Hi Folks,

All About the Volume

I was brainstorming for new tip ideas the other day and I got to thinking that we have never done a tip on the basics of your computer's volume controls before. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, go down to your system tray and double click on the little speaker icon.  A new window will then open that is titled Master Volume. You'll see a bunch of sliders you can move around that help you get the perfect sound for your computer. But, what are you supposed to do with all of those? What do all the terms mean? Well, keep reading and I'll tell you!

The first one you'll see is for the Master Volume itself. This is the one that gives you the most sound, depending on how much you want. It will let you know how loud it is by a little "thump" noise, so you can listen for that as well. The next one is Wave. The wave control has to do with any music you may play with special software, such as WaveOut. This one doesn't really affect your direct sound too much.

After that comes the SW Synth. First of all, synth stands for synthesizer and this one deals with any synthesizing that has to be done within the software programs you use. This one is important if you're listening to a music CD or playing a game on your computer. The next one is CD/Video In and as you can probably guess, it comes into play with any audio or video files you may play on your PC. Lastly, there are the Line In and Microphone options. These both have to do with the connectors on your actual computer tower. Line In is mainly used for a stereo sound and the Microphone comes into play when you're using a mic along with your computer.

Again, each control comes with a slider you can move up or down to get a sound volume you prefer. You can also control the balance of each by using the Balance slider. I personally like to have all mine set in the middle, with the Master Volume just a little bit higher. But either way you like it, you're now in sole control of your computer's volume. Isn't that the best feeling ever?!

Q:
When I go to my programs list, it tends to take up my whole screen. Is there any way I can make them into a list or do anything different with them? Please help, it's driving me crazy!

A:
Back by popular demand! I've been getting several questions about this lately, so here you go!

Ah, yes, I've run into this problem before as well. First of all, I didn't have this problem with Windows 98 or ME, because they both showed all my programs in a list form, but with Windows XP, it was much different. All I wanted was a list like in the last century. What could I do? Well, lucky for me (and for you!), I have discovered this remedy.

1.) Right click your Start button and choose Properties.

2.) Select the Start Menu tab and then, next to the Start Menu radio button, click the Customize button.

3.) Next, click the Advanced tab and scroll down to the box marked Scroll Programs and check it.

4.) Hit OK and then OK again.

So, from now on, when you go to Start, All Programs, you'll get a long list instead of gobs and gobs of programs that take up your whole computer screen.

Also, if you're like me and have a ton of programs, you may want to organize them into folders, such as "Music," "Games," etc. This will help out with your programs list as well. For more on how to do this, check out this tip. Enjoy!

~ David

System Tray

In one of the tips I wrote last week, I happened to mention the term "system tray" and without thinking much about it, I figured most computer users know what that is. Well, when I got back into the office on Monday, I had quite a few e-mails from you all asking me about it. So, evidently I was wrong and I want to take this time to apologize for never writing a tip on it before. It should have been covered way back in the very beginning. Hopefully, some of you will be able to forgive me after today though!

Alright, so what is the system tray? Basically, the system tray is located at the very bottom of your desktop in the taskbar (which is the long bar that runs all the way across your desktop). If you look along the taskbar, you'll see some icons in the quick launch area, then you have some open space for any programs, etc. you have open and then on the very far right, you'll see where the system tray sits.

The system tray contains the clock icon, the volume icon and various other icons, depending on what all you have installed on your computer. Usually, your antivirus program icon will be there, it's where your printer icon shows up, your modem icon is there, the safely remove hardware icon sits there and so on. If you need to use any of the items in your system tray, all you have to do is double click on the icons and the programs will open. So, as you can see, the system tray is home to a lot of important applications on your PC. And now you know all about it. Yes!

CCleaner

We all have junk on our computers, whether we like it or not. Maybe they're Internet files or files that have been left behind from uninstalled programs, but either way, I have a program that will clear all of them away! I can almost guarantee that you'll love this program. It's called CCleaner and I think it's a must have for all computer users. If you're interested, keep on reading!

CCleaner is a program that optimizes your computer by removing various kinds of garbage system files, such as temporary files, old registry entries, invalid shortcuts, etc. It also helps to maintain your privacy by deleting your browser's URL history, cookies and so on. It's a small all-in-one system clean up tool that is just beyond handy!

To get started with using it, just follow these directions:

1.) First, download CCleaner from this link. Follow the installation wizard and when it has finished, open up CCleaner. Your screen will look similar to this:

2.) You will then see that certain tasks that you commonly do on a regular basis have already been checked. Such tasks as emptying the Recycle Bin and running the Disk Cleaner. If you select the Applications tab, you'll see some of your installed software. Take a minute and look over the list to see if there's anything you don't approve of. If there is, you can uncheck them.

3.) Next, click the Analyze button and the progress bar will then begin. When it has finished, you'll see how much junk information can be removed on the right pane.

4.) Click Issues and you'll be able to check out your registry by clicking Scan for Issues. Once you do, the progress bar will initialize. After it has found all of the issues, click Fix Selected Issues and a prompt will appear, asking you to back up your registry. I strongly suggest that you select Yes on this one.

5.) I've never had a problem with CCleaner, but it's still a good idea to do it. I usually save it to the My Documents folder.

6.) To fix all the issues, select Fix All Selected Issues and then click Close.

Finally, if you click Tools, you can also uninstall programs from CCleaner. It's so much easier than using Windows' Add/Remove programs.

Another bonus feature of CCleaner is that you can set it to delete all the files from a certain folder every time you run it. For example, when I make a slideshow and I need to get pictures off of the Web, I usually download them to my computer, just in case I need to edit them. Once I embed them into my presentation, I don't need them anymore, so I set CCleaner to delete the pictures from that folder whenever I use it. You can do this too. Here's how:

1.) In CCleaner, select the Options button and click Custom and then click Add Folder.

2.) Select the folder and then click OK.

3.) Confirm the choice by selecting Yes.

4.) Then when you go to clean your computer, make sure that under the Windows tab, Advanced heading, the Custom Files and Folders option is selected.

Now, go on and clean up your computer. Have fun!

~ Neil Patel

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