Thanks, Don

Dear Don,

Microsoft no longer includes Windows Mail with Windows, however, you can still download and install the newer version, Windows Live Mail from their website at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows-live/essentials-other-programs

There are also a couple of other free email programs that you can install on your computer and use in the same way you used to use Windows Mail.

I like (and use) Eudora at: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Eudora_OSE

Another email program is Thunderbird at: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

Hopefully one of these programs will meet your needs.

Elizabeth

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Debbie

Dear Debbie,

It sounds like you have been infected with a form of malware that is redirecting you to these other websites.

Hopefully, you have a good antivirus program installed, and you can just update it and run a full scan to get rid of the malware, but it is not always that simple.

Once the malware has gotten into your system, it is harder to get it out than it is to prevent it from getting into your system in the first place.

The best tool I have found for getting malware out of a computer is Malwarebytes at:

Once you have downloaded and installed the program, update it, then run a full scan. It should find and help you get rid of the malware. I keep running scans until I get two clean scans in a row.

If that doesn’t fix the problem, you might have to get a clean install of Windows where your hard drive is erased and Windows is re-installed. This is something that I do in my shop for customers quite frequently.

Elizabeth

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Thanks for all your help, Cecile

Dear Cecile,

There are a couple of ways to select all in Windows 7, more specifically in Windows Live Mail.

The first method is to use your keyboard to select the messages. Just open your email program, click to select one message, and then on your keyboard, use the keyboard combination, Ctrl + A to select all.

Note: To use the Ctrl + A keyboard combination, hold down the Ctrl key (located on the bottom row of your keyboard) and tap the letter A, then release the Ctrl key.

Once all the messages have been selected, you can delete them in the regular way.

You have already mentioned that you hold down the Ctrl key and click on each message to select the ones you want to delete, so I don’t need to cover that method.

Another way to quickly select multiple messages is to click on the first message to select it, then hold down the shift key on your keyboard and press the down arrow to quickly select additional messages.

I hope this helps you quickly delete all those emails!

Elizabeth

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Thanks a bunch, Flo

Dear Flo,

I removed the link that you provided with your question, but I did click on it first, and I saw no reference to your name.

I’m guessing that when you see your name in Google Search, it is actually a setting saved on your computer, and not visible to the entire world.

I also went to google and searched for your name, and I found a few profiles that you have created on different social networking sites, and a question that you asked me on my Facebook page in February.

The only way to get rid of those things would be for you to close your social networking accounts, and for me to delete the conversation we had on my page. Your name would probably still show up in Google searches for a while, but when people clicked on the link, it would no longer show the page with the conversation.

Elizabeth

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Bill

Dear Bill,

I actually have WOT installed on my computer… not because I rely on the ratings, but because I want to see what my readers who do use WOT are seeing.

WOT Services, Ltd is a Finnish company that runs an Internet website reputation rating tool Web of Trust (WOT). Where do these ratings come from? WOT users can vote on any website they choose. When you visit a site, a small circle shows you the sites rating. Green is good, yellow or orange is medium and red is bad.

My site is a good example, I visit my website, and it shows a green circle. Does that mean that my site has been examined by WOT users and has a good reputation… not exactly, in my case it means that my site has exactly zero ratings…. so how do they know it is a good site?

When I included the iPad contest in my newsletter last week, ( http://jump.fortracking.com/SHDM ) I saw the “poor reputation” rating, but because I have been dealing with the company that owns Lullaby Lane for a while now, and I have found them to be a great company to work with, I ignored the rating.

The other special offer I had in the opening of my newsletter also had a bad reputation, but it to is a reputable company, with a product that is used my many parents world wide.

Why these poor ratings?

Users who rate websites on WOT appear to dislike websites that make a profit, or send you advertisements. Take the iPad contest for example. Not only are the site owners giving away a $600 piece of technology, but they also pay their affiliates for promoting the contest (I earn a small commission for each person who clicks on my link and enters the contest). Where does the money for those costs come from? When you enter the contest, you agree to the terms that say you will receive offers from the company sponsoring the contest. They are building a mailing list of people interested in their products.

If you didn’t already enter the iPad contest, there is still time… it helps support my ability to answer your computer questions, and you just might win an iPad in the process.

Elizabeth

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Thanks so much for your Newsletter over the years, Loretta

Dear Loretta,

My e-book, 7 Things (You should know before you buy your next computer) is an electronic book. That means that it is a file that you can either read on your computer, or you can print it out and read it on paper.

7 Things is a PDF file, that means that you can read it using the free program, Adobe Acrobat Reader. Most people already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on their computer, but if you don’t have it, you can download it at www.adobe.com.

Once you purchase 7 Things, you will be sent a link to download the file. Just click on the link, and the book will download to your computer.

The e-book is 31 pages long, and you can easily read it on your computer, or tablet if you don’t want to print out all those pages.

Since this is Mother’s day weekend, I created a coupon just for Moms. Enter the coupon code, 4MOM when you check out and you will get 10% off your purchase.

Check it out today at: http://www.asktcl.com/7things.html/

Elizabeth

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Katherine

Dear Katherine,

Since I really have no idea where your original shortcuts have gone, I am going to have to tell you how to create a new shortcut to Word.

If you are using Vista or Windows 7, this is fairly easy, not as easy if you are using XP.

Lets start with Windows 7.

1. Open an existing Word document.
2. Once the document is open, right click on its icon in the taskbar.
3. In the context menu, click on “Pin This Program To The Taskbar”.
4. Now when you close Word, the icon will remain on the Taskbar, and you can open Word by clicking once on the icon.

If you are using Vista or 7, this would work:

1. Click on “Start”.
2. In the search box, type “Winword”
3. When Word (it will be named “Winword”) appears on the start menu, right click on it.
4. In the context menu, click “Pin to Start Menu”.
You will now have a new shortcut to Word in your start menu.

If you are using Windows XP:

You will have to find where Office is installed. I can’t know for sure where it is on your system, but it is probably similar to this:

1. Click on “Start” and click on “Computer”.
2. Double click on the “C:” drive, then on “Program Files”.
3. Double click on “Microsoft Office”, then on “Office12″
4. Find the file named, “winword”.
5. Using the right mouse button, drag the “Winword” file to your desktop.
6. When you release the right mouse button, a context menu will appear. Click on “Create Shortcut”.

Hopefully one of these methods will work for you.

Elizabeth

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John

Dear John,

I’m actually surprised that you are having a problem with junk messages in Gmail.

I have found that Gmail has the best junk filters of any program that I have tried.

I decided to go looking through my Gmail settings to see if there was some way you might have turned off the junk mail filtering, and found one place that might have that effect on your mail.

In your Gmail window, click on The small gear symbol located in the upper-right corner of the window, and click on “Settings” in the drop down list.

Once you are looking at the settings window, click on the blue word, “Inbox” in the list across the top.

In the section that says, “Filtered mail”, make sure “Don’t override filters” is selected. If not, click the small circle to select it, and click the “Save Changes” button below.

I hope this helps, Elizabeth

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Homer

Dear Homer,

I can only guess that you want to put a shortcut to my website on the desktop screen of your laptop, so that is what I will give you directions for.

Since most people use Internet Explorer as their web browser, we will start with directions for IE.

1. Open Internet Explorer and go to my website at www.askTCL.com

2. Right-click on the page.

3. In the context menu that appears, click “Create shortcut”.

4. A dialog box will open asking you if you want to put a shortcut on your desktop, click the “Yes” button.

Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox do not give you an easy way to put a shortcut on your desktop.

Elizabeth

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http://www.pixelofink.com/

One of my readers sent me an email suggesting that I visit this site, and I was happy to take a look.

I really like Pixel of Ink for a couple of reasons, first they provide a very helpful, and I think popular service for all the people who read on their Kindle, or device with a Kindle app, and second is that this is a great example of how you can take something that you like to do, and turn it into a great little business.

Pixel of Ink searches through kindle books on Amazon and every day they feature some free or discounted kindle books.

This is a great resource for people who love to read!

Elizabeth