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Computer Tips

Change your Bullets – Video Tip

Bullets, in Microsoft Word and other word processors, allow users to bring attention to a list of items as seen here:

  • Bullets are fun
  • Bullets are customizable
  • Bullets make documents easier to read

Unlike my boring ‘dot’ bullets above, you can use this week’s tip to customize your Microsoft Word bullets to suit your style and document’s purpose.

First, to create a bulleted list follow these steps:

Mozy Online Backup Redux

Last spring I introduced you to Mozy Online Backup. I have been using the service for more than a year now and couldn’t be happier. In that time, I helped many clients (individuals and businesses) sign up as well. The service works great, offers peace of mind, and is extremely affordable. If you haven’t read my original article about Mozy, make sure to read it and then watch the video on how to set it up. Like insurance, you hope to never use it, but you will be awfully happy when need it.

Microsoft Arc Mouse

Microsoft Arc MouseMy old cordless mouse quit on me this week. It was a simple Logitech 2 button scroll mouse (optical). I’m not a big fan, actually I’m not a fan at all of mice with all the extra buttons and features. I want a simple 2 button mouse with a scroll wheel. As I was shopping, I noticed that the only simple mice were either cheap crap, corded (I wanted cordless), or came bundled with a keyboard. Since I didn’t need a keyboard, I thought I was out of luck. There are simple 2 button laptop mice, but for everyday use that’s a little too small for me. After almost giving up, I spotted and tried out the Microsoft Arc Mouse. It’s a futuristic looking rodent, cordless, has a micro USB adapter, and has only one extra button (a back button on the left side that is easy to avoid). I tried it side-by-side with one of the simple mice bundled with the keyboards and it felt good.

The arc seems to provide three functional purposes:

  1. Less surface are contacting the desk or mouse pad making it extremely easy to move around
  2. Much lighter than a conventional mouse, again making it move around effortlessly
  3. The slightly taller profile makes the hand fit more comfortably with it than a traditional mouse.

I’m on day 3 with the Microsoft Arc Mouse and am extremely pleased with the purchase. At around $50-60, the Microsoft Arc Mouse costs about 20-40% more than other good mice, but for the comfort, unique and functional design, and lack of too many extra buttons, I think the cost is justified.

Backup Your Favorites (Bookmarks) – Video Tip

Many years ago, I shared with you how to back up your address book. We have talked about how to back up your favorites, but never written it down. This tip will walk you through saving your favorite places in case of a disaster. Even if you have thousands of favorites, they will easily fit on a floppy disk (if you still have one) or better still, a USB Flash drive.

Import Outlook Contacts into Gmail WITH Street Addresses

Old Gmail Link

After running into this issue one to many times lately, I finally found a fast solution. Problem: Outlook users who want to export their address books (contacts) and import them into Gmail can get almost everything imported except street addresses. It’s maddening. Madness be gone, the solution is now just a few steps away.

Exporting your contacts from Outlook:

  1. Open Outlook (note this is NOT Outlook Express)
  2. Click File –> Import/Export
  3. Click Export to a file
  4. Click Next
  5. Click Comma Separated Values (Windows) option
  6. Click Next
  7. Click Contacts from the list of your

Firefox or Internet Explorer doesn’t display all pictures or backgrounds

For some reason, I have seen this issue about six times in the past few weeks with Windows XP computers. The browser (both Firefox and/or Internet Explorer) symptoms include:

  • Web sites don’t display all images
  • Text seems distorted
  • Backgrounds don’t display

The solution to your browser not displaying the images or backgrounds properly is removing the high contrast setting in the Control Panel. Here’s how:

  1. Click Start
  2. Click Settings –> Control Panel
  3. Double-click the Accessibility options
  4. Click the Display tab
  5. Un-check the “use high contrast” box
  6. Click Apply
  7. Click OK

If your web site viewing is looking a little goofy, and pictures, menus and text aren’t displaying properly, give these steps a try!

You can do what I do

Smart RabbitI love learning. My goal is to learn something new every single day I open my eyes. Luckily, I learn multiple new ideas, techniques, or facts every single day. When it comes to my job troubleshooting computers, I believe anyone can do it if they follow the formula I use.

  1. You need to be able to be able to learn and learn quickly. Computers, software, peripherals and the infinite combinations of them change at a rapid pace. Learning to be flexible and adaptable is a must.
  2. Remember and/or document solutions that you discover so you can use them again. 
  3. Work with as many different computers and situations as possible. Every computer is different than the next because of the way they are configured, what software is installed, whether the software has been updated, what security packages are installed, and more make every computer a unique challenge. The more of them you work with, the better your foundation becomes for the next one.
  4. Read as many online troubleshooting blogs, tech newsletters, support pages, and magazines as you can possibly digest. And again, document and/or remember the information that you deem the most helpful or applicable to everyday computer users.
  5. Hone your Internet searching skills (I use Google almost exclusively) so you can quickly find answers to problems you may have not yet encountered. When I say hone your skills, I mean learn how to properly word a search phrase and re-word it if necessary. Learn how to quickly scan the results of a search for the most logical and applicable result. Learn how to use tabs in your browser to make your searches and reading even faster. Learn how to discern which possible solutions apply to your specific situation. And finally, learn how to properly implement the solution you just found.
  6. Learning to carry out a solution requires that you to learn how to safely and properly make use of tools like Windows Device Manager, the registry editor, the command prompt, task manager,  computer management tool, anti-virus, and anti-spwyare scans to name a few.
  7. Always keep track of the steps you take as you work towards a solution. By keeping track and leaving yourself some bread crumbs, you can often back track if a solution results in a dead end and you need to star over.
  8. And most importantly, follow Harry Callahan’s (Clint Eastwood) advice, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Computer problems can eat up more time than a late night infomercial. Know when to walk away and re-evaluate a situation.

I’ve laid out most of the steps and techniques I use every day to solve computer problems. Feel free to use them and develop your own skills. When you decide that you need more help, follow Callahan’s advice and then call in the professionals.

Set up a home network – Part I

Home NetworkHome computer networks used to be just for geeks, there was no practical reason to setup a network at home because most people only had one system and the Internet was only accessible through a dial-up connection that couldn?t be shared.

Today that has all changed. Computer networks are not only practical but they are also easy to setup and in many cases they are absolutely necessary. Over the next few weeks, we will breakdown the process of building a computer network into simple steps that will guide you through the entire process of setting up either a wired or wireless home computer network.

Before we get into the logistics of a network setup, we should cover some quick terminology. Here are a few terms you absolutely need to understand to build a computer network.

Instant Shutdown in Windows XP & Vista – Video Tip

Many moons ago, I shared with you a tip on how to create a desktop icon to shutdown Windows XP instantly. It’s about time that I share with you the same tip applied to Windows Vista. Here’s how it is done:

  1. RIGHT Click on a blank part of your desktop
  2. Click New –> Shortcut
  3. Type the following phrase EXACTLY as shown in the box (or better yet, Copy and Paste it):    %SystemRoot%\System32\shutdown.exe /s
  4. Click Next
  5. Type a name for your shortcut like Shutdown, It’s Over, Time to Go…you choose
  6. Click Finish
  7. Now RIGHT click on the new shortcut you created
  8. Click Properties
  9. Click Change icon (you might get an error message, just click OK)
  10. Click an icon you want to use for the shutdown
  11. Click OK

You can see all these steps in action in the video below AND get a bonus tip of how to change the action of the little power button on the start menu.

Choose how many recently opened files show in Microsoft Office

Office 2003 OptionsIn almost any program where you can create, save, and edit documents, clicking the File menu (or the Office orb in Office 2007) shows a list of your most recently used documents for that program. With Microsoft Office, you can control exactly how many recent documents are shown.

With Microsoft Office 2003 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) and all versions prior, you control this option by following these steps in any of the applications:

  1. Click Tools –> Options
  2. Click the General tab
  3. Under the Recently used file list option, enter a number between 0-9
  4. Click OK

 

Office 2007 Options

 

 

With Microsoft Office 2007 options, follow these steps to control how many recently used files show:

  1. Click the Office orb icon in the upper left of your screen
  2. Click Word (or Excel or PowerPoint) options at the bottom of the menu
  3. Click Advanced
  4. Scroll down under the Display category and enter a number between 0-50 in the Show this number of recent documents box
  5. Click OK