Dear Computer Lady,

I really enjoy your new letter and it has helped me to learn so much. I need to know how to delete recently opened documents in XP. It is done differently in ME.  I cannot find directions to do it.

Thank you Ginger

Dear Ginger,

This option is a little bit harder to find in XP than it was in earlier versions of Windows. Here is how to clear your recent documents list in Windows XP:

1. Right click on a blank spot on your taskbar, and click “Properties”.

2. The “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window will appear. Click on the “Start Menu” tab and click on the “Customize…” button in the “Start Menu” section.

3. The “Customize Start Menu” window will appear. Click on the “Advanced” tab and near the bottom of the page, you will see a “Recent Documents” section. Click the button in that section that says “Clear List”.

4. Click “OK” twice and you will be done.

Elizabeth

Dear Computer Lady, 

I love reading your newsletters. I am always so anxious waiting for your next letter to come. 

I have a question. I was trying to make some room on my computer and was deleting cookies and temp. internet files. 

Is it safe to delete everything in your C:\Windows\Temp folder? Some of the items there are years old and some are a few days old. 

Thanks again for your wonderful information. Keep up the good work!!! Sincerely, Holly from Indiana

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Dear Holly,

It is usually safe to delete everything in your Windows\Temp folder. What I normally do, just to be on the safe side is only delete items that are more than a week old.

To delete your temporary files:

1. On your desktop, double click on “My Computer”, or in XP click on “Start” and then “My Computer”.

2. Double click on your C: drive, then double click on the “Windows” folder and finally on the “Temp” folder.

3. Click on the Heading that says “Modified” or “Date Modified”. This will arrange your files by date. Select only the files that are more than one week old, by clicking on the first file you want, hold down the shift key and click on the last file. All the files between the first and last will be highlighted.

4. Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or click on “Edit” and “Delete” in the menu bar.

Elizabeth 

Dear Computer Lady,

Your newsletter is the greatest! Never miss reading and printing your work.

In XP, how do I get rid of the history of sites I’ve visited? When I start entering a site address in the address bar at the top, if I’ve been there before, the address shows up.  I delete History, cookies and files under internet options after each use, but these site names still appear.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Tom 

Dear Tom,

Microsoft does not make it easy to get rid of sites in the address bar, in fact, you have to edit the registry to remove them. Since editing the registry can cause serious problems with your computer if not done correctly, it is not something I can recommend.

There are, however, several programs that make it easy for you to remove entries from the address bar.

I have one program for sale on my website called Smart Windows Cleaner that will not only remove the typed URLs, but also allow you to specify which entries you want to keep. Smart Windows Cleaner also cleans out many other temporary files. You can try out a trial version of Smart Windows Cleaner by downloading it here: 

There is also another program called Address URL Editor that will allow you to edit and erase URL Address in the dropdown list in Internet Explorer. You can get this program for $19.95 at: http://tinyurl.com/7udw2 

There is one other thing that seems to work, although I cannot explain why. Clearing the recent documents history from start menu properties appears to clear this list as well. Here are the directions for doing so in Windows XP.

Just right click on a blank spot on your taskbar and then click “Properties”. 

In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window, click on the tab that says “Start Menu” and click on the “Customize” button.

In the next window, click on the “Advanced” tab and you will see a section labeled “Recent” documents, just click on the button that says “Clear List” then click “OK” and you will be all done.

Elizabeth 

Dear Computer Lady,

I was rather surprised and a little dismayed that you were recommending and were excited about a spy-ware program.  How can I know that I don’t have somebody monitoring me? Which brings me back to: why are you recommending one of these programs?

Elaine

Dear Elaine,

The two programs I advertise are meant as parental tools. I talk to many parents who simply don’t know what to do about their teenage children using the computer while they are at work.

Our children today use computers in school and most teenagers know more about computers than their parents do. They can easily use the computer all afternoon and then erase all evidence of their activity just before Mom or Dad gets home. 

It gives parents peace of mind to know that they don’t have to worry about what the kids are viewing online or who they are communicating with while they are at work. It is not spyware like you hear about on the internet since you cannot buy this software and then install it on a computer unless you have access to that computer in the first place.

Eblaster and Spector are both great tools for parents. I installed one of them on my 17 year old son’s computer and told him it was there. He is careful where he goes on the internet because he knows I can check on him.

Learn more about Eblaster here.

Learn more about Spector here.

Elizabeth

Dear Computer Lady,

Love your newsletter. Please, just what are cookies, and should I delete them?? If so, how does one delete them? 

Thank you for your help, Carole

Dear Carole,

Cookies on your computer are nothing more than small text files.

You can actually get rid of all the cookies on your computer if you wish. The only thing they do, is hold information about your activities and/or account information with a particular website.

If, for instance you shop at Amazon.com frequently, a cookie from their website identifies you and Amazon.com will include your name and items you might be interested in when you visit their website.

If you delete your Amazon.com cookie, the website will show you a generic page and you will have to log in using your username and password before you can access your account with them.

To get rid of all your cookies, go to the control panel and open the “Internet Options”.

On the “General” tab, click on the button that says “Delete Cookies”.

If you are using an older version of Internet Explorer, this option is not available, and you will have to go to the C: \Windows\Cookies folder and delete them manually.

Elizabeth 

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Wintuneup is a bundle of several utilities which are available in a single product. It will make your system run in a smooth, faster and error-free manner.

Wintuneup includes many tools like registry cleaner, duplicate and junk-file remover, memory and internet optimizer and many other utilities.

Wintuneup is compatible with Win 98/ME/2000/XP (Home and Professional).

Wintuneup extends the capabilities of Windows operating systems and lets you do the tasks which are not possible in Windows.

Advantages of Wintuneup Utilities: -

It increases the performance by cleaning the registry.

It clears the clutter of junk files giving more space for important files.

It can optimize the CPU usage.

It protects your privacy and no one can track what you did on your computer.

It optimizes the memory which means better performance.

It gives you complete information about the operating system and other hardware and software.

You can decide which important tasks you want to run at the Windows startup.

It can optimize Internet connection which results in better speed and better connectivity.

If this sounds like the program you have been looking for on your computer, just click below to purchase Wintuneup Pro for only $29.95

Elizabeth

For the past 2 months or so, I’ve been getting these text-only pop up messages, even when I don’t actually have a web browser open.  I have a cable internet connection, not dial up so I’m always connected to the internet.  Some of the messages that pop up say that my computer is wide open to the internet.  Is this true? And if so am I at risk for viruses/hackers? These particular ones are trying to sell me software to stop these unwanted messages, but they state that this is something that Microsoft had programmed into the software to allow this and it seems to me that there should be some kind of setting that I could change without actually spending money on some software. 

There are also others trying to sell different products and the majority of them are from different porn websites.  They always show the IP address they are coming from and I cannot continue working on what I was doing until I close the window.  It is very annoying and frustrating, but this is my computer and I don’t feel I should have to pay someone to get this to stop.  Any suggestions???

Thank you, Jessica

Dear Jessica,

If you are getting these messages, not only is it annoying, but it also means that your computer is open to hackers! To test this, go to http://www.grc.com and run the “Shields Up” test.

The best and simplest way to stop this and protect yourself is to get a hardware firewall. I use a Linksys router, and I have NEVER gotten one of those messenger advertisements. The router goes between your cable modem and your computer, in fact, it will allow you to hook more than one computer up to your cable connection if you get a 4 port or 8 port model.

Yes, you will have to spend some money to protect yourself. In today’s world, that is a fact of life. We all have to install antivirus software to protect ourselves from viruses, this is the same type of thing.

It is also a good idea to install all of your Windows updates, if you have Windows XP, this will automatically turn on the built in firewall.

Elizabeth

How do I delete temporary internet files, what are they and how do I know if I have any?

Thanks, OR

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Dear OR,

Temporary internet files are the files that your computer needs to retrieve in order to show you a web page.

When you look at a web page on your computer, the computer first gets the file with the code for that page, and downloads the pictures displayed on the page as well. Since the files are not needed once you are done looking at the web page, they are stored in a temporary location.

If you have been online and looked at any web pages, then you can be sure that you have some temporary internet files. The problem can come if you have too many of them, or if some of them are corrupted.

In Internet Explorer, you can delete the temporary internet files by clicking on “Tools” in the menu bar, then click on “Internet Options…” and then click on the “Delete Files” button in the Temporary Internet Files section.

Or, you can use my program, Smart Windows Cleaner, to clean out temporary internet files, cookies and many other things all at once. More information about Smart Windows Cleaner is just after the free software section.

Elizabeth

I have a PROBLEM!! I do have ad-aware and Spybot installed on my computer in addition to the Norton Anti-virus program.  I have a free pop-up-ad stopper installed on my computer also.

However, for the last two weeks I have been receiving pop ups from “Messenger Service” I have no idea what this is and it is driving me crazy! There are tons of these messenger service ads popping up on the computer! I keep running the spyware program and ad-aware and Spybot and Norton but to no avail.

I have no idea how to stop these! Can you help me? Thanks, Shelia

Dear Shelia,

Messenger Service is a component of windows that spammers have learned to take advantage of. The fact that you are getting these messages tells me that you do not have your Windows XP firewall turned on.

To turn on the firewall in Windows XP, you first need to find your network connection.

1. Click on “Start” and then “Control Panel”. With the Control Panel in Category view, click on “Network and Internet Connections”, or in classic view just click on Network Connections and skip step 2.

2. Click on Network Connections and you will see a list of your connections.

3. Right-Click on the icon that represents your internet connection, click on properties in the drop down menu.

4. Click on the Advanced Settings tab. To turn on the firewall, click to place a check mark in the firewall check box.

5. Click OK and your firewall will be turned on.
Now that you are protected by the Windows firewall, you can turn off the messenger service in XP. Here is how:

1. Click on “Start”, then “Control Panel”, “Performance & Maintenance”, “Administrative Tools”, and “Services”.

2. This will open up the “Services” window. Scroll down the list of services until you find “Messenger” and double click on Messenger.

3. In the Messenger Properties window, click on the “General” tab and next to “Startup Type” select “Disabled”. Then, Under Service Status click Stop.

4. Click “OK”. This should stop all messenger spam.

Elizabeth

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This great program will clear out your recently typed URLs, do the same thing for your cookies, and clean out other types of temporary files for you as well. Not only will Smart Windows Cleaner clean out the entries that have been typed in, you can also specify which entries you want it to leave for you.

To use the free trial, download the program using this link:

http://askTCL.com/Files/SmartWindowsCleanerDemo.msi

Save the file to your computer, then double click on it to install the program.

Once the program is installed, read the information screen that appears, it will provide valuable information about running the program.

Once you have read the information, close the help window, and you will see the Smart Windows Cleaner window.

Before you can use the program to clean out entries like your Google search entries, you must configure the program once. To do this, click the button that says “Setup Wizard”.

Read the Setup directions and click “Next”.

On the first page, you will see a list of URLs that you have visited. If there are some that you want to save so you can easily visit them again, click on the URL and then click “Add”. The program will add the URL to its protected list of URLs. Click “Next” when you are done.

Next you come to the list of Cookies on your computer. Do the same as you did with the typed URLs. If there are cookies that save passwords or other login information for you, click on then one at a time and click “Add” to add that cookie to the list of files you want to keep. When you are finished, click “Next”.

The next few sections are for your recent documents, media files, documents, and the location of the Windows Temp files. You can also password protect the program, and set it to run every time Windows starts if you want. If you don’t want to save anything, or don’t know what you are supposed to do, just click “Next” in each screen until you get to the last screen where you the “Next” button now says “Finish”. Click on the “Finish” button and you will now be able to clean out your files by clicking the “Clean Now” button.

Before you click “Clean Now” be sure that “Run/Search history” has a check mark in front of it, since it is your search history that you want to remove.

Elizabeth