Add a Gadget to the desktop

Gadgets sit on your Desktop and offer information about the weather, time and date as well as access to your contacts, productively tools and CPU usage. You can evan have a slideshow of your favourite pictures. You can customise your desktop by adding gadgets and customising them to your needs.



1.  In the Start Search window, type Gadgets.


2.  Under Control Panel, click Desktop Gadgets.


3.  Drag any gadget to the desktop. You can drag as many
     as you like. Drag the Clock to the Desktop. (I'll tell you
     how to set it, in next post).


4.  Click the X in the top right corner of the Desktop  
     Gadget Gallery to close it.

Note :  You won't get up-to-date
            information on the weather,
            stocks and other real-time
            gadgets unless you're
            connected to the Internet.



       







CPU :  Your computer's Central Processing Unit ( the computer chip ). If the CPU usage is high, you can
            expect the computer to react more slowly then if CPU usage is low.

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Set the time on the clock gadget

Almost all gadgets offer a wrench icon when position your mouse over them. You can use this icon to access settings for the gadget. The first thing you may want to set is the time on the clock gadget.


    1.  Position the mouse pointer over the clock you dragged to the desktop. Look for the small x and the
         wrench to appear. Clicking the x will remove the gadget from the desktop. Clicking the wrench will
         open the gadget's properties, if properties are available.

    2.  Click the arrow in the Time zone window and select your time zone from the list.

    3.  Click the right arrow underneath the clock to change the clock type. Type a clock name if you like.

    4.  Click the left and right arrows to select a new clock, if you want to.

    5.  Click OK.

Note :  The Stocks gadget runs about 15 minutes behind real-time stock data, so don't start buying and
            selling based on what you see here. :)

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Change the view in the Pictures window

When you open most folders, you will see additional folders inside them. You'll use these subfolders to organise the data you create and save, such as documents, pictures and songs. You open a folder to see what's in it and then you can change the appearance of the content inside these folders. You can configure each folder independently so that the data appears in a list, as small icons or as large icons, to name a few.


1.  Click Start.

2.  Click Pictures.

3.  Locate the Views button.

4.  Click the arrow next to Views and make a selection
     using the slider.

Extra Tip :  Show items in the Pictures folder as Large or Extra Large icons and you'll be able to tell what
                    each picture looks like without actually opening it in a program.

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Take a screen shot

The Snipping Tool lets you dag your mouse cursor around any area on the screen to copy and capture it. Once captured, you can save it, edit it and/or send it to an email recipient. There are several ways to edit the ' clip ' or ' snip ' (either one will do for a name for the copied data). You can start by copying it or writing on it using a variety of tools. (These tools will become available after creating a snip). You can write on a clip with a red, blue, black or customised pen or highlighter, and if you mess up, you can use the eraser.

1.  Click Start.



2.  In the Start Search dialogue box, type Snip.



3.  Under programs, select Snipping Tool.



4.  Drag your mouse across any part of the screen.
     When you let go of the mouse, the snip will appear in
      the Snipping Tool window.

5.  Click Tools to see the options. You can use a tool to draw on the snip.

Extra Tip 1 :  You can take a screen shot of a webpage, document, presentation or anything else showing
                        on your screen.
                 2 :  If you mess up, from the Tools menu choose Eraser and ' ease ' what you just drew.

          Note  :  If you want to keep the snip you'll have to save it. Click File, click Save As to name the file
                       and save it to your hard dive.

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Record a sound clip

If you need to record a quick note to yourself, a music clip, a sound or other audible, it's easy with Sound Recorder. Sound Recorder is a simple tool with only three options : Start Recording, Stop Recording and Resume Recording. To Record, Click Start Recording ; to Stop, Click Stop Recording ; to Continue, Click Resume Recording. You save your recording as a Windows Media Audio file, which will play by default in Windows Media Player.

    1.  Click Start.

    2.  In the Start Search dialogue box, click Sound Recorder.

    3.  Under Programs, click Sound Recorder.

    4.  Click Start Recording and speak into your microphone.

    5.  Click Stop Recording to complete the recording.

    6.  In the Save As dialogue box, type a name for your recording and click Save.

    7.  Click the X in the Sound Recorder to close it.

Note : To record a sound clip, you need a microphone.

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Use Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a safe and effective way to reduce unnecessary data on your PC. With unnecessary data deleted, your PC will run faster and have more available disk space for saving files and installing programs. With Disk Cleanup you can remove temporary files, empty the Recycle Bin, remove set-up log files and downloaded program files, all in a single process.


    1.  Click Start.

    2.  In the Start Search dialogue box, type Disk Cleanup.

    3.  In the results, under Programs, click Disk Cleanup.

 

    4.  If prompted to choose a drive or partition, choose the
         letter of the drive that contains the operating system,
         which is almost always C:, but occasionally D. Click
         OK.



   5.  Select the files to delete. Accept the defaults if you
         aren't sure.



    6.  Click OK to start the cleaning process.  






WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Downloaded program files: These are files that download automatically when you view certain web pages. they are stored temporarily in a folder on your hard disk and accessed when and if needed.

Temporary Internet Files: These files contain copies of web pages you've visited on your hard drive, so that you can view the pages more quickly when visiting the page again.

Offline webpages: These are web pages that you've chosen to store on your computer so you can view them without being connected to the Internet. Upon connection, the data is synchronised.

Game news files and game statistics files: These are files related to games you'e played, such as how many wins and losses you have or new information regarding the games.

Recycle Bin: This contains files you've deleted. Files are not permanently deleted untill you empty the Recycle Bin.

Setup Log Files: These are files created by Windows during set-up processes.

Temporary Files: These files are created and stored by programs for use by the program. Most of these temporary files are deleted when you exit the program, but some do remain.

Thumbnails: These are small icons of your pictures, videos and documents. Thumbnails will be recreated as needed, even if you delete them here.






Note : You may not be prompted to choose a drive letter if only one drive exists.

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Use Disk Defragmenter

A hard drive stores the files and data on your computer. When you want to access a file, the hard drive spins and data is accessed from the drive. When the data required for the file you need is all in one place, the data is accessed more quickly than if that data is scattered across the hard drive in different areas. When data is scattered, it's fragmented.


    1.  Click Start.

    2.  In the Start Search dialogue box, type Defrag.

    3.  Under Programs, select Disk Defragmenter.

    4.  Verify that Disk Defragmenter is configured to run on a schedule. If not, place a tick in the appropriate
          box.

    5.  To manually run Disk Defragmenter, click Defregment disk.

    6.  Click Close.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Copy: To copy the selected text, picture or object.

Clipboard: An imaginary 'clipboard' where data you cut is stored until you paste it, reboot your PC or cut something else.

Cut: To remove the selected text, picture or object and place the item on the clipboard.

Interface: What you see on the screen when working in a window. In Paint's interface, you see the Menu bar, Toolbox and Color box.

Paste: To place cut or copied data into another program, file or folder.

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