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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
June 4, 2006
Q.
I noticed on a friends computer that in
their lower right tray, the time and the day
of the week was displayed. When I ask how he
did that, he didn't know. How can I display
the day of the week?
A.
Well, actually, the day of the week and the
date is always in the system tray, but in
most computers the tray isn't tall enough by
default to display it. If you place your
cursor on the top edge of the tray and drag
it up, you will see the day of the week and
the date.
To get it
to display all the time, you have to trick
it a little. The height of the tray is
somewhat controlled by he size of the icons
displayed in it. So, if we enlarge the icons
a little, we can get the day if the week to
appear.
Right
click on your desktop, and select
Properties. Click on the Appearances tab,
and then click the Advanced button. Click on
one of the three (X) in the window, and
increase its size to something between 30
and 32. Now click OK and OK, and when the
screen resets, you should bee able to see
the day of the week in the system tray just
under the time.
Of
course, the icons there may be too big to
suit you, and if they are, just return them
to their original size. But when you want to
dazzle your friends, with something a little
different, you know how.
Q.
There is a key on my new laptop's keyboard,
right next to the left Ctrl key, that has a
Fn on it. What does it do?
A.
The Fn key is a modifier key
used in a compact layout to
combine keys which are
usually kept separate on
full sized keyboards. It is
typically found on laptops,
since a full sized keyboard
would be difficult to fit in
a laptop chassis.
They differ from the normal
(function) keys, the F1 thru
F12 at the top of a
keyboard, in that they are
not user programmable, and
have fixed functions usually
determined by the computer
manufacturer. Just what the
Fn stands for is debatable
with the majority consensus
being that they are Function
keys, and differentiated
from the other Function keys
by the lower case n.
Typically in a compact
layout, the main area of the
keyboard is kept in much the
same layout as with a
full-sized keyboard, and the
numeric keypad is moved to
share a group of central
keys. This allows
keyboarders to enter text
without having to learn a
new layout.
Unlike other modifier keys
such as Shift, Ctrl or Alt,
the control processor inside
the keyboard typically sends
out a different key code
depending on whether the Fn
key is depressed. This
allows the keyboard to
emulate a full sized
keyboard and the operating
system can use standard key
maps designed for a full
sized keyboard.
The color
of the Fn on the key is usually blue. If you
look closely at the other keys on your
keyboard, you will see some of them have
something on them in blue also. Some may be
words like Stand By or Hibernate, but most
will just be symbols. Holding down the Fn
key and pressing these other keys perform
the action indicated by the word of symbol
on the key.
Your
operation manual surely covers these
actions, but I suspect that no one other
than me ever reads instructions or computer
manuals. Therefore, the best way to
find out what they do, is to just try them
and see. Most are "toggles", meaning they do
one thing on a press, and reverse it on the
next press, or they have reversing keys next
to them. The mute is a toggle, but the
volume has two keys, one for increase, and
one for decrease. |
