|
DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
April 1, 2007
NOTICE! All your
software programs will absolutely work with
Windows Vista!
(Sorry, I just couldn't resist it being
April Fools Day)
Q.
In Internet Explorer 7, I would like to be
able to toggle the menu on and off so that
it is available when I want it, but not
taking up space when I don't. Is that
possible?
A.
Yes, and it doesn't require that you do
anything as it is already built into IE7 by
Microsoft. When you want the menu to be
displayed, just press the ALT key. When you
want it to go away, press ALT again.
Now, if
you have already set IE7 so that the menu is
always visible, pressing the ALT key will
not remove it. First you have to disable it
by reversing the procedure you used to have
it always displayed. Here's how.
Right
click on the top of IE7 just to the left of
the "Home" icon. Uncheck the top item called
Menu, and that should do it. The ALT toggle
for displaying the Menu will then become
active.
Just in
case you are wondering what the menu is that
is referenced, it is the one that has the
options to access File - Edit - View -
Favorites - Tools - Help in it that is
displayed at the top of IE7. Just open IE7
and press the ALT key and you will se it.
NOTE: In
Vista, the menu is not displayed by default
in most windows, but this ALT key press will
toggle it on and off the same way as in IE7
minus the File and Favorites items.
Q.
What do I "auto-adjust" when I mean to
turn the monitor off but hit the button
next to it by mistake?
A.
Auto adjust detects the settings,
resolution, color depth, etc., from the
Video card in the computer and
automatically sets the monitor to the
best settings to display the image.
Normally, this is pressed before you
enter the OSD, On Screen Display to make
manual adjustments. It can also
be accessed by the computer itself when
the signal it received changes. Changing
from the normal Windows settings to a
command prompt, or DOS window can
trigger it too.
On
one of my setups, I have up to four
computers connected to a KVM switch,
(Keyboard, Video, Mouse) that allows me
to use any of the four different
computers with a common keyboard,
monitor, and mouse. When I switch from
one computer to another at times, it
will trigger the auto adjust.
This
only occurs on flat panels. The
older CRT type monitors are not "smart"
enough to be able to detect the signal
it is receiving and auto adjust to it.
It
does no harm to the monitor. If it did,
it probably would not be located in a
place that could be easily pressed by
mistake. If it occurs too frequently to
suit you, there are a couple of settings
that can be made in the OSD. These will
vary with monitors but in my Dell, they
are in the Image Settings category and
are called Pixel Clock and Phase.
Experiment with them until the desired
results are achieved. If you really mess
up your display, thankfully there is
usually a setting that allows the
monitor to be reset to factory defaults
that should fix things.
|
