Computer Tutor Don Columns for 2004

Don Edrington's Columns for: 2003 & 2005 & 2006 & 2007 & 2008

        

Please Send Comments or Questions to: ComputerTutorTeam@gmail.com Click on a date below & jump to that date's article. To FIND a Word or Phrase on this page, press Ctrl+F and type in the target phrase. (Ctrl+F works on most other Web pages, as well.) The "date" links work fine with Internet Explorer. With other browsers you can use Ctrl+F (such as Find Feb 13). Dec 27 Copying Data from Your Old PC to Your New PC "Flash" Drives Can Be Used Just Like Hard or Floppy Drives Managing Those "Startup" Programs Dec 26 Creating Columns in a Word Processing Document Creating Your Own Special Forms AT&T CallVantage Still Not Working Dec 20 Text Being "Swallowed Up" When Typing in New Text "Right Click" Key "Device Manager" May Revive Dead Hardware Items Requesting Email "Receipts" Making Your Own Icons Dec 19 VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol Using a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply - a.k.a. battery backup) Dec 13 Downloadable Holiday Clipart Thumbnail View in Windows XP Changing Icons Dec 12 Free Alternative to MSWord Free Alternative to MSOffice or WordPerfect Office Dec 6 Changing Default Settings in MSWorks Canceling an Account with AOL Dec 5 Copying an Individual PowerPoint Slide Copying Names Between Various Email Address Books Nov 29 Creating a Holiday Greeting with PowerPoint Nov 28 COPY and PASTE Basics Changing the Default Font in MSWorks Using Macromedia Flash Player How to Get Rid of Ebates MoeMoneyMaker Nov 22 Blank Box with a Red X Where a Picture Is Supposed to Be Nov 21 Internet Scams & Schemes JPG Pictures Can Contain a Virus Nov 15 Using MSWord's "AutoCorrect" to Help with Foreign Languages Nov 14 Drawing Tools in Your Word Processing Program Nov 8 Protecting Yourself from Online Fraud Nov 7 When Links are Not Clickable Using Special Symbols, such as ¡¿áéíóúüñÑ ®©²³°ª¼½¾¢«»÷—†‡•±§ and Many Others Nov 1 Posting Your Photos on a Web Site Inserting Pictures into a Holiday Newsletter Using Window Envelopes Oct 31 Choosing "File Associations" for Picture Files Oct 25 Google's "Desktop Search" Tool Using Start>Search Options Oct 24 Printing Mailing Labels & Envelopes with MSWord & Excel Oct 18 Is It Time to Abandon Microsoft? Oct 17 Printing Mailing Labels & Envelopes with MSWorks Oct 10 More Information on "Media Players" Oct 3 Information on "MP3 Audio Players" (such as the iPod and its competitors) Sep 26 Helpful WinXP Book Recommended by a Reader Musical Tip from Another Reader Automatic Backups in MSWord & Excel Sep 19 Backing Up Quicken Files to a CD Backing Up Files to an External Hard Drive Sep 12 Downloadable Music Playing Songs Sequentially via Windows Media Player Sep 5 Spam on Hotmail & Yahoo Outlook vs Outlook Express MSWord vs WordPerfect Aug 29 Understanding Adware, Ad-Aware, Adaware, & Ada-Ware Aug 22 Window XP Service Pack 2 Some FAQ about Don's PC Chat (Computer Tutor Don) Newsletter Aug 15 Why Does Text with "Double" Line Spacing Sometimes Refuse to Be Changed to "Single" Spacing? Aug 8 Automatic "Bulleting" & "Numbering" How to Set Your Own "Bullet" & "Number" Options Aug 1 More on Improving Text Legibility Alternative Browsers & Email Clients July 25 Trouble Reading Tiny Text in Emails & on Web Pages "Picasa" Another Useful Freebie from Google July 20 Rules of Cut, Copy and Paste Exception to Cut, Copy and Paste Rules Using the UNDO & REDO Commands July 18 The Importance of File Name Extensions Important Windows Maintenance Tools Playing Various Music Files July 13 Retrieving "Permanently" Deleted Files Doing Arithmetic with MSWord July 11 Using Other Browsers A World of Information Online Your Doctor Will Love You External Hard Drives July 4 Beware of Offers to Join a "Do Not Email List" Editing an Image in MSWord June 29 Fine-tuning a "Name & Address" DataBase Creating Mailing Labels June 27 "Drawing" & "Painting" Programs Windows "PaintBrush (aka "Paint" & "PBrush") June 22 Trying Out Microsoft's "OneNote" Program Seeing Desktop Icons as "Thumbnails" in WinXP June 20 Accessibility Options for People with Disabilities Working Without a Mouse June 15 AIM Adds Voice Capabilities 4 Corners of Security Talking to a Friend in Belgium for FREE June 13 Alternative Way to Save Items Found on the Internet Using IMs (Instant Messages) Missing Volume Control Icon June 8 More About IMs (Instant Messages) More Than Text Messaging Now Possible + Create a Private "Chat Room" June 6 Chat Rooms Pro & Con Using IMs (Instant Messages) June 1 Creating Email Offline Password-Protecting a Document Some Spreadsheet Experiments + A Spreadsheet Challenge May 30 Emailing a Folder Full of Photos Making Sure the Photos Arrive in a Recipient's Inbox Outlook Express Automatically Deleting Incoming Attachments May 25 Working with "Text Boxes" May 23 "Disk Cleanup" Not Working "Cookies" Good, Reliable, FREE SOFTWARE Available May 18 Creating Graphs with a Spreadsheet A Couple of Basic Spreadsheet Functions May 16 Lost Windows Calculator Better than the Windows Calculator Icons Changed Appearance Making an Icon from an Existing Graphic Making an Icon from Scratch May 11 The Windows Calculator Adding Sound to Outlook Express + Calculator Downside Spreadsheet Shortcut Automatic Spreadsheet Functions May 9 Getting Rid of the Preview Pane in Outlook Express & Netscape Adding Sound to Outlook Express + Having Multiple Email Accounts May 4 Page Numbering Clearing Clutter from Word Toolbar May 2 Downloading Music Have We Been Breaking the Law All These Years? April 27 Google Dictionary Doing Calculations in Word Tables April 20 Tab Settings or Tables? What If It Is All Too Long for One Line? April 18 Drag & Drop Just About Anything April 13 Deleting Files The Ultimate Delete Method Recovering Files from the Reycle Bin Temporary Internet Files & "Cookies" Screen Resolution Problems April 11 Traveling Taskbar Beware of Free Gifts Not All Freebies Are Out to Get You More Spam than Ever Out There Screen Resolution Problems April 6 Changing a Document's Page Margins Backing Up Personal Files Online Data Storage Two Ways of Burning Data Files April 4 RAM Size vs Hard Drive Size Good Time to Do Routine Maintenance Incremental File Saving March 30 Lining Up Numbers in a Column Using Word's Horizontal Ruler Numbers Will Follow As Ruler Marker is Moved Using "Leaders" with Tabs March 28 A Few Fundamentals about Emailing Photos What Are "ART" Files? Emailing Multiple Photos Copying a Picture from the Internet March 23 New Viruses Arrive in Emails Without Attachments How to Completely Eradicate a Hard Drive's Data Not Enough Memory? March 21 Too Many "Startup Programs" Slowing Down Your PC? More on Managing Your Email Addresses March 16 Managing Your Email Addresses March 14 Using a PC Without Having to Deal with Spam, Viruses, Spyware & Hackers? March 9 Why Does a Spell-Checker Miss Some Words? Managing Bullets & Numbering + More About Printing Labels March 7 ALL CAPS - Upper And Lower Case - Regular sentence style. Import/Export Filters in Office-type Programs + Setting an Image Size for Printing in Irfanview March 2 Who Needs a Firewall? Working with Avery Labels Feb 29 How to FIND Files & Folders on Your Computer Feb 24 Creating a "Shortcut" Icon + Creating a "Shortcut" to a Personal File Creating a "Shortcut" to a Folder Using Filters in a Database Feb 22 Getting to Know "Windows Explorer" Easy Way to Move Files & Folders "My Documents" = Default Folder for Storing Personal Files Feb 17 Making a Scanned Form Editable Boxes in MSWord with Rounded Corners Making "Read Only" Files Editable Feb 15 Saving PowerPoint Slides as Individual Pictures Feb 10 Some Outlook Express Questions Copying OE Message Folders to a New Computer Feb 8 Make Your Own Icons Free Anti-Virus Tools Feb 3 Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Free OCR Program Most Users Have Multiple Image-Editing Programs + Changing File Associations for Image-Editing Icons Feb 1 World-Wide Virus Assault Fix Windows "Hidden Filename Extension" Problem Keep Your AV Program Updated + Norton "Tools" Bait & Switch Anti-Spyware Jan 27 Do-It-Yourself Business Card Templates Turning Off a HyperLink in MSWord + "Setup Files" for Programs Outlook Express Page Layout & Margin Options Jan 25 Dealing with Those ">>>>>>" Symbols in Forwarded Email Downloading 101 Free Office Suite Jan 20 MSWord Problem & Its Fix + DeFrag - Important PC Maintenance Dealing with Spyware "SpyBot - Search & Destroy" and "AdAware" Jan 13 Do-It-Yourself Business Cards Jan 18 Yellow Sticky Notes More on Printing a Web Page Other Print Options Turning Off HyperLinks Jan 11 Blank Box with Red X Type Your Initials & Have Your Complete Name & Address Appear Other "AutoCorrect" Features Copying Addresses from One Email Program to Another Jan 6 Printing Out an Entire Web Page + Using a Word Processor's TABLE Feature Jan 4 Playing Continuous Music via the Windows Media Player Making WAV Files Work on a Regular CD Player + Making a Print-Out Larger Retrieving BCC Names in Outlook Express Mini-History of Font Availability + Exchanging Fonts via Email Dec 27 Top of Page Copying Data from Your Old PC to Your New PC A question often heard at this time of year is, "How can I copy data from my old computer to my new one?" Well, there are many ways, but I think the most practical is to use a USB flash memory drive. These thumb-size devices are available with storage space up to a full gigabyte and will show up as an additional drive under My Computer when plugged into a computer's USB port. Simply drag and drop folders and files onto the drive, plug the drive into the new PC, whereupon they can be dragged into your choice of locations. Flash Drives Can Be Used Just Like Hard or Floppy Drives The drive can then be cleared, and used multiple times to transfer more items, after which you might want to use it to backup important files. USB drives can be found in several storage size and price ranges. Some even come with password protection. One of the most important things new computer users should do is make their all filename extensions visible. Double-click any folder and go to Tools > Folder Options > View and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types." You do not want these extensions hidden. Why? Well for instance, if you do any image-editing, you know that bitmap formats such as JPG, BMP, and GIF have some unique characteristics, and that seeing the appropriate extension appended to a filename makes the job easier. Managing Those "Startup" Programs Another thing we should all do is keep certain programs from running in the background. Since computers are capable of multi-tasking, some software companies instruct their programs to launch when you boot up your PC and to continue running in the background, whether you are using the program or not. Yes, certain programs should be running continuously, such as your anti-virus software and your firewall. However, there is no need to have AOL or QuickTime running when you are not actually using them. The tiny icons seen to the left of your Taskbar's digital clock represent some of these continually-running programs. Here's the fix: Click on Start > Run and type in msconfig (Microsoft Configuration). Click OK and then click the Startup tab. You will see a number of program names with checkmarks preceding them. SysTray is an essential system program, so do NOT uncheck it. Your anti-virus software may list several files that should also be left alone. Certain special software, such as for a 4-button mouse or a trackball, need to be left running, for the proper operation of the pointing device. However, I always uncheck any file name containing "Real" (RealSched, RealAudio, etc.) along with any other media player I see. Beyond these you' ll see a number of cryptically-named files that can usually be deselected as well. A link on my Web site goes to a site that lists most of these programs and what they do. In any case, deselecting a program does not delete it - it merely keeps it from starting up when you turn on your PC, and it can always be rechecked if you find it is needed for something. Beyond that, many of these files have sneaky ways of rechecking their boxes, so it pays to check msconfig at least monthly. Dec 26 Top of Page Creating Columns in a Word Processing Document Rob Edwards called to ask how to create “newspaper-like” columns in a word processing document. Well, there are two approaches; one uses the Format > Columns command, and the other uses the Tables command. The first works well for volumes of text that one wants to make more legible by dividing it into bible-like columns. However, Tables allow you manipulate text and graphics in all kinds of creative newspaper-like ways. In your favorite word processor go to Tables > Insert>Table (or Create>Table) and choose the number of Columns and Rows needed. Choose multiple Rows for creating a spreadsheet-like page, or a single row if you will just be typing in (or pasting in) normal text. A Table Cell will automatically expand downward to accommodate any amount of text entered into it. Individual Table Columns and/or Cells can be formatted very much like individual pages, except that the TAB key jumps from one column to another, rather than indenting the beginning of a paragraph. This can be overcome by clicking inside a Cell and going to Insert > Text Box, whereupon a box can be drawn that will accommodate text formatted in any way you prefer. A Text Box’s black outline can be made transparent by clicking it and choosing Format > Text Box > Colors & Lines > Line Color > None. Table Column widths can be adjusted by going to Table > Table Properties > Column > Size, or by simply mouse-grabbing a vertical border and moving it left or right. Creating Your Own Special Forms MSWord Tables are also handy in creating business forms, such as invoices or purchase orders. Go to Tables>Draw Table, and draw any configuration of Cells needed to accommodate your form. The width of an individual Table Cell can be adjusted by mouse-selecting its text (or selecting a blank Cell) and adjusting its left and right borders. Columns, Rows, and Cells can also be formatted with colored backgrounds and/or colored borders by going to Format > Borders & Shading. While in this area, border-formatting can be applied that affects line thickness and style, as well as making one or more of a Cell’s borders (lines) transparent. As for the Format > Columns command - in an existing MSWord file you can convert the whole document to, say, three columns, or you can mouse-select one or more paragraphs to be converted to a columnized format. You can even columnize alternating groups of text differently within in the same document. However, MSWorks restricts you to a single kind of column-formatting for the entire document. In MSWord you also need to be in the View>Print Layout mode (as opposed to “Normal” or some other mode under View) to see your work in columns. AT&T CallVantage Still Not Working I recently talked about having AT&T’s “Callvantage” cable phone service installed and how we couldn’t get it to work properly. It has been a full week now, and it’s still not doing the job, despite the best efforts of some very nice tech support people. I would love to hear from someone for whom this service is working properly. Dec 20 Top of Page Text Being "Swallowed Up" When Typing in New Text Rarely does a week pass that I don't get a call from someone who says trying to type a word into the middle of an existing sentence causes the text to the right to be "swallowed up" rather than moving over to make room for the new typing. The fix: press your Insert (or Ins) key once. Pressing it again will return you to the "swallow up" mode. The INS key is a hold-over from pre-Windows days when it had a useful purpose. Although some programs let you use it to PASTE copied or cut items, I wish keyboard manufacturers would eliminate it - or, at least, move it to a location where it's less apt to be accidentally pressed. "Right Click" Key Another "mystery" key is the one portraying a tiny arrow overlapping a tiny page. Pressing it is the same as pressing your mouse's right button, which brings up option menus in various situations. Another Mysterious Key Pressing your Windows "Flag" key is the same as clicking your Start button. Pressing this key simultaneously with "E" brings up Windows Explorer; doing so with "D" will toggle between your Desktop and your open files. My favorite use for the Flag key is to press it simultaneously with the Pause/Break key. This displays the "Systems" window, which allows you to access "Hardware" and "Device Manager" for checking on the status of peripherals that may be malfunctioning. Device Manager May Revive Dead Hardware Items If, say, a CD drive has stopped working, you can right-click its icon under Device Manager and choose "Uninstall." Restarting your computer will attempt to reinstall the device and, in many cases, fix the problem. It's not guaranteed, but it's worth a try. Requesting Email Receipts A number of folks have asked how to request a "receipt" for email they send, so they know it has been received. Outlook Express users can click on Tools > Request Read Receipt. Outlook users can choose Tools > Options > Email Options > Tracking Options. AOL users will see a Request Receipt spot to check at the bottom of their "Write" window. Making Your Own Icons Others have asked how to create their own Desktop icons. There are several ways. Here's one: go to Start>Programs>Accessories>Paint. Next go to Image>Attributes and change the size of the white "canvas" to 32x32 pixels. Then go to View>Zoom>Large Size to make the icon's "view" large enough to "paint" on. Use the painting tools and palette colors to create a design on the canvas. Experimenting and using Paint's "Help" files will make an icon painter of you in no time. When finished, go to File>Save As and save your painting as a BMP file in your "My Documents" Folder. Finally, rename the file (right-click the icon and choose Rename) by changing BMP to ICO. Now when you right-click an existing icon and choose Properties>Change Icon, you can "browse" to My Documents and double-click your creatively-made icon. If you make a lot of icons, create a special folder for them named, say, ICONS, by right-clicking your Desktop and choosing New Folder. Dec 19 Top of Page Voice over Internet Protocol I have written previously about using a computer as a substitute telephone, wherein a headset is connected to your PC's speaker and microphone jacks. If you have a PC friend with a similar setup you can have free long distance voice conversations via IM services offered by AIM, Yahoo, and others. Check their Help files for details. Now, however, we can use our standard telephones via the Internet - not for free, but at cheaper rates than we pay for landline service. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is catching on quickly, and was originally offered by companies such as Vonage, to compete with traditional phone service offered by the likes of ATT. Well, we just signed up with ATT's new "Callvantage" service and have learned a few pros and cons about VoIP. You can choose between connecting your telephone wall outlets to a special Internet connection or connecting your existing phones to a PC with a special router. The former requires some rewiring of your outside phone line receptacle. We chose the latter, since two cordless phones connected to a PC cover our small house with room to spare. However we were surprised to learn that ATT's resulting voice over Internet capabilities were less than ideal. Once we got everything connected, following ATT's instructions, we found that phone calls had continuous voice drop-outs that made having a normal conversation impossible. ATT's phone support people were very gracious, but had no solution to this problem, telling us only that the drop-out problem would correct itself over the next one to three days. My response to this was, "Cancel this plan immediately and give us back our previous phone service!" This demand quickly got me through to a supervisor who spent the next hour going over a number of steps that could be taken to hasten the repair of this problem. The bottom line appears to be that analog telephones do not immediately adapt themselves to digital PC/Internet protocols, where voice transmission is concerned, and may take a day or two to work properly. Ours are working better one day after the installation - but still not perfectly. No Electricity, No VoIP Other things to be aware of include the fact that any disruption in your Internet service also stops your phone service. And since your PC and peripherals need electricity, any power outage will interrupt your phone service. A simple solution to this, however, is to install a good UPS (uninterruptible power supply) between your components and your AC outlet. UPS Worth Having Having a UPS (a.k.a. battery backup) in place is good even if you aren't using VoIP, since it protects your PC from power spikes and outages. A simple spike protector may help with the former, but does nothing for the latter, which can zap a hard drive if it is in use when the power goes out. If you have any experience with VoIP you'd like to share with readers of this column, please let me know. Dec 13 Top of Page Downloadable Holiday Clipart Liz Jones wrote to ask if I put any downloadable holiday clipart on my Web site this year. Well, just a little, since free clipart is so easy to find online nowadays. Go to www.google.com (or any other favorite search engine), click on "Images" and type in something like "holiday clipart" or something more specific, such as "angels" or "Santa Claus." If you want the cute animated drawings that can be inserted into an email, try typing GIF along with your other search words. Some sites, like www.clipart.com, will try to sell you a subscription service - but just keep searching. There are thousands of free graphics available on the Internet. Thumbnail View in Windows XP Speaking of graphics, one of the advantages of WinXP is being able to see miniatures of all your pictures. Inside any folder, click View>Thumbnails. However, your Desktop does not offer a thumbnail view. Well, if you only have a few icons on your Desktop, this probably matters little. I, on the other hand, keep all kinds of icons there so that I can quickly jump from one project to another. However, I sometimes have trouble finding an icon among the dozens in view. An easy fix is to right-click a blank area on the Desktop and choose Arrange Icons By > Name. This distributes them in alphabetical order - but it also puts many of mine into locations other than where I expect to find them. The fix? Keep a "Desktop Folder" on your Desktop, that will let you arrange icons by name, or by type (among other choices) and which will also allow you to view them as thumbnails. Go to Start > Search > All Files & Folders and type "desktop". Double-click each folder that appears to see which is your "main" Desktop. Right-click it and choose Send To > Desktop (Create Shortcut). A folder named "Desktop" will now appear on your Desktop, which will allow the View > Thumbnails option when double-clicked. You can also click on View>Arrange Icons By, and further refine your listing preferences. If you choose "Name" the icons will be displayed alphabetically; but this will not rearrange the icons on your actual Desktop. Speaking of "View" options, choose "Details" inside any folder to display things like "File Size" and "Date Modified." The latter can often help you locate a file whose name you may have forgotten, but which you know was recently edited. You can also click on View > Choose Details, and create columns for items such as, say, Artist or Album Name in a folder containing MP3s. Clicking any column header a second time will cause your files to be displayed in reverse (Z-A) order. Another click puts them back into A-Z or, say, "most recent date edited" order. Changing a File's Icon Another thing that can make important files stand out on your Desktop, or in any folder, is to change their icons to something more distinctive. Right-click any icon and choose Properties > Change Icon, whereupon you will be offered many colorful icons from which to choose. Dec 12 Top of Page Free Alternative to MSWord Greg Kunde wrote to say his new computer came with a trial copy of Microsoft Office 2003, which eventually disabled itself and informed Greg that it could be permanently reactivated by arranging to buy it. Greg said he had created several MSWord files with the program, which had now became inaccessible, and asks if there is a less expensive alternative to MSWord. Well, one alternative comes built in with all Windows-based computers. WordPad (Start>Programs>Accessories>WordPad) is a light-weight word processor that lets you open and edit MSWord (.DOC) and text (.TXT) files. However, advanced formatting in MSWord files may be lost in the conversion. A better solution is to download AbiWord from www.abisource.com, which is a totally free word processor that is very full-featured and which will let you save documents as MSWord ".DOC" files. AbiWord will also open WordPerfect ".WPD" documents, but does not recognize MSWorks ".WPS" files. AbiWord is a very advanced program that is even available in different languages. (I chose Spanish since I occasionally work in the language.) AbiWord has all of MSWord's table, dictionary, spell-checker, and mailmerge features, and is also faster than MSWord in every way that I tested -- especially in launching the program. Free Alternative to MSOffice or WordPerfect Office For those looking for a totally free "suite" of programs, OpenOffice contains components compatible with MSWord, Excel, and PowerPoint. This large and full-featured office suite is available from www.opensource.org and can take quite a while to download. A number of people have been asking, "Which is the best browser to use?" Well, Internet Explorer continues to be used by over 90% of computer users, since it comes built in with Windows. However, a number of people have been trying Mozilla Firefox, which is reputedly less prone to attacks from hackers. I like Firefox, but still do most of my browsing with IE, since not all Web pages are completely compatible with Firefox. One reader likes Firefox so well she asked how to delete Explorer. She didn't say if she meant Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer, but I assumed the latter. I replied that both are fundamental components of Windows and that trying to delete either could do serious harm to her operating system. A reader who prefers the Netscape browser, along with its email client, asks if the program has a spell-checker and a "block sender" option. The former is available at Options > Check Spelling, but there is no option similar to Outlook Express's Message > Block Sender. In any case, if you expect this option to block repetitive spam emails, it's not likely to help because spammers use a different "spoofed" return address on each letter they send. Regarding spell-checkers, Outlook Express uses the one that comes with MSOffice programs, such as MSWord, Excel, or PowerPoint. Without one of these, OE has no spell checking options. I continue to receive questions about printing mailing labels and envelopes. A comprehensive set of illustrated instructions can be found here: page25.html. Dec 6 Top of Page Changing Default Settings in MSWorks Regarding a recent column explaining how to change the default font in MSWorks, several people said they could not find NORMAL.WPT, which is where default settings can be edited. Yes, MSWorks has changed considerably over the years - and NORMAL.WPT does not exist in all versions. However, here is a trick that will not only let you change your font, it will make launching the various MSWorks applications faster and easier. Most versions of MSWorks contain a word processor, a spreadsheet program, and a database utility - but we are required to click the MSWorks icon before we can choose one of these components. Let's say you do spreadsheet work regularly, and would like to begin one without going through the usual preliminary steps. Well, start a spreadsheet in the conventional way - and then do this: choose your font and establish any other preferred settings. Next go to File>Save As and give the file a template-like name, such as "SS-DEFAULT.WKS" (caps optional). The file would normally be saved in "My Documents," but I suggest choosing "Desktop" from the "Save In:" list. Henceforth, double-clicking SS-DEFAULT.WKS will launch MSWorks and bring up this basic spreadsheet. Each time you begin using it for a new job go to File>Save As and give it an applicable name, saving it in a folder of your choice. This will preserve SS-DEFAULT.WKS on your Desktop to be used over and over. Speaking of MSWorks, a reader recently sent me a ".WPS" file that she could not open, which was supposed to be a list of car parts and their prices. Well, I also tried opening the file with MSWord and WordPerfect, but to no avail - it had obviously become corrupted. Nonetheless, I was able to retrieve the lady's data by changing the .WPS extension to .TXT, which allowed the file to be opened as a "plain text" Notepad file. The data, however, was mixed in with lots of unintelligible hieroglyphics, which made the information basically unreadable. The fix? Using Notepad's "Find & Replace" tool (Ctrl+H) I copied repetitive batches of hieroglyphics (such as #%//?&) and pasted them into the "Find:" box. Leaving the "Replace With:" box empty, I clicked "Replace All." Eventually all the illegible coding was removed, leaving the file's actual text. Why am I telling you this? Well, when all else fails in opening a corrupted file - or a file with no extension - applying a .TXT extension will usually allow the file to be opened and display something useful you can use. Canceling an Account with AOL I'm not normally a complainer, but when I recently tried to unsubscribe from AOL, I was handed from person to person whose job it was to make this virtually impossible. They offered all kinds of incentives to stay with them, such as getting one month free. When I insisted on Canceling, I was told to call back on the next payment-due date, at which time they gave me another runaround, at which point I said I no longer wanted the service and would refuse to pay for it. If you want to quit AOL, call your bank and cancel the AOL credit card withdrawal or ETF (electronic funds transfer) widthdrawal. After doing all of the above, I received a snail-mail from AOL thanking me for renewing my account and telling me when my free month of service would begin. It took several more phone calls before the ordeal was over. (AOL's toll-free number is 1-800-827-6364.) Good luck. Dec 5 Top of Page Copying an Individual PowerPoint Slide In response to my recent column on PowerPoint slide shows, Joe Santos asked how to save a slide from a presentation as a separate picture. Well, first it's important to understand that PowerPoint filenames can be saved with a .PPS or a .PPT extension. PPS means "PowerPoint Show," which will begin running with a double-click. Changing the "S" to a "T" (right-click the filename and choose Rename) will put the file into an editing mode. Right-click on a desired slide and choose Copy Slide, whereupon it can be pasted into your favorite image-editor or onto a word-processing page. If the slide is a photo with some superimposed text, you can delete the text by moving your pointer around its edges until it becomes a "four-pointed" curser. Hit your Delete key to remove it. Do Ctrl+Z (undo) if you delete the wrong thing. WinXP users can create a PowerPoint-like "SlideShow ScreenSaver" of, say, favorite photos. First, put the desired images in your "My Pictures" folder and remove any you don't want in the show. Next, right-click your Desktop and choose Properties. Click the "Screensaver" tab and choose "My Pictures SlideShow." This will create a slide show of all pictures in that folder. Finally, click on Settings to adjust your screen-saver preferences. Enjoy the show. Copying Names Between Various Email Address Books Al Roller called to ask how to copy the names from an AOL Address Book into another e-mail program's Address Book. Some e-mail programs make this easy with File>Import/Export options. However, the following works with any of them: In AOL click "Write" to begin a new e-mail. Click Address Book and select all names by holding down SHIFT while you click the top and bottom ones. Right-click the selection and do Ctrl+C to COPY the names, whereupon they can be pasted into the outgoing e-mail (which you send to yourself) or PASTE them into a text document. Outlook Express users will click on Addresses and follow the above steps. Now the names can be individually copied and pasted into another Address Book. However, there is no way of pasting them all at once. This is why I keep all my contacts in a Word document, which makes them accessible with all the various e-mail programs I use. When I send out a newsletter to multiple recipients, I just copy and paste the names, as a block, into an e-mail program's BCC (blind carbon copy) box. An even faster way to access these names is to put them on a "Yellow Sticky Note" that always remains on your Desktop. However, putting sensitive data on a sticky is not recommended if your PC is located where others can see easily see it. Nonetheless, I find stickies invaluable for copying and pasting bits of data found on Web sites or an e-mail. This amazingly helpful program is completely free. It is item No. 12 on my home page at: www.pcdon.com. Nov 29 Top of Page Creating a Holiday Greeting with PowerPoint Have you thought about creating a holiday greeting with PowerPoint? The program comes with MSOffice, but often goes unused because many folks don't understand how it works. PowerPoint was designed to create a "slide show" presentation, which is a series images and text. However, animations and other special effects can easily be added. A line of text, for instance, can be made to appear one word or one letter at a time. The items can be made to slide in from one edge of the screen, or the whole phrase can appear as a "venetian blind" effect. These are just a couple of examples. Here are some tips to get you started. After launching PowerPoint you can click on AutoContent Wizard and be led through a series of prompts that will have you up and running in no time. However, I go to "Blank Presentation" and build one from scratch. This will display a window with a collection of suggested layouts. Dark bars represent text boxes, cartoon faces represent picture boxes, while other boxes represent bulleted lists and graphs. However, I prefer the "totally blank" frame, because everything found in the "suggested layouts" can be created manually. Here's an example: With a blank slide showing, click Insert > Text Box. Draw a rectangle of the approximate size needed for some text, and then type a "Happy Holidays" message into it. You'll see a toolbar that lets you edit the text, re: font, style, size and color. Now let's have some fun with this. Mouse-select the text and click Slide Show>Custom Animation. Next click the down-arrow under Entry Animation & Sound and choose one of the special effects. Click OK and then click Slide Show>View Show. Your screen will go blank and wait for a mouse click to start the show. After the animated text does its thing, click twice to return to editing. Now go to Insert > Picture > From File, and browse your way to a photo. Move the inserted picture to wherever you want it and then return to Slide Show > Custom Animation, where you can choose a special "entrance" effect for the graphic. Press F5 and watch your message and picture magically materialize. Finally, go to Format, and choose "Background" or "Apply Design Template" to give your slide a colorful backdrop. When ready to build Slide 2, go to Insert > New Slide. This is just the tip of the PowerPoint iceberg. Animated cartoons can also be used, as can background music and/or a vocal narration. The possibilities are endless. As for emailing out your creative efforts, the recipient must have PowerPoint or a free PowerPoint "viewer" which can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com. Just type "powerpoint viewer" into the Search box and click Go. PowerPoint also works well as a simple "Desktop Publishing" program. Just leave out the animation effects, and use the drawing and lettering tools as you would in any other DTP program. More tips and a Powerpoint Holiday Presentation can be found at www.pcdon.com. Nov 28 Top of Page Using Macromedia Flash Player Claire Michaels wrote to say she installed Macromedia Flash Player, but cannot find an icon for running the program. Well, Flash is a program that displays high resolution animations, and runs automatically when you encounter a Flash presentation on a Web page. Getting Rid of "Ebates MoeMoneyMaker" John Simpson wrote to ask how to get rid of "Ebates MoeMoneyMaker," which purports to be a "rewards" program that saves one money on certain purchases. A little research showed the program to be an "adware" scheme that makes itself nearly impossible to delete. Info on how to get rid of it can be found here: http://www.comparerewards.com/archives/000381.html COPY and PASTE Basics Linda Maag wrote to ask how to copy and print just a portion of text found in a Web page article. Well, "COPY" is one of the most fundamental commands in computer use, and almost anything can be COPIED, whereupon it can be PASTED somewhere for subsequent editing and/or printing. However, the text or graphic to be copied first needs to be SELECTED - and there are many ways to do this. If you want to copy just a section of text in an email or on a Web page, simply select (highlight) the text with your mouse. Now you can copy the selection by going to Edit>Copy, or by doing a keyboard Ctrl+C, or by right-clicking the selection and choosing Copy from the popup. Then you can paste the selected text into an outgoing email or into any kind of a word processor, as well as into a spreadsheet or database cell. Use Edit>Paste, or Ctrl+V, or right-click the target area and choose Paste. As simple as this sounds, however, problems can arise. For instance your selection might be pasted in as a "picture" of the text, leaving you with no way to edit it. This can be circumvented by choosing Edit > Paste Special > Unformatted Text. This choice, however, removes special formatting such as bold or colored type. More copying tips can found on my Web site. Changing the Default Font in MSWorks Kelly Johnson called to ask how change the default font size in MSWorks. Well, changing the default font in MSWord is easy; go to Format>Font, make your choices and click on Default. WordPerfect users can do this with Format>Font>Settings. MSWorks users have to work harder to accomplish this: Launch the MSWorks word processor and click on File>Open and choose Document Templates (*.wpt) in the "Files of Type" box. Click on NORMAL.WPT. Choose your font styles and go to File > Save As. Keep the name NORMAL.WPT and choose Document Template (*.wpt) in the "Save as Type" box. Alphabetizing the Favorites in Internet Explorer Cathy Carver called to ask how to alphabetize her Favorites in Internet Explorer. Well, the Favorites can be found in two places, as a Menu item at the top of the IE window, and as a "Star" icon on the IE toolbar. The list of Favorites displayed when the Star is clicked can NOT be sorted. However, when you click the word "Favorites" you can then right-click any item and choose "Sort by Name." Nov 22 Top of Page Blank Box with a Red X Where a Picture Is Supposed to Be A number of readers have been asking why email they send and/or receive containing pictures often arrives with blank boxes containing a red X where the pictures are supposed to be. There are many reasons for this; here are the main ones: If the email is one of those cute greeting cards or inspirational messages that has an animated graphic with each paragraph, it was professionally prepared as an HTML document that should look the same to anyone who receives it. However, not all email programs are completely compatible with all others, and each has a different way of handling pictures - especially when it comes to forwarding a picture-bearing email to someone else. If you are an AOL or CompuServe user who receives such an email, and you use your FORWARD button to send the letter on to others using these services, there's a good chance the pictures will arrive with no problem. Forwarding the same letter to users of other email services, however, may or may not cause the pictures to arrive intact. If, instead of clicking your Forward button, you use Edit > Select All to copy the entire contents of the letter and then use Edit > Paste to put the contents into a new, blank outgoing email, the pictures are more likely to arrive without problems. Pasting everything into a new letter also works well with other email clients, such as Outlook Express. Another way to help insure that the pictures arrive is to send an image-bearing letter as an attachment to a new, outgoing letter. Juno and Hotmail do this automatically when you click the Forward button. When clicking Forward in Yahoo Mail you will be given the choice of sending the letter as "in-line text" or as an "attachment." Choose the latter if the email contains pictures. Outlook Express, however, offers no such choice when its Forward button is clicked - but clicking on Message will display a Forward As Attachment option. If the pictures you are sending are not an integral part of the messages (as in a greeting card) it's better to send them as attachments. Outlook Express offers an Insert > Picture option and an Attach option that lets you browse to a picture (or any other kind of file). If you choose Insert, the picture will arrive positioned in the message wherever your cursor was when making the choice. If you choose Attach, the picture will not only arrive as an attachment, it will also show up at the bottom of the text message (at least, when received by another Outlook Express user). Another thing that can cause enclosed or attached pictures to be dropped along the way is the file size limitation of the recipient's ISP. However, this has become less of a problem since Hotmail and Yahoo increased their mail storage limitation to 100 times what they were before, along with increasing the file sizes they accept. Others appear to be doing likewise to compete with Google's new G-mail features. Nov 21 Top of Page Internet Scams and Schemes Internet scams and schemes are on the increase. Some are designed to steal your money, others to steal your identity, and others to con you into giving out your email address so you can be put on spam lists. Almost all are designed to get you to click on a link that takes you to a larcenous web site. Cheryl Clarke wrote to tell me about recently receiving an official-looking email that claimed to have received $270 from her PayPal account for the purchase of a video game. Included was a link to a site she could go to for "additional information." Her immediate reaction was to click the link, since she had made no such purchase. However, Cheryl had the presence of mind to call PayPal directly, where she was told no such transaction had taken place and no money had been withdrawn. In other words, the email was designed to get Cheryl to click on a dangerous link. What might Cheryl have encountered by clicking the link? Well, stories abound of people conned into believing they would get help recovering stolen money or goods, if they would just pay an up-front fee - often to the crook who did the stealing. JPG Pictures Can Contain a Virus Beyond theft, there are virus writers who tempt you with links that can place an infected file on your computer. One such virus can be written into the coding of a JPG picture, which can wreak havoc with your PC if downloaded. JPGs are easily downloaded by right-clicking them and choosing Save Picture As - and some can look very tempting indeed. Sites that have something to sell are not likely to scare away customers with a virus; but be careful of suspicious-looking "underground" sites. Everyone needs a full-time anti-virus program these days (which is frequently updated) as well as having a periodic virus scan. Having taken those precautions, however, you are still not guaranteed to be virus-proof. Why? Because virus authors create new germs just as fast as the AV companies supply protection from previous ones. Most viruses are received as email attachments, often sent by "someone you know." Don't accept any email with an attachment you are not expecting, and don't assume that a suspicious email is from a trusted source, since most mal-intentioned emails have a "spoofed" return address - usually harvested from computers that have been virus-compromised. So which anti-virus software is the best? Well, I don't have the resources to do product comparisons, but I have posted info on my site from companies that do. Also, I feel silly warning my readers that emails from an "International Lottery," which says you've won a huge jackpot, or from the "widow of the late Prime Minister of Nigeria`" who needs a "partner" to help hide millions of dollars, are nothing but a ruse. But, considering how many of these phony balonies I receive each week, I fear that some people may be actually falling prey to the scams. Nov 15 Top of Page Using MSWord's "AutoCorrect" to Help with Foreign Languages "AutoCorrect" was originally created in MSWord as a "typo-repair" function that corrects misspellings as we go, such as automatically changing "recieve" to "receive." Well, MSWord also lets you add your own items to AutoCorrect. This can be useful for saving keystrokes in a phrase that needs to be repeated periodically: For instance, type your name and address in whatever font size and style you want, and then highlight the finished typing. Next go to Tools > AutoCorrect, and your phrase will appear in the "With" box. Now type a "code" (such as your initials) into the "Replace" box. Finally, choose Plain or Formatted Text and click Add > OK. From then on, whenever you type the code, followed by pressing ENTER or the SPACEBAR, your name and address will appear just as you formatted them. However, this obviously means your code should not be a regular word. If your initials are, say, BE, you wouldn't be able to type the word "be" without it turning into your name and address. While examining AutoCorrect's stock "Replace/With" items, you'll see that :) turns into J and that (c) turns into ©. You can also use this feature to display foreign words with their correct symbols. The special letters used in foreign words can be found in MSWord by going to Insert > Symbol and choosing the font that matches the one you're using (or by choosing "normal text"). This means typing words such as senorita, manana, or nino can be made to automatically become señorita, mañana, and niño. For those who do a lot of typing in a foreign language, special keyboards and programs are available that make the job easier. One such source is www.datacal.com , although many others can be found by typing something like "Spanish language keyboards" into any search engine's Find field. My emphasis on Spanish here is because it is so omnipresent in Southern California where I live. In fact, I used to teach Beginning Spanish for Palomar College and prepared all my lesson plans in MSWord, using AutoCorrect to convert hundreds of words into words with properly accented vowels (along with other Spanish characters) as I typed. Spanish contains many English cognates whose main differences are the use of accented vowels. For instance, mecanico (mecánico), simbilo (símbilo), and mision (misión) lack only the proper accenting for them to mean mechanic, symbol, and mission. With AutoCorrect, when I type mecanico, for instance, it becomes mecánico automatically. However, a little help is needed to transform some words into proper Spanish. For instance, "incision" is spelled the same in both languages, but needs the "o" accented in Spanish. Therefore, I spelled my "code word" for the transformation with a double "i" (iincision). This preempted my normal spelling the word in an "English" document from turning into Spanish. Windows also comes with some foreign language options which can be found by double-clicking My Computer > Control Panel and choosing "Regional and Language Options." Nov 14 Top of Page Drawing Tools in Your Word Processing Program Although word processing programs are not usually thought of as "drawing programs" they do have some helpful drawing tools. In MSWord, go to View>Toolbars>Drawing. In WordPerfect, go to Insert > Graphics > Draw Picture. In Works, go to Insert > Picture > New Drawing. The way these tools work varies considerably among the word processors, and are best learned by experimenting and consulting each program's Help files. Here's a brief sampling of what can be done in MSWord. Click on the rectangle or the oval to draw a corresponding shape in whatever size you want. Click on AutoShapes to find a collection of useful designs, including a heart, a happy face, and all kinds of stars and arrows. Click the Pen tool to choose an outline color and click the Paint Bucket for a fill color. Click on the Lines icon to choose the thickness of a line or outline, and on the Dash icon if you want the line broken. Click the Shadowed Box to add a shadow to a shape, or the 3-D icon to add perspective to a rectangle. Click the Rotate icon and then grab a corner "handle" of any shape to rotate it to any angle. If you want two or more objects to move as one unit, click each of them while holding down Shift. Then go to Draw > Group. If you want to flip the combined objects, go to Draw > Rotate or Flip. If you want to align them on their centers or along a particular edge, go to Draw > Align or Distribute. The latter option puts equal spaces between objects. If you have overlapping objects and want to change the order they are in, click on an object and go to Draw > Order. These tools are no substitute for a full-featured drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw, but they are easy to use and come in handy for a quick and simple illustration. Another handy tool is WordArt. As its name suggests, you can do artistic things with a word or a phrase. Go to Insert > Picture > WordArt. For MSWorks users, a box will appear reading YOUR TEXT HERE. The regular word processing toolbar will be replaced with a new one that lets you edit the WordArt "drawing." Click on "Plain Text" and a drop-down window will show a variety of shapes, such as a waving banner, an arch, and a stop sign. Click on a design and your phrase will conform to its shape, whereupon you can edit the drawing by giving it, say, a shadow or a 3D look. MSWord users will be presented with a "WordArt Gallery" from which a number of colorful pre-designed templates can be chosen. Click OK and a floating WordArt toolbar will give you even more options. WordPerfect users have similar options with TextArt. MSWord also has some photo-editing tools. Click on an image and a toolbar icon will let you crop the picture, along with letting you adjust lightness, darkness, and contrast. Again, using Help and experimenting is the best way to learn. Nov 8 Top of Page Protect Yourself from Online Fraud Internet fraud is increasing at an alarming rate, so it's worth reviewing some of the steps needed to protect yourself. So-called "phishing" emails appear to be from a bank (possibly yours) or other legitimate business and often begin with "Due to the recent increase in identity theft, we must ask all our customers to verify their accounts..." A clicked link will then take you to what appears to be a legitimate site of the bank, where you will be invited to fill in all your personal data. Legitimate businesses do NOT ask for personal data via email. If in doubt, phone the company and inquire. Perhaps less sinister than being told you need to update bank info is being told by your ISP that you need to reaffirm your user name and password. I have many horror stories from folks who thought AOL had sent them such an email and who gave away their user data to con artists who used the info to send spam touting things like porno sites. "Key-logging" programs, which can log your keystrokes and send them to a crook, are another growing threat. How does such an insidious program get on your PC? Well, keep in mind that computers are two-way devices which can receive as well as send - and unscrupulous webmasters have ways of sending these things to your machine, even if you are extra cautious in avoiding suspicious sites. How? One way is to send you an innocuous-looking email bearing a link to click if you want "to be removed from their mailing list." The link, however, might exist only to make you a better target of such a spyware program. Yes, legitimate companies also include a "remove from list" link (which they will honor) - but did the letter really come from that business? Be careful. Another way they can attack your computer is by surfing networks looking for "unprotected ports." A "firewall" that can protect these ports is available as a hardware "router" or as a software utility. Microsoft's Service Pack 2 for WinXP includes such a firewall, although I prefer the free one from ZoneAlarm that I've been using for years. I also run "Ad-Aware" and Spybot" (anti-spyware programs) daily to rid my PC of malicious "cookies" encountered while surfing the net. Although legitimate companies have been sending us "legitimate" cookies for years, the harmful ones are a fast-growing threat. Unfortunately, among the main sources of such malware are downloads purporting to be "anti-spyware" which, rather, install theirs while removing spyware of their competitors. Furthermore, "anti-virus" software is not "anti-spy" software. You need both. PC World Magazine recently published a comprehensive article on spyware programs, and named some names: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118362,00.asp Nov 7 Top of Page When Links are Not Clickable Outlook Express user Gary Hood wrote to say the hyper-links in much of the email he receives do not respond when he clicks them, and asked if there is a fix for this. Well, clickable links are a function of HTML (hypertext markup language). If your email program displays font style and color options when composing a letter, your typing will be seen in HTML formatting. This means any Web site or email addresses you include will become clickable links, which will normally be displayed as underscored blue text. Clicking a blue email link should initiate a pre-addressed outgoing letter, while clicking a Web address should take you to the corresponding site (if you are online). In the early days of email everything was done in "plain text," meaning no part of it was clickable. Nowadays the distinction between HTML and non-HTML text has blurred, meaning that even though a letter was composed and/or received as simple text, a Web or email address therein may still be clickable. So why were they not clickable in emails received by Gary? Well, some of Outlook Express's options are found in Internet Explorer. Here's what Gary did to fix the problem: Double-click Internet Explorer and choose Tools > Internet Options > Programs. Be sure that "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser" has a checkmark. Click "Reset Web Settings" and uncheck "Also reset my home page." Click "Yes," "OK," and "OK" again. Then go to Start > Run, and type in: REGSVR32 URLMON.DLL. Click "OK" and "OK" again to insure URLMON.DLL's registration. This will make incoming links in Outlook and Outlook Express clickable. If you receive non-responsive addresses in other email programs, let me know and I'll look for a fix. Using Special Symbols in Text Another frequent question is: "How can I insert symbols into my documents, such as the degrees (°) or cents (¢) signs, or the special characters used in foreign languages?" There are many ways. The most common is to go to Start > Run and type: CHARMAP (character map). Click OK and a chart will appear displaying all the special symbols available in all of your various fonts. Choose a symbol, click Select > Copy. Right-click where you want the symbol to appear in your document and choose Paste. Another way is to create the symbols on the fly using your ALT key along with a numeric code. For instance, ALT+0191 will generate the inverted question mark used in Spanish (¿). These codes can be found in the lower right corner of the chart described above. If you would like a list of these codes, it can be found by clicking Item #7 on my home page, where you will also find many other keyboard shortcuts, all of which can be easily printed out. Users of MSWord can go to Insert > Symbol to find a similar chart. If you plan on using a group of, say, special characters in Spanish (¡¿áéíóúüñÑ), copy and paste one of each somewhere from whence they can be copied and pasted as needed, without constantly returning to the chart. Nov 1 Top of Page Posting Your Photos on a Web Site One of the main advantages of having a computer nowadays is being able to share photos with friends and family. The obvious way to do it is to send them as email attachments. However, an even better way is to post them on a website, where they can be viewed and downloaded. Sending multiple photos via email is easy, in theory, but fraught with Murphy's Law possibilities. The photos might not arrive because a recipient's mailbox is full, because the file size exceeds an email client's limitations, or because a recipient doesn't have the means to "unzip zipped files." So how do you get your pictures on a site? Well, there are many free personal homepage services, such as www.geocities.com, www.angelfire.com, and www.tripod.com. These services provide templates, such as text boxes for typing in messages or stories, and photo frames for displaying your pictures. Many ISPs, such as AOL, also provide free homepage services. Beyond this, there are sites designed mainly for displaying pictures, along with text labels, such as www.hello.com and www.dotphoto.com. Of course, what makes all these services free is the fact that they include advertising along with your pictures. If you would prefer an ad-free site, I've seen some advertised for as little as $10 a month. TFBnet in Fallbrook, CA has hosted my site for a number of years, which costs somewhat more because mine contains many pages. However, when you pay for a site you are free to put whatever you want on it and do not have to be burdened with someone else's advertising. And even though I get constant offers from those who would like to pay to advertise there, I politely decline since I want the site to be totally ad-free. Adding Photos to a Holiday Newsletter Another way to send out family photos is to include them in a "holiday newsletter" that will be mailed via the US postal service. If you prepare your letter with a word processor such as MSWord, you can place photos right in with the text. Type your letter in the usual way, after which you can put photos on the page. Using "Text Boxes" for Inserting Pictures Click where you want the upper left corner of the photo to be and go to Insert > Text Box. Use the Text Box pointer (a small cross) to draw the approximate shape of the picture you plan to use. Click inside the Text Box and go to Insert > Picture > From File, and browse to target picture, whereupon the image and Text Box can be fine-tuned to your specifications. Finally, click on the box and choose Format > Text Box, whereupon you will be able do even finer tuning, such as eliminating the box's border. You will also be able to move the Text Box around on your page as you see fit. MSWorks and WordPerfect have similar "Text Box" options. Window Envelopes Can Make Everything Much Easier If you plan on sending a lot of holiday letters, why not use a window envelope that allows the recipient's name and address show through, thus eliminating the need to print envelopes, along with the danger of putting a letter into the wrong one. Oct 31 Top of Page Choosing "File Associations" for Picture Files Mary Casey wrote to say that when she got a new graphics program her image files switched to the new application for display and editing; and she asks how to choose another program for these actions. This is a question I hear frequently, as more people are buying digital cameras, scanners, and other devices that often come with their own image-editing software. When these programs are installed they normally ask if you would like to have your image "file associations" access the new software. Many people choose YES without really understanding the question. WinXP comes with its own "Windows Picture & Fax Viewer," which is the default application that opens when JPG, GIF, BMP, or other bitmap image files are double-clicked. This happens because the default "file associations" of these images look for this particular application. If you prefer another image-editor, you can right-click any picture icon and choose "Open With," whereupon all such programs will be listed. If you then click "Choose Program" an option to "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" will be offered. Whichever program you choose will then become the default for working with pictures in the future. This can be done in Win98 by right-clicking the filename while holding down SHIFT, after which you should find "Open With" options similar to the above. If you are new to working with digital pictures, you might wonder which image-editor is best, and if you should consider getting a program that is more comprehensive than whatever you have. Well, all versions of Windows come with a program called Paint (a.k.a. PaintBrush) which can be accessed at Start>Programs>Accessories>Paint. How is this program different from the Picture & Fax Viewer? Well, it has drawing tools for creating original images or adding things to existing ones. It also offers font options for superimposing text on an image. Other options include changing a picture's dimensions, as well as editing its colors on a bit-by-bit basis. However, as image-editors go, Paint is relatively under-powered. Professionals buy programs like Adobe PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro. I use Corel PhotoPaint. However, I also use a free program available from www.irfanview.com. Furthermore, I use Irfanview as my default picture-opening program. Why? Well, it is quick and easy-to-use; and it handles most of what I need to do when opening an image - such as re-sizing it, cropping it, or changing its brightness, darkness and contrast levels. If I need to do more sophisticated things, such as adding text, I click its Copy icon and Paste the picture into PhotoPaint or Paint Shop Pro. Irfanview also works great on "screen shots." If, for instance, you find a picture online that can't be downloaded, press your PrtSc (print screen) key. Launch Irfanview and click its Paste icon. Everything that was visible on your screen will now become an Irfanview image. Use the pointer tool to crop the target section, and the scissors icon to Cut it. Finally, click the Paste icon to end up with the picture you wanted. Oct 25 Top of Page Google's "Desktop Search" Tool Using Start>Search Options There's a new way to find things on your PC's hard drive. But first let's review the old ways. Go to Start > Run > Search (or Find) > Files & Folders and type in the name (or partial name) of a file or folder. If the file you're seeking happens to be an image or a media file, go to Pictures, Music, or Video and choose accordingly. If you don't remember the file's name, but you remember something that was written in a document, choose "A Word or Phrase in the File" and type in the target text. Using a distinctive word, such as a city's name, will make the search more efficient than using a more common word such as, say, "city." Advanced options, such as an approximate date the file was created or modified will also speed things up. And be sure the "Look In:" box indicates your entire hard drive/s, rather than an individual folder. If you do want to look in a specific folder, right-click it and choose Search from the popup menu, whereupon you can use the options described above. If you're seeking a word or phrase within a document or a Web page, pressing Ctrl+F will bring up a Find box. But none of this works for finding saved emails or IMs (instant messages). However, the new Google Desktop Search program will search for Outlook and Outlook Express emails, as well as MSWord, Excel, Powerpoint, Notepad, and Internet Explorer Web page files. It will also find saved AIM files. The program is a beta version, with updates expected soon that will find even more types of files. When you first install Google Desktop Search, it will index everything on your hard drive, just as it does with data on the Internet. This indexing means when Google searches your hard drive it will deliver results almost instantaneously and will give them to you in the same format you see when searching for items on the Internet. I've been using this tool for about two weeks, and am dazzled by the speed and efficiency with which it works. I've resurrected Outlook Express emails that I wrote years ago, which could have taken hours to find using OE's own search tools. Google Desktop Search Might Be "Too" Good However, I must confess to having read warnings that this utility is so efficient that it can find things that are supposed to be password protected. Therefore, Google's Desktop Search might not be suitable for computers with multiple users who have privacy concerns. Here's another thing I have discovered regarding this program. There are certain sites I access that require a username and password, and on which I can store this private information so it doesn't have to be entered each time. In the past, after deleting the cookies in my Temporary Internet Files folder, I would then have to enter my username and P/W info on these sites upon my next visit. Google, however, has made this unnecessary. I have no idea how. Oct 24 Top of Page Printing Mailing Labels & Envelopes with MSWord & Excel We talked recently about printing mailing labels and envelopes with MSWorks. Here's how it's done with MSWord. In recent versions, a helpful "wizard" can be found by clicking Tools > Letters & Mailings > Mail Merge Wizard. With any version of Word it's best to use Excel as the "database" of names and addresses, while Word will be used to format the actual printouts. Excel, technically, is a spreadsheet program - but works fine as a database if you use the top row as a "header row." Type: First Name, Last Name, Street Address, City, State, and Zip into the top row's first six cells. Now go to File>Save As, and name your database, say, "Holiday Address List.xls." It will normally be saved in your "My Documents" folder. You can alphabetize the database by last names by clicking on Data > Sort > Last Name > Ascending. If you want a hard copy of this database, it's best to go to File > Page Layout > Landscape before printing. Keep in mind that the font used in the database has nothing to do with the one to be used on the finished label or envelope. Formatting the final printout is where Word comes in. Launch Word and use File > Save As to name the file, say, "Holiday Mailing List.doc." Click on Tools and you'll see a menu item called "Envelopes & Labels." Don't go there! Instead, click on Mail Merge > Create, and choose "Envelopes & Labels." Let's start with labels. Click on Active Window and then click Get Data > Open Data Source. This should take you to the "My Documents" folder - but you probably won't see your Excel file. This is because Word looks for files ending with a ".doc" extension. Click on "Files of Type" and choose "MSExcel *.xls" (or just choose "All Files"). Double-click your Excel Address List's icon. You'll get some prompts about "using the entire spreadsheet" and "setting up your main document." You'll eventually arrive at choosing a specific label. The Avery 5160/laser and 8160/inkjet are the most popular, with 30 labels to a sheet. Next you'll see an enlarged, blank label, where you'll be asked to insert the "Merge Fields." Click "First Name," press the spacebar and click "Last Name." Press Enter to start the next line and fill in the other fields accordingly. Feed the names into this file by clicking Merge to New Document > All Records. Next click Merge. Finally, go to Edit > Select All and choose the font, style, and color you want. Going to File > Print Preview will display how the first page of completed labels will look. Pressing your PgDn key will show subsequent pages. Formatting envelopes is similar to the above, but you'll also be given the opportunity to insert a return address. Some newer versions of MSWorks have replaced the program's older word processing utility with MSWord. Users of these versions can combine the MSWorks instructions I gave last week with the ones shown above to simplify the job. The above instructions can also be seen at www.pcdon.compage25.html, along with helpful illustrations Oct 18 Top of Page Is It Time to Abandon Microsoft? The questions I'm hearing most often lately pertain to the installation of Microsoft's Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, along with many expressing fear about buying Windows-based computers altogether, citing the fact that Macintoshes don't seem to have the security problems plaguing PCs. Others have asked if they should switch to a non-Microsoft browser, such as Netscape or FireFox, as well as to a different operating system, such as Linux. Well, if it's of any comfort, I practically live on the Internet using Microsoft products, and am not plagued with viruses or other malware. Furthermore, I have not installed SP2. However, this does NOT mean I'd advise others to avoid installing SP2. I'm holding off until SP2's conflict with a certain program I use has been resolved. For most XP users, however, it appears that SP2 is a valuable tool that plugs many of the security leaks in Internet Explorer and other Windows products. If you have questions, Microsoft's toll-free number is 866-727-2338. So how do I deflect all the malware that's aimed at me? (1) I have Norton Anti-Virus running all the time. (2) I have the ZoneAlarm Firewall running all the time. (3) I delete all "cookies" daily. (4) I use Ad-Aware and Spybot daily to eliminate spy-ware I occasionally get stuck with while surfing the Web. (5) I never open any suspicious email. (6) I change my email address periodically to avoid spam. (7) Although I have Norton AV, I use the free virus scan and removal service of TrendMicro HouseCall periodically. So wouldn't I be better off with a Macintosh and not have to take all the above precautions? Well, I was an instructor in a Macintosh Desktop Publishing Lab at Fallbrook High for three years, and used Macs at Fallbrook's local newspaper when this column began over ten years ago. I love Macs, but no long use one. Why? Well, there is only so much space available for this column, so it needs to written about the machine owned by most computer users - and PC owners outnumber Mac owners by about 10 to 1. But what if all the fed-up PC users were to suddenly switch to the Mac and to non-Microsoft software? Well, let's think about this - if you were a virus or spy-ware author, wouldn't you aim your guns at the largest group of potential victims? And if the majority of computerists were suddenly using Macs, who would become the target of your malicious efforts? Alternatively, what if PC users just dumped Windows and switched to Linux (the free or very low cost alternative to Windows)? What an exhilarating idea! And why haven't I done it (yet)? Well, Linux is great for highly skilled PC users and hobbyists - but for the average user, the learning curve would probably be unacceptably long, in addition to discovering that some of their favorite programs might not be compatible with the OS. In summary, Windows and other Microsoft programs work great for me, and I see no reason to abandon them at this point. Oct 17 Top of Page Printing Mailing Labels & Envelopes with MSWorks As the holidays approach, I've been receiving questions about printing envelopes and labels. This is a function of two applications: a "database" and a "word processing" program. The former is where the names and addresses are listed, while the latter is what's used to format the print-outs. MSOffice users normally use Excel for their database and MSWord for the formatting. MSWorks users normally use the Database utility for their database and the Word Processing utility (or MSWord) for the formatting. What is a database? It’s an alphabetical listing of data, along with additional pertinent information. The database used by most of us is a collection of names, addresses, and phone numbers, which may include email addresses, along with fax and cell numbers. MSWorks users will choose its "Database" utility to list the names, while its "Word Processing" application will be used for the formatting (some versions of MSWorks use MSWord for the word processing). Recent versions of MSWorks offer a step-by-step "wizard" to help you along. The following mini-tutorial applies to all versions of Works. Create your list of names and addresses by launching Works and getting into its "Database" utility, which invites you to create column headings called "Fields." Overtype "Field1" with something like "FirstName." Click on Add and "Field2" will appear, over which you would type "LastName." After typing in all your "Field" Headings, click on Exit or Done. Now go to File > Save As, and name the file, say, "Holiday Address List." By default, the file may suggest being saved in the MSWorks\Documents folder, or in your My Documents folder. However, you can designate any folder you want. Works will add the extension ".wdb" to the database filename. Now comes the hard part; typing in all the names, addresses, and any other data for which you have created fields. Alphabetize your data by going to Records > Sort Records, and following the prompts. Now we'll format the printing of the labels or envelopes. Go to File > New > Word Processor (or launch MSWord if you have it). Use File > Save As to name the file, say, "Envelope Printing Template." Works will add the extension ".wps" to the filename (Word will append ".doc"). Next go to Tools>Labels (or Tools>Envelopes) where a rather intimidating multiple-choice window will pop up; but don't let it scare you. Just click Next. For labels, choose Avery #8160 for inkjet printing or #5160 for laser printing. Click Next two more times. A window will open to display any databases you have created. Choose "Holiday Address List.wdb." (or Holiday Address List.doc). Now, assuming you plan to print a label or envelope for every name on the list, keep clicking "Next" until you arrive at "Label Layout" or "Envelope Layout." Here you'll click "Add Field" and "New Line" until you get a layout that displays "First & Last Name" on the top line, "Street Address" on the second line, and "City, State, Zip" on the third line. Using an additional line for "Apt." (or whatever) is optional. Additional formatting options, such as font styles and colors, are available by clicking "Advanced." Go to File > Print Preview, to see just how your print-out will look. Next time, we’ll look at how this is done with MSWord and Excel. Illustrations of the above instructions can be found on my Web site (as soon as it is up and running again). Oct 10 Top of Page More About Media Players - Both Software & Hardware Regarding my recent column about portable music players, Phil Broughton wrote to correct my saying that Apple's iTunes for the iPod are "MP3" files, and that they are actually "M4P" (or "AAC") files. Another reader pointed out that the column didn't mention "CD/MP3" players, which play music from CDs rather than internal hard drives or flash memory systems. Yes, there are many of these devices available, which play regular audio CDs as well as those which can be user-created with MP3 or other types of music files (such as WMA). These players are cheaper than the iPod-like devices, with some costing less than $50. However, those that include accessories such as an FM radio or CD-burning software can be priced over $200. New Hand-Held Video Players An even newer genre of hand-held entertainment devices coming online is the miniature video player. These devices play audio and video content, which can include music, TV shows, movies and even JPG images, such as digital photos. Microsoft sells its Portable Media Center (PMC) for $499, but is licensing the technology to other hardware manufacturers, such as Creative Zen. The PMC is like a mini computer with a 4-inch screen and a 20 GB hard drive, but with no keyboard or input system other than ports to copy content from other devices. Microsoft has also come out with its MSN Music Store to compete with Apple's iTunes Store. This past week Microsoft also came out with an update to its Windows Media Player, Version 10, which competes with other media players such as WinAmp, iTunes, and RealAudio. To newer computer users some of this terminology may be a little confusing. For instance, what's the difference between, say, Microsoft's Portable Media Center and its Windows Media Player? Well, the former was described above, while the latter is a program that lets you play music and/or display videos on your computer screen. WMP comes bundled with Windows and can be upgraded with a free download whenever newer versions comes out. The other above-mentioned media players are also free downloads (except for RealAudio, depending on which version you get). In addition to dispensing audio/video content, media players let you create play lists that can be copied to other devices, such as CDs, DVDs, or a portable player - or just be played in a particular sequence on your computer. Not surprisingly, Windows Media Player 10 offers an easy online connection to the MSN Music Store, as does the iTunes media player with the iTunes store. If you have not purchased music online, it is quite a different experience than buying CDs at a traditional store. Go to www.itunes.com, for instance, and type in the name of a music genre or an artist or the name of a song or an album. You will instantly be presented with one or more albums that match your criteria. You can then choose to purchase an entire album (or a single song from it for 99 cents) along with being able to first play a sampling of the song. Sure beats fighting that traffic to the mall. Oct 3 Top of Page Information on "MP3 Audio Players" (such as the iPod and its competitors) Jack Templeton wrote to ask for a description of the various portable music players that have proliferated since the introduction of Apple's iPod, which is now in its third generation with three different players available. 25 years ago, the Sony Walkman introduced the concept of having a portable audio player with cassettes that could play up to two hours of music. Eventually, CD players vastly extended available play periods. Nowadays, computerized digital recordings with various compression techniques make it possible to place many hours worth of music on much smaller devices. However, these devices are not all created equal. The iPod, and many of its competitors, use a miniature "hard drive" on which their digital music is stored. Other players use "flash memory" technology, such as the type used with digital cameras, meaning no moving parts are involved. Some of the players include a built-in microphone for voice-recording, while others include an FM radio. In fact, there are so many different players available, it would be impossible to describe them all here. However, Web sites such as www.cnet.com and www.pcworld.com offer extensive descriptions of the various players, along with user-reviews and price comparisons. One of the things to look for is "audio file type compatibility." Digital music is available in several different formats, and not all players accept all formats. The format accepted by all players is MP3, and the 99-cent "iTunes" available online are in this format. If, however, you have a collection of songs in, say, WAV or WMA formats on your computer you will want to make sure the player you buy will accommodate these files. This is especially important if much of the music you intend to play is currently on your computer, as opposed to music you plan to buy. I have hundreds of songs on my PC and Web site and seriously doubt that I would be spending much money for additional content. All players come with "ear bud" headsets, and some come with auxiliary ports that connect to docking stations or home stereo systems. I've also heard that some players are rather weak on the headset output - so anyone with a hearing impairment should test the ear buds carefully. The various screen displays and button arrangements are way too many to describe here, but thought should be given to choosing a player whose functions are easy to understand and operate. Battery play-periods between recharges vary among devices, as do overall battery life-spans. Battery prices also vary, with iPod replacements currently costing about $99. However, third party batteries are available for some players, as are add-on AA battery kits. Devices can also be played with their battery chargers connected, meaning that for players which tend to remain in one place, battery life is a relatively minor issue. In summary, all I can suggest is spending some time checking out these features online before heading to your favorite electronics store. Sep 26 Top of Page Book Recommendation from a Reader I get messages daily from businesses who want me to plug their products or services in this column. Well, I'm not here to supply free advertising; but if a reader recommends something useful I make an occasional exception. Jack Cramer wrote to say he found a book named "Windows XP Pro - The Book that Should Have Been in The Box" published by Pogue Press. He says the book gave him instructions for doing a "system backup" that he could find nowhere else. Jack went on to say he paid $20 for the book at Fry's, but that it came with a mail-in rebate coupon for the full price. Musical Tip from a Reader Another reader asked if I knew how to extract music files that sometimes come embedded in Outlook Express e-mails. When I regretfully replied that I didn't, she figured it out for herself and sent me the information. First, however, let's look at how to embed music in an e-mail so that it begins playing when opened. After composing your letter, click on Format>Background>Sound and locate the target song. Click OK and the musical message is ready to send. To extract the song the recipient needs to launch Outlook Express and click on Tools>Options>Read and check off "Read all messages in plain text." The song will then appear in the "Attach" field as a file that can be saved just like any other attachment. Adding Background Colors or Images to an Email Other OE options available under Format>Background are a color or an image that will fill the e-mail's background. AOL and CompuServe users can find color and image options by right-clicking inside an outgoing e-mail. Automatic Backups in MSWord & Excel When I wrote recently about MSWord creating automatic backups to user-created documents, Scott Adams wrote to say he couldn't find any. Normally this feature is turned on by default; but here's how to access the option: click on Tools>Options>Save, and choose "Always create backup copies." Excel users will find this choice when they click on File>Save As>Tools>General Options. An additional, and somewhat confusing, option available to MSWord users is "Save AutoRecover info every ___ minutes" (with the default being 10 minutes). This means the program is periodically saving a document in progress, even if the user forgets to do ongoing saves. If you've ever noticed any files in your My Documents folder that begin with a tilde "~" and end with a .TMP extension, you've seen an "AutoRecover" file. Such a file can be accessed in a worse-case scenario in which one's main document and backup document have been lost or corrupted. Another MSWord question I often hear is "How can I change my default font?" Open a document and go to Format>Font and make your choices. Finally, click on the Default button to make the changes stick. While you're in the Format>Font area, take a look at options such as: Outline, Shadow, Emboss, and Engrave, which can help make MSWord a versatile desktop publishing program. Sep 19 Top of Page Making Backups of Important Files WinXP and Quicken user Marilyn Gramwall called to say she wanted to save her daily updates to a CD, but wasn't able to do it using the program's "Backup" options. Before explaining how to do this, however, it might be helpful to define the term "backup." In its simplest form a backup is a second copy of any file you create. Some programs, such as MSWord, create an updated backup each time you SAVE a document. Word then puts both files in your My Documents folder. This means if a file currently in progress gets corrupted, you will have another copy that is equivalent to your most recent SAVE. The work in progress will have the extension "doc" appended to its name, while the reserve file will be called "Backup of (your file's name) and have a "wbk" extension. Important Files Should Have Backups at Another Location Another main purpose of a backup is to have a copy of a file stored somewhere other than the hard drive on which it was created. If your hard drive dies, both the original file and the backup described above would very likely die along with it. This is why copies of important files should be stored on another disk of some kind (such as a floppy, a CD, a flash drive, or another hard drive). For many years our only choice was the relatively low capacity "floppy" disk. Expensive Zip disks held way more data, but were eventually made obsolete by CDs and DVDs which hold more yet, and store it on media that is cheaper and more reliable. My current recommendation for backing up important files is an external hard drive, since they have recently come down in price (most under $200) and offer storage space of 40 to 200 gigabytes. Another advantage of an external HD is that it can be plugged into another PC and have all its data copied onto it in one fell swoop. Beyond that; whenever I leave the house I take my Maxtor 120-gig HD with me, knowing that if the house burns down while I'm away my backups will be safe. Backing Up Quicken Files Getting back to Marilyn's "putting Quicken files on a CD" question, it's simply a matter of "drag and drop." Quicken's backup files are placed in a folder named Backup, which is inside the C:\Program Files\Quicken folder. WinXP comes with built-in CD-burning software, which means you can drag files from your Quicken Backup folder (or any folder) onto your CD-burner icon, which is displayed inside My Computer. You can simplify all this by putting a Shortcut to Quicken's Backup folder on your Desktop. Right-click My Computer and choose Explore. When you find the Backup folder, right-click it and choose Send To: Desktop (create a Shortcut). You can also right-click your CD-burner's icon (probably Drive D or Drive E) and send a Shortcut to the Desktop. Double-click the Backup Shortcut icon to display the target files, whereupon you can drag them onto the CD-burner Shortcut icon and follow the prompts to complete the job. "Oldies, But Goodies" If you like songs out of the "big band" era (i.e.: music of Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, Benny Goodman, the Ames Brothers, Harry James, Artie Shaw, Andrews Sisters, Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine, Dinah Shore, Teresa Brewer - as well as old time country - Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Tammie Wynette, the Statler Brothers, etc.) I have dozens available on this site. Sep 12 Top of Page Downloadable Music One of things I enjoy most about my PC is finding music online that can be saved and played back through the computer's media player. I'm not talking about music exchanged via the controversial file-swapping services whose legal issues are often in the news; but rather music found on various Web sites which can be freely downloaded. These songs are usually in a WAV, MP3, or MIDI format, although some are in the RA (RealAudio) format. Explaining these various formats in detail would take more space than is available here; but here is a brief overview: The WAV format was originally designed to create brief sounds such as the one you hear when Windows begins, as well as the famous "You've got mail" announcement. The format is also used to compress music files so they take up less disk space, but still sound very much like the original recordings. Many of the popular songs you hear when accessing various Web sites are in the WAV format. MP3 is the compression format generally used on songs played via portable devices such as Apple's iPod. A MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) file is one that is normally created by playing an electronic keyboard connected to a computer. MIDIs are technically considered "data" files, since the keyboard input is completely "digital" as opposed to music that has been recorded via microphone. They are also used as background music on many Web sites and are usually much smaller files than WAVs, MP3s, WMAs and RAs. In order to play music or videos on one's computer, a "media player" is required, and most computers come with the "Windows Media Player" built in. Many other media players, such as Musicmatch Jukebox and QuickTime can be freely downloaded from www.download.com, but RealAudio was not free (the last time I looked). However, RA files can be heard only via the RealAudio player. Playing Music Continuously with the Windows Media Player The Windows Media Player can be used to organize "play lists" of favorite songs for continual background music. The lists can also be "shuffled" so the songs are not always played in the same sequence. Drag your favorite MIDIs, WAVs and MP3s into a separate folder, which can be created by right-clicking your Desktop and choosing New > Folder and giving it a name. Next open the Windows Media Player. If you don't see an icon for this program, go to Start > Programs > Windows Media Player, or Start > All Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Windows Media Player. With the viewer open, click on Playlists > New Playlist. Under "Playlist Name" type a title for the collection, or ignore this and the name of the folder holding the music will be inserted. Finally, drag the songs from their folder into the large open area of the media player. Use Ctrl+A to Select All of them. You may have to move the media player and/or the folder so they can both be seen for the dragging and dropping (which actually creates "shortcuts" to the files, leaving the songs in the folder you created for them). If the music doesn't start automatically, click the Play button, whereupon the first song in the Playlist will begin (unless another song is currently highlighted). The songs will be listed alphabetically, but any song can be moved to another location by clicking it and then clicking the Up or Down Arrow at the top of the player. Clicking the red X will display Delete options for a selected song or the whole Playlist. If you want the songs to play in random order, click the double-arrow "Shuffle" button at the bottom of the player. Another click will return to the Playlist order displayed on-screen, while double-clicking any song will cause it to start playing immediately. These are just a few of the things that can be done with the Windows Media Player. Others include picking up Internet radio stations and displaying online or DVD videos. If you would like to convert songs from music CDs to MP3s or WAVs, inexpensive software is available for "ripping" your favorites and putting them on your computer or portable player. You can use www.google.com or your favorite search engine to find these programs. The Windows Media Player can also be used to convert WAVs and MP3s into CDA files that can be burned onto a CD for playing on some CD players. For details, launch Windows Media Player and click on Help. As for downloading music from a Web site, a song's title will often be listed as a hyperlink that can be right-clicked to display a "Save Target" option. If you don't see the song title, look for it in your Temporary Internet Files folder, from where it can be dragged onto your Desktop or into a folder. WinXP users may have multiple Temporary Internet Files folders. Go to Start > Search > All Files & Folders and type in Temporary Internet Files. (Be sure you have Search System Folders checked under More Advanced Options as well as Search Subfolders. "Oldies, But Goodies" If you like songs out of the "big band" era (i.e.: music of Glenn Miller, Dorsey Brothers, Harry James, Artie Shaw, Andrews Sisters, Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine, Dinah Shore, Teresa Brewer - as well as old time country - Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Tammie Wynette, etc.) I have dozens available on my site at www.pcdon.com/page90.html. Sep 5 Top of Page More Questions About Spam "How can I stop the spam?" is still the question I hear most. Well, a number of major software companies and ISPs are working on improved technology to weed out junk mail; but for now, the only sure cure is changing your email address (followed by being careful about giving it out). Although the big companies have yet to agree on a plan that is universal and consistent, some appear to have made progress on their own. Hotmail Used to Be Spam City I used to receive lots of spam on my Hotmail and Yahoo accounts, but it has been disappearing significantly in recent weeks. Some of used to suspect Microsoft of encouraging spam in order to nudge us into exceeding our Hotmail storage limits, thus prompting us to sign up for a paid account. In any case, I don't do much personal correspondence via Hotmail or Yahoo; so I don't know if any legitimate messages might get unintentionally zapped as well. This is the ongoing problem with spam filters; being expected to know the difference between mail you want and mail you don't want without ever making a mistake. This newsletter is getting shot down more and more frequently by filters that perceive it as spam. Having More than One Email Account If you make online purchases or sign up for things on the Web it's wise to have a secondary email account, such as Yahoo (who recently increased by 100-fold the online storage space it gives users). It is rumored that Hotmail is about to do likewise, since Google announced that storage space for its upcoming "Gmail" will be a full gigabyte. Outlook vs Outlook Express Another frequent question is, "What's the difference between Outlook Express and Outlook?" The former is an email program that comes with Internet Explorer, which comes with all versions of Windows. The latter is business-oriented time-management database that includes a web-based email client. Outlook comes with some higher-priced versions of MSOffice, or it can be purchased separately. Some Outlook users complain that I give lots of space to Outlook Express questions, but little space to theirs. Well, limited room here means I write mainly for the larger readership and OE questions outnumber Outlook questions by about 100 to 1. The same holds true for MSWord and WordPerfect questions; users of the former seem to outnumber users of the latter by more than 100 to 1. Using Plain Text in Email We've recently discussed the pros and cons of sending email as "plain text," which Outlook and OE users can do by starting a message and clicking on Format > Plain Text. AOL and Compuserve mail users can do this by right-clicking inside the body of an outgoing message and choosing "Compose as Plain Text." Speaking of text formatting, Don Stillman asked if there is a format other than "plain" that can be read by all word processors. Yes, get into your favorite word processor and create a document. Then go to File > Save As, give the document a name, and choose Rich Text Format (RTF) in the "Save as Type" or "File Type" box. If you send an RTF file as an email attachment, the recipient should open open his/her word processor and go to File > Open and look for "RTF" or "All Files" in the Files of Type box. However, if you have only one word processor, double- clicking an RTF file will very likely open itself in the program automatically. Aug 29 Top of Page Understanding Adware, Ad-Aware, Adaware, & Ada-Ware A free program I've long recommended is called "Ad-Aware." This program looks for "adware" and "spyware" that may have been placed on your computer while you were on the Internet. "Adware" is a generic term meaning advertising that pops up periodically once it's on your hard drive. "Spyware" is software that can find personal data, such as credit card and password information, and send it back to the hacker who infected your computer. "Ad-Aware" is a free program that will find and remove malicious adware and spyware. But how can they offer this program for free? Well, the program's author, www.lavasoftusa.com, does have other services for sale, and will even accept donations for Ad-Aware. But there is a problem Ad-Aware's success has prompted others to put out programs with similar names, but which are NOT "Ad-Aware" and which have some features you might not appreciate. For starters, many of these programs advertise themselves as being anti-adware/anti-spyware which you can "download for free" and which will "scan your computer for free" After scanning your hard drive, you are usually told that spyware has been found and that by "registering" the program for $30-$40 the malware will be removed and the program will be yours to keep. In fact, I've heard that you may even be told that spyware has been found when none actually exists. Some of these Ad-Aware competitors are even suspected of removing the adware and spyware they find so they can install their own. Numerous programs have appeared recently that are suspected of operating on