Have You Tried Skype?

My granddaughter Katie is currently (December 2009) studying in Rome and she called home during our family's annual Christmas Eve dinner. My daughter-in-law Alana (Katie's mom) heard the beep on her laptop and brought it into the the dining room so Katie could see all of us and we could see her.

Katie told us she had just come from services at the Vatican, where she was surprised to see a woman leap over a barricade and deck the Pope by pulling on his robe. Of course the story was all over the news that night, but we heard it first from Katie.

The reason I mention this is to acquaint you with what can be done with Skype - at no charge. Alana and Katie communicate face-to-face daily with their camcorder-equipped laptops - for free.

Since nearly all the new laptop and netbook computers have built-in webcams, using them with Skype for face-to-face visits is a natural. You can learn all about Skype at www.skype.com .

Reducing the File Size of a JPG Photo

G. D. Omens wrote that he received some CDs containing nearly 2,000 pictures and asked how to reduce their file sizes to take up less space on a hard disk.

Irfanview (free from Irfanview.com) makes it easy to reduce the file sizes of JPG photos. However, doing so can decrease their sharpness and clarity somewhat, depending how small one makes the file.

Launch Irfanview and click on File>Open to display your photo. Next click on File>Save As. In the Save as Type field choose JPG.

Then click on "Show Options Dialog" to display a "Save as Quality" sliding scale that goes from Low-to-Good. "Good" is "100 percent," with the quality ratio decreasing as the slide-button is moved leftward.

The most commonly used compression ratio is 80%, with the decrease in quality generally not too noticeable. It pays to experiment with different percentages.

Always be sure to maintain the original photo at its original size. A picture whose file size has been reduced can't be restored to its original size. When using File>Save As always give the saved copy a different name, such as changing newpuppy.jpg to newpuppy-a.jpg.

Batch Conversion

As for reducing the sizes of multiple photos all at once, create two folders on your Desktop named something like "Original Size" and "Reduced Size." Place the target photos inside the first folder.

Launch Irfanview and click on File>Batch Conversion and follow the prompts. Detailed steps can be found by typing "batch conversion" into the Search box under Help.

Illustrated instructions on other things that can be done with Irfanview can be found at: www.pcdon.com.

Play Music Continuously on your PC

Anne Goddard wrote asking how to play songs in a folder continuously. Vista and Win7 users need only click on "Play All" in the menu bar of a music-bearing folder. WinXP users should open Windows Music Player, click on Library>Create Playlist, and drag the target songs into the "Drag Items Here" area. Clicking the "crossed arrows" icon switches the play order from alphabetical to random.

Another Scam

Beware of official-looking emails from identity thieves offering "2010 Census-Taking Jobs." The US Census Bureau does NOT correspond with job-seekers via e-mail. Legitimate information is available at:
1-866-861-2010.
Or visit their website at: 2010.census.gov/2010CensusJobs.

© Donald Ray Edrington – All Rights Reserved

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Don Edrington - Computer Columnist for The Californian and San Diego's North County Times

Senior Computer Tutor
Don Edrington

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