Homemade Gifts Straight From Your Computer

Photo Books A photo book is one of the most popular computer-made gift gifts.

Photo books allow for great flexibility in design. You can enlarge, shrink and crop pictures to fit the desired format. There is a wide range of themes available. Prices range from $10.00 on up.

The best way to create a photo book is to use a Web site that lets you upload your photos and assemble the book on-line.

Here are a few websites that are user friendly:
www.snapfish.com, www.walmart.com, www.kodak.com, www.shutterfly.com

Cookbooks

If you would prefer something that pleases the taste buds, or you might like to collect your favorite recipes in one book creating a recipe book to share.

www.HeritageCookbook.com allows one or many individuals to upload recipes, choose a cover and personalize the book with text and photos.
www.blurb.com is another good site that allows you to design the layout, add text and photos.
These books also start at a price of $10.00

Stationary

Personalized stationary is a way to create a gift.
For less than $10.00 you can create notepads, photo notecards, or spiral bound photo notebooks with a large variety of themes. www.Shutterfly.com is a good site for this.

Puzzles

Making personalized puzzles is almost as enjoyable as putting them together and it takes only a fraction of time! The process is simple; you select the photo and a third party takes care of the rest. www.jigsaw2order.com is a good site to start with.

Calendars, Posters, Audio Stories, Movies, Note Cards

These are just a few of the gifts you can create with your computer. Enjoy and have a fabulous holiday season.

PC vs MAC?

9 to 5 Mac is reporting on the newest figures on Mac ownership in the U.S. It says that 12% of households with computers have a Mac,up from 9% in 2008.

But the really interesting factoid is that the overwhelming majority of that 12% of Mac-owning homes also have a Windows machine.
Seems there is very little reason not to be bi-platform. They can share nearly everything you might want to share, from MP3s to Word documents to a printer.

For all their differences, OS X and Windows, are similar enough that moving between them isn’t much more complex than owning a Mazda and a Chevy and driving both!
What do you think?

Online Storage - Free

Why Use an Online Storage Service?

If you’ve ever lost a disk or jump drive, or had your computer crash and important files vaporized, you know the benefit of having a backup of your files. Online storage services allow you to backup your files on the Internet where they are safe and easily accessed.

Protect your important files from natural disasters, like fires and floods, from computer threats, like viruses, from theft, being lost or broken and other hazards.

Share your files with friends family or the world. Online storage services make sharing easy and secure.

Access your files anytime and anywhere. Never get caught without an important file again. With an online storage service, you can access your files from any computer with an Internet connection.

There are many on-line storage services available. One I have found and use is called ADrive. This program allows you to store 50GB for free. go to www.adrive.com for more information or Google online storage to read about other choices.

Which is larger a Gigabyte or a Megabyte? or a Terabyte?

1 Kilobyte (KB) is 1000 bytes.

1 Megabyte (MB) is 1000 Kilobytes.

1 Gigabyte (GB) is 1000 Megabytes.

1 Terabyte (TB) is 1000 Gigabytes.

1 Petabyte (PB) is 1000 Terabytes.


So to answer the question:

64MB is roughly 64,000,000 bytes, and 1GB is roughly 1,000,000,000 bytes. So, 1GB is larger

Get Organized with Windows Calendar

Windows Calendar is an easy-to-use application that can help you keep track of your daily to-dos. You can create appointments, organize a task list and even share your calendar with others.

To access your calendar in Vista, go to the Start button, and locate Windows Calendar. (Google has a free calendar similar to this if you are not running Vista).

With Windows Calendar you can easily create appointments. After an appointment is on your calendar, you can set up an alert to remind you when the appointment is approaching. You can set Windows Calendar to alert you minutes, hours, or even days ahead of time, depending on how much advance notice you want.

You can also set up recurring appointments. Perhaps you attend a weekly book club meeting, have a standing haircut appointment every six weeks, or pay your mortgage on the same day each month. With Windows Calendar, you can create one appointment and then instruct the calendar to set up a series of similar appointments at the intervals you choose.

You can also create tasks and multiple calendars if you choose. The Calendar can not yet drive you to your appointments but just about all else! Have fun with it!

Trouble Seeing the Items in the Quick Launch Toolbar?

These icons on your quick launch tool bar can be easily enlarged. Here is how.
1. In both, Windows XP and Vista, right click a blank area on the Taskbar (the panel lining the bottom of your Desktop, where you find the Start menu).

2. Uncheck the 'Lock the Taksbar.
A set of vertical lines will appear around the Quick Launch toolbar. By clicking and dragging these left and right, you can expand and contract your list of icons.

3. Right-click an free space between the two vertical dotted lines (but not on the icons)

4. Choose View

5. Choose large icons

Vista Shutdown Shortcut

If you would like to create a shutdown shortcut for your Vista computer, here's what you need to do.

1. Right click on your desktop and choose New.

2. Click on the Shortcut option and then wait for the New Shortcut wizard to come up on your screen.

3. Once it does, it will ask you for the location of your new shortcut. In the box, type "shutdown -s -t 01" (without the quotes). Note: Just to make sure you get the this right, it's best to copy and paste it from the above paragraph. That way, you're sure to get the spacing and everything correct.

4. Then click on the Next button to finish out the process.

Once your shortcut is created, you'll see a new icon on your desktop and you can just click on it every time you want to shut your computer down.

A Final Note:
If you like your desk top clean, drag the new icons into the Quick Launch area of the Taskbar.

If you want to know how to do this for XP, write a comment below.

Useful 'How To' Quick Tips

Check Hard Disk Space Double click on the My Computer icon on your Desktop and right-click on your hard disk (usually drive C). Click Properties to see the amount of disk space left on your computer

Change how you View File Lists You can change how your files are shown in a folder by clicking on View then choosing between Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List or Details.

Quick Web Address Type the name of a web site such as 'myspace' into your browser's address bar and press CTRL+Enter to automatically add http://www and .com and be taken to the site.

Create Taskbar Shortcuts Drag a file, folder or shortcut on to the Taskbar for quick access to programs, files or web sites

Create a Web Shortcut Right-click on a web page in your browser and select Create Shortcut to place a shortcut link on your desktop.

Save a Web Page Picture To copy a picture from a web site on to your computer, right-click the image and select Save Image As or Save Picture As.

E-Connection Forum Question

Dear Debbie,

A lot of us neophytes don't know about the insert key and how it can mess us up if we accidentally hit it while trying to make a correction in an email.

I didn't know about it until I was relating my misery to my son this morning about having spent a good deal of the afternoon trying to correct mistakes in the letter I was writing and making no headway because my computer was doing crazy things and messing me up. I ended up totally frustrated and in tears. The worst of it was that I didn't know where to find any information as to why this was happening.

Also please tell us how we can make a paragraph indentation using Gmail. I have always been able to use the Tab key do it on Outlook express but can't seem to make it work on Gmail. Because I don't touch type I don't catch the movements on the screen very often.
Signed, Frustrated

Dear Frustrated,

These are great questions, thank you for asking. I hope the explanations below are helpful.

1. The Insert is primarily used to switch between the two text-entering modes on a personal computer or word processor. The first is overtype mode, in which the cursor, when typing, overwrites any text that is present on and after its current location.
The other is insert mode, where the cursor inserts a character at its current position, forcing all characters past it one position further. To either enable or disable the INS (Insert) key press it.

2. To indent in Gmail.....

You are correct. The TAB key does not work on Gmail to indent as it does on many other programs. Just one more irrational computer maneuver! I am sorry.
Instead you will find an indent tool located on the tool bar. One one with the arrow pointing right will move the cursor over 5 spaces to the right; the one with the arrow point left will move the cursor back 5 spaces.

How to Change the Size of Windows Text and Objects

Windows XP

1. Right click on your desktop

2. Click Properties

3. Click the Appearance tab at the top of the window

4. Click on Advanced,on the lower right side of page

5. Under the General tab, you can select which DPI setting you prefer. You can choose from Normal size, Large size or you can even make a Custom size just for you.

Once you choose your setting, you will be prompted to restart your computer. When it boots back up, you'll be able to notice the size difference of the objects on your computer.

If you also want to change your font size, go back to Start, Control Panel and click on the Display icon again. From there, click on the Appearance tab and then use the Font size drop down box to choose between Normal, Large or Extra Large. Then just click OK. Your XP computer is now set up just the way you want it!

Windows VISTA

1. Right click your desktop and choose Personalize.

2. In the left pane, click on the "Adjust font size (DPI)" link.
(a window will pop up asking for your permission to continue. Click the Continue button and move on.)

3. Click the option that says "Larger scale (120 DPI) - make text more readable." When you're all finished, click OK. You will need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

What is the Difference Between Downloading, Installing and Uploading?

Downloading - This is moving a file that's out in internet cyberspace onto your computer. For most of us, downloading is just a matter of clicking a download link on a web site and saving the file to disk.

Installing - This is often confused with downloading, but it's different. When you install something, you basically unload, or open, the downloaded program files on your computer so you can use it. Normally this is done via a setup program or "wizard" to make installation easy. Once you're finished installing a program, you can run it from your Start Menu, or whereever you downloaded it to.

Uploading - This is the opposite of downloading. With uploading, you transmit data from your computer to a network. An example of this is uploading a picture from your computer to an oline photo website so you can share your photos or have them printed up.

Do you Sometimes Have Problems Opening Certain Type of Files?

If you are attempting to open the file in Windows and get this error message:
If you find that a file is opening with a program other than the one you want it can be hard to find the file associations dialog.

Try this:
1) RIGHT click on the Start button located in the lower left corner of your screen.
2) Click Windows Explore
3) Locate the the file in question
4) Right click on the file
5) Go to 'Open with...'
6) You are now in an association dialog where you can pick a program, or browse to a program of your choice, along with other options.

Eyesight isn't What it Used to Be? Try this.

If your eyesight isn't quite what it used to be, then here's a trick you can try.
It's called “High Contrast” mode. Here is how to make the change.

Press: Left Shift+Left Alt+Print Screen all at the same time

A window will pop up, asking you if you'd like to turn this mode on. Click “Yes”. Your desktop will undergo a magical transformation. Text will turn white, the background will turn black and you may see things a little clearer than you used to.

If you don't like it, just repeat the key combination and everything will go back to normal. This tip applies to both XP and Vista.

Is Your Computer Slowing Down?

When your computer is slowing down, it usually means that you require more memory. Instead of adding more memory, you can easily remove programs and stop them from consuming all of it. The easiest way of doing this is by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del and then clicking the Processes tab.

This window will show exactly how much memory each program is using. You can click the End Process button to close any program you don't think you need running. Just be careful, you may not want to close any program running under the name of “System,” because you might shut down something that Windows needs to operate correctly.

Red X's

Why are some of my images showing up as this when I try to view them? It's so frustrating!

Here's a list of the top reasons for the Red X and some potentially potent solutions!

Reason 1 –Your anti-virus or firewall might be set to disable web bugs. What is a web bug, you ask? Nothing important; just a teeny, tiny image used for statistic tracking on websites. Sometimes this setting prevents other images from being shown.

How you fix it: Go into your anti-virus settings and look for a setting called “Disable Web Bugs” and uncheck it. Not all anti-virus programs have it, mind you, so you might have to explore a bit!

Reason 2 – You Internet Explorer security settings are set too high.

How you fix it: In Internet Explorer go to Tools>Internet Options and then click on the Security Tab. From there, take a look and see what your security level is at. I keep mine at Medium-High, which allows for most of what I want, and little of what I don't. Gauge how you use the Internet and where you go to adjust this accordingly.

Reason 3 – Windows XP Service Pack 2 introduced a feature called “Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail” This is a big one, and since it's automatically turned on in programs like Outlook Express, it's probably the most common.

How you fix it: For Outlook and Outlook Express you can fix this by clicking the info bar at the top of the message body. This is just a per-message thing, however. If you want a more permanent solution, click on Tools>Options>Security, and then uncheck the “Block images and other external content” check box. Click OK.

A Calendar Project

Have you ever wanted to turn your favorite photos into a calendar or poster? This is possible with a few simple steps. Read on and find out how you can do this.

1. Select Good Photos The first step is to select your favorite photos. Open your 'My Pictures' folder and choose 12 to 15 photos and place them into a temporary folder on your desktop, for easy access.


2. Upload to Photo Sharing Site
The next step is to then upload those selected and cleaned up photos into a good photo sharing site. A convenient one, that I am partial to, is Staples. Click on this link http://216.151.85.169/xp5/index.asp?wizardid=601&cmSearchKeyword=photo+calandars&compname=Staples to access it. Here are more detailed directions here to follow.

This site has a variety of options for printing photos into calendars. a reasonalbe price of the calendar $9.99! You can choose to have it shipped, or go pick it up at the closest Staples near you.

There are many more websites that will help you build a calendar. Also there are sites that will give you a free claendar template and you can print it all yourself. Just Google in what you would like to do. It is a fun easy project.

Do You Know the Menu Key?

It was there all along and I never noticed it on the right side of my keyboard between the Alt Key and the Control Key. I don't even know it's true name, so I'll call it the "Menu Key". Why? Because when you press it, it opens up a drop-down menu for whatever program you're in. The menu includes all the information you would see if you right clicked, so I guess you could also call it the "Right-Click" Key.

So, next time you're typing away and need an edit menu or some other feature that you normally right-click to get, just head down to the Menu Key.

Windows Key

On the left side (sometimes on the right side too) of the spacebar, outside the Alt key, is a key with the Windows logo.

Holding the Windows key down and pressing another key will initiate quite a few actions. Some of the more common are listed in the table below:

+ D Displays the Start Menu.

+ D Minimizes all windows and shows the Desktop.

+ D Opens all windows and takes you back to where you were

+ E Opens the Windows Explorer

Do you Ever Get This Message?

Windows cannot open this file.

Basically Windows is asking you what program you want to use to open the file with. To fix it you have to set up a file association with it.

Here is how to do that:

VISTA USERS:

Go to Control Panel -> Default Programs -> Associate filetype or protocol with a program

XP USERS:

Follow these steps:
1. Save the file, that cannot be opened, to the desktop
2. Open Windows Explorer by right-clicking the Start button, and then click Explore.
3. Right-click the file (should be on the desktop).
4. Click Open With to choose the program that you want.
5. In the Programs list, click the program that you want to use. OR
Click Browse, locate and then click the program that you want to use, and then click Open.
6. Click to select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box if it is not selected.
7. Click OK.
From now on, Windows XP will open all files that have this file name extension in the program that you selected. To change this, you must follow these steps again and associate a different program with this file name extension.

Change Font Size and Style in Windows

1. Right-click an empty area of your desktop, and then click Properties.
2. In Windows XP, click the Appearance tab, and then click Advanced. This will allow you to customize the font, size, or color of individual Windows elements
In Windows VISTA 3. In the Item list or in the preview window, click the Window element that you want to change. When you click the image of the item that you want to change in the preview window, the corresponding item is automatically selected from the drop-down list.
4. In the Size box, specify the size that you want to use for the item.
5. In the Color box, specify the color that you want to use for the item.
To customize item fonts:
6. Click the font that you want to use for the item.
7. In the Size box, specify the font size.
8. In the Color box, specify the color that you want.
9. To apply a bold font, click B. To italicize the font, click I.
As you modify items, you can preview their appearance in the preview window.
When you are finished making changes, click OK two times to save your settings.

Ten Most Common Mistakes Made Relative to E-Mail Security

1.) Only Using One E-mail Account - It's important that you familiarize yourself with more than one e-mail program. That way, you can have one for your home e-mails, one for all the other things you do online.

2.) Keeping the Spam Around - . When one of your email accounts gets spammed out, just get rid of it and start fresh. It's easy to get attached to an e-mail program, because you're familiar with it, etc., but it's not healthy to keep all that spam around. It's only going to get worse, so my advice is to get rid of it.

3.) Forgot to Close the Browser - Do you ever check your e-mail from another location apart from your home computer? Like the library or even maybe a cyber café? Well, when you do that, you have to make sure you log out of your e-mail account when you're finished. Along with that, be sure that you always close down the browser window as well.

4.) Forget to Use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) - This works the best when you're e-mailing multiple people. If you insert the e-mail addresses onto the BCC line, the recipients won't be able to see any of the other e-mail addresses you're sending the e-mail to. BCC is the way to go to keep everyone's addresses safe and secure.

5.) Used the Reply All Button - Do you ever get confused as to whether you should hit the Reply or Reply All buttons when you're replying to an e-mail message? If you click on Reply All, your reply will go to each and every e-mail address that the original message was sent to. Yes, it will go to the person you intended as well, but if you're sending them a personal message, you don't want everyone else to be able to see it. Always use Reply first. It's a safer shot.

6.) Forwarding Spam - Forwarding e-mails can bring on a new batch of spam mail? If you aren't careful, forwarding e-mails can pose a big security threat for you and the earlier recipients of the e-mail. When you forward an e-mail, make sure you delete all of the previous addresses first. This way, the person you forward the message to won't be able to see the addresses of who all already got it. If you keep all the e-mail addresses on there, spammers can quickly grab up that entire list and just go to town. Everyone will get spammed, including you.

7.) Forget to Back It Up - As you know, regular back ups are important and e-mails are no exception. If you've got important e-mails on your computer that you're going to want to hang on to for awhile, don't forget to back them up frequently.

8.) Believing Scam Titles - We've all received them before! The e-mails that tell us we've won the lottery or that someone wants to send us a bunch of money or maybe even one that told us we won an iPod or a laptop. No matter which way they come through, they are all junk! Don't ever fall for one of these scams, they're just not true. They never were and they never will be. The best thing to do is just delete them from your Inbox as quickly as possible.

9.) Falling for the Phish - Whether it's on purpose or by accident, those e-mails are tempting! Phishers send out fraud e-mails in an attempt to trick you into giving out some of your personal information, etc. This could be anything from your passwords to your bank account information, etc.
Phishing e-mails can come in several different forms. Usually, the phishers will steal the logo from a well known company and pass it off for the real thing. Some of the most popular ones are PayPal and different banks. The e-mail will then ask you to click on a link to verify some information and once you do that, you're done. They will have all of your personal information and you will have a hard time getting things back to normal. So, just be cautious with every e-mail you open. Don't give your personal details out to anyone.

10.) Not Blocking the Spam - When you get spam in your e-mail, do you delete it or do you actually add the address it came from to your blocklist? If you just delete the spam mail, it will still come back time and time again. But, if you add the e-mail address to your blocked senders list, you will save yourself from receiving any e-mails from that address again.