Tips for PC

Get The Drivers You Need

2009-12-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

- Visit Windows Update (XP Only)
- Look at the left hand pane and under Other Options click Personalize Windows Update.
- Now in the right hand pane check the box - Display the link to the Windows Update Catalog under See Also
- Below Choose which categories and updates to display on Windows Update - make sure you check all the boxes you want shown.
- Click Save Settings
- Now look in the left hand pane under See Also click Windows Update Catalog and choose what you're looking for. Choose either MS updates or drivers for hardware devices.
- Start the Wizard and off you go.

There are a TON of drivers there. I highly recommend you take a look at this page prior to downloading something from the web.

Save Your New Downloads

Since some people are still using modems and since MS is issuing patches right and left for XP wouldn't it be nice if after you downloaded all the updates you could save them? Well, you can and MS has provided a way for you to do it.
Here's How:
- Logon to Windows Update
- Choose Windows Update Catalogue (left hand pane)
- Choose Find updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems (right hand pane)
- Choose your version and language then Search
- Choose one the following:
- Critical Updates and Service Packs
- Service Packs and Recommended Downloads
- Multi-Language Features (0)
- Once chosen simply click on what you want to download and then back at the top click Review Download Basket
- You are taken to the next page where at the top you can specify where the downloads are to be saved.
- Click Download now.

Each patch will make a directory under the root of the folder you saved them to. Once finished you need to go to where you saved the file (s) to and then simply install all your patches.
Read-me's are available in each patch section so you know which one you are installing.

Mega Shutdown and Restart Troubleshooting Guide

2009-12-20T02:09:00.000-08:00

Thus far, Windows XP shutdown issues most resemble those of Windows Millennium Edition. That is, most of them center around a very few issues, especially driver version and other legacy hardware and software compatibility issues. These are detailed below. The driver and software issues are expected to resolve substantially as hardware and software manufacturers release updated versions, now that Win XP has been officially launched.

Reboot Instead of Shutdown

The majority of shutdown problems reported with Windows XP thus far have been that it reboots when shutdown is attempted. This may be a global symptom emerging from several distinct causes, because XP executes an automatic restart in the event of a system failure. I'm guessing that this means that more or less anything compromising the operating system during the shutdown process could force this reboot. If this is true, then our job will be to prepare a series of steps suitable to isolate the most likely cause. Disabling the "restart on system failure" feature may permit the exact cause to be isolated:

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click the Advanced tab. Under 'Startup & Recovery,' click Settings. Under 'System Failure,' uncheck the box in front of 'System reboot.'
Some things that have produced this reboot-instead-of-shutdown symptom are:
" By now, Roxio's Easy CD / Direct CD software is well documented as being a major cause - possibly the major cause - of this undesirable shutdown behavior. On November 1, Roxio released new drivers to solve this problem in Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum in its Windows XP updater for the Platinum product. A fix for Easy CD Creator 5 Basic is in the works. In the first few hours of its release, several peple have written me saying that this fix has resolved their Windows XP shutdown problem. I suspect that <>of the Windows XP shutdown problems will go away with Roxio's release of this patch for Platinum and the pending patch for Basic. This has been the single most common cause of Win XP shutdown problems thus far. One person after another has written to me with the simple message that this reboot behavior went away as soon as they uninstalled Easy CD. HINT No. 1: PCBUILD subscribers, by trial and error, identified the file CDRALW2K.SYS (version 1.0.0.1048) as the Roxio file that was causing his shutdown problems and error conditions. When he deleted this one file, his problems went away. HINT No.2: The Mystic Overclocker and others have reported that installing Easy CD 5.0 does not cause the shutdown problem, provided they do not install the Direct CD component. Though this isn't universally true, enough people have mentioned it by now for me to suggest it as a work-around.

Unassigned Device Drivers

PCBUILD subscribers have found that Windows XP won't shutdown properly if unsigned device drivers are used. Since all necessary device drivers have not yet been created for Win XP, this will be a problem for the next few months. It resembles the pattern for Win ME shutdown problems, because even today, many hardware manufacturers have not prepared suitable drivers for use with ME.

SBLive: DEVLDR32.EXE PROBLEMS

In the early days of Win ME, one of the biggest culprits for shutdown issue was the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live. History repeated itself in the early stages of Win XP. This now has been fixed for some users (but not for all) by the release of new drivers.
Here's the commonly reported scenario: On attempting shutdown, nothing at all appears to happen for a prolonged period of time. Eventually, an "End Task" window appears wanting to terminate DEVLDR32.EXE. No matter what one does, one ultimately is locked out of shutting down other than by a power switch shutoff. (This problem exists with the SBLive in Windows 2000 also.)
In mid-July, Microsoft posted new Win XP drivers for the SBLive on the Windows Update site. According to PCBUILD subscribers, these drivers solve the shutdown problem the SBLive was causing. I recommend you go to Windows Update and download the new driver if you have an SBLive card. However, some users are reporting that the DEVLDR problem continues to plague them even with the new drivers:

" In the event installing the new drivers does not solve your shutdown problem, try some of the solutions people have been using prior to the release of these new drivers. PCBUILD subscribers have written that they solved the well-documented SBLive/DEVLDR32 problem by downloading and installing the LiveService software. (We caution that one should disable all antivirus software while executing this program. I do recommend that you at least virus-check anything you download first!)
" PCBUILD subscribers" gave another solution to this problem: Uninstall the LiveWare software pack (of which DEVLDR is part). Uninstall the SBLive card. Restart Windows, let it detect the new hardware, and use the Windows XP driver. However, other users have reported that this isn't satisfactory because the XP native driver gives very poor sound quality. If the new drivers work for you, they are definitely the preferred option.

3D PROPHET 4500 VIDEO CARD

Other video cards that have created problems are those based on the Kyro II video chip, such as the Hercules Prophet 4500. PCBUILD subscribers have reported that until they removed the Kyro II / Prophet 4500, they could shutdown, hibernate, or go to stand by just fine, but Restart wouldn't work - it would shutdown Windows instead. Others with this video card have reported this strange behavior on both restart and shutdown.

Apparently, this problem is now solved. Microsoft reports that new drivers for this card, specific to Windows XP, are now available from Hercules. At present, they remain uncertified (PowerVR, who makes the Kyro II chip, is working on that), but they reportedly work just fine. Download the Kyro II drivers here.

SHUTDOWN HANGS ON "SAVING YOUR SETTINGS"

During shutdown or reboot, Win XP may hang (stop responding) at the "saving your settings" screen. During such a hang, there is no response to Ctrl+Alt+Del; the mouse may or may not work. (The problem may be intermittent.)

This is a known bug in Windows XP, for which Microsoft has a supported fix. Because this patch is scheduled for further quality assurance testing in the future, Microsoft only recommends that you install it if you have a serious problem; otherwise, they recommend waiting for Service Pack 1, which will include the more permanent version of the fix. To learn how to get this patch, see Windows XP Stops Responding (Hangs) During Windows Shutdown.

As a workaround, we resolved this problem by dismantling the Windows XP logon Welcome screen. In the Control Panel, click User Accounts, then click "Change the way users log on or off." Uncheck the box that says "Use the Welcome screen." This removes the initial logon screen with individual icons for each user and, instead, pops up the classic logon prompt that requires each user to type a user name and password.

"ShutMeDown" REGISTRY PATCH

Download the "ShutMeDown" Registry patch. Please follow sensible Registry editing protocol. Backup your Registry before the change (or run System Restore to create a restore point). This is not the appropriate fix for most machines, but does help a significant number. After installing, test Windows shutdown. If the fix does not work for you, remove it by restoring the Registry to its prior state.
For those who want a little more background information, the fix provided by this patch is based on a Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q155117 for Windows NT 4.0. It apparently still works in NT 5.1; that is, in Windows XP.

Stop Erros messages at shutdown

Some users have gotten an error message similar to the following when attempting either to shutdown or restart Win XP:

STOP 0000009F, DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
STOP 0x0000001E: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
STOP 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

TechNet and the Microsoft Knowledge Base have numerous articles discussing this type of error condition; for example, these. As a review of these articles will show, these are commonly device driver problems, but may also be caused by troublesome software (such as the notorious CrashGuard), or a problem in a system service. MSKB article Q262575 discusses a shutdown problem of this type, known to exist in Windows 2000 due to a resource (IRQ) conflict, if you have PACE Interlok anti-piracy software installed. This problem may occur in Windows XP as well.

Try the following as one approach to these problems: Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select "Last Known Good Configuration." If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition.

It has been reported by a PCBUILD Subscriber that these STOP code error message occur when Windows XP is trying to shut down devices. He says that he has seen this twice: once with Logitech Quickcam installed (with an unsupported driver), and once with a USB DSL modem that would hang if it wasn't disconnected before shutdown.

Shutdown Works but its real slow

If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users have reported a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Thus far, it appears that this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted, and it also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you are experiencing this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.

One specific solution for this can be found: In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box. This utility is also built into the Computer Management console.) Stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. Many other newsgroup participants quickly confirmed that this solved this "extremely slow shutdown" problem for them.

Powerdown Issues

"Powerdown issues" are quite distinctive from "shutdown issues." I define a shutdown problem as one wherein Windows doesn't make it at least to the "OK to shut off your computer" screen. If Windows gets that far, or farther, then it has shut down correctly. However, the computer may not powerdown correctly after that. This is a different problem, and I encourage people reporting these issues to make a clear distinction in their labeling.

When Windows XP won't powerdown automatically, the APM/NT Legacy Power Node may not be enabled. To enable this, right-click on the My Computer icon, click Properties | Hardware | Device Manager | View. Check the box labeled "Show Hidden Devices." If it's available on your computer, there will be a red X on the APM/NT Legacy Node. Try enabling it and see if this resolves the powerdown problem. (Tip from Terri Stratton.)

This should resolve the powerdown issue in most cases. However, other factors can sometimes interfere with correct powerdown functioning. In that case, consider the following tips:
" If you changing the default power settings in the BIOS, it can lead to a powerdown problem. Restoring all BIOS power settings to default will likely fix it.
PCBUILD subscribers reported that, when the above didn't work , they restored powerdown functioning by disabling his CD-ROM's AutoRun feature. The fastest way to do this is with the "Disable AutoRun" Registry patch which you can download here.

Other Known Issues and Hints

" BIOS UPGRADE. As with every new operating system that comes along - especially one that is as much of a "step up" as Windows XP is from Windows 9x - the recommendation is made to be sure your BIOS is updated. Many people have reported that this has solved their shutdown problems (and had other advantages) with Win XP, just as it has in earlier versions of Windows.

Quick Switching user Accounts

One reported quirk affecting shutdown is the three-account shuffle. Windows XP gives the ability to rapidly bounce between user accounts, with Win+L. If at least three user accounts exist, and you quick-switch through all three, and then log off all three in reverse order - "backing out" in an orderly way - then the machine may hang on shutdown. There may be other variations of account shuffling that cause this, but this one, clear example was provided by newsgroup correspondent John Ward. So far, I have no concrete clue on what may be occurring here.

Speed Up Browsing

2009-12-20T02:08:00.002-08:00

When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although Windows XP and Windows XP have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Merge it into the registry.

Make XP boot even Faster

2009-12-20T02:08:00.001-08:00

Microsoft has chosen a completely different path for XP and it's boot features by trying to incorporate as much support for newer fastboot BIOSes that are on most current motherboards. They built XP in such a way as to make it able to take advantage of features in these new BIOSes, and one of the coolest things is a small application called bootvis. bootvis.

Bootvis watches everything that loads at boot time, from the moment the OS begins to load just after POST (Power On Self-Test) to the moment you get to a usable Desktop. Some programs, most notably Norton AntiVirus 2002, suck up valuable seconds before you can actually DO anything even though you're at the Desktop. bootvis generates a trace file that you load and can then "see" a visual representation of what's happening. Every file, driver, hard drive read/write, etc., is recorded. You can then use bootvis to optimize the loading of files during the boot sequence. bootvis will rearrange the ways these very files are stored on the hard drive, thereby improving the boot time dramatically.

Convert a FAT Partition to the NTFS File System

2009-12-20T02:07:00.001-08:00

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.

In Windows XP, click Start, and then click Run.

At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.

Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

NOTE: Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

Copy Files and Folders to CDs

2009-12-20T02:06:00.000-08:00

To copy files and folders to a CD

•Insert a blank, writable CD into the CD recorder.

•Open My Computer.

•Click the files or folders you want to copy to the CD. To select more than one file, hold down the CTRL key while you click the files you want. Then, under File and Folder Tasks, click Copy this file, Copy this folder, or Copy the selected items.

•If the files are located in My Pictures, under Picture Tasks, click Copy to CD or Copy all items to CD, and then skip to step 5.

•In the Copy Items dialog box, click the CD recording drive, and then click Copy.

•In My Computer, double–click the CD recording drive. Windows displays a temporary area where the files are held before they are copied to the CD. Verify that the files and folders that you intend to copy to the CD appear under Files Ready to be Written to the CD.

•Under CD Writing Tasks, click Write these files to CD. Windows displays the CD Writing Wizard. Follow the instructions in the wizard.

Notes:

•Do not copy more files to the CD than it will hold. Standard CDs hold up to 650 megabytes (MB). High–capacity CDs hold up to 850 MB.

•Be sure that you have enough disk space on your hard disk to store the temporary files that are created during the CD writing process. For a standard CD, Windows reserves up to 700 MB of the available free space. For a high–capacity CD, Windows reserves up to 1 gigabyte (GB) of the available free space.

•After you copy files or folders to the CD, it is useful to view the CD to confirm that the files are copied. For more information, click Related Topics.
To stop the CD recorder from automatically ejecting the CD

•Open My Computer.

•Right–click the CD recording drive, and then click Properties.

•On the Recording tab, clear the Automatically eject the CD after writing check box.

Create a Password Reset Disk

2009-12-20T02:05:00.002-08:00

If you’re running Windows XP Professional as a local user in a workgroup environment, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password. To create the disk:

1.Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
2.Click your account name.
3.Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
4.Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk.
5.Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your local user account.

Error - ''boot_unmountable_drive'' when installing XP

2009-12-20T02:05:00.001-08:00

For those who are getting this error when you try to install WinXP on a motherboard that has UDMA 100 Promise Controllers you need to do the following in order to get XP to install correctly if your hard drives are connected to the UDMA 100 controller.

Now there are two ways to get XP installed, the first one I am going to mention is the easiest way and the second is a bit more complicated but will work never the less.

#1 - Easiest Way

I have an Asus A7V motherboard and I have run into this more than once. What you need to do (this is the easiest way to do it that I have found) is to move your hard drives cable off the UDMA 100 controller (normally color coded blue) over to the UDMA 66 master controller on the motherboard. Once you have done that make sure your PC still boots into your current OS correctly. If it does then start your XP install or upgrade. Everything should be fine. Now, once XP is up on My Computer and choose Manage. Look under Device manager and you will see an error with a yellow exclamation point on it. Right click on it and install the Promise Drivers. You can download them directly from here - ftp://ftp.promise.com/Controllers/IDE/Ultra66/UltraFamily/U100d160b32.zip

Once you have the drivers installed re-boot the system and make sure the yellow exclamation points are gone and the promise drivers are listed under SCSI devices, if they are then turn off your system, move the HD's back to the UDMA 100 controller and boot it up. That should fix it.

#2 - Fresh Install

If you plan on installing XP to a freshly formatted hard drive the easiest way I have found to do this is to use the above method but for those with only one UDMA 66 controller on there motherboard you may need to do the following:

- First use the URL above and download the Promise drivers from the Promise website.

- Second you need to extract the drivers to a floppy or to the partition on your hard drive that XP can see (FAT32 works great for this) but there is a trick to this in order to make XP see the drivers. Once you extract the drivers the promise drivers automatically make folders for each individual OS (see screen shot), what you need to do is move the files from under the Win2K directory to the of the Promise Folder. So you take the three files under the Win2K folder and copy them, don't move them but copy them to the root of the main folder where you extracted the Promise drivers to (if you don't see three files go to Tools/Folder Options/View and check "show hidden files"). The three files you need to copy to the area are:

- Ultra.cat
- Ultra.inf
- Ultra.sys

Now that you have all the files in the copy them to a floppy, reboot (if needed) and start your install of XP.

Now pay attention here - at the bottom of the very first blue setup screen you will see a prompt to hit F6 to install third party SCSI or RAID drivers. HIT F6 A FEW TIMES NOW!!! Now it might take a couple of seconds but you should be prompted to insert your drivers into your floppy drive. Do so and choose the Promise ATA100 controller. Keep this disk handy as you will be prompted for it one more time during the install.

Once XP has the drivers and loads them successfully XP should install just fine, well at least as far as the controller goes.

File Sharing without ICS

2009-12-20T02:04:00.000-08:00

To enable file and printer sharing on networks not using Internet Connection

Sharing, you must run the Network Setup Wizard and select the following option:

This computer connects to the Internet through another computer on my network or through a residential gateway.

If your computer is directly connected to the Internet, re-run the Network Setup Wizard and select the following option:

This computer connects to the Internet directly or through a network hub.

Other computers on my network also connect to the Internet directly or through a hub.

What upgrade paths does Windows XP support

2009-12-20T02:03:00.000-08:00

A. XP Home Edition and XP Professional are available in full and upgrade versions. If you're upgrading from a qualifying OS, you can purchase the less-expensive upgrade version; otherwise, you need to purchase the full version. However, even if you purchase the full version, XP doesn't support all upgrade paths. Review the following table to determine whether XP supports your upgrade path:

Current Version	Win XP Home	Win XP Pro
Win 3.1/3.11	No	No
Windows 95	No	No
Windows 98/98SE	Yes	Yes
Windows ME	Yes	Yes
Windows NT 3.51	No	No
Windows NT 4.0	No	Yes
Windows 2000 Pro	No	Yes
Windows XP Home	N/A	Yes
Windows XP Pro	No	N/A

Detect viruses in a computer using multiple antivirus engines

2009-12-19T02:30:00.001-08:00

Virus detection and its removal are made through an antivirus program which finds out viruses in a computer and then possibly removes or repairs the virus problem. But today an interesting tip, how to scan your system without any installed antivirus program. You can scan any specific file for viruses, malware, worms and trojans on your system without any preloaded antivirus protection.

VirusTotal is a free service that facilitates you for quick scan to detect viruses, malware, worms and trojans. VirusTotal will analyze your system files using multiple antivirus engines. VirusTotal is not a proper substitute of installed antivirus program, because this service works only when you will be connected to internet.

Now open the VirusTotal site to start scan process.

Now under the "Upload the file" section, click on browse button to select the virus affected file and press "Send File" button.

Here VirusTotal will takes some time to upload file (depends upon the file size and internet speed).

How to uninstall hidden devices, drivers using device manager?

2009-12-19T02:28:00.000-08:00

Today tip will help you to display the hidden devices in system Device Manger. Normally windows device manager displays the information about the hardware that ever been recognized by windows, whether it is currently present in the computer or not connected to the computer (for example USB or any other removable devices). The "Show hidden devices" option on View menu would not display the all hidden information, so you can force your system to display the detail of all hidden drives.

Follow the given steps to display the all hidden information in device manager:

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.

Click Start button and type CMD in Run option then press Enter for next.

At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter button.

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Here again type the following command at command prompt and then press Enter button.

start devmgmt.msc

Now in the Device Manager Console go to View menu and select the "Show hidden devices" option.

Now expand the different devices and drivers option in devices manger and you will find the devices which have been loaded in the past.

When you finish troubleshooting, close Device Manager and also exit from command prompt to clear the opened sessions.

How to solve low memory problems?

2009-12-19T02:27:00.000-08:00

Normally this warning message shows when you run many programs same time than the RAM installed on your computer is designed to support. Your can solve this problem by increasing the system paging file size also called as virtual memory. Using this virtual memory windows moving information to and from the paging file for fast processing. This will free up enough RAM for other programs to run properly.

To increase the system page file follow the give path:

Control Panel > System > Advanced > Click on Settings (Under Performance) > Advanced > Change

Here under Drive (Volume label), you have option to select any of your hard disk drive, but the best choice is, select any drive other than C drive for virtual memory.

Set the double Initial & Maximum Size of your Virtual Memory. Here set initial size 700 MB and maximum size up to 1000MB; you can change this size according to the free space available on your hard drive.

How to enable the Windows Task Manager and Regedit Editor?

2009-12-19T02:26:00.000-08:00

Today tip will help you to

unlock the windows Regedit Editor and Task Manager. Normally the reason of this message is that your computer has been infected by virus, trojan, or piece of spyware and message look like" Registry editor has been disabled by your administrator" or "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator". By default Windows Task Manager and registry editor status is enabled, but a user can also disable or enable it manually. Some time a registry hack applies on both editors to disable it. Before proceeding further, first scan your system with up-to-date antivirus, and then follow the given steps to enable it.

To enable this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

First go to the link of registry tools to access the useful script file and download it to your computer hard disk.

Now double click on this file to run this .vbs file and then a small message will appear on screen.

Here click on Open button to execute this file and you will get a confirmation message on screen.

Click on Ok button to finish the process and now you can run the both windows editors.

How to log off, restart and shutdown, connected computer from one location?

2009-12-19T02:25:00.002-08:00

Windows XP has a built-in feature (shutdown tools) that is used to shutdown any connected computers from any one computer. Using this feature, you can log off, restart and shutdown any computer in your network. This tip is very useful for you, if you are a Network Administrator at your company, because if you have experience to shutdown all connected computers daily in your local area network one by one, definitely that job is annoying responsibility for you.

Follow the given steps to configure shutdown tool on your computer:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

To perform this task, first make sure your both computers are directly connected or connected to network.

Click Start button then type shutdown -i in Run option then press Enter for next.

A small windows dialog box will appear with the title "Remote Shutdown Dialog".

Here first click on "Add" button to add computer, a small Add computers window will open, here type the name or IP address of the computer (you can add many computer for same action) that you want to turned off, then press OK for next.

Now select the action "What do you want these computers to do (log off, restart or shutdown)". If you want to warn your users about this action, select the check box "Warn users of the action" then set time, display warning for 30 seconds or more.

Now select the option that describes the reason to shutdown the computers and also type some comments for users.

How to send a voice mail to your friend using Windows XP?

2009-12-19T02:25:00.001-08:00

E-mail is a most popular and effective way to communicate with others through the internet. You can send documents, pictures and other types of files to any destination but the interesting thing is that you can send also your voice in a mail by attaching the file with e-mail. In windows XP, you can record your voice using Sound Recorder and a microphone options.

Follow the given steps to record your voice in windows XP:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative

rights.

To start recording process, first make sure you have attached a microphone

to your computer.

How to block any installed application from lunching on your computer?

2009-12-19T02:22:00.000-08:00

Today tip will help you to block any windows built-in applications or other third party programs from being executed on a target computer. If you want to restrict an application from running your family members and co-workers then AppLocker provides a simple solution to do so. However this tip is very useful for you, if you are sharing your computer with others or you do not want that other persons run all installed applications. This trick will work in nearly all of the windows versions like windows 2000, XP, 2003 and 2008.

AppLocker provides us a complete solution to block any programs from being executed on a target computer. You can download this tool for any windows version using AppLocker link. Download it and run the easy setup.

After installation, double click on AppLocker icon on your desktop to start the Application Locker software. Now this application will display the list of computer software programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and many others.

Here click on any application checkbox and then click on Save button to block any software. For example, if you want to block Internet Explorer then select the checkbox of internet explorer and now after saving the change click on Internet Explorer to start it. Here you will get following message:

Now here you can add other application other than the default lock application list, you can lock other programs by clicking the “Configure” button to open the configuration window. Type the caption you want displayed on the ‘Lock application list’. Then, type the programs executable file name and click the ‘Add’ button to add new applications.

How to change the windows default identity?

2009-12-19T02:21:00.002-08:00

In windows XP, you can change the windows default identity (Computer Manufacturer Logo and other information's) and share your own private identity there. First you right click on My Computer then click on Properties, here may be you will see computer manufacture logo or empty area. So add your own logo there to make your computer more private.

Follow the given steps to change the system default Properties identity:

First click on Start button and type notepad in Run option then press Enter.

Now type the following text in notepad.

[General]
Manufacturer="www.ComputerFreeTips.com"
Model=" Computer Free Tips and Tricks!"
[Support Information]
Line1="We offer various help topics including A to Z Computer Free Tips and Help."
Line2="Visit daily for new tips www.ComputerFreeTips.com"

There are some standard keywords, for example Manufacturer, Model, Line 1, Line 2; you can not change these keywords. Now save this notepad file in c:/windows/system32 folder with file name, OEMINFO.INI.

Now choose your favorite picture to set as logo, using any picture editor resize the picture size approx. 150X150 pixels then save it in c:/windows/system32 folder with file name OEMLOGO.BMP.

Now close the all files and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect. To verify these changes, right click on My Computer and open Properties.

Under General tab, verify the system properties with new settings.

Now click on Support Information for more detail.

Graphic Card

2009-12-19T02:21:00.001-08:00

The graphic card is one of the most important pieces of hardware in your PC. Without it, your super monitor with all the bells and whistles is just a junk box.

Make Directional Input

Most video cards come with simple frame capture programs, but you'll have to do some programming if you plan to integrate video capture with other operations on your computer, such as adding text data as an overlay or changing video-in channels on the fly. In this case you'll need good programming libraries in a language with which you are familiar for the video card. Some companies include libraries with their cards, but most charge extra. Most often libraries, when available, are for C or BASIC, and sometimes Pascal.

Choose Between 24 bit and 32 bit

For True Color mode, some graphic cards offer 24 bit while some offer 32 bit. Which is the best? When True Colour mode was first suggested, it utilizes 32 bit which was very pleasing to the eye, they realize that 24 (with less coolers) won't look much different since the human eye can only take about a certain amount of colors. On the other hand, 24 bit will run faster compared to 32 bit because it uses less colors. So if your card utilizes 24 bit, don't worry, it isn't bad.

Always Use The Latest Drivers

Yes, it is important to make sure you always have the latest drivers. The latest drivers will offer you better performance, more utilities and more compatibility (usually for DirectX or Direct3D). Take the effort to check you card manufacturer's site to look for the latest driver updates.

How to connect your home computer from Remote location?

2009-12-19T02:14:00.000-08:00

Using the Remote Desktop feature, you can connect your home computer (host) from any other remote computer (client) and can access all computer resources (installed programs, data and any network resources). You can run any computer application on the remote computer as you were running actually sitting in front of home computer.

Follow the given steps to configure your computer to connect remote computer:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

iew Files in Your Internet Browser

2009-12-12T05:33:00.002-08:00

Internet Explorer and Firefox can do more than just surf the web! Use them to open all sorts of files.

Just drag and drop a file into your browser window and watch it open. It comes in handy, especially for looking at JPEG's and GIF's, but other files work, as well. It can also open text files, and provided you have the correct Office software installed on your computer, it can open some of those, too! Experiment a bit and see what you come up with! Just drag a file over into an open browser window

Windows 7 Taskbar Preview

2009-12-12T05:33:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite features so far in Windows 7 is the ability to take a look at what's going on in the taskbar without actually having to click on or maximize anything. Want to know how? Great!

When you have programs present in the taksbar, just take your mouse pointer and hold it over the program you'd like to take a look at.

It's a mini-preview!

It comes in especially handy when you have multiple windows in a program group and you want to access something quickly.

G-Mail Chat Emoticons

2009-12-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

Do you use G-mail Chat? Well, if you do, you'll probably want to take a look at the awesome emoticons you can pull off in the interface! Here's a list and what each emoticon does.

They're even animated! Go ahead, jump into G-mail Chat and experiment!

Entertainment With Windows 7 Home Premium

2009-12-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 Home Premium delivers the best in class entertainment. You can have a home network and share all your favorite photos, videos and music. It also enables you to watch, pause, rewind and record TV. Both 32-bit and 64-bit discs are available with Windows 7 Home Premium that adds more convenience. You can have more work, more play and more of everything in between.

Entertainment PC:

- New navigation features like Aero, Shake, Jump Lists, and Snap have been added to simplify the PC

- Look and feel of Windows has been given an appeal with customization options for themes and taskbar programs

- Connection to printers and devices under a home network is easier than ever

- Latest Hardware and Software are given support

- PC can sleep and resume quicker, manages drivers, programs and power

- Since both 32-bit and 64-bit are available, full advantage of 64-bit PC hardware and memory can be utilized

- Wireless networks can be connected quickly

- Record TV with Windows Media Center

- Blu-ray read / write support for data files

- Video and Dolby audio Codecs have been integrated

- Offers large screen support

Preview:

You can manage lots of open programs, browser windows, documents easily with thumb-nail full-screen previews of open windows.

Pin / Jump Lists:

You can open files that are used regularly in just two clicks from Jump Lists and get around your PC faster with the improved taskbar. Programs often used can be pinned to the taskbar and be launched in just one click.

Snap:

You can manage open windows in simple ways just by dragging them. Windows can be arranged side-by-side on the opposite sides of the screen.

Peek & Shake:

In Windows 7 you can peek behind open windows to get a quick look at your desktop.

Windows search:

The Start menu has the windows search option which you can use to instantly locate and open any file on your PC, from songs, documents, emails etc.

Wireless setup:

Setting up wireless connections is easier in Windows 7 with consistent one click connections to available networks whether these networks are based on Wi-Fi, or broadband, or mobile, or dial-up, or corporate VPN.

IE8 Easy to browse:
IE8 offers visual search that helps you quickly find the information you want by adding virtual cues and previews to search results from prominent search providers including Live Search, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon and others. You can use Web slices to conveniently update on frequently changing websites like eBay auctions or traffic sites directly from the IE8 toolbar.

Easy to communicate and share:
Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Family Safety are all part of Windows 7 Home Premium. Photo Gallery enables you to share your photos to your favorite photo site easy. Live Mail enables managing multiple email accounts easy. Family safety enables keeping kids on watch. You can make your child play it safe by managing what sites they can visit and to whom they can send / receive emails and also from IM communications.

Windows Media Center:

You can turn your PC in to a TV with Windows Media Center and enjoy seeing your favorite videos and hear to music with Windows Media Player. You can also watch shows for free when and where you want with Internet TV. Graphics with DirectX 11 technology makes it look so real, it`s unreal. Many more consumer electronics from TVs to digital photo frames can now be connected to your home networks. With the “Play To” option you can send music, videos and photos from your PC to a networked device throughout your home. Remote Media Streaming makes you access all the above even when you are away from home.

Windows Touch:

Windows Touch screen technology makes PCs with touch screen more easy and intuitive to use.

Location aware printing:
Windows 7 automatically picks the right printer for you even when you move away from home to work in networks.

These are just some of the features of Windows 7 Home Premium! Stay tuned for more

Magic Bean Key Finder

2009-12-12T05:29:00.004-08:00

It happens, we have our Windows installation disks, but the product key is nowhere to be found! Usually it's located on a sticker stuck somewhere on our computer case, but what do you do in those other instances? Panic?

Nope, just look for a product key finder!

Your product key is actually located right within your Windows registry, and where back in the days of Windows 95/98 it was a s simple as going hunting, today's keys are encrypted, making them far more difficult to find/identify. That's where a key finder comes in! The one I use is called “Magic Jellybean Keyfinder”, which locates and decrypts keys for Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007. Do a Google search for it – it should be the first result.

Then just run the program and follow the instructions. You're looking for a number formatted like xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx – five sets of five letters and numbers. Write it down and keep t for the next time you format!

Magic Bean Key Finder

2009-12-12T05:29:00.003-08:00

Magic Bean Key Finder

2009-12-12T05:29:00.001-08:00

Windows 7 Wallpaper Slideshow

2009-12-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, we introduced you to John’s Background Switcher right here in the Worldstart Computer Tips Newsletter. As you’ll remember, the program allowed you to set a group of photos to rotate as your desktop background so that you won’t get the same boring wallpaper every time you look at your desktop. Microsoft has now decided to implement the same idea in Windows 7! The best part is, you can get started right now, as there are some ‘wallpaper slideshows' already included in your copy of Windows 7.

To get started, go back to your desktop and right-click your mouse. Hit Personalize and a window will pop up. Scroll down to Aero Themes and choose one of the themes with more than one picture above the theme name – for example, the Landscapes theme in the screenshot below.

Once you click on the theme you want, a short sound will play and the desktop wallpaper will change. If you want to change the settings of the slideshow, simply click Desktop Background at the bottom of the window. In this settings window, you can change the amount of time one picture is displayed before it is replaced by another, choose which pictures you want displayed and even automatically disable slideshows to save power when using a laptop battery. Hit Save changes when you’re happy with your tweaks.

Your pre-loaded images will cycle through as your desktop background just like you requested! It’s also possible to have the screen saver and sounds of your computer adjusted to suit your new theme.

Once you get bored of the nature photos that came with your copy of Windows 7, jump online to download a few more ‘themes’. Back on the theme choice window, click Get more themes online, scroll down and you’ll be presented with a selection of themes ranging from the best of Poland to the wonders of Bing, Microsoft’s newly-revamped search engine. Click the Download button below the theme you would like and Run or Open the file (depending on your internet browser). You can now use your downloaded theme as you would a pre-loaded one!

If you want to use your own pictures as your wallpaper, the process is a bit more complicated. For this example, I’ll use two images from Worldstart’s fantastic wallpaper collection, located at http://www.worldstart.com/wallpaper/. Firstly, head back to the theme choice window. If you’ve forgotten, you can get to that by right-clicking on your desktop and clicking Personalize.

Next, click the Desktop Background link at the bottom of the window. To pick which images you’d like in your rotation, firstly click Browse:

Once you’ve chosen the folder in which the images are in, check the boxes next to the images you would like included in your theme. In the screenshot below, I’d like both images included in my rotation so I have checked both of the boxes. After choosing how you’d like your images to appear on your desktop (stretched across the screen or tiled, etc.) and how frequently you would like the images to change, click Save Changes.

You’ve finished with the desktop background aspect of your theme, but you’re still not done customising the rest of your Windows 7 experience. For example, by clicking Sounds at the bottom of the theme choice window, it’s possible to choose what sounds you would like announcing various messages. Your screen saver can also be chosen by clicking Screen Saver at the bottom of the theme choice window. As the option windows for Sounds and Screen Savers are very similar to that of Windows Vista, I won’t go into those here.

Once you’re done with customising your theme, give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve just finished adjusting the appearance of your operating system with hardly any effort at all.

Disable Minimize and Maximize Animations in Windows 7

2009-12-12T05:27:00.000-08:00

'm a stickler for functionality, and although bells and whistles are nice to look at, if they don't do anything to increase the performance of my computer, I don't want 'em!

For example, Windows 7 has a neat shrinky/growy animation whenever you minimize or maximize a window, but does it really help anything?

Nope.

So let's disable it!

Click Start>Control Panel and navigate to System and Security>System. Click “Advanced System Settings” off to the left.

Under “Performance” click the “Settings” button.

Select the Custom option and un-check the box next to “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing.”

Click “OK” and you're done

Windows 7 Features

2009-12-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 in simple is making your PC simplified. It has better ways to find and manage files, help you speed through everyday tasks, and is designed for faster and more reliable performance. We shall explore through some of these features in this article.

HomeGroup:

You can share your music, pictures and documents from your home computers with HomeGroup that is available in Windows 7. Even domain joined computers can be part of your HomeGroup.

Having created a HomeGroup, you can share devices and libraries in your home as well including videos and printers. You can find your HomeGroup in the Explorer`s navigation panel.

Jump Lists:

You can access your documents, pictures or songs directly using Jump Lists. You have to hold your mouse over a program on the taskbar. If you do this on Windows Media Player it will list the commonly played tunes. You can also see Windows Live Writer Jump Lists.

These Jump Lists have customizable parts that are different across different applications.

Snap:

Snap is a quick and fun way to resize open windows just by simply dragging them to the edges of your screen. You can also expand both vertically and horizontally. It also makes it easy for reading, organizing and comparing windows.

Windows Live Essentials:

It`s a free piece of software that that makes Windows 7 do even more great things. Email, Instant messaging, photo editing and blogging all in nut shell!

Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Mail

Windows Photo Gallery

Windows Live Movie Maker and Family Safety are also part of fun ofered by this feature.

Windows Search:

When we start typing into the Start menu search box, we can instantly see a list of relevant pictures, music files, mails and documents on our PC. Search results are grouped by category, and contain highlighed keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan. External hard drives, networked PCs and libraries are also able to be searched through.

Taskbar:

It is a familiar place for switching between windows nad it is easier to see more flexible and powerful. You can also pin favorite programs anywhere in the taskbar. You can then rearrange them by clicking and dragging. When you point to a takbar icon you can see a preview of open files or programs. Once you move your mouse over a thumbnail you can see a preview of the full window and can also close the windows.

DVD Writer buying tips

2009-11-13T06:07:00.001-08:00

DVD is the latest mass data storage device after floppy disk and CDs. The price of the DVD writer is also very affordable these days. Have you decided to buy a DVD writer? Then read the DVD writer buying tips below before making your choice.The data and information we have in our computers are our treasure. That is the reason why we take all steps to secure this data. If the software installed in our computer gets corrupt or somehow doesn't function properly we can always reinstall these software. But if our data such as documents, images, videos etc are lost then our hard work will be lost. We may even lose money in certain cases. Therefore we should take all steps to keep our data safe and secure.To backup our information file we can use the Digital Audio Tape (DAT). To use this we need to buy the required driver. But this is very expensive. Ordinary people cannot afford this. Only big firms and companies use this type of tape drives to backup their data.When backing up in a smaller scale CDs or DVDs. Using CD Writers we can copy data into CD R or CD RW disks. But in CDs you can only store upto 650MB or 700MB of data. So the CDs are losing their popularity these days.In a DVD you can store upto 4.7GB of data. That is why DVDs have become popular. The price of DVD writers are also very affordable. So here are some buying tips for DVD Writers.
You can categorize DVD writers into two. The internal DVD writer that is permanently fitted inside the computer or the external DVD writer that can be carried with your anywhere you go.
DVD writers also have single layer DVD writer or Dual layer DVD writer. The DVDs useds in a single layer DVD drive can store upto 4.3GB. The DVDs in a dual layer DVD drive can store upto 8.5GB. The Single layer DVD drive is cheaper than the dual layer DVD drive.
See if the DVD writer supports the Mt. Rainier standard. Because if it supports Mt. Rainier then you don't require software such as In CD, Direct to Disk etc.
DVD drive's buffer memory should be high. At least 8MB buffer should be there.
Check the DVD drive supports CDR, CDRW, DVDR, DVD+R, DVD RW, DVD +RW etc.
The speed of the DVD writer should be fast. This will affect the reading and writing speed.
If you buy an external DVD writer then you should have USB interface or Firewire interface.

How to print on both sides of the paper?

2009-11-13T06:06:00.001-08:00

While printing using Laser printers, you need to insert pages one by one to print. Because of this, only one side of the paper can be printed at a time. But most of the times we may want to print on both sides of the paper. If you are facing with a similar need to print on both sides of the paper, then follow these tips.First insert a paper. Carefully note, which side of the paper is being printed by the printer. After printing the first page, printer will alert saying that the paper tray is empty. Now insert the same printed paper but this time insert it the other way, so that the printer will print on the blank side of the paper. Now press on 'resume printing / continue printing' button. As soon as you insert the paper, the printer will use its sensors to sense and suck inside to start printing the second page.But the method described above is not the best way to print on both sides of the paper. There is another easier method. When you give the 'Print' command, in the Printer dailog box, look for the 'Pages' section and type numbers '1,3,5,7....' (which is all the odd numbers). Remember to use a comma in between two numbers. In some printers you will see 'Odd Pages' option. If your printer has this option then you can just select this option instead of typing all the odd numbers in the Pages box. Now your printer will print all the odd pages of the document and start printing. Again see which side of the page is the printing page. After all the odd pages are printed, take all these printed papers and place them again in the paper tray (note that you should place them such that the printing side is correct). After you place them, again give the 'Print' command and either type all the even numbers such as '2,4,6,8...' etc or select the 'Even pages' option. Now you will get both pages of the paper printed correctly.Note that some newer printers are more intelligent and has an option to specify that 'print both sides' of the paper. If your printer has this option then printer will print the first page and automatically the paper will be sucked in for printing the second side of the page.

What is MFD (Multi Function Device)? MFD buying tips.

2009-11-13T06:05:00.002-08:00

It is very difficult to find an office without computers. Computers alone cannot help to make an efficient office. There are other computer related devices required in an office. For example the documents that you create using computers cannot be printed without a printer. Next, you need a scanner to scan documents, letters etc and bring to the computer. An office also requires a photo copier to copy printed documents and letters to make additional copies. Finally to send out documents to outside world a FAX machine is required.Consider that you need a printer, Scanner, Photocopier and a FAX machine. If you buy these machines separately you need to spend more money and these machines will occupy more office space.MFD (Multi Function Device) integrates all these four functions into a singe device. Therefore you only buy a single machine and save money and space. There are many MFD brands such as HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark, Samsung and Brother are available. The price of most of these MFDs are affordable.MFDs are also called 'All-in-One' device. Printing, Scannig, Photocopying and Faxing all in one device. Most people now do not use FAX and thereforethere are many MFD models without FAX.Buying tips for MFD (Multi Function Device)
As mentioned above all MFDs can Print, Scan and Photocopy. Some MFDs can additional send FAX.
Generally all MFDs are Inkjet printers. This is because, Inkjet printers are cheap. But the inkjet cartridges are very expensive and hence the maintenance cost becomes very high. Therefore there are new models of MFD which uses laser printers. The maintenance and printing cost in laser printers are lower and the printing quality is high.
Some MFDs have the email feature. So just like FAXing a document, you can also scan a document and email it to an email address using the MFD. Lexmark calls this feature as 'Scan-to-mail' where as HP calls it as 'Digital Sending'.
Some MFDs have the ability to directly scan, print and photocopy without the need to connect to a computer. This is also referred to as 'Direct USB printing & Scanning'.
Some MFDs have the ability to photocopy and print both sides of the paper.
MFDs can be connected to the network and shared. So many computers in the same network can scan, print, FAX, email or photocopy using the same MFD.
Some MFDs can do Multi Tasking. Most of the MFDs can scan, photocopy or print, but cannot do two or more tasks at the same time. But some models have multi tasking so while you are faxing a document you can also send email or start printing at the same time.

Computer buying tips

2009-11-13T06:05:00.001-08:00

Today computers have become a necessity in every home. More and more middle income households are now owning a computer now. That is why there are many different branded PCs at different prices. It has become a tough decision to choose the right computer. If you do not know the different components in the computer and their functions, it becomes even more difficult to choose. In this article let us see the various components in a computer to help you in your choosing the right computer for you.CPU (Central Processing Unit)Most of the computers have Pentium Processors. Pentium processors are very popular CPUs. Pentium Processors are manufactured by Intel.Other than Pentium, Intel also manufactures Celeron processors. AMD manufactures Athlon processors.If you want to save money then go for Celeron processors. If you want higher performance then choose Pentium processors.Pentium processors come in 2.6 GHz, 2.8 GHz, 3.0 GHz and above while Celeron processors come in 950 MHz to 2.80 MHz speed.RAM (Random Access Memory)There are many types of RAM namely DDR and SDRAM. The type of RAM you choose depends on the motherboard you choose and what your motherboard supports.Get a RAM as big as possible. 256MB of RAM is the minimum RAM required for a decent computer. But it is recommended that you go for atleast 512MB RAM or even higher if possible.MotherboardIntel, Asus and Mercury are some of the motherboard brands. Generally computer buyers overlook on motherboards. This is wrong. A good quality motherboard will provide an efficient and faster computer.The Chipset of a motherboard is very important. Intel's 845 and 915G chipsets can take in Pentium processors. Likewise nVidia's nForce 4SLI chipset takes AMD's Athelon 64 and Athelon 64 FX processors.Hard DiskHarddisks with 7200RPM speed are available. Harddisks with 40GB, 80GB, 120GB storage capacity are available. 80GB harddisk capacity is suitable for home as well as office use.HardDisks come in two types of interfaces. EIDE or SATA among which SATA interface is better.Graphics CardGraphics card is integrated inside the motherboard. Unlike before the graphics card and the motherboard are now integrated. Intel's Extreme Graphics, Graphics Media Accelerator 900 are popular. If you go for nVidia motherboard then Riva TNT2 graphics card is better.Sound CardLike graphics card, sound cards are also integrated in the motherboard. Many motherboards come with Ac97 Audio cards.CD DrivesUntil 2004 the sale of CDROM drives was good. All computers came with 48x or 52x CD drives.But sales of CD Writers took over CDROM drives in late 2004. From 2005 it is DVD writers and the combo drives that can handle both CDs and DVDs. So choose either combo drives that can read and write CDs and read DVDs or go for DVD Writers.Monitor15" and 17" monitors are very popular. The CRT monitors occupy more space on the table and consume more power. Where as the flat LCD panel monitors occupy less space and consume less power. So choose a LCD monitorKeyBoardA simple keyboard is usually sufficient. You may also try multimedia keyboards or Internet keyboards. But most computer users usually do not use these additional short cut keys provided in these new keyboards.Membrane keys or mechanical type keys are available. Of these Mechanical keys are more durable.MouseOptical mouse is better than the ordinary mouse. The ball inside the ordinary mouse tends to gather dust and therefore the optical mouse is better to use.OthersIf you are an audio buff then you can buy good speakers, earphone and head set.Try to get integrated network interface card and modem if you will be using networking or dialup internet.

What is Dual Core Processor?

2009-11-13T06:04:00.000-08:00

By the invention of new chip Intel organization makes a milestone in the usage of personal computer. The chip contains two new functional processors. The personal computer containing this kind of chip would able act as double-brained system. Past 12years empire of the Pentium chips comes to an end. This new invention had brought on the silver jubilee of the invention of personal computer.This chip had been brought 40years after the invention of moor’s law. Moor’s law says that the capacity and speed of the processor will be doubling every 2 years while the cost remains same.By using this dual pc we get high clarity of video, picture and audio’s. even though we get digitalize pictures in 3D effect.Uses of dual core processor:It can handle to entirely different type of processes as fast and easily at same time. For example a dual core chip can do the work of making imagination about the four car’s traveling path and also it can observe the path for it. We don’t want improve the speed of cars. by this dual core chip we do the music file downloading and games downloading on same time. At the same time we can also handle high capacity of data’s also. Before the dual core technology we use Hyper-threading technology, which can manage two different processes at single time. But dual core technology handles four different processing at single time.What is the meaning of chipset?We know about the word chipset in production of pc. What is mean by chipset? And what is the work of it? Shall we discuss about it?Chipset is the most important part of our desktop computer’s motherboard. All works are done around it. Chipset manage the work of how to execute commands which would be executed first how the output is get. Work done by using the memory. This the main work of chipset.A chipset contain two bridges namely south bridge and North Bridge. North Bridge contains the working parts like CPU, system memory and work between graphical memories. This is called as Intel memory controller hub. Intel organization calls the graphical and video processes as graphical memory controller. South Bridge is called as integrated controller hub. It contains 3GB serial ATA, raid level matrix, high definition audio, USB ports. CPU is the central part of computer. It is called as central processing unit up to now we use the CPU, which contain only one CPU, but dual core chip.While computer is processing CPU should acting very fast for this huge amount of heat will be produced it won’t cool by the fan, which is fixed on the CPU. Instead of this we use dual core chip means it will reduce the heat. New edition software designed as the facility using dual core. So the execution time must be reduced for example in Internet we can view and copy was ten sites at a single time at the same we can also make work on word processor also.Lets consider that you are hearing MP3 songs in mp3 player, suddenly u want to edit a picture from the Photoshop and mail it to your friends. Computer speed will be decreases when tasks are increases. In future more number of Technologies important take over in dual core chip.

New Digital Devices

2009-11-13T06:03:00.004-08:00

MP3 Player: Apple’s IPOD device gets an unique position to enjoy listening to songs and to store it. Recently Sandish Corporate introduces a device namely Sansa player, which is same as IPOD. But its memory capacity is two times greater than IPOD. It’s memory capacity is nearly 8GB here we can load and hear 2000 songs. 4GB IPOD player and 8GB Sandish player are sold for 250 $.Sandish Organization produces their flash memory chip by own, so that the cost of flash memory chip will get reduced. They got a unique position to give the chips for worldwide.Three-in-One device: Index Technology Company introduces a new device, which is the combination of MP3 player, PEN drive and FM Radio. It is very Useful to the Users.Two models of 3 in 1 devices are introduced based on their memory capacity of 512MB and 1GB. 3 in 1 device have the options of MIKE, VOLUME CONTROLLER, PLAY, FORWARD, REVERSE, SEARCH, REPLY, REPEAT. It also gives EARPHONE, USB combining drive and also one-year guarantee. 512MB 3 in 1 player cost Rs.2999 and 1GB 3 in 1 player cost Rs.3, 800Lenova’s ThinkPad:Lenova produce tow notebook computer’s by using the dual core chip of Intel’s. They are respectively named as ThinkPad Z61 and R60.Thinkpad Z61 has 14.1-inch screen and R60 has 15.4-inch screen. Its initial price is 60,000 Rs

Problems and Tips while using USB ports

2009-11-13T06:03:00.003-08:00

Some readers says that while is inserting flash drive in USB port. The system didn’t recognize it how could we overcome it.First of all we should know the two types of USB ports.USB 1.1: This is the first type of USB. It designed as per the speed of transferring 1.5mb/sec data’s. This is designed instead of serial and parallel port for the use of USB port. This is basically used only for connecting mouse and keyboard. System would be struggled for data overloading.USB 2.0: This kind of USB ports is used for large scale into data transfer. More readers ask that how to identify these two kind of USB ports. To identify the model use the following commands. Start=>My computer=> properties. And click Hardware tab after than select Device Manager. Now you got the list. In that list select the plus symbol that is located after “Universal Serial Bus controllers” if your system have USB 1.1 mean it displays as “Host controller (or) Open Host Controller”. Else USB 2.0 is used mean it displays like.” Enhanced host controller (or) USB 2.0 controller.Your windows operating system says that the connected USB get speeded. When you are connecting the high speed USB to logo speed USB port of the system, but most of the reader saying that while connecting the USB device to the system. The device was not getting detected. Commonly while inserting an USB device to the system. Window XP will say new hardware found. This message will display in the hard disk. While inserting the USB device it will get auto play, and enquire whether to open the files as file (Or) audio format (Or) video format? It assigns a drive letter for it. If all the details mentioned above had not displayed means the inserted device had not matched with your operating system. You can solve this by doing below. Go to Start => control panel =>Administrative Tools and click in administrative tool. After that double click on Computer Management. In that left side select Disk Management, at the right side a drive displays with the name of a removable drive. This is the drive thus containing to same name of already using drive. To change it right click on the while bar then a got a list. Now select “change drive letters and paths”. Now you can select the letter that you want. Click the “change” option. The letter that you selected it should be already used one. After finishing this you should get a warning message.Now click ok to it. Now close the computer management console while clicking the My computer icon. You can see the USB drive’s letter.We face more problems on problem on using USB port. Some part may become in accessible due to the power shortage of computer. These kinds of problems happen on USB 1.1 ports only. These problems happen only on windows 2000 and the before edition while getting these kind of problems. We just disconnect the instruments after that connect one by one. Now a days the new version computer consists of at-least four USB ports. Two ports are fixed in backside and the remaining two parts are fixed in front side. Windows XP packages will manage these ports without any problems

How to reformat boot disk and hard disk?

2009-11-13T06:03:00.001-08:00

Whenever an error occurs in an operating system or any important programs or whenever system collapses. The question arising is, is there any boot disk? Some people ask booting disk! What is this all about? Others feel for not creating such things.To avoid you from facing this problem I am giving this tip.
What is boot disk?
A boot disk & booting disk is all the same. These are not different. Basically the disks that consist of programs, which help a computer to function and startup, are called a boot disk. Mostly the computer boots from their hard disk only. We go for boot disk only when there is the problem in the hard disk. A boot disk can be a floppy disk, ACD, or DVD. For a boot disk to perform its function it should consist of files. Computer should know to understand and accept this files. The disk should consist of all O/S files or at least essential O/S files.
When and how you will use boot disk?
Whenever the operating system or the files of operating system in hard drive does not get loaded properly in to the memory, we use boot disk. How this happens? This happens when the system is not able to read OS files in the hard drive due to data blocks or due to some other error. The data block can be remove using the disk repair or the hard drive can be formatted and the operating system can be reinstalled.Our friends suggest reformatting the disk whenever small errors are taking place. But before reformatting think carefully and act.First of all what is formatting?
We can see what happens when it is done. When we start to reformat. Its start from the hard disk of the computer. We here only important information in the computer is saved. Any way it becomes like clean state after you have reformatted. Some people would reformat their disk ones in 6 months or a year. This is the good idea but not essential one as some IT companies will provide boot disk or installation CD this will help us to reformat, because of this computer attains the state when it first came to you whenever you can do a reformat whenever or program crashes without any explanation and the computer collapses and all or measures to repair it fails you can reformat. There are 5 stages in the reformatting. I will explain the basic stages here.1. First of all you have to take a backup of all the files in the hard drive of or computer. Here the files means not only that data files and also program files, application files, software files, the favorite website addresses and e-mail are to be back up. You have to remove the unwanted files from you are system no need of back up such unwanted files.2. Next you have to create a boot disk in the case of you don’t have boot disk. You have to select the boot disk as floppy or CD according to your computer and check the boot disk it correct or not because its important for next stage.3. In the third stage is little more confused don’t work. It’s easy when we understand .In this stage we have to reformat and partition the hard disk partition means dividing the hard disk for our facility. Due to this we can handle the drive partitions. Depends upon our file types. When we reformat the drive the files and in formations are fully deleted, so that only we create the back up. When we partition the hard disk its ready to get the files.4. The major part of formatting the hard disk is finishes after that we have to installed all the programs first of all we have to install OS for that we should have installation CD feed the CD into the drive and install. It as per the commandsAfter that you have to install the programs and copy the files from your back up. After finishing this you get a Internet connection to view your favorite website and listen music your hard drive get new look you can use your computer as new.5. The above all basic hints only it explain the common stages in the process.Do you want to know briefly you can get it from websites? It contains more explanation and pictures. Down load it to read.

What is Four-in-One computer chip?

2009-11-13T06:02:00.002-08:00

Two months back Intel started a revolution on P.C by releasing DUAL CORE CHIP. After that now it releases the CPUs with 4 chips in November 2007. In dual core chip we get a new experience on 3D games. But four-in-one chips will increase the potential of the server. The chips would be released on 2007.It would increase the usage to the computer in home and in office. Mr.Ottelni chief of Intel says that the four-in-chip is 70% more effective than the dual core chip. Now Intel 65 Nm Tech, by next year it use 45Nm Tech. (1Nm = 1/109 m). In 45 Nm techs we can fix the transistors closely into the chip. If we fix more number of Transistors in a small space, it will increase the efficiency. If we fix four-chip combination it increases the efficiency and also reduce the heat.In his seminar Ottenli shows a silicon wafer chapathi. It contains 80 Tera flop chips by using the chips we can execute 1 Lakh crores digital actions within one second. Now it is in starting stage, soon it comes to trade oriented if can execute a job of a computer, which contains thousand chips.He also shows the P.C named community P.C that is designed by specialist in Bangalore Intel. This computer is more compact and air tight batteries. They are also manufacturing computer named schoolmate, which is used by students. It is a small notebook computer for school students. It doesn’t have hard disk, instead of that flash memory is used. It costs around Rs. 13,500. In future its cost must be reduced and will be used by all school students

Computer Monitor troubleshooting steps

2009-11-13T06:02:00.001-08:00

Consider now your computer works properly. But the monitor has a problem. The monitor problems irritate us while we want to get things done fast. Follow these steps to troubleshoot your monitor.1. First of all check if the power supply to the monitor is ON. In old type of computers the power supply is given in the CPU but in recent computers the monitors have own power cable.. Check if it is fixed correct and If the switch is on. If the power supply comes to the monitor the LED will glow in the monitor. Otherwise it does not glow.2. After that you have a switch control in monitor for adjusting the monitor setting. You can adjust to get display. Children may change the settings mistakenly. We can check it out.3. After that check whether video cable is connected to the CPU firmly.4. If you have any other monitor you can connect with CPU by using the same video cable and also the problem continuous that means the video cable has a problem.5. If you can connect your monitor with another CPU then we decide the problem is in your monitor. You have to change your monitor or repair the monitor by the technician.6. When booting the computer the monitor that is identified maybe incorrect then we decide the problems in your display card. Try to change the monitor driver if you have the CD. Or change the video card. After fixing new display card, if the problem continues then change your monitor. Don’t buy a second hand monitor. Buy a monitor based on new technology releases when you buy a new monitor. Recently the flat LCD monitors are cheep

Live Scribe - Computer pen

2009-11-13T06:01:00.002-08:00

Live Scribe Pulse Pen does almost everything a computer can do. This Live Scribe pen has been designed to help students, journalists, teachers, researchers and writers. In this article we can see the usability of this Live Scribe Pen and its features.
Basically it is a Pen. Computing capability is built around it. At the back and its edge is the in-built camera. The notebook that comes with it has millions of pixels. Every move that you make with this pen is captured exactly in the notebook. In addition to just capturing motion, the pen also captures the audio surrounding it. So when you draw or write something, the surrounding audio is also captured and inserted into the image or words that you write. What is more interesting is you can just tap any place later and the audio will be played corresponding to the place you tapped.
As an example, consider a student takes notes in the classroom. At that time the teacher is teaching a lesson. As the student is writing, the teacher's audio also gets captured simultaneously. So later when the student looks back at the notes he has taken, he can also listen what the teacher was speaking at that time of writing.
The software and tools to capture audio, the special paper that this pen uses to write, the software that is used to store and playback from the notebook, developer tools for extending its usage, all these comes as a package.
It is easy to copy what has been copied using the pen to a laptop or to the internet for sharing with others. 1GB of storage can hold 100 hours of recording. You will need Windows XP or Windows Vista to do that.

How to remove 'grid lines' from MS Excel

2009-11-13T06:01:00.001-08:00

If you are a frequent user of MS Excel and sometimes wondered whether you can remove the grid lines from your Excel sheet then the answer is 'YES' you can remove the gridlines from Excel sheet.
To remove grid lines from Excel work sheet then follow these steps.
Click on 'Tools' menu and select 'Options'
In the 'Options' dialog box select the 'View' tab
In the 'View' tab uncheck the gridlines check box
Press 'OK' and the gridlines will be gone. However if you create 'New' worksheets the gridlines will be visible again. To hide them follow the above steps again.

How to create effective multimedia presentation using power point

2009-11-13T06:00:00.004-08:00

How to create effective multimedia presentation using power point?
To present one's ideas across clearly, most of us us Microsoft Office Power Point. MS Powerpoint is a great application to create and do stylish and informative presentations. These days, people are using power point to include video clips and audio clips to create a multimedia presentation. Here are some tips on how to use video clips and create a power point presentation.
The size of the videoAfter inserting video files into presentations the size of the presentation file (.ppt) becomes too big. Therefore to run this presentation a powerful computer with more system memory is required. Due to this reason, some do not show the video clip on 'full screen'. Instead they use a smaller screen for the video. For example in a 640 x 480 resolution monitor a 320 x 240 size video clip will be smaller when viewed. Therefore it is best to keep the size of the video as 640 x 480. A video with this size (640x480) will appear clear on all monitors with different resolutions such as 640x480, 800 x 600, 1024x768, 1280x1024.
CompressionMost of the people choose the MPEG 2 video compression format. However, Microsoft's Widows Media Video (WMV) and Real Network's Real Video compression methods are also pretty good.Between Widows media video and Real video which is better? Which takes the least CPU time and processing power? Even an average computer can run Windows media video files and hence most of them choose windows media video. Moreover this WMV format is most suitable for Powerpoint. Hence I suggest to use the MWV format for compression for use in power piont.
Book marking a scene or a frame in a videoIf you are going to insert a very big video into the power point presentation it is better to use the software Windows Media Encoder File Editor. When you download the windows media encoder, this file editor is also downloaded together with this software. Using this software you can bookmark important scenes in the video. The presenter can jump to any book marked scene in the video while doing the presentation.
How to Insert a video inside the presentationThere are three ways how you can insert video into a powerpoint presentation. Let us see which method is the best.1. Insert Movies and Sounds is the mostly used method. A window will be shown within the slide where you can insert the video and play it by clicking on the window.2. Insert Object is another method where you can insert the Windows media player as the object. Once you have inserted the media player object right click on this object and choose 'properties'. In the properties window you can show the media controls and in the 'Custom' button you can browse and select the video file stored in your hard disk. This insert object method is the best to show media controls such as Volume control, slider bar, zoom in, zoom out, full screen etc.3. Action Button. The above two methods are not suitable to show real video and quick time videos inside the power point presentation. But if you have only real video or quick time format video then you can use the 'Action Button' option from the 'Slide Show' menu. Using the action button option you can run any windows applications from within the presentation. So using this option you can choose real video or the quicktime player. If you click the action button the player will be started and the video will run

How to create 'Table of Contents' in MS Word?

2009-11-13T06:00:00.003-08:00

You are creating a word document and you wish to create a 'Table of Contents'. To do this there is no need to individually type all your headings and manually scroll down the document to find the page numbers to create a manual table of contents. MS Word can generate this 'Table of Contents' automatically. To generate this table of contents automatically follow these steps.
Decide on which headings should come in the table of contents. Then you have to organize your document with proper headings
For example you should have Headings and sub headings etc. To convert normal text into headings, goto the portion of the document where you have typed the heading. Select the heading text and from your 'formatting' tool bar instead of 'Normal' choose 'Heading 1'.
For sub headings select the sub headings and change the formatting to 'Heading 2' and your sub sub headings to 'Heading 3' and so on.
Once your document is formatted with Headings and Normal text now place your cursor where you want to insert the 'Table of contents'. Usually in the beginning of the document.
Now from the menu bar select 'Insert'->'Index and Tables' or 'Insert'->'Reference'->'Index and tables' based on the version of MS Word you are using to open the 'Index and Tables' dialog box.
In the 'Index and tables' dialog box select the 'Table of contents' tab.
In the 'Table of contents' tab select the desired format you want such as 'classic' , 'formal' etc and click OK.
In the 'Table of contents' tab you can also change the 'Show level' field and choose upto what level of headings you want to display in the table of contents.
Now Word will automatically create the 'Table of contents' and display it in the document.
Once you have created the table of contents and then you make changes to the document your page numbers will change. Therefore you may need to change the table of contents page. For this there is no need to generate the table of contents again. Instead place the cursor on the table of contents and right click. On the menu select 'Update filed' and update the entire table. Now word will automatically update the table of contents

Free software to create Audio CDs

2009-11-13T06:00:00.001-08:00

Many people create Audio CDs using their MP3 files. In fact these CDs are just data CDs with audio files.
To create Audio CD or Data CDs with MP3 files in addition to the CD writer you need good softwares. In fact when you buy the CD writer it usually comes with the CD writing software. If you feel that software is not user friendly or not very helpful then there are many useful free software applications to create audio cds.
MP3 CD Doctor 2004:MP2 CD Doctor 2004 is a free tool to create Audio CDs with the MP3 files that you have. You can download this free tool from www.mp3surgeon.co.uk/products.php. From this website you can download the file named mp3cddoctor2004.exe and execute this file to install it in your computer. The file size is approximately 1.01 MB
CD Burner XP Pro:CD Burner XP pro is also a free software to create Audio CD. You can download this tool from www.cdburnercp.se . The file size of this software is around 11MB and it is in .zip format. You have to download this and then use WinZip to extract the files before installing it onto your computer.
Fire Burner:Fire Burner is also a free tool to create Audio CD. You can download this tool from http://fireresearch.biz.ly . The file size is very small and can be easily downloaded. Though some say that this software is a bit difficult to use, you can try it.
Burn 4 Free:Burn4free is another free tool to create audio cd. You can download this free software from www.burn4free.com. The file size is roughly 2.2MB. Some of the branded CDRW disks are not supported by this software.
HT Fireman CD/DVD Burner:HT Fireman CD/DVD Burner is another free application to create audio cd. You can download this free tool from http://downloadszdnet.com . You can also get other audio cd creators from this website such as SUN Burner , Bin Artison CD Burner. But you should be cautious as these softwares belong to the 'Adware' group of applications and therefore there will be advertisments in these software.
You may still vote for Audio CD software such as Nero Express or Nero Burning ROM or Music Match Jukebox which are well known. But the above softwares are free and therefore there is no harm in trying out.

How to create 'Booklets' using MS Word

2009-11-13T05:59:00.002-08:00

To create small or big BOOKS we need special software that are specifically developed for this. This category of software is called 'Desktop Publishing' (DTP). For example 'PageMaker' is a DTP application. But for creating smaller books are 'Booklets' then you need not purchase DTP software. You can use MS Word 2002 or higher version of MS Word to create booklets.
First you need to plan well and decide on how you want your booklet to be. Both sides of the book should appear at the top of the paper. Another two pages should come at the bottom of the paper. That is, on a single paper, you will print four pages of a booklet. Therefore the number of pages of the booklet should be in multiples of 4 such as 8,12,16 etc.
For this tutorial, let us create a booklet with 12 pages. Therefore this will be printed on 3 (3x4) papers. On the first paper, page 12 should be placed on the left and page 1 should be placed on the right. (Remember that after printing, the paper will be folded into two). On the BACK side of the same paper, page 2 should be printed and on the right page 11 should be printed.
Therefore, you will now know that pages 12 and 1 will be printed on the front of the paper and pages 2 and 11 should be printed on the back of the same paper. Likewise in the front of the second paper pages 10 and 3 will be printed and on the other side pages 4 and 9. In the third paper, pages 8 and 5 while on the back pages 6 and 7.
Are you confused now? Don't worry, MS Word will know exactly where to print which page. Let us see how we can achieve this.
Steps to create and print a Booklet in MS Word
Open MS Word 2002 or higher version of Word
Goto File -> Page Setup
Select the 'Margins' tab
In the 'Multiple Pages' drop down list select 'Book fold'. Word will automatically change 'Portrait' to 'Landscape'
Give desired margins for Top, Bottom, Inside and Outside
For binding the book there has to be an extra space at the left. Therefore change the 'Gutter' setting according to your preference
Click on the 'Sheets per booklet' drop down and select the appropriate number such as 4,8,12 etc. If you are not sure how many pages you need (since you haven't started typing) then just select 'All'
Type the contents of the book. pictures, tables, add whatever you want.
Save the file using File->Save and give a filename
Now you can print it using File->Print
If your printer prints automatically on both sides of the printer then you can just print it. If not choose 'Manual Duplex' option in your 'Print Dialog box' and then print it. ( You will need some experience in order to get this right. Gain perfection by Trial and Error until you get the printing correctly)
Now fold the papers into two. and arrange it based on the page numbers.
Now your first 'Booklet' is ready.

How to synchronize files between office and home?

2009-11-13T05:59:00.001-08:00

It is very common these days to use computers both at office and at home. People often use the same files both at office and at home. While doing this, they store the same file in the office desktop as well as the home desktop or laptop (notebook) computer. Therefore the same file exists in more than one places. Consider this scenario: You have the same file in your notebook computer and your desktop. You change the file in your notebook and forgot to copy the latest version to your desktop. You endup losing valuable data and information. Worse still if you 'Save As' a different file name. This may give rise to more confusion. So how to solve this issue and maintain and synchronize different versions of the same file and always get the latest version of the file wherever you work.
The solution to all these problems is, 'Synchronization of files' Everyone needs this feature. Because using the same file in different computers is very common with most people.
In your office there is a file in two different computers. One computer has a new file and the other have the old file. But you want that both the computers should have the new file. There is no need to look in each of these computers to decide which is the new file. All you need to do is Synchronize these two computers and both computers will have the new file.
Likewise to make the files in many computers to have the latest data, you just need to synchronize the files in these computers. There are many applications available to do this. However, you do not have to search for these applications. Windows has inbuilt this facility.
Briefcase is one such utility that windows OS has right from Windows 95 onwards. 'Offline files' is another such utility that windows OS has from Windows 98 onwards.

What is Multibooting?

2009-11-13T05:58:00.004-08:00

Multibooting is the ability to install and use more than one Operating System in the same computer.
Generally most of us use just one operating system in our computers such as Windows or Linux. But there are people who install and use more than one operating systems in their computers. Some of the people who do this are:
Computer students
Computer teachers
Programmers and developers who would like to test, how their application will behave in different operating systems
Testers
Such users who have installed more than one operating systems in their computers will see a menu with a list of operating systems that they have installed. They can choose the operating system with which they want to boot from the list. Likewise they have switch between different OS by rebooting and selecting the OS. This is called multibooting.
How to install more than one Operating Systems in one computer?
1. Disk Partitioning
If your computer has two hard disks and they are not partitioned then you can two different Operating Systems on each of this hard disks. If you have only one hard disk and it is partitioned then you can install different OS on each of these partitions. Each OS needs to have a separate partition.
You can use FDISK to partition the harddisk in windows. This is not an easy tool to use. While partitioning, the data in the harddisk will be lost. Therefore you need to backup the data before partitioning.
If you are not so sure about using this command, there are other more user friendly applications available for partitioning. 'Nortan Partition Magic' is one such tool. You can get this tool from www.symantec.com This is not a free tool. 'Ranish partition manager' is a free tool but it is a bit difficult to use.
If you like to use windows and linux in your computer, then install Windows first and partition your hard disk and then install Linux in the other partition.
2. Virtual Machine (VM)
Those who want to use multiple OS in their computers can use Virtual Machines. VM is now very popular. By the use of software, VM creates a Virtual environment for different OS. You have installed many applications in your computer. VM is another application. To switch between one OS to another, run the VM application first and then switch to the other OS. Then the VM will generate a virtual environment for the other OS. The other OS will then think that it is using the computer entirely by itself.
Using the Multibooting method only one OS can be run at a time. The selection is done while booting.
Using VM, more than one OS can run simultaneously. Each OS will run without knowing the existence of the other OS. But this will reduce the computer speed and performance. Some of the popular VM are Microsoft Virtual PC (www.microsoft.com) and VMware Workstation (www.vmware.com)
3. Emulators
Sometimes you may not need the full fledged OS. But you may want to use a specific feature of an OS. For instance you may not want the full 'Linux' OS but you want the base shell of Linux to run linux based applications on your computer.
In Windows, you may want to see the look and feel of 'Linux' and you want to run 'Linux' commands on the windows OS. For this there are emulators available for different OS.
For example, you can use Cygwin which is a free tool to emulate the Unix OS under windows. You can download this tool from (www.cygwin.com).

What is difference between 'Save' and 'Save As'?

2009-11-13T05:58:00.003-08:00

In many applications under 'File' menu, it is common to see these 'Save' and 'Save As' options. Both these options are used to save the files in hard disk or floppy disk. But, what is the difference between these two options? You may ask, why is there two different options for achieving the same task? Though both options do the same thing, there are differences in these two. When you use 'Save' option, the file currently you are creating will be saved in the same name. If the file in use has not been saved before and this is the first time you are saving, then you will be prompted for the file name. Once you give that name the file will be saved. When you work on the same file again and you click 'Save' the file will be saved in the same name. This time you won't be prompted for a name.
But when you select, 'Save As', the same file can be saved in a different name. That is, you are working on a file and editing the file. In this file you make some changes and you want this file with the changes to be saved as another file then you choose 'Save As' to save it in a different name. After saving, if you open the 'windows explorer' and look at the folder, you will see two files, one with the original name and the other one with the new name

MS Word - How to create custom formatting styles?

2009-11-13T05:58:00.001-08:00

Some people claim that the most widely used software in the world is the Microsoft Word. But not many people use the 'STYLE' feature which is available in Word application. It is called 'Styles and formatting'.'Style' is the first option shown in the 'Format' toolbar. It is also accessible from the 'Format' menu. The default selection of 'style' is 'Normal'. If you click on this drop down list, you can see the full list of 'styles' available. After selecting any of these styles from the list, if you type in the document the text will follow the style that you have selected.Using this feature, you can create your own customized styles. For example let us create two styles namely "Question" and "Answer". What are these two styles for? What can be done using these two styles? Let us do a step by step tutorial.In magazines and books you would have seen Q & A sections. Before the question starts the letter 'Q' will be prefixed. After the question ends and before the Answer starts the letter 'A' will be prefixed to the answer. So when you see the 'Q' letter you immediately know that that is a question. And when you see the letter 'A' you immediately know that that is the answer.So what is the requirement to achieve something similar. When you choose the 'Question' style a big letter 'Q' should be entered in the document automatically. Once you type the question and press 'Enter key', a big letter 'A' should be automatically entered on the next line of the document. And the letters you type should change to the 'answer' style format. Again, after you the answer is fully typed and you press 'Enter key' again, the document should change back to 'Question' style format.Let us see how we can achieve this.Step 1: Create the 'Question' style
i. Select Format->Style to open the 'Style' dialog boxii. Click on 'New' to open the 'New Style' dialog box.iii. In the 'Name' text box type 'Question'.iv. In 'Based On' select 'Normal'v. Click 'Format' to open the drop down box and select 'Numbering'vi. This will open the 'Bullets and Numbering' dialog box.vii. In this 'Bullets and Numbering' dialog box, select 'Bulleted' tabviii. In this tab, Select any bullet symbol that you don't normally useix. Click on 'Customize' button to open the 'Cusomize Bulleted List' dialog boxx. In this list, select any 'bullet symbol' that you don't normally use.xi. And then click on 'Character' ('Bullet' in some versions) button to open the 'Symbol' dialog boxxii. In the 'Symbol' dialog box click the 'Font' list and select any FONT.xiii. Then select the 'Q' character and click 'OK' to close the symbol dialog boxxiv. Then click the 'Font' button to open the Font dialog box.xv. In the 'Font styles' select 'Bold' and if you wish increase the Font sizexvi. Click 'OK' to close the Font dialog box.xvii. Click 'OK' to close the Customize Bulleted list dialog box.xviii. Click 'OK'. You have successfully created your own new 'Question' Style.The Style dialog box is still open. Do not close now as you need to create the Answer style.Step 2. Create the 'Answer style'Follow all the steps as above with some slight changes. In the third step, instead of typing 'Question', type 'Answer' as the name of the style. After finishing 4th step, in the 'Style for Following Paragraph' drop down list select 'Question' (which you created previously). By doing this when you type the answer and press 'enter key', the following paragraph will be changed to the 'Question' style. In step 13, instead of the letter 'Q' type letter 'A'.Step 3: To change style to 'Answer' after the question has been typed automaticallyWhen you type your first question, you will select the 'Question' style. Then you will type the question. After typing the question you will press 'Enter' key. At that time Word should automatically change the style to the 'Answer' style. To achieve this follow the steps.1. From the 'Style' dialog box select the already created 'Question' style.2. Click the 'Modify' button to open 'Modify style' dialog box.3. In the 'Style for the following paragraph' drop down list select 'Answer'4. Click 'OK' to close the 'Modify style' dialog box.5. Clicl 'Close' to close the style box.Step 4. To type Q & A sectionIn the 'Formatting' tool bar from the first drop down list, select the 'Question' style. In the document you will see the letter 'Q'. Type your question there and press 'Enter'. Now MS Word will automatically show letter 'A' below. Type your answer and press 'Enter'. The style will automatically change back to 'Question'. Likewise you can type all your question and answers.

what is application software and Operating system

2009-11-13T05:57:00.003-08:00

what is an Operating system?To run the installed programs in your computer, to manage the system memory, to manage the file structure in your harddisk, to identify the file extensions and application types and use them accordingly, an operating system is required. Without this operating system, no computer can work. Some of the populare operating systems are Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux and Solaris.What is an Application software?An application written to solve a specific need or requirement is an application software. This can be further classified into customized application software and generic application software. Some example of a generic application software are MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia freehand etc. Customized application software are applications developed for a particular company to suit their workflow and automate their processes. There are many software development companies that develop this type of applications.

'compact', 'custom' or 'typical'

2009-11-13T05:57:00.001-08:00

While installing any software, what is 'typical', 'custom' or 'compact' options?
When installing software programs, quite often these three options are given for the user to choose. (typical, custom or compact). Most of them just choose any options without knowing the difference between these options.The harddisk capacity in olden days was very limited. Therefore when installing applications in the old computers this 'compact' option can be chosen to save on disk space. If application is installed using this option then some of the features of the application may be removed and a smaller version of the application will be installed. However now the computer harddisk has more capacity and therefore this option need to be used.If you choose 'typical', then the installation time will be shorter. There is no need to think too much. But in this method also the complete features will not be installed. A most common set of features of the application as decided by the application vendor will be installed.The 'custom' option if chosen will display a popup screen prompting the user to decide what are the features the user wants to install in his computer. Some of the features in the list shown will be already selected. Mostly all the 'typical' features will be selected by default. if you feel that some of the already selected features are not reuired then just deselect them and select other features if you want. For instance that application may have multi language support for languages like french, german etc. If you don't need them you can de select those features. So the 'custom' feature is the most useful option. You find it difficult the first time. Once you get used to it, installing your next application will be a breeze.

Is there a free Imaging software equivalent to Photoshop? What is GIMP?

2009-11-13T05:56:00.003-08:00

For handling images in computers most of us use Adobe Photoshop. There is no doubt that Photoshop gives unlimited features for creating and handling images. Printing works, Banners and magazine designs all need images. Photoshop is widely used for all these. But Adobe photoshop is not free. It is illegal to use pirated copies of the software. However a free software is available which can do most of the things photoshop can do. It is called GIMP.GNU Image Manipulation Program is the full form of GIMP. This is a very popular free open source software that runs on many operating systems and can create, edit and manipulate images much like photoshop. You can download this GIMP software freely from http://www.gimp.org for Windows, Linux, Mac Os or Linux Os.Do not just download the software from the above website. You can also get details from there about how to install, how to use GIMP from this website.What is GIMP?GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Some call it as General Image Manipulation Program.To draw images, to handle images, to enhance images GIMP is very useful. Almost everything you do in Photoshop can be done using GIMP. And it is Free. Free software foundation has released this software under the GNU (General Public Licence). Therefore you can even view the source code of this software freely. You can also copy this software and distribute it freely.How to install GIMP?If you want the full source code of GIMP and want to compile it yourself then goto www.gimp.org and download the appropriate file for your operating system. Then install it on your computer. Instead if you want the pre-built binary packages of GIMP, download the latest installer from http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net . (recommended)
In Windows, installation is very easy by running the executable file. Let us see how to install GIMP in linux. Give this command in your computer. tar-zxvfgimp-2.0.1.trar.gzNow the compressed files will be extracted. Now goto the extracted folder and give the following three commands./ Configuremakemake uninstallWhat are the features available in GIMP?There are many tools available in GIMP. Paintbrush, airbrush, ctone, blur, sharpen are tools related to painting. There are tools to handle text too. Other tools to change images such as rotation, scaling, flipping, sheearing are also available. Selection tools such as square, oval or freehand tools are available. GIMP can handle image formats such as Tiff, Gif, Jpeg, Bmp, PPm image formats. You can convert images from one format to another format. Other tools such as layers, transparency and scripts are also available.You can create images according to your imagination. You can get tools from the menu bar or right click and choose from the shortcut menu.You can convert the created image to CMYK format to print. Colour mixer is another important feature.As noted above, GIMP has many features as in Adobe photoshop and is freely available. However, GIMP is inferior it photoshop in some ways in terms of quality and power.

How to convert Word document to PDF? Download free PDF Writer

2009-11-13T05:56:00.001-08:00

What is a PDF?PDF (Portable Document File) is a often used file in computers. After creating a file you may like to bring this document to show someone. Or you may want to print the document. But there are many problems and issues while doing so.
The other computer maynot have the same application program that you used to create the file. For example you may have created the file using Page Maker. If Page Maker is not installed in the computer where you want to view the file then you cannot open this file in that computer.
Or the FONT that you used in your computer maynot be available in the other computer and therefore not viewable.
If you had sent the file via email to your friend and your friend does not have the application program to open the file then he cannot view it.
To solve all these problems PDF (Portable Document File) is used. When you create a PDF, the file is created exactly the same way it will appear on the print out. PDF can contain images, tables and graphs. In order to view this file Adobe Acrobat application is required. Adobe provides this software free at www.adobe.com .But the problem with the PDF files is how to create these PDF files? The PDF writer that Adobe provides is not free. However many other companies have developed PDF writer software and provides it free. There are many types of PDF writers. Some of them inserts the company's advertisements in the created PDF documents. Some give evaluation copies that are free for use for a limited period of time only. Some may have spyware embedded inside. But there is a free PDF writer available in the internet that is totally free. The name of the application is PDF Redirect v2.1.1. You can download and install this software within few seconds. Here are some tips on how to use this PDF ReDirect software.If you have created a file in MS Word document and you want to convert this word document to PDF then open MS Word and open the file that you want to convert to PDF. Then From MS Word goto 'File->Print' option. This will open the Printer dialog box. In the printer list select the 'PDF Redirect' and print it. Now PDF Redirect will convert the word document to PDF and then open the 'File dialog box' to choose the folder where you want to save the converted PDF file. Once the file is created you can open it using Adobe acrobat reader. You can download this software from http://www.download.com/PDF-ReDirect/3000-6675_4-10255233.html?tag=nl.e415

PowerPoint tutorial (MS Power Point basics for a beginner)

2009-11-13T05:55:00.003-08:00

Many years back, Government agencies and private organizations used photos and image Slide shows to show their new plans and accomplishments to press and others. In this old method which used a slide projector, once the slide is created you cannot make any changes or modifications to the slide content. Without the Slide projector these slides were useless. But with the invent of computers this practice has become obsolete. With Presentation software and applications such as Microsoft Power point, the slide projection method is no more in use.There are many Presentation applications. The more popular of them are Action, Harvard Graphics, Freelance Graphics, Power Point. It is undeniable that Microsoft's PowerPoint is the most popular among them all. The term 'Slide Show' is used in these presentation software. Every screen shot that is displayed on the screen is called a Slide. After creating many such slides you can store it as a single file. This file is called the presentation file. In PowerPoint .ppt is the extension of a presentation file. You can also call a presentation file as a slide show.Power point has a 'Auto Content Wizard' feature. If you use this wizard and select the appropriate options (eg. Projects, Personal, Sales/Marketing) the wizard will show many slide shows under these headings. If you choose any of them and answer the questions that the wizard asks then the slide show is ready within minutes.PowerPoint gives many themes and templates. Each template has a different background and fonts. You can select your preferred theme and start creating your presentation slide show. In each slide type the appropriate content.PowerPoint has a 'Blank Presentation' option. If you choose this you will get slides with White background. Most experienced people use this option. In this you create slides according to your design and content. If required later you can apply a theme to this slide show. When you apply a theme to a blank presentation, all the content will be automatically changed to the selected theme.Anybody can create a presentation easily. If you have family photos, scan it and save it in your computer as images. Or transfer from your digital camera to your computer. You can create a presentation using these photos and show it to your guests and friends.In a single slide you can many objects. For example in a slide you have inserted a photo and below the photo you have added some text to explain about the photo then you have two objects in your slide. One is the image and the other is the text. You can make these objects in a slide appear in the screen at different intervals and different styles. This is called Animation. Between two slides, if the first slide is removed and the second slide is shown, you can remove and insert slides using different styles. For example the first slide enters from the left of your screen and moves to the right and disappears and after that the second slide emerges from a single dot in the center and zooms up to occupy the entire screen. This is called 'Transition' between slides. In your slide show presentation you can create Animation and transition techniques to make your presentation interesting and rich.For home user as well as for Office user, here is a basic PowerPoint tutorial
First determine the objective of the presentation. For example are you introducing a new product of your company? or you presenting a project proposal? First determine this objective. Your whole presentation should follow this objective.
Also determine your target viewers. For example your audience is going to be 'Engineers' and your slide show is about marketing fo your product, your presentation will be boring to your audience.
Next, make a list of what images, charts, audio or video that you already have and want to include in your presentation. Then copy all these files in a single folder in your computer.
Now plan your story line. What you want to say first, and what should follow, what should be your conclusion. Your slides also should follow this story line. If you say something then move to something else then again move back to the previous slides then the audience will be irritated.
Then choose the right template. Do some trial and error and see many templates to decide on the final one.
Do not use the same style to show a big paragraph. Use different styles and better still break it and split it into more slides.
Do not overuse animations. If you do, then the audience will be distracted and their concentration will move to animation rather than your content. In all slides do not use more that two animations.
In the same presentation do not use different transition styles. Use the same transition style throughout your presentation. Otherwise the audience will be distracted.
Do not insert audio into every slide of your presentation. You can include audio in two most important slides of your presentation. Otherwise use a soothing background music all through your presentation.
Do not use all capital letters and do not use many styles or fonts in the same slide. Try to minimise the number of fonts that you use. It is better that you use the same font throughout the slide show. Otherwise it will be very difficult to read.
Now run the show and see if all the slides come out well. If all of them are readable. Go back and modify those slides that are not OK.
If you need to change the order of slides then you can use the 'Slide sorter' to change the order of each slide.
Finally if you are satisfied with the look of the presentation slide show then practice your presentation skills by speaking out together with the slide show atleast two or three times before the actual presentation.Good luck

How to move to a new page in Word? What is Page Break in MS Word?

2009-11-13T05:55:00.001-08:00

Page break is something we use every time we use MS Word application to create a document. There are two types of page break namely Soft Break and Hard Break. In Word document page break is where one page ends and the next page starts. In MS Word, if you continue to type text into a document, then Word will automatically insert a page break if you have typed enough for one page and continue to type. If you continue to type then this text will be automatically moved to the next page and you can continue to type. This is called Soft Page Break. This type of page breaks will be adjusted automatically when we edit text in the document and get adjusted so that there is not blank space in between pages.But in some cases we may need to manually goto a new page. In the current page we may have just a half page text. If you want to type the new line or the new paragraph in the next page then what some people usually do is to type 'Enter key' continuously until we reach the next page. This is a wrong method. Instead you should go to 'Insert-Break' option and in the menu choose 'Page Break' and click OK. The cursor will move to the next page automatically.You can also use the shortcut by pressing Ctrl + Enter and break to a new page. This type of page break is called Hard Page break.

How to convert word document to HTML?

2009-11-13T05:54:00.002-08:00

If you have created a document using MS Word and you would like to convert this document to html file so that you can publish your word document to your wesbite then you can do this pretty easily.If you had used MS Word 97/2000/2002 to create your document then open the document in MS Word application. Now Click 'File->Save As' from the menu. The 'Save As' dialog box will open. In this box, in the 'Save as type' drop down list choose 'html document or Webpage' then click on 'Save' button. Word will automatically convert your MS Word document to HTML file.To create a html file with Frames using MS WordTo divide a web page into many sections 'frames' are used. From the 'View' select 'Toolbars->Frames'. A 'Frame' toolbar will be added to your word application. In this toolbar many buttons for different types of frames will be shown. From these, choose the frame type that you want for your page and click on that button. You can add border to a frame or scroll bar to a frame as you wish. To do this, in the 'Format' menu choose 'Frames->Frame Properties'. A dialog box will open. In this dialog box choose border, scroll bar etc based on your requirement.To insert 'discussion forum' to your page.When you publish your webpage if you want to enable your visitors to submit their comments about your page then you can do so. But your hosting provider should have installed 'Web Discussion Server'. To insert this 'discussion' in the page you are creating using MS Word, from the 'Tools' menu choose 'Online collaboration->Web Discussion' option. A 'Discussions' toolbar will be added to your MS Word application. In this toolbar click the 'Insert Discussion about the Document' button from this discussions toolbar. In the 'Discussion subject' box write your topic and in the 'Discussion text' box write your opinion and click 'OK' button. To read the comments click the 'Show General Discussions' button in the 'Discussions' toolbar.

A Mail Merge Tutorial.

2009-11-13T05:54:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you may need to send the same email to many persons. But in order to personalize your email, you may want to add the recipient's name in the beginning of the email before sending to each one. For this, you need not open the same file again and again and type the recipient's Name and send one by one. The 'Mail Merge' feature in MS Word will help you achieve this very easily. You need to create an Address book once with all your contacts. This address book will store details of all your contacts, their names, addresses, email addresses etc. You just need to create this ONCE. This word file is called 'Data Source' in MS Word.Actually this data source is nothing but a table. In this table, the details of one person will be represented in a single row. This row is called a record. In that table, the names of all the persons will appear in the same column. The next column will contain the addresses and so on. This column is called a 'Field'.First of all type all the common email contents in a word document. In the place where you want to insert the name of the recipient, do not type the name, instead insert the 'Name Field'. Similarly insert the 'Address field'. Once you have done this, save this file. This is called the 'Main Document'.Now to integrate the 'data source' that contains your contact list and the 'Main document' you need to give the 'Mail Merge' command. This will create as many emails as the number of contacts in the 'data source'. Each will be personalised with their own name and address but with the same content.To create the 'Main Document'Open MS Word.Type the common contents of the email as you wish.Since this document is common to all recipients, do not type the name and address of the recipients in this document. Instead in the place where you want the name and address to appear, leave appropriate space. Now save the file and leave it open.To create the Mail Merge document.If you have already created the 'Data source' then you can use it. If you do not have a data source then follow these steps to create a new data source.In the 'Main Document' select 'Tool-Mail Merge' option. This will open the 'Mail merge helper' dialog box. In 'Step 1' click the 'Create' button. Now click on 'Form Letter' and click 'Active Window'. In 'Step 2' click 'Get Data' and select 'Create data source'.Now you will see many fields. You can remove the unwanted fields by selecting them and clicking on 'Remove'. You can also create new fields if you want to. You can also move the fields up or down to change the order. Now click on 'OK' to save the data source file .Now you have to create each record. So click on 'Edit Data Source'. You will see a blank form with the fields that you had selected. Fill up the details in this form and click on 'Add New' button. This will save the current record and open the new blank record. In this new form type the next person's details. Likewise enter the details of all your contacts and finally click 'OK'.To insert the fields into the main document:After you click 'OK' in the previous step the 'Mail Merge Helper' box will close. But a new 'Mai Merge' toolbar will be visible in the main document now. In the main document bring the cursor to the place where you want to insert the recipient's name. Now in the 'Mail Merge' toolbar click on the 'Insert Merge Field' button. You will now see the list of all the fields in the data source. Select the 'Name' field from the list. Likewise bring the cursor to the appropriate places and insert other fields as required. If you want two fields next to each other in the same line then leave a blank space between the two and insert the fields.To integrate the data source and the main document:Click the 'Tools-Mail Merge' option from the menu. The 'Mail Merge Helper' box will open again. Now click on step 3, 'Merge' button.

What is Linux?

2009-11-13T05:53:00.004-08:00

Linux is an operating system that is now gaining popularity and competing against the Operating System giant, Microsoft. In 1993, a student in Finland, Linus Torralds, created Linux. Both home PCs as well as network Computers need an Operating System to function. Both home users and companies spend millions of dollars in purching these operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Unix. How nice it will be if we can get a free Operating System. Well, Linux is a free open source Operating System that anybody, home user or companies can download and use it freely.Linux is based on the Unix operating system. Linux solves all your needs. You can linux in a single computer or in a networked enviroment where there are thousands of computers.But home users still have many doubts and questions about Linux. In this section we will see some of the frequently asked questions about linux.There are many advertisements selling Linux. Isn't Linux Free?Linux is totally FREE. You can download Linux from Internet. But if your internet connection is slow, then it may take several hours or even days to download linux and its related applications using your dial-up connection. Just calculate the phone charges and the internet connection charges for this time. If you have a high speed broadband then you will find no problem to download linux from the internet directly.But to solve the issue for 'dial-up' users many companies download linux and copy it into CDs and sell them. The cost of the CD disk, the cost for sending the CD to your house, and for the service they provide, these companies may charge a meagre amount for the Linux CD. But if you directly download from Internet, it is totally free.What is Redhat, SuSe?These are names of companies that market and sell Linux. The heart of the Linux OS is its Kernel. These companies add many utilities and applications based on this kernel and sell it. There are many such companies such as RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, SuSe etc. The linux offered by these companies are called Linux Distributions or simply 'Distros'. The Kernel in all these Distros will be the same. But the utilities and applications may be different in different distros.Can I copy the linux CD from my friend and install it in my computer?By all means, Yes. You can make as many copies of the Linux CD of your friend. It is legal. Is it very difficult to use Linux?If you learn and know the linux commands then it is easy to operate your computer. The Character User Interface in Linux requires you to know and remember the commands. But using the 'Graphical User Interface' of Linux, anybody can use Linux without the need to learn and remember the commands. You can use desktop environments such as 'Gnome' or 'Kde' to get the graphical user interface. This GUI environment will be similar to the Windows environment.Do all hardware work with Linux?Some old hardware may not work with linux. But all the recent and new hardware works well in linux. A common hardware problem is with the 'winmodem'. If you are using this type of internal winmodem, then you may have to buy the latest modem.Are there applications for Linux? Are they free?There are plenty of applications for linux. Most of them are free. Open Office, GIMP, Real Player, MTV, Doom are some examples.I do not want to stop using Windows. Can I still use Linux?Yes you can. This is called Dual booting or Multibooting. You can install linux in a separate partition. Whenever you boot, you can select whether you want to boot from windows or linux.

How to Upgrade Operating System?

2009-11-13T05:53:00.003-08:00

Operating System is essential for a computer to function. The Operating system (for example Windows) get updated very often and newer versions are launched at specified intervals. Windows for instance has many versions from windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. The latest and widely used version is XP. By upgrading your Windows Operating System to the latest version enables you to use many latest applications. Computer will function more efficiently. For example users of Windows 98 can consider upgrading to Windows XP.The price of the FULL version of the new OS will be high. But the upgrade version of the new version will be cheaper. You can buy these Upgrade CDs at a cheaper price and upgrade the OS in your computer.Things to do before Upgrade:Before you upgrade your OS, find out whether the hardware that you use in your computer will support the new OS. Always, for newer OS versions you will need a computer with higher processing power. Some older hardware devices may not function in the new OS. Even some older applications may not function in the new Operating System.First take a list of all the hardware connected to your computer. The CPU speed, RAM size, Hard Disk free space are some of the details you need to check and see if these are sufficient for the newer OS. You can find the minimum hardware requirements for the new OS from the vendor's website.Generally while upgrading your OS there will not be any problems. However to be on the safe side, take a backup of your important data and copy it into a CD.Upgrading the OS:Once you insert the 'Upgrade CD' into the CDROM, the upgradation process will start automatically. Now choose 'Upgrade' option instead of 'Fresh Install' when it prompts.While upgrading it prompt and ask you regarding the 'File System' to choose. It is better to use the same file system as you have been using all along instead of choosing a new file system.For example, in a Windows 98 Computer, the file system you are using may be FAT16 or FAT32. When you upgrade to Windows XP, it will ask you whether you want to switch to NTFS file system. There is no doubt that the NTFS is a better file system but if you switch to this NTFS then you can never switch back to FAT 16 or FAT32 again. Therefore use the existing file system.Things to do after upgrading OS:After the upgrade process is over, check and see every individual application whether it works. If any of them doesn't work then uninstall the application properly and reinstall them. If you cannot re install then get help from the application vendor's website.Also check and see if all the hardware devices function properly. If any of the hardware device does not function after upgrade then install the appropriate driver for the hardware. Get help from the manufacturer's website.Some old hardware maynot be supported in the new OS if that is the case then buy and upgrade your hardware device to the latest.

Download Free video / audio software

2009-11-13T05:53:00.001-08:00

Even those serious computer users use their computer to listen to songs or view video clips during their leisure. The Windows Media Player in your windows OS will allow you to use and open both audio and video files. However if you have other popular video and audio software you can handle these multimedia files more efficiently. You can also use your audio and video cds more effectively.Free Audio Software
Music Match Jukebox is an essential and handy audio software which you must have in your computer. You can use audio files using this software. Music match jukebox also can convert your audio cds into MP3 songs and you can create mp3 cds. Likewise you can convert mp3 files to audio cd format. You can also use this software to print labels for your CDs and CD boxes as well as the table of contents for cds. You can download Music Match Jukebox from www.musicmatch.com
If you do not have WinAmp audio software then you are strongly encouraged to download WinAmp from www.winamp.com and install it. WinAmp can also playback video.
'Audio Catalist' is another audio software that can convert audio cd format files and wave format files to mp3 format. You can download audio catalyst from www.xingtech.com
Free Video Software
VCD cutter is a very handy video software. When you are viewing a video on screen, you can use VCD cutter to save this whole video or part of the video to your hard disk. If you just want to copy the audio from the video file you are watching you can also do it using VCD cutter. You can also use VCD cutter to add audio to video files. VCD cutter can also convert AVI video format files to MPEG format. You can download VCD cutter from http://www.topdownloads.net/software/view.php?id=9743
TMPGENC is a free software that you can download from www.tmpgenc.net TMPGENC allows you to convert any video format to another video format. For example you can convert AVI format to DAT format or DAT format to MPEG format and so on.
EasydivX is another free video software which can be downloaded from http://easydivx.does.it You can save video from your DVDs into your hard disk converting them to AVI or MP3 formats,
Power DVD XP is another free video software that handles all the existing dvd formats and can be downloaded from www.gocyberlink.com

Use 'Table in MS Word' effectively

2009-11-13T05:52:00.003-08:00

Those who MS Word are sure to use the 'Tables' in their documents. But when using these tables in MS Word, we usually come across many problems. In this tutorial we will see these common issues and problems faced while using tables in MS Word and how to use Tables effectively.To create a Table in MS Word:In Word 97 select 'Table->Insert Table'. In Word 2000 /2002 select 'Table->Insert->Table' or use the 'Insert Table' button in the Tool bar.You can also draw a table yourself. Choose 'Table -> draw Table' option from the menu. The cursor will now turn into a pencil shape. You can use this pencil cursor to draw the table. If you make a mistake while drawing you can use the 'Eraser' tool to erase. Once you have finished drawing the table press the 'Escape' key to bring the arrow cursor back.There is another method of creating a table. Just copy the lines below and paste it into your word document and press enter.+– – – – – – – – – +– – – – – – – –+– – – – – – – – – –+– – – – – –+You will get one row with four columns. So you can use the '+' sign wherever a column starts or ends.To bring the Table lower from the top of the document:When you create a new document and then insert the table, you will realise that you have to type some text above the table (at the top of the document) but you will find it difficult to bring the table below.Just bring the cursor to the first cell in the table (Top left corner cell) and press 'Enter' key. Now the table will automatically move down to the next line.To show the Headings of a Table on all pages.If you create a table that is very long and expands to more than one page, the headings of the table is shown only on the first page. The consecutive pages will not show the heading of the table. If you can show the table headings on all pages it will be nicer. To show the headings on all pages,In Word 97 -> Select the row or rows that are the headings of the table and then choose 'Table->Headings' option from the menu.In Word 2000/2002 -> Select the row or rows that are the headings of the table and then select 'Table-Table Properties' from the menu. In the new dialog box, select the 'Row' tab and then select 'Repeat as header row at top of each page' and click 'OK'.In Word 2000 -> For Word 2000 users there is another method to achieve the same. Select the row or rows that are the headings of the table and then select 'Table->Heading Rows Repeat'.To show text verticallyGenerally the text inside the cells are shown horizontally. If you want the text to appear vertically then select that cell and select 'Text Direction' command choose the degree.To give caption to the tables on top or bottomIf you have many tables in your document then instead of manually typing 'Table 1', 'Table 2' as captions of these tables you can automate this process and instruct Word to insert captions. You may wonder whether there is any use of doing this. Definitely there is advantage. If you delete a table, or insert a new table then the table numbers will be automatically adjusted.To make text appear around the table:At times you may want to bring the table in the center of text. To see text, on top,bottom,left and right side of the table will sure appear attractive. This is possible in Word 2000 or later but not available in Word 97.From the drawing tool bar click the text box and draw a square in the center of the text where you want the table to be inserted. Now insert the table inside the square. Then right click on the text box and select 'Format Text Box' option. In the 'Colours and Lines' tab click the 'Line' dropdown box and select 'No Line' from the list.Now select 'Layout' tab and in the 'Wrapping style' section select 'Square' or 'Tight' then click on 'OK'

Netscape Vs Internet Explorer - Netscape Navigator features

2009-11-13T05:52:00.001-08:00

Netscape is the company which developed the famous Netscape Browser. Before Microsoft's Internet Explorer was introduced, Netscape's browser was the most popular browser in the market. The Software is called 'Netscape Communicator' and it contains, Netscape Navigator (browser), Netscape Mail (Email client), Netscape Composer (Webpage editor), AOL (instant messenger) and Radio netscape (Radio station software).Even today Netscape navigator browser is widely used. However, it lost to Microsoft on the browser software war, and not it gives Mozilla browser engine free.Netscape Navigator has many features that are not in Internet Explorer. So you can download Netscape Navigator form www.netscape.com and try it on your computer. Here we will discuss the features in Netscape Navigator version 7.0 and higher.Netscape Vs Internet ExplorerIn Microsoft Internet Explorer, if you are viewing a website then the window's button will be visible in the task bar. If you press Ctrl + N or File->New Window you can open a new window of internet explorer and you can view some other website in this new window. Now the button for this window will also be visible in the task bar below. Likewise if you open 10 windows you will see 10 buttons in the task bar. This is very troublesome. To switch between different websites is very difficult. But in Netscape Navigator, no matter how many websites you open you will only see one window in the task bar. Each website will be opened in a new tab, within the same window. So switching between websites is very easy in Netscape navigator.If you open a new window in Internet Explorer, the same website will be opened in the new window. This may make the loading slower. In Netscape if you open a new window a 'blank website' will be open making the loading time faster.In Netscape Navigator, you can create a single bookmark for many websites. For example you are viewing mails in one Tab, and reading news in another tab while hearing to radio in another tab, you can create a single bookmark that is connected to all these three websites. So the next time you click on this bookmark all these three websites will be opened.To make download fasterNetscape navigator has a 'Download Manager'. A single file if it is too big can be downloaded from many websites and consolidated by download manager to make the downloading faster.If the download stops or disconnects in between then you can resume the download from the place where it was stopped instead of starting the download from the beginning.Other features in Netscape Navigator
Like other browsers, Netscape also has the 'search' feature. An added search feature is to find related websites. For example you are viewing a website. On this website you can select a word or words and then right click and choose 'Web search'. This will result in finding other web pages with the selected words.
Netscape Navigator also has cookie manager, password manager and form manager.
You can also compress a webpage in to a A4 size paper and print it.
The 'Mail Alert' feature in Netscape Navigator alerts you when you receive a new email.
Netscape composer, has the 'Publish' button. You can use this feature to publish all the webpages you have created all at once.
You can use the AOL instant messenger to chat, share files etc.

What is Koffice ? Koffice vs MS Office

2009-11-13T05:51:00.004-08:00

Those who use Windows Operating System, use Microsoft's Office suite of applications which comprises of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint etc. The Microsoft Office software is very useful but not available free. For those who wonder if there is any free office software then you can try switching to Linux from Windows. In Linux, KOffice is a free and wonderful office software suite. Not only KOffice, you can also try the free OpenOffice in linux.KDE is a linux desktop environment and KOffice is the short form of KDE Office which runs in this environment. You can get details about the KOffice at www.koffice.org Here are the applications that constitute KOffice.KWordKWord is similar to MS Word and is a word processor. You can use KWord to create documents.KSpreadKSpread is similar to MS Excel and is a spreadsheet application. You can use KSpread to do mathematical calculations and create charts.KPresenterKPresenter is similar to MS PowerPoint and is a Presentation software. You can use KPreseter to create slide shows.In addition to the three applications mentioned above, KOffice also contains KChart, KPlato, Krita, Kontour, Kformula, Kugar, Kivio.Right from the old RedHat to the latest linux distros such as SuSe, Mandrake, Debian etc, you will find KOffice. KOffice is available in both RPM format as well as tar.bz2 format. You can download KOffice at www.koffice.org and install it in your linux computer.It is important to note that you can use your existing documents created in MS Word or Excel in KOffice. You can open MS Word documents in KWord. Similarly you can open Workbooks created in MS Excel in KSpread.KWord featuresIf you are familiar with MS Word then it is easy for you to change and adapt to KWord. Most of the menus and tool bars are similar in both MS Word and KWord. Even functionalities are almost the same.You can format letters, paragraphs, pages just like in MS Word. In short all that you can do in MS Word, you can also do in KWord.You can insert Footnote, Endnote, Hyperlink and others in KWord. Similarly header, footer, page numbers also can be inserted.Spelling correction and 'Auto Correction' features are available in KWord.Just like the MS Word, KWord also has the 'Multi columns' feature which enables showing the document in many sections or vertically.KSpread featuresLike Excel, KSpread also has many worksheets in a workbook. You can do your calculations in each of these worksheets. You can use formula and functions in cells.You can create charts based on data in selected cells. You can create many types of charts. You can convert one type of chart to another type.You can use the data in a spreadsheet as a small database. You can sort the data based on acending or descending order of numbers or text.

What is Star Office?

2009-11-13T05:51:00.003-08:00

The competitors of Microsoft always celebrate when there is any case against Microsoft or if a free Software is launched similar to Microsoft's Products. But those who are unbiased should always weigh the pros and cons of any software before judging the winner.Sun Micro system's Star Office is the direct competitor of Microsoft's MS Office. Star Office software was free until its 5th version. Therefore Star Office was well received by computer users. Better still the features in Star Office was more or less similar to MS Office.But from Star Office Version 6, it was not free. However it is still far cheaper than MS Office. Here we will see the features available in Star Office and see its Pros and Cons.Components in Star OfficeStar Office Version 7 consists of Writer (a word processor), calc (a spreadsheet), adabas (a database), draw (a drawing program) and Impress (a presentation software).You can use Star Office in Windows 98/NT/2000/XP, with Pentium processor, 64MB RAM and 256 MB free hard disk space.Writer
If you have ever worked in MS Word, it is very easy for you to use Writer. You can even save the file you create in Writer as a 'Word 97/2000/2002/6.0' document. Similarly you can open a .Doc file using Writer.
You can also save your document in Writer as RTF, Text or HTML format.
You can insert tables, images and charts in Writer. Similar to MS Word, Writer also has Auto text and Auto Correct features. Auto Complete facility is also available. Which means when you type the first two or three letters of a word, Writer will prompt you with the full word. This reduces typing time.
Spelling checker and grammer checker are also available in Writer. You can also send the document created in Writer through email.
Writer can also convert the document you create into a PDF file.
calc
Similar to MS Excel, calc is a spreadsheet application. If the text you typed in a cell cannot fit inside the cell then 'calc' will display a small red arrow at the end of the cell.
You can save the file you created in calc as MS Excel file or to a dbase database. You can also open Excel files in Calc.
You can use the data in calc file to mail merge in writer document. You can also generate many beautiful charts.
AdabasComparing to MS Access database, adabas is a very simple database. Very less features are available. However adabas can open ODBC, JDBC and MySQL databases. An adabas database cannot exceed 100MB storage size. Another restriction is that only three users can access the adabas database over the network. Due to all these difficulties not many people like adabas. Adabas doesn't have distributed database facility
ImpressImpress is a presentation software like MS PowerPoint. Animation and Transition effects are some of the features available in Impress. Plenty of templates are available in Impress. Therefore anybody can create a presentation using Impress very easily. You can also convert an Impress presentation into a HTML format and publish it in your website.Draw
Compared to MS Paint, Star Office Draw is more powerful and has many additional features. It is sure that everybody will like the Draw application. You can use Star Office draw to create Vector graphics, Animated GIF and even 3D graphics.
Draw is also capable of handling many different image formats. You can create buttons and images in GIF, JPG or PNG format and use it in your website. You can also convert the graphics that you create in Draw into PDF, HTML or even shockwave flash format.
Pros of Star Office
Very cheap.
Star Office Draw software is very powerful.
Conversion to PDF is also a plus
Cons of Star Office
Star Office adabas database is very inferior

What is DivX? How to compress Video files

2009-11-13T05:51:00.001-08:00

MP3 format has revolutionized the audio industry. MP3 was able to produce the same quality of audio as in the audio CDs. However the size of MP3 files were just one tenth of the actual audio file size. That is the reason why MP3 is very popular and many download MP3 songs from the internet. With MP3, the size of the audio can be reduced to one tenth of the original size without compromising the quality. Many wondered, If only video can be compressed without compromising the quality, how wonderful it would be. DivX is the answer for video lovers.Why should video be compressed?AVI is the most popular video format. A 3 hours movie with the clarity of 640x480 size, if saved in AVI format will occupy 20GB to 30GB. The reason is that AVI is a non compressed video format.If just one movie requires 30GB then imagine how many video files you can store in your hard disk. That is why video needs to be compressed. Motion Picture Group released MPEG1 format which is a compressed video format. MPEG1 even after compression gave the same quality as the VCR format.Motion Picture Expert Group then released the MPEG2 format which was even more advanced. With MPEG2, the same 3 hours movie can be compressed to 1.8GB. The latest release from Motion Picture Expert Group is the MPEG4 format. Using MPEG4 the same 3 hours movie can be compressed to a mere 650MB. Which makes it possible to store the movie in a single CD.What is DivX?DivX is also a video compression format. DivX compresses the video using MPEG4 format and compresses the audio using MP3 format. Therefore both audio and video is compressed in the 10:1 ratio. Therefore a file which is initially stored in a DVD can be now stored in a single VCD.How to play DivX files?You need to have a DivX player software to play a DivX format file. You can download this free DivX player from www.divx.com . To play DivX files you need a computer with atleast Pentium II 300 MHz, 128 MB RAM and 4MB video.Where to download DivX files?DivX movies are available at many websites. Most of them are illegal ones. Therefore do not just download anything that is available and get into legal issues. You will not have any problems if you download those files that are declared as free or 'No copy rights'.If you have video files in VCDs then you can convert them to DivX format using the software 'Virtual Dub'.You can convert your DVDs to DivX format using software such as Smartripper, Virtual Dub, XvidBit Calculator and Xvid Codec.What software you need?
To convert AVI to DivX, MPEG to DivX, VCD to DivX or DVD to DivX you can use the following software.
Virtual Dub. You can download Virtual Dub at www.virtualdub.org and use Virtual Dub to convert video from one format to another format.
DivX Codec. You can download Divx Codec from www.divx.com
To convert audio to MP3 format you need MP3 encoder. Win LAME or Lame MP3 encoder software are used to convert to MP3 audio files. You can download Lame MP3 encoder from http://miti.ok.free.fr
You can calculate Bitrate using xvidBit Calculator, Dvt001. You can download Dvt001 software from www.musclesoft.de

Problems in changing the Operating System

2009-11-13T05:50:00.001-08:00

There are many versions of windows operating systems. There are many linux distributions provided by many companies.Based on friend's advice and IT magazines recommendations, many change their operating systems. Change is always good. But change doesn't always necessarily mean good.This is an experience shared by allpctips visitor. He was using Windows 98. One day his friend asked him why he was still using the operating system released in 1998 and suggested that he change to Windows XP. So this visitor upgraded his OS from windows 98 to Windows XP. The look and feel of XP compared to 98 was too good and he was very happy with his decision. Only when he tried to play songs from his CD, he noticed that there was no sound. His sound card was not working. The service engineer was called and the engineer found that the driver for the sound card was suitable for XP. Therefore they searched for the suitable driver for the sound card in the manufacturer's website, but the model of sound card in question was no longer supported and there was no driver for XP.Therefore he had to either switch back to 98 or buy a new sound card. He decided to buy a new card.The second visitor's experience is even more bitter. Having read a lot about linux operating system, he changed his windows 98 OS to Mandrake's linux distribution. Since the interface of the Mandrake linux OS looked familiar to windows environment, he didn't have much problem using the computer.The problem started only when he tried to connect to the Internet. The modem that he was using did not have a driver for Linux. But since he did not want to buy a new modem, this visitor is still not able to connect to the Internet.The only common reason for these two visitor's problems was their decision to change to a new Operating System from their existing ones.I am not saying that you should not change your Operating Systems. When you change to a newer version of the Operating System, there is no doubt that you get more features. For example when you change to XP you get Windows Firewall, USB 2.0 etc. If you need additional facilities then you should change to a new Operating System. But at the same time be ready to discard your very old hardware and upgrade your hardware too.Or instead of removing the existing OS and replacing it with the new OS, you can try the dual booting method and use both OS in the same computer. You can read the how to use multiple OS in the same computer article.

How to uninstall a program that refuses to uninstall normally?

2009-11-13T05:49:00.002-08:00

You may have installed many software applications in your computer. You may feel that a particular software is no longer required and may decide to uninstall that program. If that program gets uninstalled successfully then there are no problems. But some software cannot be uninstalled. No matter what you do that software will stay in your computer. If you are facing a similar situation then here is your solution.Generally there are two ways in which you can uninstall a program.
Use the control panel's 'Add/Remove programs' and select the software that you want to uninstall and click the 'Remove' button to uninstall.
The software group itself will have a 'Uninstall' icon to uninstall the software.
If using the above two methods you cannot uninstall the software then you have another option to remove that software. By deleting the registry keys related to that software. Here are the steps to remove an application that refuses to uninstall.To totally uninstall the software
It is always a good practice to backup the hard disk before you try the steps to uninstall the program totally. Using the software's name or the company that developed the software you can search your computer and locate the folders in your computer and delete them.
Now click on 'Start->Run' and type 'regedit' and click enter key. Now the registry editor will open. In registry editor search the company name or the software and delete all the keys that has the software name.
Then press 'F3' button to search the next occurrence of the software key and delete. Likewise delete all occurrences.
Now reboot the computer. Check if there are any errors while rebooting. If there are no errors then deleting registry keys did not cause any problems. If there are any errors that means there was a problem due to editing the registry. Therefore restore the backup.
To check the RegistryIt is very important to check whether there was any harm due to editing the registry. There are many 'Registry Checker' software. For example Windoctor, jv16 are some of the registry checker software. You can use these software to check your registry.To remove the software name from the registry
Sometimes when you uninstall a program, even after installing you may still find the software listed under the 'Add/Remove programs' list. To remove the listing from the add remove programs list you can use the registry.
Open the registry editor by typing 'regedit' in the 'start->run' box. Now click on the + icon in the 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'. Now scroll down and select 'Microsoft', 'Windows', 'current version' and then 'uninstall'. In the right hand side watch the 'display name' and 'uninstall string'. The software name displayed in 'Display name' is what is listed in the 'Add/remove programs'.
Choose the software name that you want to delete and then click the delete button. Now in the confirmation dialog box click 'Yes'.
In the 'Uninstall string' key the windows folder in which the software is installed will be shown. Now in the internet explorer, go to this folder and deleted all contents.

What is document scrap?

2009-11-13T05:49:00.001-08:00

Assume that you are creating a text document. In that document you may want to use a block of text repeatedly in various places in the document. Or you may want to put a logo or a small image in multiple places in the document. For doing this, you need not copy and paste every time from the place where the text is present in the document. Document scrap feature is just for this purpose. Just copy the text or the image or anything in the document which you want to paste in multiple places and bring it (drag and drop) to the desktop. That will become a text page icon on the desktop. Below the icon, you will see the title as the 'document scrap' followed by the first few letters in the block of text. This enables easy identification of the icon for future use.Now whenever you need this block of text just drag and drop it to wherever you want to copy it. Or you can copy and paste it in any windows applications. This type of document scrap facility is available in applications such as Word, Paint, Word pad, Coral, Word perfect etc.You can create any number of document scraps and paste it in your desktop. And then you can just drag and drop them wherever you want in your applications

Biometrics Security

2009-11-13T05:48:00.002-08:00

In computers we use two types of software. They are Operating systems and Application software. Examples of operating system software are MS DOS, Windows and Linux. These software are also called System software.Another type of software are application software. Examples of application software MS Office, PageMaker, Photoshop, Winzip etc.Generally we have to buy these two types of software. Hence they can be grouped under 'Commercial ware'. These software are usually packed in a nice box and comes with user manual etc. Big software companies sell these software through their branches are through their agents. They are usually expensive.
SharewareShareware software are very unique software type. You also have to BUY these software but they are very cheap. You can pay the developer or the developer's company directly and get this shareware software.Usually the shareware software allow the user to download a trial version to try the software for a short period and then decide to buy later. This trial download will usually have less features than the original version. If you like the trial version you can pay and get the full version.In the trial software the printing maybe disabled. Or the file size may have a limit. Or they may enable all features but insert their company logo or advertisement in some places. Some shareware may provide the full features but will only function for a specified period of time. When you buy all these obstacles will be removed.
FreewareThose software that are available totally free are called freeware. Many developers (usually individuals) spend their time and effort to create applications and allow other people to download and use it for free. Many quality freeware software are available in Internet. In fact most of the Internet users use this type of freeware a lot.
Open SourceOpen source software also comes with the source code of the software together with the software. Other computer programmers can see how the application has been coded and they may change the code to alter the application features if they want.Since this source code is shared openly it is called Open source. Some think that freeware and open source are same. But it is not true. Freeware do not come with the source code. Some freeware may be chargeable if they give the source code.
AdwareAdvertisement + Software = Adware. So it is obvious that Adware will contain advertisements. When you use adware, advertisements will be shown frequently on your screen. All Adware software are free. The developers of Adware earn by showing these advertisements. That is why they give adware free of charge.
SpywareSpyware monitors and spies on you. Which websites you visit, what you do and such details will be sent as reports back to the spyware developer.You may wonder who installed these spyware in your computer. It is none other than you. Yes, when you download some free software from Internet these spyware may be hidden in them. When you install that free software this spyware also will be installed.Spyware is very intelligent. When you uninstall the free software in which the spyware was hidden, only that free software will be uninstalled. The spyware will still be in your computer. Therefore detect and remove spyware from your computer.
MalwareMalware is the short form of 'Malicious Software'. Malware will change the home page of your web browser. This is called home page hijacking. Malware can use your modem to dial international phone numbers. Malware can be used to take control of your computer by exploiting security holes in your operating system.Malware can slow down your computer and reduce performance. It is usually difficult to remove malwares from your computer.

How to create cover page in MS Access?

2009-11-13T05:48:00.001-08:00

Many generate reports using Access 97, Access 2000, Access 2002 and Access 2003 software. Then they take print outs of these reports. But only then will they realize that it would be nice if there was a 'cover page'. Generally, a cover page will have details such as the Objective of the report, Abstract, Recipients details, Report Title and any other information about the author.Usually, many create 'cover pages' for reports generated in MS Access in MS Word. Then they distribute the report generated in MS Access together with the cover page created in Word. If you distribute the printed copy then you can combine these two documents and then distribute together. But if you need to send an email to others then you will have to attach two files as attachment and the recipient will have to open two files one in Word and the other in Access. Instead of attaching two files if you could just send one file (.MDB) won't it be better. This is possible only if you can create a cover page using MS Access.Steps to create cover page in MS AccessIn a report, there are many sections such as 'Report Header', 'Page Header', Details' and 'Page Footer'. The Report Header will only appear in the beginning of the report. Similarly the Report Footer will only appear at the end of the report. Page Header and Page Footer will appear at the top and bottom of each page respectively. The 'Details' section will appear in each line.To create a cover page in MS Access you will have to carry out the following four activities.
You have to open the Access Report in 'Design View'
Increase the height of the 'Report Header' to occupy the whole page
The contents of the coverpage has to be typed in this 'Report Header' section
Insert a 'Page break' at the end so that the report starts from the next page.

Free Linux Applications

2009-11-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

Linux Operating System is widely in use in many places either because it is free or because it comes with the source code. Windows and Windows based applications are not free. But Linux and applications that run on Linux are also free.SuSe and Mandrake are some of the Linux distributions. In this article we shall see the many different free applications that can be used in Linux.Office Software in Linux
openoffice.org provides a free Office software that can be used in Linux. The Open Office software has Write (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentation) and Draw (Image editor).
Similarly Kword, Karbon are other free Word processors available for Linux
Gnumeric and Kspread are other Spreadsheet softwares available for Linux
KOffice is the Office suite that compares well with the MS Office.
Image editor / Viewer for Linux
In Openoffice.org, Draw image editor is available. In addition to this another very popular Linux image editor is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). GIMP is as powerful as Adobe Photoshop but it is free.
KPaint is another free image editor for Linux. This is available in KDE enviroment. GNOME Icon Editor, Kicon Editor, KView, KcolorEdit are other image editors for Linux.
To handle images from a digital camera in Linux, GPhoto or GIMP can be used. Elphoto is a free photo album software for Linux that can be used to create digital photo albums with these images in Linux.
To scan images using scanner in Linux, Kooka is a free software. Kooka has the OCR feature. gtkam and Xsane are other scanner software for Linux.
Text Editors for linux
Notepad is a popular text editor in Windows. VI is another text editor available in Linux. Vim is another text editor in linux. Other than these, gedit, Emacs, Kate, KEdit and Kwrite are also freely available text editors for linux.
Audio and Audio Players for linux
Audio and Video software are available plenty for linux freely.
Kaboodle, Kmix, Noatun, Kmid, Kmidi, amarok are some of the popular audio players for linux. Kscd is a popular CD player software for linux. Xmms is another good CD player.
Grip is a software used to create Audio CDs in Linux.
Kaudiocreator software can be used to create audio files. You can record your voice and create audio files using KRec. Gnome Sound is another audio record software.
To mix Audio you can use Aumix or KDE Sound Mixer. Kaffeine is another popular video player in Linux.
Free Software to Burn CDs in Linux
There are plenty of free software for creating audio CDs, video CDs and Data CDs in linux. XcdRoast is a software that can be used to create data CDs. You can also copy CDs using this software.
K3b is another free CD / DVD burning software to create data CDs.
CD Creator, CD Record, KonCD, Gcombust, GnomeToaster are other free CD burning software in Linux
Other free applications for Linux
To compress files you can use Art, Gunzip, FileRoller and Karchiver programs
To read PDF files in linux you can use XPDF, KGhostView, GhostView, KPDF and Acrobat Reader
To use FAX in linux you can use KFAX or KdePrint Fax software.
Gnome Dictionary, Kdict are some of the dictionaries for linux.
Mr. Project, Ktimer, Korganizer and Kontact are some of the task schedulers for linux.
Mozialla, Galeon, Konqueror are some popular browsers in linux
Evolution, Kmail, Mozilla Mail are some email clients in linux.
GAIM, Xchat, Chatzilla and Kopete are some free Instant Messaging IM software in Linux.
Kivio flow chart software, Kcalc scientific calculator, Kformula formula editor are some other free software applications available for linux.
There are so many linux applications freely available. You can download all these free applications by searching their names in your favourite search engines.

A tutorial on MS Outlook - your trusted personal manager

2009-11-13T05:46:00.002-08:00

In Microsoft Office suite of applications, MS Outlook has many great features that makes it your trusted personal manager. It does all the job of a personal assistant and more. But many do not use MS Outlook effectively. Many people think that it is just an Email Client. MS Outlook is not just an Email client but it is a Personal Information Manager (PIM). In this article let us see the main features in MS Outlook so that you can start using MS Outlook effectively.Features in MS Outlook
Of course the main feature of MS Outlook is to send and receive emails.
You can use the Outlook 'calendar' to record all your appointments and set reminders.
You can use Outlook 'Contacts' to store your contacts addresses, phone numbers emails etc.
You can list your tasks and monitor them so that you don't forget your 'to do' lists.
Outlook Journal is used to integrate your emails and other documents.
Outlook Notes, is used to note down your short notes and short news.
These basic features such as Email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Journal and Notes are the core of MS Outlook application.
Tips for Effective Use of Outlook
To assign a task to someone using MS OutlookIf you think that a particular person can handle a particular task well then you can assign the job to him and Outlook will automatically email this task to that person.You can also ask Outlook to monitor the status of the task. And Outlook will inform you of this status.If the task is completed, Outlook will alert you of the status.
To conduct polls using OutlookIf you have a doubt about something why don't you hold a poll and ask people to vote to find a popular answer.In outlook there is a Polling feature. Instead of polling machine, emails will be used thats all. Select 'Use Voting buttons' in the email and give your message and an agree and disagree button or an 'Yes' and 'No' button. Then send this email to everybody. When they reply with the answer, outlook will consolidate this answers from everybody and will tell you the final result.
To confirm meetings using MS OutlookOutlook has a wonderful, 'Meeting Requests' feature. Let us assume that someone wants to meet you. To check whether you are available on that specific day and specific time he can check your calendar and see your appointments. If you are free then he can send you a 'Meeting request'.If you agree to his request then you can accept his meeting request. Then Outlook will update both your calendars and show as 'Busy' on that day and time. And Outlook will inform the sender that you have accepted his meeting request. Even if you reject his meeting request outlook will inform him.Outlook will also arrange for both of you to meet using 'Net Meeting'. Outlook will remind you of this appointment so that you don't forget.
To send automatic reply using OutlookAssume that you are going on a long leave. If someone sends email to you during this time you will not read these emails. The senders may misunderstand that you have not replied.You can use 'Auto Respond' feature to solve this problem. Just inform outlook the starting date and ending date of your leave and the message that you want to send as a reply. Now Outlook will automatically respond to all emails with this message.

What is Firefox? A tutorial on Firefox

2009-11-13T05:46:00.001-08:00

Majority of the Internet users use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the web. Internet Explorer (IE) is the entry point to most of the security problems in Windows. There are many security holes in IE, therefore Microsoft releases security patches evey now and then to fix these security holes.Consider you are entering any website using IE. Even without clicking on any link or image on that webpage it is possible that your computer is infected by a spyware. Hackers can use these security holes to install vspyware in the computer without you doing anything on the webpage.Not only spyware, Pop up Adware, Home Page Hijacking are some of the other common problems in Internet Explorer. It is true that if you update your windows frequently, you can fix these holes and keep your computer safe.To escape from all the problems identified above, you can start using the free Firefox browser. Another reason for using Firefox is that Microsoft has announced it will not release any security patches for Internet explorer for Windows 95, 98, 98 SE and ME users. Security patches for Internet explorer will be released only for the Windows XP users.Firefox is a free internet browser provided by Mozilla, which can be downloaded from here.
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How to install Firefox browser?As mentioned above, download the installation file. Close all the windows applications especially the Internet Explorer windows. Now locate the downloaded firefox executable file and double click. The Firefox installation wizard will run. Just follow the steps and install the Firefox browser.You can also import all your preferences and favourites from your Internet explorer settings to your Firefox browser. The 'favourites' in IE is called as 'Bookmarks' in Firefox.Not only favourites, you can also bring History, Passwords etc from your Internet explorer to your firefox. For this, during the installation of Firefox, the 'Import Wizard' will ask you whether you want to import all your IE settings to firefox, if you choose 'Yes' then just follow what the wizard shows.How to use Firefox?Just like Internet Explorer, Firfox is a web browser. Hence you can use it very easily. However there are some differences between internet explorer and firefox. To read more about firefox you can access this page www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/index.html .To download IE View software in FirefoxWith firefox you can enter any website in the Internet. However some websites are specifically created for IE and support only Internet Explorer. Especially, Microsoft's 'Windows Update' or 'Encarta' sites support Internet Explorer browser only. You cannot do windows update using Firefox browser unless you download IE View software.There is a way to cheat websites that need Internet Explorer browser. We can make firefox show itself as IE to these websites and access them successfully. IE View software developed by Paul Roub can do this. You can download IE View freely at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/35/ Now to use IE View, just view the webpage normally in firefox. Right click on that page and select 'View this page in IE' option for IE targeted sites.

Shortcut for Auto Text in MS Word

2009-11-13T05:45:00.004-08:00

A feature in web browser and software that let’s you fill in the blanks faster when entering the same names and address you routinely use. Auto text entry saves your text entries, and compares them with new entries. As soon as you type a few letters, it presents you with a list of possible candidates to choose. Auto complete is very useful for typing in long name such as web address (url’s). For example such a sentence office of the director of collegiate education Chennai. To do this goes for insert  auto text and specify the sentence, which you want. Now you get a window containing more option. Then make a assurance that whether a tick mark is presented on the opposite of “Show auto complete Suggestions”Easy way to make Auto entry: -Just select and highlight the sentence and press Alt + F3. Now u get a Create Auto Text Window here the highlighted word would be displayed then give OK. Now you get the Auto Text entry option in your word.

Rotating pictures in MS Word

2009-11-13T05:45:00.003-08:00

While working on word have you need to make pictures should be get rotated in between text. To do this, have you spending more time? If you want that the picture should be get rotate as slowly means you have to follow the actions as below.Select the green color, which is specified at the corner of the pictures, and press the Shift key. This key is used to make rotate the picture on full speed and for each rotation it rotate for 15 degree.

Merging the cells in excel

2009-11-13T05:45:00.001-08:00

Merge cell wizard is used in MS-Excel, used for, merge or join the cell two or three cells in the spreadsheet. Use the merge cell wizard every time you need to place data into several cells or when you need to merge cells retaining their value. With merge cell wizard you can merge data from several Microsoft Excel cells into one cell using spacebar you like. For this the following process at first select the cells which would be want to merge and highlight them, then press Ctrl + Shift + s. Now the cells would be selected then press Shift + _ key. Now you found all borders between the cells would be erased. We can also done it by pressing shift + arrow marks.

Tutorial on MS Paint

2009-11-13T05:44:00.003-08:00

You can become a great artist by using computer. The computer provides paint, brush, and canvas to create an image based on your imagination. It makes not only pictures and also makes map, logo wallpaper, and letterhead as you like. For this, you use Photoshop, Corel draw painting software’s. You will buy these software’s or to use equaling share ware programs like paint shop pro etc. For compare to this the free painting programs have less facilities. You can download these free painting programs from Internet.If you enter Crayola websites you can draw the pictures and enjoy it. Windows operating system have free painting program. That is MS Paint. You can use this to draw the pictures. To open the MS Paint click Start => Programs => Accessories => Paint. Now we have a paint program. The Canvas placed center in this. You are drawing in this canvas. The Toolbox is left side in this canvas. Toolbox has more tools for drawing. Below in the canvas have more colors part. That is a Color Palette. The Menu Bar is above in the canvas.To Change Canvas Size:You decide that can you draw the picture in displaying canvas. If you cannot draw that, change the canvas size for any unit like inches, centimeter, and pixel. To change the canvas size click Image Attribute. Type length and width then click OK.We can use two colors at a time in MS painting program. One is background color another one color is to use drawing in foreground. These two colors are in color palette starting. To change the foreground colors to left click any color in color palette. Now you can see color changed in color palette starting. To change background color to right clicks any color in color palette. If you draw to pressing left click the drawing have background color. If you draw to pressing right click the drawing have background.Now the canvas and colors are ready then we start to draw the picture. For using in this, the MS Paint gives more tools. If you place mouse in any tool that give a tool name. The MS Paint gives more tools to use drawing. These are Pencil, Brush, Air Brush, Line Curve, Rectangle, Polygon, Ellipse and Rounded Rectangle. If you click one tool more sub tools display below in that tool. It denotes that tools size. For example if you clock Line tool, we have different lines depends upon width to use drawing. We can change the tool that tool size at any time. If you draw wrongly, you can erase that to use Eraser tool. It’s had some different sizes. If you want to type Text in picture to click Text tool and make a rectangle in canvas. Then you can type letter in that rectangle. You can change letter font, size and style.If you use Rectangle and Ellipse tools, to press these tools with shift key we get square, rectangle respectively. Same as that to press shift key with Rounded Rectangle tool we get rounded square. We want to fill the color in closed object to use Fill with Color tool.If you want only one part to maximize for painting, you click Magnifier tool then click that part. Now that part is to maximized. If you want to change part size to normal to click Magnifier tool than click that part. The MS Paint gives Free Form Select and Rectangle Select tools to select one part in picture. The Rectangle Select tool used to select square/Rectangle, the Free Form Select to use select other shapes. Then give Edit Copy command, now that part is copy to clipboard. After that you can paste this in any place. If you want to change foreground color to a particular color then click Pick Color tool and then click particular part. This tool is also called as Eye Dropper.To save the Picture:We can save the picture to BMP format in MS Paint. BMP means Bitmap. The windows 98-second edition and other edition released after that have BMP, GIF, and JPEG Formats.To give special effects:If you click Image menu you got a more commands. We can rotate the pictures, invert the picture, and enlarge the picture like rubber, to slope the picture. You can use this facility for your drawing and became a great artist.

How to remove drawing canvas from MS Word?

2009-11-13T05:44:00.001-08:00

You would have come across a Drawing canvas while trying to paste a picture in a word file. This will be available even before you ask. On that only your picture will be pasted. After that only you move that picture from these to the destination you desire. Do you feel it so difficult and irritating? Do you feel why this canvas is there unnecessarily? Follow the steps below to fulfill your wish.First go to Tools menu in that select Options, in the following list of tabs you click the General tab. In the various features tack the tick near ”Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting Auto shapes” then click ok and exit. After this action canvas will not function while you paste a picture in word document? If you feel you need the canvas, follow the same steps and select table from the same option.

Facilities of Clipboard in MS Office

2009-11-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

MS-Office clipboard is used to copy and past the text, pictures and graphics. The copy of the text or picture is getting stored in clipboard. We can past that in any windows application. When coping any text it will overwrite that previous text. What can we do for copy more than on text in MS-Office? Answer this please.
It’s totally different from clipboard in windows operating system.
In MS-Office all the application software contains office clipboard. We will see the facility in this. If work based on cut, copy, paste command. We can store 24 items in this clipboard. While trying to copy the 25th item in the clipboard it will replace the first item from the clipboard.
Due to the following option the menu will automatically open.
1. When you cut or copy more than 2 items in a program2. In a same program copy one text and past after that copy a text.3. When you past the same item twice.
When office clipboard started the icon is displayed in the left side of status bar. To show the number of text you can go to edit menu and active it. In that it shows more facilities. To get that facility put tick mark in the facility.
1. To display the clipboard automatically. (No need to go edit menu)2. When we press the Ctrl + c twice, it shows clipboard.3. To get the facility even though it does not display.4. To display the icon in the task bar.5. To show the copy clipboard it display the status of copied item.When we active Office clipboard in on office program it does not show other office program. The items are in office clipboard until the entire office programs are closed. Or we can delete it by clicking delete in the menu. We can delete the item selected from text. We can paste or delete the file by left click the item. If we press delete it will delete the item. If we select the past it will paste the item where the cursor is placed. If we paste all, it will paste all the items to the document.
Now a question arises in your mind. What is the difference between both the clipboards? Lets see the answer. While you pasting the items continuously in office clipboard the last item will store in operating system clipboard. When we delete all files in office clipboard the item in OS clipboard also get erased. When you are using (CTRL + V) and paste command it will paste content from operating system clipboard.

Custom Views in MS Excel

2009-11-13T05:42:00.000-08:00

Some times we create and use big files in Excel. It becomes difficult to search for the cell we want to work on. So we cannot use Go To features. Not only this we also get confused for go to new cell, print the new cell, create the print settings and make the builders.

Can we create and go to most used cells list. Yes we can. This depends on how do you see the Excel work sheet. The custom view feature gives the solution for this. First you decide the workbook view or printing view then you can save that. This makes some changes but this is to create your favorite views and settings. If you create the print setting for particular view that also gets saved in view setting. We can save and retrieve as many cells we want in a worksheet and hide others. This saves time and energy. Ways to creating the view setting.

First open your large workbook.
Then go to the place you are using.
Now make the changes you want. For example create print area, hide rows, filters, subtotals. Then create the view settings.
Go to view menu and select the custom view there. Now open the custom view window.
Press the Add button to create new view. The opened window gives the feature of decide the name of the new view. Select the view name that is used to identify easily.

You can also decide the new view print settings. After doing that give the name for view then click ok. This is a method for creating your favorite views and save these views. Now you return to the workbook and drop it there. Then you can retrieve the saved view. For that go to view menu then select custom views there. Select the wanted view in select the name of the view at the window and click show. Now you got a workbook with selected cells and settings. If you want delete the view setting go to custom views then press the delete button.

Computer Monitor troubleshooting steps

2009-11-08T05:20:00.001-08:00

Facilities of Clipboard in MS Office

2009-10-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Live Scribe - Computer pen

2009-10-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Windows Live Mail Stop Including Messages in a Reply

2009-08-30T01:44:00.001-07:00

When replying to e-mail via Windows Live Mail, the original message is placed at the end of the reply. This way when you respond to a message, if the recipient reads a lot of e-mail they will not have to search through their archives to remind themselves of the conversation topic.

Unfortunately, in long conversations these message replies can get quite long. Thus, some people may prefer not to include entire conversations in the e-mail replies. To turn off this feature:

1. Access the Windows Live Mail menu by clicking the menu button (see the screenshot to the right) or press Alt + M.

2. Select "Options".

3. Click the "Send" tab.

4. Underneath "Sending", uncheck "Include message in reply".

5. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

EXPERT USERS: The Registry Entry for this configuration item can be found here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Include Reply Msg

1 - Include message in reply
0 - Do not include message in reply

iGoogle A Little Bit of Truthiness on your iGoogle Page with Stephen Colbert Quotes

2009-08-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of "The Colbert Report" and cannot get enough of Stephen Colbert (especially during multi-week show breaks), display a daily quote on your iGoogle page with the "Stephen Colbert Quote of the Day" gadget for iGoogle.

In the spirit of one of the sketches on his show... Web browser side effects may include: Phantom double mouse pointers, spontaneous bookmark combustion, involuntary back button spinning, and Wandering Web Address Bar Syndrome. *

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 - Stop Turning Web Addresses into Hyperlinks

2009-08-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

By default, when you enter a hyperlink into a Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 presentation the program cheerfully turns the address into a hyperlink. Many people appreciate this feature, especially if they distribute presentations to others. If someone wants to visit a site mentioned in the presentation, they merely have to click a link instead of retyping a web address into their browser.

However, the automatic hyperlinking of an address also turns the text color to blue and places an underline under the address. For visual reasons, if you are presenting a slideshow to a group you may not want web addresses to stick out so much. While you can always press Ctrl+Z to undo an automatic hyperlink, if your presentation contains multiple addresses this may get annoying. Thus this feature can be disabled:

1. Click the "Office" button.

2. When the popup appears, click "PowerPoint Options".

3. The "PowerPoint Options" dialog box appears. Select "Proofing" in the left pane.

4. In the right pane, click "AutoCorrect Options".

5. A language-specific AutoCorrect dialog box appears. Click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab.

6. Underneath "Replace as you type", uncheck "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks".

Preventing URLs and network paths typed into PowerPoint 2007 presentations from automatically becoming hyperlinks

7. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

Windows 7 - Change Window Borders, Start Menu, Taskbar Colors, and Toggle Transparency

2009-08-23T09:48:00.001-07:00

his tip is geared towards beginners. To customize your Windows 7 system you can adjust the base theme color used for window borders, the Start Menu, and the Taskbar. You can also choose whether or not the Start Menu, Taskbar, and window borders should appear semi-transparent, showing part of what is underneath.

1. Right-click an empty area of the Desktop and choose "Personalize" from the pop-up menu that appears.

2. The "Personalization" Control Panel appears. Near the bottom of the window, click on "Window Color".

Configuring the Windows 7 window color

3. The window changes to the "Window Color and Appearance" settings. From here you can do the following:

* Choose a base color - choose from one of the following base window colors (listed here in left-to-right order)

- Sky
- Twilight
- Sea
- Leaf
- Lime
- Sun
- Pumpkin
- Ruby
- Fuchsia
- Blush
- Violet
- Lavender
- Taupe
- Chocolate
- Slate
- Frost

Windows 7's "Window Color and Appearance" settings

* Next to "Color intensity", click and drag the slider to the right to make the color more intense - moving the slider to the left makes the color less intense.

* By checking or unchecking "Enable transparency", you can configure whether or not window borders, the Taskbar, and Start Menu appear semi-transparent.

* If you do not like the choice of colors, click the down arrow next to "Show color mixer". From here you can click and drag the sliders to adjust your desired color hue, saturation, and brightness.

4. When done, click "Save Changes" to close the "Window Color and Appearance" settings, then close the "Personalization" window.

Note that if you later change the theme this may alter your chosen window color.

Download the Free Photoscape Software to View and Edit Digital Photos

2009-08-08T11:53:00.002-07:00

Photoscape is a free (for non-commercial use) photo viewer and editor for Windows. For those looking for an alternative to higher-priced editing tools, Photoscape offers the following:

* Image editing with multi-level undo, shapes, text boxes, balloon pop-ups, cropping, and transparency

Adding a caption to a photo via Photoscape

* Batch editing of a group of photos - apply filters, brighten or darken pictures, resize images, and more

* Create photo collages with a variety of built-in frames and designs

* Batch rename photos to include creation dates in filenames

* Screen capture with full screen, window, and region capture

* Split large images into smaller pieces

* Print images including support for thumbnail and contact sheets with multiple layout options

* Create animated GIFs for webpages

* Convert RAW images from digital cameras into JPGs

* Multi-language support with translation files created for Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, and other languages

Photoscape supports Microsoft Windows 98 - Windows Vista

Text Editors - Notepad Replacements

2009-08-08T11:53:00.001-07:00

Programmer's Notepad is an open-source Windows Notepad replacement that is, not surprisingly, geared towards programmers. Syntax highlighting for a multitude of languages is supported such as C#, HTML, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and SQL. The software supports a multi-document interface, useful when coding projects that require jumping back and forth between different source files.

Other features include regular-expression based searching through code, sub / procedure / tag folding, optional line numbers and whitespace viewing, converting tabs to spaces and vice-versa, bookmarks so you can find your way back to specific areas in code, projects and project groups, and exporting code as RTF or HTML.

Editing HTML and Ruby code in Programmer's Notepad

Options (Tools - Options menu) include remembering open files and projects between sessions, toggling AutoCompletion, editing color and font schemes for language styles, creating and editing keyboard shortcuts, toggling default line endings (Windows, Unix, Macintosh), and toggling transparency in non-active dialogs.

Windows 7 Toggle Start Menu and Explorer Popups

2009-08-01T06:17:00.001-07:00

When you hover your mouse pointer over file icons in Windows 7, a popup appears with information about the file. This may include (depending on the file type) its size, date, image dimensions, sound length, or other information. When you hover your mouse pointer over a folder, pop-up information may contain the folder creation date, size, and files contained underneath. Information appears when you hover over Desktop icons. And when you hover over items in the Start Menu, description pop-up text also appears here.

While many appreciate this descriptor text, some may find it annoying, especially the pop-ups that appear while navigating the Start Menu. If desired, you can disable all of the pop-ups.


	This text appears when you hover your mouse pointer over "Documents" in the Windows 7 Start Menu - if you find this annoying, disable the popups

1. Click the Start button, type folder options and click the "Folder Options" link that appears.


	Accessing Folder Options from the Windows 7 Start button

2. When the "Folder Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "View" tab.

3. Scroll down and check or uncheck "Show pop-up description for folders and desktop items" as desired.

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

Windows 7 Use Checkboxes to Select Items in Explorer

2009-08-01T06:16:00.001-07:00

Normally in Windows 7 if you want to manipulate several files simultaneously (delete them, get properties, rename them, move them, etc.) there are several ways to do so. You can hold the Ctrl key while selecting items, select the first item in a list then hold the Shift key while selecting the last item, create a selection rectangle with the mouse to select items, etc.

However, with this following tweak you can select files by checking boxes next to them. You may find this easier than using the keyboard shortcuts or creating a selection rectangle.


	Selecting multiple files in a Windows 7 Explorer window via checking boxes

1. Click the Start button, type folder options and click the "Folder Options" link that appears.


	Accessing Folder Options from the Windows 7 Start button

2. When the "Folder Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "View" tab.

3. Scroll down and check "Use check boxes to select items".

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

Windows 7 Opt In or Opt Out of the Help Experience Improvement Program

2009-08-01T06:15:00.001-07:00

Microsoft runs a "Help Experience Improvement Program" in that when you use online help, information about your help browsing habits can be sent to Microsoft to help them improve search results and content relevancy. According to their privacy policy, "Microsoft does not use the information to contact you or identify you".

To opt out of this program on a Windows 7 machine, or later if you decide to opt back in, do the following:

1. Click the Start button, selecting "Help and Support".

2. The "Windows Help and Support" window appears. At the top-right of the window, click the "Options" button pull-down, selecting "Settings".

3. The "Help Settings" dialog box appears. Check or uncheck "Join the Help Experience Improvement Program" as desired.


	Opting out of the Help Experience Improvement Program in Windows 7

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box, and then click the "X" at the top-right of the "Windows Help and Support" window to close it.

Windows 7 Automatically Hide the Windows 7 Taskbar

2009-08-01T06:14:00.002-07:00

Windows 7's Taskbar is larger than in previous versions of Windows, and if screen real-estate is at a premium, as is the case with some netbooks, you may want to hide it when not in use to provide more room for open applications. Note when doing so you can switch between windows in other ways such as clicking on windows, using Ctrl + Tab, or Win + Tab.

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and choose "Properties".

2. The "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" dialog box appears. Make sure the "Taskbar" tab is selected. Then underneath "Taskbar appearance", check "Auto-hide the taskbar".

3. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

Now when you move your mouse pointer away from the Taskbar, you'll see it slide out of view. To bring it back, just move your mouse pointer to the screen edge where the Taskbar is located (default - bottom) and it should slide back into view.

Windows 7 Add Favorites to Start Menu

2009-08-01T06:14:00.001-07:00

Are you an Internet Explorer user and would like your Favorites even easier to access? With the following tweak you can add a submenu from the Windows 7 Start Menu that provides instant access to your Favorites.

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and choose "Properties".


	A "Favorites" submenu on the Windows 7 Start Menu

2. The "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Click the "Start Menu" tab.

3. Click the "Customize" button.

4. The "Customize Start Menu" dialog box appears. Check "Favorites menu".

5. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

Windows 7 Toggle Playing Sounds When Faxes Arrive

2009-08-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

Depending on your configuration, Windows 7's "Windows Fax and Scan" tool may play a sound whenever new fax messages arrive. This way you can be notified of new faxes without having to remain next to the computer.

If you find these sounds annoying or are in an environment where sounds are discouraged (i.e. some offices), they can be disabled. Or, you can enable sounds if they do not currently play.

1. Click the "Fax" button in the left pane if the "Scan" button is currently selected.

2. Select "Tools" - "Options".

3. The "Fax Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Make sure the "General" tab is selected.

4. Check or uncheck "Play sound when new messages arrive" as desired.

5. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

Windows 7 Change Your Account Name

2009-08-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

When you access the Windows 7 Start Menu or view the Welcome screen (if you lock your computer you will see this, for example) your account name is listed. If you wish to change this name, do the following:

1. Click the Start menu.

2. Click on your account image to open the "User Accounts" control panel.

3. Click "Change your account name".


	Changing your account name

4. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, click "Yes".

5. In the textbox, enter your new account name.


	Typing a new account name

6. Press "Change Name" to change your name, then close the "User Accounts" Control Panel.

Windows 7 Create Your Own Desktop Photo Slide Show

2009-07-31T09:50:00.001-07:00

If you have used one of Windows 7's default themes, you may have noticed that the Desktop background changes every so often. If you would like to use your own photos for the Desktop background slide show instead of a theme's, plus learn how to alter how often the photos change, do the following:

1. Right-click an empty area of the Desktop and choose "Personalize" from the pop-up menu that appears.

2. The "Personalization" Control Panel appears. Near the bottom of the window, click on "Desktop Background".


	Configuring the Windows 7 Desktop Background

3. The window changes to the "Desktop Background" configuration. Next to "Picture location", click the pull-down to choose a pre-defined folder where photos may be located, or click the "Browse" button to choose a folder where you have placed your photos.

4. Now check or uncheck the boxes next to the photos you want added to the slide show. Click "Select all" to choose all photos (default) or "Clear all" to clear all checkboxes so you can begin making your selections.

5. Underneath "Picture position", click the pull-down to choose what happens to photos that normally do not fit the screen. You can either force the photos to "fill" the screen, "fit" the photos with the proper aspect ratio (so bars may appear around the photos), "stretch" the photos, "tile" the photos so copies of it fill the screen, or just "center" the photos onscreen.

6. Underneath "Change picture every", click the pull-down to choose how often the picture should change, from 10 seconds to 1 day.

7. If desired, click the "Shuffle" checkbox so pictures are displayed in semi-random order.


	Choosing desktop images to display in Windows 7

8. When done, click "Save Changes" to close the "Desktop Background" settings, then close the "Personalization" window.

Note that if you later change the theme this may alter your chosen desktop background image(s)

Once you have multiple photos selected for display in Windows 7, if you tire of the current backdrop right-click an empty area of the Desktop and choose "Next desktop background".

Windows 7 Enable the Onscreen Keyboard's Numeric Key Pad Display

2009-07-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

By default, Windows 7's On-Screen Keyboard utility does not display a numeric keypad, using up fewer pixels on the screen. For those who need to enter numbers using this tool, however, it can be annoying to have to move so far to enter numbers such as "10", "28", and "30", for example.

The following quick tip enables a virtual numeric keypad which may make entering numbers easier for those who need to use this utility:

1. On the "On-Screen Keyboard", click the "Options" button on the right side (underneath the "PrtScn" button).

2. The "Options" dialog box appears. Check "Turn on numeric key pad".

3. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

4. You may need to press the "NumLock" button to switch the virtual keypad from the cursor keys to numbers.

Change Window Borders, Start Menu, Taskbar Colors, and Toggle Transparency

2009-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

This tip is geared towards beginners. To customize your Windows 7 system you can adjust the base theme color used for window borders, the Start Menu, and the Taskbar. You can also choose whether or not the Start Menu, Taskbar, and window borders should appear semi-transparent, showing part of what is underneath.

1. Right-click an empty area of the Desktop and choose "Personalize" from the pop-up menu that appears.

2. The "Personalization" Control Panel appears. Near the bottom of the window, click on "Window Color".


	Configuring the Windows 7 window color


	Windows 7's "Window Color and Appearance" settings

* Next to "Color intensity", click and drag the slider to the right to make the color more intense - moving the slider to the left makes the color less intense.

* By checking or unchecking "Enable transparency", you can configure whether or not window borders, the Taskbar, and Start Menu appear semi-transparent.

* If you do not like the choice of colors, click the down arrow next to "Show color mixer". From here you can click and drag the sliders to adjust your desired color hue, saturation, and brightness.

4. When done, click "Save Changes" to close the "Window Color and Appearance" settings, then close the "Personalization" window.

Note that if you later change the theme this may alter your chosen window color.


	This tip was written for Windows 7 RC. Screenshots and information are subject to change between this and the official release of Windows 7.