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9780596005931

PC Annoyances : How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Your Personal Computer

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780596005931

  • ISBN10:

    0596005938

  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 2003-10-01
  • Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc
  • Purchase Benefits
List Price: $19.95

Summary

This easy to read, accessible book from PC World expert Steve Bass covers the waterfront of PC gripes and gremlins, with fixes for everything from Windows glitches to browsers that won't browse. These tips and tricks are served up in bite-sized portions for quick reading and even quicker fixing. Plus, you get access to more than one hundred utilities that will help you squash bugs, enhance your email, untangle a system snarl, and much more.

Table of Contents

Preface xvii
1. EMAIL 1(30)
General Email Annoyances
2(10)
Hide the Recipients List
2(1)
Display Email Headers
2(1)
Stop Your Mailbox from Filling Up
3(1)
Spam Zappers Extraordinaire
4(1)
Alternative Medicine for PC Viruses
5(2)
Clean Up Forwarded Email Share Big Files Without the Attachments
7(1)
Return to Sender, Address Unknown
7(1)
Indecipherable Attachments
8(1)
Turn Off Return Receipt
8(1)
Embed Images in Email
9(1)
Fix Those Broken Links
10(1)
Stop Including Messages in Replies
10(1)
Pre-Address Your Email
11(1)
Keep a Copy
11(1)
Sending Shorter URLs
12(1)
Outlook and Outlook Express 5 and 6
12(7)
Disable the Preview Pane
12(1)
Give Outlook Express a Makeover
13(1)
Choose Your Message View
13(1)
Use Folders
14(1)
Multiple Email Accounts on One Computer
14(1)
One Email Account on Multiple Computers
15(1)
Save Keystrokes via Signatures
16(1)
Back Up Email
16(1)
Back Up Your Address Book
17(1)
Where Did That Attachment Go?
17(1)
Create File Attachments
18(1)
AOL
19(2)
Muzzle AOL
19(1)
Giving AOL 8's Companion the Boot
19(1)
Hold On to Your AOL Mail
19(1)
AOL's Hidden Toll-Free Support
20(1)
Dump AOL's Email
20(1)
Keep Images Sharp in AOL
20(1)
EUDORA
21(5)
Managing Eudora's Alphabetical Mailboxes
21(1)
Slimming Down Eudora's Headers
21(1)
Find Mail Faster with Filters
22(1)
Filter Out Viruses and Worms
23(1)
Smart Sorting
23(1)
Filtering Spam
24(1)
Eudora's Toolbar: Dumb as Dirt
24(1)
Sharper Toolbar Buttons
25(1)
HOTMAIL
26(5)
Bookmark Your Hotmail Inbox
26(1)
Use Outlook Express to Excise Hotmail Spam
26(1)
Hide Hotmail's Spam
27(1)
Make Hotmail Your Default Email Program
27(2)
Import Your Address Book via Outlook Express
29(2)
2. WINDOWS 31(26)
Windows XP Is the Cure for Me (and 98, and 95)
32(1)
Help That's Actually Helpful
33(1)
A Most Annoying Annoyance: Windows Product Activation
33(1)
Speed Up Menus by Skipping Transitions
34(1)
Screen Resolution: I Can See Clearly Now
35(1)
Old DOS Games Make It to the Big Screen
35(1)
Take Charge of Your Start Menu and System Tray
36(1)
The Missing Quick Launch Toolbar
36(1)
Program Filenames That Make Sense
36(1)
Keep Your Folder Names Short and Sweet
37(1)
One-Click XP Shutdowns
37(2)
Open Closed Startup Programs Without Restarting
39(1)
Laptop Network Switches Made Easy
39(1)
Set the Windows Clock
40(1)
A Cure for Cock-Eyed Calendars
41(1)
A Quick Fix for Missing Quick Launch Toolbars
42(1)
Prevent Accidental File Deletions
42(1)
Printing Faxes, No Wizard Required
42(1)
Faster Access to Your Control Panel
43(1)
The Case of the Missing Icons
44(1)
Crush Intrusive Desktop Web Items
45(1)
Button Up Your Overcrowded Taskbar
46(2)
Save Disk Space by Ditching Old Restore Points
48(1)
Faster Disk Cleanups
48(2)
Work Around Scheduled Tasks' Limitations
50(1)
Windows Updates You Can Share
50(1)
Add Service Packs to Your Windows CD
51(1)
Protect Your System from Dumb Installations
52(1)
Customize Windows Update
53(1)
Save Disk Space by Tossing Old Uninstall Files
54(1)
Lock Numbers Out, Arrow Keys In
54(1)
Bring Back Your Task Pane
55(1)
Dialog Boxes That Work Your Way
56(1)
3. INTERNET 57(26)
Browsing
58(18)
Go Flashless to Save Tired Eyes
58(1)
Make Your PC an Ad-Free Zone
58(2)
Counter-Espionage for Sneaky Spyware
60(1)
Open New Browser Windows Your Way
61(1)
Outsmart Outlook's Browser Choice
61(1)
Pictureless Pages Predicament
62(1)
A Shorter Path to Microsoft's Knowledge
63(1)
All Your Favorites, All the Time
64(1)
Clear Dead Links from Your Favorites Menu
65(1)
Manage Your Favorites
65(1)
Get the Big Picture the First Time
66(1)
Disable IE's Image Toolbar
67(1)
What You See Is Not What You Get
68(1)
Get Rid of IE's Automatic "Your files are attached"
69(1)
Force IE to Refresh the Page
70(1)
The Case of the Disappearing Status Bar
70(1)
Make Netscape Block Those Pop-ups!
71(1)
Netscape Can Google, Too
72(1)
Pull the Plug on Net2Phone
72(1)
Vexing AOL Connections
72(2)
Vanishing Form Data
74(1)
The Password Behind the Asterisks
74(1)
Fix Your Browser's Font Size
75(1)
Open Acrobat Reader Separately
75(1)
Google
Get Back to Where You Started with Google
76(1)
Track Down Search Terms in Google
76(1)
Get Better Results with the Google Directory
76(1)
Go Monolingual with Your Google Searches
77(1)
Google News Your Way
77(1)
Instant Messaging
78(5)
Make AOL Instant Messenger an Ad-Free Zone
78(1)
Block Instant Messaging Chat Invitations
79(1)
When AIM Overstays Its Welcome
80(1)
Remove Unwanted Entries from Your Screen-Name List
80(1)
Yahoo Messenger Comes with Unwanted Extras
81(2)
4. MICROSOFT OFFICE 83(40)
Word
84(20)
A Favorites Menu for Word
84(2)
When Word's Find Feature Can't Spell
86(1)
Take Control of Your Formatting
86(1)
Paste Email Text, Not Whitespace
86(1)
Spellcheck One Word at a Time
87(2)
Back Up Your AutoCorrections
89(1)
Outfox Word's AutoCorrect
90(1)
Get There Sooner with Bookmarks
91(1)
Revealing Codes
92(2)
Paste the Text, Not the Formatting
94(1)
Find Faster Without the Dialog Box
95(1)
Turn Off Automatic Hyperlinks
96(1)
Smarter Printing with Macros
96(1)
Avoid Inadvertent Browsing
96(1)
See All Your Menu Options
97(1)
Set Preferred View Once and for All
97(1)
Something Abnormal About Normal.dot
98(1)
A Better View of Your Print Layout
99(1)
When AutoCorrect Gets Carried Away
100(1)
Delete Text Without the Confirmation
100(1)
A Fix for Word's Wacky List Numbering
101(1)
Three Ways to Give Tables the Boot
102(1)
Give Clippy His Walking Papers (Really)
103(1)
Excel
104(9)
Tables Paste Better in Excel
104(1)
Automate Tedious Data Entry
105(1)
Let Me Count the Days
106(1)
Protect Formulas from Accidental Deletion
107(1)
Protect Yourself from Yourself
108(2)
The Fast Way to Figure Partial Sums
110(1)
Columns and Rows Do a Flip-Flop
110(2)
The Worksheet Conservation Society
112(1)
PowerPoint
113(2)
Looking Good in Black and White
113(1)
When AutoFormatting Mucks Things Up
113(1)
Put Your Presentations on a Diet
114(1)
Outlook and Outlook Express
115(8)
Make Outlook a Word-Free Zone
115(1)
Outlook Express's Hidden One-Click Encryption Option
115(1)
Reattach Your Detached Attachments
116(1)
Two Email Clients, One Contact List
117(1)
Email Is for Email
118(1)
A Nifty Outlook Organizer
119(1)
Remind Me to Set a Reminder
119(1)
I Like My Dates Bold
120(1)
A Better Home for Your Documents
120(3)
5. WINDOWS EXP 123(16)
A Shortcut to More Recent Documents
124(1)
Quick Access to My Computer
124(1)
One Folder, Many Places
124(1)
When One Explorer Shortcut Is Not Enough
125(3)
Disconnect Your Saved Web Pages
128(1)
When You Can't Delete a File
129(1)
A Better Way to Navigate
129(2)
Make Explorer Crash-Proof
131(1)
Look What I Found! But Don't Touch
131(1)
Copying File Paths
131(1)
Broaden Windows' Search Horizons
132(1)
Search Faster by Excluding Zipped Files
133(1)
Manage Zipped Files
134(1)
Beyond WinZip Self Extractor
135(1)
Rename Multiple Files
136(1)
Gimme Back My File Associations
136(3)
6. MUSIC, VIDEO AND CDS 139(20)
Music and Video
140(8)
Keep All Your Music the Same Volume
140(1)
Why Doesn't My Video Play?
140(1)
Play Sound Files Quickly and Easily
141(1)
Turn Off RealOne's Message Center Ad
142(1)
RealOne's Icons Are a Real Pain
142(1)
Play Videos Without the Web Browser
143(1)
Take Your Music Anywhere
143(1)
Make WinAmp Jumbo Size
143(1)
Add Ripping to Windows Media Player
144(1)
Start Your Player Where You Left Off
144(1)
Bring Your Player's Menu Out in the Open
145(1)
An Old Look for a New Player
145(1)
The Missing Volume Icon
146(1)
Stream MP3s to Your Stereo Wirelessly
146(1)
Record Audio from Any Source
146(1)
Capture and Save Video Streams
147(1)
CDs and DVDs
148(11)
Remove CDs When the Power's Off
148(1)
Use 74-Minute CDs When Sharing Discs
148(1)
Burn CDs, but Hold the Labels
149(1)
CD Content Without the CD
150(1)
Check That Disc Before You Burn
150(1)
Read and Write Read-Only Files
151(1)
Quick Audio File Conversions
152(1)
Create Quick MP3 Lists
152(1)
Preserve Long Filenames
153(1)
Burn Usable CDs from ISO Files
154(1)
Peek Inside ISO Files
155(1)
Find Invisible .BIN Files
155(1)
No, I Don't Want to Burn the CD Right Now
156(1)
DVD+R Versus DVD-R?
157(1)
Is PC Friendly Necessary?
157(2)
7. HARDWARE 159(12)
The Wonders of a Modem Reset
160(1)
Bring the Zing Back to DSL
161(1)
Uninterruptible Power to the PCs
161(1)
Manage Multiple Bulky AC Adapters
162(1)
Clear and Sharp LCD Fonts
163(1)
Tune Up Your Monitor
164(1)
Simple Ways to Reduce PC Noise
164(1)
Extra Power for Digital Cameras
165(1)
Windows Setting Blocks DVD Upgrade
166(1)
Check for Loose Cables
166(1)
Give Your Laser Printer a Memory Boost
166(1)
Save Big with Low-Resolution Prints
167(1)
Paper-Saving Print Utility
168(1)
Move Your Sound Connectors to the Front
169(1)
Transfer Phone Numbers to Your Digital Phone
169(1)
Dock Your Notebook
170(1)
Connect Your Flash Memory Drive with a USB Cable
170(1)
Index 171

Supplemental Materials

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