Clever s*ds - help required please!!

[Bunnylump]

Save.

The ctrl and v is brilliant for when you want to do pasting in between quote and URL thingys. (Sorry, don't know what they are called) You don't have to position the mouse in the middle and click then.

BTW can anyone tell me what Flash is on the button above where I'm typing? I've often wondered.

[SparkOut]

What do you mean Flash? You want to make a message blink? (NOOOO! Don't do it! - thankfully I don't think the forum will let that work anyway, even if it worked across all browsers, which it doesn't)
Or you mean the "options" list where it says BBCode is ON etc? (In which case it's a setting that will allow or disable "Flash" animations or clips to be displayed inline in the forum, like the pictures.)

[Bunnylump]

You know, B i u code list List+ (*) Img Url Flash spoiler strike.

I thought I might be in for a treat and get a pop up picture of George Clooney in his boxers!

[MBH]

Do you mean pressing control and another button at the same time? I know a few of those, but only from testing out, the teacher hasn't taught us anything like that.

Actually I meant what Sparkout refers to as the 'Menu' bar - File / Edit / View, etc.

I've always used this as my main way of teaching because:

a) I started before the 'mouse' existed [YES!!! I'm Old ]
b) Using the 'ALT' key to get there and the direction control arrows to move around, people who cannot use the mouse to hit icons can get to all the commands.

[The comment about the initial letters gets added later on when learners are happy about which commands they are looking for]

Well I hope you're both impressed that I regularly use ctrl+c ctrl+v ctrl+x and ctrl+s. Do I get a gold star? It is SOOOO much easier than using the mouse.

I have to add that I only found out about them by accident, since the only way I've worked out how to use computers is by pressing buttons and seeing what happens!!

LOL - Gold Star.

Once I've taught people about the command line, I can then point out that the commands here prompt you for the CTRL key shortcut. There are far more shortcuts that this shows, but the most important ones are there.

But the ctrl button is on the left and that is my cup of tea hand, whereas the mouse is on the right.

Ha! - Keyboards are two-handed. In Word and Excel I hardly ever touch the mouse. Right-hand thumb goes on the control key, and you can span to most letters
[Actually I have a CTRL key in left and right corners]



I'm looking for the 'Flash' tag to see if I can get Emily Procter to pop up, but I think it's been removed fo safety reasons

[SparkOut]

I think you're a special case, Bunny. I don't get a "Flash" button.

NoFlashButton.png (30.08 KiB) Viewed 2466 times

I've checked in the setup and there doesn't seem to be an option that I can adjust.

[clvrlad]

so are we starting a forum for MBH to reference when he is teaching the key combo's available?
you'll be explaining tab and shift tab next

[Bunnylump]

Blimey. I am honoured. I have a Flash button, when nobody else does?
It must be because I'm special (needs)*.


*Sorry, standard joke in our department.

Still can't get George Clooney on it though. Scurra - could this be arranged please?

[kingsley]

Well I hope you're both impressed that I regularly use ctrl+c ctrl+v ctrl+x and ctrl+s.

I find that ctrl+z is another useful one (undo). I'm obviously not very good on the computer, or I just keep changing my mind!

[Bunnylump]

Well, I think both of those would apply to me. Usually simulataneously. OR do they?

[gill216]

This portion of the thread arrived just in time for me. Bunnylump broke my Puzzlebrains site.
Can anyone tell me which button I've pressed or what I need to do to mend it.

The short version of the story is she sent me a message and instead of falling off my chair in amazement the bottom literally fell off my glass while I was reading it, so my keyboard (and me) were soaked. I think I've hit something while mopping up.

At this point I will say that every site apart from this one is unchanged and working perfectly. All my toolbars have gone from the top of my screen (hence the perfect timing of the thread) and so has the bottom bar that tells me what else I have open. I can get the address bar at the top of my screen by rolling my mouse over the place it should be, but nothing else comes up.

Helppppppppppp.

Oh, Sparkout , that mop would have come in handy for me and if I'd had the frying pan handy I might have caught the liquid in it He knows what I mean

[MBH]

Function key F11 - switches "Full Screen Mode" on and off

[Bunnylump]

Gill you just set me off again. And now OH is back I have to explain why I'm giggling like an idiot. (The cat has given up caring now).

[gill216]

Thank you MBH.

[fernando]

The interneton my login has gone strange because wheneveri type something into google and click on one of the sites it comes up with, it opens a new window and says window click before going onto a load of advertising. I have realised that you can get on the sites you want now but only by copying and pasting the web adress which is a bit tiresome.
Does anyone know how i can get it to go away?

(i think it might have initially started because i accepted when it asked me if i wanted to upgrade to internet explorer 8 but i am not sure.)

[SparkOut]

On the toolbar at the top, you will likely have a Google searchbox. Just to the right of that will be a little "magnifying glass" icon with a downward arrowhead next to it. Click the arrowhead and it should offer "manage search providers" and you can select the default one as Google - and remove the nasty ones.
If that doesn't help then... chances are there's something still quite wrong with your machine, so it would be worth getting it "properly" rebuilt rather than just cleaned. What you might find is that the default hosts file has been poisoned with a redirect to a "something that's nasty" instead of the regular Google page.
If you:
Open "My Computer" then go to "C:" drive, then "Windows", then "System32", then "Drivers", then "etc" you will find a file called "hosts" (without any filetype description, like .txt or anything else, just "hosts").
Right click that and copy it, then paste the copy to the same folder - this is just as a backup so that you can fix things if they go wrong. Now right click the original hosts file again, and choose "open" and use "Notepad" to open it. Don't try to open it with anything else.
It should look like this

Code: Select all

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

If there is anything else there then it has either been added by malware, and is trying to intercept any lookup to Google, or it could be added by Spybot Search & Destroy if giraffe has got as far as adding the hosts file protection on it - but I didn't get as far as telling her about that before.
If there is anything after the example info above in your hosts file then let me know.

[giraffe]

It goes to google, and gives a list of results, but when you click on one of the results it goes somewhere else. I've just turned the PC off, so I'll check tomorrow if I get a moment. Not sure I'm going to be ready to go away on Saturday. What a good job we don't have a plane to catch.

[SparkOut]

Mmmm. Seems like there is still a hijacker in there. There are tools to fix these, but without knowing exactly everything about what it's done, I'd still be more comfortable with a complete "Steve Austin" job, and totally rebuild it.

[MBH]

Take no notice of sparkout - there is NO NEED to spend 6-million dollars on your computer.
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[SparkOut]

Take no notice of sparkout - there is NO NEED to spend 6-million dollars on your computer.
<whitespace>

Not on a computer, true! But can you imagine the cost of actually making a "bionic man" in today's money? Six million dollars sounded a huge amount in those days I know, but still, the mind boggles at what the needed investment would be today.

[giraffe]

I have phoned the little man again. He is coming to collect the PC and book into into a hotel for computers while we are away. On the plus side anyone who breaks in while we're gone will thing we've already been done and go away again.

He says he's going to take windows off and reinstall it. (I think) Maybe he said I should chuck it out of the window and start again?