I hope this article is helpful in finding help for problems you have with your computer or anything you are using on your computer. I like being able to help and provide answers to your questions in the AARP groups, Computer questions and tips, and Community Help, but I thought I would provide a few tips on getting help from your computer and programs you use on it. Most problems are easy to solve by just using ?help? provided with your computer or the program you are using. Look on the toolbar for a ? or Help . If you can't find your answer using help on your computer then you may have to go on line or ask for help.
Let's start with your computer. To get help for your computer , by the way I am using a Gateway with Windows XP SP3, go to Start→Help and Support . You should be able to find out a lot about your computer by starting here.
How about a problem with a Microsoft program . Use this link for Help and save it to your favorites. http://support.microsoft.com/
Are you using Firefox , go to their help site at: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/
You can go to your favorite search engine and type in a few keywords about your problem and do a search for a solution to your problem. Sometimes you have to rearrange the keywords to find an answer.
Every program you use should provide help. Remember, if you can't find an answer then feel free to ask for additional help. Let us help you solve your problem, if we can. I am sure someone has the answer.

For more information on computers visit:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/

For HELP on the AARP site go to the bottom of the page and click on Help. If you are having trouble finding this scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see, About AARP | Help | Contact AARP | etc.

Wondering what that item is on your computer, want more info on it, right click on the item.

I made a post in Community Help recently about tweaking the member name displayed in your profile page above your profile picture. This journal entry is a step-by-step guide to doing it which should be easier to understand for beginners than what I posted in the Community Help group forum.

This is what we are going to change, (outlined in red):

You'll need a graphic image of your member name to display in place of the default text. I kind of suck at graphics, but I'll try.

The graphic will display in a box that is 222 pixels wide and 22 pixels high. You'll need something that will fit in there. No matter how you make it, it should be either a .jpg or .gif format. .png may also work for newer browsers, but I recommend sticking with one of the first two. My graphic looks like this:

The next step is to upload your graphic somewhere on the internet so you can access it via URL. I happen to have server space available, but if you don't, don't worry. You can use web space provided by your ISP, or use a free photo sharing site like flickr. I was surprised at how easy flickr is. If you already have a Yahoo account, you can sign into Flickr and begin using it. I actually started a flickr account for this tutorial. I have an image uploaded there. The URL is http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2599/4072304259_3f32a5aa1d_m.jpg

To get the URL, go to your flickr photostream and right-click on your graphic image. Choose "properties" from the drop-down menu. You should get a box with the image properties, including the URL. Highlight the URL and copy it. Paste it into something like Notepad and save it for later.

Now for the fun part. Copy the following code and paste it into Notepad, (or any plain text editor):

<style type="text/css>
div.profileNav div.memberName {
text-align: left;
text-indent: -100.0px;
background-image: url(replace this text with the URL);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: center center;
}
</style>

Where it says, "replace this text with the URL", do just that. Copy the URL to your graphic and put it in there in place of that text. Be careful to leave the brackets intact. Once edited, highlight all of the code and copy.

Go to your AARP community profile. If you are logged in, you'll see the "edit about me" button.

 Click it and go to the edit page. Paste, ( control + v ), the code into the top in the first box. It should look like this:

 Don't forget to save your changes:

That's it. Look at your profile page and you should see your member name graphic instead of the default text.

Helpful hint: I made a graphic at cooltext.com. It wasn't exactly the right size, so I opened it in irfanview, a free image editor program. First I clicked EDIT and auto-cropped borders, then I clicked IMAGE and Resize/resample. I resized to 22 pixels height and made it  longer, about 100 pixels or so. preserve aspect ratio was unchecked.

You can't argue with all of the fools in the world. It's easier to let them have their way, then trick them when they're not paying attention

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

I had to make a decision before winter set in.  My legs were giving me trouble and I was unable to climb steps very easily, so I made the decision and sold my home. My neighbor and his wife are dentists and they owned their own business, so I guess you would say I was lucky when he offorded to buy my home because as in all parts of the country, houses were not selling.  On our little lake there were at least eight for- sale signs up.        

My son lived in small town south of the Twin Cities and he found a senior-living apartment 5 blocks from his home. He and his wife have 6 boys and they are always having things going on so they will keep me busy following all their events

I had a garage sale, and rented a truck and the move went smoothly, The apartment is nice.  I still have my car and indoor parking which will be nice for me and for my car in winter.  I have been here 2 weeks and most of the time trying to get settled in.  I miss my  lake and the wild life but I know this will be all I can handle so I feel I am starting a new chapter in my life and I will go with the flow and try my best to fit in and I will just remember my home by the lake forever.

  have you ever had one of those nights where you just don't give a hoot................... well i did and it hurts ,it feels like everyone and everything is against you.well i just try to do the right thing and get shitted on in the process.(what is she talking about) well for starters i was felling good but now i feel like blah . last night i went off on a good friend and he hadn't done nothing but it's just the point he was here and i did the unspeakable i snaped at him because i messed up, i messed up the tv but i don't know how or whati did. i am partically handicap and i try to do everything myself but i refuse to believe i can't.

        I came from a very disfunctional family, after my Dad died  when I was 3,and my brothers were 2 and 6 My mother`s mental illness went totally out of controll. She felt like her world had collapsed, She loved him so very much she could`nt imagine life without him. She blamed us and would hit us and tell me to get out of her sight, that I`d ruined her life and because my Dad spent so much time with me,[his little princess] she said I stole time from her that she could have spent with him. She said She wished I`d never been born. It was pretty much down hill from there.

        She started drinking,leaving us home alone and bringing men home "uncle" somebody ! There was never any food ,If we ask for food the "uncles" punished us,  One time holding me over an open well by the back of my dress while I begged and clutched at his hands, He and mom laughed and  called me a scardy-cat.  after that i never cried nor ask for anything .I just fed my brother and tried to be invisable.

        Milk was powered, we ate cerial when we had it, my grandmother came once in a while and brought bread, jam and  peanut butter.

and then there was all ways lard and sugar sandwiches!   Yummy!!!

         After she had spent the insurance money and "uncle George left her and her brats, she found a shy ,quiet man who never dated, she met him thru his sister.

Two weeks later they ran off and got married, came home ,told us we were going to stay a couple weeks with the Aunt`s and Uncle that raised her. We did`nt know them. I was scared to death that it would be an awful place,

As if things could be worse than we  already had lived thru.

We were put in the car with the few clothes we had ,and off we went. My little brother was hugging me and crying, I had always protected him and saw that he ate weather I did or not. I was 41/2 then ,he trusted me to always be with him. I don`t know what we would have done without each other. Our brother pat was mentally unbalanced and always trying to hurt us.

I hugged him,wiped his tears and told him this was going to be a great adventure !

Altho I was so scared and shaking inside,I smiled at him and told him as long as the two

of us are together, we`ll always be brave.  He took my hand as we rode along and he  looked up at me and smiled his crooked little smile. Oh how I loved that little guy !

We finally arrived, and I could`nt believe my eyes ! There was a big farm house, flowers all over, fruit tree`s ,big

red barn and every animal you can imagine !  I thought maybe this is a dream and i`ll wake up and be bake in the tar paper house with the rats chewing in the walls at night !  I closed my eyes, opened them and it was real !  mom yelled,  "for god sakes, you act like you don`t have good sence " !Hurry up !  !we have to go.!

My Aunt`s, we were to call them Aunt`y, Aunt Kate and Unkie.was our uncle,  They each took ahold of our hands and lead us into this unbelievable big,house that smelled like cinnamon and fresh bread and it was so clean!   The first thing Aunty said was,Ed get the buckets and the wash tub and pump a bunch of water !  These babies need a good scrubbing!!!

And scrub she did, she put the tub by the wood cook stove filled it up and got the home made soap,I could`nt  remember when the last bath we had was.And boy did they scrub us!

I felt like I probably could glow in the dark ! Bobby was all pink and blonde in a big nite gown,

Then we ate supper, real food ! .Chicken, gravey, veg ,.biscuits all we could eat and MILK !! Right  out of a real cow !   All we could drink, that was a first.

After dinner my Mom left, without saying good-bye. The two weeks turned into over a year of good food, love hugs ,scoldings and never once being hit. We ran and laughed and rolled in the grass down the hill into the

cherry orchard. WE sat in the trees and ate as many cherrys as we could, then we`d run to the barn to see what Unkie

was doing. we feed chicken, gathered eggs, feed he pigs, and watched while the milk magically came out of the cows. On occasion Unkie would turn a teat at us and squirt milk at us, we`d run screaming and giggling and  Aunty would yell 

out "Ed, stop that ,you`ll get it in their eye`s ! and she`d wink at us.

We even got to go to the State Fair ! We`d never seen anything like that. All those people, animals and all knds of wonderful things and best of all ,Bobby and I got to sleep in the hay beside Unkies prize pig !  I thought maybe this is what Heaven is like,,as I closed my eyes and went  to sleep.

There`s more to this story, I`ll write it later. This is a memorie for "boo",so he`ll have something happy to hold on to.

It`s really hard to express what this experience did for me. But it ended too soon. they came back and got us and the

joy was gone. Funny how kindness and warm  arms can help even in memories. When   things got real bad, I,d hide and think of my days in the sun. I still love old farms and barns and animals. my Mom refused to let us see our Aunts

again, because they told her she was`nt doing right by us.  When I was 10 I found them again, we stayed in touch until they died.  God bless them and people like them, they never could have kids of their own, so raised and

spoiled my Mom and then took on us wild ones.          lonnie

When children are little they step on your toes, when they grow up they step on your heart..

It now seems so strange how fast they grow up. For years you are the center of their world, they come to you for everything. You nurse them thru all the various childhood ills, they cling to you, knowing if any one can fix it Mommy can. The bumps, the bruises, the owies that the magic bandaid cures. You wipe awaythe tears, they smile  , hug your legs and out the door they go.

I was a single Mom with 4 girls and 1 boy, I had no one to give me any help or encouragement and without my kids I would have been so lost. I constantly felt guilty because I had to work to survive. On my days off I would make them special days and we would plan together what we would do.

I worked nites so I could be there in the morning to get them up and ready for thier day, pre-school for 2, 1st

grade for 1 and the other 2 were home with me til I went to work. In the summer we had all day together. 

Sometimes I would be so tired I felt like crying, I`d think to myself "Oh please God, if they could just all dress themselves and tie their shoes I`d be so grateful,then I`d feel guilty !  The warm hugs , the baby smell of thier skin and the " I love you this much " made it all better again, and I knew I was doing the best I could with what I had to work with.

Then you turn around and their grown, school friends now take up our together time, no time to sit and read a story to them, "Mom, can we go to the play ground with our friends"?   O.K  see you in a couple hours.

Then all the sudden ,Mom ,"can I go to the movies with Kevin"?

Now they are gone, my twins, and my oldest daughter, my laughing, loving, girls. They were 20, 40, and 41 when

they died.  I`d give anything to dress them or tie their shoes, I just want to hold them one more time, to feel their 

warm, soft skin against my cheek and smell the shampoo smell of thier hair. Would`nt it be great if we could have do overs?  My heart hurts, there`s a huge empty feeling in there. Please let them see me, loving them.

I hear from my son[my baby, he just turned 40!] He calls every day just to say hi and I love you he fills me in on his day, I ramble on about what ever.  We never say Good-Bye, it makes it sound to final, we say "Later".

My oldest daughter is busy with her life, business and family, and I think she is still angry because I allowed her father to raise her and her two younger sisters,and I accept that,

but what I did was out of love for them and wanted them to have a good, stable life with all the "Bells and Whistles" included, something I knew I would never be able to give them.  Sharon and I have remained very close, and so have Cindy and I.  We keep in touch and visit as often as we can, but the guilt of having to ask thier father to take them will be

with me forever. I know in my heart what I did was best, but that does`nt stop the pain or the memory of being shut out of thier lives for  6 years.

I have`nt seen my youngest daughter since her sisters funeral in 2004. She was drinking, and disrespectful and

got mad because we would`nt let her go pick thru her sisters belongings. I call her, I`ll always love her but she

chose the bottle over all of us, I pray for her, and her darling 16 year old daughter, She knows where I am if

she needs me. I guess you can`t stop loving them, but you sure don`t have to always like them !

Oh well I guess what does`nt kill you makes you stronger !!

Later........Lonnie

  Well with great enthusiasum in my last journal, I wrote about spring finally getting here. It was 80 degrees one day, 75 the next, and then.......we woke up to snow for three days !!  It`s rained ever since.

Was that spring? Ya think?? No wonder every bone in my body is screaming,"GO SOUTH" !

I`m mad, my cat is mad, and when she`s mad she`s mad all over !  She blames me for the rain, she wants to go out side and when I open the door she gives me "that look" ! She just ran up stairs and went to bed after some very loud remarks that I`m sure would be bleeped out !!

So here I sit  freezeing, It`s still raining, its getting dark the cats still mad ......                        but I will cling to the hope that altho it`s a month past the first day of Spring  I will hang on to the hope that it has to arrive, guess I`ll keep my long johns and sweat  shirts handy until some one lets me know I can go out and play !

Til next time....Lonnie

Building Your Profile Help Topic

When you first register for AARP.org site, you will receive a Congratulations message on your screen. You can then click on the red Button that says – Start Building My Profile:

If you click on this link it will take you to the following page where you can fill in your personal information. If you are not sure what you want to add here – do not be concerned you can edit this information at any time in the future. This is not required information so you do not have to fill in every field, just the ones that interest you.

Once you have completed the first page click on the red Save and Continue button.