Welcome to the McGrath SeniorNet Learning Center Bulletin Board for the Exploring Windows Vista course.
This is the bulletin board for our SeniorNet class in Exploring Windows Vista. I'll post the answers to questions that we could not answer in class and tips and suggestions about using Vista. Don't hesitate to e-mail me with any questions or comments you have about the course—my e-mail address is at the bottom of the page. I've posted answers to past questions below the Current Session for your information.
I am not teaching Vista in the current session at McGrath. Please see the rest of this page for notes from previous sessions that I taught.
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching you this session. You were a wonderful class and I hope you enjoyed the course as much as I did. If you have any questions about Vista, please send me an e-mail. I felt that I rushed through a lot of important information during the last class. I'll post some of that information here, but I won't have time to do that until early next week. So put a tickler on your calendar and come back to the bulletin board as a source of information on my recommendation for anti-malware software to use on your computer.
We talked about text editors that could replace Notepad and provide a spelling checker. Here is a link to a comparison of text editors that are available for download. It is comprehensive so here is how you evaluate a potential editor:
If you have trouble with anything we have covered, don't hesitate to send me an e-mail with details and questions. E-mail address is at the bottom of the page.
I gave you some bad information during the fourth class. I said that Windows 7, Vista's successor, does not have the Flip 3D feature to switch between open windows. That is incorrect. Windows 7 does have it and you use it the same way as you do in Vista, by pressing the Windows+Tab keys. This feature has just not been advertised (hyped?) the way it was for Vista. Of course, I still don't know why you would prefer it to Alt+Tab to switch between windows, but Microsoft says it's because the Flip 3D thumbnails show better detail of each window compared to the smaller thumbnails when using the Alt+Tab keys. Again, as with many of the settings and techniques you are learning in this class, it comes down to personal preference.
I want to encourage you to make use of the Open Lab on Wednesday afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00. Knowledgeable instructors will be there to answer any questions you have and the Learning Center computers are available to you to practice what you've learned. There is no substitute for repetition. There is no substitute for repetition. The Open Lab is essentially two extra hours of instruction that does not cost you any extra over and above your class fee. Take advantage of it.
Here's an interesting link I stumbled upon while searching for something else: articles by the Elder Geek. It's a collection of articles by a lady that writes for a website for seniors. Her advice is clear and straightforward. They are not necessarily about topics we're discussing, but you might find it useful.
We talked about the need to use the Safely Remove Hardward icon (button) in the notification area of the desktop—the area on the far right of the taskbar—before removing a flash drive. I explained that you only need to use that icon if you have write caching enabled for your flash drive. Here is how you check and/or set whether you do or not:
More than likely, the Quick Removal policy will already be selected. If it is not, I recommend that you select it so you do not have to use the Safely Remove Hardware button.
Our instructors at the Wednesday Open Lab recommended to Alice that she download and run the CCleaner program to remove old, useless files from her computer. Unfortunately, she downloaded a rogue copy of CCleaner that pops up a window when she is running her computer and asks for $29.95 to clean the computer. The real CCleaner is a free program that does not charge. Since a SeniorNet instructor suggested the program, I'd like to ensure that no one is this class suffers the same fate as Alice. Here is the correct link to the real CCleaner program: download CCleaner. It will clean the temporary and unused files from you computer, freeing up disk space and maybe helping your computer run a little faster.
Thanks to Pat for pointing out the problem with the display of my e-mail address at the bottom the board page. It turns out that I left off the closing quote mark on the image specification. These computers, don't they know what I mean rather than what I actually type in? Anyway, that problem has been fixed now.
We talked about the display of e-mail addresses on Internet web pages and how to keep them from being used for spam. I noted that the address at the bottom of this page is actually an image that is not readable by bots (programs that read the text of webpages and can extract items such as e-mail addresses). Bots are used for legitimate purposes—example, search engines such as Google "reading" webpages to create the index that allows webpages to be included in search results—or for illegitimate purposes such as harvesting e-mail addresses for spam lists. Webpage authors attempt to foil the bots in a number of ways. Two of these ways are to use an image to display the e-mail address and to display the text of an e-mail address in non-standard ways. For example, instead of name@domain.com, you may see name at domain dot com or name (at) domain.com or some variation of these. You as the user, of course, much convert that back to the standard e-mail format of name@domain.com before you use the address.
Take a close look at the keyboard shortcuts in Appendix A of your manual. If you see actions that you take frequently, it may be worth the effort to memorize the shortcut for them. Usually the keyboard is faster than the mouse for actions.
Ray asked why the Calculator program window could not be "maximized" to fill the screen. I could not find any information about the reasons behind this on the Internet. I guess the Microsoft programmers just felt that the Calculator window was big enough!
We talked about the Windows Sidebar. I showed you how to turn it off (right click in the Sidebar and click Close Sidebar on the popup menu). I could not immediately answer how to turn it back on. There are two ways. First way: when you close the sidebar, an icon will be added to the notification area in the lower right corner of the screen. Right-click this icon and click Open on the popup menu. Second way: if you don't see the icon, click the Start button and type "sidebar" in the Search box immediately above the Start button. Click on Windows Sidebar in the search results list.
We talked about using shortcuts. I use shortcuts both on the desktop and within folders to make sure that the files and applications I use frequently are only a click away. Here is a link explaining creating and putting shortcuts where you want them: link - click here.
We talked about tagging files in Vista. Tags are keywords that describe the topic of the file. They make it easy to identify frequently used topics since you can sort the Explorer file list by tags and quickly search them. Here is a link that explains what tags are and how to add tags to your files: link - click here.
We briefly covered folder templates—what they are and how to set them. Here is a link to a more detailed explanation and "how to": link - click here.
You asked how to change the picture that shows up on the Vista log-on screen (where you enter your password). Go to Control Panel, click on User Account, and click on Change Your Picture.
If you have any question about the class or using Vista, please e-mail me at:
Copyright 2010 Jim Brown
Last updated: 2010-03-03