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For our Western Colorado Listeners….

COMPUTER LITERATE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR A SHORT TERM PROJECT

The Benevolent Community Partnership Seniors Committee (in Grand Junction, CO) is looking for volunteers to help Medicare D eligible seniors enroll in the Medicare D Program.

Training will be provided in a two day session March 13 & March 14 from 9:00am-3:00pm at the Department of Human Services; 510 –
29 Road ½ Road, Room 1060 on the first floor.

To enroll in this free two day class, call 248-2717. If you get the answering machine, please leave your name and phone number.

Elements 3 Features

What’s New In Elements 3
 

Quirky Features:

Not all of the new features in Elements 3 are extremely useful. Although many of the new features are designed to help the beginner, they are too complicated to be of any use. Some of theses new quirky features include:

1. Create – The most useful of the quirky new features, this feature allows you to make slideshows, greeting cards, photo album pages and more. Don’t expect the versatility of a program like Print Shop though.

How to Format Your Hard Drive and Reinstall Windows

WARNING:  I have done my best to outline the steps in this somewhat arduous task, but undertake this procedure at your own risk. Because of the vast differences in hardware and software, I cannot possibly cover every nuance. Please use this Tip as a guide and not the end all. AND BE SURE TO BACKUP ANYTHING YOU DON"T WANT TO LOSE PRIOR TO UNDERTAKING THE TASK!

Since many of the sites that I used to refer listeners to regarding this subject have either disappeared or no longer have the information, I am starting a multi-part tip outlining the steps to reformat your computer. In this week’s tip, I’ll explain the what, why’s, and when’s?

What does it mean ‘format my hard drive’? Formatting a hard drive erases all current information (for all practical purposes) and let’s your computer start with a clean slate. Formatting deletes all applications AND data from your computer. The process itself requires very little technical know how. What comes after the format involves the techy knowledge.

Why would I need to format my hard drive? If your computer uses Windows 95/98 or Me, I recommend formatting and reinstalling Windows at least every two years as a maintenance routine. Performing this routine purges your computer of any little errors and irritations that have cropped up and thus makes your computer feel and run like ‘new’ again. You also would need to format and reinstall if you have encountered innumerable error messages or encounter a runaway virus.

When should you perform this purging and restoration of your computer? I answered that question along with the ‘why’ above….at least every two years for any Windows version but Windows XP. Windows XP appeared almost two and a half years ago and has proved to be quite stable and resilient so I’m reserving judgment as to how often it should be done for XP.

If you use a name brand computer like HP, Compaq, E-Machines or even some Gateway systems, they come with a disk or disk set (on CD’s) called "Restore Disks". These disks make the process very easy. Put the disk in, shut your computer off, turn it back on and follow the on-screen instructions. REMEMBER, this will erase all data on your computer, so backup anything you don’t want to lose.

Resize an emailed photo for printing

Have you ever been frustrated when trying to view or print a picture that you received via email?

Today’s tip will solve this annoying problem for you quickly and almost effortlessly.

1. When you receive one of these large pictures, save it to your hard drive (and remember where it is).
2. Start Microsoft Word (Word Perfect and newer versions of Works will work as well).
3. Click on Insert –> Picture –> from file from the menus
4. Click in the “Look in” box and navigate to where you saved the photo
5. Double-click on your photo
6. Word automatically resizes the photo to fit in the document.

AOL Users – Find your downloads

One common question I get from AOL users is locating files or email attachments they have downloaded. When an AOL user downloads email attachments, by default, they get buried in a sub-folder of the AOL folder. This tip will help AOL folks who have a hard time finding these files.

One easy way to quickly navigate to your AOL download folder is by creating a desktop shortcut…here’s how:

1. Double-click My Computer
2. Double-click the “C” drive (your hard drive)
3. Find your AOL folder and double-click on it (if you are using version 7.0 or greater, you may need to double-click on “Program Files” first). If you have installed the same version of AOL more than once, you will see AOL 5.0b, 5.0c, etc…click on the one with the latest letter)

Windows XP User Picture

Windows XP reached its first birthday last month. Yet, as with all other versions of Windows, learning all the tricks takes a lot of time OR just listening to my show and reading the Tip of the Week!

If you use Windows XP and use the default ‘two column’ Start menu, then you see your Windows user name and picture at the top of the menu. The stock pictures that come with Windows XP include a frog, cat eye, butterfly, space ship and more. They are nice enough pictures, but hardly representative of our individual personalities. Follow the steps below to change your user name and the user picture at the top of the Windows XP Start menu:

Power Toys for Windows (Windows 98)

Many computer users enjoy tweaking and customizing their computers. However, at times, this can cause problems with the performance and even the operation of the computer. 

Power Toys is an unofficial add-on (meaning Microsoft does not officially support it even though they include it on the Windows 98 CD)  to Windows. Power Toys allows you to adjust items like:

Mouse
General
Explorer
Internet Explorer
Desktop
My Computer 		Control Panel
Network
New menu
Add/Remove menu
Boot
Repair
Paranoia

Adding a Mail notification sound to your email

OK, I?m going to pick on AOL a little this week. Who believes that ?You?ve got mail!? is not only horrible grammar, but also pretty corny!

If you are an AOL user and want to change that sound or are an independent Internet user who uses Netscape, or Outlook Express, Eudora, etc for their mail, this tip will help you add your own customized sound to your email.

The first thing you need is a sound file. You can get this one of three ways:

1. Use the stock sounds that come with Windows
2. Download a sound from the Internet (see Links of Interest below)
3. Or my favorite, record your own sound (or record your children, grandchildren, friend, dog, etc )