"It's not your fault!" Call for Help www.techtv.com/callforhelp *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* HIDDEN OFFICE TREASURES: PART II Martin's back presenting the secret tips of MS Office. Read all about expanding the possibilities of Excel here: http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079581 WEB WORKSHOP Today, Silicon Ali shows us how to deep-freeze a background image with HTML. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079582 WINDOWS TIP Program your own hotkeys to quickly launch your favorite programs: http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079583 DOUBLE TAKE How can Leo Laporte be in two places at one time? Thanks to Leo's body double, Shannon Shea, he can. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079584 TODAY'S LINKS Read the Show Notes for all of today's show content: http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079585 *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* ***************************Advertisement*************************** Memory PC - Memory prices have fallen substantially, and Outpost.com is passing that savings on to you! With FREE DELIVERY. OVERNIGHT. http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079586 ******************************************************************* *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* Leo's Show Notes for Thursday, February 22, 2001... * Oversensitive Mouse Michael, Rockville Center, NY has trouble with his screen saver because his mouse is too sensitive. Even a breath of wind is enough to wake the screen saver up. Some screen savers can be set to ignore mouse movement. If yours can't, you can also turn down the mouse's sensitivity by opening the Mouse control panel, clicking the Pointer Options tab, then decreasing the Pointer Speed. A slower mouse is a less sensitive mouse. * AMD vs Pentium Ronnie from Gastonia, NC wants to buy a new PC and he's wondering whether to get an AMD Thunderbird or Pentium IV processor. Since both processors are functionally nearly identical, I'd get the cheaper of the two which is AMD. In fact, our tests show a 1.2 GHz Athlon is a little faster in many cases than a 1.4 GHz Pentium IV. I also don't recommend buying the top of the line processor because you'll pay a premium for the bragging rights. Get the next fastest to save lots of money. A check with http://www.sharkeyextreme.com/hardware/weekly_cpu/ shows that a top of the line 1.2 Ghz Thunderbird is $253 ($294 for the high speed bus version). I'd get the 1 Ghz for $175. It's virtually just as fast. Compare that to the top of the line 1.5 Ghz P4 for $579 - twice as much for comparable performance. The gigahertz P3 is $256 - about the same as the 1.2 Ghz T-Bird and $80 more than the gigahertz T-Bird. Take the extra bucks and get more RAM, a bigger screen, or a faster video card. You'll get much more bang for your buck. * Scandisk James from Muncie, IN wants to know what scandisk is and how often to use it. Scandisk checks to make sure your disk's file system is intact. It's like a librarian who goes through the card catalog to make sure it matches the actual books on the shelves. It's important to to this regularly so you'll catch errors before they get worse. I'd do a regualr scandisk at least weekly and a thorough scandisk monthly. ---------------- Lightning Round --------------- * Virtual Memory Cameron from New York, NY wants to know if he should let Windows manage virtual memory or set it manually. Virtual memory is disk space the computer uses if it runs out of RAM. The disk is slower, of course, but it beats crashing. I'd let Windows manage it, myself. * Mac on a PC George from NJ wants to run Mac software on Windows. You can do it. Sort of. With programs like Executor from http://www.ardi.com, but it's not worth it. If you want to run Mac software, get a Mac. If you want to run Windows software get a PC. * Homepage Patrick from Huntersville, NC wants a recommendation for a good start page on the web. I use http://my.yahoo.com. My Excite, http://my.excite.com, and Lycos, http://my.lycos.com are also good. * Testing modem line noise Steve from Peabody, MA wondered if there's a way to check his telephone lines for noise. Sure, and thanks to Clint from Fountain Valley, CA for the link to http://www.usr.com/products/line-test.asp That's it from the Call for Help crew. Thanks for watching. Becky's in tomorrow for Back to Basics. I'll be back on Monday. Meanwhile remember, it's not your fault! Leo *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* ***************************ADVERTISEMENT*************************** iWin.com - eXtreme lotto. Win $1 million dollars today! Win thousands of dollars, just for having friends! http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079593 ******************************************************************* *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* NETCAM WITH US Don't forget... If you have a netcam and a computer question... go to the Netcam Cineplex located in our chat room 45 minutes before the show starts, talk to Joshua, and you can get on TechTV. Plus we'll send you your very own Call for Help cup holder, just like the one Leo uses. *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* You are subscribed to this newsletter with the following email address: cts-newsletters-html@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx If you would like to unsubscribe at any time, please reply to this message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. Or send an email to: call_for_help_daily-off@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx If you would like to update your email address visit the TechTV Newsletter hub at: http://www.techtv.com/interact/newsletters/. *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----* CABLE IN THE CLASSROOM Are you a student with a question about computers? Are you a teacher who realizes that computers aren't just a passing fad? If you answered 'Yes' to either question, then your school could appear on Call for Help. If kids at your school are into computers, and need their questions answered, contact us and you may get it answered on TV! Send all questions to CIC@xxxxxxxxxxx For more information, please visit our Cable in the Classroom homepage: http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=117655167&i=304461&d=1079594 *----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*----*