How to Create and Organize Desktop Icons in Windows XP

Desktop icons are a great way to provide quick access to various programs, folders, and documents that you use on a daily basis. However, if you have a large number of icons on your desktop, it may seem very cluttered. The article below provides tips and tricks for organizing your desktop.


CREATING A PROGRAM SHORTCUT
To create a shortcut on your desktop to a program, browse to the program via the "Start" menu. Once you have located the program, right-click on it. On the expanded menu, go to "Send To" and left-click on "Desktop (create shortcut)". When you look at your desktop, you should find an icon to the program.

CREATING A FOLDER OR DOCUMENT SHORTCUT
To create a shortcut on your desktop to a folder or document, right-click on the "Start" button and left-click on "Explore". The Windows Explorer screen will display. Browse to the folder or document.

When you have located the file or folder, right-click on it. On the expanded menu, go to "Send To" and left-click on "Desktop (create shortcut)". When you look at your desktop, you should find an icon to the folder/document.

ORGANIZING YOUR DESKTOP
Right-click anywhere on your desktop and go to "Arrange Icons By". In the expanded menu, make sure that there is a check mark next to "Align to Grid" and that there is no check mark next to "Auto Arrange".

NOTE: If all of your icons suddenly disappear, make sure that you did not accidentally click on "Show Desktop Icons". This option requires that there is a check mark next to it in order for your shortcuts to display on the screen.
Step4
Click and drag your icons to where ever you want them on your desktop. You can create groups of icons, depending on how you would like to set them up. This part is totally up to you ... the idea is to organize the desktop however is best for your needs. The attached screenshot is an example of how you can organize them.

How to Clean Your Hard Drive

Running low on hard drive disk space? Chances are, there are plenty of unnecessary files on your computer that you don't need and/or can be wiped clean from your hard drive. Keep reading for steps on freeing up that precious memory!


First, run Disk Cleanup on your PC. Do this by opening your system tools folder (select Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools). To free up the maximum amount of space, check all of the boxes in Disk Cleanup.

Next, uninstall any unused Windows Components on your PC (select Start > Control Panel. Open Add or Remove Programs . Click the Add/Remove Windows Components button. Select the components you want to remove and click OK). Uninstalling Microsoft games alone will free up over 12MB of memory. Do you use "fax services"? If not, check it off and get rid of it. If you use Internet Explorer, but not MSN Explorer, get rid of it. This will free up almost 14MB of memory. Check off any unused components and watch the memory get replenished to your hard drive.

Finally, get rid of old programs you do not use on your PC. Open your control panel(select Start > Control Panel), Open Add or Remove Programs. Check the dates of when the last time each program was used. Chances are, if it has been over a year since you've used the program, you can trash it. Check all of the programs you wish to remove.

How to Clean Your CD-Rom Drive

Is your CD-Rom driving going slow or skipping? It may just need a good cleaning in order to have it back to normal. Follow these easy directions and you'll be on your way to having a perfect drive again!

Check and make sure all your disks are scratch free. This may have something to do with your drive not working correctly. Make sure you also load your disk properly.

Always use laser lens cleaner to clean your cd-rom drive. Don't try just using soap and water, this will ruin your drive completely.

Run laser cleaner Place the lens cleaner in the cd-rom drive and let it work for about 2 or 3 minutes before taking it out.

Using the laser cleaner will rid the drive of dust however; if your drive is still giving you problems try taking a cotton swab and rubbing it across the lens.

Change Your Default Program to Open Files

Many times when we install programs, the install process will scan your computer for file types and then ask you if you would like these files to be open with the program being installed. Once the program is installed certain file types will be open with that program. For instance, if you install iTunes, the install will ask you if you want to open these music file types with iTunes. The file extensions can be mp3, wma, wav, etc. This short tutorial will show you how to change the file association with a particular program. In other words when you double click on a picture file you can designate which program opens the file.

Select: Start, Control Panel, Tools, Folder Options.

In the folder option box select, File Types tab.

Let’s use picture files as an example. Scroll down and locate jpeg which is one of the most common picture files used. All the file extensions are in alphabetical order so it makes it easy to quickly locate a file extension.

Below the file extension window you will see “Opens with:” to change the program to open picture files, select the “Change” button. Select the new program that you want to use to open your jpeg picture files with.

If your program is not found in the “Open with:” box then select, “Browse” button and then locate your program within the Program directory.

Apply the exact same procedure for any other file types you wish to change your program association with. You can apply this method to movie files, sound files, pdf files, html files, etc. You can Google “File Types” to get a complete list of Microsoft file types and what they are used for.

Change the Size of Your Screen Image

To change the size of the screen pictures, icons, words, etc., you have to change the pixels. I will show you how in this article.


CHANGING THE PIXEL SIZE: To change the pixel size simply display your desktop. The desktop is the main screen, where icons are located. Right click out in an open area, away from the icons. A menu will appear, click on properties. In the properties box, click on the "settings" tab. At the bottom of the "settings" display you will see a box with a slider that says screen resolution. Move this bar back and forth to make the screen image smaller and larger.


LARGER SCREEN IMAGE: To make the screen image large slide the bar down, toward the less end.


SMALLER SCREEN IMAGE: To make the screen image smaller slide the bar up, toward the more end.

How to Use Financial Budgeting Software Successfully

The best financial budgeting software in the world won't make a difference if you don't use it right.

Begin by installing your financial budgeting software on your computer. Take the time to view any walkthroughs or tutorials now, as they can contain some really helpful tips on setting up and using the software effectively.

Look over your receipts and bills for the past month and make a list of any re-occurring expenses. These should be entered in the software so that you always remember to budget for them each month. You should also remember yearly expenses or quarterly bills, such as estimated tax payments.

Begin with exact figures so the software can keep track of things correctly. Estimating a savings account or checking balance incorrectly can make all the calculations the software makes completely wrong.

Keep up with receipts, bills and deposits each week. When you fall behind, catching up can be almost impossible.

How to Use Excel's TDIST Function

Enter in the numeric values you need to compare in the appropriate cells. For this example, enter the number 9 in cell A2 and 10 in cell A3.

Use your cursor to click on the cell where you want the results of the comparisons to be displayed. Type in the Excel formula exactly as follows: =TDIST(A2,A3,1).

Move the mouse cursor anywhere else on the spreadsheet and left-click. The result of the formula will be displayed in cell where you entered the formula, which is 2.06902E-06.

Display the result of the TDIST formula as a percentage by placing your cursor on the cell showing the formula and right-clicking. Select the option "Format Cells" from the menu. This will open a new window. Choose "Percentage" and then click "Ok." The number will now show as a percentage, in this instance, 0.00.

How to Use Excel's Sumif Function

Create an Excel spreadsheet containing the three elements necessary to use the SumIf function, range, criteria and sum_range. The range includes the cells that Excel compares to the criteria to determine whether to add the associated sum range values. To illustrate, let's use SumIf to determine the number of babies born at local hospitals in 2006.

Type a range in column A from cells 2 to 50. For this example, the years of the births are the range so type in years ranging from 2000 to 2008 in random order. Also, enter the hospital names in Column B beside the year, even though the hospital name will not be a direct part of the SumIf function.

Enter random number of births in column C for each hospital for the corresponding years. This is the sum_range. Next, enter the criteria, 2006, into column D and row 2.

Put the SumIf statement "=SumIf(A:A50, D2, C2:C50)" in a cell on the spreadsheet. Be sure to begin the formula with an equal sign so Excel recognizes the function formula. Excel should sum or add the number of births corresponding only to the rows with a 2006 as the year. Manually add the births with a calculator to check that your function is correct.

Change Your Computer Clock From Military Time to Regular Time on Windows XP

Change Your Computer Clock From Military Time to Regular Time on Windows XP
Occasionally, your computer may revert to displaying military time for your system clock with Windows XP. Common times for this would be when your computer needs repair, etc and it comes back to you with the clock set wrong.

Open Control Panel

Open "Regional and Language Options"

Click "Customize"

Click on the "Time" tab

Change "Time Format" section to h:mm:ss tt

Be sure ":" for the time separator and AM and PM are selected on the next couple of lines. They may be set here already.

Click "Apply" and "Ok" on each open window.

Analyze Your Computer

Download CPU-Z from "www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php" and copy the zip file's contents into a folder. CPU-Z requires no installation, which means you can simply delete the folder when you are finished with it! The first CPU tab shows general information about your system processor.

Switch to the Mainboard tab and you can see details about your motherboard, BIOS, and graphic interface. Take particular note of your motherboard's manufacturer- this will come in handy if your board becomes faulty and you need to call customer support.

Click on the Memory tab- you'll see your system's RAM type shown in the first box. If you want to add to your PC's memory, then you should buy the same type in order to ensure compatibility. For a computer running Windows Vista, you should ideally have at least 1024 MB of ram.

Select the About tab. This tab contains three tools, including the Registers Dump utility - click on the Registers Dump button and save a text file. Open this file up, and you'll find a plethora of different PC specifications, which will be helpful to more advanced users.

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