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Monday, June 11, 2001
Article

Short cut to shut down PC
Vipul Verma

NORMALLY, we use the default settings in Windows and Windows-based applications and get used to these settings. However, contrary to this, the settings can be customised as per the user’s needs. For example, it is a common complaint that the Internet connection is very slow and the reasons for this could be many.

Disable graphics

Normally, under the default settings of your browser, all graphics and Web images are loaded whenever you open a Web page. However, loading all graphics and images takes a lot of time to load the page. Sometimes these images and graphics also include advertisement bars and banners, which literally waste your precious time. So, if you are just seeking the information from a Web site and you really do not bother about the graphics, then using the Internet Explorer 5, your can disable them to load. Web pages without graphics load 75 to 90 per cent faster. If you disable the graphics option, then your browsing speed would get faster substantially, without affecting your Internet connectivity. Now for affecting this tip of disabling the graphics to load, go to Tools menu and in the drop-down submenu click on Internet Options. Now click on the Advanced tab and go down to the multimedia section and uncheck the Show Pictures box. Now restart the Internet Explorer 5 and your settings will take effect.

 


Print graphics

Contrary to this setting sometimes you may want to have the graphics in full and print them too on your colour desk-jet Printer, but the Web page background may not get printed either fully or partially. For enabling the printing of the Web site using the Internet Explorer, click on Tools menu and then from the drop-down menu click on Internet options. Now click on the Advanced Tab and go to the printing section. Here you will find the option, "Print background colours and images." Check this option and click OK. Now your browser is set to print all graphics-enabled good Web sites, which you may wish to print. However, there is a word of caution. Some graphics may not print the way they look at the screen, which is primarily because of special Web techniques, which are optimised only for viewing the Web sites using a browser and not for printing them. Therefore some images may not look as good on the print out.

Close Explorer

Normally, we all use mouse to close the Internet Explorer window or use the Alt key combinations. However, there is a good short cut for closing down your Internet Explorer window. Thus by pressing the key combination of Ctrl + W, you can instantly close your browser window. This tip works for Netscape Navigator also. Apart from browsers this tip also finds its application in closing down the My Computer Window.

Now talking of Netscape Navigator, there are many wonderful tips, which can make your Net experience a lot better. It’s common to see on many portals too many other sites also open up simultaneously, which is quite annoying and consume a lot of resources. In fact, it more often turns into a big trouble as opening too many windows can also hang your system. Use a simple tip you can get rid of this annoying feature.

In order to disable the feature that automatically launches separate windows, click on the Edit menu and then from the drop-down sub-menu, choose Preferences. Now click on the Advanced option and uncheck the "Display JavaScript for Mail and News" option. Now those annoying Web windows will not bother you anymore.

Turn off in DOS prompt

As far as annoyance in Windows is concerned, there is nothing more annoying than waiting for your Windows to Shut down and your Windows screen hangs at the message "Windows is shutting down". This is a quite common problem of the users of Windows ’98 operating system. Though there is a fix available at the Microsoft Web site for this problem, but as per many users even this fix does not seem to be working in all cases. Thus in such a situation, there are not many options left with users to switch off the system, while it is hung. However, using a simple tip, you can avoid this problem, without causing any harm to your computer. To bypass this problem, simply opt for the option "Restart in MS-DOS mode" option among the many options like Shut Down, Restart etc. This will shut down your PC in DOS prompt mode, which means Windows will be closed and the DOS prompt mode would be opened. Now in the DOS prompt you can safely turn off your PC without causing any damage to your operating system.

However, if you do not have this problem and your shut down process is quite smooth, then you can make it even easier by creating a short cut on your desktop for shutting down your PC by simply clicking it. The procedure for this is quite simple. Right click on your desktop (with all open Windows minimised). This will open a small Window on your desktop with options like Active desktop, Arrange Icons, New, Properties etc. Select New option, and then click on Create Shortcut. This will open a new window on your desktop with a command box. Now in the command box, type C:\ WINDOWS\ RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows. You must take care here that there is a space between EXE and user only. Now click on the Next and then rename the icon as Shutdown. Now click on finish and will find a new short cut for Shutdown on your desktop. Instead of going in for regular way of shutting you can simply click on this shortcut to shutdown your computer.

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