Phone: 250.764.7043
Email: help@computercarekelowna.com

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Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Taming Windows Contacts
by Cate Eales

Appeared November 26, 2009 on castanet.net
 

Have you figured out how to manage Windows Contacts yet? This week I have some information that might help. Also, it turns out the Snipping Tool in Vista and Windows 7 is actually useful! Finally, you do know you don’t have to look at those AOL ads every time you open Internet Explorer, don’t you?


Taming Windows Contacts
If you’re using Vista or Windows 7, you’ve almost certainly encountered Windows Contacts, which replaced the familiar XP address book.

Windows Contacts can be used with Windows Mail/Windows Live Mail, or as a standalone program. If you simply want to add information to an existing contact or create a new contact, you don’t have to open up your email program. Just open up Windows Contacts:

Start | All Programs | Windows Contacts

Use the buttons at the top of the window to add a new contact or group, or to import or export your contacts from or to a file.

(click to enlarge image)

If you don’t see the buttons at the top of the Contacts window, Windows somehow forgot that this is a special type of folder for your Contacts. That’s easy to fix:

Your contacts are probably sorted by first name. You can easily sort them other ways by adding columns with the information you want. For example, if you want to sort by last name, place your cursor in the area between the top of the list of contacts and below the buttons. Right-click, and click on the “First name” and “Last name” choices. Now, clicking on “Last name” will sort alphabetically by last name.

Snipping Tool: Not As Bad As I Thought It Would Be
I’ve been a fan of Gadwin PrintScreen (http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/) since the days of Windows 98. Yes, you could always hit the Print Screen key in Windows and get a picture of the whole screen, but who really knew where it went and how to get a smaller area?

PrintScreen lets you define the area of the screen you want, and works with whatever photo editing software you use to produce useful screen captures. I’m still using it in Vista.

However, Vista and Windows 7 have a “Snipping Tool” that will let you do the basic things without having to install anything. To access the tool:

* Click on Start | All Programs | Accessories | Snipping Tool

Just drag the cursor around the area you want to capture and then let go of the mouse button.

This will open a simple graphics editor. You can use the tools there to draw lines, add highlighting, email the picture, and save it to your hard drive. If you go back to the Snipping Tool and click on Options, you’ll see that you can change the shape of the area you want to capture, the ink colour, and so on. Experiment!


Setting Your Browser Start Page
Did you recently get a new computer? Did you recently upgrade your browser to Internet Explorer 8? In either case, the question I hear most often is, “How do I get my old Start page back?”

Naturally, we hope you'll use --- ahem --- castanet.net as your home page! But you can set any page at all:
 

To check that you've got it right, click on the house icon in Internet Explorer, or close and reopen the browser. Either way, you should see your start page. If that didn’t work, you might have your security software set to prevent changes. Find and change that setting, make the change, and turn that setting back on if you want to continue to protect the start page.


Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!
 

Links
Managing Your Contacts http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Managing-your-contacts
Gadwin PrintScreen http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/
Computer Care Kelowna http://computercarekelowna.com
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

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Do you need help with your computer? I'm here to help you and your home or business computer get along!

Cate Eales runs Computer Care Kelowna, a mobile service helping home users and businesses get along with their computers. To arrange an appointment phone her at 250-764-7043. Cate also welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send email to help@computercarekelowna.com.

You can read previous columns 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.

© Cate Eales 2009 – All Rights Reserved

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