Dragging icons simpler than managing bookmarks

By: DON EDRINGTON - For the North County Times | Sunday, April 2, 2006 8:48 PM PDT ∞

A number of people have asked how to alphabetize their "Favorites" in Internet Explorer or AOL. These are links to favorite sites that users create while visiting a Web page by clicking Favorites>Add to Favorites.

These links are called "Bookmarks" on Netscape and Firefox, where creating them is done via Bookmarks>Bookmark this Page. Well, both of these areas have "Manage Favorites/Bookmarks" options.

However, I think these options are more complex than necessary. "Favorites" and "Bookmarks" are nothing more than folders containing a list of links. I create folders by right-clicking my Desktop and choosing New>Folder, which I name something like "News Publications" or " PC Tech Sites."

The next time I find a site of interest I simply drag its Internet Explorer icon (the small blue "e" with a "Saturn ring") onto the appropriate folder's icon. I do likewise with any symbol preceding "http://" in other browsers. Doing so inserts a site's "shortcut link" into the target folder.

However, the "name" of a site may not be quite the same as its Web site address. For instance, the North County Times home page URL (universal resource locater) is "http://www.nctimes.com." However, the page's "name" is "North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News - NCTimes.com - Californian.com," which is what's listed inside a folder I made.

If you find this name a little lengthy, you can right-click it, choose Rename, and change it to, say, "NCTimes" or "My Newspaper." Changing a Web page's name in your own folder does NOT affect its underlying URL, which can be displayed by right-clicking the name, and choosing Properties.

Under Properties, you can also click "Change Icon" and choose another which you prefer. (I'll explain how to make your own icons next time.)

I hear frequently from folks who have older Win98 computers and who want to know if they should upgrade them to WinXP, or just buy a new WinXP machine.

Well, since the days when Win98 PCs were the newest and best choices available, prices have come down and features have increased. Upgrading a Win98 PC to WinXP has become akin to putting a new Caddy engine in an aging Chevy.

The average user can now buy a desktop PC with 512 MB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and a 17-inch flat screen monitor for about $700. Naturally, a salesman will want to run up the price with special programs and other additional features. Doing research on sites such as www.pcworld.com and www.cnet.com can make your buying decisions more well-informed. Check for "user reviews" on these sites.

Gamers who want super high-speed graphics and booming sound will pay more for special video and audio cards. If you want to continue using your old monitor, you'll save some money.

Those who put lots of music and/or digital photos on their machines may want larger hard drives, although external drives have become quite inexpensive.

Doubling the RAM to a full gigabyte will improve any kind of a system.

More PC help can be found at www.pcdon.com and calls are welcome at (949) 646-8615.