Not Able To Copy a Document or Image?? Take a Screen Shot or Save What You See

Again this is a Back to Basics method, most of us do not use. Have You ever encountered a problem , where you wanted to copy a particular web document, but it was copy protected (you canot copy). Many Web Page Documents are Copy Protected, means you can see, read & save it as it is (PDF, TIFF files etc), but you cannot copy a particular paragraph, or a specific image.
This problem can be solved by a simple Windows Method, known as Print Screen option. Your Computer Keys has a button Prnt Scrn or Print Screen. By this button, you can capture any window open in your computer, or even simply your Desktop image :-)
To Capture a Screen (i.e Webpage or any page on your computer screen), First Press the Prnt Scrn button, then Press Ctrl + C (see my previous post for Windows Shortcuts). Now open any Image Editor Program, like MS Paint. Now in a blank new Paint Page, move your Cursor anywhere , but keep it in the Paint Page & Press Ctrl + V.
Your Captured Screen will be pasted there. Remove unnecessary Page Items by cropping the image & save image in PNG, GIF, BMP etc.
So, in this way you can save any thing visible on your Computer Screen. You can Share, Print, IM that image quickly.
This Technique is particularly helpful, when you are chatting with a friend in any IM client like Gtalk, MSN messenger, Yahoo, Meebo or Pidgin etc. You can instantly share anything with your friends. Secondly this technique is very useful, to put images on a Blog or Website. By Screen Capture, you can share any screen shot to your visitors & is Legal as you are not downloading anything ( not using the bandwidth). Most of my Blog's images are Screen shots, by this method.
In Windows vista, 7, there is a useful tool, Snipping tool, that allows you to take Screen Shot of a particular area of a web page or window directly. You don't need to edit that image in Paint or other editor. The Snipping Tool has basic editing tool also, such as pen , eraser etc. see in the below image, I just captured a part of my desktop screen saver by snipping tool, then captured the whole screen with Snipping Tool image also by Print Screen Method :-)

If you want some Advanced editing to your Captured Screen, you can use other services too like Aviary (just write aviary.com in front of any URL & the page will be captured) jing ( a free & pro version available), Snagit ( the advanced form of jing), Snap 3 ( $19).
The Great News From Google for Sharing is WAVE which is releasing tomorrow. With Wave you can instantly share a Screen Shot, Video, Audio, Document in Real time.

Save Time with Computer, Use Windows Shortcuts

If you are not a computer expert (like me, a simple common man), you might be doing your computer work, like surfing & other works by a lengthier process, like writing www, .com, going to start button & then going to My Computer, Folders etc. You can save a lot of time by using Windows Shortcuts.
Here are some common Windows Shortcuts to speed up your work & save time:
Press F1- Windows Help will open.
Press F5- Webpage will be Refreshed.
Press Ctrl & C together to copy a  selected item.
Press Ctrl & V together to Paste a  selected item.
Press Ctrl & X together to cut a selected item.

Some very useful shortcuts:
Press Ctrl & Esc button together to open START window.
Press Ctrl & Tab to scroll different webpages. Normally when you open more than one window in a browser, you minimize one window to see other window/webpage. By this Windows Shortcut, i.e. by keep pressing Ctrl & then clicking Tab button you can view your multiple windows.
Press Alt & F4 together to  close a window.
To rename a File/Folder just Press F2.
When you delete a file or folder, it is sent to Recycle Bin & ultimately the space of your computer is not freed. If you want to delete a File/Folder permanently without sending it to Recycle bin, Press Shift & Delete together.
If you are Playing a Game or watching a Movie in Full Screen, just click the Windows Logo button on your key board, to show the Task bar, then you can close the program or shift to other window. It is also helpful in shutting down the system when the game or Movie is hanged & you can't see the Task Bar to shut down the computer or close the program.
Now Two of my Favourite Windows Shortcuts to save time & speed up your Work:
Press Windows Logo & E button simultaneously to go to My Computer directly, to see your Files, Partition.
When you open a webpage in a browser (IE, Firefox etc), you write the www. then webpage name & then .com. Now try this: Just write the website name without writing www. & .com words & click Ctrl & Enter together. The word www. & .com will be automatically written in browser. For example if you want to go to http://www.microsoft.com  just write microsoft & Press Ctrl  & Enter button together, see no need to write http:// www. or .com  :-)
This is applicable only for .com websites.

For Other Windows Shortcuts, go to support.microsoft.com or click here

Problem with Screen Brightness?? Dim in Battery Power? Go to BIOS

How To Adjust Laptop's Brightness, When It is Not Responding.
I had recently faced a problem in my Laptop's Brightness. My Laptop setting by default is, that in Battery Power, the Brightness is automatically reduced or dimmed, to save battery power. If I had to increase the brightness ( both on Battery or A/c Power mode), the simplest way was ,keep pressing Fn (Function) & with another finger Up button till my desired Screen Brightness. The same thing I do to dim or reduce the Brightness of my Laptop, to save energy or increase the working time of my Laptop. Recently I faced a problem that the Screen Brightness of my Laptop was not responding to Fn + Up or Fn + Down arrow button. So what was happening was quite irritating. Whenever the power comes , the panel brightness become full, that is brightest & whenever the Laptop runs on Battery, the Laptop's Screen Brightness become very dim that is to lowest. I was not able to see properly to my laptops desktop in daylight.
All these happened due to worm infection to my Laptop, that reduced the brightness to lowest level. Adjusting the screen brightness, by control panel did not work at all.
If you are facing the problem of this kind or even not facing, you can adjust your Screen Brightness by modifying BIOS Setup. BIOS is Basic Input Output System. It contains all the information about your system & the setings, that is adjusted through Factory or Inbuilt settings.
HOW TO OPEN BIOS SETUP or SETUP:
Restart your Computer--> keep pressing F12 ( or see for which F button is for BIOS/Setup)--> BIOS SETUP will open.

How to Adjust Brightness:
Go to Video option in BIOS by pressing DOWN arrow button on the right side of your keyboard--> Brightness option will drop down, click it--> Brightness Adjustment will be seen on right side--> Adjust it as you desire--> save it & exit setup--> DONE.

See in above picture( not the actual screen shot, I made it in Paint :-), but the actual screen looks almost same) , the factory default setting of my Laptop Screen Brightness is 3. You can adjust it to your desired level, to Full, to enjoy the full Brightness, even in Battery Power.
If you miscued or missed the Video button in BIOS SETUP, you can always go back by pressing ESC button.
** Imp: For going to BIOS you have to quicly press F12, as it is shown for a millisecond, or else you have to again restart your Laptop. The best way is keep pressing F12 as soon as it restarts.
ENJOY & keep reading.

Not Able To Uninstall A Program, Use "SAFE MODE"

Many a times when a program contains virus, it is difficult to uninstall or remove that Program. You are NOT ABLE TO UNINSTALL, the program.When you try to uninstall the program, it will display wizzare messages, like "You don't have the Adminstrator Rights" to uninstall the program, or the DLL file is missing, msi file is missing etc. These programs actually contains viruses & decrease your system performance & steal your important information, through the hidden spyware or Trojan etc.
Here is again a simple common man's solution, when you are Not Able To Uninstall A Program-->The "USE OF SAFE MODE".
WIndows has an option to run the computer in a "SAFE MODE", in which, minimum of drivers & programs are run by the operating system. When you are not able to uninstall a program in normal mode of computer, you can choose the option of "SAFE MODE", in which these programs can be easily removed, or uninstalled.
How to run your computer in "SAFE MODE"??
Windows XP:
 Restart your computer--> press F8 when it is just starting--> select Windows Advanced Options --> when the Boot Menu appears--> select "Safe Mode". This will give you four safe mode option :
Safe Mode( Minmal), uses minimal set of devices & drivers to start Windows.
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Promt.
Enable VGA Mode.
Select "SAFE MODE" (SAFE BOOT_OPTION=Minimal), if you just want to uninstall a program, or select networking or command option by Up or Down Arrow on your right side of key board .Click enter to start Windows (XP). Go to Control Panel & Uninstall the program that is causing trouble or the program, that after installation slowed down your system, or causing abnormal behaviour of computer.
Windows 7:
Do the same procedure--> restart--> press F8--> directly "SAFE MODE" options wil open. click enter to start the windows(Windows 7).
see the picture below,taken by my mobile sony ericsson k750i

System Running "SLOW",The Easiest Way to Increase Computer Speed, "DEFRAGMENTATION"

Hello!! this is the continuation of my last article, where I mentioned about increasing the speed of your computer by doing "DEFRAGMENTATION" of your drives such as (C:) or (D:). Drives are partition(Divisions of Total Space ) of your Hard Disc. For example if the total space of your hard disc is 160 GB, you can partition it into two Drives of 80 GB  each, & drive (C:) will have 80 GB & drive (D:) will have 80 GB space, You can make any number of partition & can allott what ever space you want for a particular drive. such as 40GB C:), 80GB (D:), 40 GB(F:). By default the partition numbering starts from letter (C:). The partitioning is done when you first install an operating system to your computer(Windows XP, vista etc), You can also do partitioning during formatting.
What is Fragmentation & Defragmentation?
Let us understand what is fragments in your disc drives. For example if your disc has 80 GB of space, initially it has no fragments or compartments, but when you write a file size of 10 GB on your 80 GB drive, then this will create a segment or compartment/fragment in which your 10 GB file is stored. Now when you again  write a two file size of 10GB on your drive,then this will create again two fragments of 10 GB each , which is placed behind the first fragment ( when you save a file or download a file & save it, actually you  are writing it on your disc drives). So multiple files in your disc creates multiple fragments in your disc drives, this is "FRAGMENTATION".

How Fragmentation slows down the computer?
Now suppose if you have 4 files of 10 GB space each naming A, B, C, D in your 80 GB Drive, arranged in order,A,B,C,D+ 40 GB empty space, so total =80. After some times you delete the file B, then there is empty space in between A & C,D, & the sequence is A,10GB empty,C,D,40GB empty space.
Now if you have to write a 50GB file, then the 40 GB space must come forward to join with 10GB& finally making 50GB space for new file. So, now the drive will rearrange itself,& transfers A to back & 40GB in front to make it 50.
That was just a very very simplified example. In reality you have thousands of file with empty spaces in between & the drive (C:) in which normally the operating system lies, keeps on rearranging, the space always for utilization. This rearrangement takes time & make your computer slow.

How Defragmentation increases the speed?
Defragmentation arranges the file in order, so all the empty spaces are kept in front, & there is no continuous rearrangement of the empty & filled segments/fragments. This will make your computer runs faster.:-)

So Friends It is advisable to Defragment your disc drives regularly to increase the speed of your computer.
Again a Simple Common Man's Way & I say it "BACK TO BASICS".

How to do "Defragmentation"??
In Windows 7 & vista, just type defragmentation in the start---> Search box--->this will open Disc Dfragment option in the Start window---> click it & the new Defragmentation window will open---> defragment the drives.

In Windows XP, click my computer---> right click on the drive you want to defragment---> click on properties---> click tools--->select Defragment Now---> click to Start Defragmentation.

What to do If Your Computer Suddenly Starts Behaving "ABNORMALLY"after Restart....Hangs up,Slows down, Not Responding to Commands

Is your Computer suddenly started behaving "ABNORMALLY" like the pages start hanging up, the Internet Explorer is not opening the pages, extreme slow down of system, not responding to your commands?? In a Personal Computer, any change in computer behaviour is immediately noticed by the user. What to do if your computer started behaving "ABNORMALLY" after Restart??Again I am sharing a simple common man's way to solve this.
In Windows & Mac, there is an option called "SYSTEM RESTORE". The System restore is the First Option to correct any abnormality in your computer. System Restore, corrects the file changes ( done by viruses), & restores your computer to an earlier date or time. You can select a restore time or date, that you think , on which your computer was running properly. The System Restore will reinstate your computer to that time, without changing your documents, pictures etc. Try "SYSTEM RESTORE" first, to correct your system (system means operating system, like Windows XP,2000 etc).

How To Do "SYSTEM RESTORE"??
 1. For Windows XP:
Start your windows as the Adminstrator (not guest)---> click Start--->Move your cursor on All Programs---> Point the cursor to Accessories---> Move to System Tools---> Click System Restore.

A new window of "Welcome to System Restore" will be opened ---> choose the system restore by time/date (shows you the option to choose from date or time, on which your computer was running "NORMALLY")---> select a Restore point--->Confirm the Restoration & ---> click Next---> DONE.

The System Restore wil restore your computer to the time or date, you have selected, & it will take some time to do it. You can not cancel once system restore starts.
If You think that the Sytem Restore does not correct your problem, or if some program important to you, has been deleted/changed, then you can undo the Restoration in same way. The System Restore is a compltely "REVERSIBLE" process, without affecting your documents.

2."SYSTEM RESTORE" for Windows Vista & Windows 7:
In Vista & Windows 7 , doing Sytem Restore is very easy, just click start---> type System restore---> System restore option will open in the window--->click it & proceed as previous.

The Abnormal behaviour by computer is due to viruses & worms."The System Restore does not removes the Viruses".
If your System is just running slow you can use "Defragmentation" to increase the speed of your computer.
Defragmentation arranges your file in a drive e.g.C:/, D:/, so thhat there is optimum utilisation of your Disc drive space.If you do not defragment your drive,then each time you utilizes a file it is rearranged & this re arrangement takes time & your computer will respond slowly---> SLOW COMPUTER.

            Hope this article will solve some of your problems.