Number 218 - July 2001

Isn't It Obvious? Not Always!
by Bob Thomson, Tacoma Open Group
Sometimes when we explain things in these columns, we make an assumption that everyone knows what to do next, even if it is left unsaid. Three recent incidents showed us the error of our ways. The solution is to ask questions if you don't fully understand what is meant. We won't tease you for being "dumb". Honest!     Incident 1. Sometimes a utility program, such as the Windows disk defragmenter, defrag, won't complete its task because it requires all "running" programs to be shut down, and some program is running in the background--so defrag keeps starting over and never finishes its task. In the March and July 2000 issues of the TOGGLE on page 2 we ran a procedure to follow when your disk defragmenter won't work. It required you to run msconfig from the Start/Run box and to disable the loading of startup desktop items before running defrag.     We heard from one or two of you that you couldn't get this procedure to work. Upon reviewing the article, we were surprised to see that it failed to mention that after running msconfig you must enter and run defrag again. That is: Start/Run/msconfig, make appropriate setting changes, reboot (i.e. re-Start) the computer, then Start/Run/defrag. This omission may have been because the writer thought that the need to run defrag again was obvious, but clearly it was not. It was an oversight for which we apologize to those of you who were frustrated by not having been given complete instructions. Oh yes, and when you have successfully run defrag, go back and run Start/Run/msconfig and set everything back to Normal startup. Reboot.	Incident 2. This one cannot be inferred as obvious but is simply one that "everyone knows" because it has been around for "ages". Recently, we were surprised to hear our fearless leader mention his discovery that when entering a website address, let's say http://www.web1.com, you need enter only the name, web1 on the address bar, and then press the Ctrl, Shift and Enter keys simultaneously and the rest of the address, the prefix http://www. and the suffix .com will be entered automatically. We have known of this "trick" for two or three years. We're pretty sure we have mentioned it before but perhaps should have repeated it again and again.     Incident 3. Number 1 son, who is fairly new to computers, told us about this one. In Internet Explorer's Outlook Express, pressing the F11 key will collapse the address bars at the top and bottom of the screen yielding a nearly "full screen" viewing area. Pressing F11 again will restore the address bars. Thus, F11 acts as what is called a "toggle key" in computer terminology. By the way, this trick is great for viewing Power Point or Star Impress slide shows such as those available in Bob's Corner. With the full screen you can see the complete slide as well as the navigation buttons without the need to scroll the screen. Go ahead, try it with this page! The bottom tool bar will reappear when you move the mouse to the bottom of the screen.     Moral: What does all this tell us? Even the most experienced of us can learn something new when a "discovery" is shared at a user group meeting or in the newsletter. Don't be shy. If you have found a solution to a problem or even stumbled across a "happy accident" which had a beneficial result, tell us about it--maybe even repeat it a couple of times.
Number 218 - July 2001