How To Add A Useful Signature To Your Posts

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BleepingComputer.com > General Topics > New User Orientation

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How To Add A Useful Signature To Your Posts, A guide for new members

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Rimmer View Member Profile	Nov 10 2005, 04:41 PM Post #1
Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 2,159 Joined: 18-March 05 From: near Sydney, Australia Member No.: 14,809	So, you're a member of Bleeping Computer and you've worked out how to post in the Discussions Forum to ask a question or help someone else who asked? But you've seen other posts which have animated pictures or clever quotations at the end and wanted to know how to do that? Well the animated picture or "sig" will be covered elsewhere but I can tell you how to add something useful to your signature which will provide much of the information people need in order to help you if you do post about a computer problem. You can still have the animated sig or the famous quotation, but what really helps is your system specifications! These are the fundamental things about your PC which help people to give you good advice. What should you put in your specifications signature? Put in as much of the following as you can, or as little as you want! Your PC Manufacturer and Model - Not all PC's have a single manufacturer but if yours is a 'Brand Name' PC the make and model will convey a lot of information. e.g. Dell Dimension 4550 Your Processor type and speed - The Processor aka "CPU" really defines what a PC is capable of doing and also determines what kind of software can run on your system. The speed is measured in GigaHertz (GHz) or for older systems MegaHertz (MHz) e.g. Pentium 4, 2.4GHz. Your Memory size - this determines how many programs you can run simultaneously and how fast the PC will run them. Measured in Megabytes(MB) or, if your really packing heat, Gigabytes(GB) of RAM e.g. 256MB Your Motherboard make and model - The motherboard is the part which interconnects all other parts and consequently limits what can and cannot be changed or upgraded in a PC. Most people don't know what type of motherboard they have, its sometimes the hardest thing to find information about. e.g Gigabyte GA-8GE800 Pro. Your Hard Drive size - this limits the total amount of information you can store on your PC. Programs, emails, games, documents, photos, music and Windows itself all occupy space on the hard drive. (Note the hard drive is not the box where the CDROM and the On/Off switch are found, it is just one component inside that box.) The size is measured in Gigabytes. Specify the interface if you know it, IDE or SATA or something entirely different? e.g. Seagate 80GB IDE Your Video Card - this determines what quality of picture you will get on your screen. Its also important that the Video card is capable of supporting the software you run. The biggest difficulties are found with games (no, not Solitaire) which are described as "graphic intensive" - this means they need a video card which has a lot of memory, is very fast (and very expensive) to run them. Your Network - you may have a network of computers in your home or you may have just the one connected to the Internet. There are many ways of linking PCs together and to the outside world. Tell us how you do it. e.g. Linksys Cable Router, Dial-up modem. Your Operating system - The many versions of Windows have different characteristics and Linux is something entirely different again, that's why each operating system has its own discussion forum here at BC. Show what version you have if you know it. e.g. Windows XP SP2 or Windows 98SE. Your Web Browser and Email client - these change the way you see the internet and view your messages. Different browsers have different features and options. e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox; Outlook Express or Incredimail. Your Anti-Virus program - One of the most important pieces of software on your PC, it's vital you keep this up-to-date. e.g. AVG Free. Your Anti-Spyware program(s) - also very important. Listing your anti-spyware programs can show us if you have the tools available should you become infected with malware. e.g. AdAware SE. How do you find the information? You don't need to have all the information right away, your signature is easily edited (see below) and you can add to it later. Here's how to find the basics (this is mainly directed towards Windows users, not all options will be available in all versions of Windows): 1) If it's a new system check your catalogue or purchase docket! Everything you want may be spelled out there. 2) Use Device Manager - in the windows Control Panel double-click the 'System' icon to open a tabbed 'System Properties' window. On the 'General' tab you will see your version of Windows and some information about your processor and RAM. 3) Use the DirectX diagnostic - Click 'Start' then 'Run' and type 'dxdiag' (return). A tabbed window will open containing system information under a number of categories. The first page shows you what version of Windows you have, what type of processor you have with its speed, and how much RAM you have. The Display tab shows you what graphics card you have. The Sound tab shows you what sound card you have. There is also a great deal of other information that does not concern us here. 4) Use a diagnostic program - specially designed to find out as much information about your system as possible, free diagnostics such as "Everest" will give you a wealth of information about your system. Describing the use of Everest is beyond the scope of this guide. Everest download 5) Run the program you want to identify - in the Menu bar under 'Help' there is usually an 'About' section which will tell you exactly what the program is and what version you have. How do you make your signature? When you have gathered together the information you want to put in your sig and are logged on to the home page of Bleeping Computer, on the left of the page you will see a Welcome box, click on the 'My Control Panel' link. Clicking that takes you to 'Your control panel' where you will find, in a menu on the left, all kinds of controls for messages, blogs, forum subscriptions and changing your personal profile and other options. In the Menu under 'Personal Profile' click on 'Edit Signature'. The right hand frame will now be in two parts under 'Welcome to your control panel', the upper part shows 'Your current signature' and is probably blank, the lower part has a text entry window, similar to the one you use to post replies, under 'Edit your signature'. Click there and type your system details. Add any font or colour changes you want (see below) and press the 'Update my Signature' button. Your signature will appear in the upper part of the window as it would look in the Forums. In fact as it is in the forums because signature and avatar changes are applied immediately to all your posts, past, present or future. So if there is something wrong there, or you have inadvertently typed "Rimmer is a complete fool" or something similar in there, edit it or delete it in the 'Edit your signature' window and press 'Update my Signature' again. (Thus saving everyone potential embarrassment ) Font If there is nothing in your signature yet then you don't need to select a font because the default one is fine. If however the default has been changed the best font to use is 'Verdana'. Do not set a size. Font works in the same way as colour (see the Colours section) you use a 'switch' to turn on the font you want and then another 'switch' to turn it off again. You must use both switches for it to work. Not all fonts are available but there is a reasonable selection, for example you can choose 'Microsoft Sans Serif' by typing 'font=Microsoft Sans Serif' in square brackets before your text and then finish with '/font' in square brackets at the end. It would look like this: CODE [font=Microsoft Sans Serif]This text would be in the Microsoft Sans Serif font.[/font] Colours Although you can choose any colour you like, this signature line is just a footnote to your post so it should be fairly discrete but still visible against the forum background. To change the colour of any text, a word, a phrase or the whole post, you surround it with "switches" - the first "switch" turns the colour on, the second turns the colour off again. You have to have both an 'on' and 'off' switch for it to work. The 'off' switch is always '/color' in square brackets. You can spell out simple colours in the 'on' switch e.g. inside square brackets type 'color=blue' or 'color=red' etc or you can enter a numerical code from a chart, one of which is found here: True Color Chart - choose a colour in the chart and enter the corresponding code in the 'on' switch. E.g. if you want your text to be a particularly virulent green you would type CODE [color=#00FF00] before typing your message and ending it with [/color]. Note the '#' before the colour code. See the BC tutorial on BB codes for more examples and also this excellent beginners tutorial BB Code Application. If at the end of reading all this you just want to put something like "I love Elvis" in your signature that's fine too. Thanks for reading this far and enjoy your stay at Bleeping Computer. This post has been edited by Rimmer: Nov 10 2005, 04:46 PM -------------------- Soltek QBIC, Pentium 4 3.0GHz, 512MB RAM, 200GB SATA HDD, ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB, Netgear 54Mb/s WAP, ridiculously expensive Satellite Broadband Windows XP Home SP2, Trend Micro Internet Security, Firefox, Thunderbird, AdAwareSE, Spybot S&D, SpywareBlaster, A-squared Free, Ewido Security Suite.

rigel View Member Profile	Nov 11 2005, 10:28 PM Post #2
BleepingModerator Group: Moderator Posts: 3,639 Joined: 21-October 04 From: South Carolina - USA Member No.: 3,905	Very well done Rimmer! Rigel -------------------- "In a world where you can be anything, be yourself." ~ unknown

Lily Livered View Member Profile	Nov 12 2005, 02:49 PM Post #3
Member Group: Members Posts: 137 Joined: 10-October 05 Member No.: 36,713	You did it!! -------------------- Dell Inspiron 6000--Mobile Intel Pentium M 730J/1.60GHz--512MB--60 or 80GB HD, can't remember for sure--wireless--XP Home SP2 AVG--ZoneAlarm--Ad-Aware SE--Spybot S&D--SpywareBlaster--SpywareGuard--Ewido--a-squared--CCleaner--HJT--IE and Firefox

boopme View Member Profile	Nov 12 2005, 10:35 PM Post #4
To INSANITY and BEYOND !! Group: Moderator Posts: 6,033 Joined: 10-September 04 From: NJ USA Member No.: 2,608	An excellent piece of work. Very informative post Rimmer Thanx:cool: -------------------- Can you spare some PC cycles to help FIND A CURE .. BC FOLDING TEAM Click me /info.. ThoughtVent a goodplace to discuss For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear....

acklan View Member Profile	Nov 13 2005, 01:15 PM Post #5
Bleepin' cat's meow Group: Moderator Posts: 8,524 Joined: 11-January 05 From: Baton Rouge, La. Member No.: 9,323	You are truely a GOD -------------------- "2007 Windows Shell/User Award"

Scarlett View Member Profile	Nov 13 2005, 04:07 PM Post #6
Bleeping GloDiva Group: Members Posts: 7,479 Joined: 25-April 04 From: As always I'm beside myself ;) Member No.: 228	Brilliant Rimmer just brilliant. Good onya! It's a ripper of a post. Gee I hope these terms translate correctly. This post has been edited by Scarlett: Nov 13 2005, 04:11 PM --------------------

yano View Member Profile	Dec 31 2005, 03:03 PM Post #7
I can see what you post! Group: Members Posts: 6,288 Joined: 14-February 05 From: Somewhere in North East Ohio Member No.: 12,053	Good job! -------------------- My Blog

ursus View Member Profile	Aug 16 2006, 03:35 PM Post #8
New Member Group: Members Posts: 7 Joined: 16-August 06 From: Near Montreal Quebec Member No.: 81,142	This is great! But yeah there is a but, I simply couldn't find a free anything for Everest through that link, should I download a trial version? Then uninstall the whole thing once I get the information. I may sound thick, but hey I'm new to this. TIA Ursus -------------------- CPAWS.org UCSUSA.org cst'm made,PC3200 DDR SDRAM ACPI multi processor,Intel Pentium 4E 3.GHz,512MB RAM, XPHomeSP2, IE&OE V6.0,100GB,ATI Radeon 9200 pro, Ati Radeon9250, Intel®8280-1EB-Ultra ATA,Dell P991,1floppy,1CD read,1CDburn,High Speed digital cable Avastg4Home free, Spyboth,Spywareguard,SpywareBlast,XPfirewall,TrojanHunter4.5,RegMechanic,ReagHea ler,WinPatrol free.

tg1911 View Member Profile	Aug 16 2006, 04:07 PM Post #9
Can't decide what to use, so I won't use anything. Group: Global Moderator Posts: 12,937 Joined: 6-May 04 From: SW Louisiana Member No.: 363	You can get the free edition here: EVEREST Home Edition -------------------- I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy, for the rest of your life.

acklan View Member Profile	Aug 16 2006, 07:15 PM Post #10
Bleepin' cat's meow Group: Moderator Posts: 8,524 Joined: 11-January 05 From: Baton Rouge, La. Member No.: 9,323	Or all four free edition here (but version 1.51 has the most features). Everest Home 1.51 -------------------- "2007 Windows Shell/User Award"

ursus View Member Profile	Aug 17 2006, 09:34 PM Post #11
New Member Group: Members Posts: 7 Joined: 16-August 06 From: Near Montreal Quebec Member No.: 81,142	Thank you so much, I installed the 1.51 version, which will give me what I need to make a proper signature. -------------------- CPAWS.org UCSUSA.org cst'm made,PC3200 DDR SDRAM ACPI multi processor,Intel Pentium 4E 3.GHz,512MB RAM, XPHomeSP2, IE&OE V6.0,100GB,ATI Radeon 9200 pro, Ati Radeon9250, Intel®8280-1EB-Ultra ATA,Dell P991,1floppy,1CD read,1CDburn,High Speed digital cable Avastg4Home free, Spyboth,Spywareguard,SpywareBlast,XPfirewall,TrojanHunter4.5,RegMechanic,ReagHea ler,WinPatrol free.

acklan View Member Profile	Aug 18 2006, 12:33 AM Post #12
Bleepin' cat's meow Group: Moderator Posts: 8,524 Joined: 11-January 05 From: Baton Rouge, La. Member No.: 9,323	If you don't mind me suggesting. Switch to SyGate 5.6 Free Firewall. It is far more effective than MS XPfirewall and still very light on resources. Just a thought. SyGate 5.6 -------------------- "2007 Windows Shell/User Award"

Jrenter2 View Member Profile	Aug 21 2006, 09:01 AM Post #13
New Member Group: Members Posts: 9 Joined: 20-August 06 From: TN Member No.: 81,617	Nice layout. I'm glad I stopped in here. I was unaware of the Everest program. I will have to go and check that out. Thanks!

acklan View Member Profile	Aug 21 2006, 02:44 PM Post #14
Bleepin' cat's meow Group: Moderator Posts: 8,524 Joined: 11-January 05 From: Baton Rouge, La. Member No.: 9,323	Besure and try version Everest 1.51. It has features the other versions do not. This post has been edited by acklan: Aug 22 2006, 05:49 AM -------------------- "2007 Windows Shell/User Award"

ursus View Member Profile	Aug 22 2006, 01:07 AM Post #15
New Member Group: Members Posts: 7 Joined: 16-August 06 From: Near Montreal Quebec Member No.: 81,142	Hi Ackland, I've downloaded and installed Everest 1.51 like you suggested, very nice program and useful too, in many ways Thanks for that program As for firewall, I'm cleaning up the registry and win32 to remove all trace of ZA pro, and the other ZA free that was badly uninstalled, then I'm uninstalling Avast 4 home free, then reinstalling a new ZA free then reinstalling a new Avast 4 home free, and apparently I all ough to work, which I pray it will. For some reason I tried sygate and kerio and both didn't work properly I simply couldn't connect to IE and I'm on hihg speed digital cable, which doesn't make sense since I've been using the same ISP for 6 yrs now. But got the same problem with my sister's computer when I tried these too, and she runs XP Media Center 2005 so this is all a big for me, usually I'm pretty good when it comes to managing the computers, mine and the family ones. -------------------- CPAWS.org UCSUSA.org cst'm made,PC3200 DDR SDRAM ACPI multi processor,Intel Pentium 4E 3.GHz,512MB RAM, XPHomeSP2, IE&OE V6.0,100GB,ATI Radeon 9200 pro, Ati Radeon9250, Intel®8280-1EB-Ultra ATA,Dell P991,1floppy,1CD read,1CDburn,High Speed digital cable Avastg4Home free, Spyboth,Spywareguard,SpywareBlast,XPfirewall,TrojanHunter4.5,RegMechanic,ReagHea ler,WinPatrol free.

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