Thursday, May 10, 2012

How to clear your internet browser history


Clearing you internet browser history every 2 weeks (more time if you are a heavy web surfer) can help speed up you internet browser performance.  When we browse the internet, the websites store content on your computer called cookies so that it will speed up the page load time.  Over time if this isn’t cleared it can slow down your browser performance.  I will be talking about how to clear your history and cookies in Internet explorer.  First off, open up internet explorer.  Next on the menu bar click on tools and scroll down to internet options.  Next when the dialog box opens, under the general tab you should see browser history, click on the delete button.  Once clicked a list of options will come up on all what you want to have deleted from your history, select it and press ok.  Depending on the amount of cookies you have stored it might take a minute or two to clear.  Once the browser has done clearing the history click ok and you should gain much faster page load time.

How to change your date and time


Having the time and date set correctly is important for you to keep track on your computer and for when Microsoft looks for updates.  To set the date and time open the start menu and go on control panel.  Next click on the clock, language and region tab.  Next click on the date and time tab.  You can set the date manually or you can have it get the time from the internet (if you have an internet connection).  Once this is done click ok.  Since everyone may live in different time zones you may have to look for the time zone that you are in and select it.  After you have set both the correct date, time and time zone click apply.  Your computer should update right away with the new changes that you have made.

How to take a screen shot


Sometimes you may wonder how to take a screen shot of your screen to maybe show a friend or family member how something looks.  There are two ways to do this. The first way to do this is to open up the page (if you are on the internet) or open up the page on your desktop.  Next hold the control “ctrl” and print screen “prt sc” keys on your key board.  Next open Microsoft paint or a simple word document and press “ctrl” and the letter “V” on the key board to paste it or you can just right and press paste.  The next way to capture the screen is to use the snipping tool that is installed on your computer. To look for this program open the start menu and in the search programs and files box start to type snipping tool and it should open up.  Next you have the option to cute free hand or capture the whole screen.  Once you have what you want selected it will automatically open in paint for you to edit it.

How to set a password for a user account

If you are the type of person that loves your privacy and likes to make sure your personal stuff is safe, putting a password on your account will ensure that.  To do this click start and go to user accounts and family safety.  Next click on user accounts and all the account you have made on that computer (if it is shared by you and family).  Select the account that you are trying to put a password on and click the change the password button.  Keep in mind that when creating a password, never use stuff that people can figure out easily such as your date of birth, your phone number and so forth.  You password should be a mixture of numbers and letters so that way it is much harder to figure out.  Once you have come up with a password type it in the box and click save.  After applying your password to that account, every time you want to use that account you need to use the password.  Make sure that you write down and store your password in a safe place that only you know where it is at in case you forget it.

How to check for windows updates

Making sure that your computer is up to date with updates is really important.  It is important because having the latest security updates will ensure that you are safe from new threats that are emerging on a daily basis.  To look for updates click start and click on control panel.  Next click on system and security then on windows update.  On that screen you should see the number of important and optional updates that are available to you.  Click on the important update tab and select all the important updates that you want to install and click OK.  Next click on the optional update tab and select what you would like to download.  Keep in mind for the optional updates you don’t have to download them at that time if you don’t want too.  Most of them are usually display software updates or updates for your touch pad.  When you are finished selecting everything you want to download, click on OK and it should start to download automatically.  In most cases you will have to restart your computer for the rest of the updates to be completed.

How to set your favorite page as you home page

In this post I will be talking about how to set your favorite page as your home page in Internet explorer.  First off look for the page that you want to set as your home page.  Next, on the menu bar click the tools tab then scroll down to internet options.  Once this dialog box opens you should see seven tabs to the top.  Click on the general tab (if it isn’t selected for you already).  You should see a little house which is your indicator that you are on the right screen.  There you should see three options: use current, use default and use blank.  You will click on the use current tab and click apply.  If you want to make more than one page your home page, you will need to type each address on its own separate line and click apply.  Now every time you open up your internet browser the page or pages that you set as your home page should open up.  Just keep in mind that the more tabs you set to open when the browser starts, the longer it will take for the pages to load.