Updates Blog

If you browse the Internet regularly, you can get a faster start by making your browser appear when your computer starts. By actually following these instructions while you’re reading this post, you’ll be able to see all your favorite web pages waiting for you each and every time you start your computer. It’s best if you have an always-on connection, but dial-up users may want to do it too. It should be easy but if you do run into problems, click the “Comments” link below this post and I’ll be happy to lend you a hand. This post is for Windows users (we’ll try to help Mac users too, if and when we can figure out how.)

The first step is to open a window to your Startup folder. Anything in this folder will start up whenever you start your computer. How to do this depends on whether you have Windows XP or Vista:

• In Windows XP click on Start and then click My Computer. Now double-click the local Hard Disk Drive icon (often called the “C:” drive). (If you see a window saying “these files and folders are hidden” just click on the “view these now” link.)  For a clearer view of the folder, you may want to click the View Menu and click the Details option.

  Now we locate and double-click the Documents and Settings folder. If you want to make a change for all the users of your machine, you should then open the All Users folder (otherwise click your User Name, whatever that happens to be.) Look for and open the Start Menu Folder. Click it and then click the Programs folder, and finally click Startup.

• In Windows Vista, click Start, then click Programs and scroll down until you see the folder labeled Startup. Double-click it to open it up.

Making The Web Page Appear In As One Of Your “Home Pages”:

Your home page is the page that first appears when your browser starts up. In Firefox or Internet Explorer 7, you can have as many home pages as you like. Previous versions of IE allow only one home page.

To add another home page to Internet Explorer 7, click the Tools Menu, then click Internet Options, then type the address of the home page into the Home Page box. Two pages that are great to add right away are http://www.smartconsumertips.com/mycal.htm (the Consumer SmartCalendar) and http://www.smartconsumertips.com/cc.htm (the Consumer Control Center, a.k.a. “Consumer Radar”). You’re not replacing your previous home page, you’re just adding new ones.

To add multiple home pages in Firefox, first click the Tools Menu, then click Internet Options. In the Main tab, where you would normally type a single homepage address, type multiple addresses (or “URLs” in webspeak) separated by a pipe symbol (that’s the “|“, located on the upper right of your keyboard.) Do not type any spaces between the URLs.

Now locate the browser icon on your Desktop (be careful to make sure the icon is actually labeled Internet Explorer or Firefox — don’t click similar-looking icons that are labeled something else.) Press the right mouse button and while you keep holding it down, drag it to the Startup window, and then release the right mouse button. If a little menu pops up, click Create shortcut here. You’re done!

Making Any Page Appear In Its Own Window:

If you don’t want to add SmartCalendar or some other page as one of your home pages, you can still have it appear when your computer starts up. The next step depends on which browser you prefer to use:

• In Internet Explorer, adding a web page is easy: just right-click any blank spot on the page, then click Create Shortcut (it may be labeled a little different) to add a shortcut to this web page to your computer’s desktop. Now find this shortcut on your desktop and drag-and-drop it into the open Startup window. (Tip: to minimize all open windows and see an uncluttered desktop, press the m key on your keyboard while holding down the key with the Windows symbol.)

• In Firefox, it seems that it’s necessary to first add the web page to your Bookmarks. Press Ctrl-B to open your bookmarks in a sidebar, then drag-and-drop the web page into the open Startup window.
• If you prefer using another browser, you can probably find a procedure similar to one of the above methods with a little online research; but it’s probably best to use Internet Explorer for this web page, and continue using your preferred program for browsing the web.

Again, it’s a no-brainer to add http://www.smartconsumertips.com/mycal.htm (the Consumer SmartCalendar) and http://www.smartconsumertips.com/mycal.htm (the Consumer Control Center). They are easy, point-and-click pages that will really help you save time and money. Trust me, I’m in this thing to help the average guy and gal, not make a buck off of them.

Now the next time you boot your computer, your favorite web pages will be waiting for you on your Desktop!