Jack Clarke Home Page

Computing

I never touched a computer until 1992.  I was busy sailing and living a life of deprivation.  I didn't have time for computers.  But, when the bug struck, I really went whole hog.  Of course, I had to know "exactly" how everything worked.  The first computer was an old 286 with 30 megs of hard drive and 2 megs of ram.  It ran Windows 3.0.  I had never used DOS; but I knew it ran on DOS, so I had to find out about DOS in order to know how Windows worked.  I did just that.  Even today, I still use DOS for some applications on Windows 98.  I've never regretted learning it.  You cannot deny, though, that the new advances in technology have certainly enhanced our computing.  Anyone can do it now!

For a couple of years, I made a feeble attempt at earning a living showing people how to use their new computers.  It sounded like a great idea at the time.  Everybody was always asking questions.  The only problem was that nobody wanted to pay anybody for that information.  So, that didn't last very long.

For the past couple of years, I have been playing with website construction.  That might prove more rewarding.  Of course, with my luck, every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be doing websites by the time I get good at it.

Now that I'm fully retired, I'll still spend a bit of my time sharing some of the things I've stumbled across over the years.

My First Computer
This is the first computer I ever used.  Click here.

Built-in Dictionary
If you have Microsoft Works with Windows XP, you have a built-in dictionary and thesaurus.  You can access it all by itself without bringing up the program and going through all the steps.  Just put an icon on your desktop.  Here's how:

1. Using Windows Explorer, follow the path to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works
2. Find the file WksDict.exe
3. Right-click on this file
4. Click "Send to"
5. Choose "Desktop"
6. That gives you an icon which you can rename to Dictionary.  Just right-click on it and click Rename.

Not sure if this works with Vista or not.  If you try it with Vista and it works, please let me know.

Counter
Want to use your computer to count something?  Here's how.  Make a simple Notepad file with only 2 lines on it:

                  Counter - 20X

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I use 20 Xs; but you can use whatever you want.  Save the file and call it "Counter.txt".  You can even put an icon on your desktop if you like.

Now, when you bring up the file to count something, just pull the right margin over so that it wraps after that last X.  When you're finished, you can go down and put in a carriage return every 5 lines, then you can count by 100.

Now you can sit out in front of your house and count cars going by - or whatever!

Easy Shutdown with Windows XP
Forget the mouse.  Just touch that little Windows key that you always wondered why it was there, then "u", and then "u".  That's all there is to it.

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