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 You can do IT is a regular feature
of laterlife.com aimed at trying to help
laterlife visitors make the most of Information
Technology on or off the web.
Jackie Sherman who runs the
You can do IT Question & Answer
section is an IT trainer and author. Jackie has spent
her career in education and specialises in teaching
IT to adults. Her courses for adults include such
topics as MS Office, the Internet, e-mail and basic
web page authoring.
  Jackie
has also written the four books shown
here - you can find more details about these by
clicking on the cover images above. Jackie has
also been running a course specifically for over
50s.
 Via laterlife.com Jackie aims to
particularly help those new to IT and the web to build
up knowledge and confidence, so no question is too
basic. At the same time she will cover Q&As for the
more experienced user.
So if you would like to ask a question
of Jackie, why not email her jackie@laterlife.com
or if you have discovered something
which may be of interest to others in making the most
of the web, then she would love to hear about that too
jackie@laterlife.com
October 2007
Making searching easier
Q: When using a search engine, I find it very annoying to keep
losing sight of the search list or a useful website when I am
following up something on the Web. Is there a way to keep both
the list and new pages open at the same time?
A: Fortunately with windows machines, it is easy to do this
whenever you are on the Internet. As well as using it when
searching, it is also a helpful technique when following threads
in a forum. Simply right click the website or other link you
want to view rather than click the left mouse button and select
the option to Open in New Window. If you want to keep the new
window available, click its Minimise button (the button in the
top, right hand corner showing a line) so that it is parked on
the taskbar. If you know you won't want to view it again, close
it instead. The search list will remain open all the time so
that you can quickly move down to another choice.
Smaller web page addresses
Q: I often have to send web page addresses (URLs) to people by
email. If they are very long, usually because there are lots of
forward slashes, they can sometimes break and are then not
received properly. Is there a way to rework a URL to make it
shorter?
A: The answer can be found at
www.tinyurl.com . If you enter the
full URL of the long-winded web page (copy it from your address
box by right-clicking and selecting Copy and paste it in by
right clicking and selecting Paste to make sure it is accurately
copied) they will create a short URL for it that will work. For
example, the URL
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides/
became http://tinyurl.com/3cjehd .
Backing up emails
Q: I use Outlook Express and worry about my computer crashing
and important emails being lost. Is there a way to copy them to
a different location to keep them safe in case this happens?
A: You will need to locate and copy all the messages stored in
Outlook Express into a backup folder and then, if the worst
happens, import them back into OE when it is working again.
Messages are kept in the Store Folder, so follow these steps to
make a backup or to import them in the future:
1. Open Outlook Express
2. Go to Tools – Options and click Maintenance.
3. Click the button labelled Store Folder and you will see its
location.
4. Right click the location, select Select All and then select
Copy. This will place the full address of the folder in your
computer's memory.
5. Now Go to Start – Run (or press the Windows button on your
keyboard and then R).
6. Right click in the Run box and click Paste to add the Store
Folder address. Then click OK.
7. A window will open showing all your message folders.
8. Go to Edit – Select All and then Edit – Copy to copy all the
folders and their messages.
9. Create a new folder in which to store your backup emails,
e.g. on a CD-ROM or USB stick and paste in the folders you have
just copied. They will now all be safely backed up.
10. To restore the messages in the future, open Outlook Express.
11. Go to File – Import – Messages and select the version you
have e.g. Outlook Express 6. Then click Next.
12. Make sure "…from store directory" is highlighted and then
click OK and browse for your backup folder.
13. Select all the folders, or individual ones, and then Next/OK
to import them back into your email program.
It is possible that the files will have become read-only during
the original copying process, so if you see an error message
during the importing saying the files cannot be found, open your
backup folder, select all the messages and change their
properties so they can be read. Now repeat the importing process
and it should work.
View previous editions of
YoucandoIT
for more useful Questions and Answers
For a wealth of books on the web and IT generally,
visit Amazon
and under the books section select Computers and
Internet.
Don't forget to visit the general
laterlife features section called laterlife
interest
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