Home Office: Annoyed With Your PC? Read This Now

Our favorite fixes for the most aggravating problems.

Steve Bass

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I'm a natural-born kvetcher, a complainer, and a cynical pessimist. That's why you like me, I know; and that's why PC World picked me to write a second "PC Annoyances" article.

If you're new to PC World, you might want to catch up by reading the first article, "How to Fix the Biggest PC Annoyances," which ran last year. The online version ended up being a little choppy, though. For an easier read, I've got an Adobe Acrobat file for you (the images on the first two pages are a little fuzzy because this is a layout view).

The latest annoyances article, "50 Fixes for the Biggest PC Annoyances," has sections for e-mail, Internet, hardware, audio and video, Microsoft Word, the system tray, and (but of course) Windows. This week I'll point out what I think are the best fixes in the bunch--and share a few gems that were squeezed out for space.

Let's Get Un-Annoyed

Dennis O'Reilly, one of my crackerjack editors, called me and said: "Find fifty things about PCs that tick you off--and an equal number of solutions, utilities, and work-arounds." (Well of course, Dennis. You think I'd give you fewer solutions than annoyances?)

Collecting that many annoyances was no big deal. I found hundreds of dumb computing things to grumble about--enough not only to write an article, but (careful, here comes a shameless plug) also to write a book.

Before you read my PC World article, you might be interested in perusing Harry McCracken's "Help for an Annoyed Nation." (Harry's the big boss, so consider this my weekly brown nose.) Harry talks about computer annoyances and gets a little steamed. You'll even see a decent picture of me and Dennis O'Reilly; I'm the one on the left.

Hoax Alert: You may have seen the satellite image being sent through e-mail, the one showing the power blackout on the East Coast. It's a stunning picture--but it's a hoax.

Dig This: You have a brand-new car, still nice and shiny from the dealer. And this bird--a dumb pigeon, no less--is about to... well, I don't want to spoil the video. (If you're a birder, not to worry; it's only a pigeon.)

Three Favorite Annoyance Fixes

Mailing From IE: Have you ever been browsing in Internet Explorer and then sent a page as e-mail? (Try it: From Tools, choose Mail and News, then Send Page.) It's a neat feature, but there's a catch. The problem is, IE adds this dumb-ass remark to the body of the e-mail message: "Your files are attached and ready to send with this message." There's a fix, and you can find it in the tip called "IE E-Mail Headache" (it's the third one down).

What's more important is where I got the fix. I found it at Kelly's Korner, a site with a massive collection of nifty tweaks that Kelly Theriot's written. While the site's design isn't elegant (okay, it's difficult to navigate and a little dizzying), if you stick it out you'll find a method to "Disable Balloon Tips" (line 11, left column) and a way to "Show All Hidden Devices in the Device Manager" (line 116, right column).

Cheap Cords: In my "The Bulky AC Adapter Returns" tip (at the bottom of the page), I mentioned two smart power extension cords. The cords are short, less than a foot; they let you plug bulky AC adapters into power strips; and I found them for less than $10. Two sharp readers--Martin Ringelberg and Larry Wong (thanks, fellas)--told me the cords were available elsewhere for less than $3. Go to Cyberguys and search on "Power Strip Liberator."

Speedy Messages: Want a super-quick way to send an e-mail to one or two friends? The trick is creating a shortcut on your desktop that opens your e-mail program with the recipient's name in the "To:" field. For details, see my "A Shorter Path to Your Out-Box" tip (it's the second on the page).

Dig This: There are some truly innovative CD burners on the market. This ain't one of 'em.

Two Bonus Annoyance Fixers

Annoyance #1: You probably know that the very quickest way to grab a snapshot of your screen (known as a screen capture) is to tap the Print Screen key. Voila! An image of the entire screen is in the Clipboard, ready for pasting into an e-mail message or Windows Paint applet. What's annoying is the way Print Screen captures the entire screen--everything visible--and sometimes I want just the dialog box or maybe the error message.

The Fix: This is an easy one. Use the Alt-Print Screen key combination to capture just the active window.

Annoyance #2: While I was writing the annoyances article, a buddy stopped by my home office. I made the mistake of letting him fiddle with my system. He changed something in the Recycle Bin and I no longer get a box that asks if I'm sure I want to delete files. The confirmation was annoying, absolutely; but it was also reassuring.

The Fix: It's a simple setting change, but only if you know where to find it. Right-click the Recycle Bin, choose Properties, and look for the "Display delete confirmation dialog" check box. And no, my pal's not coming near my PC again.