Your System

• Contents
• Home
• Your System
• Accessing the Internet
• Backing Up Your stuff
• File Formats
• Laptop systems
• Speed
• Hidden Files On Windows
• Registry
• Operating system
• Changing Internet Explorer Browser Agent
• Your computer and fonts
• Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?
• Windows XP
• Setting up DNS in Windows XP
• Improving Performance
• Control Your Power

Of course, there are many things that you should do to have a decent internet experience. You want to have a decent computer with as much memory, processor and disk as you can afford. You need to somehow connect to the internet. And you have to have an internet account and perhaps an email account. If you want to create web pages, you must find someone to host your site. And the list goes on and on.

The first thing you will need is a computer, of course.  My recommendation is to get the best computer that you can afford. Don't settle for a cheap system if you can avoid it - you will regret it later. I like the Intel platform with the Windows operating system family - other people like the Imac. The brand is really up to you.

Give your computer lots of memory, at least 256 megabytes. All of the new browsers and web creation tools use memory like crazy, so if you don't have as much as you can get your system could perform very slow.

Most newer systems (even the cheap ones) come with enough disk space. I know it's hard to believe, but you'll want at least 5 gigabytes.

Once you have a computer you will need to get connected to the internet. I prefer a fast line like DSL or cable modem. It is critical to check out your ISP (internet service provider)  before you purchase a long term contract. If you cannot try it for a month or so, then do some research and verify your ISP has what you need. The reason for this is simple. An ISP not only gives you access to the internet, but it gives you a free homepage, access to email and newsgroups and should have a certain quality of performance.

Now you need to choose a browser. Yes, I know your computer probably came with Internet Explorer, and that's a fine browser, but you can and should download firefox and check it out also. This is especially true if you are going to create a web site or home page - you will need to have both browsers at a minimum to make sure your web site works well in each of them. Also, believe it or not, there are some web sites that simply do not work properly in one or the other browser. In that case it's nice to have them both installed.

Contents

• Accessing the Internet - DSL, Cable Modem or dialup You need a way to get to the internet, and if you are lucky you have some choices: DSL, cable or dialup.
• Backing Up Your stuff - Part 1 Backup may seem to be a pain, but it's one of the most important things that you can do to protect your system.
  • Backing Up Your stuff - Part 2 Backups are critical, and it's wise to spend some time researching the various devices available before you make a purchase.
  • Backing Up Your stuff - Part 3 Once you've picked out your hardware, you need to decide which software to use for your backups.
  • Backing Up Your stuff - Part 4 It's wise to keep everything you need to rebuild your entire system available just in case.
  • Backing Up Your stuff - Part 5 Now that you've got backup hardware and software, you need to know where you stuff is ... so you can save it and restore it.
  • Backing Up Your stuff - Part 6 Do you know where your system stores stuff? This article may help.
  • Backing Up Your stuff - Part 7 So where does the computer put stuff anyway? And once you know, what do you do with it?
• There are many different file formats on the web There are hundreds of different file formats on the web. You'll need to be able to convert now and then and here's how you do it.
• Laptop systems Picking the right laptop is very important. These things can be very tricky so spend a little more to get a good one.
• You can improve your computers internet performance There are lots of things that you can do to improve your systems internet performance.
  • Hidden Files On Windows Windows hides some files from view. This is not for any evil purposes, it's simply an attempt to make your computer faster and more useful.
• DSL If you can get it, DSL is probably one of your best choices to speed your internet access.
  • Review of PacBell DSL Pacific Bell DSL (now called SBC) is generally fairly stable. Most problems seem to revolve around installation.
• You can modify the registry on Windows to improve your system You can modify files in the registry to make your system perform better, be more reliable or to turn on (or off) special features. Be careful though, this can damage your system!
  • Automatically Open Folders After Shutdown I don't know about you, but I would like Windows to remember what folders I had open before it was shut down. Here's how to do it.
  • Backing Up The Registry Before you make any changes to the registry, you'd better get a good backup. These could save your computer!
  • Cause Notepad to Remember Settings Notepad is a simple and useful editor. One of the major annoyances, is it does not remember settings. Here's how to make it do so.
  • Changing Internet Explorer Browser Agent Want to modify the user agent field of Internet Explorer? Here's how you do it.
  • Changing Location For Saving Attachments Outlook by default temporarily saves viewed attachments into the internet temporary folder. I find this annoying, and here's how you change the location.
  • Get Rid Of "Click Here To Begin" For someone new to Windows XP, the "Click here to begin" message is important. After about an hour, though, the message can go. Here's how to get rid of it.
  • Prevent Word From Loading HTTP Images What to close a small security/privacy hole? Block the loading of remote HTTP images in Word.
  • Changing Location Of Outlook Stationary The location of Outlook and Outlook Express stationary files is contained in the registry. You can modify this value.
  • Disable the Default Image Viewer A major annoyance - Windows XP forces you to use their own image viewer and it's a pretty awful program. You can disable this with a simple registry edit.
  • Get Rid Of Balloon Tips Being driven crazy by those balloons that keep popping up with useless bits of information? Take control of them with this registry edit.
  • Speeding Up The Start Menu The Windows XP start menu has a built-in delay. This makes it "slow" to display the menu. You can change this delay and make it a bit faster.
  • Allowing executable attachments in Outlook The Outlook modification to disallow execution of executable attachments can save you a lot of grief. Sometimes, however, you need those attachments.
• Operating system There are several operating systems to choose from.
• Changing Internet Explorer Browser Agent Want to modify the user agent field of Internet Explorer? Here's how you do it.
• Your computer and fonts Need some data about how to use fonts? Here are some answers.
• Does Anyone Know What Time It Is? A ten dollar Power Puff Girls watch keeps better time than your personal computer. Here's how to solve that problem.
  • Configuring Windows XP Time Service Want your PC clock to be accurate? Use the Windows XP Time service.
  • ArgoSoft Time Service I've found the ArgoSoft time service is much superior to the Windows XP version.
• Windows XP Microsoft has a new operating system for the desktop. It's called Windows XP, and it's a fine example of what an operating system should be.
  • Setting up DNS in Windows XP Setting up DNS in Windows XP can be simple or complicated, depending upon which options you choose.
  • Improving Performance By default, Windows Xp is very pretty, but it's also a fat pig. You can speed it up with a few simple changes.
  • Control Your Power

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