Creating Data and Music CD’s – July 20...

Creating Data CD's How Stuff Works articl on how CD Burning works . And a second article from them specific to CDR disks . Windows XP aims to help simplify the process and does a reasonably good job at it. Here's how to burn a CD with Windows XP: Go to the folder containing the files you want to copy to a CD (usually My Documents) Find the files or folders you want to copy and RIGHT click on them (remember...

Convert Cassettes and LP’s to CD

My brother sent me this site…yet another potential answer to a question we get often: How do I convert cassettes to music CD's? At less than $150, this device might just fit the bill perfectly for folks wanting to convert old music cassettes. ::: PlusDeck 2 Cassette Deck for your computer:::

Create Your Own Slideshows and Screensavers

Create Slideshows and Screensavers Here are some of the basics we discussed at the Meeting   FINDING THE RIGHT PROGRAM   Good Shareware Sites: Hotfiles Download Make sure to check if the software is trialware or freeware. HOW TO MAKE A SCREENSAVER USING YOUR OWN PICTURES IN WINDOWS XP Windows Me had a similiar screen saver option, but Windows XP made the feature even better. Since many...

Recent spyware surge

Last week Rick and I made a fast trip to Denver and back in a single day (about 7 hours on the road). During that time we talked about the various computer problems we have seen lately. He noted that spyware seemed to be on the decrease. It is only Wednesday and I have reason to believe that Rick set a jinx upon computer users everywhere. On Monday night my sister called with a computer problem. I drove to her house and her...

Picture Slideshows….take a cue from TV

My daughter ‘graduated’ from middle school today. During the ceremony, a group of ambitious students put together a 60-75 slides, using Microsoft PowerPoint, documenting their 8th grade year. PowerPoint and other slideshow making programs give us great flexibility in putting together our pictures like never before. Does anyone use the old slide projectors anymore? These students had a minimum slide time of 20...

MSCONFIG: These items are unneccessary

We talk about the Microsoft Configuration Utility (msconfig) so much, that we have a t-shirt available for it in our store. Msconfig is accessed by: Click Start Click Run Type:   msconfig Click OK Once in the utility, you want to click the "Startup" tab. Here is a list of some the programs that can be safely unchecked. After doing so, click OK, and restart the computer as instructed and your computer...

DVD Burners

Seeing all the blank DVD’s and CD’s in a store can confuse a computer user. And with most computers shipping with a DVD-ROM over the past four or so years, it is even more confusing. And to make matters even more difficult, many CD/DVD-ROM manufacturers have black fronts with black text! Yikes that’s hard to read. One of my customer’s today assumed that his laptop had a DVD burner because it could...

Travelocity: Should I believe the gnome?

Whenever I am not at a client’s home or office working on a computer, I am likely driving in my car to see a client. As I drive in my car I listen to a lot of talk radio. I don’t really care what show it is, I just enjoy something besides the same 50 songs that music stations play.  I have noticed that many talk radio shows all use the same advertisers; this is primarily because they are on the same networks....

What to do if your CD doesn’t autostart or i...

Often computers forget how to start up CDs automatically when you put them into the drive or they start up in the wrong program starts up. To solve this problem go through the following steps: 1. Close any programs that are running. 2. Double-click on My Computer (on your desktop or in the right pain of your XP start menu). 3. Right-click on your CD-ROM icon. 4. Click on Explore from the menu that comes up. This will open up...

Shareware and Freeware – March 2006

We haven’t covered this topic since 1999! Shareware is software that you can “try before you buy”. The developer usually provides the program for free of charge with either some features disabled or a time limit on how long the product can be used. To unlock all the features or use the program past its expiration date, you must pay for a registration number. This type of marketing works quite well for...

10 Things you can do with Broadband Internet

Thanks to lower prices and increased availability, broadband (high speed) Internet is starting to over take dial-up services in the United States. Dial-up Internet served us well for the first 10 years of the Internet, but to really take advantage of the Internet today, a broadband connection is a must. Here are 10 things that you can do with a high speed connection today that you can’t do (as easily) with a dial-up...

Organize Files with Windows XP Move function

Organize Files with Windows XP Move function Use this tip to quickly and easily move your files (documents, music, pictures) from one folder to another on your computer. Once you master this tip, you will be able to organize your digital files with confidence. You can also use the tip to copy digital photos from a memory card or CD to your hard drive. Open the folder or drive containing the files (pictures, music,...

MP3 Players

You can legally and in good conscience use and enjoy an MP3 player. An MP3 is a special compression code used to store music using less space. You may remember the now extinct Napster service where millions of people shared songs online using the MP3 format and the ongoing battle the music industry is fighting against ‘song swapping’. If you have your own CD collection, you can create your own digital music...

Flash Memory Drives

A flash memory drive (a.k.a. thumb drive or USB drive) consists of a chip of memory (flash) mounted in a plastic case with a USB interface on one end (see the illustration for some examples). With Windows Me, 2000, XP and Macintosh computers, flash memory drives automatically get recognized as another storage drive on your computer. No installation CD’s, no formatting, just fast, safe removable storage. In addition to...

CDR vs. CDRW

This week’s newsletter sparked a tremendous amount of email already about the use of CDR/W drives and their use. Specifically, newsletter readers were interested in knowing the difference between CDR and CDRW. In a nutshell, CDRW allows you to use a CD like a floppy disk and copy, delete and recopy files. CDRW’s do NOT work for music CD’s, and are not easily shared with other computer users. CDRW media also...