Ask

Ask Mr. Modem! – July 2010     
www.MrModem.com   


Touchy Typing

Q.  I find that when I’m using my laptop, the cursor jumps all over the place without any apparent provocation. I am not aware of touching anything when that happens. Is there a setting to prevent this from occurring?

A.  The problem you describe is usually caused by accidentally contacting the laptop’s touchpad when typing. Most laptops have a small switch or other method of disabling the touchpad. If you can’t locate a switch, there will be a setting you can change to disable it, which is what I do. I prefer using an external mouse, so I disable my laptop’s touchpad right off the bat. Typically, it's a BIOS setting that is accessed during the startup process, but contact your computer manufacturer’s Tech Support to determine how to disable it, as it varies by computer.

If you don’t want to disable the touchpad, you’ll just have to watch where your hands and wrists are positioned to keep them away from the touchpad. Some people place “insulation,” like a little pad or a few yellow stickies on the touchpad to make it less sensitive, so some experimentation may be in order, as well. 


Q.  Is there a simple way to determine the number of files within a folder without having to make a manual count?

A.  You sure can. Right-click any folder, select Properties, and in the Contains: field it will show how many files are in the folder. In addition to the Contains: field, the Size: field, not surprisingly, displays the size of the folder which can be useful in determining if the contents of a given file or folder will fit on a CD, thumb drive, or other storage device.


Q.  I have a good friend who believes her teenage daughter is involved in some questionable online activities. Is there a way that she can keep an eye on what sites her daughter is visiting and what she's doing online?

A.  For absolute monitoring of every keystroke and every bit of activity that occurs, Spector for Windows (http://tinyurl.com/3rrv6b) works like a surveillance camera. It takes a snapshot of whatever appears on the computer screen, saving it all in a tamper-proof, hidden location on your computer's hard drive. Spector ($69) can automatically take a picture as frequently as once every second or at longer intervals, if you prefer.

Your daughter’s -- oops, your good friend’s daughter (wink-wink) won’t even know Spector is installed, but even if the young perv did know, she could not prevent it from memorializing her every antisocial, disgusting, and/or criminal online activity.


Q.  I am using Microsoft Office 2007. When I click the Office button in the upper left-hand corner to access recent documents, none are ever listed. How do I get it to show documents I recently accessed? Thanks for being there, Mr. M. I love your weekly newsletter.

A.  Thank you. (For information about subscribing, please visit www.MrModem.com). It sounds like the value for Recent Documents is set to zero, but you can easily check and adjust that: Click the Office button, then click Word Options (in Word 2007) or Excel Options, or PowerPoint Options at the bottom of the Office Menu. Go to the Advanced tab and scroll down to the “Display” section.

Set the value for “Show this number of Recent Documents:” to 12 or 15, or something other than what currently appears, then click the OK button. That should do it.


Mr. Modem’s DME (Don’t Miss ‘Em) Sites of the Month

altMD.com
A wonderful online destination that provides detailed information on more than 200 wellness specialties and 400 health conditions. The site includes thousands of expert articles, videos, blogs, travel destinations and other resources, plus access to 300,000+ health and wellness-care providers throughout the U.S.
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Twinkies Facts
The Twinkie, long recognized as the cornerstone of any well-balanced diet, was created in 1930 by James Dewar, a plant manager at the Continental Baking Company. From its humble beginning as “Twinkie Fingers,” today more than 500 million Twinkies are produced every year. Despite urban legends that suggest the shelf life of a Twinkie is measured in decades, according to Hostess, the actual shelf life is 25 days per Twink. Before he departed for the Big Cupcake in the Sky at age 88, Mr. Dewar (this is true) said that the secret to his long life was to “eat Twinkies every day and smoke a pack of cigarettes.” What, no bourbon?
http://tinyurl.com/2g6ub3k

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