I hate new computers

Change is a bugger! This will doubtless sort itself in time as I either change this system to suit me, or I get used to the things I cannot change about it!

I can't find the answers to the following problems/questions, so hopefully somebody might help me before I give up completely! Please.

Every browsing window I open in Explorer is under the one tab on the task bar; I'm used to them being arrayed along the task bar and able to be maximized and have them reappear in that same state when I return to them. Can I change this?

I'm also used to Outlook Express remaining in a maximized window, but every time I go back to it it's in a restored size and I want to punch the damned monitor!

Oh, and how many people use those ergonomic keyboards and do you like them and did you like them when you first used them? Do your arms appreciate them, more to the point?

Thank you in great hope.[]

Hello. Can't fix your specific problem, but I suggest you run Firefox for web browsing and Thunderbird for email.

Download them for free from www.mozilla.com

A

Unless there is an option I don't know of, when you want to look at a new site go to "file" "new window" option. This opens up a new explorer and not a new tab.
This will give the task bar you are used to .... until you get used to the new one []
Re the size of OE, have you closed it while maximum size? Does it reopen "restored down"?
The wierd shaped ergo keyboard??... as I am not a typist, I find it a difficult keyboard to work on Too much time hunting for the letters over the hump and both keypads.

The ergonomic keyboard is one of lifes most wonderful inventions!!!
I have Lupus which has resulted in my hands sort of bending in from the wrists...put your arms out straight up in front of you and your hands will probably continue on in a straight line...I put my arms out straight and my wrists bend my hands in at quite an angle. What this means is that when I use a 'normal' keyboard I end up with hunched shoulders and a sore neck... which is most nights cos I use a laptop computer.

I just worked out the tab/buttons thing: "group similar task bar buttons" meant all my explorer windows ended up on one button! Maddening and now undone. That's one nasty little annoyance sorted.

I used an ergonomic keyboard for a day once and I suspect it would have taken a little longer to work out if it was better for me or not. I can certainly feel some elbow tension these days on the straight one and the new one (with this new system) with slightly more resistance in the keys will have to go back, since it was making me feel like I was on a fast-track to OOS in one afternoon!

I'd really appreciate some more feedback on the keyboards from those who are seasoned touch-typists (and I'll keep a spare straight one around for any two-fingered typing guests I might ever have ).

Isla, buy a Mac

I'm a touch-typist and alth I use a 'straight' keyboard, I have used an ergonomic one in the past. Once you get used to them, I found it GREAT. It took a bit of work going from one to the other (ergo one at work, straight at home) but it really was worth it. But then again, I don't have any trouble with tension, RSI/OOS or the such-like. Don't know if I've helped or not!

quote:Originally posted by Prim

Isla, buy a Mac

Ok, I'll just take this one back to the guy and tell him I don't want it any more - bad enough I'm taking keyboard, possibly monitor, already!

Thanks for the keyboard comment.

Does anyone dislike the ergonomic keyboards after using them for a bit? Are they different in quality with price (that's probably a silly question)?

I have an old mac keyboard here which comes apart in the middle, and rotates to whatever angle I wish. It can be wide apart or pushed together to make a straight keyboard again.

Just wish I could use it on the modern computers.

Isla if you right click on the "Outlook Expreess" icon left click properties and change the "run" to maximum Outlook should then always open in full screen

I agree with using Thunderbird this free email program has a very good spam filter.

quote:Originally posted by phill-k

Isla if you right click on the "Outlook Expreess" icon left click properties and change the "run" to maximum Outlook should then always open in full screen

Phill, you beauty!

Next pesky question: is there a way to have folders ordered so that folders within them always appear at the top of the list when you rank them in order of last modified date? I feel like my old computer did that, but now I'm begining to wonder...

quote:Originally posted by Isla
I'd really appreciate some more feedback on the keyboards from those who are seasoned touch-typists (and I'll keep a spare straight one around for any two-fingered typing guests I might ever have ).

Hi Isla, Long-time no-see, been pretty busy lately...

I can answer a couple of your questions:

1) I have used ergonomic keyboards exclusively for the last 12 years or so. I love them and would never go back by choice. When using my laptop, I don't have any choice, but for a desktop, I would always go for the ergonomic style.

My favourite keyboard is a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro with all the Multimedia keys along the top as well as Browser Back/Forward and Calculator, which I use ALL the time.

AFAIK, Microsoft don't make this exact keyboard any more, but there is bound to be something similar available.

In a nutshell: I have been a touch typist for more years than I care to remember, and I can definitely type much faster on a "Natural" keyboard with the curved key arrangement. The placement of the "B" key took me a while to get used to -- as I had always hit it with my right index finger, the way the Pitmans book trained you to do. But having made the adjustment to using my LEFT index finger, it is no longer an issue.

2) Regarding the sort order of the columns within Explorer, the only way you usually get the folders appearing at the top is by clicking on the "NAME" or "TYPE" columns. If you click on "DATE MODIFIED" as I usually do, the folders generally appear at the bottom because they have usually been there the longest (many are created when you install Windows). Sometimes you get a mixture of files and folders just depending on their respective dates.

The only sure-fire way to have your folders at the top is to select either the "NAME" or "TYPE" columns.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Grant.

Jimbob...you're one of a number of people whose posting time shows 1 hour ahead of the rest of us...can you please send me an email ([email protected]) as I'm trying to find out why it happens.

Cheers
Kate

click on the sort criteria button in the folder view once will set up your order, for example "date modified". Click on the button again and it will reverse the display. So if it sorts from oldest to newest when you click the button again it will resort from newest to oldest.

Does that help?