** Issue #5 October 15th, 2006 **
1) Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Over the last few months as the number of readers have grown so have suggestions (and some complaints). I've taken these very seriously. I have to! Without readers what good is my newsletter? Some of the changes requested by readers are a scalable site and smaller fonts. Some of the suggestions were for an RSS feed and a forum.
When I began this endeavor I didn't have the knowledge to do anything but the most basic of designs. I used a rather large font to help with readability issues and designed the site for viewers using 1024x768 resolutions and larger. I was wrong, and you let me know! With the help and patience of others I've figured out enough CSS (cascading style sheets) to implement it on the site. CSS is a newer, more flexible, more precise, and faster way to design web pages. This newsletter is also the first to use CSS, so the style and format will be more consistent in the future. I've also lowered the font size a tad.
What does this mean for you? A faster site, a site that fits more readers screens, more precise positioning of buttons and images, the ability to easily add new features in the future, and maybe an ease in the amount of time I spend administering the site! As always, if you want to see what a designer truly intends and browse more securely you need to download . In the next week or so I will start researching the best ways to add RSS, which will lead to much testing and experimentation! For those of you who don't know what RSS is I'll devote an article or two in the newsletter to describe it in detail once I'm ready to go live (I bet you can't wait). For those who can't wait... RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication. When you view a web page you "pull" content to your browser. RSS allows me to "push" content to your browser. Once you subscribe to my site's RSS feed, you get every update I send delivered to your browser or RSS reader. I'm not sure if I have enough readers to sustain a forum just yet, so force your friends, neighbors, or complete strangers to sign up!
Stay tuned! It's a very exciting and exhausting time for me, you, and all of the subscribers!
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2) A caroling we will go
NO it's not time to break out the song books for that wonderful Christmas time tradition! I've recently made a new friend, Carol Bratt. Carol is a Microsoft Office Guru. I've been jokingly calling her "Office Goddess". Carol operates a successful Office consulting business, manages two of her own sites, and writes a monthly newsletter devoted to Microsoft Office. She also has more titles and certificates than you can shake a stick at! Carol holds the following certifications: A+(a vendor neutral computer technician certification), MCP(Microsoft Certified Professional), and MOUS(Microsoft Office User Specialist).
I've been running ideas through my mind that would increase the usefulness and value of my newsletter. What can I do to benefit the readers (see above)? I've had so many things floating around in my head I thought it might explode. About this time, but before the explosion, I came across one of Carol's sites. It was professional and well thought out. I sent an email and asked if she would be interested in exchanging links between our sites - you can never provide enough resources for your readers. Carol responded back with a very thoughtful "yes". It was only then that I realized I had read articles she had written. I sheepishly asked if she would be willing to contribute to my newsletter. I was shocked when she responded with a resounding yes.
With that out of the way, Carol will contribute a Microsoft Office related article to the newsletter (The Big Announcement) from time to time. Hopefully more often than not, lol. Carol has also agreed to field user questions about Office and its applications from readers! We are very lucky to have her here! Carol's willingness to share her knowledge will benefit everyone, including me! I wrote Carol and asked her to introduce herself:
I am married (37 years) and have two grown children, a son who is a lawyer (I still can't believe I grew one!) and a daughter who has her Masters in psychology and is just finishing her MBA with a concentration in finance.
I have been a legal assistant for more years than I care to admit and when I tired of it, I went to school and got my A+, MCP and MOUS certifications. Since then I have been a software trainer in companies and I have taught Word, Power Point, Excel and Outlook in Adult Education classes at local schools in the evenings. I now have my own small consulting business and as you know, I publish a monthly software newsletter and write articles for Infopackets Newsletter. As if that isn't enough, I also work full time in a law office.
My hobbies (in my spare time) are reading (I am a voracious reader and have very eclectic tastes), software and computers, crocheting, knitting and working out at the gym. I also have a love of the arts, symphony, theater, etc.
I have a dog that has been with us for eleven years and a cat who just showed up one day last summer and adopted me. She's a very good mouser and I couldn't bear to let her stay out in the cold so I took her in and she has proved to be a very nice houseguest (killing mice and snakes) and yes, I do mean inside the house!
I like to think I have a good sense of humor but I don't suffer fools gladly.
Carol's first article appears below in article #4. Carol's email address here at Dave's Computer Tips is carol @ davescomputertips.com. Let's give her a very warm Dave's Computer Tips welcome!
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3) How to set up your PC - Part #3
If you're caught up from Part #1 and Part #2 we'll continue on our quest to make your computer a lean, mean, computing machine! Last issue I assigned homework. Did you do yours? Hopefully you did and found a few additional programs you could prevent from automatically starting when your computer boots. As always, have a current backup or disk image handy in case you have any problems!
TweakUI
TweakUI is a free program by Microsoft that allows you to change settings not commonly available in Windows. If you've already downloaded the program from last issue you're ready to proceed. If not you can download it here. Double click the downloaded file and install it. Once installed you should find it in Start>Programs. Click the link and start the program. I'm not going to cover every possible change that can be made with TweakUI, so feel free to poke around and change anything you think you would like to be different.
The first thing I always change is in "Common Dialogs". Windows has a feature called "Places Bar" that appears when you attempt to save documents. The Places Bar has a window on the left with shortcuts to various locations you can save your document. I like to customise these and this is where you do it. By choosing "custom places bar" you can select which shortcuts you want to appear and in what order.
When you open the Start menu there is a list of programs that appear on the left column. This list is generated by Windows based on the number of times you run the program and some other factors. I hope that you can see I'm doing a lot of work by the programs listed! Windows allows any program to appear here, which is a waste of space in many instances. I have shortcuts in my quicklaunch bar and on my desktop for many programs and it's redundant to have them here. The "XP Start Menu" tab of TweakUI allows you to select which programs will appear and which won't.
The "Desktop" tab allows you to choose which system icons display on the desktop. I hope you've downloaded Firefox, so you can uncheck Internet Explorer! The "First Icon" tab allows you to choose whether My Documents or My Computer appear first (usually upper left corner).
When I open My Computer I want drives. I don't care about shared folders and such. The "My Computer" tab allows you to remove these from My Computer. Another thing I hate is autoplay, which causes any removable media to automatically play when inserted into your computer. The "Drives" tab will let you uncheck the drives you don't want to allow autoplay on.
When you right click on your desktop, as well as files and folders, you get a menu and "New" is an option. An example would be to create a new folder. The problem with this is that many programs you install add an entry to the "New" option. I use this rarely so I always uncheck the unneeded ones on the "Templates" tab. Another choice you may make is to disable the logon screen, which allows windows to boot without you clicking on your profile, or entering your password. This will only work if you have one user account (most do). That's all I recommend for TweakUI. Just a few tweaks to make your PC more user friendly.
Let the housekeeping begin
Windows by default hides the operating system files, hidden files and folders, and known file extenstions. By hiding operating system files and hidden files, Microsoft attempted to "dumb down" Windows. What they have done is essentially made it easier to be infected with viruses, malware, and spyware while making it harder to find and remove. These uninvited guests often install themselves in directories that are hidden by these settings. The hiding of known file extensions means if you name a picture mypic.jpg when you view the file within Windows you will only see mypic. Sounds great! Well what Microsoft didn't take into account is the possibility of a file having two extensions. mypic.jpg.exe will show as mypic.jpg a perfectly safe picture file, when infact it is an executable. This is one of the ways that attackers get you, the user, to run files that can damage your data. Let's fix these.
Click Start>Control Panel>Folder Options and the above window will open. Click on the "View" tab and you will see the settings we need to change. "Display the contents of system folders" and "Show hidden files and folders" need to be checked. "Hide extensions for known filetypes" and "Hide protected operating system files" should be unchecked. Another change I like to make is to change the default view of folders to "Detail". This allows you to see more information without scrolling. It also shows you the date that files were created or modified. This can be very helpful when you have similarly named files or when doing troubleshooting. Open "My Computer" and click Views>Details and then click the "Apply to all folders" button near the top. If there are specific folders you want to display differently all you have to do is change the view of that folder the next time you open it. Once your done click OK and the window will close. You've just increased your safety as a user and made future system maintenance easier.
These settings allow you to open the "windows" folder on your hard drive. If you do not know, or haven't been told, what you are doing do not change anything in this folder. These are the core operating system files and can render your computer inoperable. I'm not saying this to scare you, but you do need to be aware of the seriousness when your inside this folder. Tread lightly.
If you followed the steps in Part #1 and Part #2 you should have ran Windows Update, installed all programs you want, and uninstalled those that you don't need. Since October 10th was "Update Tuesday", the day Microsoft released it's newest patches and updates, let's run windows update again. When Windows Update opens I want you to look toward the upper left for "Microsoft Update" and click it. Microsoft Update is the new version of Windows Update and updates all Microsoft programs at once. Once clicked it will ask you to install new software and may ask you to approve an active-x control or two. You should allow both. Once it's finished installing you will notice a new entry at the top of Start>Programs called Microsoft Update. Make sure you run Microsoft Update and install all updates. When we finish we don't want any missed steps.
You are now up to date with fresh, shiny, new car smell patches so let's get back to business! Every update performed with Microsoft Update or Windows Update leaves a folder on your computer. Once the update is installed and you know it didn't cause any problems you can delete these and regain quite a bit of disk space. If you're a cautious type you can leave any that are newer than one month. I usually leave them for one week. Either way if your doing regular backups you should be safe. Open "My Computer", click C:>Windows to open the windows folder.
The "$NTUninstallKBxxxxxx$" files are left over from updates. These can be removed simply by right clicking and selecting "Delete". Be carefull not to change or delete any other files or folders. One important note: If you install any Microsoft Beta software on your computer (most never will) be carefull as you may need the uninstall files later. This is another good reason to view folders in details view, as it shows the date and time. As an example, if you installed Internet Explorer 7 Beta (Oh, the horror) on September 12th you should leave any folders with that date until IE7 is released as an official download by Microsoft in mid October. If you don't have any of the recent betas then you can safely rid yourself of these spacehogs.
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4) Customizing a numbered list
by Carol A. Bratt
Word has seven default numbered lists, such as 1, 2, 3 and A, B, C. You can customize many aspects of the default numbers. Word allows you to change the font, the number positions, or the position of the text that follows the numbers. You can change the style of the number so that your list uses First, Second, Third or One, Two, Three. You can even type customized text before or after the number.
For Interrogatories, requests for production, and requests for admissions we recommend using field codes instead of automatic numbering.
Customize a Numbered List
From the Format menu, choose Bullets and Numbering.
1. Select the Numbered tab.
2. Select one of the seven default number styles and then click Customize. The Customize Numbered List dialog box appears.
3. Type any text before or after the number in the Number Format box. You can also change or delete the character (period or parenthesis) that follows the number, or add a new character in front of the number.
CAUTION If you accidentally delete the number that appears is the Number Format Box, do not type a number in the box. Instead, select an option in the Number Style box. The number that appears in the Number Format box is a field. The field increments with each new line. If you manually type a number in this box, you get that number on each new line.
4. Click Font to choose bold, underline, or any other font formatting. Changing the font of the number results in numbers that Word formats differently from the text.
5. Select an option in the Number Style box.
6. Change the number in the Start At box if you want the list to start at a different number.
7. Change the position of the number by choosing Left, Center, or Right in the Number Position box and adjusting the Aligned At measurement. This action adjusts the first-line and left indent.
(This is the biggest complaint I hear from legal secretaries—that they cannot get automatic numbering schemes to indent—now you know how to achieve this!!)
8. Click OK until all open dialog boxes are closed.
9. Start typing the numbered list. Press Enter twice to finish the list.
And I bet you thought this was gonna be difficult didn't you? Stick with me kiddo and I'll make you a star!
Carol writes the monthly Word Bytes Newsletter. Carol's newsletter is delivered in Adobe PDF format which can be easily printed and stored in a binder for future access. Visit Carol's site at www.cbaconsultants.net.
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5) My Recommended Software
Anti-spyware and Anti-malware Software
Webroot SpySweeper - Daves Computer Tips Seal of Approval Winner! See the test results HERE. Spysweeper provides the best protection of the seven anti-spyware programs tested! Great detection and removal rates with a small real-time protection memory footprint. This is the one you want! SpySweeper includes the ASK toolbar. Be sure to uncheck this option during installation. Free 14 day trial.
CounterSpy - Runner-up in my Anti-Spyware test. Not only does CounterSpy scan and remove spyware, it also uses real time protection. Real-time protection prevents spyware infection. Free 15 day trial. Winner of Computer Shopper Magazine's Best Buy Award!
Antivirus and Firewall Software
ESET Smart Security - New from the maker's of NOD32. Antivirus, Antispyware, Antispam, and Firewall all wrapped into one effective, swift, and low resource package. It is what I use to protect each of my computers!
Kaspersky Antivirus - Kaspersky is my second choice for antivirus software. A good program that is very close in performance to NOD32. Free trial.
Online Armor Firewall - You shouldn't be on the internet without a software firewall that offers inbound and outbound protection. Online Armor is the Best of the Best. Online Armor uses an interface that is easier to navigate than most other firewalls and the protection level can't be beat! Online Armor is available in both a free and reasonably priced paid version, which offers even more protection!
Audio and Video Software
Acoustica Audio Converter Pro - This program converts audio formats and bitrates. Perfect for those with portable audio players or large music collections. 30 day trial.
Adobe Premier Elements - Elements is the consumer version of Adobe Premiere. It costs 1/6th the price, but is very capable of making videos that will impress everyone.
DVDFab is my favorite DVD software. I tried over 30 different programs before settling on DVDFab. It offers every function of the other programs and more! Copy, burn, shrink, convert for mobile devices, or convert for streaming. Almost all of the other programs I've tried did not function as advertised, were extremely slow, or did not have features that worked as advertised. DVDFab works, and works as advertised! It's easy to use, has a pleasant user interface, and it updated often.
Computer Hardware
Crucial Memory - Memory (RAM) is the upgrade that gives any computer the best bang for the buck. If you want to speed things up with more memory, why not purchase it from the leading source of quality RAM memory. Great selection, good prices, excellent support, and a lifetime warranty! A real winner!
CyberGuys - The place to get those hard to find cables and accessories for your computer!
HP Computers
- My current pick for new laptops and desktops. In the current market I don't think you can beat HP's combination of price and performance. Their laptop line is very cost effective and the design is absolutely beautiful!
Newegg - Newegg.com is known for great service and awesome pricing on computers, upgrades, and electronics. If you're looking for computers, computer parts, or electronics you owe it to yourself to start here! Great Products. Great Prices. Great Customer Service!
Computer Maintenance Software
Diskeeper 2008 - My current favorite defrag program. As files are written and erased from the hard drive they begin to leave "spaces" behind. When the drive is written to again files are broken up to fill in these spaces. This causes the drive to go to several different locations to read an entire file, which slows performance greatly. Diskeeper has several advanced features such as; automatic defrag, scheduled defrag, and the ability to defrag the MFT (Master File Table) and paging file. 30 day trial.
Registry Mechanic - A very thorough and efficient registry cleaner and defragmenter. A definite must to maintain peak performance and stabile operation. 30 day trial.
Computer Utility Software
Acronis True Image 11 - Do you value the data on your computer? Do you value your time? How much time will you spend recovering data and returning your computer to its original state after a hardware failure or software glitch? True Image is my #1 choice in backup tools. Whether you choose file or image based backups (you should use both!) True Image will perform better than any other application I've used. Disk images created with True Image are generally 10-20% smaller than those from comparable programs. If your time and files are as important to you as mine are to me this is a must have.
Acronis Disk Director - My favorite tool to partition, format, and resize hard drives.
Roboform - This program is the next best thing since sliced bread in my book! This program integrates into Internet Explorer and firefox. It generates very secure passwords at the click of a button. How do I remember these complex passwords? Roboform allows you to save passwords and personal data in an encrypted format. A master password (yes only one password to remember!) allows access. Roboform in IE and FireFox works like a super powered bookmark. You click the site you want to go to and Roboform opens the site, enters your username and password for the site (if required) and as if by magic clicks the submit button. If you shop online Roboform can enter your personal information and credit card information, which is also stored in a secure encrypted file, in one click. A real time saver with great security thrown in to boot! 30 day trial.
WinRar - What is commonly called a zip utility, similar to the more widely known WinZip. WinRar is faster and works with more formats for about 1/2 the price of WinZip. 30 day trial.
Desktop Utility Software
LogonStudio - Change the screen that appears when you boot Windows (the one with the moving bar graph). Hundreds of free skins available online. It's free.
Cursor XP Plus - Change the cursors on your computer. Hundreds of cursor packs are available online for free.
Icon Packager - Change the icons on your computer. Icon Packager puts you in control to change every icon with the click of a button. Tired of the plain icons built into Windows? There are hundreds of Icon Packs available online for free, which will add a truly personal feel to your computer.
WindowBlinds 6 - This is the icing on the proverbial cake. WindowBlinds changes the look and feel of Windows. By changing the appearance of the task bar, start menu, and any other window or program you open. It adds transparency, shadows, alpha blending, and animations. Hundreds of themes are available online for free.
Internet and Email
1&1 hosting - If you want to start your own website, blog, photo gallery, or have a personalized email address then 1&1 is for you. 1&1 can not be beat for reliability, features, support, and price. 90 day guarantee.
Google Gmail - The best internet based email (webmail) available. Each mailbox has a 6.5GB limit. The interface is superb, and the spam filter is top notch. You will never need to delete an email again! It has a great search function and a feature called thread view, which makes finding emails easy. A webmail account offers several advantages including not being required to change your email address if you change service providers. Gmail requires an invitation from a current member. If you are interested shoot me an email and I'll send you an invite.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 - Outlook is the current email client of choice for corporate America. I get well over 200 emails a day. Outlook has a few features I really need such as a plug in for automatic backups, office sounds which offers me some audible feedback, and the ability to change headers. I've used Mozilla Thunderbird and liked it a lot. With the amount of mail I go through I really need the features of Outlook. If you aren't a heavy user, or don't need the features I do then Thunderbird is a great alternative.
- An amazing, free, web browser. If you aren't using it you should be! Highly customizable through addins called extensions. There are thousands of extensions which can allow FireFox to do just about anything you can imagine. More importantly, Firefox is not subject to ActiveX, which is a large part of Internet Explorer, AOL, and MSN. No ActiveX means much less chance of getting spyware! Firefox also conforms to web standards more closely than Internet Explorer, which means you will see what the authors intended, not Microsoft.
Mozilla Thunderbird - A great free email client, from the same folks that brought us FireFox. Easy to use and highly customizable through extensions.
Photo and Picture Software
Adobe Photoshop Elements - Photoshop Elements is a consumer version of Adobe Photoshop. If you are serious about digital photos you will find Photoshop Elements a great program to have at your disposal. Elements provides all the functionality most will need at 1/6th the price.
Picasa - A great (FREE) way to organize, edit, and share your digital photos.
6) The lighter side
After spending countless hours surfing the web in search of various funny or interesting things to share with you here are a few of my finds to lighten your day! I go through a lot to please my readers!
Battle of the Bands - A short movie based on animated album art from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. May be objectionable to some.
Spudgun - This isn't your father's potato gun! Ever feel the need to retaliate against your neighbors? Check the videos at the bottom of the page. I want one. My wife says NO! lol
Tennis Challenge - This neat little game is sure to result in an hour of wasted time. OK Probably two hours!
On Water - A cool little flash movie, done with crayons. Crayons aren't just for kids anymore!
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7) A little help here please!
In the next issue I'll finish up "How to set up your PC". I felt that it was more important for you to meet Carol and get a tease of what is to come for her articles. I really appreciate her offering to share here knowledge with us and hope you do too! If you have Microsoft Office questions, or want to give Carol a big Hello send her an email at and visit her site at www.cbaconsultants.net.
Your opinions matter! I hope I've proven that with the new changes. If you have comments, suggestions, or just want to say hi you can drop me a line at .
The last issue of this newsletter was delivered to 300 people. This issue goes out to 400. Thank you for sharing with your friends and keep it up. Tell your friends, family, neighbors, and complete strangers about Daves Computer Tips. Forward your notification emails. Paint www.davescomputertips.com on your front lawn. Spread the word!!
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