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Senior Computer Tutor
Don Edrington Home Profile
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Finding Lost Microsoft Office Programs (Word & Excel) — Finding Lost Yellow Stickie FilesSo I suggested another way to launch Word. I said to click on Start>Run and type WINWORD (Windows Word) into the box that would appear. Sue then clicked OK and Word opened properly, complete with her recent documents listed under the File menu. Likewise, Excel opened when EXCEL was typed into the box. We don’t know why these items had disappeared from Sue’s program list, but here’s what we did to create Desktop icons for future use: I told Sue to click Start>Search>All Files & Folders and to type WORD into the "Name or Partial Name" box. After clicking Search, Microsoft Word soon appeared. Then I said to right-click the name and choose "Send To>Desktop (create shortcut)." Sue then did likewise with EXCEL and now has Shortcuts to these programs on her Desktop. Please Note: Capital letters are optional and used here for emphasis only. Using Start>Run can also be handy for launching other programs. Typing in WORDPAD or NOTEPAD will open these alternative Windows text editors. If you’re into games, typing SOL will launch Solitaire. Typing CALC will bring up the Windows Calculator. PBRUSH will open Windows Paint and CHARMAP will open Character Map, a program that displays special characters (such as £ ¢ ® © Ñ ¾ ¿ ¥ • and others) that can be inserted into your documents. "MSCONFIG Startup Programs" Are Slowing Down Your PC My main use for the Start>Run box is to type in MSCONFIG, which takes me to a list of "Startup" Programs, which, if checked, can slow down your computer significantly. Unchecking these "Startup" items simply means you will use them if and when needed, and not have them running in the background. More about MSConfig and "Startup Programs" can be found HERE and HERE. Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer) Another way of launching programs is to access them via Windows Explorer. Doing a right-click on Start and choosing Explore will produce a two-pane window with a "tree" view of all your folders displayed in the left pane. A plus sign (+) to a folder’s left indicates that other folders are inside it, some of which may have plus signs of their own. Click a plus sign to open a folder and click its minus sign (-) to close it. Double-clicking the "My Documents" folder will open it to display your "My Music" and "My Pictures" folders within, which when double-clicked should display your songs and photos. Within Windows Explorer files and/or folders can easily be dragged into other folders or onto your Desktop. Finding Lost Yellow Stickies Carol Tupper wrote to say all her "Yellow Stickie Notes" had disappeared from her Desktop. I suggested doing a System Restore, by clicking on: Start>All Files & Folders>Accessories>System Tools> System Restore. Carol followed the prompts and returned her settings to the day before her Stickies vanished. She quickly wrote back to say it worked perfectly and all her Stickie Notes had returned to the Desktop.
© Donald Ray Edrington - All Rights Reserved
In Case You Are Unfamiliar
with Yellow Stickies...  Among the most essential tools in my bag of handy tricks is a "Yellow Stickie Note" program. It's the computer version of those stickies we use for scribbling notes which we then paste on the fridge or a file cabinet for later referral. The program is fast, easy to use, and can be freely downloaded from the Free Programs Page on this site. Here's how it works: Let's say you're on the phone and are given an address you want to jot down. Click the "Stickies" icon on your Taskbar and type the info into the blank note that appears. If you find some important text online, highlight it and do Ctrl+C to COPY it. Then use Ctrl+V to PASTE the text onto a Stickie. All this can normally be done in less time than it takes to find a pencil and paper. The note can be moved to anywhere on the your screen, and will stay there even when you turn off or reboot your computer. In fact, I rarely do "Save As" on Stickies, since they are usually for temporary storage of notes that will soon be deleted or, perhaps, copied into a more permanent file. |
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