Web TV Tips

I have heard complaints from others and experienced it myself. Webtv units sometimes shut off while typing a message. You may have been typing all kinds of important things into a message only to have it lost. Webtv so far does not have automatic save of a message you are working on if the unit shuts off for some reason.

I know this has been very frustrating. To avoid this anxiety I have put together some notes here.

One idea is to expect the possibility the unit will shut off not long after beginning operation. I would suggest not typing out any special email messages until the unit has thoroughly warmed up. I have found the webtv unit needs to warm up for about 30 minutes to an hour. It took me over year to figure that out.

I have found the webtv is better about saving messages than it used to be. "Sometimes" you can try going to the recent menu, by pressing the "recent" button next to "options" button on the webtv classic keyboard. Click on the image that identifies the message you are working on. Then go to the recent screen again and click the home page. Then go to the recent screen again and click on the image that identifies the message you were working on. Usually what you had been working on will have been saved.

A further precaution is when you have typed out a bunch of stuff. Press the "A" and "cmd" button which will highlight the whole message you were working on. Then press the "cmd" and "C" buttons together. If your volume is on you should here a clicking sound signifying that your message has been copied. Then go through the procedure I mention above.

If for some reason you lose the message while going through the procedure described above, then you will still have the message saved and you can post it again. To do this put the curser where you want to start typing the message then press "cmd" and "V" keys together. That should make your entire message appear again.

You can also use the copy and paste method above to save stuff that you might be able to use later.

For WebTV's tutorial on some of the procedure's and more write to me at the following address for a copy of their upgrade message for webtv classic.