I know you are a busy person, but I was wondering if you can tell me how to set up Windows so that when I open a Web page it is displayed in a full window instead of at a smaller size.

I have to click the maximize icon every time.

-Bob Brown midsouth.rr.com



My dear old father, who really was a busy person unlike his son with the cushy computer columnist job, liked to remind his children that “there are many ways to skin a cat.” The same goes for opening, sizing and shutting each screen displayed in Windows.

Let’s begin with a down-and-dirty fix to quickly maximize a display without using the mouse.

Whenever a program opens in a smallish window, hold down the Alt key and Space bar at the same time and then tap the “x” key, as in maXimize. This will fill the screen with whatever window is active. Hold down Alt and Space and then tap “n” for miNimize and the display will be minimized into an icon in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. Hold down Alt and Space and tap “r” as in Restore to return the display to the original smallish window.

These keyboard shortcuts act so fast that almost all of the bother of having to expand the window is bypassed.

A second way to remove the fur from the feline uses Windows shortcuts instead of opening programs from their proper icons. Find a program like Internet Explorer, which by default is kept on the Windows desktop. Put the cursor arrow over the Explorer icon, give it a right-click and then select Make Shortcut from the menu that pops up.

This creates a copy of the icon right next to the real thing. Now give the shortcut a right-click and pick Properties from the pop-up menu. You will find an item in the display this creates called Run alongside a list box that can be set for maximize, minimize and normal. Pick your poison and that’s how the program will open in the future when it’s activated by the shortcut.

This works best if one uses the Quick Launch feature, which displays shortcuts for icons of frequently used programs to the right of the Start button. Right-click on the taskbar to the right of Start, select Toolbars and then Quick Launch. Now when you drag a shortcut onto that part of the taskbar, a tiny icon will appear there. Give that icon a right-click and then use Properties and Run to make it open in a maximized window.

This is particularly handy if one uses the Launch tray to hold icons for frequently used software.

Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or via snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at www.chicagotribune.com/askjim.

Q. I cannot get the Outlook Express e-mail program to include pictures/cartoons in messages that I send to other people even though these images come in loud and clear on my own computer. I have gone into Tools, then Options, then Security and made changes with no success. The problem continues to exist.

-Jack Dutcher, Nashport, Ohio

A. As your own experience so eloquently testifies, Mr. D., it can seem like Microsoft’s software writers find ever more ways to thwart image displays in Outlook Express and other programs.

In your case, you did a great job finding that a frequent cause of this irksome glitch lies in the security settings for the software. But there is another place where this software can be set to block a user from sending images along with messages. It lies under the Send tab in Outlook Express’ Tool menu rather than in the software’s security settings.

Click on Tools in the Outlook Express display and then open Options and click the tab for Send. Under that tab-albeit hidden behind yet another clickable button called HTML Settings-is a check box for “Send pictures with messages.” Click that box and your messages will include all kinds of graphics as well as pictures.

To review for other readers, pictures also will be blocked if one sets the Internet virus protection to its highest level using a radio button under the Security tab in that same display. This is by far the most common cause for pictures being blocked because many users decide to set protection at maximum levels, which is what a prudent person would do in most cases.

This antivirus setting that appears in Outlook Express actually reflects the security features that are selected for the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser. The Outlook Express e-mail software actually is built into the browser software, even though it displays separately. To check these settings open the browser and then select Tools and then Security. Make sure the setting for blocking attachments isn’t activated.

Finally, if you click on the Advanced tab in the Internet Options menu you will find a setting for displaying pictures under the heading of Multimedia. If your mail recipients have this checked, your pictures/cartoon also will not appear.

Q. I set up four accounts on my computer, and now it has developed a bug that will not let me use Microsoft Internet Explorer when I log on as the Administrator. It will, however, open this program when any of the three other users click the icon. But when I try to run the program, I get a pop-up that says:

“Runtime Error! Program: C: 1/4Program Files 1/4Internet Explorer 1/4iexplore.exe. This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application’s support team for more information.”

The blue bar on the pop-up says Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library.

Microsoft wants to charge me $35/hour to assist me. I did contact Gateway help, which advised me to open Internet Explorer and “disable script debugging.” It is already disabled on the desktops that work, and on the other desktop I can’t open it to do this. What do you suggest?

-Marianne Stock, Maplewood, N.J.

A. I can help you get past the problem by showing how to cut off the offending script debugging module at its source rather than just having each user set their version of the browser software to disable it.

Most often this gets fixed, just as you were told, by changing the browser’s settings to disable script debugging. This is done by clicking on Tools and Internet Options and Advanced to find the check boxes for the disabling you already have tried.

To totally deep-six the debugging you can dip deeper into the Windows code and shut off the code before it can ever run.

So click on Start and the Control Panel and open the icon for Administrative Settings, and then click the Services item. These services handle all kinds of behind-the-scenes tasks and many of them aren’t really needed, including the Machine Debug Manager Service. So give the MDM line a right-click and change its setting from Start to Disable to keep it from activating when you next start the computer.

Let me add, Ms. S., that you might also fix your problem simply by clearing out all of the bits of Web page coding, graphics and assorted downloaded applications that are stored on your computer during Web site use.

To clear this material away, click on Tools and Internet Options and then open the General tab. There you will find a Delete Files button to clear all this stuff away.

Clearing out these stored files probably will fix your debugging problem. Shutting down the service, on the other hand, will certainly fix things.

(Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoatestribune.com or via snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at www.chicagotribune.com/askjim.)

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AP-NY-10-12-05 0624EDT