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Know where to find your vital computer information

One of the reasons I share so much information on this web site and on our show is because I like to help people learn to save time and money. Usually if a person isn’t saving time or money, they become disgruntled and agitated.

Today, two of my clients could have saved some money and time if they had had some basic computer information available. In order to help others be more efficient and frugal, here is a list of items you want to have at the ready when you need technical help:

Fun with Photoshop Elements

Fun With Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements is great for making pictures look better, but there are a number of tools within Photoshop Elements that you may not know about. Some are practical, others are just fun.

Give layers beveled or glowing edges:

This is especially fun with text, but it can also be a handy skill for scrapbook pages or photo collages.

This technique works especially well with text – but you can do it to any layer (besides the background layer).

Solving the Mystery of Layers

Basics of Layers

Here are some of the basics we discussed 

at the Meeting

 

What are layers:

Layers are a feature of Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other more complex image editing programs which allow you to compile more than one image within an image.

Digital Camera Basics

Digital Camera Basics

 

The first place I will refer you to is the link below entitled "The article to end all articles on Digital Photography." 

Or better yet click here.

There are a few differences between 35mm cameras and digital cameras. The following are a few that we discussed.

Shutter delay: There are two types of delay to expect in a digital camera. The first is the delay that the camera needs to auto focus.  The second is the delay that the camera needs to analyze the image and store it on a disk. When you take a picture with a digital camera wait a second or so before you move the camera.

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.

Remove Bios Password

There are two solutions to this:

Solution 1:

Try some of the backdoor passwords that are often built into the BIOS following the setups on this site.

Solution 2:

  1. Turn off and unplug the computer
  2. Open the computer and look for a flat "watch" battery on the mother board
  3. Remove this battery. You may have to gently pry it out using a small tool.
  4. Plug your computer in and turn it on without the better.
  5. Turn your computer off and reinsert the battery and turn the system back on.

 

What should I back up?

Recently, you have heard me talk a great deal about flash memory drives and there usefulness for backup. One of our listeners/newsletter readers, recently asked what files are important to backup.

So, tip number one in backup is to backup only those files that you create. These include but are not limited to:

  • Financial program data (Quicken, Money, etc) 
  • Email and other address books 
  • Saved email messages
  • Important word processing documents, spreadsheets and/or databases you have created 
  • Calendar/appointment information 
  • Digital pictures (from digital cameras AND scanners) 
  • Internet favorites or bookmarks 
  • Genealogy research 
  • Downloaded programs or utilities (backup the original installation file) 

You get the picture. Anything important to you that you have created and don’t want to lose, should be backed up.

Programs (with the exception of downloaded programs as noted above), do not need to be backed up because you can rebuild them with original installation CD’s and disks.

For even more information about backup use our site search engine to search for backup for even more specifics about backing up your important data.

Using Help

When you Click on Help and then Help Topics from most Window programs, you see this type of screen: 

Spell Check Help

Do you find yourself having to click on the Ignore or Skip button in your spell checker more than you would like?  

When you use spell check, the Ignore or Skip functions work great to skip a name or technical word you use in your industry.  However, if you want to make your spell check sessions even shorter, try this tip to allow your spell checker to learn the words you often type.

The next time your spell checker comes across an unknown word that is correctly spelled (like a person’s name or name of a place or a technical, legal, or medical word), don’t automatically click the Ignore or Skip button.  Instead, click on the Add or Learn button. 

Speech Recognition Software: Talk vs. Type

I’m one of the lucky people when it comes to computers.  Why?  Because I took a typing class when I was in high school.  Learning to keyboard is an important skill that makes using the computer much easier. Learning to keyboard, however can be an uphill battle.

Fortunately, voice recognition software has come of age. Voice or speech recognition software allows you to type letters, e-mail, or any document by speaking into a microphone versus tapping on the keyboard.  In fact, I am using speech recognition software to "write" this week’s tip. The product that I am using it is from ScanSoft called Dragon Naturally Speaking.

All Rights Reserved © 2024 Rick Castellini
All Rights Reserved © 2024 Rick Castellini