Pandora's Net Tool Box

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Pandora's Net Tool Box
Don't leave your Home Page without it! /(^_-)\

NOTE: this will be an evolving page, with Tip & Tricks on using the Net & your computer more effectively. I'm an impatient person who wants it NOW, so I collect all the tips and tricks that help me do that. I want to share what I've learned with all of you. See, there ARE benefits to being impatient.

Becoming The Fount Of All Knowledge

The secret of becoming a recognized authority on everything, is NOT to know everything. It's not only impossible, but would take more time and energy than anyone has. The real secret of becoming a Fount Of All Knowledge is to know who DOES know something about the subject in question.

So you need to compile and keep a record of names, phone numbers, and, on the Net, URLs and e-mail addresses, to quickly point the person asking you for help in the right direction. Keep a notebook, or a information page thumbtacked above your desk, or a text file on your hard drive of frequently used links or words or phrases you type over and over. For instance, for my web pages, I have a text file with all my HTML codes, that I re-use to link to the main page and the click on e-mail link.

The Truth IS Out There, But How Do You Find It?

Librarians have traditionally fulfilled this function for researchers. However, no librarian has time to drop whatever she/he is doing to help you, 24 hours a day, and do it at the speed of light. It is true what they say in The X-Files--the truth IS out there, but a lot of it is not to be found in your local library or in today's newspaper headlines.

Your Computer: The Best *Answers* Tool Ever Invented

This is where your computer can be the most marvellous *answers* tool that was ever invented. If you learn to use search engines, Usenet, and specialized link URLs effectively, you can find just about anything, or anyone who has the up-to-date knowledge you're looking for.

Simple But Devious Computer Tricks ;-)

Search Tools On The Net

Why spend all your time asking busy people *dumb* questions? [Not that there is such a thing as a *dumb* question, mind you--what is really *dumb*, is not asking anyone, when you're not sure]. Your basic references boil down to three things:

(1) a dictionary:
try this Onelook Dictionaries link!
The UVic Writer's Guide
- a dictionary to literary terms and grammar--Sailor Spell-Check says: Get to know this one, and you'll make your English teacher happy.

(2) an encyclopaedia [book form, CD-ROM form, or online variety ;-)]

Some WWW encyclopaedias:
Encyclopaedias On The Net
- a links site to a variety of encyclopaedias.
Tech Encyclopaedia
- non-geeks rejoice! Now you can find out what all that computer jargon means /(^_-)\
Encyclopaedia Mythica
A great reference to all the myths & legends, worldwide.

(3) Net search engines:
I recommend Metacrawler for the WWW, and Dejanews for UseNet.

A new one I've discovered is Reference.com, which looks up not just UseNet newsgroups articles, but mailing lists and web forums as well. I know of no other search engine which delves into mailing lists.

Search engines are neat programs--they look everywhere on the Net to find the word or words specified in your search. I prefer Metacrawler because it uses a bunch of different popular search engines and compiles the results of all of them at once.

For those few specialized types of information not available on the World Wide Web, you want to talk to the people with a special interest in your chosen subject. The best place to find those people is in Usenet. Last time I checked, there were about 20,000 Usenet discussion groups, including several just for Sailor Moon and anime fans, such as alt.fan.sailor-moon

Don't forget though--a computer has no brains at all, unlike a human. It has no idea why two words or phrases which look identical, may describe two different things. It doesn't know if there is a synonym for the word or phrase you gave, which means the same thing. Nor can a computer envision what the right spelling might be--if so much as one letter, space, comma, hyphen, etc., is different, or absent from what you typed, it will not find a match.

Try Different Spellings & Synonyms

Using different spellings and synonyms is one way of researching more effectively, especially with computer search engines. For those of you visiting this site who are into the anime and manga series, Sailor Moon, it's a daunting task to find Sailor Moon sites out there, simply because there are way too many. So if you're using a search engine to find SM sites, don't just try entering the common spelling: "Sailor Moon". Also put in "Sailormoon", "sailormoon", "Sailor-Moon", "sailor-moon", "Sailor_Moon" and "sailor_moon". Every one of these spellings are seen as *different* by the brainless computer, and you'll get back different matches.

You can also try known synonyms or related words for the subject in question. For Sailor Moon, for instance, you could try the character's other names: "Usagi", "Tsukino", "Serena", "Tsukino Usagi" or "Serena Tsukino", or any of the other series characters' names, especially if you wanted information on that character. You can also try typing in the author's name: "Takeuchi Naoko" or "Naoko Takeuchi".

Narrowing it down

With a popular subject, you may need to put in an additional word to narrow down the search, so you don't get back too many sites as matches. So, in the case of Sailor Moon, you may decide to type in: "Sailor Moon, fanfics" [an OR--any or all words search] or "Sailor Moon fanfics" [an AND--phrase search]. An AND search is narrower than an OR search, because the computer only spits out matches with ALL of the words together as a phrase.

Other Good Reference Sites

How Stuff Works
- learn how things work: everything from VCRs to refrigerators to web pages--a wonderful resource.

Ask Jeeves
- a unique search facility that allows you to ask it questions.

"Power User" Tricks To Make Your Computer Do It Faster

Access Your Favourite Folders Faster

The following assumes you have a Windows based system, which, in turn, is of course, based on DOS. Using directories [what Windows calls "folders"] and sub-directories [folders withing your folders] makes quickly finding files a cinch. However, DOS and Windows insist on listing all your folders/directories in alphabetical order--you have no choice in how it lists them at all. So if the folders you use most often are near the end of the alphabet, you have to scroll down through all the folders you don't use much, to get to the ones you use all the time. Even saving the folder to Favorites doesn't speed things up much, because the Favorites, in turn, are listed in alphabetical order.

The best way to make your most used folders *pop* to the top of the list is to re-name the folder with a number in front of the name. i.e. 1 Zelda's Files, 1Zelda's Files, OR 1_Zelda's Files. Numbers are always placed before letters, so any file or folder beginning with a number will be the first one(s)listed. You can call your other most used folders 2, 3, 4, etc. followed by your originally chosen name i.e. 2 My Folder, 3 Saved Messages, 4 My Hobby Files, etc.

One caution: if you are re-naming existing folders, make sure to also re-name all the program references to those folders, and to files in those folders, or the connections suddenly won't work i.e. command lines, ICQ commands, special sound files, etc.

Saving the Text you Typed Just Before the Computer Crashes

Ever had one of the programs you're working in, crash right after you've just finished doing a lot of typing, and you haven't saved your work? You groan inwardly at the thought of typing it all over again, if, indeed, you can even remember it all, once you reboot, or close and re-open the buggy program. The computer will not let you save what you've typed--the program is good and frozen. :/

You have one chance, if another program or window will open--the Windows keyboard commands. Highlight the text you hope to save which is in the buggy program, and hit the [Ctrl][C] keys, to COPY TO CLIPBOARD. Now switch to, or open the other program, create a file to dump the text into, and hit [Shift][Insert], the PASTE command. Now save the file in the other program. At this point, you can close the buggy frozen program, and even reboot if needed--your text has been saved. You can later transfer the text in the file back into the other program. This simple use of Windows keyboard commands saves my bacon, sometimes several times a day. [Yes, WIN95 crashes FAR too often!]

Saving Picture & Sound Files by accessing Temporary Internet Files folder

Like many of you, I love collecting picture and sound files from the Net. There are existing Windows commands to do this, but when these don't work, there's another way . There's a folder Bill Gates apparently didn't think it was very important you should know about, called Temporary Internet Files. That folder stores all the sites you've visited as Cookies, along with all the JPGs, GIFs, WAVs, etc. on those sites. There's a reason it says "Temporary"--the files are deleted, eventually. So you must access and copy the files, right after looking at, or hearing them.

Click on the My Computer icon, go to C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files and open it. The file name of the picture or sound file should be identifiable from the name, file type, and the date and time you accessed it [just now]. If you get a "Security Alert" message about a system command being unsafe, don't worry--sound and picture files aren't system commands--it's more of Bill Gates' scary mumbo-jumbo, like "Illegal Operation". Gates should have been a cop--he loves to make users feel like criminals ;p But I digress.

Now, simply copy the picture or sound file you wanted to a different folder on your hard disk, and it's yours, permanently. Shhhh! Don't tell Bill Gates about this, or he'll find some other way to spoil our fun.

I hope you find this page useful. If you do, encourage me to keep it updated, by e-mailing me at pwaldron@idirect.com . This page was last updated on May 27, 1999.