Mouse Clix

By: Hobie Lunin

Making your Computer Yours

This article is about customizing some of the features in your computer (Windows 98 and later) to make it special, easier to use and also to streamline it.

We will start with some features that you may find useful. Click on Start, Settings and Control Panel. Click on Mouse. From the Pointers tab, you can make the cursor larger or black, from the Scheme selection. Under Visibility, you can find several ways to help see your pointer or find it, including having the pointer leave a trail when you move it. Selecting Click Lock can help you if you have trouble holding the mouse button down for long periods. You would then click a second time to release it. If you have an MS IntelliPoint mouse, you can make a number of variations for the wheel. (Note that you may not have all the options mentioned above.)

The Themes icon in Control Panel is a place with a large selection of coordinated wallpaper, screen savers, colors and fonts. It changes the look of most everything you will see in your computer. It is a plus if you are tired of the drab gray color in use on most of the screens. You can try a scheme a week until you find one that you are particularly fond of. Previews are available as well as a look at the coordinated screen saver.

If you do not find some of these various selections, it just means that these options were not installed initially from the Windows installation disk. You will need to go to Add/Remove programs and go to the Windows Setup tab. Specific directions for this process are in a previous column dated Jan. 4, 2001 (website below). I suggest printing out the column so you can follow the process.

Some of the features that may be optionally installed are Accessibility Options (features to assist disabled users), Calculator (an on-screen calculator), Character Map (to insert characters and symbols into documents) and Games (if you have discovered you do not have Solitaire). Additionally, Mouse Pointers (if you can't find the folder mentioned above) and Windows 98 Tour (if you are a new user). You may want to change the background of your desktop on occasion without affecting anything else. As this is the screen that you see most, it might be a pleasant change. You can locate a photo or graphic from your computer or on-line. The most popular graphic recently seems to be the US Flag; here is an instruction on how to put it on your desktop.

Go on-line and locate this Web Address: http://www.kliv.com/images/OldGlory.gif This should bring a flag to the screen. Then right click on the flag and then Set as Wallpaper. Ouila! There it is. To change it, just select something else (like a photo you may have received in the e-mail) whenever you feel the urge.

When I am working on other people's computers, I notice they have so many tool bars showing, that the amount of screen left is only about 2/3 of the height. I recommend reducing the number of toolbars. You can always put that toolbar on temporarily if you need it, but when you are on the Internet, it makes sense to get as much screen space as possible since the pages there are longer than your screen. I am actually typing this article on someone else’s computer (MS Word) and as I look at the screen the document is just over half the screen even when Maximized. I see that the Status bar and the Drawing toolbar are taking up an inch of screen. These can be removed by deselecting them from the toolbar selection in View. There are also 3 toolbars at the top taking more than an inch of space and there are large gray areas where the tool bar does not extend very far across the screen. The Bars may be dragged around in that space to make more room. Any of these tool bars may be removed in a like manner as the ones at the bottom and some of the icons that are never used can be removed until they are needed again.

To increase the screen space when you are on the Internet, first get Internet Explorer (or Netscape) on your screen by finding it in Programs or on your desktop. If it wants to put you on-line, let the computer know you want to work off-line. Right click the upper tool bar see what is checked. If you do not use the Radio bar regularly, deselect it. If you find you do not use the Links bar, deselect that as well. You will probably need the Standard buttons and the Address bar. If you find that you use Favorites mostly and rarely use the address bar, deselect it and use File, Open, when you need to type in a new address. The Standard Buttons bar uses icons and words. You can reduce the size of the bar by selecting icons only, when you right click the bar. Small icons instead of large will also help. In the options menu that you see when you right click, you can customize that tool bar by adding or subtracting buttons by highlighting the button and then clicking on add or remove. It is probably not necessary to use more than a quarter of the screen for your address field, leaving more room for other buttons. Simply drag the divider to the right of the word Go. Actually, you can also delete the Go button, by righting clicking it and deselecting it. Use "Enter" instead, as it is faster. You can hit it just after you enter a new address.

I hope this is useful. More on customizing your computer coming soon.

Hobie Lunin is a Computer Instructor and Consultant, and can be reached at hlunin@email.com.

Column archive at http://mouseclix.tripod.com