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computer tips by WorldStart.com
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The Week
In Technology
For those of you who have seen the fake anti-virus programs, with names such as
AntiVirus 2009,
Vista AntiVirus, AntiVirus 360,
you know they are definitely annoying and conniving. They pretend to find
multiple "infections" on your computer and then prompt or require you
to pay for an "upgrade" in order to remove the
"infections".The software is a complete scam. Instead of improving and
updating its security software, Microsoft has found new, better method to
prevent these "scareware" programs: lawyers and lawsuits. According
to Reuters, the software giant has filed suit against several
"companies" that create these fake anti-virus programs, companies
with names such as "Soft Solutions", "ote2008" and
"Direct Ad". Microsoft intends to uncover who is actually creating
and distributing these programs.
Intuit, a personal financial software company (creators of QuickBooks) will
acquire Mint, a free online personal finance service, for around $170 million.
Mint has been growing rapidly ever since it first launched two years ago,
gaining around 3,000 users a day. The company is currently valued at around
$140 million.
Google has been scanning and allowing users to read millions of books through
it's Google Books service, even allowing users to search through the books.
Now, Google is working with a firm called On Demand Books, to allow users to
turn those digital books into paper copies. On Demand Books is a company that
has created a device called the Espresso Book Machine, which is able to print
out a 300 page gray-scale book with a color cover in about 4 minutes.
Bookstores with this machine will able to print out any of the 2 million public
domain books in Google Books.
~Bryan Scheiber is a Systems Administrator in Metro Detroit.
Q: I lost the address bar
in Firefox!. How do I get it back?
A: I'm not sure how this
happens, but now and then the address bar will disappear. Restoring it is
pretty easy...
In Mozilla Firefox go to
View>Toolbars
and make sure "
NavigationToolbar"
is checked.
See, that wasn't so hard. Now you should have your address bar back.
~ David
Word
Corrects Everything Else… Why Not This? I don't know about
you but there are a couple of words that I just can't seem to type correctly…
whether it's my inability to hit the keys correctly or a simple brain-block of
the correct spelling… there are just certain words that always end up
underlined with that little ugly red squiggle line.
It's definitely frustrating!
And what seems to make it worse is that there's so much Word's AutoCorrect will
fix and yet not the one or two quirks that I have.
I could spend the time adding them to the AutoCorrect but you and I both know
that when I open the AutoCorrect dialog box I'll never remember everything. The
logical conclusion is that I'll spend a lot of time going in and out of the
AutoCorrect dialog box to add them as they come up.
Or will I?
It sure would be nice to add them efficiently as I notice the problem and
fortunately we can.
I'm sure that we all know that we possess to ability to
right-click on a
misspelled word and choose the correct word from a suggested list…
assuming, of course, that we're in the ball park of the correct spelling.
But, have you ever taken a look further down the right-click list?
Instead of choosing the correct word at the top, go down and click the
AutoCorrect choice.
The same list of
words will open under the AutoCorrect choice. By choosing the correct spelling
from here you'll automatically be adding it as an entry to your AutoCorrect
settings.
As always, there's a "catch". You can't add an actual word to the
AutoCorrect. For example, if you frequently type form instead of from you're
stuck with it. You can only add things to the list that aren't words.
Other than that it really is that easy - add your common misspelling or typo to
AutoCorrect with just a right-click.
Lotsa Helping Hands
Welcome to a site that is devoted to helping you
create Community. Whether
you’re taking care of an ill loved one, or just trying to keep in touch with
someone whose spouse is deployed, or maybe you just want a place where your
whole family can stay in touch – this is the place for you to create your
community for free.
On the main page you’ll see many examples for what the site can be used for –
after you’ve decided what type of community you want to build, I’d recommend
checking out the How it Works tab. After you’ve read through their handy
information on you can begin creating your community right from that page just by
clicking the orange Get Started button.
Now fill out the form with the name of your community, what type of
organization it is, your name, a working e-mail address, and then
click the Create button.
You’re ready to begin creating your community! Won’t it be nice to be able to
get together from anywhere just by checking the community and staying in touch?
I wish we had found something like this for staying on top of what was
happening in my grandfather’s health.
Hello, I'm Johhny Cache! Sorry, I couldn't help it! I was wearing black today,
plus this will remind you to say it the right way.
Cache files are used to store information on a temporary basis for quick
access. The physical location of this can be either on a hard drive or in RAM
memory.
The idea behind it is to store information the computer is probably going to
need in a location that's quick and easy to access. Since it can get to needed
information quicker, the computer runs faster.
~Steve
Just
a Little Too Long Have an MS Word
document that is just a bit too long? A few lines stuck on that last page? Wish
you could "shrink" the document a bit and lose that last page?
Well, I suppose you could try a different font size. Or, you know, adjusting it
up and down just to find the exact change that will remove the need for the
unwanted last page.
But, why would you waste the time when you could get Word to do that for you?
Interested in finding out how?
Yep, I thought you might be, so here's the scoop!
The Word feature we're looking for is "
Shrink to Fit" and it's
found in the
Print Preview.
Readers using
older versions of Word can either go to the
File
menu,
Print Preview choice or use the
Print Preview button located
on the Standard toolbar.
Those of you using
Word 2007 you'll find
Print Preview in
the
Office Button in the list of options offered by the
Print
choice.
Once in the Print Preview, you're looking for the
Shrink to Fit button.
In
older versions of Word it looks like this:
People with
Word
2007 will see this:
No matter the
version,
click it.
Instantly, Word shrinks your document's font size to reduce the number of pages
by one.
(At times, I did get an error message telling me that Word couldn't make the
change. With some effort, I found that if I saved the document as is and then tried
again, it would complete the shrink).
There you have it. Word's version of the phrase "Shrink to Fit!"
~ April
Want A
Guard Dog For Your Computer?? You've Never Seen A
Webcam Like This Before!! Automatically Turns
On When It Detects Motion!!!
Even Has A Built In
Microphone!!
And
Just Wait Until You See The Motion Detection Software That's Included!!
You've
all seen webcams before, but not like this! This amazing webcam does more!!! It will wake up your
computer and start recording at the first sign of motion!
With
this little guy, you can actually monitor your home or office while you're away!!! Talk
about awesome!!
It so simple too use too...just install the software and the motion
sensor will automatically detect any movement and capture video while you're
away!!
Now
you'll be able to find out how all of your post-its and pens have been
disappearing! Confront that co-worker that's been raiding your desk!! And at
home you'll be able to capture silly pictures of your cat walking on your
keyboard...
WAIT...that's who's been opening my email!!
This webcam does so much more too! You can:
Take Pictures & Video
Monitor Your Home OR Office
Use ANY Instant Messenging Program
Add Video To Your Webchat
Add Audio To Your Webchat
Want to
talk to friends and relatives long distance without the cost?? Just
open the instant messaging program that your friends use, plug in your webcam
and follow the on-screen directions -
IT'S THAT EASY!!
Don't
worry about this webcam not being compatible with your instant messenger
program either. This Labtec Webcam Pro
allows you to use ALL instant messeging programs for webchatting(including MSN
Messenger, AIM-AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Messenger, and
more!).
The built-in video camera and microphone makes every chat session
more exciting (for
yourself and the other person) by turning it into a video chat with sound -
no need for an external
headset or microphone!
Plus,
there are just so many things that are left to interpretation with regular
chatting...
having
audio and video make it so much easier and fun! You won't have
to worry about people making fun of you and your spelling skills...now they'll be able to
see what your CRAZY morning bed-head actually looks like...and hear your
sweet-sounding voice that goes with it!!!
Your Labtec Webcam Pro also lets you take videos and pictures and
share them easily. With just the click of your mouse you'll be able to
turn pictures into emails and send them to your friends and family quickly!
The
super-sleek design will look sharp on any desk!! I have it sitting in front of
me right now!!
Be sure
to get yours today for only
$22.97,
this may be your ONLY CHANCE!! Shipping is
absolutely
FREE!!
PS -
Remember, limited quantity available...run to the site to get yours today!
Desktop
Toolbars Have you ever had
several windows open and needed to get to a shortcut on the desktop? I know I
have. You have to minimize all three windows just to start the other program.
But there is an easy way to fix this problem. Create a toolbar with your
shortcuts in it!
Here's how. First, right click on the windows toolbar on the bottom of your
screen. You will get a little menu. Go up to the toolbars option. Another menu
will slide out. Left click on “ New Toolbar ”. This gives you a window where we
can create your toolbar.
Next, left click once on the word “ desktop ”, so it is highlighted. Then click
the button “ New Folder ”. Give the new folder the name you want for your
toolbar. Let's say… My Shortcuts . Click OK .
The window will close and you will notice a new folder has been placed on the
desktop with whatever name you gave it. Left click-and-drag this folder to the
edge of your screen. When you release the mouse button, the folder will
magically become a toolbar. Amazing!
You say “So what? All I have is an empty toolbar.” Well, now that we have
created the toolbar, all we need to do is to put some shortcuts in it.
To do this, just drag the icons you want from your desktop into the toolbar. If
you want some for the start menu, just find them in there and drag them over
too.
All right, now you have full toolbar, but it won't go away. Here's what you do.
Right click the name on the top of the toolbar. A menu will be displayed. To
make the toolbar disappear when your mouse is not over it click on “ Auto-Hide
”, if it is not already checked. Open this menu again and click on “ Always on
Top ”, again only if it is not already checked. This will allow the toolbar to
be displayed over the windows you are using. With this menu you can also change
the view, whether the title is displayed, and if you want text with the icons.
To enhance the use of this tip you may want to create more toolbars (one for
each side of your monitor.) This is great for organization. At one time, I had
toolbars for documents, games, and Microsoft Office. The only problem is that
with multiple toolbars containing lots of icons the start-up time is slightly
longer (on my slow computer anyway). In my opinion the wait is worth the ease
it provides later.
~ Kyle Larson
Q: When I drag and drop
files, how do I know what is happening to them? Are they being moved, copied,
or is Windows just creating a short cut?
A: One day while
dragging and dropping I actually paid attention and realized that Windows does
tell you what it's doing as you move the file. If you see a "
+ " sign in a
little white box, the file is being copied. If you see an arrow, Windows is
creating a shortcut . Finally, if you see nothing at all, the file is being
moved.
OK, here's a new problem. What happens if you're trying to move say, a program
file (a file ending in ".exe"), and Windows wants to do a shortcut
instead of a move? Or maybe you want to make a copy of a file and Windows wants
to move it?
Well, there's an easy solution for that as well. Just drag and drop with your
RIGHT mouse button.
When you release the button, you'll be given a little menu that allows you to
pick Move, Copy, Create Shortcut, or Cancel.
In case you're wondering, I'm a right-click drag and dropper now.
