Help with computer

Have you tried right-clicking on the folder , then clicking "open" on the dropdown menu ?

When you right click on a folder or a file, the first item in the command list that pops up should be Open, with that word highlighted. I ran into the same problem a while back when I tried to use one of the Windows hints that I found on the web that was supposed to add an extra command to the right click selection. It did add the extra command to the right click selection, but in doing so, it changed the order of the right click command choices so Search was first in the list, and highlighted. That made a double click on an item launch a search instead of opening the item. The way that I got my system working the way it was supposed to was doing a system restore to a previously saved date. This restored my registry so the right click worked properly.

Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore

You can read up on the system restore and what it does, but it basically undoes changes to the Windows system all the way back to the date that the last system restore point was saved.

John

Hmmmmm. Right click, select OPEN; see if it works that way. JR Dweller in the cellar

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

Sounds like what happens when the file referred to by a shortcut has been deleted.

Thanks to all for your comments. Right clicking works. Hadn't thought of that. (Told you I know very little!)

Good thing Susan has more brains that I do. She noticed that if one clicks on Search in the new window that opens, the entire contents of the file that was selected is displayed. Goes to show, it pays to marry a smart woman. Turns out I can view the contents by two different methods, so the crisis has passed. :-)

Man, do I feel stupid.

Harold

Trust me Harold, Microsoft/crap products were never intended to be understood by anyone that doesn't want to spend every waking moment trying to gather all the fixes and willing to try a thousand different ways to get it to work just enough/long enough to get the present task accomplished (only to know that won't be the last of that problem), and realizing that any time anything MS that allows you to get something done easily, it's just luck.

When I am working or playing with something purely mechanical, all is well in my existence.

WB ......... metalworking projects

Looks like we share that in common, Bill. I've had great luck with mechanical things---but the moment it becomes electronic----I'm more inclined to let the magic smoke out than anything.

In a sense, I'm lucky in that I have never touched anything by MS products. They may not be easy to use, but I don't have multiple systems to further confuse me (as if I need any more confusion in my life!)

I've often read DoN's comments in wonder. How he has learned so much about computers boggles the mind. Like CNC operations, I ignored computers until they had grown substantially. I now realize I should have grown with them. Probably never be anywhere near as sharp as DoN, but at least I'd be able to understand them to some degree.

Harold

Well ... I've been *very* interested in computers for many years. First exposure was to a desktop programmable calculator by HP (at work -- I had no way to afford one at home), and I learned that I liked the process of programming.

I was already an electronics technician, and even had some patents for circuits which I had designed.

About 1976 I was able to get a computer in kit form (the Altair

680b), and it was at such a low level that I had to learn a lot more to program it (in machine language). As the computers grew and acquired languages I was able to learn more and more, and for the last few years before I retired I was a unix network systems administrator.

Note that there are facets of computing where I don't know as much as some others here -- because I've never done much with Windows, and have particularly disliked it. :-) I am learning the Mac OS-X (with a Mac Mini) since it has a real unix hiding under it.

It is sort of related to how I learned machining. I saw what machine tools could do for me, and managed to become friendly with professional machinists at work and learn a lot from them, along with chances to use the machines there to augment what I learned.

My machines at home started with a drill press made from a stand and an electric drill, then a Unimat SL-1000 (which was lathe, mill, and drill press -- among other things), followed by a nice sensitive drill press. This was the limit in my apartment -- but once I got married, I had more room to set things up, and more tools started coming in and teaching me what they were good for.

The main thing is to get the interest, and then play with things to learn. Often it helps to have a project in mind to use the computer for -- just as you can learn a machine tool better if you have something in mind which you want to do with it.

But mostly -- I've never been afraid to *try* things to learn from them.

You, however, had motivation to learn deeply about the areas of machining which you considered your own -- and we all can learn from you on that.

Enjoy, DoN.

snip good stuff----

Well, it appears that opportunity is knocking on my door, as we speak.

Two weeks ago a CNC HAAS toolroom mill was delivered to my shop by the rightful owner. He is selling to upgrade to a CNC with a tool changer. The HAAS is a three axis machine, but without a tool changer. For hobby use, while a changer might be nice, it's not a necessary option.

The mill is now wired and operational, and I'm to learn CNC operations with his assistance, along with the assistance of another. The mill has safe indoor storage, in a heated and humidity controlled environment, so the owner gets free storage while I have access to the machine. No obligation to purchase, but I'm inclined to do so. I can see countless opportunities to achieve ends that otherwise might be difficult for me with my manual mill. That is one of the reasons why I have regrets. I should have learned CNC when Bandit controls were the rage.

I've been a very curious type all my life, but driven only by having a keen interest in a given subject. In fact, that is what drove me to learn to refine precious metals, which turned into a wonderful way to make a living, until I retired. I was self taught, with nothing more than a book to guide me in my quest. The refining business was a pleasant surprise, resulting from my overwhelming success refining as a hobby.

Now that I have turned my attention to the CNC mill, I'll manage to learn, but in all honesty, computers have not come easily for me. Where CNC operations are concerned, I've been somewhat intimidated by the setup procedures, but I'm slowly learning that I have almost always worked much the same way a CNC does----the difference being I have done it manually. Frankly, I'm somewhat enthused with the thing------

Thank you for the kind words, DoN. I hope that my presence on RCM has been beneficial for at least a few folks. I certainly have gleaned a serious amount of knowledge and interesting information here. Seems a person can learn something from almost everyone.

Harold

So I see.

Agreed.

And -- he gets the benefit of the machine being around someone who knows how to take proper care of machines.

Well ... it may work out better for you in that you can do more with the machine with fewer lines of code than were needed previously.

Indeed.

Think of it as talking someone through doing a job when they don't know what they are doing, but are *very* good at doing precisely what you say -- if you make each instruction simple enough. (Imagine that you are in a wheelchair, but you know how to do the job, and have to explain to him what to do at each point.)

And, with a 3-axis mill, you have a worker who has three hands -- one to crank each axis at the same time. :-)

It used to be that to mill a pocket you had to separately command the move along each side (after calculating the path of the center of the milling cutter to cut the final dimensions you really want), then go deeper and repeat (which would require a center-cutting milling cutter). Now there are what is called "canned cycles" (which

*I* would call subroutines) which allow you to tell it how deep a pocket, what the walls are, and what the diameter of the milling cutter is, and aside from doing all of the moves needed, it will also ramp down to the next level -- moving horizontally and (more slowly) vertically -- so you can make the descent without a center-cutting milling cutter. So

-- the assistant is smarter now than it was in the old days.

And -- a trick to bear in mind for roughing vs finish cuts is to run the program after lying to the machine, saying that the diameter of the milling cutter is say 0.010" larger (and the length is 0.005" longer) than it really is, so it will cut leaving 0.005" for a cleanup pass. Then just tell it the truth about the diameter of the mill and re-run the program.

And you only have two hands, so you can move only two axes at a time. And it is very tricky to cut an angle with the cranks on a manual machine, but a CNC can do it nicely without needing a rotary table to set the angles. :-)

Great!

That's why the newsgroup exists -- and continues to exist.

Have fun with your new toy, DoN.