Adam Cochran ran our Digital Photography Special Interest Group (DPSIG) for almost six years and all that great information he shared during that time is archived here at HelpMeRick.com. Make sure to use that information.
In today’s class we covered the basics about digital photography divided into three quick, hard hitting segments:
Popular demand (among new iPhone users) prompted me to add this quick, yet helpful iPhone tip. Don’t worry non-iPhone users…there is a tip for you at the end of the article…keep reading or skip to the end!
To add a web page or application you frequently use to your iPhone home screen:
That’s it, easy, but extremely handy!Watch the short video below to see this tip in action.
I’m not sure why, but I’ve seen a rash of lost toolbars in Outlook Express and Windows Mail. If you lost your main toolbar with reply, print, new message, etc and you need to know how to get it back, watch this video. If you know other people with this infliction, please pass the video on to them.
If you are a Mac user and want a program to start automatically, follow these steps:
Since laptops now out-sale desktops, I decided to bring this tip out of the archives.
We had a call last weekend, and I get the same question from many laptop users: “Why is the battery life on my laptop so poor?”. The biggest reason is that the battery doesn’t get enough exercise. Most rechargeable batteries today don’t have the memory problem like they did eight and ten years ago. However, unless the battery does get used on occasion, it tends to lose its ability to hold a charge.
Even if you don’t take your laptop outside of the home, I recommend that you run your laptop off of the battery at least twice per month. You don’t have to drain the battery all the way down (some battery experts say not to let it completely deplete ever), but use it until it’s pretty close to empty then plug it back in to recharge. Cycling the charging and depleting of the battery will give your laptop many more productive hours of battery time.
When running from the battery, your laptop will show a little blue battery icon by your clock that shows the approximate batter life remaining. The time shown isn’t 100% accurate, but gives you a quick place to eyeball the remaining time you have on your battery.
Every day I make my appointed computer help rounds, someone marvels at my use of browser tabs. Tabbed browsing started almost 9 years ago with the Opera browser and continues today with the excellent implementation in Firefox. Internet Explorer finally got on board a couple of years ago and tabs work ok with it too.
If you are not using tabs in your Internet browsing, then you really aren’t browsing, your floundering around the Internets. Learn to use tabs, you can do it. Use my video tutorial (click here) to learn this helpful and time saving technique that will change the way you look and use the web.
Here is a tip to cut down on those hideous email headers and help take a huge bite out of email spam.
If you are planning on sending an email to more than a few people, use the BCC or “blind carbon copy” function. Instead of addressing them all in the “to” section of your email, use the BCC instead. This allows you to still send the email to all the people on your list, but the recipients will not see any of the people to whom the mail was addressed!
In the follow video, I demonstrate how to use the BCC in Outlook 2007, Windows Mail (Vista version of Outlook Express and same method as Outlook Express), Mozilla Thunderbird, Yahoo email, and Gmail.
Please, watch this video, learn the technique, use the technique, and forward this tip to all your friends using the BCC method!
The author of Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference, Keir Thomas, made his book available for free in PDF format today (click here to download). If you tend to like your manuals and books in tangible book format, click here to get the $9.94, 166 page book version from Amazon.
If you use AVG Antivirus, you will be presented with the above screen at some time or another. Don’t immediately push the Move to Vault button or the Heal button. Instead, check the box labeled Remove as Power User, then click the Heal button. Checking that box first yanks the legs out from the virus and disposes of it immediately.
By now, you know that I have become smitten with Ubuntu (a Linux operating system). And in the right situation, I think it serves its users admirably. As packed as a new installation of Ubuntu is with productivity, graphics, Internet, and game software, you might want to add a new program. You cannot go to the store and purchased a new program and install it on an Ubuntu machine. Instead, you use the web and built-in tools found in Ubuntu to add or remove a program.
The first method I explain in the video is how to use the Synaptic Package Manager found by clicking System –> Administration –> Synaptic Package Manager from the menus.
The second method involves clicking the Applications menus then Add/Remove.
A high speed connection is really a must with Ubuntu to be able to try out some of the great software available and to get all of the available system updates as well.