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Computer Tips

Make Microsoft Office 2007 Play Nice – Video Tip

The release of Microsoft Office 2007 introduced us to an entire new interface and file format (thanks Microsoft). If you upgraded to Office 2007, you are creating documents in Microsoft’s new XML formats. Word documents now have the .docx extension, Excel documents have a .xlsx extension, PowerPoint has the .pptx extension…well, you get the picture. This is all fine and dandy if everyone you know also use the 2007 version of Office, but unfortunately that is not the case. If you want to email documents back and forth, you need to save those documents in the more compatible formats.

Today’s video tip shows you how to do that.

If you are an Office 2003 version or earlier, you will need to download this massive 28 megabyte “Compatibility Pack” from Microsoft in order to be able to read documents created in 2007. Better yet, send this tip to those folks so they can make things easier on themselves and everyone else.

Easy WiFi with Ubuntu Linux – Video Tip

This week’s tip addresses a rough area with Ubuntu Linux…using wi-fi (wireless) Internet. I have had some of the same problems utilizing wireless Internet as other people, so I set out to learn more about it and find as straight forward a solution as I could. What I found was called WiFi Radar. I wrote about it in Day 3 of my 14 day Ubuntu only series. In today’s tip, I submit to you the video version of that tip.

iPhone Research

I have a friend who I’m going to help setup his new iPhone next week. He will be syncing it with Microsoft Outlook and needs tasks and memos(notes). Out of the box, the iPhone will only sync contacts and calendar information, but I’ve discovered that enterprising souls are already finding solutions to overcome this oversight:

A nice little site is starting to form called iPhone Applications which is a must have bookmark for any iPhone user.

Backup in Ubuntu – Video Tip

Since I’m in Day 4 of my Ubuntu 14 day trial, I had to do this week’s tip as another Ubuntu tip. I’m learning much about the Ubuntu…some things I like, some I don’t, but overall it’s working pretty well. One visitor this week asked about backup in Ubuntu and since that is one of my favorite soap box topics, I researched it for Ubuntu. I found a program called “Simple Backup”. It works and the “how-to” can be found in this week’s video tip below:

Ubuntu – Day 3

One knock that I read about Ubuntu is the poor wireless support for laptops/wireless Internet. I took this laptop (a Compaq Presario 2100) on a short family vacation in June and had no problems connecting to wireless networks all along the way. I will say that the procedure wasn’t as smooth as the wireless utility built into Windows XP (which I also like better than Vista’s utility). It did work, however.

Ubuntu – Day 2

I’m still smarting from not having my great spam filter on my PC, but I’m giving the spam filter in Evolution a chance to work. It turns out that in order to get the spam filter working properly in Ubuntu’s Evolution, you have to do the following:

Expand and share your knowledge with web forums – Video Tip

Web or Internet forums will forever change the way you gather information on the Internet. Individuals, organizations, and large companies setup forums to provide a meeting place for people with common interests and goals. Individual computer users like you and I generate 95% of the content/information in a web forum. The rules are pretty simple; if you have a question and it hasn’t already been answered, post a question to the forum, readers see it and respond if they have the answer. Of course, if you see a question that you know the answer to, by all means jump on board and answer it!

Depending on the topic and the reputation of the forum you visit, questions can get answered in as little as five minutes but rarely go more than 24 hours without an answer.

In today’s video tip, I explain how to:

  • Search for forums that interest you
  • Search for information in a forum
  • How-to post questions in a forum

The collective knowledge of Internet users is overwhelming and invigorating. Watch the video below to see how helpful using web forums can be…and again, you may have invaluable help for someone else as well.

Learning a new computer

I have spent more than 10 years helping computer users get the most out of their computers. Without hesitation, I can say that the biggest obstacle any computer user encounters is change (which is precisely why I can’t figure out what Microsoft was thinking with Vista and Office
2007).

Set a startup password for Microsoft Outlook

Outlook PasswordSome computer users who work in an office or on a PC with other roomates or kids would like to password protect their email, calendar, contacts, etc in Microsoft Outlook. Until today, I didn’t know how to do that. As you know, when I learn something new, I pass it on to you. Remember, this tip is for OUTLOOK users NOT Outlook Express users:

  1. Start Microsoft Outlook
  2. RIGHT Click the Outlook Today icon on the left or the "Personal Folders" icon
  3. Click Properties
  4. Click the Advanced button
  5. Click the "Change Password" button
  6. Leave the "Old Password" box blank since you never had one
  7. Type the password you want to use in the "New Password" box
  8. Type the password again in the "Verify Password" box
  9. DO NOT check the "Save this password…" option
  10. Click OK on all three open screens

The next time you open Outlook, you will be prompted for the password you just set thus protecting access to your Outlook data.

Selling items on eBay is even easier!

Although I buy a few things per year on eBay, I haven't sold anything on eBay for a little more than two years. I had eight items that I needed to sell so I logged into my account today and found that posting an item for sale is much easier than it was two years ago. Creating the description (some items can be automatically built from a stock description) is easier, making your posting look professional and clean is easier, adding pictures is easier (first picture is free, then only fifteen cents per picture after that), and working through pricing your item (hint:  always start at $.01 to lower your listing cost AND generate interest in your item).