How much space/room is left on any drive or folder?

Check your Computer Properties (determine how much space is used/ open) To determine how much space is used – unused on a computer (C Drive), or on a flash drive, portable hard drive or memory card, or in a specific folder –such a My Documents or My Pictures?

•  Open Windows Explorer – (Quick Access: Windows Flag Key + E) which is a 2 sided screen – whatever is highlighted on the left is what you are looking at on the right..…
• Hover your mouse over the Drive or specific folder you want to check
• When you do this, Right Click on the Drive or folder
• When the action list appears – find PROPERTIES at the bottom of the list
• Now Left Click on Properties

How to know how much "computer memory" is on your PC?

It's easy to find out just how much memory your computer has.

• Find the My Computer/Computer icon (on your desktop or in the Start Menu List.
• Hover your mouse over the My Computer (in Windows 98, XP or Vista) or Computer (in Windows 7)
• When the function menu appears, left click on Properties. 
• The details of your computer will now appear, including Operating System, Hardware manufacturer, the memory (RAM-Random Access Memory) and other helpful details. 

Most of us agree that the quickest and most effective way to improve the overall performance of computers is to increase the amount of memory it has... But you can't install just any memory, it has to be compatible so if you aren't sure - check with a technician you trust, and/or go to the website for your computers manufacturer and look up what is needed when you put in your computers model number.

A few things you and or your technician need to know before purchasing additional memory for your computer; all of which you can learn all of this from your manufacturer's website.... 

• Know your motherboard - What type is it? How many pins are on it (30, 72 or 168)? and how many open RAM slots are available on your motherboard?
• If your computer is still under warranty - Check with your hardware manufacturer before you install new hardware to ensure to make sure your warranty will not be revoked if you remove the cover from your computer.
• Know if the RAM on your computer is parity or non-parity
• Know if your computer uses single (SIMM's) or dual (DIMM's) memory modules.

Change the desktop "wallpaper" on your PC

FOR THOSE WITH WINDOWS XP..

When you are on the desktop, put your mouse on a blank area (just make sure you are not on an icon) – now RIGHT CLICK

• At the bottom of the action list, the command you want to choose is “Properties”




• Now the Display Properties Dialog Box will open, which has several tabs: Themes-Desktop-ScreenSaver etc..




• Choose DESKTOP – and when this section opens, you can now change what is showing for the desktop wallpaper – there is a list of choices – NOTE: “none” which is at the top of the list is what we use to display the solid color MSN basic blue screen or




• You can go to the BROWSE button which opens My Pictures and add a photo from your folder








• Now you can now decide to have the picture "stretch" which covers the entire screen, such as you cat photo; or "center" which means the picture will be in the center will color around it, or "tiles" so that it takes the photo and replicates it many times.




• When you are done, at the bottom of the dialog box choose APPLY and then OK and your desktop wallpaper is changed until you change it again...

FOR THOSE WITH WINDOWS 7..

When you are on the desktop, put your mouse on a blank area (just make sure you are not on an icon) – now RIGHT CLICK

• At the bottom of the action list, the command you want to choose is “Personalize”




• Now a list of choices will appear, once of which is Desktop Background




• Click the picture or color you want for your desktop background




• As with the directions for Windows XP users above, you can now choose either a picture from those supplied by Windows 7, or if you want to choose something else left click the Picture location down arrow to view other categories, or click Browse to search for the picture on your computer. When you find the picture you want, double-click it. It will become your desktop background and appear in the list of desktop backgrounds.

What is the Computer Control Panel?

The CONTROL PANEL is where we can change many ways in which our computer and the peripheral hardware work, including your printer, keyboard, mouse, monitor – your audio & video functions and add or remove software just to name a few..

To access the control panel – you can go to Start and when the Start Menu appears – choose control panel (in older versions of Windows – you need to go to Settings to find the control panel).

The look of the Control Panel has changed considerably with with Windows Vista & Windows 7 Operating Systems. Both of these newer Operating Systems offer two different views of the Control Panel: Classic View and Category View, and it is possible to switch between these views through an option that appears on the left side of the window

Many of the individual Control Panel “commands” can be accessed in other often quicker ways – a favorite is when you want to make changes to the Display Properties – instead of going to the Control Panel and choosing Display, when you are on the Desktop – simply Right Click on any emptry area of the Desktop, choose Properties and the same Display Properties Dialog box will appear for you to work with.