Technical Communications

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F1 is the 'golden' key

2008-07-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

Help is truly at your fingertips!

If you don't know any shortcuts at all in Windows, learn this one: F1
Try it now. You are in a browser reading this article, I dare you, press F1.
Up comes a help dialog, right?

In IE7 it's the content and index search,
in FireFox it's a FireFox Help window.
on the Windows desktop it's the Windows help and support center,
in Outlook it's Outlook Help and Office Online,
and on it goes.

For everyone: don't know how to do something? Press F1, find it and read up on it.
For those who should know better (like myself), this is a reminder to press F1 more often... before all else fails!

I spilled water onto my notebook computer

2007-06-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday knocked an open bottle of water and managed to grab it before the whole thing spilled into my NEW VAIO notebook computer. But a good splash landed on parts of the keyboard anyway. The computer was running.

I grabbed a paper towel and tried to sop up some of the water very gently from the keys, powered down, unplugged the computer, turned it upside down to try to let the water drip out.

When I went to my desktop, the advice I read on how to try to save the computer was very common sense. I'm writing this with my VAIO, and there seems to be no damage... I have touched wood! I used "spilled water on laptop" for a search term and got plenty of results. Here is the gist:

If you spill something, let it be water, pop or juice are much more difficult to clean up, they leave sticky residue after they dry.
After the spill, immediately turn off the computer, unplug it and take out any removable parts, including the battery and/or removable drives.
Dry the wet you can see (in my case my card reader was wet and the camera card in it)
Turn the computer upside down and sideways and check if any moisture is running out anywhere.
Leave it standing like a tent, half open upside down for a couple of hours, then put a padding of paper towel on the keys, turned it upside down and remove one of the panels in the back to check if there is any moisture visible inside. You may be in luck if you see none.
With the hair dryer, at low heat setting gently blow over the keyboard and into the openings where parts were removed. If there was a lot of liquid skip that step, you don't want to blow the water further into the computer.
Leave the computer upside down, with it's paper towel padding over the keys for 24 - 48 hours.
It is difficult to leave it alone. (I managed not to let my curiosity kill the computer.)

So, I turned it on just now. Everything seems fine. As I said, I touched wood... :-)

Lucky me! Luck has everything to do with it, and a bit of common sense. I won't have liquids near enough to have this happen again!

Is free really free?

2007-05-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

I came across some great examples of 'free' services that I would avoid like the plague. "Create free forms online", "Schedule your appointments online", and over 10 more of the same kind of 'free online services' are listed at the bottom of these pages. Why should you pass up a free service? Look at the site(s) more closely:

Site Design: Seems slapped together without much professional care
Contact Us: No real contact information, except an generic email address: info@...
Header/Footer: No company name shown anywhere
Terms & Conditions: There is an agreement document that outlines the 'Terms of Service', but is it valid? With whom do I agree or disagree?
Checking the page source: No comments that give a clue, extremely basic programming
Checking the domain registration: All of these domains are registered to the same company "Centranet On-Line Services Ltd.", through godaddy.com. All detail information such as address or phone numbers are blocked
Search Google: Google shows no result about Centranet On-Line Services Ltd. A company that offers all these online services and doesn't have a corporate website? A ghost company!
That can't be it, can it?: Google does show one result for CentraNet (Online Banking) Manager offered by the Central National Bank in Waco... But that seems to be a whole other story... Really, does this banking site imbue you with confidence, would you actually want to bank there, online yet?

Think about it. Why would you trust even a small part of your information to any site that offers free (or even paid) services but exists anonymously. What is the purpose of this service? Collecting your information to sell to someone else? How do you know if the service works? Where do you ask for support or complain if something goes wrong? The upshot of this article is: Free is rarely really free. Anonymous websites that don't give any kind of contact information, and/or a company name should be considered suspicious, treat them the same as spam, ignore them!

What's the worst that can happen?

2007-05-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

A friend told me that she wanted to do something with her pictures, perhaps put them into an album in PowerPoint. Great idea! I said. I don't know how to do it, she said. Open the program and read the screen, it's not rocket science, really! She is afraid. "I'm not one to open a program and try things..." What is the worst that can happen? Are you afraid to try a program you are not familiar with?

Today's most well known or substantial programs open up with a default step-by-step tutorial right on the screen. Have I used the comparison before, the car and the computer?

Think of the computer as your car. The programs are the gas. Without programs the computer is useless, without gas the car goes nowhere. Without you at the controls neither the car nor the computer go anywhere. What's the point in having either a car or a computer if you don't take control of it and use it? Menus in the programs are like the road map for the car, they show you how get to your destination.

As emphasized in one of my earlier posts: Try things, open a new program and read the screen... READ THE SCREEN! Look at the menus, see what they offer, click on the menus, see what happens.

In PowerPoint the first thing you see is a step-by-step 'Getting Started' tutorial. It's really easy to use. If your first effort is not perfect, well, try again. Nobody 'gets' it the first time. Three keyboard shortcuts you should have at the ready for any program you use:

Pressing [F1] gets you the help file
Pressing [Ctrl] + [Z] is the undo shortcut - press it several times to undo several steps (or find the 'Undo' always as the first selection in the 'Edit' (top) menu)
Pressing [Ctrl] + [S] is the 'Save' shortcut, press it often

Remember the right mouse button... see my previous post, right-click, experiment!

Google's Teaspoon Project...

2007-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just have to promote google's teaspoon project. Read carefully, it's very easy to follow and you might be tempted to order this kit from google... Before you do, don't forget it's April 1 today... :-)

Have been slacking off here with the tech advice. Sometimes I get very surprised what can stump people. Some things that are second nature to many of us is so new to others that we just don't realize that we no longer remember the beginning of the learning curve.

One of my friends is just now getting her feet wet on the Internet. She wants to use email and surf a little. That's all. I've set her up with the google bar in her browser and she is searching and finding already like a pro. She is fine with sending emails or responding to them. But as soon as she wants to save an attachment and find it again later, or use anything else but 'Send' or 'Reply' she gets into trouble. Here is a great website for beginners.

I keep repeating to her that much of what you can do in the program you are in is already on your screen. Read your screen. There are certain conventions that are the same from program to program. The most obvious or context relevant functionality is shown as icons. In a browser those would be icons like 'Back', 'Forward', 'Refresh', 'Stop', 'Home', etc. In your email program the icons are probably 'New', 'Print', 'Delete', 'Reply', 'Forward', 'Send/Receive', etc... you get the picture.

Where it gets a bit more involved is in the menu bar at the very top of the window. Most programs have: 'File', 'Edit', 'View', 'Tools', 'Help'. Clicking on those menus will reveal to you what you can do with the program you are in. Explore them. Every time you want to do something and are not sure how, look at the screen, read what's right in front of you, click on those menus and check what is available to you.

The most important one of those menus is 'Help'. Start using 'Help', pressing [F1] will bring up the program's 'Help', use it and learn.

Print out those important contacts!

2007-01-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

We've had some (over 14) violent wind storms around here, a lot of damage, houses struck with by trees, trees uprooted, an ancient huge eagles' nest lost when the tree it was resting on snapped. And, of course the power went out, again and again. I was reminded that my emergency contact information were stuck in my computer when I was asked to put a message on the College website that the College would be closed. I had no way to get it out. Oh, I have a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a Sony Clie, but I hadn't synchronized the information lately and needed a phone number I didn't have in it.

So, some old fashioned backup methods are still a smart thing to do. Print out your contact list, addresses and phone numbers and file it where you can find it again. You'll thank me one day.

If you are one of those people, (I know some) who don't have a printer at all, get one. Printers are very cheap insurance. I can't imagine doing work without a printer, but that's just me.

Belated in January... Happy New Year!

It's wireless, why don't I see the Internet?

2006-12-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

You got a shiny wireless notebook computer, booted it up and tried to get on the Internet and nothing! It's wireless, so why doesn't it work?

Not like the movies, eh? In movies people open a notebook computer absolutely anywhere (in the middle of a desert even) and are online in seconds, lightning fast, you never see a wire of any sort... then they save the world with a few key strokes... As I said, that's 'in movies'!

Here are the things you need to connect to the Internet (wirelessly or wired).

Internet Service Provider account that offers broadband/high-speed connection to the internet. That can be the cable company (cable) or the telephone company (ADSL). There are more options, but not for this discussion.
Cable modem or ADSL gateway.
Wireless router (also called access point). For cable, get a router that also takes network wires for older equipment. -----> the router and modem can a combination in one unit.

Tomes have been written about wireless networking and there is a lot to know. But you can keep it really simple!

Read the installation information in the manuals that come with the router/modem, that is one time where it pays to read the instructions.

The one thing you need to know is that the cable modem or ASDL gateway must be in between the wall outlet and the router.

The modem is like the funnel that funnels the Internet information to the router, the router distributes it to one or more computers through wireless broadcasting or wired connections. Windows XP more or less recognizes available connections automatically when you boot up. So when everything is plugged in the correct way your computer will 'see' the Internet.

Here is some more info about wireless network setups or ADSL guides.

Photography online and off

2006-11-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

It's not a stretch to talk about Photography on a technical blog, I bet you are sharing your pictures with your friends and family, attaching them to email, or even putting them on a web page online. In an earlier post, I discussed the print resolution versus screen resolution; resolution however has nothing to do with the quality of the picture.

I just got a book that was recommended by iStockphoto.com. As a contributor there, on a minor scale, I wanted to improve my photography skills a bit, to get more pictures accepted and fewer rejected. If you like photography and want to improve it, purchase that book. It's eminently readable, it's NOT a technical manual, it shows you what to do, and what not to do, to get great results. It works for anybody who wants to take better pictures, regardless of the camera they use. The book? "The Digital Photography Book" by Scott Kelby. Scott is also the Editor of Layers Magazine, something I just found out today. No wonder his books covers photography as well as photoshop editing tips so epxertly!

Browsing the web in style!

2006-11-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

Right up front, if you don't use the google toolbar yet, especially the new one, you are missing out! Get it here. There is a slew of really useful, free security and imaging software included. Just read the page carefully, and you'll know what to do.

If you have automatic updates running (and you should for security's sake!) with your Windows XP, Microsoft has probably already snuck version 7 of their Internet Explorer onto your computer. If so, well, use it in good health, but in that google pack FireFox is included. I have switched for most of my personal browsing to FireFox. I like the tabbed browsing and some of the other features it has, like the nifty add-ons. If you want to just download FireFox by itself, here is the link.

So, even as a Windows user with the Internet Explorer built in, you have options. You can decide how you prefer to browse the internet. In any case first things first... GET THE GOOGLE TOOLBAR.

Keyboard Shortcuts - Try Them

2006-10-31T22:17:00.000-08:00

Some things you can do faster by learning a few strategic keyboard shortcuts. Select something (a file, a word, a paragraph) and copy it, using [Ctrl]+[C]. Using these keys on your keyboard copies the object you selected to the clip board (to the computer memory, if you like). Then, when you are ready to paste the object somewhere else into your work use [Ctrl]+[V] and the object appears where you placed your cursor. It'll become second nature when you see how convenient this is. Microsoft lists keyboard shortcuts... very convenient.

The best of all is the shortcut that minimizes (not closes) all of your open windows at once: [Windows key]+[M]. That's a great trick, it prevents a nosy visitor to look over your shoulder and see what's on your screen. Very, very convenient!

Resizing Pictures Proportionately...

2006-10-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

You want to put some pictures into a document but they are too big. You know that you can resize them but how do they 'keep their shape'? To resize a picture you should see the 'handles'. They appear, for instance, when you click on an image in MS Word.

You can put your cursor on a handle and push or pull vertically, horizontally and diagonally.

When you pull a handle horizontally the picture gets distorted (and the world is suddenly oval)...

Or, when you pull a handle vertically, the picture gets distorted (and the world is suddenly egg-shaped)...

But, when you drag a corner handle and put your finger on the Shift key on your keyboard at the same time, the image resizes proportionately. Make it bigger (see the pitfalls of that in the previous post)...

Or make it smaller. It's not rocket science.

Screen resolution vs. print resolution

2006-10-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

This is a primer about digital picture taking and saving habits you should get into. The subject can be pretty complex so I won't be explaining every little thing, I'll be linking to some sources that explain more... (I am talking to those who are having fun with their digital camera and want some good results for their memories. The digital SLR afficionado, or the RAW picture taker can probably skip this.)

1) Take your pictures at the highest resolution your camera offers at all times. Using film you didn't have to think about resolution, you got a good print of a good or bad picture. With high resolution digital pictures you also get a good print of a good or bad picture. But if you take a picture at a very low resolution you just get a bad, tiny print of a good or bad picture.

2) Don't change the resolution settings to take pictures because you are running out of room on your memory card. Get a larger memory card, or a second one. They are reusable and almost never wear out, it's like having extra film.

3) Download your pictures regularly to your computer or directly onto a CD (picture processing places offer this service). Always backup your original pictures to a CD (or DVD) before you do anything else. This keeps your originals safe, they are like negatives. If you have a year's worth of pictures on your hard drive and no backup, get a stack of CDs and do it today, back them up!

4) Now you can decide what you want to do with a picture. You can mess around with it and if you mess up, you can go back and start again with the original on your CD.

PICTURES ALWAYS LOOK GREAT ON A SCREEN! But will they print?

Bottom line is: If you want a nice, sharp print of your digital pictures, keep them at top resolution. You can always make a picture smaller, but never larger with good results.

If you would like to learn more about print/screen resolution here is a pretty detailed article.

Is this legit? Or is it spam?

2006-10-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

That seems to be unclear still to a lot of people. Let me tell you up front... Everybody gets spam... Everybody! Spam, in case you haven't heard, is unsolicited email. A few years ago it was unsolicited mail that clogged up our mailbox, today it's unsolicited email that clogs up our inbox.

I hope it has filtered through by now that you should never, NEVER, respond to spam! Don't even click on a link in a spam email, it may bring you to a site that looks innocent enough but downloads, without you knowing, spyware, malware, nasty stuff you don't want on your computer (it could lead to identity-theft and more).

It boggles my mind when I hear how often people get taken with blatant, not even well disguised internet scams. Some scams do look legit. If you heed the advice above, to NEVER respond to any spam email, you don't have to worry. But especially make sure that you NEVER believe that a legitimate financial institution would ever ask you for your access password or credit card number, or debit card pin number, via an unsolicited email, even if a legitimate looking logo decorates the page.

You don't have to be paranoid, just use your head, your common sense. If you are tempted to follow up on any unsolicited spam email, then double- and triple-check the background of the senders, the product, the service, the miracle that is promised, before you go on a 'clicking trip'. One of many good sources to do that with is Scam Busters. Or use the search words: 'internet scams' in your google bar and you can read up on it for weeks.

What, you don't have a google bar? Get one, get the whole pack! Check out some of the practical things you can do to not become a spam magnet.

A computer is not a typewriter...

2006-10-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

But you knew that, didn't you? Of course you did! You are not still pressing 'Enter' at the end of each line, right?

So, why do you still make a double-space after each fullstop (.)?

Did you know that if you are writing text for a web page, the second space is not recognized? Or that this double-space can create havoc with the formatting of an electronic document? Oh, there are always exceptions, but just get with it and drop those very old fashioned typing habits.

Why am I writing about something that obvious? Well, every time I come across something at work, or someone asks me questions that seem terribly obvious to me but are not for them, I write about it here.

Right-click! Experiment!

2006-10-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, use your mouse better and start right-clicking on things. If you are not in the habit of doing that you are missing a lot of convenient help at the (right-)click of a mouse!

Start now. Say you are looking at an image file (a picture), say it's called img10023.jpg, right out of your camera, right-click on the file name. The menu that pops up shows you what you can do with the file. In the menu there is probably an option to 'open with', 'edit with [photo editing software]', 'cut', 'copy', 'delete', print, or 'rename' the file. So one right-click shows you right there, what you can do with the object (=file). That goes for all objects on your screen. Right-click on everything, you'll learn a lot in a short time.

On the left is an example, some of the menu options will not apply to you, because your computer would have different software installed.

With learning come mistakes. So one other indispensible keyboard shortcut you need to know by heart is: 'Ctrl + Z' for 'UNDO'. What would we do without 'undo'?

I think I'll have to throw them out...

2006-09-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

I get a ton of questions about computing from many people. At work, my friends, my neighbours, my private clients. It finally sunk in that perhaps it could help others to pass on what I know. It'll be a hodge-podge of stuff.

The new computer:

I asked Jan how she enjoyed her new computer. She told me that she believed she got a bare-bones machine and found that she had to update many drivers on her machine to make one or the other program work for her. She had moved from an elderly computer with Windows 98 to a new Celeron with Windows XP Home. So far, so good.

Then she tells me that her peripherals, such as her printer and scanner don't work right. "I think I'll have to throw them out" she sighs.

My advice to her: Don't throw out anything until you've tried everything else. Remember, you switched from a Windows 98 OS (operating system) to Windows XP, perhaps all it takes is to turn off the computer, unplug and replug printer and scanner, boot up and see if the OS recognizes them. Windows XP has a lot of generic drivers built in that could just be enough. If this doesn't do it, note down the complete names of these peripherals (example: HP laserjet 1000 series), go to each manufacturer's website (examples: www.hp.com, www.canon.com) and try to find updates drivers and/or software packages for that printer or scanner. Download and install them. This might do the trick.

Sometimes it's an obscure thing that isn't mentioned anywhere. I found out by calling Canon that my old scanner won't work if it's plugged into a USB hub, it has to be plugged directly into an USB port on the computer. So, if I hadn't called Canon support, I would have gotten rid of a perfectly good scanner. Those support phone numbers can also be found on the manufacturers' websites.

Speaking about manufacturers' websites... gotta flame Corel. Corel is, at the moment, the worst... WORST! company in my list who hides so completely behind their website, even their phone system keeps sending you back to it. I couldn't for the life of me connect with a real, live person to get a question answered. Their website is also full of traps. They really make you work to get anything found or done in their pages. If they didn't have some good software I wanted, I'd have just left... All thumbs down, Corel!!

Corel is not alone in telling you everything about their website and how wonderful it is, when you call them. Would I call if I wanted to surf? Answer the phone already!