Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Michael H., writes: " Dear Dennis, Firstly, let me thank you for your great newsletters. They are a wealth of information! I have Windows XP installed on system which consists of an Asus P4B (Pentium 4 capable motherboard). My ... problem is that whenever Windows XP begins to load, I hear a voice that says, 'System completed power-on self test; computer now booting from Operating System.' Can you please tell me how to remove this annoying feature?! I have to shut off my speakers every time I boot my computer to avoid hearing this annoying voice? " My Response: I can't ... (view more)

Since we've been on the topic of Printers lately , I thought I'd share with you another useful tip. It's another visitor feedback question from Arlene M. She writes: " Dear Dennis, My printer used to number the pages, but does not any longer. I miss ... that. Do you have a way to bring that function back? " My response: The option for Page Numbering is * usually * in the Printing Preferences. Printing preferences are available for a printer by clicking Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Printer. Printing preferences are also (usually) displayed at the time of printing a ... (view more)

Last week I received a question, "How do I retrieve files that have been deleted from the Recycle Bin ?" Since then, I received a few really good suggestions from a few Infopackets Readers. The first one comes from Rick K. His answer was very ... complete -- much more than mine was -- which is also why his suggestion * might * be a over the heads of some readers. I've edited Rick's response a bit and have also added a few comments of my own in an attempt to clear any technical jargon. Infopackets Reader Rick K. writes: " The Recycle Bin is an attempt to copy what Apple does, which ... (view more)

After emailing my suggestion on how to use Landscape / Portrait modes to get a large web page to fit properly using a printer, a few users emailed me with thoughts of their own. Infopackets Reader John D. writes: " You could also suggest a program ... such as Gadwin Printscreen , which will print exactly what is on the screen and fit it properly. " Infopackets Reader Theo T. also wrote in: " Another approach to this is to copy what you want to print by pasting in to either a text editor, or WordPad. The downside to using either method is that you will lose pictures and graphics ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Arlene M. writes: " Dear Dennis, When I get a web page that is wider than my screen and there are scrollbars on the bottom, my printer won't print the entire page. Repositioning the scrollbars at the bottom of the page and ... attempting to print what I see on the screen not seem to help. I also tried selecting the text I wanted on the screen and then using the "Print from Selection" option, but it didn't help either. Can you explain this and what I can do about it? " My Response: One way to get around this problem is to print the page in Landscape Mode. ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Rick J. asks, " How do I get back something that I deleted from the recycle bin? " My Response: One way to empty a Recycle Bin is to right-click over top of the Recycle Bin and select "Empty Recycle Bin." If you deleted a file (or ... files) permanently by emptying the Recycle Bin, there is no way for you to get it back -- it's gone for good. This is true, unless you use some sort of special software to retrieve a deleted file from your hard drive -- but even that is not not always 100%; furthermore, the effort involved in file recovery is usually 'over the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Arlene M. asks, " For some reason, the little speaker icon is gone from my system tray. Do you know how I may get it back? " My Response: If you're talking about Windows XP, the volume control is available from the Control Panel ... under Sounds and Audio Devices; place a check-mark by the Place Volume in Task bar. If you don't have Win XP, you can try to reinstall your sound icon by going to Control Panel -> Add / Remove Programs, Windows Setup tab and then double click the Multimedia icon and place a checkmark on Volume Control. If it's already there, take the ... (view more)

It appears that the last issue of the newsletter sparked some real interest amongst many Infopackets Readers (RE: tracert.exe and ping.exe ). At this time, I would like to address the problem that Infopackets Reader Stephen C. wrote to me about not ... being able to access any MS DOS commands from the command prompt under Windows. He writes: " When I [attempt to] run [MS DOS commands, such as ping.exe or tracert.exe] under the command window, I get an error message which reads: 'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Any ideas? I have ... (view more)