Posts Tagged: delete

Application Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 18 Comments
26
Mar 08

Yet another feature yanked from the NEW Microsoft Office 2007

While working with a small business client today, they asked how to insert a picture into a Word document from their scanner. “Oh, that’s an easy one”, I said to myself. Then I realized they were using the new Office 2007.

In all previous versions of Microsoft Word and other word processor worth their weight, you follow these steps to insert a picture from a scanner into a document: 

  1. Click Insert from the menus
  2. Click Picture –> From Scanner or Camera
  3. Use your scanner software to select and scan the item you want and it instantly appears in the document

I looked for the same feature in Word 2007, and it wasn’t there. I immediately clicked to the Help menu in Word and searched for scanner. The first item in the search results (from Microsoft…not on the web) was:  “Where did the Insert Picture from Scanner feature go”? Clicking the item reveals this fun fact from Microsoft:

The From Scanner or Camera option for adding pictures to a document is not available in Microsoft Office Word 2007. Instead, you can add pictures from your camera or scanner by downloading the pictures to your computer first and then copying them from your computer into Word.

Wow! Great job Microsoft…let’s take away features that are useful and have been around for years and add features and interfaces that decrease our productivity! Thanks.

Now let’s go through the steps to Insert a picture from a scanner into a Word 2007 document:

  1. Click Start
  2. Click All Programs
  3. Click the Windows Photo Gallery application
  4. Click File from the menus
  5. Click Import from Scanner or Camera
  6. Click the name of your scanner
  7. Click Import
  8. Click Preview button to see your scan
  9. Click Scan when ready
  10. Add keywords to your scan
  11. Click OK
  12. Close Windows Photo Gallery
  13. Start Microsoft Word
  14. Click the Insert tab from the Word Ribbon
  15. Click the Picture button
  16. Navigate to where the scan was saved (usually Pictures –> then a folder named with the date you scanned the picture)
  17. Double-click the pictures
  18. After you finish with your Word document, remember to go back and delete the scan because you didn’t really want to save it…just insert it into a Word document!

Woo hoo!! A brand new program that has already decreased my productivity by moving items around and making me hunt for features I could find in a second on older versions and taken away tried and true drop down menus has now taken away a feature that for more than 12 years could be accomplished in 3-4 steps and turned it into an 18 step feature! I challenge anyone reading this to show me how this is in-any-way-shape-or-form progress?

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
7
Mar 08

Your hard drive is meant to hold stuff

Every week I’m out making my rounds, I hear this expression; “My computer is really slow it must have too much stuff in it and needs to be cleaned out.”

Your computer can never have have too much “stuff.” Your hard drive is designed to hold tens of thousands of documents, pictures, music and more. The number of files you store on your computer has next to nothing to do with your perceived speed of the computer.

Computer speed directly relates to how much RAM (temporary memory, not storage/hard drive memory) it has, how fast the processor is, and most importantly how clean your computer is. By clean, I’m referring to physically clean and what types of files are stored on the system.

Computers that accumulate too much dust and grime on the motherboard or vents will suffer from slow downs because the computer is battling heat problems and can’t perform to its maximum. Make sure you open your computer’s case and blow out the dust and grime periodically. Smokers…this goes triple for you because the filth that a cigarette generates is thicker and tarrier and coats electronics attracting even more dust and grime like fly paper. If you can’t quit smoking for your own health, at least do it for your computer’s health or smoke outside.

The second type of cleanliness is the type of files being saved on your computer. Every time; we use our computers for anything, small files are created behind the scenes that we can’t see. Sometimes programmers will write code that deletes these files when they are no longer needed, but often times not. These temporary files stack up over time and can affect performance because of their small size and voluminous nature. Use the Windows Disk Cleanup utility at least monthly to keep these files to a minimum. Better yet, download Steven Gould’s CleanUp utility and use it.

It might seem contradictory to my argument earlier that our computers were meant to hold stuff, but it has to be the right kind of stuff…your stuff.

The third type of cleanliness relates to whether or not viruses and spyware have attacked your system. If so, then you can have serious problems and computer slowness. If this might be the case, search this site for SCD (Slow Computer Disease) or spyware and follow the recommendations we outline.

Lastly, you might also need to consider increasing your temporary memory or RAM. Click here for a video tip that shows you exactly how to do this.

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
3
Mar 08

Remember to take out the trash!

If you really like saving all of your email, you might seriously consider getting a Gmail account. With today’s emails sometimes weighing in at 5 megabytes and more, email programs (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc) can get extremely sluggish. Sluggish performance eventually leads to corrupt data which means you lose all your email.

You can take steps to avoid this, however, by following a few simple email cleanup rules (or get Gmail).

  • Many computer users regularly empty their “recycle bins” to delete unwanted files, but I recently discovered that many email users don’t realize that email has a trash as well.
  • When you delete a message from your Inbox, it doesn’t disappear. The message moves to the email trash or deleted items folder. To permanently delete unwanted email, you need to Empty deleted items or trash folder by either RIGHT clicking the appropriate folder or using the Empty Deleted Items option found in either the File or Edit menus. Then your deleted emails are truly deleted.
  • Most email programs are setup to keep a copy of every email you have ever sent. If you have never peeked in your “sent” folder, you may be surprised! Remember to clean this folder out occasionally as well by highlighting the messages then pressing Delete on your keyboard…then empty the deleted items as well.
  • If you really don’t want to lose pictures or videos people send you vial email, you should save them to your My Documents folder then delete them for your email program (unless you use Gmail). Read my tip on how to do this by clicking here. 
  • Lastly, most desktop email programs keep track of your email via database files you never see. Use the program’s Compact folder option (usually found in the File menu) at least once per month to keep these files running lean and mean.
Riding Shotgun with Rick — 1 Comment
5
Feb 08

Brain transplant

If I could impart one aspect of my computer knowledge to everyone who uses a computer, it would be the ability to understand file management.

File management, in the computer world, means how information (files) are stored and utilized on a computer system. Understanding file management, means understanding:

  • How to locate files (documents, pictures, spreadsheets, music, etc) on your computer.
  • How to move those files from one area (directory or folder) to another area on the computer.
  • How to delete those files.
  • How to backup those files so you never lose them.
  • How to send the files to another person via email.
  • How to manipulate the file in various programs and understand what programs can manipulate what files.
  • How to properly save an email attachment and how to find it any time you need it.
  • How to determine how much physical space a file uses and how much space is available on your hard drive, cd, flash drive, etc.

The answers to all these questions give a computer user so much more confidence and power than a person who doesn’t have this knowledge. With solid file management know-how, many aspects of computing that used to be a chore become routine. Questions that have been haunting a computer user for years, suddenly become clear with the knowledge of file management.

In my day-to-day dealings with computer users of all abilities, the lack of file management knowledge clearly stands out as being the largest hurdle for any computer user. Unfortunately, trying to explain file management in a short troubleshooting session is extremely difficult.

If you happen to be a computer user who struggles with the information I described above, I implore you to learn about file management. I created a video tutorial called THE Secret to Computing that describes in depth how to gain the knowledge of file management that will greatly enhance how you work with your computer. For just $25 + shipping, I will send you the video that will change your computing life.

If you dont have a PayPal account, click ContinueJust click the Buy it Now button below and securely pay with a credit card or a PayPal account, and I will rush the video to your mail box.

To pay by credit card, click the continue link as pictured in the image on the left. 


Windows Tips — No Comments
31
Jan 08

Use the Task Manager to troubleshoot program problems – Video Tip

While Windows is far from a perfect operating system, it does provide some tools to help deal with its imperfections.

One of the tools you can use to shut down a troublesome program without having to completely restart your system is the Task Manager.

For instance, if a program happens to freeze or stops responding to your mouse clicks or keyboard strokes, try this technique before reaching for the power button:

  1. Push Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your keyboard to brink up the Task Manager window (Close Program window in Windows 95, 98, and Me)
    • NOTE: Windows Vista users:  Ctrl+Alt+Del will bring up a screen where you have to click the Start Task Manager button before moving to the next step.
  2. Find and click ONE time on the program that is giving you trouble, then click the End Task button
  3. The program should close and disappear from the Task Manager list.
  4. If not, wait a few seconds and you should see another window pop-up…click the End Task button again or preat step #2

Using this technique should allow you to return to Windows and continue on with your computing…again, without the need for a full reboot of your system. It doesn’t work one hundred percent of the time, but it does work often enough that you will be rebooting your computer less. Watch the short video below to view this technique in action and learn a few other tricks not outlined here:

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick / Windows Tips — 2 Comments
12
Nov 07

How to fix Windows Mail when you can’t delete messages

I ran into a problem today with a Windows Vista machine that apparently isn’t unique. This tip only applies to Windows Vista users who use Windows mail.

Problem: Can’t delete any messages in Windows Mail…which also prevents new messages from being read.

Symptom: When you try and delete a message in Windows Mail, you get an “Internal Error” message then have to restart the program.

Solution:

  1. Close Windows Mail 
  2. Click Start
  3. Click Computer
  4. Double-click “C” drive (your hard drive)
  5. Double-click the Users folder 
  6. Double-click the folder with your user name (ex: mine would be Rick)
  7. Double-click the AppData folder
  8. Double-click the Local folder
  9. Double-click the Microsoft folder
  10. Double-click the Windows Mail folder
  11. Backup all files in this folder to an external hard drive, flash drive, CD, etc
  12. After backing up, delete the file named WindowsMail.MSMessageStore
  13. Double-click the Backup folder
  14. Double-click the New folder 
  15. Delete the file named WindowsMail.MSMessageStore
  16. Close all open windows
  17. Restart Windows Mial and the message database will be rebuilt
  18. You should again be able to view and delete files.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Windows Tips — 4 Comments
5
Nov 07

Deep Cleaning Temporary Files in Windows XP

Temporary files are used by our computers to provide behind the scenes speed and function. When we use any program from Solitaire to programming a database, our computers are performing hundreds or thousands of duties behind the scenes…creating, modifying, and sometimes deleting files.

The files left behind are known as temporary files. Temporary files are just that; temporary and expendable. Thousands of them can stack up over time taking up valuable space and slowing your computer.

Since Windows 98, Microsoft has provided us a great little tool called Disk Cleanup. Disk Cleanup can delete Temporary Internet Files, Temporary Windows files and more all in one easy to use utility. Disk Cleanup can be found by:

1. Click Start
2. Click Programs (All Programs)
3. Click Accessories
4. Click System Tools
5. Click Disk Cleanup

You can also get to Disk Cleanup by RIGHT clicking your hard drive icon in the My Computer window or Windows Explorer, then clicking Properties.

Check all the boxes for the items that you want to clean out of your system (all of them are expendable). Next, click OK and all those files will be swept away.

This tool does a good job and is included in Windows, but it does leave behind some extra temporary files that you should delete every 4-6 weeks.

To keep temporary Internet files from getting out of control read our tip here on limiting the disk space devoted to these files.

Two third party tools we like make sure that all temporary files are deleted:

CleanUp!
CCleaner

Both are free and work great. However, if you are a tinkerer and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty, the steps below teach you how to deep clean your system yourself without extra tools.

WARNING – These steps require extreme attention to detail. Please do not attempt if you don’t feel comfortable performing these advanced steps.

To find and delete the temp files that the Windows Disk Cleanup doesn’t get, follow these steps:

1. Double-click “My Computer” from the desktop or click on it in your Start menu.
2. Double-click the “C” drive (your hard drive)
3. Click Tools –> Folder Options from the menus
4. Click the View tab
5. Find and click the circle that says ’show hidden files’
6. Click OK
7. Double-click Documents & Settings
8. Double-click your computer user name (may be owner or registered user in some cases)
9. Double-click the “Local Settings” folder
10. Double-click the “Temp” folder
11. Click Edit –> Select All from the menus
12. Push Delete on your keyboard
13. Click Yes
14. Click the “Back” button on the toolbar
15. Double-click the “Temporary Internet Files” folder
16. Click Edit –> Select All from the menus
17. Push Delete on your keyboard
18. Click Yes
19. Close the Window and then empty the recycle bin.

Again, if you don’t feel comfortable following these directions, consult a computer technician who can help you.

General Computer Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
17
Oct 07

Troubleshooting 101

By now many of you have figured out that computers are unruly beasts. They seem to be fine one day and schizophrenic the next. As a person who troubleshoots computers for a living, I’m going to let you in on a little trade secret.

When something on your computer seems to be a little left of center, stop and ask yourself three questions:

  1. Have I installed or deleted any software (computer program) in the last day or so?
  2. Have I installed or uninstalled any hardware (mouse, scanner, printer, camera, etc) in the last day or so?
  3. Have I shut down and restarted my computer in the last day or so?

If you answer ‘no’ to all three questions, then shut down your computer for a minute or so and then restart it. An overwhelmingly large percentage of the time, this action alone will correct the flaw.

If you answered ‘yes’ to question one or two, then retrace your steps and make sure that everything installed as planned, or try uninstalling (or reinstalling) the most recent item and see how your computer reacts. If it works fine, then one of the new items added (or items taken away) has caused the problem..

If problems are still occurring and you use Windows XP, try using System Restore which I describe here.

And finally, ALWAYS check your computer cables. Cables can be jostled loose through moving a computer or animals wagging their tails or becoming entangled in the mess of wires. Making sure they are securely plugged in cures many a compute ailment. Just remember to shut the computer off before checking the plugs.

Riding Shotgun with Adam / Windows Tips — No Comments
3
Oct 07

Desktop Shortcuts Make Computing Easier – Video Tip

Learning to make Windows work for you instead of you working for it can yield many more happy and productive hours using your computer. One highly under utilized feature of Windows is the shortcut icon. Learning to use and manage shortcuts will give you a huge advantage with your computer.

A shortcut is simply a ‘pointer’ to a location on your computer. Every entry in your programs menu of the start button is a shortcut. Any icon on your desktop that has a little up-turned arrow is also a shortcut. When you delete a shortcut (and you can do so by simply RIGHT clicking on one and then clicking delete from the menus), you don’t delete the underlying program or folder.

Create shortcuts for your most commonly used programs by RIGHT clicking and dragging them from your Programs menu to the desktop. Click Copy from the menu that pops up.

Create shortcuts to commonly accessed folders or files by RIGHT clicking on them and dragging them to your desktop. Click “Create Shortcut Here” from the resulting menu.

If you use a card reader to download your digital camera photos, create a shortcut to the folder on the card so that you can access your pictures in one step.

Once you master the power of shortcuts, you will wonder how you lived without them!

Riding Shotgun with Adam — 1 Comment
2
Oct 07

How to get our newsletter

After several months, we think we have all of our newsletter issues corrected. If you haven’t been receiving our free weekly email newsletter, you can now subscribe simply by tying your email address into the box at the top left of any page on HelpMeRick.com.

If you are using any kind of spam filter, you will need to add response26262629 @ zinester.com (delete the spaces before and after the @ symbol) to your accepted email addresses.

If you are a Bresnan broadband user, you may need to email this-is-not-spam@bresnan.net and tell them to take the above email address off of their blocked spam list.

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