Here's a few basic pointers
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To help your browser |
| First things first....
Go to the top of your browser and click on the Print button. That will print out the contents of the page you are viewing so that you can have immediate access to it while performing the steps. If you're like me, you might have a great memory, but it's short. ~~Marshall-tucker |
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Basic Browser Hints & Commands |
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| Make sure to learn how to clear the accumulated cache
files from your computer.
Cache files are .jpg, .tif, and .gif files that your browser collects
from webpages and stores for future reference. If you want to go back to
a certain page, your browser accesses these cache files so that you don't
have to redownload the info. The more you surf, the more cache files your
puter will collect. It's not uncommon for M-t or I to collect 4 or 5mb of
cache in one session of surfing. If you've had your puter a few months and
never cleared cache, it's a good bet you've got a good chunk of your hard
drive taken up with cache files pertaining to webpages that you'll never
go back to. We dump our cache on a daily basis, if not more often.
MIE and Netscape store cache in different folders. Find out which one is hiding your cache. It only takes up hard drive space and slowsdown your system. [Sanguiness' quickie hint here - look in the upper right corner of your browser. Is there a capital "N" there? Then you are on Netscape. Is there a lower case "e"? That's Microsoft Internet Explorer, also known as MIE.] If you are using Netscape as your browser, Do Not Delete the file "fat.db" while operating Netscape. Netscape must write to this file constantly. If you delete it while Netscape is running, you will bugger it up in short order and then have to go and redownload the program. Only delete fat.db when Netscape is not running. Can't emphasize that enough! [Sanguiness' quickie hint again - Use your "Find Files" function.. look for cache*.. start opening the folders til you find the one that is full of little odd named files. That's the one that needs cleaned out.] |
To help your computer run smoother |
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| There are three things you can do to help your computer
run smoother, when you notice that clearing cache isn't speeding things
up.
a)Scandisk These are best accomplished while you are offline. I know, I know, you don't want to go...but, really, if you go do these things and come back, you'll be much happier and they don't take that much time! Also, sometimes when you go to run Defrag, your computer will tell you that you need to Scandisk first, for fix errors. Might as well run Scandisk first as a habit, and save yourself a step. |
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| a) First of all, go to your 'Start' button, there on your taskbar and choose "Run...", and in the box that pops up, type in the word "scandisk". Windows will remember this word for you, in the future all you'll have to do is choose it from the pull-down list that pops up in that same box. Use the "Standard" scan ("Thorough" takes a really long time, and except in cases of extreme problems, it's really not necesary). Windows will show you the progress as you go, and pop up a screen that gives you a report about how many bytes you've used, what's free and what's in bad sectors, and any errors that it finds. [Sang generally chooses to have Windows automatically fix any errors it finds.] That's it for that step. Click "OK" and close the window. | |||
b) Go back to your old friend the "Start" button, and choose "Run" again, this time typing in "defrag". This will tidy up your hard drive, putting files back together that have been scattered, and stacking files together, getting all your available free space together, which gives your computer more space to maneuver when running programs or surfing the internet. [Sang likes to have it 'show details', just because she's nosy and likes to watch the little boxes change colors! LOL!] Again, easy peasy, the computer does the hard part for you, when it's all done, click "OK" and close it out. |
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| c) Now, back to the "Start" button for one last bit of magic. Choose "Shut down..." and take the option to "Restart the computer". This will clear out the Windows cache, which you cannot open to clean on your own. There are times after a good long surfing that Windows can accumulate 20 or more megabytes of info, scattered around on your hard drive, and restarting the computer is the only operation that forces Windows to clean up behind itself. (If only teenagers were as easy to manage, eh?) | |||
| And there you have it, the Windows magic that can keep you running speedy and smooth as you while away your hours on the internet! Enjoy! |