CLOUD COMPUTING - April 2011.
Cloud technology is a buzzword that has been around for a number of years. Simply put, "the cloud" is a fancy term for the Internet. "Cloud computing," therefore, is computing that happens in the cloud. In other words, the computing takes place on the Internet. It doesn't take place on your computer. Your computer is just used to view the result.

CLICKING TO HIGHLIGHT - March 2011.
Click to Highlight – If you double-click a word, in almost any application, it will be highlighted. Triple-click, and the whole paragraph will be selected. Then you can copy or whatever the application will normally let you do. This can be a nice time saver.

EMAIL BLOCKING - February 2011.
Blocking unwanted emails. You can block their emails and have them go right to delete. When you have your mail program open (I use Outlook Express) I go to Tools/Message Rules, click on Blocked senders list, then Add. If I have the senders address I enter it there and click OK. If the address doesn’t show on the email, you can get the senders email address by right clicking on the messge in your inbox, scroll down to Properties, then details, copy from here and paste in your block senders list.

USB DEVICE REMOVAL - January 2011.
Normally, when you have a removable USB device installed, Windows displays a small icon in the notification area (the right most collection of icons) of your Task Bar.  If you hover your mouse over it you'll see it's tool-tip: "Safely Remove Hardware”. The purpose of "Safely Remove Hardware" is simple: it's how you tell Windows that you're about to remove a device so that Windows can finish whatever it needs to do with it. Click on the icon and get a Safely Remove Hardware box. In the case of disks, for example, Windows flushes all disk buffers, avoiding things like potential corruption.

ONLINE SHOPPING TIPS - December 2010.
Type a store's Web address directly into your browser instead of using a search engine to retrieve it. Cybercriminals plant malicious links that look like popular sites within the first few pages of search results. Be strict about passwords: Use a different password for each site on which you have an account; do not allow your browser to store passwords for you; and use a password manager.

NARRATION AND POWERPOINT - November 2010.
PowerPoint is a great tool for live presentations. That's why it has become so popular in the business world. But it doesn't work as well for pre-recorded narration. This is due to the variable nature of the slide timing. You may run into this problem when you create a presentation timed to music. Everything synced great on the powerful desktop computer, but the laptop you use to give the presentation may have a slower processor. That means the slide transitions and animations run slower as well. It throws the timing completely off. This problem is common when using PowerPoint presentations on different computers. You could just stick with your own computer. But that doesn't help if you want to distribute the presentation.

GOOGLE SEARCH TIP - October 2010.
If Google is your search engine, when you type in your search subject, you get a list of the latest and what Google decides are the most important results. You can click on Next to see earlier results, but they can get off topic. On the left hand side of the page is a list with More Search Tools. If you click on that you get a list including Standard View/Timeline. Click on Timeline and you get results of earlier suggestions. For instance I typed in NASA and I got the current results. But, if I then click Timeline, I get a graph of previous years and I can choose articles from as far back as Jan. 1950.

DESKTOP ICONS - MAKING THEM MORE READABLE - September 2010.
One of those annoyances in Windows is poor readability of the labels under desktop icons. By default, they appear as white text outlined in black, a definite recipe for eyestrain. There's no simple way to change the font color but you might make the font generally readable by removing the outline.

LOCATING A FILE PATH - June 2010.
If you need to find the exact file path of a file on your hard drive, click on Start|Run. Then click on the file or folder in question and drag it to the RUN command box. The full file path will appear. You can then right click on the file path and Copy.

OPENING EMAIL ATTACHMENTS - May 2010.
You are told not to open an email attachment unless it is from someone you know; yet sometimes your curiosity gets the best of you and you find your computer infected as a result. It is best to download and save (but don't open) the attachment to your desktop and then scan it with your virus and spyware programs before opening the file.

IMPROVING VISTA PERFORMANCE - April 2010.
Windows Vista and its always-on defragment feature is not really that necessary and can cause system slow down. Just remember to run a defrag manually every week or so. To disable this feature: Click Start, then Computer; right click the C: Drive; click on Properties; select the Tools Tab; click on Defragment Now; and, uncheck Run on a schedule.

CLIPBOARD COPY TIP - March 2010.
If you use the same text or a picture in more than one situation, you can Copy it, and then go to the desktop and right click on an empty spot and click on Paste. It will stay there like an icon and can be dragged to a Word document or an email message, etc., as often as needed. This is called scrapping.

PHOTO PRINT IDENTIFYING - Febuary 2010.
Never write on the back of a photograph. The pen makes an indentation which will show up as a mirror image on the front of the photo. This cannot be repaired. A suggested way to identify photos is to use white sticky back paper, writing on it to your heart's content and then placing it on the back of the photo. There are commercial products which are ideal.

BROWSING TO A PROGRAM'S FOLDER - January 2010.
There is a quicker alternative to searching for a program's folder than using Windows Explorer. Right Click on the program's icon, then select "Properties" and under the shortcut tab click on the "Find Target" button (in Vista this is called "Open File Location"). Windows will open the folder for you.

LAPTOP PREMATURE POWERDOWN - December 2009.
Laptops have a battery and electricity saver feature built in, to shutdown the computer every time you leave it for a few minutes. If this is a nuisance, it can be changed. *Right* click in the desktop area (not on an icon) and select *Properties*. *Click the tab labeled *Screen Saver* then click on the *Power* button. Under *Power Schemes* tab change *System Standby* to *Never* then click on the *OK* button. Click the *OK* button on the Display Properties windows for the changes to take effect. The same can be done for your desktop computer.

RESTORING A BROWSER SESSION - November 2009.
If you're using Firefox as your browser and you accidentally close a tab or an entire browser session, all is not lost. To restore sessions, simply click on the History menu option (at the top) and look towards the bottom for these two options: Recently Closed Tabs |Recently Closed Windows.

VISTA LOGIN SCREEN BYPASS - October 2009.
If you want to bypass the login screen in Windows Vista and boot directly to the desktop, click on Start and in the search box, type "netplwiz" (without the quotes). Press Enter and uncheck the entry titled "Users must enter a user name and password". Click Apply and OK twice to exit. On future reboots, you won't see the login screen.

HIGH CONTRAST MODE - September 2009.
Every so often you might need a screen for a vision-impaired person. This works in Windows XP or Vista, if you'd like to turn on "High Contrast Mode" to see your desktop with white text and black background, use these keys in combination: Left Shift + Left Alt + Print Screen and answer "Yes" to the pop up screen. If you want to go back to the normal view, just use those key combinations again and click Cancel.

PICASA TIP - PHOTO CAPTIONS - June 2009.
Picasa is a free program available for downloading from the Google website. When you first open Picasa, it scans your computer for photos. All you need to do is double-click one to open it for editing. In the left pane, make sure the 'Basic Fixes' tab is open. Click the button labeled 'Text'. Click the photo where you would like to insert the caption. Then enter the caption. You can use the 'Tools" at the left to change text colour and size. You can also apply other formatting options to the text. When done, click 'Apply'. That makes the change in Picasa, but the actual photo file won't be changed on your computer.

RETURNING "RUN" TO VISTA - May 2009.
By default, the familiar RUN Command (accessed from the Start button) in Windows XP (and WIN98) is not in Vista. To get it back, right click on the Start button and choose Properties. Make sure you're under the Start Menu tab and then click on the Customize button. Scroll down near the bottom of that list and checkmark the box that says /Run command/. Once you've done that, click OK. In the next window, click Apply, then OK again. You'll now see /Run/ as an option whenever you click Vista's Start button.

PHOTO COLLAGE - April. 2009.
Creating a photo collage: When you first start Picasa, http://picasa.google.com/ it scans your computer for photos. It then organizes them by folder and date. You can scan your entire computer or just a few folders.

DOWNLOADING PROGRAMS - March. 2009.
Downloading Programs. When you go to a site to download a program that you think might be of interest, especially one that is free, you need to be careful. The practice now is to show downloads of non-free programs that are difficult to distinguish from the program that you want to download. You are often sent to a different page for the download and given many options. You are best to try and go to the home page of the program you want to download and make sure that you have the program that is free.

SPACE VIEW OF YOUR HOUSE - February. 2009.
See your house from space. Go to http://www.google.ca/ (my home page) and click on Maps. Find North America and using the Zoom on the left side of the map, work your way up to Guelph. You may need to start with Toronto. By using the hand, you can continue to centre the area you want. Find your cross streets and then zoom in on your street. When you have your location as large as it will go, click on Satellite, and see your property.

RECLAIMING MEMORY WITHOUT REBOOTING - January, 2009. (br)When you've been working on your computer for a day or two and it's starting to slow down and is struggling to open the start menu then it's probably time to reset. Resetting clears the RAM and gets the system running fresh again. Instead of rebooting Windows to get things working again, there is a much easier way to get your computer running smoothly again and remove all the idle processed.

Create a new shortcut on the desktop by right-clicking on a blank area. Click on "New" and then on "Shortcut". In the input field or box, type or Copy/Paste this line:

    "%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe dvapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks"

(note the exact characters and order) Click 'next' and name the shortcut. When this shortcut is run the system should stop for a few seconds as it reclaims RAM before speeding up again as you use it.

PROTECTING WORD AND EXCEL FILES - December, 2008.
Word and Excel files can be protected with a password. When you are ready to save the file, choose Save As, and in the box that opens, choose Tools, down at the bottom left. Click on General Options, and a box opens up and you will be asked to enter a password. That opens another box asking you to confirm the password. Click OK and you can then save the file. WARNING! If you ever forget this password you CANNOT retrieve it and therefore you cannot access the file. Also the password is case sensitive.

If you want to delete the password because you no longer need the protection, access your file with the password and follow the steps above through to the 'General Options' section. Now, instead of creating a password, delete the password that you stored, and then continue following the steps outlined above.

WORD PAGE PRINTING - November, 2008.
Shrink documents by one page in Microsoft Word. A document whose last page is mostly blank is a waste of printer paper, especially if you have to make a lot of copies. Your letters and mailings will also look more professional if they fill the pages nicely. If Print Preview reveals a skimpy last page, click the Shrink to Fit (Word 2003) or Shrink One Page button (Word 2007). Word will tweak the fonts in the document to make it a page smaller.

Don't like the results? Just press Ctrl-Z to Undo. Reportedly works on WordPerfect too.

LAPTOP SCREEN - October, 2008.
Does your laptop go to a blank screen when left alone for a short period? Does moving the mouse or the touchpad bring it back to life? You may want to go into Start > Control Panel > Power Options. On the first page of the pop up, where it says "turn off Monitor" select NEVER. When you are in battery mode, this will drain the battery faster, but your screen should not go blank.

VISTA TOOL - Sepember, 2008.
Vista users may find a handy little tool that's been added with this new Operating System. You'll find it in the Accessories folder. Open it, click and drag the mouse to outline an area you want to work with. You can then draw on the resulting image with a pen tool, highlight it, erase desired portions, or save it in several different formats. The Snipping Tool is not available on Vista Basic.

DIRECT X CHECK - June 2008.
If you are concerned with video game performance, or you are trying to fix some problems with any 3D application, you can ensure DirectX on XP is running at peak efficiency by running a diagnostic. To start the diagnostic, click on Start \ Run and type in "dxdiag" including quotes, and click OK.If this is the first time you are running this diagnostic, Windows will ask you for permission to check for WHQL Digital Signatures. Click Yes to this. The DirectX Diagnostic Tool will appear with the default tab System listing the general information about your system and what version of DirectX you currently have installed.

The DirectX Files tab will show if any critical files are missing. Check the Notes section for a recommendation on fixing the problem. In the Display tab you can run some tests to verify that DirectX is running correctly. After running each test you will receive a confirmation box. Just answer the questions as you are running the tests and this tool will help you get optimal results from your hardware.

MAXIMIZE/RESTORE - May 2008.
Maximize/Restore Window. The middle button of the three upper right buttons on an open window goes by the Maximize/Restore Window name. It does maximize the window to full screen, but only if it's not already full screen. If the window is fully open, pass your mouse cursor over the button and you'll read the word "Restore." A click is all it takes to shrink the window away from the screen edges so you can grab it with your mouse and resize it manually. In the lower right corner there's a ridged-looking area you can grab. Put your mouse over that, and it turns into a double headed diagonal arrow. Click and drag to adjust a window's size precisely. When you release the mouse, you're done.

DESKTOP CLEANUP - April 2008.
To tidy up your desktop, you can right click on the desktop and choose New/ Folder from the drop down menu, and rename it to best describe the folders that you will include. For instance: Media. You can fill this folder with anything already sitting on your Desktop by left clicking on an existing object or folder and while keeping your finger depressed, drag it across into the new folder. Then release the button. You can also left click your mouse pointer over the new folder and hold the left mouse button down. Now drag the folder to the edge of the screen. Release and it will turn into a toolbar where all the individual folders, Nero, etc. are on display!

Every time you place something into that folder it will appear in your new toolbar. If you want to delete it, RIGHT click anywhere on the taskbar and click the Close toolbar command. You can also hide the Toolbar by right clicking on an empty part of the toolbar and select: Auto-hide and the toolbar will disappear. When you want to use it, just move your mouse cursor to the edge of the screen where it is hiding and it reappears.

CAPS-LOCK TO BEEP - March 2008.
When touch typing on the computer keyboard, you sometime accidently hit the Caps Lock button, and find that you have typed a paragraph all capitalized. You can make the computer beep at you when the Caps Lock Key is hit. Go to Start/Control Panel/Accessibility Options Icon. On the Keyboard Tab, click the Use Toggle Keys checkbox.

You can also have the screen flash when this occurs. Control Panel Accessibility Options/Sound Tab/check the Use Sound Sentry checkbox. Click the drop-down arrow under Warning for windowed program and select Flash active window. Click OK closing the property and settings screen.

SEND TO - THE FUNCTION - February 2008.
The "Send To" menu is a handy feature allowing you to right-click on a file and accomplishing some action quickly and neatly without opening the file. For example, you might send a file to a CD burner,open your email client program to send the file as an attachment, "unzip" a compressed file, open an image editor to edit a graphic, or perform any of a host of other useful functions with just a click.

Depending upon your setup, you may have some different places to send your contents to: such as your A: Drive floppy or your C: Drive for instance. It is the same for your Folders. You might have a Folder on your Desktop for Family, where you have put your family genealogy on a Word document. You could open the Folder and see a File for a Word document. Without opening the File, you right click and from the drop down menu choose Send To and you could then send your file, for instance: to a floppy disc in the A: Drive. Certain destinations come as Default locations. If the destination you might want is not there already you can add it yourself by using this tip. Opening the Send To menu shows places that are not part of the default destinations. On my computer it is Run/sendto (no space between the send and to.) With the sendto folder open you can drag destination icons into that folder and then have an easy way of moving files etc. to a location.

You can tailor-make your "send to" list by simply opening the "send to" folder with Windows Explorer (get there easily by clicking "Start" in the lower left corner of your screen, selecting RUN and type in "send to" without the quotes.) Find the application of your choice and drag and drop it to the "SendTo" window. For example, to add your printer to the Send To menu, go to Control Panel and open Printer and Faxes. Click on your default printer and drag it to the SendTo window. A printer shortcut is then placed in the "Send To" menu so that, to print a file, you need only right click on that for the context menu that will enable you to print the file with ease.

E-MAIL TIPS - January 2008. (submitted by Ross I.)
Before doing anything else, add any attachment. Then do the message part. After that, a brief subject that covers the topic(s), and finally the e-mail address(es). (You should always put a subject in messages.)

Now there,s no chance you'll have to send that embarrassing "Whoops! I forgot the attachment" follow-up message.

Another tip is about forwarding messages. Always edit the message to wipe out any previous addresses and also those now useless footers etc. in the original message. This keeps hackers from using previous addresses for possible spamming and makes a cleaner message to your recipient.

POWERPOINT E-MAIL - December 2007.
You can include your email address in your Power Point presentation. Open your Power Point presentation and select the object, text, or shape that you wish to assign the email link to, then right click the object and select Action Settings from the menu and choose Hyperlink to:. Select URL from the drop down list and enter you email address into the text box using this format:

"mailto:your_email_address@yourdomain.com" without the quotes. Replace your_email_address with your actual email address, and yourdomain.com with the domain name of your actual email address.

HARD DRIVE SPEED UP - November 2007.
Increasing the speed at which your hard drive writes files will decrease the amount of RAM dedicated to running programs. You should not notice a difference unless you are running an excessive amount of memory-reducing programs.

This is only recommended for computers with at least 256 MB of RAM. Navigate to Start > Control Panel, click "Performance and Maintenance" and the "System" icon. Click on the "Advanced" tab, under the "Performance" box, click "Settings", and click the "Advanced" tab. With XP Pro, go to System/Advanced, Performance/Settings/Advance. Under the "Memory Usage" box, click the "System cache" radio button, click OK and reboot your computer.

EXCEL ENTER KEY ACTION - October 2007.
In MS Excel, you can change the default behavior of the Enter key. When you press Enter, some users would prefer that the cursor move to the next cell on the right, while others prefer the cursor to move down.

To change the way Excel reacts after Enter is pressed, follow these steps: Click on Tools/Options and select Edit. Click the: Move Selection After Enter, to activate the Direction drop down list. In the drop down list, you can choose from: Down, Right, Up, or Left. If you prefer that the cursor stay in the active cell when Enter is pressed, deactivate the check box for the: Move Selection After Enter option.

RSS FEEDS - September 2007.
Blogs generally offer an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication). You subscribe to the feed to get the latest posts. You don’t need to visit the site. This is handy if you read many blogs. You can get the feeds in Firefox, IE and Outlook.

There are also standalone RSS aggregators. These are programs specifically designed to manage RSS feeds. Now, when you click on a site’s “little orange box,” you may get code. If so, it is time to upgrade your browser. You should see a simplified version of the page, and options at the top. To get started in Firefox, visit a page with an RSS feed. You’ll see the orange box on the page. You may also see it in the address bar. Click it. Select the feed to which you’d like to subscribe. On the next page, click the dropdown beside “Subscribe to this feed using.” Select Live Bookmarks. Click Subscribe Now. Name the feed and select where you would like to create the Bookmark. I recommend the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder. Click OK. When you click the Bookmark, you’ll see a list of recent posts. Select one to read. Subscribe in IE by clicking the icon on the Web page. On the next page, click “Subscribe to this feed.” Name it and select a location to store the Favorite. Click Subscribe.

By default, RSS feeds are stored in the Favorites Center. To access a feed, click the star icon (beside the first tab). In the dropdown box, you’ll see a list of Favorites. Click the entry for your RSS feed to start reading. You can also use Outlook 2007. On the Web site, click the RSS icon. Copy the Web address for the RSS page. Open Outlook and click Tools>>Account Settings. On the RSS feeds tab, click New. Paste in the Web address and click Add. Specify your options, such as how often to check for posts. Click OK and Close. In Outlook, RSS feeds are downloaded to a special folder alongside your e-mail. Fittingly, the folder is called RSS Feeds.

ADDRESS BOOK PRINTING - June 2007.
You may want a list of items from your Address Book. In Outlook Express, you can open your Address Book and Click: File/Print this will open the printing window.

You nay just want to print telephone numbers, Click: Selection/Phone List, select the number of copies and click OK. If you want to print everything, Click: All. You can also print in Memo or Business Card format. All 3 choices make somewhat widely spaced printouts with line separators.

USE TEMPLATES IN EMAIL - May 2007.
If you send an email to the same person or group often or daily, consider a template to speed up the task. Start writing your message as you normally would. Put in the address and any text that you always use. After entering the standard information, and leaving space for any non-repetitive text, click on File/Save As. Name your template using the EML extension and click Save. To use the template, double click its icon. Add any additional text and click Send.

LCD SCREEN CLEANING - April 2007.
The right way to clean an LCD monitor screen is with a 50/50 mixture of rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol) and distilled water. Use a cotton cloth, not paper towels. The monitor must be turned off.

Fill a spray bottle and spray the cloth, not the screen. Wipe the screen from top to bottom and then let the screen dry before turning the monitor back on.

WORD THESAURUS - March 2007.
Even the best writer can freeze up mid-sentence as he grasps for an elusive word that's on the tip of his tongue. Fortunately, you don't have to pull out your tattered paperback thesaurus to find a replacement for the word you just typed; in fact, you may not even need to sift through Word's menus to launch the application's thesaurus feature.

Instead, simply right-click on the word in question and then choose Synonyms from the resulting shortcut menu. When you do, a context-sensitive submenu appears featuring a list of possible alternatives to the word in the document. If you see one you like, select it in the submenu and Word replaces the original term in the document with your selection.

Occasionally, Word is even able to offer antonyms to the word on which you right-clicked (these are followed by the word "Antonym" in parentheses). If you don't find a word you like, select Thesaurus at the bottom of the list to launch Word's full-blown thesaurus.

MOUSE POINTER - February 2007.
Do you sometimes lose sight of the pointer? Go to Start/Control Panel/Mouse and choose Pointer Options. Put a check mark in: Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL Key. Then anytime you can’t see the pointer/cursor, hit the CTRL Key and it will show where it is hiding.

(Ed)While at it, sometimes the mouse pointer speed is set too fast, making it easily lost around the screen edge. On the same box as above, slow the pointer speed down one "notch (or 2)." Then click Apply and OK.

UNINSTALLING PROGRAMS - January 2007.
I download quite a few programs, just to try them, and some I delete. My way of deleting is to use the Control Panel’s Add or Remove Program. If you use the programs own uninstaller, it doesn’t always remove the title from the Add/Remove list. After uninstalling the program, I go to Start/Search, and enter the name of the program, and get the Search results. What is usually left on the computer is the empty file in the Programs Folder and also a Shortcut in Documents/Settings. I then right click on each one I find and delete the entry. Also, watch out for programs sharing the same word, such as player or media. If you get a warning about other programs sharing the file, you can leave it alone. Any you delete will be in the recycle bin until you empty the garbage.