1. Undoing the AutoComplete Nightmare
In Windows, the
AutoComplete feature is one of those nifty utilities that makes typing
long, complex things — like Web page addresses — easier. What Windows
does is keep track of the places you have been and the addresses (and
filenames) you have typed. When you start typing again, Windows
automatically completes the address for you, by guessing what it is you
want to type or by providing a drop-down list of alternative
suggestions.
1.1. Clearing AutoComplete
To remove unwanted items
from the AutoComplete memory, you must bonk it on the head and cause
some severe memory loss. It's okay; the computer will survive.
1.2. Turning off AutoComplete
When anything vexes
you in Windows, the direct solution is usually to turn it off. Why not?
Such features should be optional. On my computers, I find AutoComplete
to be annoying; I'm startled when some other Web page spelling or
suggestion comes up. No problem. AutoComplete can be turned off (or at
least curtailed) by following these steps:
Summon the Internet Properties dialog box.
Click the Settings button in the AutoComplete area.
The AutoComplete Settings dialog box appears.
To turn off AutoComplete, uncheck everything.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
Click OK to banish the AutoComplete Settings dialog box.
Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.
Or, you can leave it open for the next section's directions.
These steps merely disable AutoComplete. To remove items from the AutoComplete list, keep reading in the next section.
1.3. Removing an AutoComplete item from the Registry
NOTE
When all else fails,
brain surgery seems to be the most likely course of action in a
computer. For Windows, that means whipping out the Registry Editor and
performing exploratory surgery. The thing to remove is AutoComplete text
that continues to vex you despite other efforts to kill it. (And I
recommend trying the methods in the preceding sections before you resort
to something drastic, like using the Registry Editor.)
As with programs that remember recent documents , AutoComplete stores the text it remembers in
the Registry, in an MRU list. When all else fails, follow these steps to
find the AutoComplete' MRU list in the Registry, where you may perform
surgery to remove something embarrassing:
(Optional) Set a system restore point.
Start the Registry Editor.
In the Run dialog box, type regedit.
Rather than tell you how to search for the text, I can point you to the exact location where AutoComplete stores its MRU:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\TypedURLs
Here's how to get there:
Open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder.
Open the Software folder.
Open the Microsoft folder.
Open the Internet Explorer folder.
Open the TypedURLs folder.
You
see the MRU list on the right side of the window. (Well, unless you
cleared AutoComplete, in which case the list is empty. Duh.)
Click to select an entry to delete.
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For example, select that offensive Helping Thy Neighbor Web site.
Select the "ab" icon to select an entry.
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Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Click the Yes button to confirm.
Repeat Steps 7 through 9 to remove other entries.
Close the Registry Editor when you're done.
To be medical about it, you can shout "Closing!" just like they do on those doctor TV shows.
2. Images of Filth and Perversion
It happened to me just
the other day. I was helping my son find a Web page related to his
favorite musical group. Somehow, I typed the name wrong and — blam! — there on the screen was a porno page. We were both terribly embarrassed.
Beyond the shock of
seeing something unwanted, you must also accept that such offensive
images aren't removed by simply closing the Web page window. Nope,
because the Internet sends an actual copy of the image to your computer,
that copy is kept in storage until you remove it. The storage is a
place called the cache (pronounced "cash"), and if you really want to purge your PC of such prurient pictures, please press on!
2.1. Finding the images
Everything that floats over the Internet transom to your computer is stored in
your computer. The files — images, text, and others — are stored in the
PC's storage system. The notion is that it's quicker for the PC to
reload an image from memory than to transfer it from the Internet.
Hence, the term cache is used to describe those files residing on your PC. But where are they, and what are they?
To look at your Internet cache, follow these steps:
From the Tools button menu, choose Internet Options.
The Internet Options dialog box appears. (You can also display this dialog box by using the Control Panel.)
On the General tab, click the Settings button in the Browsing History area.
The Temporary Internet Files and History Settings dialog box appears.
Click the View files button.
A
Windows Explorer window appears, listing the contents of the Internet
cache. You see the files presented in Details view, looking like any
folder on your PC's storage system — indeed, what you're viewing is
exactly that.
You can view a file by
opening its icon. You're warned: It can be a security risk to open
random files that you downloaded from the Internet. But for image files,
it's probably okay.
To remove a file, just
delete it as you would any icon on your computer's storage system:
Select the icon and press the Delete key.
Then again, you probably notice that you have thousands
of image icons in the Temporary Internet Files folder. Viewing them all
will be tedious. As a tip, if an offending image arrived (was stored on
your computer) today, you can click one of the date/time column
headings to sort the list and then find files downloaded today. But that
will still be a might long list to cull through. And, do you really
want to see that image again?
A better solution lies in the next section. But first, remember to close any open windows or dialog boxes.
2.2. Clearing the image cache
To pull a colon cleanse on your PC's potentially philthy picture pocket, heed these steps:
Summon the Delete Browsing History dialog box.
Click the Delete Files button.
Click Close, and then click OK to dismiss the various open dialog boxes.
The side effect of
removing the entire cache is that the Internet may behave a bit more
slowly the next time you make your Web page rounds. That's because
images once pulled from storage now must be reloaded from the Internet.
That takes time.
2.3. Dealing with nasty wallpaper!
When you right-click an
image on the Internet, you see on the pop-up menu the option Set As
Background (or something similar). It turns the image into the desktop
background, or wallpaper,
which you can see when you use Windows. Sometimes, this is an accident.
It need not be a nasty image, but whatever image it is, you probably
want it off the desktop. Here's how:
Choose Personalize from the pop-up menu.
Choose Desktop Background in the Personalization window.
Select a new background.
Use
the Picture Location menu button to choose a category, and then choose
the type of background from the list that's displayed.
Click OK, and close the Personalization window.
Generally speaking, these steps should fix whatever unwanted desktop images you have.
3. Hiding Something on the Screen
I'm sure this never
happens to you: You're looking at something diverse and interesting on
the computer when someone else walks into the room. Do you panic? Do you
freak out and yell at them? Or, do you quickly and stealthily hide the
entire contents of the screen?
Hopefully, you know the
trick to instantly hide everything on the screen: Press the Win+M key
combination, where Win is the Windows key. Win+M automatically minimizes every open window and leaves only the desktop displayed.
Alas, you have no Win+M key equivalent if your computer's keyboard lacks a Windows key.
The
mouse equivalent for this command is to right-click the taskbar and
choose Show the Desktop from the pop-up menu. (Sometimes that's just too
slow!)
Oh, you can always switch off the monitor, though that tends to arouse suspicion.
