Helpful hints from the Digital Janitor

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Disk Defragmenter and Scan Disk Periodically, it is helpful to run Disk Defragmenter on your computer to help organize your hard drive and improve your computer operating speed. Disk Defragmenter - often referred to simply as defrag (dee'-frag) - runs best when no other programs are running on your computer, although it is not a requirement.

I generally start the computer in "Safe Mode" to do a defrag or scandisk to minimize interruptions which can slow the process. Disk Defragmenter is generally located at START/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter. (Scan Disk is also located within the System Tools) I generally select View Details to better observe the progress. I have found that if it doesn't begin to defrag immediately, it sometimes helps to click the Stop button then click the Resume button, and the process will then start right away.

Occasionally, Disk Defragmenter will halt (usually early in the process) and instruct you to run Scan Disk. This does NOT mean there is a serious problem with your computer. Simply click on the link provided by Disk Defragmenter to run Scan Disk. When Scan Disk is complete, return to Disk Defragmenter as you did at the beginning and run Disk Defragmenter.

Yes, there are TWO buttons on your mouse! okay, maybe three) Clicking the RIGHT mouse button nearly always pops up a menu where the cursor was located when you right-clicked. You will notice that the menu selection changes, depending on where the cursor (arrow) was. Go ahead, experiment. If you highlight text (left click hold and drag) then right click within the highlighted text, you can select copy with minimal mouse movement. This places the selected text on the computer clipboard. Then you can open your word processor, RIGHT click in the body of the new letter and left click on PASTE.

When using Internet Explorer, you can use the F11 key to show more of the screen by minimizing the toolbars.
To return to the normal screen, simply press F11 again.