Jul 2010 - WINNERS – WINdows usERS

July 2010
Inside
July Meeting ...............................1
Computer Books ..........................2
Be a top chef with Office templates from the Crabby Office Lady ....4
MS Word and Excel Tip ..............6
USB Graphics Adapter ..............7
Wolfram AlphaKnowledge ..........8
Free Utilities from CPUID ..........10
Hints for the Wannabe Blogger .13
A Tale of Two Printers, a Scanner,
and a CD Drive ...........................14
Smart Computing Mag Tips ......16
Online Calendars ............16
Make Firefox Even Better ......18
The Slickdeals Approach to Cable Company Negotiations ............20
Converting Slides to Digital
21
Fountain Valley Branch Library
17635 Los Alamos,
Fountain Valley
meetings on 3rd Saturday
10:00 am to 12:30 pm
Future Meeting Dates
August 21
September 18
October 23 (4th Saturday)
Novermber 20
Membership
Annual membership is $20 for
indivduals: $5 for each additional
family members.
July Meeting
D-Link came and showed us their
latest in networking such as their:
DIR-825 Extreme N Dual Band
Gigabit Router. It's like two
routers in one. This Xtreme N®
router operates on dual band Wi-Fi
signals, making it easy to stream
HD content while browsing the
Internet without bogging down
your network.
Benefits Of Dual Band
The D-Link® Xtreme N™
Dual Band Gigabit Router (DIR825) uses dual band technology to
support 2.4GHz & 5GHz wireless
signals at the same time. This
allows you to check e-mail and
browse the Internet using the
2.4GHz band while simultaneously streaming High-Definition
(HD) movies and other media on
the 5GHz band. The DIR-825 is
designed for users looking to get
a true HD wireless connection
that can handle multiple HD video
streams throughout the house,
while being backward compatible
with existing 802.11g and 802.11a
products.
SHAREPORT™
With SharePort technology,
you can connect a USB printer and
share it throughout your network.
You can also share a USB storage
device, providing network storage
for everyone to share.
Why Intelligent QoS Is Better!
With some routers, all
wired and wireless traffic, including Voice over IP (VoIP), Video
Streaming, Online Gaming, and
Web browsing are mixed together
into a single data stream. With the
D-Link Intelligent QoS Prioritization Technology, wired and wireless traffic are analyzed and separated into
multiple data streams. These
streams are then categorized by
sensitivity to delay, so applications like VoIP, Video Streaming,
and Online Gaming can be given
top priority. This enables multiple
applications to stream smoothly to
your TV or PC.
The new Xtreme N Storage
Router (DIR-685) makes networking easier by combining the superior features of a wireless N router,
a built-in Network Attached Storage (NAS) and a digital photo
frame. Experience faster speed and
longer range in your home or office
network with the latest 802.11n
2.4GHz wireless technology. By
adding a 2.5" SATA Hard Drive,
the DIR-685 allows you to share
storage over your network and
access files over the Internet with
the built-in FTP server. Featuring a
built-in UPnP® AV server, streaming network stored videos through
a compatible media player onto
your television has never been
easier thanks to the DIR-685.
Board of Directors
President
Terry Currier
winnersug(at)aol.com
Vice-President
Steve Dela
stevede(at)aol.com
Secretary
Gerry Bretts
gbretts(at)juno.com
Treasurer
Max Lockie
mlockie(at)pobox.com
Board Members
Ethel Kamber
ethel(at)kamber.fastmail.fm
Ken Kamber
kenkamber(at)mail.com
Louise McCain
LMcEnterprises(at)ol.com
Ed Koran
edk246(at)aol.com
Robin Theron
rtheron(at)gmail.com
Editor
editor(at)windowsusers.org
WINNERS, contributors and
editors of Notepad do not assume
liability for dameages arising from
the publication or non-publication
of any advertisement, article, editorial, or other item in this newsletter.
All opionions express are those of
the individual authors only and do
not necessarily represent the opionions of the WINNERS, its Board of
Directors, the WINNERS Notepad,
or its editors.
WINNERS a computer association,
is a volunteer organization providing a forum for sharing information and experiences related to
Windows-based software, and
hardware, encouraging ethical use
of computers and software, offering
service to our communities.
Oreilly Books
DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide
By Norman Walsh
Get 35% off from O’Reilly, No
Starch, Paraglyph, PC Publishing,
Pragmatic Bookshelf, Rocky Nook,
SitePoint, or YoungJin books and
ebooks you purchase directly from
O’Reilly. Just use code DSUG
when ordering online or by phone
800-998-9938.
Save 40% on All Microsoft Press
Books and 50% on Ebooks
Latest Books
FileMaker Pro 11: The Missing
Manual
By Susan Prosser, Stuart Gripman
Access 2010: The Missing Manual
By Matthew MacDonald
USER GROUP COUPON CODE
We provide your group members
with a 35% discount off the list
price of any of our books. At
checkout, right before entering
their credit card information, they
must enter the user group coupon
code UE-23AA-PEUF (casesensitive). This coupon code is an
exclusive offer that may not be
used in conjunction with any other
coupon codes.
http://www.oreilly.com
Beautiful Visualization
By Julie Steele, Noah Iliinsky
Diagnosing and Fixing MySQL
Performance Problems
By Baron Schwartz, Morgan
Tocker
Doing Business on Facebook: The
Mini Missing Manual
By E. A. Vander Veer
Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing
Manual
By David Sawyer McFarland
Excel 2010: The Missing Manual
By Matthew MacDonald
Getting Started with Processing
By Ben Fry, Casey Reas
Handling Real-time Geostreams
By Raffi Krikorian
The Canon Camera Hackers
Manual
By Berthold Daum
Creating iPhone Apps with Cocoa
Touch: The Mini Missing Manual
By Craig Hockenberry
Digital Photography for the Web
By Paul Duncanson
Flash CS5: The Missing Manual
By Chris Grover
Hackers
By Steven Levy
Peachpit Books
Peachpit Photo Club
Peachpit announces the Peachpit
Photo Club. On the third Tuesday
of every month, at 8 p.m. EST/5
p.m. PST, join us for a webcast
featuring your favorite digital
photographers! The photographer
will present some of their work,
provide you with some insight
and inspiration, and answer your
burning questions.
To keep the creative juices flowing,
Photo Club members will receive
a fun assignment at the end of the
session. Members can complete
the assignment on their own, or
team up with others in their area.
Either way, once the assignment is
completed, Photo Club members
can upload their work to the
Peachpit Photo Club Flickr Group
where your friends at Peachpit, and
some of our photography authors, will help critique
your work. And of course, there will be a chance for
prizes!
FRIDAY FREEBIES
We’re doing weekly #FridayFreebies giveaways
on Twitter. To participate, just follow @Peachpit &
look for the weekly #FridayFreebies blog post at
peachpit.com/blogs. We’ll be giving away some great
prizes—from books and videos to T-shirts and pieces
of memorabilia. You can also partake in more fun over
at the Peachpit Facebook fan page, at facebook.com/
peachpitpress.
Latest Books
InDesign Type: Professional Typography with Adobe
InDesign, Second Edition
By Nigel French
List Price: $44.99
Adobe After Effects CS5 Classroom in a Book
By Adobe Creative Team
List Price: $59.99
Canon 7D: From Snapshots to Great Shots
By Nicole S. Young
List Price: $24.99
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book
By Adobe Creative Team
List Price: $54.99
Photoshop CS5 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual
QuickStart Guide
By Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas
List Price: $34.99
The Photoshop CS5 Pocket Guide
By Brie Gyncild
List Price: $14.99
Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS5: The Essential
Techniques for Imaging Professionals
By Richard Harrington
List Price: $54.99
The iPad Pocket Guide
By Jeff Carlson
List Price: $14.99
Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows: Visual QuickStart
Guide
By Steve Schwartz
List Price: $24.99
ActionScript 3.0 for Adobe Flash Professional CS5
Classroom in a Book
By Adobe Creative Team
List Price: $59.99
Adobe ColdFusion 9 Web Application Construction
Kit, Volume 1: Getting Started
By Ben Forta
List Price: $59.99
Adobe Flash Platform from Start to Finish: Working
Collaboratively Using Adobe Creative Suite 5
By Aaron Pedersen, James Polanco, and Doug Winnie
List Price: $39.99
Adobe Flex 4: Training from the Source, Volume 1
By Michael Labriola, Jeff Tapper and Matthew Boles
List Price: $49.99
Dreamweaver CS5 for Windows and Macintosh:
Visual QuickStart Guide
By Tom Negrino and Dori Smith
List Price: $29.99
Effortless Flex 4 Development
By Larry Ullman
List Price: $44.99
The HTML Pocket Guide
By Bruce Hyslop
List Price: $14
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Classroom in
a Book
By Adobe Creative Team
List Price: $54.99
Real World Adobe Illustrator CS5
By Mordy Golding
List Price: $54.99
Digital Photography
Photoshop Lightroom 3: Visual QuickStart Guide
By Nolan Hester
List Price: $29.99
Apress Books
Latest books
Taking Your iPad to the Max
Gives you the tips and techniques you need to get the
most out of your new iPad. You’ll learn all about the
built-in apps, including Mail, Calendar, and iTunes, as
well as the brand-new iBooks. And, of course, you’ll
get all of the advanced shortcuts and techniques that
will leave fellow iPad users in the dust.
Learn to manipulate the iPad and its tens of thousands
of apps
Watch, read and listen more with endless movies,
books and music at your fingertips
Use iPad as a professional office tool to create rich
documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
Pro ASP.NET MVC 2 Framework, Second Edition
by Steven Sanderson
eBook Now Available, Print Now Available
Author Steven Sanderson has seen the ASP.NET
MVC Framework mature from the start. No one is
more qualified to show you how to maximize the
framework’s new high-productivity programming
model that promotes cleaner code architecture, testdriven development, and powerful extensibility.
User or developer, harness the power of SharePoint
2010
by Martin Döring, Joerg Krause, Christian Langhirt,
Bernd Pehlke, Alexander Sterff
eBook Now Available, Print Now Available
Office and SharePoint 2010 User’s Guide: Integrating
SharePoint with Excel, Outlook, Access and Word
by Michael Antonovich
Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 4
As business problems become more complex, the need
for workflow-based solutions has never been more
evident. This book by Bruce Bukovics gives you the
skills you need to incorporate WF in your applications,
using a lively tutorial style with each example clearly
illustrated in C#.
WF 4 basics
New activities and changes to existing activities in WF
4
Customizing your workflows
Accessing your workflows in a variety of ways in a
variety of situations
Using WF with Web Services and ASP.NET
Integrating WCF and WF
Other books
Beginning Google Blogger
Introducing Silverlight 4
Beginning Google Maps API 3
Beginning SQL Server Modeling: Model-Driven
Application Development in SQL Server 2008
Be your own top chef with Office
templates
Crabby Office Lady
You’re a foodie and everyone knows and enjoys that
about you. You can bring home the bacon (or is that
pancetta?), fry it up in a pan (copper of course), and
wrap it around some seared scallops... Have I got
some fresh and juicy templates for you to devour.
________________________________________
Read all the Crabby Office Lady columns
Get the Crabby Office Lady’s book
Crabby’s blog
Crabby’s podcasts
________________________________________
Whether you are a fabulous cook or just like to
watch the shenanigans on TV’s Top Chef, food is an
important part of your life. And in this age of multitasking, multi-jobs, and multi-activities for the kids,
it’s nice to slow down and actually enjoy a meal.
Today’s column is all about food. As you know, I’m a
big fan of the Office templates; whether you’re the one
who does the cooking at home or you’re considering
opening up a restaurant of your own, we have a
template for that.
Meal planning at home
Thanks to a tanking economy, people are staying in
more often and cooking for themselves, as opposed to
going out. Although you might have found that sitting
around with family over a home-cooked meal, talking
about the day is less dreadful than you’d imagined, the
meals themselves can be a source of stress: Where is
that recipe? Do I have the ingredients? And, of course,
am I up to cooking it?
Regarding the recipes: If you’re like me, you have
index cards and pages ripped out of spiral notebooks
with recipes that you’ve gathered over the years. I’m
sure your Hungarian grandmother would be mortified
if she saw how you treat her cherished goulash recipe.
You want to get organized, but how? Recipe cards are
a good way to start.
Then there’s all that planning and shopping and such.
What if you had a grocery list? If you can make a
one-time list of the things that you regularly buy and
prepare, the trips to the market and the budgeting that
goes along with them can become less of a hassle.
Take a look at some sample templates below and then
after your read this column, fly away and hunt for
why not now? If you’re covered on the hard stuff
(business plans, start-up expense spreadsheets, hiring,
and so on), then you can just concentrate on the food.
Here are some templates to help you get started:
Start up expenses
Bank loan request for a small business
Five year plan (service industry)
Natural Gas Flame Design Slide
NOTE This one might be good for a business plan
in PowerPoint.
Grand opening banner
Send me an invitation to opening night, won’t you?
More foodie templates
templates that speak to you.
There is so much more to food than could ever fill just
one column, but here are a few more templates to help
fill your bellies.
Tip calculator
Chef resume
Daily food diary
Nutrition journal
Food fat percentage calculator
Party planner
Templates home page
Weekly meal planner
Labels for home-made jelly
Invitation to a BBQ
Restaurants
Because people are eating out less, eateries have to
work harder to compete for customer loyalty. If you
own a restaurant, you’ve got to run a tight ship and
make sure your menus are up-to-date and look great
(please, no coffee cup rings). You can also let your
customers know that you value them with surveys
and gift certificates. Give the people what they want
and they will come back. (“Billions and billions” of
McDonald’s consumers can’t be wrong...can they?)
Wine/Dessert menu
Restaurant survey
Restaurant gift certificate
More gift certificates
Weekly schedule (restaurant)
Opening a new restaurants
Money won’t be tight forever...and the small
businessperson stands a chance to thrive when things
get better.
You’ve always wanted to open your own restaurant;
“In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is
bought indiscriminately by people who just come in
for men’s underwear.” — Julia Child
Annik Stahl, the Crabby Office Lady columnist, takes
all of your complaints, compliments, and knee-jerk
reactions to heart. Therefore, she graciously asks that
you let her know whether this column was useful to
you — or not — by entering your feedback using
the Was this information helpful? tool below. And
remember: If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.
Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen
When Microsoft Word calculates line length and wraps
text to the next line, it tries to wrap (or break) the line
at a space or a hyphen—a dash. Sometimes, however,
you may not want Word to break a line at a dash. For
instance, dashes are used in telephone numbers, and
you might not want a line to break in the middle of a
telephone number.
Indenting Cell Contents
Microsoft Excel allows you to format the contents of a
cell in a myriad of ways. One of the formatting options
you can apply is to indent the contents of a cell by a
certain amount. This is similar to indenting done in a
word processor, such as Microsoft Word, except that
the indenting is specified in a number of characters, not
in a linear distance such as inches or points.
To set the indent to be used in a cell, follow these
steps:
1. Select the cells you want to format.
2. Display the Format Cells dialog box. (In Excel
2007 display the Home tab of the ribbon and
click the small icon at the lower-right corner of
the Number group. In older versions of Excel
choose Cells from the Format menu.)
3. Make sure the Alignment tab is selected.
The Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box.
The answer is to use non-breaking hyphens instead of
regular dashes when you don’t want Word to break a
line at the hyphen. To do this, hold down the Ctrl and
Shift keys as you type the dash (this is the same as
typing Ctrl and an underscore). Word will then not
break the line at that point.
You can also insert a non-breaking hyphen by following
these steps:
1. Choose Symbol from the Insert menu or,
in Word 2007, display the Insert tab of the
ribbon, click Symbol in the Symbols group,
and finally click More Symbols. This displays
the Insert Symbol dialog box.
2. Click on the Special Characters tab.
The Special Characters tab of the Symbol dialog box.
3. Highlight the Nonbreaking Hyphen character.
4. Click on Insert.
5. Close the dialog box by clicking on Cancel.
Copyright © 2010 by Sharon Parq Associates, Inc. Reprinted by
permission. Thousands of free Microsoft Word tips can be found
online at http://word.tips.net.
4. In the Horizontal drop-down list, choose Left
(Indent). If you are using Excel 2002 or a later
version, you can also choose Right (Indent).
5. Using the Indent control, specify the number
of characters by which the cell contents should
be indented from either the left or right side
of the cell. You can pick any whole number
between 0 and 15.
6. Click on OK.
Copyright © 2010 by Sharon Parq Associates, Inc. Reprinted by
permission. Thousands of free Microsoft Excel tips can be found
online at http://excel.tips.net.
DisplayLink DL-195
By Terry Currier
If you’ve never had the chance to work with two
monitors, you’re missing a really useful tool. Monitor
viewing space is akin to closet space. You add more
closets to your house to help clear up clutter and what
happens? You get more junk to fill them up. Monitors
started out being 13” (diagonal) in size, 15” was
great. Then 17” CRT were the standard and people
loved them. Now you would be hard pressed to find
under 19” LCD monitors for sale. When I brought my
Gateway computer it came with a 22”, and I remember
having to lean back to get use to it.
The more you use the computer you’ll start opening
more programs. There are times when you are working
with more than one program and switching back
and forth from each. You try to arrange the program
windows so you can see and use them with just using
the mouse. What usually happens is you can’t see well
enough so you go to full screen.
The DisplayLink DL-195 makes it possible to connect
to a second monitor through a USB connection.
Essentially it’s a graphics adapter with a USB
connector, so you don’t have to open your computer
to set it up. It is rated to go up to resolutions of
2048x1152 with full 32-bit color graphics.
While not quite “plug and display” it was very easy
to do, and somewhat of a surprise. The surprise came
when connecting it from my computer front USB (2.0)
port to my Vizio LCD TV. It is one of the new ones
so it has all the fancy connections in the back. When
I connected it, a pop-up showed asking if I wanted
to allow autoplay to start. I did not realize there was
software on the unit itself. In fact Windows Explorer
showed it as a CD drive. It also did not display onto
the monitor/TV until I ran the software.
After I installed the software I set up the second
display as an extend desktop. This works out
especially great for doing photo, or video editing.
I have the program open on the main screen and
Windows Explorer in the extended one so I can see
ahead what to work on. FYI, the unit I have is with a
DVI connection. I did have to use a converter to VGA
since I did not have a DVI cord long enough, but I
did have a VGA one. They do make units with VGA
connections. If you go to the DisplayLink website you
won’t find them for sale. They make them as OEM,
and there are link connections to the many companies
that sell such units. IOGEAR in fact has a wireless
unit ($180) so you don’t have to run a cord.
Supported Operating Systems:
• Microsoft Windows Vista (32-Bit and 64-Bit),
including Vista Aero 3D support
• Microsoft Windows 7 (32-Bit and 64-Bit)
• Microsoft Windows XP SP3
• Microsoft Window 2000 SP4
• Apple Mac OS X 10.4/10.5 (Intel-based Apple
Computers)
WolframAlpha - Computational
Knowledge Engine
by Ira Wilsker
WEBSITES:
http://www.wolframalpha.com
http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/
http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html
http://www.wolframalpha.com/downloads.html
We are all familiar with the common search
engines, such as Google, Bing, AllTheWeb, and
Yahoo. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of search
engines, and they all pretty much provide somewhat
the same information. Last year Microsoft introduced
Bing, its latest search engine iteration, which also
had some decision making capabilities and built-in
intelligence. Microsoft used its power and wealth to
inundate the computing world with information and
promotional materials about Bing in an attempt to
steal market share from Google and the other major
search engine providers. At about the same time
(May 15, 2009), a much smaller company, Wolfram
Research, the publisher of the Mathematica software,
introduced its computational knowledge engine
WolframAlpha.
WolframAlpha is not a traditional search
engine that displays listings of web links, but instead
displays the answer to a question, formula, or other
inquiry. For example, if I type “Beaumont Texas” in
Google, I am presented with
a listing of nearly 7 million
web links containing the term
“Beaumont Texas”, with
some rank ordering placing
the most popular results near
the top of the display. If I
type “Beaumont Texas” in the
search box on WolframAlpha
(www.wolframalpha.com), it
directly displays the facts about the topic. In this case,
WolframAlpha displayed the population, map, current
local time and weather, cost of living index, median
home price, unemployment rate, sale tax rate, crime
rate, commute time, geographic information, links to
the county and nearby cities, and a hyperlinked list of
famous people born in Beaumont.
WolframAlpha displays a lot more than just
text, as it is a powerful computational engine. There
is an entire menu consisting of hundreds of sample
inquiry topics at www.wolframalpha.com/examples,
and some other suggestions in the margins of several
of the pages that the user can utilize to practice
on the system, and master some of its powerful
features. One of the suggested sample ideas is to
enter the user’s date of birth; I entered mine and
was presented with a lot of information about my
birthday. The results showed my age in years, weeks,
and days; holidays and observances that are held on
my birthday; historical events that occurred on that
day (not necessarily in the same year) and a listing of
celebrity and historical figures who were born or died
on that day. Other information is displayed about the
selected date, including the moon phase on the day I
was born. By entering one or more stock symbols, a
wealth of information is displayed. As a test, I entered
the symbol “VZ” for Verizon, and was presented with
current price information, financial fundamentals,
dividend and yield, historical returns, a large variety
of charts, performance comparisons between Verizon
and it competitors, histograms, and other detailed
information about the company.
WolframAlpha is one of the handiest and most
informative calculators available. Using the example
“$250 + 15%” displays both the result ($287.50) and
how it was calculated; this could be a great tool for
teaching basic arithmetic. Mathematical formulae are
computed with ease, displaying detailed results of the
computation. Using the digital term “ x^2 sin(x)” (x
squared times sine of x) displays graphical plots on
various scales, alternate forms of the mathematical
expression, roots, derivatives, and other functions.
Math and simple facts are not the only
computational capabilities of this excellent service; it
also has hundreds of other forms of information that
can be calculated and displayed. Other areas in which
WolframAlpha can provide extensive information
are statistics and data analysis, physics, chemistry,
engineering, astronomy, earth and life sciences, money
and finance, dates and times, places and geography,
socioeconomic data, weather, health and medicine,
food and nutrition, sports and games, music, and many
other topics. Users of my weather page sometimes ask
me for historical weather information, usually for a
specific date and location; as a default, WolframAlpha
uses the location of the computer requesting the
information, which is in my case, Beaumont. I simply
entered “weather summer 2008” (for other locations
enter the city or other geographic information), and
was presented with time and temperature ranges,
humidity, graphs showing meteorological information,
and information about the weather stations that
gathered the information presented. I picked this
particular search to display the effects of Hurricane
Ike, such as the wind speed and barometric pressure,
which conspicuously stand out on the graphs. Using
the hurricane template under the topics menu, the user
is presented with detailed information on a particular
storm, wind speeds, and comparisons. Using the
comparison feature, I compared Rita to Ike by entering
the search term, “Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Rita”, and
was presented with a table comparing those two local
disasters. Rita was the stronger storm, but according
to the composite tracking chart displayed, both had
nearly identical tracks.
The amount of computational knowledge
available from WolframAlpha is almost endless. If
the user needs to calculate monthly payments and
an amortization table, this can do it. If an investor
needs commodity and futures prices, WolframAlpha
provides that information in detail. Mortgage terms
can be directly compared; by searching with the
expression, “mortgage $150,000, 6.5%, 30 years”
produces charts and graphs that display the monthly
payments, graphical comparison of principle and
interest over time, and other information. Present
values, currency conversions, bond evaluations,
different forms of options and derivatives, salaries,
wages, income taxes, sales taxes, and historical
financial information are easy to determine with
WolframAlpha. In the economics classes that I teach
every semester, the students are asked to calculate
what has happened to prices over their lifetimes, and
what may happen to prices when they are ready to
retire. Using this engine the students can instantly
calculate the current value of a historical quantity of
money ($1000 in 1965 is worth what today?), compute
historical equivalent value of today’s money ($1000
today compared to 1980), and convert one historical
quantity of money to another ($1000 in 1945 was
worth what in 1990?).
While WolframAlpha is accessible from any
internet browser, it is also accessible using other
means, without a browser, or as a browser plug-in to
automate the computational process. From the website
at wolframalpha.com/downloads.html, the user can
put a gadget, widget, or deskband on his desktop (Mac
OS X, Vista and Windows 7) to enable him to access
information directly from his desktop. WolframAlpha
toolbars are available for Internet Explorer, Chrome,
and Firefox which enable searching from the browser
toolbar. Firefox and IE8 users can add WolframAlpha
as a search engine add-on, automating the search
function from the browser menu. Apps (applications)
are available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that
enable users of those devices to directly access the
capacity of this service. Regardless of how accessed,
the massive capabilities of WolframAlpha are readily
available.
Now that I have had some
experience with WolframAlpha,
I will be more likely to use it to
acquire information and calculate
data, and less likely to use the
traditional search engines such
as Google when I need to find
something. WolframAlpha is one
of those services that I did not
originally know that I needed, but
now I cannot do without it.
Free Utilities from CPUID Describe
System Details
by Ira Wilsker
WEBSITES:
http://www.cpuid.com
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares.html
As regular readers of this column know,
I am a fan of utilities, especially if they are free!
Frequently, situations arise where it is necessary to
know the details of a computer, including specifics
about its software, hardware, drivers, and other
components in order to diagnose a problem and make
recommendations. There are several fine utilities that
can perform these functions, but several that I have
been using recently come from the historical city of
Dunkerque, France, courtesy of their publisher CPUID
Software.
CPUID software is best known for its
namesake product, CPUID, which is as it says, a
utility to identify the details of the CPU chip installed
in a computer. This is often necessary to know if
the computer is being benchmarked (performance
measured), upgraded, or undergoing major repairs.
The latest CPUID software is named CPU-Z, version
1.55. This small utility displays the processor
brand and model number, the type of socket it uses
(necessary to know for replacement or upgrades),
speeds, and other details about the CPU chip, which
is the central “brains” of the computer. Sometimes it
is desirable or necessary to replace a motherboard,
or determine the BIOS on the motherboard. The
motherboard is the central platform on which most
of the other internal components are either directly
attached to, or otherwise connected to, and provides
much of the internal communication between the
components. While generally very reliable and
long lived, sometimes it is necessary to replace a
motherboard. The BIOS, an acronym for “Basic
Input - Output System” is typically attached to the
motherboard, and contains the first code run by a PC
when it is initially powered on. The BIOS identifies
and initializes the video card, keyboard, mouse, hard
drive, CD/DVD drive, and other key components. The
BIOS contains software in a non-volatile ROM chip,
and is typically firmly attached to the motherboard.
Most BIOS chips can be updated and upgraded with
software provided either by the BIOS manufacturer,
motherboard maker, or computer manufacturer.
CPU-Z identifies the brand of BIOS, the version of its
software, and the date of the software stored in it; with
this information, it is somewhat easy to determine
if the BIOS contains the latest software. Keeping
the BIOS updated is not a critical task if everything
appears to be working OK, but for those of us always
trying to tweak our computers and capitalize in the
latest offerings, this is good information to have. One
warning is appropriate here; if the user is considering
updating the BIOS, be absolutely sure to explicitly
follow the manufacturer’s directions to the letter! In
a worst case scenario, failure to do so will result in
an expensive paperweight, but in many cases, there is
a procedure to “roll back” or restore the BIOS to its
earlier status.
When I ask people how much memory they
have in their computer, they are often clueless,
or erroneously confuse the memory with the
storage capacity of their hard drives. Clicking on
the “Memory” tab of CPU-Z displays the type of
memory, the amount of memory, speed, and other
characteristics. The “SPD” tap allows the user to cycle
through the memory stick installed in his computer,
displaying the capacity of each stick, the type,
manufacturer, part number, and other information.
This information may be necessary if the user wants to
add or replace memory in the computer.
The “Graphics” tab displays information about
the display device, including the brand, model number,
chipset, speed, and memory. Since the video card
makers often release updates, enhancements, and new
features, this information could be very useful.
CPUID also publishes several other utilities,
and another one that I found useful is PC Wizard
2010. PC Wizard was first published in 1996,
and is considered one of the most comprehensive
system information utilities available. Since the
hardware industry is very dynamic, with new
hardware being introduced on a daily basis, PC
Wizard is frequently updated, typically monthly. In
addition to identifying and displaying the details
of the hardware and software on the computer, PC
Wizard can also benchmark the performance of the
individual computer components, as well as the
entire computer. By noting which components and
software are the performance laggards, the user can
then determine what, if any, practical solutions may
improve performance. PC Wizard utilizes a series of
icons representing each of the components or software
titles installed on the computer, and can determine the
hardware, configuration, system files, and resources
used by the computer. The benchmark selection
can test and display the performance of the entire
computer, the CPU (processor chip), memory, video,
hard drive, external storage devices (like CD/DVD
and USB drives), and other hardware components.
In addition to displaying the performance of the
hardware itself, a “Compare Results” shows how the
user’s computer compares to others. The results are
also displayed and announced (audio) using the wizard
avatar and voice synthesis similar to the “Vox Proxy”
PowerPoint accessory. PC Wizard provides the user
with a wealth of information.
While CPUID has several utilities available
for free download, one of those that I also found very
useful is HWMonitor, which is a shortened “Hardware
Monitor”. This utility is also available in an enhanced
commercial version, HWMonitor Pro, which adds
additional features and functionality. HWMonitor
(the free version) can identify the power supply in
the computer, and display the real-time voltages,
temperatures, and fans in the power supply. This is
important to monitor the health of the power supply,
and consider a replacement or upgrade if necessary.
Many users are unaware that their computers report
the temperatures of
various components in
the computer, which is
important in that heat
is one of the big killers
of components. Being
somewhat colonial, I
selected to display the
temperatures in Fahrenheit
(F) rather than Celsius (C).
Usually there are some
fans in each computer
which are critical in
exhausting the heat from
the components, and
bring in cool outside air.
HWMonitor tracks and
reports the performance of
the fans, which can enable
the user to easily and quickly see if a fan is failing;
a dead fan can lead to overheating and damage or
destruction of the computer’s components. This utility
can also track and report on the temperatures of the
motherboard, CPU chip, video card, and hard drive.
Most of these utilities are available for 32 and
64 bit Windows PCs using recent versions of Windows
such as XP, Vista, and Windows 7, although some
of the utilities also have builds that are explicitly for
Windows 98. The files are relatively small and fast to
download, and consume minimal system resources,
such that they do not noticeably degrade system
performance. These utilities could be a useful asset to
anyone who wants to keep up with the performance,
condition, and health of his system.
Hints for the Wannabe Blogger
By Joan McIlmoyl Cleghorn, a member of Big Blue
and Cousins, Canada
www.bbcc.org
joansjoy (at) gmail.com
This article has been obtained from APCUG with
the author’s permission for publication by APCUG
member groups; all other uses require the permission
of the author (see e-mail address above).
Do I Need Or Want to Have a Blog? Now, for many,
the first question is “what on earth is a blog?” and,
“why would I want one?” The origin of the actual
word ‘blog’ comes from the definition of what it really
is – a web log – which then became shortened to
‘blog’.
People are using blogs for many varied purposes.
Some use them like a personal diary, as though the
world is truly fascinated by the minutiae of their
daily lives (though in the case of celebs, that may
be the case). Others, for sharing their knowledge of
a particular subject which doesn’t necessarily lend
itself to publishing a book; and still reporting on the
constantly changing happenings in a specific area of
interest. In many instances now, professional reporters,
whether radio, TV or in print, are writing blogs as
well as their regular reporting functions. Others, for
reporting on the constantly changing happenings in a
specific area of interest.
There are two advantages of using blogs over
publishing in the more traditional ways – first, they
can be interactive, allowing the readers to make
comments, add to the information or contradict the
writer; and, second, as mentioned, the ability to update
immediately with new or additional information.
My purpose in starting a blog at the end of June was
prompted by an article in the Family Chronicle which
pointed out how, by publishing a family history book,
relations that you’d never known or connected with
would suddenly contact you.
This struck a chord with me as I was in the midst of
planning a family history book and wanted to connect
with others researching this same family. Obviously,
publishing a book wasn’t the answer for my particular
situation.
After some thought on this, I decided to investigate
what was involved in creating a blog, thinking this
might accomplish my purpose. Of course, one can
use any of the social media sites such as MySpace,
Facebook, etc. as a type of blog. However, I was
looking for specific ‘blog’ sites. Well, typing ‘free
blog sites’ into Google gave me far more results than
I could have dreamed of! Fortunately, there were two
with which I was somewhat familiar so I opted to
check them out first.
I wanted simple and easy to use.....nothing fancy, just
the ability to type whatever I wanted to post and have
it work. Obviously I was asking a lot for anything
connected with technology right? Actually, wrong. I
was able to set up the blog, type out my first posting
and have it online within an hour!
You want a site that gives clear, easy to understand
directions and allows you to have some choices on the
appearance or theme of your blog. Also, if you want
some interaction with your readers, make it easy for
them to add their comments. The site I chose definitely
qualified under these points; much more so than the
second site I checked out. I also checked out a few that
I wasn’t as familiar with and found that my first choice
was still the best for my purpose. The two choices
I initially checked out were Google’s Blogspot and
Wordpress. They can be found at www.blogspot.com
and www.wordpress.com; however, be sure to check
out some of the others as well.
Should you decide to start a blog, there is one caveat
I’d both read about as well as heard about from
others – don’t start posting, and collecting followers
of the site, only to lose interest, and just stop posting,
or become very erratic in your postings. When first
starting my blog, I hoped to post about three times
a week, with no less than once a week. In the nine
weeks since I started, I’ve made 18 posts so have
averaged two per week, even though I had a couple of
weeks when I didn’t make any posts due to the death
of my mother.
Now, was posting my blog successful in my original
purpose? So far, yes. I’ve heard from a couple of
researchers with whom I’d lost contact a number
of years ago, plus another couple of whom I’d
never heard, so I certainly accomplished that part
of my goal. Another bonus is the information I’m
gaining from those connections that I might not have
otherwise found. Should you wish to take a look at
my blog, here’s the address: www.mcilmoylfamna.
blogspot.com . If you decide that having a blog is
something you’d like to do, I wish you well, and have
fun with it! For tips on ‘how to blog’ just type ‘blog
tutorial’ into a search engine and you’ll find lots of
choices.
End of Article - End of Article - End of Article - End of Article
End of Article - End of Article
A Tale of Two Printers, a Scanner,
and a CD Drive
Written by Bruce Preston, president of West Mountain
Systems, Inc., www.dacs.org
bpreston (at) mags.net.
This article has been obtained from APCUG with
the author’s permission for publication by APCUG
member groups; all other uses require the permission
of the author (see e-mail address above).
Printer #1: About two months ago, my friend/dentist
called to say that he had a problem with his Epson
Stylus CX-3810 Multifunction printer. Usually when
he printed, a pop-up window would appear showing
the level of his ink cartridges. This had disappeared. In
addition he could not get it to appear when he went to
the printer’s property page by way of Control Panel >
Printers. He had wasted two hours on the phone with
Epson’s support “somewhere” - they had him uninstall
the printer and reinstall it twice, and finally they used
the generic “not my problem” cure - they told him to
“reinstall Windows.” Fortunately he didn’t follow
that instruction.
Printer #2: About a week ago, I had a problem with
my HP OfficeJet 6310, a multifunction printer. It just
ceased to respond to print requests, although the scan
and copy functions worked just fine. I tried doing a
“repair install.” HP’s large hourglass thing came up
for a while, a screen flashed by too fast to read, and
the setup utility concluded before asking me what
to do. I went to the HP site and found that they had
a 38MB download of basic drivers for “Corporate
Use Only.” Reading the description, it detailed that
this was a lightweight install for distributing over a
corporate network such that the printer’s functions
could be shared over a local area network (which I do)
without the baggage (not their phrasing) of all the addon software that the consumer installation puts on each
machine. The consumer install puts “HP Director” - a
dashboard application, various photo manipulation
software, various photo sharing software, and the
ubiquitous automatic check for updates application.
The one thing that it would lose would be the ability
to send a scan to a desktop application at a selected
machine by pushing buttons on the printer’s control
panel – “pushing” the scan to the computer rather than
“pulling” it from the computer. This is a feature I don’t
need. The lightweight install was just what I wanted.
In addition, it said that if it found the consumer drivers
it would uninstall them. I downloaded it and cranked
up the installation program from the command line as
instructed. Again, I got the large hourglass, a too-fastto-read pop-up, and then nothing.
Scanner: About a month ago there was a Q&A
Posting on SmartComputing where a reader had a
problem with an Epson Perfection 2580 scanner.
Upon pushing the scan button he got a message on
his computer’s display that a DLL was unable to save
the file. Previously it had worked fine. He too had not
gotten a solution from Epson support.
CD Drive: About two weeks ago a friend of mine
in Michigan had a problem with a CD drive. It “just
disappeared.” When she had installed an upgrade
to her antivirus software it had complained about
an incompatibility with the CD burner software (the
software came with the machine when new). She ran
the uninstall program which crashed, and the drive
disappeared from the device manager.
What do all of these have in common? It appears that
all the problems were caused by corrupted registry
entries. It is unknown what might have corrupted the
registry entries, perhaps an update from either the
vendor or Microsoft - but I won’t point fingers without
evidence. Whatever the cause, the standard response
of “uninstall/reinstall” or “repair reinstall” didn’t fix
the system.
The good news is that free RevoUninstaller from
www.revouninstaller.com resolved all four problems
in minutes. After uninstalling the broken software we
were able to install components without a problem.
RevoUninstaller loads quickly and presents you with a
very inclusive list of things that it offers to remove for
you. I found it notable that it presented the list within
a second whereas the standard Add/Remove Programs
takes about a minute to populate on my machine.
When you select something to uninstall, it gives you
three options:
1) Safe - fast uninstall and a scan of the hard disk for
left over files.
2) Moderate - same as Safe with an additional
extended scan of the system registry for left over
entries.
3) Advanced - Same as Moderate but with a deeper
registry scan. Takes a bit more time but finds and/or
clears more.
I have always used the “Advanced” option.
RevoUninstaller analyzes the application for a moment
and then uses the application’s native uninstall
mechanism first. Upon completion it then does its
own digging. When done, it presents you with a treeview of what it found in the registry with full path to
the registry keys. The items it suggests for deletion
are shown in bold, and have an adjacent check box. I
have always used the SELECT ALL and the DELETE
button. Having cleaned the registry of leftover, it
then displays a similar page with a list of leftover
files, and gives you the same option of selecting files
for deletion. Again, I have used SELECT ALL and
DELETE to good effect.
Why it works - this is just an educated guess. When
an application is installed, along with the core .EXE
files the vendors often include a multitude of dynamic
link libraries - DLLs, which are either provided by the
vendor or a third party. These DLLs provide common
functionality across products. (For example, almost
every application in Windows is likely to make use
of COMDLG32.DLL from Microsoft - this Common
Dialog module provides the ubiquitous FILE / OPEN,
FILE / SAVE, FILE / PRINT dialog boxes. DLLs are
activated from the .EXE by way of registry entries.
If COMDLG32.DLL has three functions (known as
Entry Points) then it would have three registry entries,
one for each function. Now suppose an update is
installed - it may replace a DLL with a newer one, and
may insert a new registry entry to point to the new
DLL. But, if some other application also makes use of
the DLL that has been replaced, it may break. For this
reason when you uninstall something you may see a
warning message that asks for permission to remove a
component that might be shared.
I suspect that the first two printer problems weren’t
cured by the reinstall SETUP because the SETUP
found either the leftover files or left over registry
entries and decided that it wasn’t necessary to
continue, and thus either skipped a critical step or just
decided to bail out. By running RevoUninstaller the
machine was wiped clean in such a manner that the
SETUP was forced to do all of its operations.
For what it’s worth - the HP installer seems to be a
homegrown custom module rather than an installer
based upon the almost industry standard InstallShield
product. I don’t know about the Epson installers or
the one for the CD drive. There are several products
used for creating installations - InstallShield, Wyse,
Microsoft’s MSI, etc. I won’t go so far as to say that
the problem is specific to any particular installer
product – in fact, they may all be innocent and victims
of a sloppy update.
Lastly, I’m not a fan of the various “registry cleaners”
as I have found them to be either a scam (We’ve found
4,513 problems in your registry. We will remove 33
of them, and if you pay us $29.95 and we’ll remove
the rest!) or to work only on the registry without
delving into the innards of related applications. Revo
Uninstaller seems to approach the registry from the
application’s side and work from the outside in, rather
than from the registry side and work from the inside
out. Again, that’s just my educated guess. Be that as it
may, I highly recommend RevoUninstaller.
Tips From Smart Computing Magazine
Gaming Tips For Parents & Grandparents: Aside from
checking a game’s ESRB (Entertainment Software
Rating Board) rating, there are other ways you can
ensure the video games your youngsters are playing
are age-appropriate.
• Carefully look at everything on a title’s packaging,
including the game graphics.
• Find game reviews, screen shots, or demos to get a
better idea of a game’s content.
• If available, use the game’s parental controls to
restrict inappropriate content.
• Learn about games by talking to other parents
and older children who are familiar with or have
played certain titles.
• Participate in your children’s gaming and discuss
their games as much as possible.
• Be aware of nonrated ESRB material a game may
contain. “Mods” are program downloads that can
alter a game’s content, and online games often
have live player chats as well as other user-generated content.
Fitness Gaming: If it’s too hot this summer to go
work out outside, take advantage of your video-game
console’s capabilities. Some consoles offer games that
monitor your daily activity, lead you in healthy workouts, or teach you how to cook healthy meals. This
way, gaming is fun AND healthy.
Connect Your Game Console With HDMI: Some
video-game consoles are Full HD devices, meaning
they can benefit from HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) the same way HDTVs and BD (Bluray Disc) players do. Much like movies on DVD and
BD, most current video games support multichannel
surround sound and HD resolutions, up to 1080p, and
HDMI is the only cable around that can transport both.
Make Your Cell Phone Battery Last Longer: If your
battery won’t hold a charge very well or you don’t
always have access to a charger, there are a few things
you can do to stretch your battery’s charge time. When
you’re not using your phone, turn it off, unless you
are expecting an important call. If you are in an area
without service, turn your phone off so it isn’t searching for signals. If you want to leave your phone on,
you can also change a few settings on the phone to
save battery. Turn your phone’s vibrate feature off
and use a basic ringtone on low volume. Also, turn
your backlight off, as it will take up excessive battery
power. Features like Bluetooth, Internet, cameras, etc.
will drain the battery you have left, so try to use these
features only when you absolutely need them.
In-Store Recycling: Electronics that are beyond repair
or are no longer compatible with your current components don’t serve a purpose around your home,
other than taking up space. If you’re ready to be rid
of these obsolete items, including DVD players, cell
phones, and computers, call around to local electronics stores. Often, stores will take in old electronics for
recycling. Some stores will charge a small recycling
fee for submitting items with screens, such as TVs and
CRT monitors, but they’ll sometimes supplement that
charge with store credit.
Be Good To Your Hearing: The next time you take a
flight and want to listen to some tunes, consider using
a noise-canceling pair of headphones. Plane cabins are
noisy, and in order to compensate, you’re likely to turn
up your audio to levels that can be harmful to your
hearing. Because a noise-canceling pair of headphones
will drone out ambient noise, you’ll be able to enjoy
your songs at a comfortable hearing level.
Online Calendars
Eliminate Clutter & Keep Everyone Current
August 2009 • Vol.20 Issue 8
With dance practice, book club, piano lessons, dentist
appointments, and all of the other activities your
family is involved in, keeping track of your personal
schedule is just as hard as remembering whose turn
it is to drive the soccer practice carpool. Your family
may have a traditional paper calendar that’s kept in the
kitchen, but keeping it current is hard work because
times and dates seem to change as quickly as you
can say the word “recital.” Not only is it difficult to
remember to add events, but not everything can fit in
the small square boxes the paper calendar has to offer,
either.
If you’re looking for a flexible and convenient way to
keep your family on the same page, virtual calendars
may be the answer. This type of calendar is accessible
from any Internet connection so you can change it
from work and your kids can access it from school,
which helps keep everyone up-to-date and reduces the
chances that someone will miss an event. Additionally,
signing up for an online calendar account is almost
always free, so your family budget won’t be affected.
Ditch The Kitchen Calendar
Online calendars offer many more features than
your typical paper calendar. Rather than crossing
out, erasing, and scribbling on your paper calendar
as your schedule changes, you can add events by
simply double-clicking the appropriate date or
selecting the Add Event link. Removing an event is
as easy as double-clicking the event and selecting
the corresponding Delete Event link. Additionally,
you can add the time and the duration of the event.
Once you give the event a title, you can describe it
with as many details as needed. Because many paper
calendars have limited space to add details to events,
this can be especially helpful when coordinating group
events and explaining any special details your family
needs to know about.
Generally, you will also have separate inputs for
information, such as the location, attendees, and
whether this is a recurring event. Recurring events,
such as choir practice at 7 p.m. every Wednesday, can
usually be set up by simply selecting a checkbox. If
you need to edit one event or the whole series, you
will have the option to do both.
Many online calendars also let you set up reminders
for your events. So if you’re afraid you or others
might forget an event, you can send a reminder, which
will come in the form of an email, text message, or
a different delivery method. Some online calendars
also offer features such as tasks and to-do lists. These
lists are sometimes associated with events, or they
are available to use in a more general sense. If your
whole family has access to these lists, it’s easier to
communicate simple things, such as the weekly chores
lists, than if you try and squeeze them into the margins
of your paper calendar.
To help accommodate the separate schedules of each
family member, some online calendar applications
let each member of the family keep his or her own
calendar and then simply have a list of shared events
everyone can access. Each of your children can
separately keep track of when homework is due and
share it with you or a classmate, while keeping it apart
from siblings in order to avoid clutter and confusion.
Online Calendar Quest
The Web has several online calendars to offer. Google,
Yahoo!, and Windows Live, for instance, have similar
online calendars with all the aforementioned features.
Each online calendar, however, has a different user
interface. If you have an email account through one of
these services, it’s likely you can integrate your email
and your calendar, and the user interface will likely be
more recognizable and comfortable for you to use.
There are subtle differences among Google Calendar
(www.google.com/calendar), Yahoo! Calendar
(calendar.yahoo.com), and Windows Live Calendar
(calendar.live.com). You will find that each handles
tasks, event details, and reminders slightly different
than the other, and the sharing capabilities will vary.
30 Boxes (30boxes.com) is an online calendar that
differs slightly from the Google, Yahoo!, and Windows
Live calendars. After signing up for a free account,
you can share your calendar with social networking
friends or other contacts, which are referred to as
“buddies.” 30 Boxes lets you integrate your calendar
with applications such as Twitter (twitter.com),
Facebook (www.facebook.com), and more. You can
send messages to your buddies via 30 Boxes, as well
as add tasks to your to-do list. Avatars can also be
added to your 30 Boxes calendar.
CalendarFly (www.calendarfly.com) is an online
calendar that is designed especially for families, clubs,
schools, and other groups. In addition to being able
to keep a personal calendar, you can share events
with your friends and family contacts. Events can be
categorized by a task, homework assignment, practice,
holiday, or an event. You can build your own to-do
list to help you stay on top of tasks. CalendarFly lets
you upload files, which is handy when you need to
distribute a document for an upcoming meeting or
group project.
Synchronized Scheduling
If you use another email client at home or at work,
such as Microsoft Outlook, try to find an online
calendar that can synchronize with other common
calendar applications. This will help you keep both
your work and personal schedules in tune with each
other, and it can help you avoid double-booking
yourself.
Additionally, some family-friendly social networking
sites, such as Multiply (www.multiply.com) and
Famundo (www.famundo.com), offer calendars that
you and your family can use and share with each
other. When organizations you are involved in, such
as a church group or a special interest club, use a
social networking group calendar or a group-oriented
calendar, you can integrate schedules. This helps you
remember to include the meeting times and dates on
your calendar, and it can help jog your memory when
you can’t remember whose house you are supposed to
meet at that night.
by Tessa Warner Breneman
Make Firefox Even Better
By Steve Bass, Publisher and Self-appointed Chief
Content Officer, TechBite
www.techbite.com / stevebass (at) techbite.com
I know many of you still
stubbornly use Internet
Explorer. I used to, as well. But Firefox, with all its
lovely add-ons and tweaks, is just more fun to use.
Let’s start with a something you might not know
about: Firefox’s hidden visual tab switching tweak.
Right now, you can use Ctrl-Tab to cycle through
Get Moving
Even the most sophisticated online
calendar won’t help you if you forget
to enter appointments and events into
it. Luckily, some online calendars will
synchronize with your smartphone so you
can enter the appointment or event on the
go.
For example, Google Calendar can be synchronized
with both the BlackBerry calendar application and the
Android calendar application. You can also download
mobile gadgets for other mobile operating systems,
such as the iPhone OS. Windows Mobile phones
can be synchronized with Windows Live Calendar.
When Windows Mobile 6.5 hits the market (which
should happen later this year), Windows Live services,
such as the calendar and email, will be even more
integrated into Windows-powered phones.
Yahoo! Mobile services (mobile.yahoo.com), such as
email and calendar applications, can also be accessed
from your mobile phone so you can stay on top of
your schedule.
Firefox’s tabs. But if you’re using Firefox 3.6, the
current revision, this tweak will give you a visual look
at the tabs, just like using Alt-Tab in Windows.
Firefox has a hidden feature: Visual tab switching
Turning on the feature takes two steps:
1. Go to Firefox’s address bar, type
about:config, and hit Enter. (Didn’t know
about this, eh?)
2. Type browser.ctrlTab.previews into the
Filter field. When it appears, double-click it.
(The value will change to true.)
Five Handy Firefox Add-ons
Here are five add-ons I’ve recently used; they’re easy
to install and don’t take much time to figure out how
to use. Pay attention to the version of Firefox you have
installed (Help, About Mozilla Firefox) to make sure
the add-on is compatible with it.
•
Tired of squinting at sites with tiny fonts or
weird background colors? Experiment with
NoSquint to override a site’s font and image
sizes as well as change its foreground and
background colors. If you like the results, tell
NoSquint to remember the settings for your
return visit to the specific site. http://urandom.
ca/nosquint/
•
I’ve experimented with SwiftTabs for a few
weeks. It lets you use the F-keys to go to the
next or previous open tab. It’s a keeper -- and
especially useful for those of us with Function
keys along the side the keyboard. (Careful, the
site has a name sure to offend.) http://tinyurl.
com/3746xsx
•
I like the idea behind Fox Splitter, an add-on
that rearranges tabs as separate windows. The
problem is I had trouble adjusting to splitting
off tabs and keeping track of what went where.
You might like it, and it’s easy enough to
install and uninstall, so give it a try. http://
tinyurl.com/24n3ct
of the word, shows it in a separate window,
and lets you click to go to the word. (See the
screens below for instructions.) Très cool, no?
http://tinyurl.com/cc7apq
Start Typing and Firefox starts a search.
Click Ctrl-F to expand Firefox’s Find feature.
Now use Find All: It does tons more than
Firefox’s default Find feature.
Rearrange Firefox’s windows with Fox Splitter.
•
•
Not all of Firefox’s icons are easy to recognize;
Menu Icons Plus gives me a nicer array of
choices. I’m using it with XP, but Vista and
Win7 may give you problems. http://tinyurl.
com/34op9fx
You know about Firefox’s built-in Find
features. Find All highlights every occurrence
Steve Bass is the publisher and self-appointed
Chief Content Officer at TechBite; he continues
to experience the cool feeling of having his own
newsletter. Send him your feedback at TechBite
<[email protected]>. To sign up for TechBite’s
free Steve Bass Technology newsletter, head for our
signup page. http://www.techbite.com/
Steve’s also the author of “PC Annoyances, 2nd
Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About
Your Personal Computer,” available on Amazon. It
covers XP, but not Vista. If you haven’t purchased your
copy today, don’t wait, supplies always seem to be
limited...
The Slickdeals Approach to Cable
Company Negotiations
and want, while paying the best price possible. So start
with a list (or, better, a spreadsheet) showing what
to discuss, each item’s relative importance to you,
the cable company’s quoted price, and any available
bundles or promotions.
For some people, their cable company is “the
company they love to hate”. Most folks just accept
the cable company for what it is, a semi-regulated
utility providing useful or necessary services. And
the remainder -- often to the mystification of the first
group -- just love their company, even singing its
praises when cable service is discussed.
Just as a retired couple likely doesn’t need a sevenpassenger SUV and a young singleton won’t rent
a McMansion, don’t get carried away by glittering
features and services. Cox’s Blow suggests
remembering your “station in life” before ordering the
fastest Internet connection if you’ll just send email
and do light Web surfing, though if you have far-flung
family, a generous phone package might ultimately
save money.
Similarly, a killer online gamer might go for blazing
DOCSIS 3.0 Internet bandwidth and skip phone
service entirely, depending on cell phone connectivity.
By Gabe Goldberg, Computers and Publishing, Inc.
Slickdeals (at) gabegold.com
To make sense of this variation, remember that cable
service is generally provided by regional monopolies,
with territories granted by local governments, so
features, customer services, and costs indeed vary
widely. And even one company’s characteristics can
vary with geography, depending on factors such as
local management, franchise arrangements and fees,
and infrastructure age and quality.
As early as possible in this process, request your free
credit reports and ensure that you’re shown as being
financially responsible, with all account payments upto-date. Felicia Blow, Cox Cable’s Director of Public
Affairs, notes that the better a credit history is, “the
more flexibility Cox has in avoiding the customer
having to pay deposits and the like to get or restore
service.”
But separate from everything else is the need to
negotiate effectively with the company, whether
establishing new service, changing what’s provided, or
simply haggling for a better deal.
So, prior to any conversation or transaction, do
your homework. Understand everything you’ll need
to consider and perhaps mention: competition to
cable services in your area (satellite and over-theair TV, phone company DSL or FiOS, cell phone
service), services offered, service levels (e.g., Internet
connection speeds, TV channel bundles), features
(telephone caller-id, voicemail, speed dialing, threeway calling, etc.), list prices, bundle discounts, and
current or recent promotions offered.
This is complicated enough that you want to get it
right, selecting no more or less than what you need
Bundles -- combination service packages costing less
than the sum of their individual components -- can
save or waste money. Think carefully about whether
it’s worth spending more money to save some,
or whether better value comes from mixing-andmatching bits from multiple providers.
Consider freebies offered but remember that they only
have value if they’re useful. Internet services may
include spam filtering, security tools, parental controls,
anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc., but compare their quality
to other free and fee tools to ensure that you’re getting
best of breed. If you won’t use them, don’t let a cable
rep seduce you into paying premium prices because
they’re included.
You’ll likely be offered prepaid protection for inside
cable facilities. Unless you’re aware of problems, it’s
usually best to decline this -- it’s essentially overpriced
insurance against rare problems with cable wiring.
The company is responsible for connectivity to your
dwelling’s main termination, and will usually address
(Internet, TV, phone) signal quality issues at no cost.
But check with neighbors regarding company service
and fee policies regarding inside work.
Once you’re a customer, you’re not done chatting with
your CableCo. Don’t suffer service problems or billing
issues silently, or just gripe to friends and neighbors.
Cable companies understand they’ve had public
relations problems and work to be better liked. Online
services such as real-time customer service chats may
resolve problems at 3 am. And some companies have
online monitors watching for complaints in forums
and on Twitter.
Even satisfied customers benefit from occasionally
evaluating services and adding/deleting features, and
calling to request lower prices can cut monthly bills.
This can involve citing competitive services – for
example, if your neighborhood has just been wired for
FiOS with promotional rates offered, you can threaten
to terminate service unless the lower price is matched.
Make this more credible by mentioning that you’re
not tied to CableCo email addresses; note that you
use Webmail service accessible through any ISP
or that you have your own domain (both of which
are good practices to avoid having to change email
addresses when moving from one company’s territory
to another!). If you’ve suffered problems or outages,
suggest that it’s only fair for you to be compensated by
lower rates.
You may be required to commit to service for some
period in order to have fees reduced. One customer
reduced his monthly Internet cost $20, to $29.99,
while getting about 30Mbps download and 3.5Mbps
upload speeds -- hardly shabby, and worth agreeing to
stick around for a year. If you’re content to remain a
customer and don’t expect to move soon, that’s a good
bargain. Of course, watch the calendar and haggle
again if your rate ever increases.
Finally, if you work with a competent and helpful rep
-- whether for initial orders, account changes, service
or billing issues -- ask for direct contact information,
both telephone number and email address.
It’s immensely helpful having continuity in dealing
with normally faceless businesses, and service
providers increasingly recognize how much
personal service improves customer satisfaction.
Not all companies or reps provide this, but -- as with
everything else this article suggests -- it can’t hurt to
ask.
This article appeared originally on the slickdeals.
net Web site, <http://slickdeals.net/>. (c) Gabriel
Goldberg 2010. Permission is granted for reprinting
and distribution by non-profit organizations with text
reproduced unchanged and this paragraph included.
Converting Slides to Digital Images
Written by Bruce Preston, president, West Mountain
Systems, Inc., long-term board member of DACS and
conducted the Random Access sessions at the General
Meetings as well as chaired the Microsoft Access SIG.
www.dacs.org
bpreston (at) mags.net
This article has been obtained from APCUG with
the author’s permission for publication by APCUG
member groups; all other uses require the permission
of the author (see e-mail address above).
Author’s Note: This article best appreciated if read
while listening to Paul Simon’s Kodachrome.
By my estimate, over the last 40 or so years, I have
taken about 6,000 slides. Topics include such things
as family get-togethers, Formula 1 and Can-Am races
at Watkins Glen, SCCA races at Lime Rock Park, bike
tours in Vermont, the U.K, Western Europe, and steam
locomotives in Colorado, Vermont, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. For all of these I much prefer the color
fidelity and permanence of slides over prints.
Unfortunately, slides also require either setting up a
projector and screen or using a hand-held viewer, and
don’t easily lend themselves to sharing. Years ago
I had a Polaroid SprintScan 35 film scanner, but it
required a SCSI adapter card and Polaroid went under
without delivering drivers for Windows 2000 or XP.
It was also somewhat slow taking about 2 minutes
per scan. I will grant you that it delivered high quality
images. My brother in law has scanned a few slides
using a flatbed scanner with a light box cover, but
the resolution was not great. It was acceptable for
distributing by e-mail or posting on a web page, but
not satisfactory for full screen viewing.
A few months ago I discovered Ion Audio’s “Slides
2 PC” 35 mm Slide and Film Scanner. It is a nifty
compact device that consists of housing containing a
fixed-focus USB 2.0 camera, a white-balanced light
source and a pair of carriers – one that can hold 3
mounted 35 mm slides, the other for 6-exposure 35
mm negative strips. System requirements are minimal
– Windows XP or Vista, and a USB 2 port. (If you only
have USB 1.1 you will need to add a USB 2 card to
your desktop or get a USB 2 PCMCIA card for your
notebook. I tried it on my old notebook and the driver
refused flatly stating that it needed USB 2.)
Slides 2 PC comes bundled with ArcSoft’s Photo
Impressions 6, a consumer-friendly image capture/
editing/cataloging program commonly bundled with
digital scanners and cameras. The scanner appears
as a TWAIN device, I happen to prefer the free (for
personal use) IrfanView as I have used IrfanView for
years. http://www.irfanview.com/ One thing I disliked
about the ArcSoft package was its insistence upon
loading an always resident module.
I don’t know if the device will work with a Mac. Since
it is a TWAIN device there is a good chance as long as
your bring your own software.
Operation is simple; I’ll describe the process when
using IrfanView. Select the TWAIN source from the
FILE menu, and then select ACQUIRE/BATCH.
The first dialog box asks for a target folder, a root
filename, the starting number and the number of digits.
I created folder “\My Documents\My Pictures\VBT
Tours\1972” as the folder, “VBT_” as the filename
root, 1 as the starting number, and 3 as the number
of digits. I clicked OK and the scanner loaded with a
real-time preview. In this case of a blank white area
since I hadn’t loaded a slide. Note that since it is a
video camera rather than a moving scanner mechanism
there are essentially no moving parts within that can
get out of calibration.
The carrier is hinged along the long side – open it,
place 3 slides in the slide carrier or a film strip in
the film carrier and close it. Slide the carrier into the
scanner until you feel it click at the first positioning
notch. In about a half second the image will appear,
then reappear once the auto-exposure kicks in. Tap
the top of the scanner and the image is captured to
memory. A thumbnail appears above the preview
image. Slide the carrier to the next notch and repeat
the process. Reload and repeat until you have up to
12 thumbnails. Click on the first, shift-click on the
last one to select them all, then click on the ‘Transfer’
button on the screen and they will be written to disk.
Resultant JPEG images are 2592x1680, 24 bit color
depth. They average about 2.5MB in size.
If you use Photo Impressions 6 as part of start up you
get a configuration screen for the scanner where you
may select image size, color depth, JPEG or TIFF,
and specify whether you are scanning transparencies
(slides), color or B/W negatives. IrfanView just uses
the defaults of JPEG at 24 bit color depth.
As far as speed is concerned, on this lazy Sunday
afternoon I scanned 60 slides in 33 minutes without
rushing. This included taking the slides out of the Bell
& Howell ‘Slide Cube’ and reloading them. I have yet
to go into the JPEGs to rotate the images that need
to be turned from landscape to portrait orientation –
IrfanView can do that with a single key-press.
For those who like spec sheets:
· 5 mega-pixel scanner
· USB 2.0 interface
· f/6.0 four element glass lens
· Fixed focus, auto-exposure and color balance
More information at http://www.ionaudio.com/slides2pc
Sources – I did a little web searching while wrapping
up this article. The average eBay auction over the last
60 days closed at $85 including shipping. J&R has it
for $79.99 plus shipping which I suspect will put it
right about $85. If you like rolling the dice, from time
to time a factory refurb shows up on eBay at about
$65.
If you have many slides or negatives that you’d like
to convert to digital, give this unit some thought. I’m
very happy with it.
End of Article - End of Article - End of Article - End of Article
End of Article - End of Article
One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex
standing in the foyer of the church staring up at a
large plaque. It was covered with names and small
Canadian flags mounted on either side of it. The
six-year old had been staring at the plaque for some
time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the little
boy, and said quietly, ‘Good morning Alex.’ ‘Good
morning Pastor,’ he replied, still focused on the
plaque. ‘Pastor, what is this? ‘ The pastor said, ‘Well
son, it’s a memorial to all the young men and women
who died in the service.’
Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large
plaque. Finally, little Alex’s voice, barely audible and
trembling with fear asked,
‘Which service, the 8:45 or the 11:00?
Membership application or renewal Form
Annual membership is only $20.00. Each additional
family member is $5.00.
________________________________________
Print Name:
________________________________________
Address:
________________________________________
City, Zip:
________________________________________
Phone:
________________________________________
Business Phone:
________________________________________
Email address
Mail to
WINNERS - WINdows usERS
PO Box 9804
Newport Beach, CA 92658-9804
meets at
The Fountain Valley Branch Library
17635 Los Alamos
Fountain Valley
meetings on 3rd Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
WINNERS - WINdows usERS
PO Box 9804
Newport Beach, CA 92658-9804