More Questions;
More Answers
By Cate Eales
Appeared March 13, 2008 on castanet.net
What do you do with those pictures you get in your
email? How do you know if you can safely prevent a program from starting
when Windows loads? What about using your Firefox Bookmarks for your Start
Menu Favourites?
This week's column answers those questions, all from faithful readers. You
folks are the best!
How do I work with the pictures I receive in
email?
Here's a great email I received this week from a reader:
Hello! I have received pictures by e mail from
friends and family from time to time and have stored some of them in an
e mail folder named "pictures". Is it possible to transfer these
pictures to a specific place, such as "My Pictures", where they can be
handled?
Yes, absolutely there is a way to do that. In fact,
there is more than one way!
Here's the first method:
In Outlook Express, when a picture has been sent as an attachment, there's
a little paper clip icon over on the right side of the message window.
Click on that paper clip, and select "Save Attachments."
That will open up another window, and at the bottom of that window, you
can use the Browse button to navigate to the location where you want to
save the picture. When you're satisfied with the location, click "OK," and
then click "Save." You're all set!
If you want another way:
If you can see the picture in the message, right-click on the picture.
Select "Save picture as..." and then navigate to the folder where you want
to save the picture. Click on "Save" and you're done.
How do I know if it's ok to disable an item in my
Startup?
When I work on a client's computer, one of the first things I do is look
at what programs start up with Windows. There are several ways to do that;
I like
Autoruns best. Many programs that insist on starting every time you
load Windows don't need to, because they will happily start when you need
them. Disabling them from starting with Windows saves resources and can
often shorten the time it takes Windows to start.
But there's a catch. Some of the programs DO have to start with Windows,
for instance your anti-virus programs. So how can you tell if it's safe to
disable something?
One way, if you're using Autoruns, is to right-click on the item you're
wondering about, and then select "Search online." This will open up your
browser, and search for sites that will give you information about that
file. Take a look at the information on one or more of those sites, and
make your decision.
Another option is to check the
Answers That
Work website. Visit the website, and click on the link to "task list"
and then find the information you need.
Is there a way to set the "Favourites" on the
Start menu to use the Firefox bookmarks?
After the
recent column on cleaning up your Firefox Bookmarks and IE Favorites,
I received this question in my email:
I use Firefox but want to know if there is an
automatic way to set my Start>Favourites to the Firefox bookmarks. My
Start Favourites are using IE.
That's a great question, and wouldn't it be great if
there was a way to do that? Unfortunately, there's not really any way just
to set the Firefox Favourites to do that. It's because Internet Explorer
is still very much a part of the Windows XP operating system, and this is
just one of the examples of that!
But...there is a workaround. What to do is sync your Firefox bookmarks to
your IE Favourites. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest one
I've found is with a little program called
BookMark Bridge, available here.
Download and install BookMark Bridge, and then set the options so that
your Firefox Bookmarks copy to your IE Favorites. You'll have to do that
every so often, but if Firefox is set as your default browser, clicking on
a link in Favorites from the Start menu should open up Firefox to that
page.
Please note that BookMark Bridge is Beta software, and all the warnings on
the author's download page apply. That said, I've been using it for over a
year without a problem, and other readers have thanked me for the link.
Thank you everyone who emailed questions, comments, and suggestions.
Please add yours! Email me at
cate@rlis.com. You can also
browse the column archives at any time by pointing your browser here.
If you'd like to subscribe to this column by email,
please visit this link. It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the
RSS Feed, click here.
Links
Autoruns http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
Answers That Work
http://www.answersthatwork.com/
Comes In Handy
http://rlis.com/columns/column134.htm
BookMark Bridge
http://bookmarkbridge.sourceforge.net/downloads.html
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives
http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618
RSS Feed:
http://rlis.com/rlis.xml
---
Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible
and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric,
and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions,
helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware
eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image
management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management.
Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your
comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit
the Real Life Internet Solutions website at
www.rlis.com.
©
Cate Eales 2008 – All Rights Reserved
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