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We Finally Bought a Macintosh (see below)
(We are now officially a 2-platform tutoring team.) Traveling Taskbar Janice Bruno wrote saying her Taskbar had moved to the left edge of her screen and asked how to get it back to the bottom. Well, the wandering Taskbar has been bugging PC users since Windows 95; but it is easily returned to its normal location by mouse-grabbing its approximate center and dragging it to the bottom of the screen. To keep it there, right-click it and choose Lock the Taskbar. Personally, on my wide-screen PC I prefer it on the left edge, where I keep shortcut icons to all my most frequently accessed files on the Taskbar's Quick Launch bar. Details on setting up your Quick Launch bar can be found here. Spreadsheet Gridlines Bob Gilbert asked about turning Excel's spreadsheet gridlines off and on. This is done by clicking on Tools>Options>View>Window Options>Gridlines. Emailing to Multiple Readers Harry Carpenter wants to send a newsletter to 100 readers and has wisely put all their email addresses in the BCC (blind carbon copy) field. However, his email service provider refuses to send the message because of one incorrectly typed address – but won't tell Harry which one it is. I've overcome this problem by dividing the addresses into two groups (of 50 each in this case) and clicking on SEND. When one of the two groups fails I divide in half and try again – and again, as needed. Visually spotting the incorrectly typed address becomes easier in subsequently smaller groups. However, failing that, I continue dividing up the remainder until the rogue address is isolated. Blind Carbon Copies (BCCs) are explained in detail here: Page8.html Special Characters & Symbols Lourdes Negrón read instructions on my site for creating special characters in Spanish by using the Alt key and numbers on a computer's numeric keypad (such as Alt+0191=¿, Alt+0241=ñ and Alt+0243=ó). However, Lourdes has a notebook PC with no numeric keypad. Well, you can convert certain laptop keys into a temporary numeric keypad by holding down the Fn key and the Alt key simultaneously, whereupon J, K, L become 1, 2, 3, and U, I, O become 4, 5, 6, etc. Moreover, these numbers can normally be seen printed on the lower edges of the corresponding keys. By the way, a page on our site Page3.html lists all kinds of keyboard shortcuts, including Ctrl+S=Save, Ctrl+N=New, Ctrl+C=Copy, Ctrl+V=Paste, Ctrl+Z=Undo, and many, many others. Speaking of keyboard shortcuts, on a Mac the Cmd (Command) key is used instead of Ctrl. Using a Macintosh So why are we mentioning Mac tips? Well, we just bought one. It's a 20" iMac, along with the Snow Leopard operating system. Why? Well, Mary's been using the same Dell PC for 10 years, so we decided it was time she got a new computer. And since we occasionally get Macintosh questions we decided to become a 2-platform family. I was a Mac instructor at Fallbrook High School back in the late '90s, but they've changed a lot since then. The iMac we bought is a self-contained computer that has its monitor built-in. An advantage of this kind of package is that, except for an AC power line, one's desk is completely clutter-free. Our iMac came with built-in WiFi, which seamlessly connected to our wireless Internet router. It also came with a CD/DVD drive and a built-in Webcam. For the benefit of those who have never used a Mac, but who might be thinking of buying one, here are a few of the ways in which they differ from a PC: The iMac's keyboard is slightly smaller than that of a standard PC and it has no 10-key numeric pad – it's much like the average laptop/notebook keyboard, with an Fn key, which combined with the Alt key converts certain keys into a temporary 10-key pad.. Mac keyboards don't have a Backspace key; however the Delete key does the same thing, in addition to deleting whatever is highlighted. The traditional Mac mouse has always been a single-button device, but a scroll wheel has been added. The good news is that you can use a Windows keyboard and a Windows mouse, if you prefer. However, since a PC keyboard has no Command key, the "Ctrl+" shortcuts aren't available. But all the usual "right-click shortcuts" can be done with a PC mouse. Beyond that, I use a 5-button Microsoft Optical mouse that's programmed to do many of those things with just one click. The bottom line is we are very happy with our Mac. Emails in a Foreign Language Gmail user Annie Hoep in Holland wrote and asked if there was a way to receive this letter in Dutch. Well, we could go to www.translate.google.com and have it converted before we send it, but we don't have the time to taylor individual messages for individual readers. However, Annie can have this letter translated automatically within Gmail. Go to Settings>Labs>Message Translation. Then if a message arrives in a language other than your own, Google will notice it and give you a prompt for translating it from the other language to yours. Free ScreenSavers (or Emoticons) Carol Tupper asked if it's safe to download "free" items from www.popularscreensavers.com. Well, if you click on the site's End User Agreement you will see that by downloading something you also agree to have a special "search bar" added to your browser (that helps you search for things they want you to find) and you agree to accept phone calls. There is a lengthy list of other "fine print" things one agrees to with a download (which they also hope you won't bother to read). These hard-to-read "Terms of Service" and other posted "Privacy Statements" are what keep these sites more or less legal. |
Senior Computer Tutor
Don Edrington
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Senior Computer Tutor
Don Edrington
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