How to enlarge (zoom in on) a picture (or entire page) on a PC

[jerryd6818]

If you are on a PC, and you have a mouse similar to the one shown below, simply hold down the Control Key (Ctrl) and roll the wheel on the mouse forward (or backwards to shrink the image). To restore normal size, hold down the Control key and hit the zero (0) key on the top row of keys (Not on the ten key pad).

[tongueriver]

Good tip! Unfortunately....

[Quick Steel]

[jerryd6818]

There's always a wise acre in the crowd. Love it.

[kootenay joe]

An unrelated question: what is the 'number pad' on the right side of the keyboard used for ?
kj

[Mumbleypeg]

An unrelated question: what is the 'number pad' on the right side of the keyboard used for ?
kj

Roland those who are accustomed to using a 10-key adding machine keyboard and have a large amount of numbers to enter into your computer, or using a calculator program, you’ll find that much more efficient than using the numbers laid out in a row at the top of the keyboard.

Ken

[kootenay joe]

Thank you Ken. Unfortunately i am still learning the basics of computer 'literacy' 20 or more years after most people managed to master the basics.
kj

[Mumbleypeg]

My acquaintances with computer keyboards began early. The company where I was employed for 40 years was a pioneer in IT and deploying professional computers to their employees. I had a setup like the one pictured below on my desk sometime in the early to mid-1980s. It was a tremendous productivity enhancement. The company also had a worldwide internal email system years before Al Gore invented the internet. (and years before the advent of the PC pictured below). Each employee had their own individual equivalent of an “email” address, called an MSGID. You could be on the phone with someone half-way around the world, send them a document and as soon as you hit “send” on your keyboard, you could hear the printer on their end printing it.

Ken

[tongueriver]

An unrelated question: what is the 'number pad' on the right side of the keyboard used for ? kj

Here is something else you can do. While holding down the 'ALT' key, you can punch in a 3 digit code on the number pad to get certain symbols while you are typing. For instance, to get the 'degrees' symbol, hold down ALT and tap 0176 on the number pad. °
British pounds ALT plus 0163
copyright 0169
registered 0174
plus/minus 0177
squared 0178
cubed 0179
umlaut 0252
two dots over the letter (I forget what that's called) 0228

[jerryd6818]

An unrelated question: what is the 'number pad' on the right side of the keyboard used for ? kj

Here is something else you can do. While holding down the 'ALT' key, you can punch in a 3 digit code on the number pad to get certain symbols while you are typing. For instance, to get the 'degrees' symbol, hold down ALT and tap 0176 on the number pad. °
British pounds ALT plus 0163
copyright 0169
registered 0174
plus/minus 0177
squared 0178
cubed 0179
umlaut 0252
two dots over the letter (I forget what that's called) 0228

Thanks for adding that Cal. Here's the Special Characters chart. >click twice< (Here's where that Control roll wheel forward to enlarge the image will come in handy)

[kootenay joe]

I'm glad i asked about the numbers pad and i'm most grateful for the helpful informative replies. Thank you Ken, Calvin and Jerry.
I have printed the "Special Characters chart" and will use it. The instructions are crystal clear, which is what i need.
Ken, using computers in the 1980's was such a special opportunity. You were involved from the very beginning and so could learn all the advancements as they happened. Now, 40 years later the ability for computers to do tasks has grown exponentially but not in a linear easy to follow pattern. It is more of an intricate tangled 'jungle' of 'factoids' which can confound the novice.
I got my first computer in 2006 and quickly discovered BladeForums and then ebay and my knife collecting took off into the stratosphere.
My computer skills have not advanced much since then.
I bought an Apple I-phone 7 about 15 months ago but still do not know how to use it beyond a "What's App" video call to daughters in Italy and Zanzibar.
AAPK is such a helpful source for almost everything. I am grateful for the kindness of AAPK members.
"What greater wisdom can there be than kindness" Rousseau
kj

[tongueriver]

In the late 1980s (I think) my Wife and I took a little class and we built a 286. Dot-matrix printer. CRT display, white letters on a green background. DOS platform. I remember how proud of myself I was when I successfully sent my Wife an email from our place to her apartment in Pocatello, where she was working on a Masters. That early system had about the same RAM as a piece of buttered toast.

[jerryd6818]

Those were the days. My ex-sil had an early Apple & was online with a dial-up 300 baud modem. Data came back one word at a time. The definition of slow.

[Mumbleypeg]

When I worked in sales and marketing (pre-1986) I had one of these.

The department had a few of them, you could check one out to take with you when you went out “on the road”. Note the cradle on the right side which is where you placed the POTS handset so the dial-up modem could connect to the phone line. The company called it a “portable”. We called it a “luggable”. Later there was an even larger “portable PC” which had a video screen (the ones with green letters and no pictures). It did not have a built-in printer but was designed to fit under your seat on a plane. IIRC it weighed 25 lbs, which gets pretty heavy when you’re hoofing it through the airport to catch a flight!

Ken

[tongueriver]

Memory lane! Heck, I even remember when we did stuff with pencils and paper! (Still do, of course).

[Mumbleypeg]

Memory lane! Heck, I even remember when we did stuff with pencils and paper! (Still do, of course).

We had a guy in our group who kept a supply of what were called “Universal Planning Forms” in a drawer in his desk. It was basically a paper and pencil version of an Excel spreadsheet. He was convinced that someday the computers were all going to go “poof”, and he’d be the only one still able to function, because he had those old paper forms! Of course, in the “old days” when using them it took him a week to create what he could do in a few hours on his PC. Whenever a new software came out he always said “it’ll never work!” He usually ended up being the most proficient user though.

BTW I still have my old Dietzgen slide rule - somewhere. Not sure I can still operate it though. But I bet it would come back to me fairly quickly if I had to use it. And no, all you wiseacres, I never used an abacus!

Ken

[tongueriver]

I'm still old school when it comes to calendars, grocery lists, etc. I need to get more comfortable doing all these things on my phone. Yes, I know, I can hear you young whippersnappers out there (with my hearing aids in) "OK, Boomer! snicker"

[jerryd6818]

Memory lane! Heck, I even remember when we did stuff with pencils and paper! (Still do, of course).

We had a guy in our group who kept a supply of what were called “Universal Planning Forms” in a drawer in his desk. It was basically a paper and pencil version of an Excel spreadsheet. He was convinced that someday the computers were all going to go “poof”, and he’d be the only one still able to function, because he had those old paper forms! Of course, in the “old days” when using them it took him a week to create what he could do in a few hours on his PC. Whenever a new software came out he always said “it’ll never work!” He usually ended up being the most proficient user though.

Ken

For a minute there, I thought you were talking about Tommy (Carrmillus).

[Dan In MI]

BTW I still have my old Dietzgen slide rule - somewhere.

I never used a slide rule, but once I got beyond MDAS, I was required to have a scientific calculator. Slide rules are modestly priced on eBay; I'm slightly tempted to pick up a small one.

[jerryd6818]

I don't remember at what point in my education that slide rules were mandatory. I think it was high school. I do however recall not becoming particularly proficient with it. Much later, calculators solved all that. (no pun intended)

[rwmoss1]

Control + to enlarge and control - to decrease the size of a page on a PC.