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There are no fancy sign-up forms – just mention newsletter in the subject line of your email.
We've been sending out this PC Help Newsletter since 1994, and it contains no advertising of any kind – just useful computer tips.
Furthermore, your email address is safe with us – we don't share it with anyone under any conditions whatsoesver.
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Desktop Background Options
Al Roller called to ask if there’s a way to display a favorite photo in the center of his Desktop, while hiding all the Desktop icons. Well, displaying the photo can be done in Vista by right-clicking the Desktop and choosing Personalize>Desktop Background, whereupon the Pictures folder will open to display its contents. WinXP users will right-click the Desktop and choose Properties>Desktop to see an image-bearing folder. Beyond these defaults, the "Browse" button can be used to navigate to other folders. As for hiding the various icons, this can be done right-clicking the Desktop, choosing New>Folder, and naming it something like, say, "My Icons." Then all the other icons can be dragged into it. Our own Desktops are normally cluttered with several dozen icons; so having them in a single folder makes them easy to alphabetize and to search for by various other criteria. Regarding a Desktop's background (which is also referred to as "wallpaper") you can also choose from various "Themes," as well as choosing a solid color or textured pattern. These options can be found after right-clicking your Desktop and choosing Personalize or Properties. Using the "Quick Launch" Toolbar Pat Williams wrote that she would like to have a copy of her email icon on her Taskbar, as well as on her Desktop. Well, any Desktop icon can be dragged onto the Quick Launch toolbar, which is located at the left end of the Taskbar. If you don’t see it, right-click the Taskbar and choose Toolbars>Quick Launch, whereupon an upright "divider" will appear near the Taskbar’s left end. The divider can be dragged to the right to make room for additional icons. If you place more icons than space will allow, a right-pointing "chevron" will appear, which, when clicked, will display all the icons. Personally, we find Quick Launch to be an indispensable tool. Its icons are always accessible, easy to see, and can be activated with a single mouse click. When a shortcut icon is dragged into the Quick Launch area, it is copied, leaving the original in place. Dragging an icon back onto the Desktop from the Quick Launch area, however, physically moves it. After copying a shortcut icon into Quick Launch, the original can be safely deleted. However, DO NOT delete any actual program or document icons – only shortcut icons. Outlook Express & Windows Mail Toolbars Julie Miller wrote that her Outlook Express toolbar and list of folders had disappeared. Well, issues like these can be resolved in Outlook Express and Windows Mail by clicking on View>Layout>Customize Toolbar. Tip from a Reader Regarding our recent suggestion that working on multiple files is easier if they are first dragged into a single Desktop folder, Bruce Osterberg wrote to suggest dragging their shortcuts instead. This can be done by right-clicking each file name and choosing Send To>Desktop (create shortcut), from where they can be moved as a group into the folder. To move multiple Desktop icons simultaneously, you can "lasso" them with your left mouse button depressed, or you can click them individually with your CTRL key held down. Thanks, Bruce! SPAM Barbara Hughes wrote asking how to avoid the dozens of spam messages she receives each day in her email. We have found Google's Gmail to be the best solution. It’s free and does an amazing job of spam filtering. Go to: mail.google.com |