Control Panel Options
Display Settings
1. Click Start button
2. Locate Control Panel
3. Double click the Display icon
4. Five tabs are: Themes, Desktop, Screen Saver, Appearences & Settings
Themes Tab
Click on the drop down meny to select the theme you want (Sometimes Themes are not readily installed) you can also choose your mouse pointer & desktop icons if preferred.
Desktop Tab
You can choose your preferred picture from the list or click the Browse button, this will open your "My Pictures" folder, in the drop down menu is Centre, Stretch & Tile to choose your preference
Screen Saver Tab
You can choose your preferred effect from the list or there is a Preview button to show you the effect (moving the mouse stops preview)
Appearance Tab
1st drop down menu shows the Style : XP or Classic
2nd drop down menu shows the Colour : Default (Blue) Green or Silver
3rd drop down menu is Font Size : Normal. Large or Extra Large
Settings Tab
There is a slider bar & pointer, as you move it, it shows the screen resolution
In the drop down menu is True Colour, High Colour, 16-Bit Colour & 32-Bit Colour
You can only select some screen resolutions, depending on screen size, colour type changes are also limited to screen size
Best performance will be achieved on 17" or !9" monitors.
Making Your Mouse Left Handed
1. Click Start button
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Double click the Mouse icon
4. On the Buttons tab you can swap the buttons for left handed use by clicking the box
5. There is also a Slider Bar for the Double Click speed on the same tab
6. On Pointers tab you can choose the type of pointer you see, arrow, hand etc
7. On Pointer Options you can set the Trails that flow from the mouse on/off & long/short
8. On Wheel tab you can select how many lins or a whole page you scroll if you have a wheelmouse.
Changing Time & Date
1. 1. Click Start button
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Double click the Time and Date icon
4. On the Time and Date tab you can adjust the digital time under the clock
5. On the same Time and Date tab you can adjust the Date
6. On the Time Zone tab you can choose the time zone by location
7. There is also an "Automatically Adjust For Daylight Saving Time" box
8. On the Internet Time tab you can synchronize the internet time with your PC's time
9. When finished click OK.
Saving Space On Your Hard Drive
If you have a system with a small Hard Drive, or you Upgraded to Windows XP and it takes up alot of your space,
here is just a few handy tips to save some Disk Space.
* Look at you programs, is there any you dont use?
* Got some movies or music that you could burn to disk?
* Download any programs or extras because it was on a pop-up?
* Have you got any extra game enhancers for games you no longer play?
* Any background images, wallpapers, screen savers etc downloaded and don't want?
The best ways to save Disk Space
* Puting your music onto a portable MP3 Player
* Burning movies and/or music to DVD and/or CD-ROM
* Uninstalling unused Programs and deleting the stuff you don't want.
Internet Options
1. Click Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Click on the Internet Options icon
4. There is Seven tabs, General, Security, Privacy, Content, Connections, Programs & Advanced
General Tab
Clearing Your Cookies
There is two buttons here "Delete Cookies" & "Delete Files"
Setting Your Home Page
You can see the url of your current home page in the box
There are 3 buttons you can use : Use Current, Use Default or Use Blank
Or you can add any url to a page you want in the url box
History
Adjust how many days to keep history
You can empty the history folder by clicking the Clear History button
Four buttons under History : Colours, Fonts, Languages & Accessibility
Security Tab
Four Zones in here : Internet, Local Infranet, Trusted, Restricted
It is best to leave these at the Default settings
You can add sites to the Local, Trusted & Restricted
Click the Sites button and add them in the relevent Zone
Privacy Tab
This is your Allowed or Blocked Cookies
It is best to leave this at the Default settings
Below this is the Bock Pop-Up section
You can add safe sites by clicking the Settings button
Content Tab
Here you can set the Parental controls
Use the Enable & Settings buttons to set controls
You will need to enter a password that you use when accessing restricted sites
There are Certificates & Personal Information buttons
You can view certificates & set up a profile if desired
Connections
This shows the Dial-Up or LAN settings
You can set up a new connection or check settings of current connections
Programs Tab
This shows what programs are used to the different applications
You can change them using the drop down menus
Below them are Reset Web Settings To Default button
Manage Addon button showing the ActiveX addons
Advanced Tab
It is best to leave this at the Default settings
TaskBar & Start Menu
1. Click Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Click on the TaskBar & Start Menu icon
4. There is only Two tabs = Taskbar & Start Menu
Taskbar Tab
Seven tickboxes here
1. Lock the Taskbar
2. Auto-Hide the Taskbar
3. Keep the Taskbar ontop of other windows
4. Group similar Taskbar buttons
5. Show Quick Launch
6. Show the Clock
7. Hide inactive Icons
8. Clicking Customize button shows the icons that you can choose to show or hide
Start Menu Tab
Drop Down options
Start Menu (XP style)
Classic Start Menu (older Win98 style)
Customise button in each takes you to different options depending on the style
Folder Options
1. Click Start button
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Double click Folder Options.
4. There are Three tabs: General, View & File Types
General Tab
Select either Common (XP) or Classic (flat) Folders
Select either Open in Same Window or Open in Separate Window
Select either Single click to open, with choice of underlined links or Double click to Open
View Tab
Reset All Folders & Apply all Folders, for changing the look (Advanced Users)
Advanced Settings box
Show Hidden Files and Folders (recommended if you want to see all folders)
Select items to your preference
File Types Tab
Shows the File Types Used
Advanced button you can change folder properties (Advanced Users)
Accessibility Options
1. Click Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Double click the Accessibility Options icon
4. Five tabs are: Keyboard, Sound, Display, Mouse & General
Keyboard Tab
Turn Sticky Keys on or off
Filter on or off
Toggle feature on or off
Sound Tab
Enable Sound for the Sticky Kets option
Display Tab
Adjust the blink rate & width of the Cursor
Mouse Tab
Turn off or on the mouse control buttons
General Tab
Enable or Disable the Accessibility features
Sounds and Audio Devices
1. Click Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select the Accessibility Options icon
4. Five tabs are: Volume, Sounds, Audio, Voice & Hardware
Volume Tab
Has the Volume Slider
Speaker Settings button
Sounds Tab
Select different sounds for each function
Audio Tab
Shows and Select Devices and Advanced Volume button
Voice Tab
Shows and Select Mic including Test button
Hardware Tab
Shows all Devices on the PC
Power Options
1. Click Start button
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Double click the Power Options icon
4. Four tabs are, Power Schemes, Advanced, Hibernate, UPS
Power Scheme Tab
A drop down menu shows home/office, Laptop, Always On etc
this will change the other options of Turn Off Monitor & Hard Drive after a set time & System Standby
Advanced Tab
Show/Hide system tray icon, Password on return from Standby, drop down menu's for power/sleep buttons (if you have them)
Hibernation
Enable or Disable Hibernation (power saving on laptops mainly)
UPS
Enable or Disable Uninteruptable Power Suplpy (mainly USA use this feature)
