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Thursday, July 13, 2000
Q: I often encounter situations with my computer in which I'm scared to press a key, because it might break my computer or software. Am I worrying in vain?
A: In the vast majority of the cases, yes! You're troubled over nothing. Pressing a key should cause no harm to your computer, software or data. In those few cases in which errors might occur, you'll be duly warned.
Still there are several things that you should do to reduce those chances that you actually harm your data or applications.
Don't ever delete program files or folders. If you need to remove an application, uninstall it using the uninstall feature on the application's original program disk, or via the "Add/Remove Programs" feature of Windows. You'll find the latter in your Control Panel -- typically by clicking on the [Start] button, then clicking on [Settings>].
Keep your finger off your delete key. It can remove files if pressed under the proper circumstances.
Set up your system to warn you by displaying a delete confirmation box whenever you try to delete a file. To activate this setting, right click on the Recycle Bin icon; then set this parameter.
Speaking of Recycle Bin, make sure it's active -- so you get a second chance to save a file even after you delete it. When the Recycle Bin is active, deleted files go into the Recycle Bin instead of actually being deleted. You'll still be able to retrieve them until you empty the Recycle Bin of this file. BTW, if you're trying to free up disk space by deleting files, you will have to empty the Recycle Bin after deleting them.
Have a question for David Radin? Contact him at his Web site
Create a boot disk on a clean floppy diskette. Just in case you destroy an important system file, you can later insert the boot disk to start an otherwise inoperable system.
Back up your important files onto removable media. Windows 98 comes with a convenient backup utility, which you'll find on the [Start] menu, typically under [Programs>], then [Accessories>], then [System Tools>]
Q: I like to print out some of your e-mail tips for my file. How can I delete all the excess, such as headers, etc. before printing?
A: That depends on which e-mail software you use. For most, the easiest way is to copy the text you really want into the clipboard, then paste it into your favorite word processing program where you can edit it. This allows you to clip off all the information you don't need. Plus it allows you to format the text for optimum readability.
Most e-mail packages allow you to edit messages directly. In Outlook, select the [Edit] menu, then [Edit Message]. This unlocks the message so you can type throughout the headers and body.
The good news about doing it this way is that you can change the subject line before printing it -- because, frankly, many people do a poor job of using the subject field to uniquely identify the subject. (For example, could you imagine how worthless a subject line saying "PG Article" would be to recipients if they are editors at the Post Gazette. Almost every message they receive relates to a PG Article!) If you want to keep the edits after you make them, don't forget to save the edited message. Click on [File], then [Save] before you close it.
For e-mail programs that don't allow you to edit incoming mail, you can turn it into an outgoing message by clicking on the [Forward] button; then edit it before printing.
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