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DR. MAC'S COMPUTER CLINIC
No. 23
NEW YEAR - NEW LOOK
ENHANCE YOUR E-MAIL - Part 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
It's a brand new year, so let's give our E-mails a "new look" as well.
First of all ... some useful settings. The screen-shots here use Outlook Express 5.5 but all versions will have settings that look more or less the same.
READ E-MAILS IN A LARGE WINDOW
Do you still screw up your eyes trying to read e-mails in the tiny little "Preview" panel?
Time to read your mail as it should be read ... in a LARGE window!
Outlook Express has THREE PANELS :
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DOUBLE-
CLICK
HERE
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E-mails in the "Preview" panel are often distorted - lines break off in the middle of a sentence and jump to a lower line ... some lines only have one word ... arrows do NOT point where they should etc.
TO VIEW YOUR E-MAILS IN A LARGE WINDOW : -
Hold you mouse pointer over an e-mail in the top, right, "Subject/Title" panel and double-click OR ...
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RIGHT-click over the e-mail in that top panel, and on the pop-up menu select "Open"
HELP! THE NEW WINDOW IS EVEN SMALLER !
If your e-mail opens out into a SMALL window, place your mouse-pointer anywhere in the Title bar. This is the blue-coloured bar along the top edge of the window. You should also see the title of your e-mail written there (that's why it's called the Title bar!)
Now, left-click and HOLD YOUR MOUSE DOWN while you "drag" the whole box to fit snugly into the TOP, LEFT corner of your screen :
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The TITLE bar
Click and HOLD mouse
"Drag" whole box to
TOP, LEFT CORNER
of your screen.
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THEN ... move your mouse pointer over the RIGHT edge of the small screen until it changes into a double-pointing arrow. It looks like this :
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Mouse pointer
changes to a
double-arrow
Click and HOLD
your mouse and
drag this edge
to the right side
of your screen
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Left-click - HOLD YOUR MOUSE DOWN - and "drag" the right side of that little window right across until it meets the right side of your screen.
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Now, do the same with the bottom edge. Click - hold - and drag to the bottom of your screen.
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Your new e-mail window should now fill your whole screen.
TO TEST THIS :-
Once you have adjusted your new e-mail window to fill the whole screen, close it down by clicking on the big "X" right at the top, right hand corner.
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You are taken back to your main Outlook Express interface.
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NOW ... in the top Subject/Title panel, double-click on any e-mail again.
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BINGO! From now on, ALL your e-mails should open out into a large window!
SET A NEW E-MAIL FONT
The word "font" refers to the STYLE of the letters. Be default, Outlook Express sets this as Arial. If you like Arial, fine. If you want to change it ... here's how :
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In the main Outlook Express interface, click on "Tools - Options"
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A box pops up with lots of tabs. at the top. Click on the "Compose" tab.
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Now click on "Font Settings" ... like this :
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Click the
COMPOSE tab
Click on
Font Settings
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You can now set your font and size to what YOU want!
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A nice modern style is Verdana - 10 point. Give it a try.
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Another nice style - and more traditional - is Times New Roman. You need to set the size to 12.
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After setting your font and size - you MUST click on "Apply"
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Now, whenever you start a New Mail, it will automatically be composed in the font you set (IF you remembered to click on "Apply" !)
Next time we'll look at more e-mail settings - and how to create your own signature!
Just because it's
the New Year is no excuse to neglect giving your PC regular doses of "Maintenance Medicine" !
All the steps you need to do a healthy MOT is outlined at the end of
Clinic 19
Don't forget to check for updates to
Ad-aware
and of course
for your AVG
anti-viral
program.
All the "how to's ..." and instructions can be found in the previous Clinics.
Go to the
Library
(at the bottom of every Computer Clinic web-page) to get them.
Finally - regarding downloads : If you originally saved the Clinics when they first came out
- and at a later stage find that one of the download links doesn't work, go to the Library,
bring up the Clinic you want, and click the links on that. Many of the download links have
been changed and updated.
Happy and Safe Computing ... and see you at the next Clinic !
With my best wishes,
Dr. Mac
Dr. Mac's Computer Clinic
LIBRARY
All the
Computer Clinics that have appeared on the idf50 web-site
are HERE
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HEALTH WARNING
Outdated programmes and lack of "know-how" can seriously affect the health of your PC including your internet and e-mail enjoyment
CLICK HERE
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