Since the Internet has become such an important factor in modern life, more attention is being paid to those who may have some physical disadvantage in order to ensure that everyone can use the Internet. Here is a Digital Web article on designing accessible pages.
Microsoft has a site that lists many useful links for helping the physically disadvantaged to use Windows.
The service that hosts this blog has experienced a number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks in recent weeks. These attacks badly disrupt the service causing a lot of trouble for thousands of Internet users. A DDOS uses a large number of computers to flood a service with requests and thus overwhelm it. Where do the lowlifes who do these attacks get all these computers? From you and me (actually not from me). Users who do not protect their computers become unwitting accomplices when they allow crackers to plant Trojan horses on their computer. Infected computers (AKA zombies) can be used for months or more without the unsuspecting owners being aware. If your computer is infected, it is not just your problem. You become a menace to us all. PLEASE keep your computer clean. Go to surfthenetsafely.com for details on how to have a safe computer.
Sometimes it is desired to give new names to a collection of files. Although the method is somewhat limited in the choice of names, Windows XP allows for a batch process that can speed things up.
Select the files you want to rename. It is a good idea to sort them by date or other criterion first since they will be renamed in sequence. If the files you want are not adjacent in the file list, hold down the Ctrl key and click each item to select it. Next, select Rename from the Task Pane or from the File menu. (If you are careful, you can also use the right-click context menu.) Type a new name ending in (1). For example, pictures from your London trip might start with London(1).jpg. Be careful not to change the extension. Then press the Enter key. The selected files will be named London(1).jpg, London(2).jpg, London(3).jpg, and so forth.
Sometimes it can happen that the mouse stops working. I will skip over all the standard steps such as checking the cable connections or making sure that the battery in your wireless mouse still functions. First you may want to close down the computer and here is the way to use the keyboard to exit or reboot.
Bring up the Start menu by pressing the Windows key or by the combination Control+Esc. Then select “Turn off computer” by pressing the Up arrow once, followed by Enter. Next, press “r’” to reboot or “u” to shutdown. Or you can use the left or right arrow keys to navigate among the shutdown choices. Then press Enter. Use Esc if you want to cancel an action.
Sometimes a reboot is all that is needed to get the mouse to work again.
It is more and more common that the mouse on a system uses a USB connection instead of the old-style serial port. This may be a direct connection or by means of a wireless station that is plugged into USB. Older computers do not have USB support in the BIOS. If you ever have to use a DOS boot disk or procedure that involves the computer before Windows has loaded the USB drivers, you may find yourself without a working mouse. So don’t discard that old serial mouse. You might need it.
Here’s a little more about the purpose of this blog.
I have said that it’s aimed at the average PC user. Well, what does the average PC user want? Judging from my experience in teaching at SeniorNet and in giving talks at user groups, most people think of the computer as a tool to help achieve some task. They do not care about the details of how the computer does it. When they drive a car, they just want to get to their destination. They do not care about how the fuel system works or what goes on in the transmission. The same thing applies to a computer. Ideally, the computer would be just another appliance like a toaster.
Of course, the trouble is that computers are not like toasters. There’s no getting around the fact that using a computer for anything but the simplest purpose means learning some things about the details. I am going to try to strike a compromise in what I put here by giving some information that will help the average person but will still have some substance. Yesterday’s tip is an example.
If you have a favorite tip, send it to me or sign up and add your comments. The more the merrier.
Now that thumb drives are becoming very common and are getting bigger, we have to revisit a problem that we used to have back in the days of Windows 95. Thumb drives are generally formatted in the old FAT system with all the limitations of that old system. For example, there can be at most 512 files in the root directory. With long file names so prevalent, the upper limit on how many files can go directly on the root is likely to be considerably lower. You could easily find yourself getting error messages about being out of space with just a couple hundred files even if you have only used a fraction of the disk space. The solution is to put most or all files into folders.
A lesser problem is the inefficiency of the FAT system in using space. Thumb drives have gotten as big as the hard drive used to be so space may not be important for most people. Still, those who store a lot of files might consider reformatting to FAT32.
Since everybody else is blogging, I finally decided to join in. I will be posting some Windows tips (and whatever else may strike me). The Web is full of sites with Windows tips so there may seem little point to having yet another. My observation is that many of the sites repeat the same stuff and/or are pretty technical. I hope to keep my remarks aimed at the average PC user. And, oh yes, I may sound off now and then on some of the strange and silly stuff I see going on.