CP's Computer Help

How to Change the Internet Explorer Home Page

2010-01-26T18:00:00.001-06:00

Tired of the default msn.com home page when you open your browser? It is very simple to change. Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools and select Internet Options. In the Internet Options window that pops up the first item in the window is for Home Page. Enter in the home page of your choice. You also have an option to have multiple pages open on different tabs (in the newer versions of

Set your Computer to Automatically Lock after a Specific Amount of No Activity

2010-01-25T18:37:00.000-06:00

At work your user account is tied to many things. It may permit you to access folders that you should only have access to. It permits you to access folders that you are sharing with your department on a server. Many companies track your internet access. In order to protect yourself from getting into trouble for someone else's actions you should lock your computer while you are away from it.

How to Expand the Taskbar Buttons

2010-01-20T18:00:00.004-06:00

In Windows 7 your running programs are grouped together into buttons on the taskbar. If you liked the old Windows XP way of seeing these buttons spread out across the taskbar you can change it to be that way. Right click on the task bar and click properties. Select the drop down next to Taskbar buttons and select the option to combine when full or never combine. Click

Example of a Phishing Email

2010-01-18T18:00:00.002-06:00

This is a great example of a phishing email that you may have seen in your work or home email. As you can see the message appears to be very legitimate, it even had a return email address from chase. The person that sent this to me realized right away that the email was not sent to the address registered on the chase web site. It is recommended that a person has three email addresses: 1. Work 2

How to Change Power Setting in Windows 7

2010-01-15T19:01:00.003-06:00

If you use your computer frequently enough at home or at work you may need to adjust the power settings to meet your needs. I do not personally like wasting time waiting for my computer to come back up from being in suspend mode when I come back from a meeting or lunch. To change the setting first change your control panel settings from category view to icons: http://www.cpscomputerhelp.com/2009

How to Add the Run Command Back to the Start Menu

2010-01-14T18:00:00.004-06:00

In the newer version of windows the run line command has been taken away and essentially replaced with a search box. The search box works fine for me most of the time just trying to run simple commands. However, if you need to have the Run command line window shortcut here is how you put it back: Right click on the task bar across the bottom. Select properties. This opens the Taskbar and

Where did Show Desktop go in Windows 7?

2010-01-13T18:00:00.005-06:00

The show desktop icon has changed form and location from Windows XP to Windows 7. It is now at the lower right of the screen next to the clock as you can see in this picture: You can also use the keyboard shortcut to show desktop. Press the windows logo key (between Ctrl and Alt on the bottom left side of the keyboard) and the letter D at the same time. -CP's

Changing Windows 7 User Account Control Settings

2010-01-11T18:00:00.027-06:00

Tired of the screen dimming and a box popping up and asking you if you are sure that you want to install a program? These are your user account control settings in windows. It wants to make sure that you are aware of programs trying to make changes to your system that require administrator rights. For most people this is a pretty good idea, it gives you an opportunity to stop something from

Saving on Directory Assistance with Google 411

2010-01-08T18:00:00.002-06:00

Every day people spend money on Directory Assisted calls. At any company between cell phones and desk phones this can add up to thousands of dollars a year. From what I have seen, each call to directory service or 411 currently costs $1.79 from a cell phone. Google has a free directory assistance service for finding businesses that we can try called Google 411 (residential information is not

Must Have Chrome Extension for Google Mail (Gmail) Users

2010-01-07T18:12:00.001-06:00

Do you use Gmail's web portal for all of your email needs? If you do you may want to consider also using Google Chrome as your web browser. Normally if you clicked on an email link from within a web page your computer tries to open outlook express or whatever your default email program is. You would need to copy or type it into Gmail to send an email to that address. With the "Send From Gmail

How to Delete your Temporary Internet Files and Browsing History in Internet Explorer 8

2010-01-06T19:14:00.001-06:00

Deleting your temporary internet files and your browsing history is a pretty simple task. Temporary internet files are there to help cache pictures and such while you browse the internet so that the next time that you can load the page faster on subsequent web site visits. However, sometimes those files can clog up your computer's ability to move quickly because they become fragmented or there

Migrating to a New Computer?

2010-01-05T18:00:00.002-06:00

If you have decided to replace your clunker computer with a new one you will probably want to bring over your data from the old computer to the new computer. You should create a list of everything that you want to bring over. The following items will probably make your list: The My Documents folder. CD's of programs that you will need to reinstall on the new computer. (Programs that you use

Double Check Your Facebook Settings

2010-01-04T19:44:00.001-06:00

As you may already know Facebook has made changes to the default privacy settings. In order to make sure that you are not sharing all of your information and posts with the entire world check the following: Open your Facebook page. At the top right go to Settings. Select Privacy Settings from the drop down list. Start with Profile information and go down the list and make sure that you are

Happy New Year! A New Decade of Technology Awaits Us.

2010-01-03T21:42:00.003-06:00

The previous decade has brought us a number of advances in technology that we now take for granted today. The amount of data available to our fingertips makes it extremely easy to learn new things without having to go to the library. The ability to find that data through Google, now the world's most visited search engine. Windows XP took the place of Windows 98 as the standard computer operating

Where is my Microsoft Outlook Data File?

2009-12-21T18:00:00.002-06:00

When moving your information from one computer to another you may find it hard to track down the file on your computer that is holding all of your existing email and contacts. You may also want to use this to find your email data file to back it up. For whatever reason the default location for your personal folder file is in a hidden folder. The location of the default folder is: C:\Documents

Sharing Printers on your Home Network

2009-12-18T18:00:00.025-06:00

If you used the wizard in yesterday's post to share files on your computer with other computers on your network you have already also shared your printers. In the event that they aren't shared or you add a new printer that you need to share you will need to share it. Right click on your printer from within Printers and Faxes. Click on Sharing... A window very similar to the one to the left

Problems Sharing Information Between Computers

2009-12-17T18:00:00.033-06:00

In the event that the past few posts have not been able to help you in getting your computers to see each other on your home network you should consider trying the following. Warning! This may be simpler than trying to understand the past few posts. Open Control Panel. If you are still in Category View click on "Network and Internet Connections." Click on "Set up or change your home or small

Sharing Files from your Computer

2009-12-16T18:00:00.028-06:00

Yesterday I wrote about a common issue with your computers being able to see each other. What good is that if you can't share any files between them? If you have a "Shared Documents Folder" in "My Computer" right click it and select either "Sharing and Security" or "Properties" On the Sharing tab you will need to check the box for "Share this folder on the network" and if necessary "Allow

A Common Home Networking Issue

2009-12-15T18:00:00.002-06:00

There are a number of problems that occur when trying to connect computers together on a home network. Most people using broadband internet with multiple computers around the house have a router of some sort. Some common examples of these are the Linksys Wireless G Broadband Router or the D-Link Wireless 150 Router. If both computers can browse the internet but they are unable to see each

Encrypting a Hard Drive

2009-12-14T18:00:00.037-06:00

If you have a laptop you should definitely consider hard drive encryption for protecting your data or your company's data. Laptops are prone to theft because it is so easy to walk away with them. If your laptop is your main computer you most likely have information stored on it that you wouldn't want falling into the wrong hands. There are a number of pieces of software that you can use to do

Windows 7, the Newly Accepted Operating System

2009-12-11T18:00:00.000-06:00

So far, I have found that Windows 7 installs very easily. In the new installations that I have completed so far I've found that almost all of the hardware drivers are installing automatically. There are very few prompts throughout the install. This is a huge step for Microsoft considering that I shunned Vista because there were so many incompatibilities out of the box. We had to wait for all

Hosting Meetings with Microsoft SharedView

2009-12-10T18:00:00.044-06:00

I hear a lot of commercials for GoToMyPC and Webex but did you know that there is a nice little free app from Microsoft that allows up to 15 people to connect to your shared desktop? It is called Microsoft SharedView. I discovered this tool while poking around with the new Windows Live Spaces which is another great new tool for collaboration and document sharing with a team of people. The link

Erase Computer Before Disposal

2009-12-09T18:00:00.048-06:00

Whether you are tossing it in the trash or recycling your old computer you should erase the contents of the hard drive. We store a lot of personal information on our computers and it would be a shame if it were to fall into the wrong hands because you didn't properly clean off the hard drive. Simply deleting the files is not good enough. With the proper utilities data that is simply deleted

Windows 7 complaints rolling in - Dec. 9, 2009

2009-12-09T12:26:00.000-06:00

Windows 7 complaints rolling in - Dec. 9, 2009]I stumbled across this article today and the two biggest issues reported by the survey are problems with the installation and missing applets or components.The resolution to the first problem is very specific. If the Windows 7 Upgrade hangs or stalls at exactly 62% (not 61% or 90%) the solution to the problem can be found at:http://

Setting up a basic mail merge in Microsoft Word 2007

2009-12-08T18:00:00.043-06:00

Setting up a mail merge in Word 2007 is actually pretty simple. In this example we are going to use data that we have stored in an excel spreadsheet. As you can see in the picture you can also select from Outlook Contacts, which will probably be the most popular option, or simply type in a new list. I have provided example files below. In a document select the "Mailings" tab at the top