Daddy Bob

DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A

 

February 12, 2006

Q. I plugged a USB Jump drive into  the hub and several times saw a message that it would perform better if plugged into a high speed port- "click here to see available ports".   I clicked and saw a highlighted listing with "8 unused ports"  but didn't know where to find them.

A. Apparently, the USB Hub that you have is only a V1.1 version. Your computer's USB ports are 2.0 version. Therefore, anything that you plug into the hub will be MUCH slower than one that you plug into the computer.

Generally speaking, there is no difference between a USB extension cable for V1.1 and V2.0. However, there is a big difference between USB hubs for V1.1 and V2.0. To get the faster transfer you will have to upgrade your USB hub.  I'm sorry, but in this case an upgrade = buy a new one. I always use and recommend a powered hub to prevent overloading the computer.  When looking at the USB hub, if t doesn't say V2.0, it probably isn't.

As for the unused ports, they could be on the hub, on the back of your computer, on the front of your computer, or just available on the motherboard but not connected to anything.

To see all the ports available, what is using them, and how much power they are using, Right click on My Computer, choose Properties, click the Hardware tab, then the Device Manager button, scroll down and click on the + in front of Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Now you will see one or several USB Root Huns. Double click on one of them, and select the Power tab. Now you can see how many ports are available on that hub, what if anything is connected, and how much power it is using.

Q. Many times I want to print just a portion of something on a web page, but every time I try the whole pages prints. How can  print just a part of a page?

A. It can be very frustrating attempting to print out just a paragraph or two from a web page, but the solution is really quite simple. Just highlight the section you want to print, then click the Print button, or File than print. When the print dialog opens, click the little dot in front of "Selection" in the "Print Range" section. Then click OK, and just the part of the page that you "Selected" will print.

One thing more. To be sure that the background doesn't print too, open the Control Panel, and click on the Internet Options icon. Click the Advanced tab, and scroll down to the Printing Section. Uncheck the box in front "Print background colors and Images. Now you are all set.

Q. Does it matter if I rename a file by right clicking "rename" or just highlight the name & type in the new name?

A. You can rename a file several different ways. The two you mentioned, you can also just highlight it and press F2, or highlight it and click File, then rename, and possibly some other ways. However you do it doesn't make any difference as they all do the same thing, rename the file.

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