Office
Nothing more important in computing than backup…
Destiny played its hand today in choosing my topic for my first installment of "Riding Shotgun". Riding Shotgun is the brain-child of Adam and I. We wanted to create a daily snippet of the things we see, learn, fix, and experience in our daily travels from office-to-office and home-to-home fixing computers and helping people learn about the computers.
Backup, or the lack of a backup, played a big part in my day today. One of my client’s today was a business where their computer would not boot up any longer. Upon arriving on the scene, I learned that their backup was not complete and panic ensued. After looking over the system it was apparent that it wasn’t coming back to life no matter what kind of CPR I performed. So, I pulled the hard drive out of the computer and took it to my office, where I was able to backup their data and transfer it to a CD.
Open Office – The FREE Office Alternative
Microsoft Office has dominated the office space (spreadsheet, word processor, presentation creation, etc). Over the recent few years, Open Office has made huge strides. Backed by Sun Microsystems and now Google as well among others, this suite of office products is poised to take off.
Open Office includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, database program, and graphics program.
The download is huge and can take up to seven hours with dial-up Internet…so don’t attempt it unless you have a fast connection or a lot of time.
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.
Quick Tweaks to Make Windows Snap
When I make a house or office call during the week to work on a computer, I almost always run through a few quick tweaks to make Windows perform just a little bit better. No matter how new a computer may be, it can’t be too fast. Try these tweaks on your computer to see if you can eek out a little more performance.
Disable Visual Effects
Starting with Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft added visual effects to menus and windows that do nothing but make us wait a little longer to perform our computing tasks. To cut down on these visual effects, do the following:
1. RIGHT Click on a blank part of the desktop
Unique Digital Photo Holiday Gifts
You’ve take a bazillion digital photos so far this year or have a shoe box of great old photos. This holiday season, put those photos to fun use by creating unique gifts with them.
Using tools you already have, you can create photo t-shirts, aprons, and carry bags. All you need is the perfect photo, an ink jet printer, an iron, and special iron-on paper. Ink jet iron on paper can be found at any office supply or large retail store. All the major ink jet printer makers make their own brand of iron paper, and I suggest matching the paper with your printer.
Use any photo editing or publishing program to come up with a fun design, then print it directly on the iron-on paper. You do have to remember to print the ‘mirror or reverse’ image of the design so that it transfers properly to your project. To find the mirror or reverse option, click to the properties or settings section of your printer before you hit the print button.
Recycling Your Old Computer
If you received or bought yourself a new computer during the holidays (or any time), many options are available for the use of your old computer. In addition to passing on a still useful machine, remember that in many cities throwing out old computers or monitors is illegal.
First and foremost BEFORE giving away your computer, make sure you purge it of any of your personal information. If your computer came with restore CD’s, use them to restore the computer back to its original state. If you don’t have restore CD’s , you will have to uninstall programs manually and delete your email, financial data, etc on your own.
Keep Your Computer Clean
I am often asked what is the best way to clean a computer. Here’s how to do it safely:
In past tips, we discussed the importance of good air circulation around your CPU (Central Processing Unit)…the big box where you put CD’s and disks. One spot to start your cleaning is looking at the back end of the CPU and make sure that the vents do not contain too much lent and dust. If so, use a can of compressed air to blow the dust and lent away. It is best to keep your computer off when blowing the dust
from it.
If you feel up to the task, opening the CPU case and blowing out the inside of it is helpful as well. Again, shut the computer off first.
Disable or Change Clippy
Who is ‘Clippy’? He’s the little paper clip guy that pops up in Microsoft Word, Excel or any other Microsoft Office program in their 97 and 2000 versions. In the computer world, he appears to be like the Dallas Cowboys…people either love him or hate him.
If you are on the dislike side of the fence, follow this procedure to disable him once and for all:
1. RIGHT Click on Clippy
2. Click on Options (not Hide)
3. Uncheck the box that says “Use the Office Assistant”
4. Click OK
If you start to miss him, just click on Help from the menus and then click on Show Office Assistant
Customize Office Toolbars
Starting with Microsoft Office 2000 and the XP version afterward, software engineers in Redmond decided that showing an entire menu in Word, Excel or any of the Office programs would confuse software users.
Instead of showing the entire menu when clicking on File, Edit, Format, etc, from the menus, we are presented with an abbreviated menu showing only two or three options. In order to view the entire menu, we can either wait a few seconds (who has that kind of time) or click on the double arrows at bottom of the menu.
Thankfully, you can reverse this process, if you wish. You can restore order to the Office menu system and view all the menus with a single click. Follow these steps for either Office 2000 or Office XP products (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Front Page, Access, Outlook (not Express), and Publisher):