a few useful short-cut tips that may help you
A SORT OF HELP PAGE
get more out of this site
and hopefully, other sites too.
AND PERHAPS A BIT OF HELP WITH 'WINDOWS' TOO ... ...
+ advanced details on the programmes & apps
that I use myself to create and update this Sutton &
Wawne Museum website :
PaintShopPro9 : Explorer2 :
BlueGriffon
( CLICK to see )
those apps nearer the end of this page
If you are new to Internet
browsing, and computers in general,
a few minutes spent here may save hours and hours
of valuable browsing time later . . to say nothing of your
eyesight.
These are the tips and tricks your kids and
grandkids
DON'T want you to see . ..
they ENJOY being faster than you !
Here's a trick they won't teach you - :
HOW
TO SEARCH FOR ANY WORD OR NAME
ON
THIS ENTIRE SUTTON & WAWNE WEBSITE, all 40 or so
pages!
Copy & Paste this into your browser address or
search bar and add your word:
site:www.suttonandwawnemuseum.org.uk ?yourword?
INTERNET SERVER &
ROUTER PROBLEMS
March 2024
If you're
worried about your internet access, router problems,
security, your compromised safety, then you will
read this ...
and right to the end. Some will not like one bit
what I have to say ... but they may take note.
In my
many conversations with visitors to the museum about
computers, the internet, researching family history,
I've heard many, many tales of woe. Many were of
folks that have fallen foul of some difficulty in
using the internet, either of virus or malware
problems, poor ISP service or speeds, and a host of
other issues, most of which folks should be now
aware of.
In those brief conversations, I always tell people
that whilst the internet, and computers per se, are
brilliant – and yes, better than they ever have been
– they are still not a 'perfect science.' We still
need to learn something about the basics of our
machines, whether a desktop PC, internet telly, or a
tablet. We haven't yet reached the stage when we can
buy a computer, smart phone or tablet and just dive
in and use as is.
I can hear folks say, why not? Why shouldn't you be
able to bring home your new computer, plug it into
your phone connection or router, and fly away with
it. Similarly with the router. You sign up for an
account, your ISP sends you a router with basic
instructions, and to make it all as easy as possible
for non-techies, you're encouraged to plug in and
switch on and start sending emails, Facebook
messages and shopping online. So why aren't they a
perfect science?
My answer is simply we haven't got there ... yet.
Maybe another 5 years, or 10, or even 20, I've no
idea how long, but I do know we're being
unreasonable to expect it to be so right now. For
folks that drive and have a car, none would claim
there is such a thing as a perfect car. Where is the
vehicle that you never need to lift the bonnet,
check or top up fluids, oil, water, or put air in
the tyres? Where is the car that you need to learn
absolutely nothing about it at all, apart from jump
in and drive away … period? That's it .. buy it ..
use it .. and know nothing whatsoever about it.
Really?
Rediculous, I hear folks shout.
Well, why not. We've had cars for well over a 100
yrs now, so why not the perfect car that never needs
servicing or even a lift of the bonnet. We've had
aeroplanes for a similar time, nearly as long, so
why aren't they 'user proof', why do they sometimes
go wrong and drop out of the sky. Answer, there is
very little perfect science in this world.
Everything we have, everything we use, requires some
knowledge about it, requires the user to take some
interest in it, if only to get the best results.
Whether a vaccum cleaner, oven or a hair dryer, even
older ladies today would admit that none are
foolproof and each requires some knowledge to use
it, if only use it safely. But we've had computers,
as we know them now, with Windows and internet
connections, Spotify and Skype, internet shopping
and banking, and all the rest of it, for barely 20
years. To put it simply, they are still too new.
So why do folks buy a computer, take delivery of a
router, and not expect to do anything else other
than plug in. To some degree, those who expect that
are not being totally unreasonable, for that is the
direction new technology was going in. That is,
before the advent and rise of crooks and brigands
and thieves and a host of devious nasties in foreign
countries who all are out to wreck your system,
steal your money, inconvenience you bigtime, or all
three. Today's world says that, just like your car
requires you to know where the bonnet catch is,
today's internet technology requires you to know and
take charge of your own security. You look after
your keys to your house, take care to lock doors, so
why not the security of your router?
The basics require that you know and remember your
password, know how to change your password and know
how to choose a suitably secure password. So why do
so many folks still use the most common password in
use today, 123456, or leave their router set at
name=admin, password=password. I ask you, is that
reasonable? Or would those folks admit that a lot of
recent problems have been brought on themselves by
themselves. If they were being reasonable, yes. But
a lot of unreasonable folk are blaming everything
and everyone but themselves. Blaming their ISP,
blaming the computer manufacturers, the router
manufacturers - anyone, but themselves. Blogs on
social media using foul and abusive language
directed at their ISPs show the level of mentality
many of those unreasonable folk have descended to.
The various Worms and viruses that cause the most
problems first hit users in other countries first,
like Covid, not a UK creation. They start
abroad, in Eastern Europe, China, Russia, Thailand
and increasingly in India, Africa, hit other
innocent users that are mostly using the same type
of routers that folks have been hit with here. So
how in hell's name is that the fault of Talk-Talk,
The Post Office, or KCOM-Karoo ? Simply because
folks didn't learn how to change their passwords,
didn't want to know. But they knew they should.
There's been warnings for quite a while now, that
stronger and more devious tricks are on their way.
Still can't be bothered? I know of 80-year olds that
are computer savvy and know what they should do, and
do it. So it's not an age thing. And it's not
just routers and passwords. Someone, somewhere, are
still opening dodgy email attachments.
If not, how are so many
crooks making so much money that the police are at a
loss how to deal with it and the government admit
it's hurting the economy?
Wise up. Learn about the risks. Learn about how to
combat those risks. Parents now already accept they
have to learn how to use parental controls,
so why not accept that their kids are just as much a
security risk on an insecure router as they are
themselves. It is not logic, does not make sense, to
accept you have to know how your microwave works, or
your car works, and thus how to use it, but not to
understand how your router works. Having an insecure
router can bring total disaster to your home and
family, and not just financial. I have every
sympathy with folks that did learn the basics,
change passwords but still got hit .. yes, it
happens. But no time for folks that say, I can't be
bothered or not techie enough or laugh and admit to
being just too damned lazy. You have got to 'get
techie' and move your backside and do something
about it. Or get hurt. Otherwise, disconnect
and not use the web.
I don't mind helping folks, but even my patience is
wearing thin. Such folks are going to have to
learn .. or pack up using the tech. Or
just get bit and lose a tremendous amount of money.
I suspect many professional computer repair shops
took this view some years ago, and are making big
money out of the very folks who can't be bothered to
learn how to change a password. Just as garages make
millions out of drivers that know sweet nothing
about their engine.
There'll always be some.
C'mon people … wake up!! The banks are not going to
carry on picking up the tab for the wider public's
crass stupidity for very much longer. We'll
all suffer then.
RANT OVER.
SOME USEFUL TIPS
1.
First of all, we've tried to make this page more
easily accessible to people (like me! ) who wear
specs.
Most of the fonts, in most of the pages, are
expandable;
If you go to the 'View' and 'Text Size' - or
'Fonts' - command on your pull-down menu,
you can increase the size of most typefaces here
quite considerably. There's no need to strain your
eyes. I use Firefox, but for Chrome, Edge and the
others, there is a similar facility.
Additionally, if you have a mouse with a
roller-wheel in the centre, you can quickly
increase and decrease the screen fonts size by
pressing Ctrl + rotate the roller wheel either
way. Magic or what ! That centre wheel
is also a button on many mice, click it down on a
page, then as you carefully move the mouse up or
down on your pad, the page will slowly scroll with
the text perfectly steady enough to read, even
with my old eyes.
2.
If you have several Windows open at once, say
Internet Explorer, a word processor, and perhaps
an art programme, you can more easily cycle
between them all by pressing "Alt + Tab" on
your keyboard. The tab key is usually top-left,
with two-way arrows on. You can keep open as many
windows as your computer's memory can handle. For
most now, it's a good half-dozen or more.
3.
For all Windows users, you can make your web page
use the WHOLE OF YOUR SCREEN, and
temporarily get rid of toolbars, address boxes,
etc.
Just press 'F11'. or on some machines,
Alt+F11 together.
See more of each page . . . !
Press F11 again to get them back again ! Simple,
innit !!
Note: .. both top and bottom toolbars, and status
bar, are configurable to disappear altogether, and
reappear when you pass the mouse over them. More
magic !
4.
You can easily search or FIND any word on
a web page;
press 'Ctrl + F' . . up pops a dialogue
box,
enter your word, and click OK.
To find a full phrase, enclose it in quotes, thus
:
"Sutton & Wawne"
To search a whole website for one word, in Google,
type site: followed by the address, followed by
the word .... thus:
Let's look for the name Blashill in our site here
in Sutton ...
site: suttonandwawnemuseum.org
Blashill . . . . Try it.
5.
When you're browsing the net, and you're looking
at a page that you would like to send to a
friend by email, but are worried about the huge,
lengthy address in the address bar, no matter. Go
to 'File' on the pull-down menu, and click
on 'Send'. That will open your email
programme, with the page address already encoded
for you. You can then add a message of your own,
and send it on its way.
6.
You don't have to do everything with the
mouse. Agreed, it's novel at first, but it can
take some getting used to. Don't despair, help is
at hand, literally, for there are many keyboard
commands that do exactly what the mouse can do,
and they're often quicker. After a long while
using a mouse, the wrists can ache considerably.
Mouse-ache is now a common complaint in the
repetitive strain injury field .. RSI .. So it's a
good idea to learn as many keyboard commands
(shortcuts) as possible, and mix and match the two
methods according to how you feel. Let your
fingers do the walking. Eventually, you'll find
that for many things, it's quicker and more
efficient too.
7.
You can quickly move back and forth between pages
you've already looked at. These commands double
for the BACK and FORWARD arrows at
the top-left of your browser window.
Go to previous page . . BACKSPACE
Go to next page . . SHIFT + BACKSPACE . .
or Alt + Right cursor arrow .. does the
same thing.
If these following tips do not work at first,
click with the mouse within the window you're
browsing to 'activate' it. Here's a whole
nest of shortcuts that will have you whizzing
around your web pages in no time at all.
Scroll towards the beginning of a document . . UP
ARROW
Scroll toward the end of a document . . DOWN
ARROW
Scroll toward the beginning in larger increments .
. PAGE UP
Scroll toward the end in larger increments . . PAGE
DOWN
Move to the beginning of a document . . . HOME
Move to the end of a document . . END
Pretty useful, huh!
8.
You can 'Refresh' the current page . . press F5
You can Stop downloading a page that's taking too
long
and driving you mad . . . hit ESC
And you can Save the current page . . CTRL + S
. . a prompt box will open asking you what
filename you would like, and where to save it to,
which directory or folder, etc.
Ctrl+D .. bookmarks the current page, quicker than
the menu.
If Ctrl+S is greyed out, use Alt + F, then A ...
to bring up the box to "Save As" ... that will
prompt you for a new filename, and ask which
directory you want to save it to.
On some machines, F12 does 'save as.'
TIPS FOR WORD-PROCESSORS
LIKE MS-WORD, MS-WORKS, WORDPAD, ETC
If you're just starting to get to
grips with a word-processor, like Microsoft
Word for instance, these shortcuts may prove
helpful.
One of the most common mistakes people new to
word-processors make is to be unaware of exactly
where the cursor is on their screen.
The cursor is that 'blinking' little upright bar,
or thin line, that also looks like the Roman
Numeral
I
Everything you type in, whether on a clean page,
or in a form field on a Web Search Engine, happens
at the point where the cursor is. You need to
'click' in a form field to activate it, to make
the cursor blink. Then you can start typing, or
entering your search words, etc. Where people get
lost is when they've been scrolling up and down a
page after that, and lose where the cursor is. It
is also possible to jump from one field to another
by using the TAB key. After a while, it all
becomes second-nature, and you'll soon get the
hang of it. Give it time . . . and don't give up.
Now for some more tips . .
9.
To instantly save your document as you go
along, hit 'CTRL + S'. If it's a new
document and you haven't given it a name, you'll
get a prompt box asking you for one. No more
excuses for losing an hour's work . . I always hit
Ctrl+S after every paragraph now, just in case of
crashes, lockups, or power failures. It's as
automatic as hitting the Return key for a new
line. After many losses years ago, I learnt my
lesson ... letters, emails, whatever, hit Ctrl+S
as you hit Return.
10.
To increase the size of any font on the screen in
MS Word, whatever version, highlight all the text
you want to change, then press CTRL + ] .
. . that's the right-hand square bracket, near the
Enter key.
Likewise, to decrease the font, press CTRL + [
. . this trick works even if all the text is all
different sizes; each press of the keys goes one
size larger, or smaller, as you wish.
You'll find that many "MS Word" shortcuts work in
other Word-processors too, such as LibreOffice,
Ability, and others.
11.
Many people like the Cut, Copy & Paste buttons
on toolbars; in most Windows applications now, you
can use the shortcuts on the keyboard as well,
with CTRL+X to cut . . . CTRL + C
to Copy, and CTRL + V to Paste. The V
stands for Vector, which in early computer-speak
was the same as Paste Down, and it's convenient
that way, as the X, C and V keys
are all together on the bottom row, and all three
commands can be used with the left hand
only. And very fast too!
Clever, huh !
What many people don't realise is that those basic
tips work in all sorts of other applications as
well as Word processors, such as art programmes
like PaintShopPro, PhotoShop, Corel, etc, and
spreadsheets and database too. Even in Internet
browsers . . . highlight all the text you want to
keep, Ctrl+C will copy it to the internal
memory (RAM), then open Notepad, Wordpad, your
E-Mail app, etc, and Ctrl+V to paste it
down. Far quicker than the mouse when you get the
hang of it. And keyboards don't wear out as fast
as mice . . when the mouse buttons go, and they
will, a new one will be usually around £10 plus .
.. more if it has eyes !
That's enough for now . . . once
you've got to grips with those dozen or so, you'll
be flying around your pages like a maniac, and get
pinched for speeding ! You'll almost certainly
improve in confidence and go on to find your own
shortcuts and quick tips. If you find some really
good ones, drop me a line and let me know. I still
find them occasionally, and no-one can know
everything. I'm still learning .. every day!
Have fun, and
have confidence in yourself.
We have 90-year-old surfers
visiting our pages and my hair is white !
That's through marriage, one daughter and three
granddaughters though,
not computers.
NEVER give up. You CAN DO IT !
Back to the
Sutton
& Wawne
HOME PAGE
+ + +
________________________________________________
NOW FOR SOME MORE
ADVANCED HELP ;
being the
programmes I use for free to write these web pages,
process photos and graphics, and manage all my files
and folders.
My methods will
not suit everyone, but maybe there is something
in here that could help and assist you to do things
more quickly.
As with the keyboard commands listed above, that
everyone can use when working in Windows (and many of
them hold good for MACs too),
all the help I offer is designed to help you be more
productive, do tasks more quickly. Maybe acquire some
extra skills to do what you always wanted to do.
*
* *
PHOTOS
AND IMAGES
PaintShopPro
v.9
Many
people will be heard waxing lyrical about
Photoshop. An excellent programme, no two ways
about that. But, rather expensive, and in truth,
it is a programme that has so many options, so many
buttons to press, it almost needs a degree course to get
to grips with it. Having bought it, installed it,
and spent some time learning the basics, that is as far
as most folks will take it ... the basics. To that
end, the basic Windows Paint would do pretty much the
same job, and Windows users already have that.
I use PaintShopPro, v9, which is the very last version
before they were bought up by Coral, and to my mind, the
best that works on almost any version of Windows.
It's an old programme, from way back, and I first
installed it from a floppy disk, as v.6. As a
basic image processor, it did quite a few things that
Windows own programme didn't.
Various permutations further on, and we get to
v.9. Another famous firm, Coral, of Coral
Draw, bought PSP, and later brought out PSP2018.
That is also very good, but now is so much like
Photoshop (and as expensive as Photoshop Elements) in
its complexity, it still remains true that v.9 is still
the best, the quickest loading even on a slow machine,
and is by far the most immediate for most processes
required. Resizing, cropping, lighten, darken,
contrast up or down, even basic retouching of cracks and
creases, discolourations and many more besides.
Additionally, to improve speed, so many commands are
also on the keyboard, making for great fluidity of
working on any artwork or image process. One press
of a letter, instead of moving the mouse and finding the
button. Use one hand on the keys, other never lets go of
the mouse, and you can fly. And, on top of all that, it
is free.
If perchance a outlay of around £90 is affordable, then
yes, of the later versions, PSP2021 is a good option. Their selling
point is that you pay no subscriptions; just pay the one
time, and it's yours, all done, forever.
As to comparing PSP9 with Photoshop, I always say, why
buy a Rolls or Bentley, when a very nice Lexus would do
you just as well, and no outlay!
It can be downloaded online, or failing that, meet me at
the museum, bring a stick, and I will give you a copy of
the older v.9. If time permits, also a basic
lesson to get you started. There is another free
one online, GIMP, which also gets rave reviews from
users, and I've no doubt that will do most folks as
well. But habits die hard, PSP has been my choice
for over 20 years.
* * *
WRITING WEB PAGES
like this one
Free
online, I searched ages and ages for a better one
than the first I used, back in 1998,
Spiderpad. That evolved to one I used for many
years, called Arachnaphobia, but it still did not
have a WYSIWYG interface. Unlike Arachnaphobia, as I
write this now on BlueGriffon, I can see the
colour and size of my text, the background image of
leaves, the actual size of this table it is enclosed
in. In fact, it's just like writing a letter
in Word or Open Office.
Those
earlier programmes were just for writing the code,
the HTML that makes all of those things visible in
the web browser. Again, there are many, many
choices of HTML editors, and of the several free
ones, I consider this the best after various trials
with others. For someone new to writing or
composing web pages, this is the best in my view, as
at a click of the button below my cursor now, I can
see either just the raw code, or a split window
showing both, or like this as it will be seen.
Moreover, when writing in 'source view' as it's
called, make just one mistake in the coding, miss
out one bracket, one inverted quotes or spell and
element wrong, it will tell you. The whole
code lights up in blue from that point on to tell
you something is amiss, wrong, not allowed. In fact,
the colour coding in source code is so very helpful,
distinguishing between your text and different types
of commands.
Brilliant for me, or any amateur coder.
Their Home Page is here.
FILE
MANAGEMENT
Xplorer2
My
last choice, and oh boy, what a find this
was. When Windows 3.11 came out (on my first
use of any Windows, after struggling with DOS ...
remember that?) it had an excellent file manager,
called curiously enough "File Manager". The
programme opened with two panes, left and right,
and you could load different folders in each
one. Superb, and had they left that in later
editions of Windows, I would never have searched
for anything else.
I can't recall when they dumped it, replaced with
'Windows Explorer', perhaps in Win95. But it
had gone, and sorting files properly became a
nightmare. The truth was, Microsoft didn't
want you sorting files, as it led to too
many mistakes by novices, causing Windows to
crash, and MS more probs than they could cope
with.
From
then on, Windows became more and more designed -
and aimed at - those with the mentality of
children, all pictures and icons along with
determined discouragement to delve too deeply or
look at anything complicated - other than what MS
want you to look at, to sell you stuff, upgrade
Windows, buy bigger computers, etc, but that is
another matter. That's my rant, not
everyone's opinion.
If you have only ever used the propriety Win
Explorer to manage and sort your files, your
photos, your music ... poor you! You don't
know what you have been missing. Again, the
free version of Xplorer2 is downloadable, although
after about 5 years, I was so impressed and wanted
to use the advanced features I actually paid £15
for the Pro version, the only one I have ever paid
for. But what I say here applies to the free
one, which I still use on other computers, as my
paid fee only 'covers one seat' as they say,
cannot install it on two at the same time.
It
has so many advantages over WinExplorer they are
too many to list. But if you got it only to
have the luxury of a double pane to sort files in
two directories at once, for copying and
transfers, it would be worth getting to know
it. You'll fall in love with it's other
attributes quite naturally.
You can use the free one as often and wherever you
like, and on several machines if you wish.
Give it away, like I do, to friends.
Here's
two sample windows, one specifically organised
for sorting photos, the other for sorting
music files. The photos window shows the same
folder of family history photos in both panes,
one in detailed view with size and dates, the
other as thumbnails. I left the cursor
pointing at the same graphic file of a
shopping bag in both panes. I
usually use the music pane as a single pane,
but shown here you can have the two if you
wish. The background colours, text size,
thumbnail size, are all mine. They and
many other things are all very configurable,
Xplorer2 knocks Windows own Explorer into a
cocked hat.
Xplorer2 is made by Zabkat, in Hungary I
think. Their aftersales, their help, is
excellent. They really do want to help
you, even with the free one. If you do a lot of
photo sorting, professionally, the Pro version
is very well worth while, as you can set up
different layouts, as bookmarks, and many other
useful tools besides. If you're just
starting in photography, and just the point of
getting a bit overwhelmed, you're going to come
to see me and bring me presents!! I love
coffee! And salted caramel.
Just saying.
* * *
And no, we do not receive funding, payments,
or benefits,
for recommending and suggesting these
apps.
Just out of the goodness of my heart, and
because I find them so useful
and so easy to use, I can't help the thought
others may do too.
Updated: 8 March 2024
Back to the
Sutton
& Wawne
HOME PAGE
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