I used to be able to remember how to do this but forget it. I'm still sharp as a tack in doing stuff on the computer, but my short-term memory is driving me nuts. I'm either super smart and just absent minded or I'm just plain senile.

I'm hoping for the former. lol

Oh, this is interesting. My husband LOVES to download stuff (even when I tel lhim "don't do that". He saw some information telling him he had a virus and t download their virus watcher. It didn't occur to him that we already use Verizon Internet Security Suite, or no, god forbid he should listen to me.

So he downloaded whatever it was that he downloaded, and later on I'm at the computer and I go to my Verizon Internet Security Suite and lo and behold there is no spyware option. I said to him "what did you do?" and of course I got the usual "I don't know".

So I phoned up the verizon tech guy (in the phillipines), and I sat at my computer for 3 hours. Ultimately I told him "can't we just delete the software and re-install it"? and he said "sounds like a plan". So we did.

Everything was as it was, but I lost my MSN home page. I have a yahoo home page now.

It used to be that on the screen somewhere it would say "MAKE THIS YOUR HOME PAGE". but I don't get this option now.

So can someone please tell me again, how to make MSN.COM my home page??

Thanks much...and no, I didn't kill him. Not yet anyway. I'm having too many laughs watching him sing Celebration on youtube. lol

mel

Hi Mel,
well the easiest way to tell you is to go to the page you want.
like type in www.MSN.com
you're using Firefox right?
If so-
go to Tools ,Options & the Main tab

One box should say Show my home page
and below that
-the next box you will need to click use current
then it should change and you can close out and then test it by clicking the home button.

IE is quite similar you would go to Msn.com - then go to the General tab and click the use current button.

NOW I REMEMBER!!!!!! lol

I did exactly what you said to do. I clicked on current, hit okay, then exited out. When I clicked on Mozilla Firefox on my desktop, guess where it took me. Right to Neurotalks. I laughed my head off.

So I went into the tools thing, main, then I saw the address bar, so I just typed in msn.com, then clicked on Make Current.

That worked.


My god, I'm still learning at 60 years old. What will I learn at 70????

lol Mel

Thanks much

Well, since you're husband likes to download and play with stuff, and especially since you seem eager to keep on learning new things, consider this part one of more stuff to learn...

I have some rather serious memory issues too, and this is part of my solution and, in my not so humble opinion, this is better than having a "homepage"

Have your husband download and install the latest "Opera" browser from opera(dot)com

Open the browser and go somewhere, click on the "new tab" button and open several new tab URL's.
Now go to the "X" at the very top of the browser window and that will close all the tabs at once.
Now open the Opera browser again, a dialog box will pop open giving you three choices, pick "open from last time" or something very similar. Just like magic all the tabs that were open when you closed "Opera" have reappeared.

Remember, the more physical RAM your PC has the faster and more stable it will be running multiple browsers/windows/tabs...... Vista w/4GB, XP with 2GB, Many Linux with a GB and some with 512MB and you can browse to your hearts content without a performance issue. A Debian or a Slackware based Linux system with 2GB Ram will apparently run an almost unlimited amount of browsers/windows/tabs without ANY issues, concerns, or any anti-virus software for that matter either.

Now you can simultaneously have an almost unlimited number of "homepages", AND part of your brain memory issues have now been resolvedas well!!!

I always have clusty(dot)com, worldnews(dot)com, dictionary(dot)com, weatherunderground(dot)com, and gmail(dot)com tabs open under one window. Those are my faves of faves, otherwise I like to keep semi-related stuff all open together in tabs under a single window.
Keep all of your very favorite URL's open at all times under "Opera" and whenever you shut it down and start it back up, ALL of your favorite places will open at start up together. If you run a Linux based system you will never ever have to shut down a browser again anyway, except for really big right over you thunderstorms, you won't.

Part two....hmmmm I'm thinking about that now....... There is a LOT to learn, I am still working on that myself

Hi, if I do the OPERA THING, will it replace my Mozilla Firefox as my browser.

When I go on the internet, there is Mozilla Firefox up at the very top of my screen.

If I do the OPERA thing, will it then say OPERA when I click on the icon on the desktop??

And will there be an OPERA icon on my desktop, like there is the Mozilla one??

See I have to take baby steps here. lol

Thanks so much

Melody

P.S. We watch a lot of free online movies and they are only supported by Firefox.

I am going to assume you are running "XP", I haven't much time spent on MSWindows machines sine I woke up.... About the only experience I have had these past few years on WinMachines is replacing the contents of their hard-drives with Linux OperatingSystems.

Instead of a FireFox Icon there will be an "Opera" icon, and when the browser is open there is a big red capital "O" at the top left hand corner... I'm not real sure about this under MSWindows but I belive it easy to find out...I don't keep much on my desktop though, as rather I prefer using a "directory tree" (think the old MacOS6/7/8 utility software "BeHierachic") and doing things that way, or from the command line as I view the CLI as another form of mental exercise. But then again, I put lots of PDF's and other DL's to the desktop before deciding within a few minutes hours days weeks or months where it is I might want to keep something....

Opera has the best of all current browsers bookmarking software!

There is no such thing as movies, music, anything being made only to run under any single browser, though MS does quite a number on intentionally not complying with established standards, preferring you to using software that you have to pay them for everything in some way again and again than for writing code to meet established international standards....However, amazingly enough, since the MS losses in the EU legal system, and the suit filed by Opera against MS in the EU, IE8, the one you can't have....mysteriously passes the "Acid2" standards base test.

Anyway, there are lots of codecs all free and legally so for all your multi-media needs.....Look up "codecs" and you'll get a much better understanding than I can give you.

Ok, I hope this helps a little

A little help for how to figure stuff out, click on everything, you aren't going to break anything, see what what you just clicked on does or says or opens or whatever, and just keep on clicking through. Much is written and said about "intuitive" regarding software.... There is no such thing.... there is curiosity that leads to experience and knowledge and keeps away the fear of failure. Without a naturally curious disposition there is no intuition and there is no "self taught" there is only that which is learned by simple mechanical repitition. Whatever methods you choose to learn through though, just save all your stuff and keep everything copied to some sort of online location and you don't need to "back up" anything except your systems files "themselves". If you run a Linux system, you can set everything up exactly as YOU, not Bully Gates likes, wants, needs , expects everything to be and then burn a new image of your installed OS for when/if ever anything bad should happen to your hard-drive... Or you could legally give a copy to any and everybody you want to, even Mr Gates, and they will at last have a safe and stable and secure PC.....OH yeah, and other than a list of few (and that list diminishes week by week) software items, there is very very very little MSWin software that there is no at the least equivalent or even better unencumbered Linux replacement for....

Tell the hubby to go and get "thegimp" or even better "gimpshop", and he can do his own at home 3d movie making/animation using "blender" and then there is of course "OpenOffice" (spare me the flames folks, the "features" people are always saying OO is lacking, even MS admits to being used by like around 2% of MSOffice users, and I doubt that 2% includes anybody here) and Scribus, and on and on and on.......

OK one last thing......
Have the hub go to knoppix(dot)com and download the ISO image for Knoppix5.1.1
and burn it to a CDR....NEVER EVER BURN DATA TO AN RW!!!!!!.
Make sure your PC BIOS is set to "boot from disc" (try it and see first)..

Put the CD in the CDROM, and now, reboot the PC and just like magic, you have a real safe and secure and superior, and did I say FREE operating system to learn from, and haven't had to buy or install a thing....and more software installed "out of the box" than you're most likely ever going to know what to do with.

Go here: clusty(dot)com and type "help learn Linux forums beginners" into the search bar....oh yeah, and do a search on "codecs linux multi-media" too. Clusty is about the most brain damaged friendly pieces of software around too. Try it and see.....

OK, nuff said.......

HAGD

Have a great day!

Arthur:

You are obviously way more computer literate than I am. I know that Linux is an operating system. What happens when you don't have it as your operating system. You mention Linux throughout your posting. Can I have Linux
on my computer even though I have Windows XP.

Probably a stupid question I know.

But am interested in learning.And I shall look into those links that you gave me.

Thanks much.
Melody

Thanks for asking,I have been having short team menory problemsas
well. And also fogot how to do this..I read alot but noticed some of
these new computers have tiny imformation books compared to old Dell.

Thamks to everyone who answered, Hugs to all Sue

I think you could use Firefox the same way as Arthur suggests with the multiple tabs open as different 'home"pages .
I haven't tried it though mainly because my bookmarks are organized into folders and groups so they are easy to find.
I often use multiple tabs though and my home page is Google.
I use XP with Firefox and also IE available if I need to use it.

You could use both Opera and Fiefox just like you can still use IE if you need to -it doesn't replace the other program just adds it on to your system - it's just another program that happens to be a browser.


LINUX- some more basic info about it
An easy way to try Linux programs is to by a Linux magazine that has a LIVE DVD enclosed.
With the LIVE DVD you can boot right into it when you start your computer and you can explore it before you even install it.
As Arthur mentions -your system needs to be set to check/boot from CD/DVD before the hard drive.

I found the Ubuntu and Kubuntu to be the easiest as far as "seeing" my wireless card/connection. I tested about 7 of the different types,
they're all Linux but each has a look or style and so are named differently.

Linux stuff is fun to play with a good selection of free games, Music, MP3 players, word processing, graphics and easy to get more because it is open source software.

I do have Ubuntu as a secondary OS
The only problem I seem to have with the Linux is the fonts do not appear as clear as with my XP side, so for the most part I have stuck with windows for that reason.

But if you have room on your hard drive you can choose to install one of the Linux OS as use it as a dual boot system.
Or you can keep using it with the live dvd/cd in the drive.

when your machine starts up it will post a screen asking what OS you want to use windows or the linux- then you choose and if you need to switch to the other you just exit out and use the restart option where it will ask for a choice.

Hi All:

I thought I posted this on this board but I ended up sending it by email instead. Chemar just told me about this. So I am reposting this, right here.

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You know something?? Maybe if I was 20 years old I would do exactly what was suggested. Buy a magazine with the Linus DVD and explore.

But at my age, I'm just happy making videos and uploading to youtube. If I
want more excitement than that, I'll just watch an adult video. lol

(Only kidding)

P.S. I'm trying to imagine doing the dvd thing and booting up another
operating system. I'm trying to imagine Alan's face as I'm doing that.

You should see his face when I upload a video to youtube. He thinks I'm a
genius. lol

Mel