Article 20: Q and A

Your questions – and answers

Sometimes a small tip can make your computer work a lot easier and less frustrating. Here are some questions I have received recently from readers. Hope you find the answers helpful as well.

1. What is a flash drive (or disk-on-key), and why would I want one (if at all)?

A keychain drive - also known as a USB drive, flash drive, or disk-on-key – is basically a portable storage device. Just as you can save information onto a floppy disk, you can move information back and forth from your computer onto your flash drive—just much more of it. The device is plug-and-play (meaning you can simply plug it into your computer and it will work without any further installation).

Flash drives are available in capacities ranging from 8 MB to 2 gigabytes. They are fast, reliable and lightweight enough to be easily carried on your keychain – all of which is contributing to their growing popularity.

2. I am a interpreter/translator and am paid by the word. Can I do a word count in Microsoft Word?

You can count the words in an entire document by clicking the menu item Tools > Word Count. You will see a variety of statistics (including page count, word count, number of paragraphs and more). If you first highlight a section of the document, the statistics will relate only to that section.

3. When browsing on the internet, do I always have to type the full website address?

No, you don't. Let's say you want to access the Google website. You can either type the full address ( http://www.google.com). ) Or, just type the word "Google" and press Ctrl+Enter. The rest of the address is added automatically and you are directed to the website.

4. When I enter a term in the Google search bar, other terms I have searched for appear for me to choose from. Is there anyway to delete an item from the list?

When the other search terms appear, just click on the term and press the Delete key.

If you are not on the Google page, but rather using the Google search bar on Firefox: :
When the list appears, click on the item you want to delete to select it. It will be placed in the search box. Then either right click it and choose delete from the menu that appears, or press the Delete key on the keyboard.

In addition, if you are using the Firefox browser, take note: If you right-click the Google search bar, a menu appears; the bottom item on the menu is "Clear Search History" which deletes the entire list of terms that you have previously investigated on Google.

5. What is a PDF document, and what kind of program do I need to read it?

A PDF document is one that is in Portable Document Format. The program Adobe Acrobat Reader opens the document and reads it no matter what browser or operating system your computer uses. You probably have Acrobat reader on your computer, but if not, you can download it from www.adobe.com

If you receive an error message when trying to open a PDF, you may have an old version of Acrobat on your computer. Download the latest version and you will probably have no problem reading the document.

6. My browser used to have an address bar, which has disappeared. How can I get it back?

To make the address bar reappear:

On Internet Explorer, do the following:
1. On the menu bar, go to View > Toolbars.
2. Make sure Address Bar is checked.
On Firefox, do the following:
1. On the menu bar, go to View > Toolbars.
2. Make sure Navigation Bar is checked.

7. I know I can put a shortcut on my desktop to open a program like Word, or my email program. Is there anyway to create a shortcut to a website that I go to frequently?

Absolutely. Do the following:

In Internet Explorer:
1. Open your browser and go to the desired website.
2. In the browser menu bar, click File > Send Shortcut to Deskto

In Firefox , it is a little more complicated:
1. Open your browser and go to the desired website.
2. Click once in the address line to highlight the address.
3. Press Ctrl + C to copy the address.
4. Close or minimize your browser so you can see your desktop.
5. Right click anywhere on an open space on your desktop. A menu appears.
6. Click New > Shortcut. The Create Shortcut window opens.
7. In the location box, press Ctrl+V to paste the website address, then Next.
8. Give the shortcut a name and press Finish.