Visual Effects

For Windows XP/Vista

The 'Visual Effects' tab is one of the tabs located in 'Performance Options' on the 'Advance' tab of 'System Properties'. Here you can deselect visual effects to increase the performance of your PC, especially on PCs that do not have much memory, graphics or processing power.

Windows XP

To access the 'Visual Effects' tab, right click on 'My Computer', normally located on the 'Start Menu' or the 'Desktop' and select 'Properties', this will bring up 'System Properties'. Click on the 'Advance' tab, and then the 'Settings' button in the 'Performance' section. This will then bring up 'Performance Options' on the 'Visual Effects' tab.

You can also access 'System Properties' by clicking on 'Start', 'Control Panel' and then double clicking on 'System'

Windows Vista

Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties' or access 'System' in the 'Control Panel' and then click on 'Advance System Settings' located on the left hand column of that window. This will then bring up 'System Properties'. Click on the 'Advance' tab, and then the 'Settings' button in the 'Performance' section. This will then bring up 'Performance Options' on the 'Visual Effects' tab.

When you are on the 'Visual Effects' tab, you can deselect some of the visual effects options to increase performance of your PC by reducing the amount of resources Windows XP/Vista uses for them. Or you can select 'Adjust for best performance', which will turn off all visual effects and give you the best performance increase. This option works well on PCs that have the minimum 64MB of RAM required to run Windows XP, and you want to run programs more smoothly.

Note: 'Adjust for best performance' will put Windows XP into the 'Classic' theme, with the grey taskbar, to give the best performance.

Easter Eggs (Intro)

What are Easter Eggs in relation to software?

A virtual Easter Egg in software, is a hidden message, joke or feature that developers have coded into the software. To get to the Egg, you need to follow a set of commands to get there, which I suppose is in relation to a Easter Egg hunt. Some of them are fun to do and can be used to impress your friends.

I've included some of my favourites in this section but also try googling on the Internet for more, as there is all sorts of eggs, hidden references in films, books and music, as well as software!

Happy Easter!

The Book of Mozilla (Firefox)

If you are using Firefox as your Internet browser:

Type in 'about:mozilla' without quotations.

For a verse from 'The Book of Mozilla'?

Even funnier, type in 'about:robots' without quotations!

See what happens...

There are many more 'about:????' phrases, check them out on the Internet.

Random Text in Word

Open up Microsoft Word, to start a new document.

Type in '=rand(99,99)' without quotations.

Press Enter.

Enjoy!

Note how many letters are in the sentence. Also try modifying the numbers in the formula!

Tried in Word 97 and 2000.

Force a Win in Solitaire

Simply press and hold 'Alt' and 'Shift' together and then press '2'

Enjoy!

Tried in Windows XP, not sure if it works in Vista

Security Center

For Windows XP/Vista

The 'Security Center' is a utility that is found in the 'Control Panel' on Windows XP (SP2 and above) and Windows Vista.

It was added into Service Pack 2 of Windows XP to help you identify and manage the security essentials on your PC, and has continued on into Vista. Below is a screenshot of the 'Security Center', on the left for Windows XP and on the right for Windows Vista.

Click on Screenshot to enlarge

In this utility you can check and manage your 'Firewall', 'Automatic Updates', 'Virus Protection' and other security settings, if using Vista.

Firewall: Your firewall is your first defence against threats external to your PC, and it highly recommended to be turned on. A good way to think of a firewall is looking at it as a physical gate that is between your PC and the Internet. This gate can be configured to block software and malicious software from accessing your PC or from sending information from your PC to the Internet.

Automatic Updates: Updates from Microsoft that make sure you have the latest bug and security updates for your PC. This is recommended to be activated as it ensures that updates are automatically downloaded and applied to your PC, so that you are kept up-to-date with any security threats.

Virus/Malware Protection: Checks to see if any anti-virus and spyware (if using vista) are installed to protect your PC. Viruses are programs that can play havoc with your PC, such as deleting files or changing settings. Spyware programs can monitor the Internet sites you visit and steal your personal information. It is recommended that you have installed anti-virus and spyware software on your PC and that it is kept updated, to ensure that if any infections are found on your PC they can be removed or quarantined.

In order to keep your PC performance to a good level it is recommended that you have the above options turned on and that updates for Windows, Anti-Virus and Spyware are downloaded and installed on a regular basis. Be sure to schedule and run scans for viruses and spyware on a regular basis as well.

Windows Update

For Windows XP/Vista

In order to keep the performance of your PC to a good level, it is important to download and install the latest updates for your operating system from Microsoft. This can be done by using the 'Windows Update' utility.

To access the 'Windows Update' utility, click on 'Start', 'All Programs' and 'Windows Update'.

In Windows XP this will take you to an Internet Explorer web page, from here install the Windows update software if needed. You will then get an option to install updates, to simply keep up to date with the latest updates, click on 'Express' (See screenshot below). A list of updates will be retrieved and prioritised, Windows will then automatically download and install them for you.


In Windows Vista the 'Windows Update' application will load up a Windows pane, and from here you can follow the steps to download the updates or click on 'Check for updates' as seen in the screenshot below:

Installing the recommended updates from Microsoft ensures your PC has the latest fixes for operating system bugs and the latest security updates to help keep your PC safe from Internet security threats.

Be sure to set updates to download and install on an automatic basis if possible, see the 'Security Centre' guide on how to do this.

Note: An Internet Connection is required to download updates. If you do not have an Internet Connection, then it is possible to order a Service Pack CD (updates to a certain date) from Microsoft by contacting them.