Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Plain Text Paste

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I have been getting a lot of complaints regarding my admonition to copy and paste text from the web to keep it for reference.

It seems that many of those who have tried doing this do not realize that if you do a straight copy and paste to a word processor, the formatting is also pasted.

This is my fault, as I tend to think everyone works the same as I do.

To paste the text with no formatting, in most applications, select Paste Special from the Edit or Insert menu, depending upon the application and then select either Plain text or Unformatted text, again depending upon the application.

If you somehow have a word processor which does not enable you to do a Paste Special, another way around this is to use a text only editor such as Windows Notepad as the place you safe the text.

I have just been so used to using Paste Special with Word, Publisher, email, etc., that I thought everyone knew to do it that way.

Remember, if you do not understand something in one of my posts or things do not work the way I describe, just let me know and I will research it and get back with you. It is probably me not being clear in the way I did the posting.

Happy 4th!!!!

Safely Viewing Suspect Email in Outlook Express

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After the BPCA General meeting, I was asked how to view an email safely in Outlook Express, to determine if it should be opened. This is due to the topic of internet security at the meeting and the admonition to never open email, unless the sender is known or you had requested the specific email.

The following should give you some information to make the determination:

  • Right-click the message, select Properties, and click Details to read the message’s header.
  • Highlight the email in question and click Message Source to read the message itself in a non-running mode (you’ll see HTML code, but can scroll down and view the message’s text).

In the first case, you should be able to make a decision based on message origin and in the second by a perusal of the actual text.

This only applies to Outlook Express, but other email programs should have similar functions.

I do not use Outlook Express as a general rule, but I did check to make sure the above instructions work.

Note: This posting is a day late due to severe thunderstorms leaving me without computer access. I do apologize but, this will happen from time to time this time of year. Also, with next Tuesday being July 4th, I will probably post either Monday or Wednesday instead.

XP – Reset Default Printer

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This is for those who have more than one printer attached to their computer or who are accessing multiple printers through a network.

The following instructions will show you how to set or reset one of them as the default.

  • Left click on Start.
  • Left click on Printers and Faxes.
  • Right click the printer you want to make the default.
  • Left click on Set as Default Printer in the drop down menu.

That is all there is to it.

You should now see a little black circle with a check mark next to the printer icon of the printer you selected as the default printer.

If you now have the correct printer set as the default, you can now close the Printers and Faxes window.

Now any time you want to change the default printer just follow the same process.

This applies to all accessible printer drivers including Adobe Acrobat Distiller, FinePrint, etc.