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First up, Happy Chrismschanukwanzikah! Rhiannon A. from San Diego passed along these greetings--which I just can't resist sharing (she works in a law firm, BTW):

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the recipient of said wish.

By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Now, on to the regularly scheduled newsletter...

Sharing tips makes my computing life fun. No, really, if one tip saves one reader from having a PC headache, it's made my day. It also keeps my editor from hassling me about not having enough tips in my newsletter.

This week? More here's how tips.

Get Uninstalled

I use MyUninstaller, a freebie that replaces Microsoft's meager Add/Remove applet in Windows XP. I've used it for years and it's pinned it to my Start menu. (How'd I do that, you ask? Right-click any item in your Start menu and choose "Pin to Start Menu.")

MyUninstaller lets me see the location of the program I want to uninstall; when I originally installed it; and the name and location of the uninstall routine (which is helpful for troubleshooting). Grab a copy.

Stop Start Menu's Drag and Drop

When I travel, I make sure to bring a mouse so I can avoid using the dopey touchpad on my notebook--whenever I use the touchpad to access the Start menu, I screw something up in All Programs. You know how it is: The touchpad always seems to hold onto an item and I end up dragging and dropping it into another menu.

Here's the fix: Right-click any empty spot on the taskbar, then select the Start Menu tab, click Customize, and then go to the Advanced tab. In the "Start menu items" window, scroll to "Enable dragging and dropping" and remove its check mark.

Three Free Microsoft App Viewers

Have you ever gotten a PowerPoint file that you can't read? I don't want you to miss anything, so pick up Microsoft's free viewers for PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.

Dig This: Now try out the PowerPoint viewer by downloading this funny presentation of a plane that's just landed and the announcement you've heard a hundred times: "Please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the aircraft has come to a complete stop." The emphasis here is on complete stop.

You like that one? Here's another: It's the Automated Salary Review, a PowerPoint presentation that'll help prepare you to ask for a raise.

Get Back Online--Fast!

Computers are persnickety--especially, it seems, the connection you have to the Internet. You've experienced it: Everything's running along smoothly and then you uninstall an application or maybe let your anti-spyware tool quarantine some adware. When you try to access the Internet--kapow--no connection.

You can try closing the browser, rebooting, or whistling a merry tune, but you're locked out of the Internet. It's probably because a couple of Winsock settings have been hosed. The tool I use to get around this is WinSock XP Fix, a freebie that fixes corrupted or incorrect Winsock settings. Just run WinSock XP Fix, reboot, and you're back in business. Keep a copy of the program in your utilities folder just in case.

The Problem With Microsoft Keyboards

Getting the Function keys to behave on some Microsoft keyboards is a monumental task. The problem is that these keys operate in two ways: as normal function keys, the ones we've come to know and love; and as special application keys that perform special tasks in Microsoft apps. I, for one, can't stand this, because the keyboard defaults to the application keys rather than function keys when the system boots.

Want the function keys back to "normal"? You need to hit the special "F Lock key" to make the function keys work, well, like function keys. But there's an easier way, a free utility called F Lock Key that toggles the keys back to special functions. http://jtsang.mvps.org/flock.html

Desktop Icons Go Zonkers

It happens to every desktop. One day the icons are just where you want them, then maybe you play a game and your monitor's resolution is temporarily changed--and the position of your icons are zapped.

If the icons are helter-skelter and you want to restore them to their original location, use SaveMyDesktop. This freebie saves the location of your icons and restores them to their places after you've tweaked your desktop.

Tweaks With Tweakomatic

Are you feeling geeky? The you'll like Microsoft's Tweakomatic. The utility is like Microsoft's TweakUI, the fabulous, free took for messing with XP, but for geeks. And I do mean it: The tool (essentially Windows Management Instrumentation scripts) is for really advanced users. However, even if you're a novice, or a wannabe geek, you might want to check out the lengthy (and extremely funny) explanation, then download the tool.

Dig This: Feeling stressed? Play Jet Slalom and get even more wigged out.

Dig This, Too: If that didn't get your adrenaline going, try a game of Curveball.

Steve Bass writes PC World's monthly "Hassle-Free PC" column and is the author of PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer, available from O'Reilly. He also writes PC World's daily Tips & Tweaks blog. Sign up to have Steve's newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? Send Steve e-mail.