If you have never posted in a forum before or if you just want to refresh your skills, here is how the forums on this site work. I would suggest you open another screen at /forums.html that will allow you to view the forums and follow the instructions I am walking you through

I have taken this from the very start although if you are reading this then you will have already managed the first steps

If you look along the top of the screen, you will see Computer Cops in large writing and just under this is the Navigation with Home - Downloads - Account - Submit News - Top 20- Forums - Premium.

Click on the Forums and you will be taken to the Computer Cops Forum Index. This is the main menu for all the Forums


At the top (under the navigation) you will see a white box with
Forum FAQ - Search - Usergroups - Profile - Login to check your private messages - Login

or if you are logged in

Forum FAQ - Search - Usergroups - Profile - You have no new messages - Logout [ uname ]

The Forum FAQ has a thorough list of information that may help you. The rest of this post gives you our specific rules and how to!

If you read down the Computer Cops Forum Index, you will see that there a number of categories running under each forum. Each has a General Heading and a discription of what that particular category is about.
Across the page you will also see how many topics are running in each category, how many posts and who was the most recent poster.

Before we go on, here are a couple of definitions that will help you:

THREAD This is a line of posts that follow an initial question or, are a list of replies that a new post receives

POST This is a single comment, piece of writing made by one person and submitted (posted) to the Thread. It may be the start of a Thread or it may be a reply

NEW TOPIC This is the beginning of the thread. this is a question, comment or info that is submitted to start off a thread.

Okay lets move on...

Once you have found a Category of your interest, click on it and you will be taken to all the threads running in that category. You may see at the top of the page
Announcement. These are posts that are important info. Before you post, please read these. Under these you may find
Sticky. These are posts that are important for a specific time period or have been "stuck" at the top of the list for importance. Under these you will see the
general threads that are the day top day conversation in this category.

On the left you will see a small image, These are what they mean and are usually since your last visit...

New Post

No New Post

Announcement

New Post [Popular]

No New Posts [Popular]

Sticky

New Posts [Locked]

No New Posts [Locked]
(locked posts mean you can no longer reply or post to these.)

and across from these you will see the topic title, - how many Replies, - The Author, - How many Views, - and who posted the Last Post.

Click on a Topic and that thread will open. Here you will see the original question/comment and all the replies (there may be more than one page)

Along the top and also along the bottom you will see


NewTopic

PostReply

Printer

To reply to this thread, you will click the PostReply button and this will take you to another screen to write your reply. You will see the main box, click in here and the curser will appear and start typing your reply. When you have finished you can preview the post and once you are happy with it click submit and you will have replied.

The next screen asks if you wish to revisit your post, go to the forum you were in or you can go back to the main index by clicking the index link above.

There are a number of other things you can do in your post like adding emoticons or some code. Experiment with these and preview until you get the hang of them.

If you wish to post a New Post go to the category you wish to post in and click on NewTopic. When you post a new topic you must have a subject so think of an appropriate title. "need help" or "look" doesn't help others looking through the forum to help or to find something similar to what they are here for so make it as close to what it going on for you. Then go through the same procedure as for posting a reply.

Preview until you are happy and then click on the submit button

You have now posted or replied. Enjoy the experience

If you find a thread that interests you but you do not wish to reply, you can watch the thread by clicking the
Watch this topic for replies This is found under the thread just above the "quick reply" box. This will mean you will get notified of any replies

There are some rules that apply to the ComputerCops forums that you should be aware of.

No double posting. Due to the huge amount of people posting on these forums, please post in one forum only for a specific issue. Posting your problem is three forums so as to get noticed is a huge waste of time and resourses. If you have posted in the wrong forum a Moderator will move it so don't be too concerned. If you double post your issue/log may not get dealt with as you have gone against the rules of the ComputerCops forums

I refer you to the "Read Before Posting" article
/t30474-READ_BEFORE_POSTING.html

Please do not PM or e-mail staff for personal support. The thing to do is to launch a new topic at the forum, where everyone will be able to see it and help out. Also, your problem and our response may help someone else in the same predicament!

Hope this helps

This is very helpful but can you answer one specific?

I have been directed to post a link from one thread in a forum to another forum - how do I go about posting links?

Many thanks in advance

To post a link, at the topic to be referenced, copy the URL (the link) shown in the browser's address bar and paste that into the new post.

For example the URL for this topic is /postitle38049-0-0-.html I just copied it from the address bar and pasted it into this post.

Note: Do NOT terminate the pasted URL with any punctuation as the link would then fail.

QUOTE:

If you find a thread that interests you but you do not wish to reply, you can watch the thread by clicking the
Watch this topic for replies This is found under the thread just above the "quick reply" box. This will mean you will get notified of any replies.




Notified by e-mail?

Is there a list of "Watch this topic for replies" selections?

"Your Topics" - at the top of a page - what is this supposed to show? I thought possibly a list of "Watch this topic for replies" selections, but not so going by what I see when I click on this feature.

.

The 'watch this topic for replies' sends you emails when there are new replies to a particular thread.

What's the forum policy regarding forum sigs? Can we use URL's, images? If images can be used, whats the max resolution for the images and max size.