Q: For quite some time, I’ve used a picture-editing feature which came with Windows XP. When I clicked a thumbnail in the My Pictures folder, Windows XP showed a larger picture. When I right-clicked the picture and chose “Edit,” a menu appeared, offering options like cropping, incremental angle shifting, color shifting, contrast, brightness, sharpening, the latter four with sliding scales.

This feature suddenly disappeared, and I can’t find it in your book. In fact, what I see now is exactly what is detailed in your book — the Paint program appears. What happened to my photo editor?

A: It sounds like you had a third-party photo-editing program installed, as the features you’re describing don’t come with Windows XP. Paint is the only image editor bundled with Windows XP. And, as you’ve discovered, it pops up when you right-click a photo and choose Edit. Click to read more »

Q: Windows Vista allowed me to specify Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and Icon Spacing (Vertical) from an Advanced button on a Display Properties screen from within Control Panel. How do I navigate to this same control within Windows 7? It is probably in your fine book. I just can’t find it.

A: With today’s mixture of monitor sizes, changing your desktop icon spacing makes a world of difference in how your desktop looks, feels, and behaves.

Just as with Windows Vista (and Windows XP), Windows 7 lets you adjust the space between your desktop’s icons. However, Microsoft moved the setting in Windows 7. To find it, follow these steps: Click to read more »

Q: I bought a Rocketfish bluetooth wireless mouse, and it didn’t come with a receiver to plug into the computer. I read on the back, and it said I needed a Bluetooth-enabled computer. Is there anything I can buy to make my computer Bluetooth-enabled, like a receiver or something?

A: A group of companies created “Bluetooth” as a way of creating “cable-less” gadgets. Wireless computing, lets you connect to the Internet from several hundred feet away; Bluetooth, by contrast, has a range of a few feet. But that’s fine for a mouse, cell phone or smart phone, keyboard, or other commonly used gadgets.

Many laptops come with Bluetooth built-in. To give your desktop PC those same Bluetooth powers, simply plug a Bluetooth adapter into one of your desktop PC’s USB ports. Available on Amazon and many computer stores, the adapters let your PC exchange information with Bluetooth devices like your mouse. Bluetooth adapters are fairly inexpensive, and since they plug into a USB port, you can also easily move it to whichever of your PCs you happen to be using at the time.

Q: I have a desktop PC in Windows XP Professional. I bought a laptop with Windows Vista.

Can both computers use my same wireless router to connect to the Internet?

A: Yes, you can use the same wireless router with both your old desktop PC and your new Acer laptop. Routers don’t care what operating system a computer is using.

A single wireless router can handle Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and even Apple computers, iPads, smartphones, and Internet-savvy home entertainment products like TVs, DVD players, and home theater systems.

Your one router allows dozens of computers and gadgets to access the Internet simultaneously.

Your obstacle is entering the wireless router’s settings correctly into your laptop. Just as with your desktop computer, you need to enter these three things:

• The wireless signal’s name, known as Service Set IDentifier (SSID)
• Its security type (usually WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
• The router’s password

When you’ve entered those three things into your laptop, Windows will discover the Internet connection, and you’ll be online.

Q: I followed your instructions in Windows Vista For Dummies to set Vista to be more like Windows XP and use fewer resources. Everything is running fine, but my picture files are no longer listed in Computer as small pictures but, instead, as icons with the file names. This is not XP-like but more like Windows 95 or Windows 98. With my Windows XP, picture files were listed as pictures in Computer.

How can I make the picture files show as pictures rather than icons in Computer?

A: When Windows Vista runs too slowly for your taste, my book explains how to strip away Vista’s fancy visual effects, which make it behave like an older, faster version of Windows. However, my instructions show how to remove all of the fancy visual effects, including the thumbnail images.

If you want to speed up your PC but still see thumbnails of your images, follow these steps: Click to read more »