When using the Windows Search Programs and Files tool (under the Start button) is there a way to return to the answer display without having to start the search all over again?

This is a good question  and one that’s confounded me in both Vista and Windows 7 (of course, it never confounded me enough to actually do anything about it). However, reader questions often provide an opportunity to find answers to our own questions.

The answer, as far as I can tell, is no, this isn’t possible. But both Vista and Windows 7 offer a couple good options. For example, rather than using the Start search, hold the Windows key and hit the F key (Win+F), and a search folder will open. You can then type your query into the search box in the upper right corner. There, you can also find any previous searches in a dropdown list. Just click anything in that list to select a previous search.

However, all searches are recorded in this list, so it helps to occasionally reduce the number of entries. This can easily be done by navigating through the list with the arrow keys and pressing the delete key at each item on the list that you’d like to remove.

Both Vista and Windows 7 also offer a Save Search option, where any search performed can be saved for future reference, to any location you choose. Just click the Save Search button at the top of a Search Results window (see Windows 7 example below).

This opens the Save As dialog box, which offers choices for naming your search and for choosing a location for your saved search. This one was saved to the desktop.

For even easier access, you can pin the saved search to the Taskbar. If you click on that, the Search Results window for that search will reopen.

The process is nearly the same in Vista, but the appearance is slightly different. Once you’ve created a search with theWin+F key combination, click the Save Search button.

This will bring up the Save As dialog box, where you can choose a name and location for your saved search.

It’s not exactly what you were looking for, but this may work better than what you were hoping to find. While you can’t directly return to your search at the Start button, it’s almost as easy, and this method offers more than just the single previous search from which to choose.

~ Nishad S S

nishad@rinshez.com

I tried Internet Explorer 9, and felt a bit helpless without my menu bar. How do you get that back, or at least have access to the usual apps on the menu bar. I was also missing a few of my toolbars that I normally use, and was clueless as to how to get them back without the “view toolbars”.

The IE team has included the menu bar, but has kept it invisible to save on speed. You can always get the menu bar “temporarily” by pressing the ALT key. When you press the ALT key, IE9 presents the traditional menu bar.

It disappears when you press the ALT key again, or click anywhere in the browser.

Regarding your problem of the missing toolbars, IE9 has plenty, but has hidden them. Even I don’t feel comfortable without my Favorites bar and Status bar. What you need to do is to right click on any empty space on the Address bar. A popup menu will appear showing all the installed tool bars (see image below). Click and select the toolbars that you want IE9 to display. This includes any custom toolbar that you may have installed (for example, Google toolbar).

Sometimes, you may notice that the IE9 slows down after enabling certain toolbars. I have a toolbar that helps me download videos from Facebook. I use the right-click method to disable the toolbar, unless I wish to download video, so that I do not lose the IE9 speed on other websites. To disable a toolbar, right click on any empty space in the Address bar and in the popup menu, and uncheck the toolbar that you wish to disable.

So, if you want IE9 to run at top speed, right click on the Address Bar and disable (uncheck) any toolbars you’re not using. Anytime you need one, simply right click again, and bring up whichever one suits your purpose.

~ Nishad S S

nishad@rinshez.com

How can I permanently enable pop-ups on just one website? I have Mozilla Firefox, and every time I go to Pogo I have to disable the pop-up blocker. My OS is Windows 7.

Pop-ups are frequently synonymous with “annoying ads that get in my way,” but in some limited cases pop-ups are actually essential to using a website. If you access sites that load a separate pop-up window for logging in to a service or for uploading files, the Mozilla Firefox pop-up blocker prevents you from taking advantage of that site’s features. Obviously, removing the pop-up blocking feature altogether isn’t an acceptable option, as you’ll likely be bombarded with unwanted advertisements. Thankfully this isn’t your only option available, because Firefox has the ability to specifically allow pop-ups for individual web pages.

As with most features in Firefox, to access the pop-up options you need to click the orange “Firefox” button at the top-left corner of the window. Click the arrow next to “Options” and then click the second “Options” button in the menu.

Locate the “Content” heading at the top of the “Options” window, which is located between the “Tabs” and “Applications” headings. Click “Content” to bring up a new list of menu options.

Click the “Exceptions” button positioned near the top of the window and to the far right of the box labeled “Block Pop-Up Windows.”

Type the full web address of the specific site you need to allow pop-ups for in the provided text box, such as “http://www.worldstart.com.” Click the “Allow” button to specify that you want Firefox to allow pop-ups on that particular web page. If the web page has a long and complicated URL, you can simply copy and paste the address instead of typing by hand. To do this, highlight the URL in the address bar at the top of the browser. Right-click the highlighted address and select “Copy,” and then right-click the text box in the “Exceptions” menu and select “Paste.”

In the event that you later want to block pop-ups for that site again, click the website’s name in the list of site exceptions and then select the “Remove Site” option and click “OK.”

Setting the page as an exception to Firefox’s pop-up blocking feature may not actually allow pop-ups if you also have a separate third party blocker. For example, the “Adblock Plus Popup” tool also blocks all pop-ups in addition to Firefox’s standard blocking feature. If pop-ups still aren’t appearing on the site, open the “Firefox” menu at the top of the window again and click the “Add-Ons” button.

Click the “Extensions” tab at the left side of the screen, which is marked by a blue puzzle piece icon, to bring up a list of all add-ons installed with Firefox.

Click the add-on’s name in the list of programs and then select the “Disable” button at the far right side of the screen.

Firefox won’t actually turn off the add-on until you restart the browser. Click the “Restart Now” link that appears above the add-on’s name after selecting “Disable.”

If you want to enable the add-on again later, return to the “Extensions” menu and click the “Enable” and “Restart Now” options.

~ Nishad S S

nishad@rinshez.com

Do I need a new monitor on my desktop PC to use the touchscreen capabilities of Windows 8, or does the software enable any monitor to be a touchscreen? P.S. I am currently run XP – not Vista or Windows 7.

.

Windows 8 is the first version of windows to fully support touchscreens with built in gestures and a touch-friendly interface. The benefits of using a touch screen include a more natural way to interact with the computer, the precision of hand movements to move items and low learning curve associated with touch input.

So will upgrading to Windows 8 enable touch on a traditional monitor? Unfortunately the answer is no. Touchscreen technology requires both a monitor that supports touch input and software to make full use of that input. Windows 8 provides the software that will take advantage of a touchscreen, but you still need to purchase a PC with a touchscreen or buy a new monitor which is “touch enabled”.

On the plus side, there are a wide assortment of touchscreen enabled monitors available today from popular monitor companies such as Planar, 3M, Wacom, Viewsonic (and more), which can be added to your existing computer. You can even use your non-touchscreen monitor as a second monitor if your computer has 2 video outputs.

I have an HP p6210f Quad Core (Win 7) with 6 GB of memory installed, however, in looking at the System Info it says I have “Installed Memory 6GB (2 GB Usable). The memory checks good, I swapped slots – no change. I do not think there is a setting to correct this, is there? Maybe it’s the MB and/or CPU?

This could either be just confusion over what the system is showing you or an actual problem you’ll need to fix, so I’ll go over both options.

The first step is to right click on the task bar and click Task Manager. Go to the performance tab and look on Physical Memory (MB) and see what it says. If this shows Total 6000 (or about), then you are fine and what you’re seeing is the memory being used by your operating system in normal daily usage. The Available number is the important number and is what programs have left over to use after the current programs/items are loaded. Windows will manage your memory to optimize caching as you load and access programs, so this number will change.

If the Total Memory shows as 2048 GB, there may be a startup setting that has been altered, forcing Windows to use only 2 GB of memory instead of the maximum available. You can edit this boot option by first opening msconfig by holding down Windows Key and the letter R (or going to Start then Run) and typing msconfig, and pressing enter.

In msconfig, click on the boot tab then click on Advanced options. Make sure the Maximum memory checkbox is unchecked. If it is checked (most likely if Windows is not showing the full installed memory) then uncheck the box, press OK and reboot your computer. When your computer restarts you should now have the full installed memory available for use by windows.