A program called Search can help you locate Files and Folders on your PC.

1. Click Start, Search and the ‘Search Results’ window opens.
2. On the left side of the window, click the ‘All Files and Folders’ link and three fill-in boxes are displayed in the window:

a) In the box labeled ‘All or part of the file name’ type in the full or partial file name you want to locate.

b) You can optionally search for text within each file by entering the text you want to search for in the box labeled ‘A word or phrase in the file’.

Note: If you look for files by file name and text within the file, then only files matching both conditions will be found.

c) Click the arrow at the right side of the box labeled “Look In’ and in the drop-down list that opens, select the drive(s) you want to search in. If you want to search all folders in the drive you select, check the ‘Include subfolders’ check box.

1. Click the 'Search' button and all files and folders matching your search conditions appear in a list. The path of each folder and file is also displayed

Open Windows Explorer

You can find Windows Explorer by going to 'Start', then 'Programs'. If you don't see it in 'Programs' then look in 'Accessories'. Double click the Windows Explorer icon and it will open.

Viewing Folders and Files

On the left side of Windows Explorer you will see a section called 'Folders'. Normally under Folders you should see at a minimum:

1. My Computer
2. My Network Place
3. Recycle Bin
4. My Documents

To see the all the drives on your PC, click on 'My Computer'. Typically you will have listed:

1. 3-1/2 inch Floppy (A:)
2. Hard drive (C:)
3. CD or DVD (D:)
4. Control Panel icon.

Click the drive you want and all the folders for it become accessible.

Copying Files and Folders:

1. Navigate to the folder or file that you want to copy. And place your cursor over the file or folder you want to copy, then right-click your mouse.
2. Select copy from the menu that appears.
3. Now place your cursor over the destination folder and again right-click your mouse. This time select paste from the menu.
4. That's it! The item is copied to the destination folder.

Defragmentation is something that is required from time to time on your hard disk drive (HDD).

When a drive is empty it is easy to find space to store files anywhere on the disk. As files are erased they leave empty spaces between the files next to them. As you write and erase files over time, many of these empty spaces are created. If a file being written is bigger than the largest free space, then it must broken up into smaller pieces and stored in a number of these empty spaces.

Fragmentation:

This process of files being broken up and stored in a number of smaller pieces is called fragmentation. A section of the disk contains what is called the File Allocation Table (FAT). It is a file system that keeps track of where all the files are stored on the hard drive.

Eventually a condition exists where there are many fragmented files and empty spaces scattered all over the disk. When this happens the HDD is said to be very fragmented. The FAT has to work very hard to manage these chopped up files.

Instead of writing and reading files that are contiguous (in one piece), the read/write head in the HDD must move up and down and jump all over the disk from fragment to fragment to access the file. This takes a lot of time!

It's like Restaurant Seating:

The FAT does the same thing as the person who seats you at a restaurant.

When the restaurant is empty it's easy. There are plenty of tables that will fit your group. They find you a table big enough or maybe even slightly bigger than you need and you all sit down.

As the restaurant fills up it gets more difficult to find the right sized table quickly. A couple of things can happen when you show up to be seated.

1. The greeter checks for space and finds a table that has just freed up and will fit all the people in your party. They seat you as soon as the table is emptied and made ready for your group.
2. Or they may say, 'We don't have a table big enough to seat all of you, the wait is 25 minutes. Hang out in the in the lounge and we'll call you when we have space.'

Let's seat your Group in Fragments:

Files don't care whether they are fragmented or located together in a contiguous space of the disk. We know people do care, but let's imagine the people in this restaurant don't care either.

So instead of making you wait for a big enough table the greeter says 'we don't have space enough for your party of five at one table, but two of you can fit at this table, one at that table and two more can fit at the table in the back.' So you go and get split up at different tables. Your party has been fragmented.

The greeter continues seating new people this way until waiters are getting confused with which food goes with which party, who gets the bill and so on. The whole process bogs down and eventually grinds to a halt.

The same thing happens on your HDD. The PC spends more and more time working with the FAT to find all the pieces of the file you're attempting to access.

Defragmentation:

Finally the restaurant manager says, 'Wait a minute,' just as you might say when it seems to take longer and longer to read and write files on your PC.

He says 'We are going to defragment this place.' He has everyone get up, move to one side together with their original group. He then figures out how many 1, 2, 3 etc. person groups he has and how they will best fit into his tables. He reseats each group at an optimum sized table. He now even has some spare tables open for new guests. Everything flows along smoothly again.

Running a defragmentation program on your PC reorganizes the files on the HDD so that each file is located in one contiguous space. All the free space is grouped together on the disk as well.

How do I Defragment my Drive?

1. Go to the desktop and double-click 'My Computer'.
2. Right click the drive you want to defragment, (C:) in most cases.
3. In the drop down menu that appears, click 'Properties'.
4. Click the 'Tools' Tab in the dialog box that appears.
5. In the Tools section, select 'Defragment Now' and defragmentation begins.

Note: Don't defragment a drive you want to use anytime soon. It can easily take a couple of hours on a large, fragmented drive. The end of the day is a great time to kick this maintenance routine off.

If the resolution for your display is set too low, text and graphics will not appear sharp and crisp.

1. Right-click anywhere on your open desktop. A pop up menu appears.
2. Select Properties and ‘display properties' window opens.
3. Select the Settings tab and in the ‘Screen Area’ (98) or ‘Screen Resolution’ (XP) section, move the adjuster to the right to get higher (better) resolution.
4. Click OK.

Note: You may have to try a few adjustments to get the one that provides the best viewing.

The clock must be displayed on the taskbar to use this tip. If the clock is not visible, right-click anywhere on the taskbar and select Properties from the list that appears. Check the ‘Show Clock’ box in the window that appears and click OK.

1. Double click the clock that is displayed at the right hand end of the taskbar.
2. The Date/Time properties window opens. Select the ‘Date & Time’ tab.
3. Underneath the clock that is displayed you will see the time shown as digits.
4. Double click the hour and use the arrows provided to move it up or down until the hour is correct.
5. Repeat this process for the minutes, seconds and AM/PM selector.
6. Click OK to complete.

Have you ever wanted to print just a tiny section of a large file? Sometimes I need to print just a few cells from an Excel spreadsheet. Using this tip I don't end up using a whole tree to print lots of pages I don't need.

Here is how you do it:

1. Select the text you want to print.
2. On the 'File' menu select 'Print'.
3. In the dialog box that opens look in the 'Print Range' section and check the 'Selection' option.
4. Click Print and the selected text are printed.

The number of colors displayed significantly affects the appearance of both text and pictures. If the color for your display is set too low, you are missing a more realistic look especially in the pictures you view.

1. Right-click anywhere on your open desktop. A pop up menu appears.
2. Select Properties and ‘display properties' window opens.
3. Select the Settings tab and in the 'Colors' (98) or ‘Color Quality’ (XP) section and choose the highest color setting available.
4. Click OK.

Note: You may have to try different settings to get the one that provides the best viewing for your monitor and video driver.

It is imperative that you keep your PC protected as best you can at all time!

When the Internet first caught on with the general public in the mid 1990s it was a relatively safe place. Since then some dangerous places have sprung up within it. With worldwide reach and virtual anonymity it has attracted many destructive, dishonest people. Some of them create viruses, worms, spyware, adware, keyloggers and the other forms of virulent, invasive code known as malware that cause computer problems. Some of them use this code and various techniques to secretly steal your identity by gaining access to your personal information!

Annoying pop-ups, machine slowdowns and PC crashes are often a result of malware. Hackers monitor Internet traffic and look for unprotected PCs that they can infect.

Even worse if your PC is compromised it can without your knowledge become a slave machine that further spreads these malware programs to other unprotected PCs!

If you use a track ball mouse this tip applies to you.

All mice are now manufactured with optical sensors instead of track balls to sense movement.

I need to clean my mouse on the inside? That's right! If you don't know about this it can cause your cursor to skip along instead of moving in a nice smooth even motion.

If you turn your mouse over you will see part of a small rubber or plastic ball through a cut-out in a cover. The cover holds the ball in place inside the mouse.

As the ball rolls on the mouse pad surface, it causes two rollers inside the mouse to turn.

One roller controls the display cursor's left to right motion. The other roller controls the up and down motion.

How Does it Get Dirty?

Over time the ball picks up and transfers dust, dirt and old eraser bits to the rollers. If you're like me there will be a lot of eraser material all over your desk for the mouse to pick up!

Eventually all the dirt and debris builds up on the rollers until it forms a hard band all the way around them.

When these bands of dust and dirt get big enough, they cause the rollers to slip as the ball moves, which can make your cursor do funny things.

Cleaning your mouse is very easy to do! You can clean the mouse with the PC on or off. The cursor will jump around if you leave it on, but it won't hurt anything!

Removing the Track Ball:

The ball we talked about is held in place by a circular cover that either slides or spins off. Take a close look at this cover. There is usually some marking or text on it (similar to those on the battery cover on your portable CD or cassette player) that indicate which way to get the cover off.

Once you get the cover off, slowly turn the mouse over and the little ball will roll out.

Check the ball for any obvious surface damage, which could really cause strange cursor movement. If this is the case, then give this mouse to the cat and buy another one. I've never seen this happen but it is possible, especially if the mouse has been subject to really rough treatment.

If the ball is OK, put it and the cover aside in a safe place.

Cleaning the Rollers:

Now that the ball is out, look inside and you will see two large rollers (these need cleaning), and a smaller one, which doesn't. The small roller is there to push the ball against the other rollers. You don't have to do anything with it.

The next task is to find a small relatively hard object to clean the rollers. A toothpick or Q-tip will work. Pretty much anything that is small, stiff and not too sharp. You don't want to scratch the rollers!

Begin with one of the rollers and scrape the ring of dirt off in a motion in line with the axis of the roller. As you get the dirt off in one spot, spin the roller a little and work on the next spot until you've gone all the way around and the ring has been completely removed.

When both rollers are clean, hold the mouse upside down and shake out all the dirt that you removed from the rollers. You may have to blow a little air in there to get it all. Don't leave any in there, because it will soon find its way back to one of the rollers!

With the mouse upside down, put the ball back in. Then slide or turn the cover (depending on how it came off) back into place.

Congratulations! You are done!

Don't Forget Your Mouse Pad:

Before you start using your mouse again, make sure your mouse pad is clean. It is a good idea to clean your mouse pad often to keep dirt and erasure debris from finding it's way onto the rollers.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for Hyper Text Mark-up Language. It is the programming code that is used to write web pages that are stored on servers. Every web page that you view in a browser is written in HTML or XML (a newer language). Your browser is designed to interpret and display web pages coded in HTML.

What is HTTP?

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. As soon as a web user opens a web browser, they are making use of HTTP. The beginning of almost every web page address begins with HTTP, which indicates that that the session being requested will use the HTTP protocol.

HTTP concepts include the idea that files can contain references to other files (hyperlinks) whose selection will cause additional transfer requests.

Every web server contains an HTTP program that waits for and handles HTTP requests (from browsers) when they arrive. When a request comes in, the web server sends back the requested file or files associated with the request. (Most web pages consist of more than one file.)

Every web browser is an HTTP client that sends requests to web servers. When a browser user enters a request by entering a web address (URL) in the browser address bar or by clicking on a hyperlink, the browser builds an HTTP request and sends it to the server at the Internet Protocol address (IP address) indicated by the URL.