Help needed please

[Sasha222]

anyone that can help

---------- Post added at 20:15 ---------- Previous post was at 20:10 ----------

When I Copy an item prior to Pasting it where does my computer keep it? Does my computer keep it forever in some dark corner or does it disappear in to thin air when I swich off my machine. Will all thoughs bits of images and word eventually clog up my machine?

[Raistlin]

The text/image/whatever is copied to the 'clipboard'. This is a virtual construct and part of the operating system. The data will either be held temporarily in the memory of your computer or cached to the hard drive (depending on its size).

If it's stored in the memory then the memory allocated to it will be overwritten according to the priority of the other things you're doing, so if the computer needs the memory for something else then the data may get cached out to the drive.

If at any stage (either initially, or down the line) it gets written to the drive it will remain on that area of the drive until such time as your Operating System chooses to overwrite it.

Generally speaking though when the Operating System no longer requires the copied data it will mark the area that's been used to store it (either the memory, or the hard disk) as 'free' and it will be overwritten as required.

Short Answer: You shouldn't need to worry about managing these copied fragments of data, your Operating System will take care of that for you.

[Sasha222]

Originally Posted by Rob M

The text/image/whatever is copied to the 'clipboard'. This is a virtual construct and part of the operating system. The data will either be held temporarily in the memory of your computer or cached to the hard drive (depending on its size).

If it's stored in the memory then the memory allocated to it will be overwritten according to the priority of the other things you're doing, so if the computer needs the memory for something else then the data may get cached out to the drive.

If at any stage (either initially, or down the line) it gets written to the drive it will remain on that area of the drive until such time as your Operating System chooses to overwrite it.

Generally speaking though when the Operating System no longer requires the copied data it will mark the area that's been used to store it (either the memory, or the hard disk) as 'free' and it will be overwritten as required.

Short Answer: You shouldn't need to worry about managing these copied fragments of data, your Operating System will take care of that for you.

Where do I find the clipboard as im a pure amature with computers and I done a copy and paste but cant find where I put them. I looked in my pics in my documents and also looked in the paint file where the clipboard is there and had no luck

[joglynne]

defirish. Since I started to come on this forum and discovered Photobucket I have asked my self the same questions every time I use one of my vast hoard of smillies. Being a self declared technically challenged person I am so glad someone else has asked these questions.

<jo sits back and waits to be educated please. >

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by defirish

Where do I find the clipboard as im a pure amature with computers and I done a copy and paste but cant find where I put them. I looked in my pics in my documents and also looked in the paint file where the clipboard is there and had no luck

Ok, you copied somethinge (what was it?) and pasted it, and now you can't find it?

Generally speaking the 'clipboard' isn't actually accessible, it's a sort of holding area where the Operating System puts things.

If you can tell me what it is you've lost I might be able to help you find it.

[Sasha222]

I was on photobucket and done the usual thing of making a file then I wanted to copy and paste till I needed to use them like say a birthday or a smilie on a page. I right clicked on the picture and then I clicked to copy and paste and that was the end. I dont know where they ended up

[joglynne]

Well I don't know about defirish but I haven't lost anything. It's more a case of I can paste an image successfully, then maybe an hour later if I haven't copied anything in the mean time I can still paste the original image so it obviously hasn't died away through hanging around somewhere in the ether that passes as my hard drive.

So how long can it survive unfed, unused and abandoned as no longer wanted. Poor thing.

Ah I see defirish has actually lost her image which is a far more important issue than my whimsical ponderings.

[Raistlin]

If the copy/paste operation failed, and the copy was from a resource that isn't available any more (like a web page) then you may find that you'll need to go looking for the images on photobucket again.

I have to admit I'm slightly confused as to what you were trying to do, so let me check I've understood.

You had photobucket open in your web browser, and you were copying images from it into a blank document? Or were you saving the images to your drive and into a folder somewhere?

[Sasha222]

Well that was the idea but I only got as far as pressing the image and it gives 4 options and one is when you left click on the image it say copy and after that I dont know where it went

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by joglynne

So how long can it survive unfed, unused and abandoned as no longer wanted. Poor thing.

In general the clipboard will only hold one 'copy' operation at a time so the item/data will remain in the clipboard until you either a) perform another copy operation (at which point it is replaced in the clipboard by the new data), or until you log out (the clipboard is cleared), or c) you shutdown (again, the clipboard is cleared).

The clipboard is only a 'virtual' thing though, it doesn't really exist - this means that you only really generally have access to it through the copy/paste functionality. The storage of the data from the clipboard in the memory or on the disk is fairly temporary, and your Operating System will seek to re-use the storage area at some stage.

---------- Post added at 20:45 ---------- Previous post was at 20:42 ----------

Originally Posted by defirish

Well that was the idea but I only got as far as pressing the image and it gives 4 options and one is when you left click on the image it say copy and after that I dont know where it went

Ok, if it's been copied then it will be currently being held temporarily in your Operating System (probably in the memory, but possibly on the hard drive). You will only have access to it through the copy/paste functionality, in order to get access to the image that you've copied you will need to paste it into a document/file of an appropriate type.

[Sasha222]

So would I be right in saying that it the copy paste function didn't work as I didn't place it to the place I wanted it or does the operation sysem hold onto it till choose a place to put it. I did try and put it im my pictures in my documents but the paste options was not hightlighted

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by defirish

So would I be right in saying that it the copy paste function didn't work as I didn't place it to the place I wanted it or does the operation sysem hold onto it till choose a place to put it. I did try and put it im my pictures in my documents but the paste options was not hightlighted

Ok, there's a reason for that.

When you copy an image from a web site you only copy the 'data' for that image, your Operating System needs a container to store that data in - that's what it uses files for. You would need to either copy the file from the site, or you would need to paste the data for the image into an appropriate file.

Find an image on the site, and instead of doing a copy/paste try right-clicking and selecting 'Save Image As'. This will allow you to choose a location (My Pictures) and then save a copy of the image in that location as a new file. You should hopefully find this easier than trying to copy/paste. Note that not all web sites will allow you to right-click on the images though.

[v0id]

For future reference as far as 'smilies' go, I'd recommend a little utillity called Getsmilie.
Saves remembering having to copy and paste the URL of an emoticon (and you can use your virginmedia webspace to store them)

[Sasha222]

How do I use that

---------- Post added at 20:56 ---------- Previous post was at 20:55 ----------

Originally Posted by Rob M

Ok, there's a reason for that.

When you copy an image from a web site you only copy the 'data' for that image, your Operating System needs a container to store that data in - that's what it uses files for. You would need to either copy the file from the site, or you would need to paste the data for the image into an appropriate file.

Find an image on the site, and instead of doing a copy/paste try right-clicking and selecting 'Save Image As'. This will allow you to choose a location (My Pictures) and then save a copy of the image in that location as a new file. You should hopefully find this easier than trying to copy/paste. Note that not all web sites will allow you to right-click on the images though.

Oh I done that and thought I was doing the wrong thing

[Raistlin]

Right-click 'Save Image As ...' is always a lot easier than trying to copy/paste images from a web site IMHO.