTCUT KEYS
See our Microsoft Outlook page for additional help and information.

Shortcut Keys Description
Alt + S Send the e-mail
Ctrl + C Copy selected text.
Ctrl + X Cut selected text.
Ctrl + P Paste selected text.
Ctrl + K Complete the name and/or e-mail being typed in the e-mail address bar.
Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + I Italic highlighted selection
Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + R Reply to an e-mail.
Ctrl + F Forward an e-mail.
Ctrl + N Create a new e-mail.
Ctrl + Shift + A Create a new appointment to your calendar.
Ctrl + Shift + O Open the Outbox.
Ctrl + Shift + I Open the Inbox.
Ctrl + Shift + K Add a new task.
Ctrl + Shirt + C Create a new contact.
Ctrl + Shift + J Create a new journal entry.

[Ronn]

By Peter A. Bromberg, Ph.D.

Tip Number One:

The first thing you must do to generate a productive search is think. You need to think about what it is you really want. You really have to search Google for the words or phrases that will be on the page you want, not for a description of the page or website. So if you are looking for a comparative review of wireless telephones, you will probably get more results from a list of names such as SmartPhone, Audiovox, Motorola, and so on, than the words "comparative review of wireless phones".

Tip Number Two:

Use Quotation marks to force finding a specific phrase. When you surround your phrase with quotation marks, the search engine will only return results exactly matching the entire phrase. This is an extremely powerful search technique, and yet it is not used by the majority of web searchers. If you search on the two words George and Washington, you will get over 8 million results. If you put quotation marks around the entire name, your results will be restricted to about 3 million. And if your search is on "George Washington" "Cherry Tree", you will only get about 12,600 results. You get the picture. This is especially important if your search contains what are called "stop words" - words that Google is designed to ignore, such as "and" "of" and "the". By including these inside your quoted phrase, you will get more targeted search results.

Tip Number Three:

Use the Plus (+) and Minus (-) Signs. The plus sign just before a search term means "This MUST be found in the search". Conversely, if you find a lot of search results that include a specific product, word, phrase, or item that you do not want to see, you can put a minus sign before that word or phrase, and those results will be excluded from your search. You can even exclude domains or top-level domains from your search - see the site: command below.

Tip Number Four:

Use the Asterisk (*) As a WildCard search term. Yes, you can insert an asterisk in your search phrase and it will act as a wild card matching any word in that place in the phrase. Not only that, but you can insert more than one asterisk in place of more than one word in your search phrase, up to the limit of ten search words - and the wild card markers are not counted toward this ten word limit.

Tip Number Five:

Use the site: command. If you are interested in finding examples of the term XMLHttp, but only on eggheadcafe.com, then you can create a search like this: site:eggheadcafe.com XMLHTTP This will restrict your search to only pages belonging to that web site. You will notice that in regular Google searches, if there are more than two results from that site, the second result will be indented and there will be a link "More results from ..." - this automatically uses the site: qualifier. Also, you can search or exclude whole domains. For example, you can search for tampopo dvd site:co.uk or tampopo dvd -site:com (Tampopo is a wonderful Japanese noodle western spoof by director Juzo Itami that is sure to be enjoyed by Americans. If you really want to get educated IMHO, try to avoid watching films out of Hollywood, as they generally stink).

Tip Number Six:

Use the operators. Besides the site: command, Google understands a range of operators that include filetype: (eg doc, xls, or pdf), intext: and allintext:, intitle: and allintitle:, inurl: and allinurl:, author: (in Google Groups) and location: (in Google News). Google also understands a logical OR, provided it is upper case. This means you can search for a bar in Orlando OR Miami for example. It is useful when targets of searches have alternative or variable spellings: outsourcing bombay OR mumbai. The OR command can be shortened to a vertical bar (|), as in outsourcing bombay | mumbai. Another way of adding alternatives is to use a tilde character (~). Thus if you search for ~food, Google also searches for cooking, cuisine, nutrition, recipes and restaurants. You have a lot of power and flexibility; you just have to make some notes and learn the language that the search engine understands so that you can speak to it. The search engine doesn't get mad or take offense - provided that you know its language, it will do exactly what you tell it to!

Tip Number Seven:

Use the Advanced Search Page. Fortunately, you don't need to memorize all of the above tricks, since they are conveniently offered to you in various combinations in the Advanced Search option which is always available from the main Google search page.

Tip Number Eight:

Use Google Groups. Google has the most complete archive of usenet and other news posts going back over 20 years. By simply switching tabs from Web to Groups, your search term(s) will be repeated on the Groups archives. I cannot stress how valuable this can be- many, many times when I have not found a proper result on the web, by simply switching to Google Groups I've been able to find exactly what I was looking for.

Tip Number Nine:

Use new advanced search features. Google has a number of new features including Google Local, Google News (news items from newspapers and other publications around the globe), Froogle - which searches for the best prices on products, and the Dictionary - to get the spelling and / or definition of a word. In fact, if you may have misspelled a word in your search, Google's dictionary will remind you with a link that says "Did you really mean XXX?" and clicking that link will correct your search. Google also provides an Images search facility that brings back results filled with actual images on web pages that match your search terms. One of the lastest new offerings as of this writing in October, 2004, is a mobile SMS search that allows you to send an SMS message to google with your search terms for a restaurant and zipcode, somebody's name and address, or whatever, and get back the results to your cellphone in seconds. I've used it, and it works great. You can even get driving directions. Here's a table with a listing of links to some of the Google advanced search features:

• Cached Links
View a snapshot of each page as it looked when we indexed it.
• Calculator
Use Google to evaluate mathematical expressions.
• Definitions
Use Google to get glossary definitions gathered from various online sources.
• File Types
Search for non-HTML file formats including PDF documents and others.
• Froogle
To find a product for sale online, use Froogle - Google's product search service.
• I'm Feeling Lucky
Bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query.
• Local Search - New!
Search for local businesses and services in the U.S. and Canada.
• News Headlines
Enhances your search results with the latest related news stories.
• PhoneBook
Look up U.S. street address and phone number information.
• Search By Number
Use Google to access package tracking information, US patents, and a variety of online databases.
• Similar Pages
Display pages that are related to a particular result.
• Site Search
Restrict your search to a specific site.
• Spell Checker
Offers alternative spelling for queries.
• Stock Quotes
Use Google to get stock and mutual fund information.
• Street Maps
Use Google to find U.S. street maps.
• Travel Information
Check the status of an airline flight in the U.S. or view airport delays and weather conditions.
• Web Page Translation
Provides English speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages.
• Who Links To You?
Find all the pages that point to a specific URL.

Tip Number Ten:

Use the Google API. Google has an API with a WSDL webservices proxy class generator for developers that allows you to incorporate the power of Google search into your own applications. It's free, and all you need to do is download the SDK and request a free license key. Now that I think of it, Amazon also has a very fine API that now includes the Alexa search engine which provides some very useful statistical information about URLs and web crawler searches from the Alexa engine, so Google "ain't the only game in town".

[Ronn]

http://www.getsafeonline.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1151

Wi-Fi (wireless) networks are vulnerable to eavesdropping, hackers and freeloaders. Like any radio transmission, anyone in range can pick up the signal or transmit on the same frequency. This means that wireless networks are at risk from:
* Eavesdropping – listening to the information as it is transmitted over the air. This means that information on the network must be encrypted
* Hacking – anyone in range can connect to the network. This means that the network must be restricted to known and trusted users and computers.
* Freeloading – where a wireless network is used to share a broadband internet connection, there is a risk that unauthorised users will use your connection without permission.

How to protect a wireless network:
* Use encryption. WPA2 is the best but is generally only available on the latest hardware. WPA-PSK is the next best and is available on most hardware. Failing either of these, for example if you are using older access points and network cards, use WEP.
* Use access points only rather than ad-hoc, peer-to-peer networks. Access points give more control.
* Make sure that every computer on the network has a desktop firewall (see Use a firewall).
* Use public access points with care (see Use public computers carefully).
* Switch off SSID broadcast. The SSID is the name of the wireless network.
* Choose an obscure SSID name. With SSID broadcast switched off, an obscure SSID will make it harder for a hacker to guess.
* Use a strong password to access the wireless access point (see Use strong passwords).
* If your access point allows it, restrict wireless access to the hours that you are likely to use it.
* Use MAC filtering. Each network card has a unique code called a MAC address. You can set access points to restrict access to certain, trusted MAC addresses. This will restrict people’s ability to freeload.

[Ronn]

By Kirk Steers

When it comes to your PC, looks definitely matter. Tiny text, blurry images, and flickering screens aren't just annoying, they can lead to eyestrain, lost productivity, and a bill from the glazier for replacing the window you toss your monitor through out of frustration. But you don't have to give your display the heave-ho: A few simple adjustments to your graphics card and other Windows settings can ensure peak visual performance.

Your PC's graphics card is controlled by its Windows driver, so get the latest driver release for your board. To see what version you have, right-click the desktop and choose Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box, then click Settings, Advanced, Adapter (in Windows XP, also select Properties, Driver).

Visit your graphics-card vendor's Web site to download the most recent version of the driver, but don't install beta drivers. These are works in progress that may cause more trouble than they're worth. (See "Keep Your Hardware Upgrades Hassle-Free" and read the "Get a fresh start" section for more information on updating your driver in Windows XP.)

Sight-Saving Settings

Here are a few settings that should be available for all graphics drivers.

Resolution: This is the number of dots--or pixels (short for "picture elements")--displayed on your screen. The higher the resolution, the more dots per inch, and the sharper the displayed image (if your monitor supports the higher resolution). High resolutions increase the processing demands on your graphics board and PC.

The graphics cards in most computers made in the last three or four years support resolutions of at least 1024 by 768--meaning the screen image is composed of an orthogonal array 1024 pixels across and 768 pixels tall--and some support screen resolutions as high as 1600 by 1200. However, many older systems, as well as some newer budget systems, have a top resolution of only 800 by 600.

To adjust screen resolution, open Display Properties and click Settings. Slide the 'Screen area' or 'Screen resolution' bar to a higher (More) or lower (Less) resolution. Though higher resolutions improve image quality, they also shrink icons, text, and other on-screen objects. Experiment to find the setting that's right for you. For most people, 1024 by 768 is the highest resolution they can read easily on a 17-inch CRT monitor.

Color depth: This setting is the number of colors that your graphics card supports. The more colors available for use, the more realistic the image, but again, the more colors on your screen, the greater the processing demands on your system.

Your graphics card's color-depth settings are listed in Display Properties under the Settings tab on the Colors drop-down menu ('Color quality' in Windows XP). Each is named for the number of bits it assigns to each pixel: True Color (also called 24-bit color) makes 16,777,216 colors available, while High Color (16 bits) supports 65,536 colors. At lower than 16-bit color, your images may suffer. Many drivers no longer offer 8-bit (256 colors) or 15-bit (32,536 colors) settings.

New PCs often support 32-bit color, which offers the same 16 million-plus colors as True Color. The extra 8 bits control image opacity. This is useful in fast-moving 3D games but of little help in most business apps.

Refresh rate: Expressed in hertz, or cycles per second, this tells how often the phosphors that glow to create an image on a CRT screen are reenergized--that is, the times per second that the screen's image is redrawn. A refresh rate that's too low can cause annoying screen flicker. Even if you don't see the flicker, slow refreshes can cause eyestrain and headaches.

Conventional wisdom says your refresh rate should be no less than 72 Hz. Some experts say the minimum rate is 80 Hz. Try different refresh rates until you find the one that works for you. Note that if your refresh rate is too high, you could lose image opacity. Still, few of us can discern rates higher than 85 Hz.

To adjust your screen's refresh rate in Windows XP, open Display Properties and click Settings, Advanced, Adapter, List All Modes. Pick a combination of refresh rate, screen resolution, and color depth from the list of supported values .

To change your refresh rate in other versions of Windows, open Display Properties and then click Settings, Advanced, Adapter. Select an option from the 'Refresh rate' drop-down menu. If you see no options there, however, your graphics board and monitor don't support multiple refresh rates.

Even in that case, you might be able to increase your display's refresh rate by decreasing your screen resolution or your color depth. All three specs compete for graphics-processing capacity, so if your graphics system is running at its maximum, try increasing one setting and lowering another. For example, reducing color depth from 32-bit to 16-bit--no big deal if you never look at photos--may free up enough processing power to let you bump your refresh rate from an annoying 60 Hz to an eye-pleasing 72 Hz. Or you may be able to increase resolution from 800 by 600 to 1024 by 768. There's no guarantee, but these tricks might work.

Windows automatically sets your screen refresh rate to a safe but slow 60 Hz when it can't detect your monitor. To confirm that Windows XP correctly recognizes your monitor, open Display Properties and click Settings, Advanced, Monitor. If your monitor isn't listed under 'Monitor type', download and install the device's driver from the manufacturer's Web site.

In other versions of Windows, verify that Plug and Play is enabled. Make sure your monitor is listed under 'Display' on the Settings tab in Display Properties , and then click Advanced, Monitor. Verify that Automatically detect Plug & Play monitors is checked. If it isn't, select it and then reset your refresh rate to a level that is higher than Windows' default 60 Hz.

DirectX: This Windows component controls multimedia functions. To check your current DirectX version, click Start, Run, type dxdiag, and click OK. Choose the System tab and look under System Information on the lower part of the screen . DirectX 9 is the latest version; if you don't have it, download it from Microsoft.
Touch Those Dials!

You can improve the image quality of your monitor via its built-in controls. The options vary by display manufacturer and model, but you should find brightness and other controls on most monitors.

Adjust brightness and contrast: Use this gray-scale image on your screen. Be sure you can see as many of the image's 17 shades as possible; the two or three darkest may be tough to view in a bright room.

Center and align: Few monitors come straight from the factory with optimal screen geometry. Use your monitor's screen-placement controls to center your displayed image, keep its edges straight, and minimize unfilled screen space.

To avoid eyestrain and other physical problems, put the top of the screen at eye level and at arm's length from your head (your best position may vary). Orient your screen to avoid glare from lights and windows. If that's not possible, get a glare filter such as Kensington's $34 GlareMaster.

Clean it: Gently wipe your screen with a soft, lightly moistened cloth. Unless the monitor is really filthy, avoid cleaning solutions, which can damage delicate screen coatings. Clean the dust from the cooling vents in the monitor's case; overheating is your display's lethal enemy.
Graphics Triage

If your screen goes blank, the problem is likely due to a disconnected monitor cable, an unplugged power cord, or a too-low brightness setting. Monitors do die, however. If you smell something burning or hear popping sounds, your monitor could be failing--turn it off immediately. Monitors have been known to spontaneously combust.

Corrupted graphics drivers cause all kinds of PC problems. To check for a damaged graphics driver, install the plain-vanilla VGA driver that comes with Windows. If your troubles disappear, reinstall a clean copy of the monitor's original driver, or an updated version.

Some graphics boards don't work or play well with other hardware devices. Windows allows you to disable graphics-acceleration functions for the sake of compatibility. Open Display Properties and click Settings, Advanced, Troubleshooting in Windows XP and 2000, or Settings, Advanced, Performance in Windows 98 and Me. Move the slider under 'Hardware acceleration' to the left to disable your graphics acceleration.

A shaking or shimmering image on your screen may be due to nearby magnetic fields. Keep clocks and other appliances that use electric motors, and those that use a lot of electricity (such as microwave ovens), far from your monitor. Power lines behind walls can cause interference, so try moving the display away from nearby walls.

If your screen image is washed in blue, red, or green, check for a loose cable connecting your graphics board to your monitor. Look for bent pins inside the cable connector; you can often straighten them with needle-nose pliers. If on-screen objects have a rainbow cast, some monitors have convergence controls that you can use to tune the image.

[Ronn]

By Philip

This article provides some general tweaking information relevant to Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Server. If you're looking for broadband-specific information, please visit the broadband section of the site.

Turn off Indexing Service

Indexing Service creates indexes of the contents and properties of all files on local and network drives in order to increase file searching speed. It's quite similar to "Find Fast" that ships with Microsoft Office. Indexing Service runs continuously and can slow down your PC's general performance because it has to index files continuously. If you don't need slightly faster file searches, the feature can be safely turned off. Note: Indexing Service is turned on by default for all NTFS partitions.

Turning this service off to increase overall performance: Open My Computer -> right-click on a Drive icon -> Select Properties -> Remove the checkmark from "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching" -> Click Apply. Make sure to select "Apply changes to :\, subfolders and files." before clicking OK in the new window.

Alternatively, you can navigate to: Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Disable Indexing Services.



Disable Paging Of Core Files

You can improve Core System Performance in Windows NT/2k/2k3 on systems with large amount of RAM, by forcing the core Windows system files to be kept in memory and not paged to disk.

To appply this tweak, open the Registry and edit the value in the key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management

To enable: DisablePagingExecutive=dword:00000001 (Data Type: REG_DWORD, set to 1 to enable tweak and stop core processes from being paged to disk)
To disable: DisablePagingExecutive=dword:00000000 (Data Type: REG_DWORD, set to 0 to disable tweak, this is the Windows default setting)

Note: In Windows 2000, there is a bug with enabling this tweak, you might need to update to the latest Service Pack, or install the hotfix described by MS here: MS KB Article 32605



Disable unnecessary Services

Services are programs that start with Windows and continuously run in the background, helping the OS with different functionality. Not all services that load by default are needed, you can disable some to free some resources and speed up your system in general. You should go through the list and read the descriptions to decide which services you need depending on what you use your computer for... You can always turn the service back on if and when you find need for it. Here is the procedure to turn off a service:

1. Navigate to: Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
Alternatively, you can do START -> Run -> and type services.msc

2. Left-click on a service and read its' description carefully. Turning off services disables some particular functionality of the OS, so make sure you want to turn the particular service off.

3. To disable, Right-click -> Properties -> Change the "Startup Type" to "Manual" and Stop the service. Next time you reboot that particular service won't start.

Some Sample Services that can safely be turned off in most Home PCs:

Automatic Updates
Computer Browser
Error Reporting Service
Help and Support
Indexing Service
Messenger (pop-up spam vulnerability)
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Performance Logs and Alerts
Protected storage (stores passwords and enables ato-complete)
Remote Registry (remote access to your registry)
Routing and Remote Access (enables dial-in routing to your computer)
Secondary Logon
Task Scheduler
...

Notes:
To disable services, just stop them, and set them to "Manual". Check the Event Log for errors after rebooting.
For additional information on all services, and what they do, check: http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm



Temporary Administrative Permissions

Many programs require administrative rights to be able to install. Here is an easy way to temporarily assign yourself Administrative permissions while you remain logged in as a normal user:

1. Hold down the Shift key (might not be necessary on Win2k3) and right-click on the program, or the setup file.
2. Click "Run as"
3. Type in a username and password that have Administrative permissions.

Note: This will also work for applications in the Start menu.



Optimize the Pagefile

If you have more than one hard drive, it is a good idea to put your pagefile on the non-windows drives. Also, it is not a bad idea to set the pagefile to a constant size (1 to 2 times the available RAM), so it wont get fragmented.

Right-click on My Computer -> select Properties -> the Advanced tab -> Performance, Settings button -> Advanced tab, Virtual memory, Change button -> choose the drives and size available for pagefile(s).

I usually use a non-windows drive, and same Initial/Maximum size to avoid fragmentation of the pagefile. Another method to avoid fragmentation is to clear the pagefile on shutdown, by changing the following Registry setting:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown=1" (1 clears the pagefile at shutdown, 0 is the Windows default).

Related Resources:
MSKB 314834 (Windows XP)
MSKB 182086 (Windows 2000)



Fix Windows Explorer Slowdowns

Sometimes Windows Explorer can slow down to a crawl, here are a couple of tips to reclaim your resources:

1. Possible WIA and USB device issues, here is the solution: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;819017

2. Media files causing slowdowns, such as large number, and/or corrupt AVI files. Any Explorer operaion can lead to very high CPU usage and a seeming lockup of your computer. To resolve the issue:
Start > Run > type: Regedit
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D9 4-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}
And delete this key:
InProcServer32
Then unload the dynamic library with the following:
Start > Run > type: regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll

If you're running XP, you might also want to check this: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;822430

3. Reduce Shell Overhead: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;819101

4. Apply the LAN browsing tweak if you're on a network (and not using Netware):
Start > Run > type: Regedit
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr ent Version\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
Delete this key:
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}




Improve NTFS Performance

You can improve NTFS performance by stopping it from generating timestamps every time directories are accessed, and if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, by preventing NTFS from generating MS-DOS compatible filenames for all files with long filenames. Here are the two registry keys that you can modify:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\FileSystem
"NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001
"NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000001

Note: Applying the second line above (disabling truncated filename creation) might cause problems with some 16-bit applications. To resolve this, simply set the number back to "0"



Unload DLLs of Closed Applications

Windows does not always unload DLLS (Dynamic Link Libraries) used by programs from memory, even after the applications are closed. This default behavior causes more memory to be reserved for unused DLLs over time. This tweak sets Windows to automatically unload DLLs for closed applications from RAM, which speeds up GUI operation by freeing unused memory and returning it to the system.

To fix this and unload unnecessary DLLs, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\AlwaysUnloadDLL
and set the "Default" string to "1"

If the "AlwaysUnloadDLL" subkey does not exist, create it. To reverse the change, simply delete "AllwaysUnloadDLL". Alternatively, you can use the following registry files to apply/undo this tweak:
sg_unload_dll.reg
undo_sg_unload_dll.reg

Note: This tweak also works with Windows 9x. It is possible that unloading DLLs might cause some issues with some old 16-bit applications.