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Dear PC Doctor,
I always use Mozilla Firefox for my internet, because it's my favorite. I have some of my favorite websites as bookmarks on my desktop, so I can easily get to some of my favorite websites. For some reason now, when I try to open the bookmarks, they open in Internet Explorer instead! How did this happen? How do I change it so my bookmarks open in Firefox again?
Perry
Dear Perry,
It looks like you were taken advantage of by Internet Explorer! It seems that Internet Explorer is set as your default browser. Web browsers are very competitive, and each one wants to be the browser that you always use. Thankfully, it's a pretty easy fix, since only one browser can be the default browser. Open up Firefox and open up Tools in the menu bar. Click Options at the bottom of the list. In the new window that appears, click on “Advanced”. From there, click on the “General” tab if it isn't selected already. At the bottom of the window is the button to “Check Now” to see if Firefox is the default browser. When prompted, click on “Yes” to make Firefox your default browser.
Done! Enjoy your Internet Explorer-free web browsing experience. (It's all for the better, really!)
PC Doctor
Dear PC Doctor,
I need to share a Microsoft Word document with my coworker. He doesn't have the latest version of Microsoft Word like I do. Since we need to share documents with each other, how can I make sure it will work between his and my computer?
Katie
Dear Katie,
With the many versions of Microsoft Word out there, it is a dilemma making a document that validates correctly in each version of the software. The best way to save a document that's compatible across the spectrum of Microsoft Word software is “.rtf”, which stands for “Rich Text Format”. Depending on your version of Word, navigate to the “Save As” setting which is under File or the Orb on the upper left hand side of the Menu bar (or just press Shift+Ctrl+S). There, give your document a file name. Directly underneath that is a dropdown menu. Select “Rich Text Format” from the list and press save.
Tell your friend to keep up with the times! If he doesn't want to upgrade to the newest version of Word because of the cost, let him know about OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org). It's a completely free office suite that contains almost all of the same types of programs that are in the Microsoft Office Suite. Included is a word processor that can handle most any type of document that's out there, including .docs, .docx, .rtf and the native files types— .odt.
PC Doctor
Until next time… happy computing!
Posted: to Athol Library News on Thu, Feb 17, 2011
Updated: Thu, Feb 17, 2011