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Look here for all the details on those great hints and tips that Doug Brauner talks about on Good Day Sacramento - computers, around the house, cars and more!****Windows 98 Password Trick****Press the ESC key at the logon dialog box.Open the MS-DOS prompt windowType dir*.PWLDelete the .PWL file with your name in front of itReboot and add new password.BETTER SEARCHINGWhen using a search engine, Yahoo & Google are good choices, be specific as possible. For example, if you want info on Blueberry pancakes type in the question, "How do I make Blueberry pancakes?" Also, if you're looking for info on, let's say, Bill Clinton and Ken Starr, use a plus (+) sign. Type: +Clinton+StarrThis will give you only pages that include both names.Also, try logging onto www.metacrawler.com. This will allow you to search multiple engines all at once.PERSONALIZE YOUR EMAIL WITH YOUR SIGNATUREStart by clicking on "Outlook". Then click on "Tools". Click on "Options", click on "Mail Format", then click on "Signatures". Create your signature. Then click "Okay".COLOR-CODE MESSAGESYou can have Outlook show messages from specific people - your boss, your spouse, your most important clients - in colors that stands out from the crowd. To specify a color for a particular individual, open your in-box, select a message from that sender, and choose Tools Organized to open Ways To Organize In-box. Choose Using Colors, and fill in the blanks to Color Messages from or to the particular individual in your choice of color. You can also use this to color messages temporarily to help pick a specific message out of a full in-box. To turn the color-coding off, scroll up in the color field and select Auto.MICROSOFT HIDDEN MESSAGESMicrosoft engineers build-in hidden messages: Go to your Screen Saver tab and select the 3D Text. Click Settings- and change the text-box to read 'volcano' (no quotes), then click OK. Now your screen saver will display the names of volcanos near Microsoft buildings.(Which might not be so trivial if you're a neighbor of, or work in, a Microsoft facility!)CHANGE THAT OLD, BORING, CURSOR!Begin by downloading any cursor icon you'd like..(there are thousands to be found by using the search criteria "cursor download"). Then save the icon, and from the start button, go to settings, then control panel, then mouse, then pointers. From there, browse for the folder that you saved your cursor in, and apply the new cursor...and you're ready to go! MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENT HAS THE PERFECT NOTEBOOK FOR BACK TO SCHOOL! Most back-to-school notebook computers should have the following hardware specs: 128 MB RAM DVD Drive 10 GB Hard Drive Pentium III Processor (or higher)Zip Drive And don't forget that extra Battery! JUMP START THAT DEAD BATTERY SAFELY!Make sure that the two cars are not touching. Both cars should be shut off. Lay out your cables on the ground, do not let any of the cable ends touch eachother. Connect one positive cable to the positive end of the bad battery. Attach the opposite positive cable to the positive terminal on the good battery. Now attach the negative cable to the negative post on the good battery. Finally, attach the remaining negative cable to THE ENGINE BLOCK OR FRAME of the car with the dead battery. Start the car with the good battery, let run for several seconds, now start the car with the bad battery. Remove the cables by reversing the process. GET RID OF THOSE POP UP WINDOW ADVERTISING! Unwanted adverstisng is annoying, but if you use AOL, there's hope! Eliminate those pop-up windows easily. Here's how: From MY AOL, select PREFERENCES, then click on MARKETING, select CONTINUE, and then click on POP UP WINDOW, and deselect the option. HOW'S YOUR CYBER SPEAK? It's spoken all the time in chat rooms and while using instant messenger. Cyber speak. Here are some of the most common terms! brb-Be right back./cuz-Because./cya-See you later./ho-Hold on./J/C-Just Chilling./J/K-Just Kidding./oic-Oh, I see./ttyl-Talk to you later./rotflol-I'm rolling on the floor, laughing out loud! GET RID OF THAT SPAM! If you use America Online, a great way to reduce unwanted e-mail is to open AOL, use the keyword "choices", and then select all of your e-mail and marketing preferences. You'll be amazed at the reduction of all that junk e-mail. SUPERCHARGE THAT P-C! If you'd like to increase the speed of your p-c, utilize the System Wizard! From the START tab, open PROGRAMS, then ACCESSORIES, and then SYSTEM TOOLS. From there, select MAINTENANCE WIZARD. Perform the tests, including the disk defragmentor, and you may restore some lost performance. CLEAR OUT THOSE PESKY COOKIES! If you'd like to make more space available on your disk drive, clear those cookies by clicking on START, and then click on SETTINGS and CONTROL PANEL. Here, you want to select INTERNET OPTIONS, from here click on DELETE FILES, and then click on SETTINGS. From here, you want to VIEW FILES. These are all of your stored cookies. If you'd like to delete them, select them all, and then hit DELETE. INCREASE YOUR SECURITY ON THE WEB To view your security level that you surf the web with, click on start, open settings, and click on control panel. From there, select internet options, and then click on the security tab. Select the levelof security that best suits your browsing habits. GET RID OF THOSE TRAY ICONS! If you'd like to free up some system resources, from the "start" button, type in "msconfig" in the "Run" function. From there, select "startup", and then deselect tray icons that are not needed. When in doubt, leave an item checked if you are not sure of its function. IF YOU WANT TO RID THOSE COOKIES FROM YOUR COMPUTING DIET, FOLLOW THESE INTRUCTIONS. To keep websites from placing and storing cookies on your hard drive, click the "start" button, and click on "settings". From there, click on "control panel" and then on " internet options". From there, select the "advanced" tab, and find and click the appropriate boxes for cookie function. By clicking here, you can stop all cookies from being stored, but remember, that may make your web surfing a little slower than normal. TIRED OF ALL THAT "MOUSING"? HERE ARE SOME TIPS THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO USE YOUR KEYBOARD INSTEAD.To turn on the MouseKeys,from the control panel, open the Accesbility Properties box. Click the Mouse tab. Under Mousekeys, selct the Use Mousekeys check box. You can now use the keys on the numeric pad on the keyboard to move your cursor. ARE YOU CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT ALL THOSE KEYS DO ON YOUR COMPUTER? HERE ARE SOME TIPS!The next time you need some extra "help" figuring out how a particular progeam works, trying pressing the "F1" button. This will shortcut you directly to the "help" feature. The "F3" button is a shortcut that will immediately open the "find files" box. This can be very helpful when looking for a particular file or document that you've saved. The "PRINT SCREEN" button has changed over the years. Although it will no longer "print" your page, pressing it will immediately save the screen image onto your clipboard viewer. Try pressing it, and then open the clipboard viewer. Once you do, you will now be able to print the image, or e-mail it, or save it to your hard drive. It's very helpful if you want to print web pages.