** Issue #6 November 1st, 2006 **
1) A Little Help Here Please!
I'm moving this section to the top. This will allow me to place information about the current issue and upcoming issues where it will be more easily read. I'll also try to give a brief description of the contents in this section, so be sure to read it first each issue.
Welcome new readers (and there are a bunch)! Readership has doubled since the last issue. Now here is where I beg you to help me out. If each of you recommended my newsletter to 20 people I would have 16,000 subscribers, LOL. Well actually I would be happy if you recommended it to 2 or 3 of your friends! I don't encourage underhanded tactics, but I will suggest a few: Stalking, pestering, peer pressure, threats of computer havoc, use of any leftover halloween spells, and using weed killer to write Dave's Computer Tips on their lawn. Stay away from the really bad ones like kidnapping! LOL Spread the word. Please. I try to write a newsletter that is useful for everyone, with a little humor and sarcasm thrown in to liven things up. There is truly something for everyone here.
Carol Bratt joined us last issue. Carol will be contributing a Microsoft Office related column in each issue. I asked that we give here a big Dave's Computer Tips welcome. We didn't! I was disappointed. Here is your chance to redeem yourselves. Send Carol a simple Hi or an Office question that you've been thinking about. Carol can be contacted at carol @ carolscorneroffice.com. Also if you would take a few seconds and visit her site at www.carolscorneroffice.com it would let her know we care. Carol usually charges for her writings. She shares her wisdom with us for free. Show her some love!
As always I appreciate your comments and suggestions about the site and newsletter. If you would like to share please contact me at dave @ davescomputertips.com.
Carol is our resident "Office Goddess". If you have Microsoft Office questions or suggestions for future Office articles shoot her an email at carol @ carolscorneroffice.com.
In This Issue
In the last issue we finished Part 3 of How To Set Up Your PC. In this issue I'll finish up and you will have a computer that runs faster than when it was new. We'll tackle the start menu in Section #2.
In Section #3 we'll do the clean up and a disk image to put the icing on the cake.
Section #4 is Carol's article, which tells you how to format documents by section in Word.
Section #5 is a listing of the software that I use and recommend.
Section #6 will hopefully make you laugh with funny videos and cute games I find on the internet.
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2) How To Set Up Your PC - Part #4
In the last issue I covered TweakUI and removal of leftover update files. In this issue we'll continue the steps to make our computer into a lean, mean, computing machine. So let's get back into the groove with the Start Menu. Below is a screen shot of my start menu. It will look slightly different than yours because I run Stardock's WindowBlinds program, but everything else is the same. I've left a few recently installed programs to use as examples, and let me tell you having a messy Start menu has been driving my crazy!
Above is the screen shot of the programs listed in my Start Menu. Anything with an arrow on the right is actually a folder. You will also notice the entries at the top are in alphabetical order. If you hover your mouse over one of the entries with an arrow it will expand and show you what is inside.
When you add a program to your computer it generally adds a folder to the Start Menu. Sometimes the only thing in the folder will be the shortcut to the program (why do they add a folder then?) and other times they add all sorts of shortcuts. Most people accept this addition and live with a Start Menu that is full of useless shortcuts, many times their Start Menu covers two or more columns!
So what exactly is the Start Menu? It's a folder, well actually it's several folders combined and they are all located in C:\Documents and Settings. In the Documents and Settings folder you will see many folders that may not make sense at first, but the ones we are concerned about are the All Users folder and the folders that are the same as the user accounts on the computer. Most of you will only have one user account, so look for a folder with your name, Owner, or a name you entered during the Windows installation. As an example my user account is "Owner" so I have a folder labeled "Owner" in Documents and Settings. A friend has a user account Ninja so he has a folder named Ninja. Another friend has a user account Cheeks (No, I didn't ask where that came from!) so they have a folder named Cheeks. Inside these folders is another folder named Start Menu (who would have thought?). This is where the shortcuts end up.
When you install software it is either installed for everyone (all user accounts) or for the user account that is signed on during the installation. Some software let's you make the choice and some makes the choice for you. I find software that doesn't offer the option of installing for one user account or the All Users account winds up in the All Users folder. Windows looks at who is logged on when it displays the Start Menu and magically combines their folder with the All Users folder and displays this as the Start Menu. We know that the contents of a folder can be moved, copied, pasted, and deleted. (Hey didn't he say the Start Menu was a folder?) Well we can do this to the Start Menu, just like any folder on your PC. The only thing we can't do directly from the Start Menu is create a new folder (Microsoft, why did you leave this out?).
In this example we're looking at a program I recently installed to experiment with RSS feeds called RSS Wizard. You can see there are 7 shortcuts inside the folder. I usually take a look at the shortcuts and determine which ones I truly need. In this case the only shortcut I really need is the one that starts the program, RSS Wizard. All of the others are unneeded, as is usually the case. The uninstall shortcut isn't needed. You can uninstall the program from the Add/Remove applet in the control panel, or use MyUninstaller. The shortcut to the manual isn't needed, it can be found in the installation folder at c:\program files. The homepage can usually be found in the help menu of the program. So the only thing we need is the actual program shortcut. Every unneeded shortcut can be deleted. But we still have a folder with one shortcut. What to do, oh, what to do?
So let's get cleaning! Look at your Start Menu and see what programs you that are similar or serve a similar purpose. Examples would be if you have several programs by Adobe, or several programs that you use for the same purpose. Common answers would be instant messaging, security software, etc. Remember we can't create a new folder directly from the Start Menu, so let's open c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs. Once open you will notice that it has many of the folders from your Start Menu. Let's right click in a blank area of this folder and select New>Folder, which will create a folder named New Folder (very appropriate). At this point you can type a name to rename the folder. Let's type Security and AntiSpyware and then hit enter. When you're done minimize the window.
If you want to see what happened to the Start Menu click Start>All Programs. At the bottom you should now see a folder titled Security and AntiSpyware! So what are we going to do with that folder? We're going to start organizing your Start Menu. While the Start Menu is open find all of your security and antispyware programs including Antivirus, AntiSpyware, Firewall, etc. Open the folders by hovering your mouse over the entry. When the folder expands left click on the program shortcut and hold it down while you drag it to the new Security and AntiSpyware folder. Repeat this step for each security related program. Be patient, it can take a couple of tries to get the hang of it. Once your done with all programs you feel should be in the new Security and AntiSpyware folder you can delete the original folders, which should remove several entries from your Start Menu.
The rest is up to you. Do you have more than one web browser? Create a Browser Folder and copy the program shortcuts to it, then delete the originals. Do you have a several programs that you use for one project? Create a folder and repeat. When you are completely done creating folders and moving shortcuts right click and select Sort By Name, which will put everything into alphabetical order. You now have a smaller, more organized, and personalized Start Menu!
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3) The Finishing Touches
Ahhh! We are so close! Can you control your excitement? Now we'll delete your leftover temporary files, clean your registry, and make a disk image. I'll tell you where to download the programs you need. In the case of paid programs both have a 30 day trial, so try them out. I will also provide alternatives at the end for those who can't afford the better (in this case) paid versions.
Next we want to download CleanUp! (free) and install it. Once installed run the program and click the CleanUp button.
Be prepared for the sound of a toilet flushing (you may wish to turn your volume down) as it does it's thing. When done have a look at how much dish space it has recovered by deleting your temporary files and then click Close. It will ask you if you wish to log off now, Click Yes.
Next we will clean the registry. I prefer Registry Mechanic (30 day trial) and can't say enough good things about it. Download and install the program, then run it. When the program opens click Scan Your Registry, then sit back and relax.
When Registry Mechanic is finished scanning you will see a results window. Click Repair in the lower right corner. Registry Mechanic will set a system restore point and fix the errors that it found. Once Registry Mechanic is finished with the cleanup click Continue, which will return you to the main screen. At this point click the Compact Registry button. Registry Mechanic will analyze the registry and then ask to reboot. Click Yes and let it reboot your computer. You have just cleaned and compacted your registry. For those on a budget you can use Regcleaner.
Now we want to create a disk image of our perfect system. We want to keep this image and never overwrite it. This gives us something to fall back on should the worst ever happen. If you aren't familiar with disk imaging you may wish to read Your Backup Plan in my first newsletter.
I use and recommend Acronis True Image 10 (30 day trial) for my disk images. It's miles ahead of Norton Ghost. Download True Image 10 and install it. Run the program and choose the backup option.
This will open the Backup Wizard. Click on Next. The Select Backup Type window will open. Click The Entire Disk Contents button and then Next.
This will open the Partition Selection window. Disk 1 is your primary drive and that is what we want to back up. Make sure the box beside Disk 1 is checked and click Next. This opens the Archive location window. Here is where you select where you want your disk image to be saved. I suggest you have a second internal hard drive (at the least), a networked drive, or preferably an external hard drive to store you images. The image created will be about 1/2 the current used space on the drive, so keep that in mind. Choose your image location and filename. I suggest you use the date as an eight digit number (20061101) or cleaninstall to designate that this is an image of a perfectly setup installation. You can not create an image to the drive you are trying to image! After you select your location and filename click Next.
The next window is Select Backup Mode. Choose Create new full backup archive button and click Next, which will open the Choose Backup Options window. Click on Use Default Option and then click Next. If you want to explore the options click Set the options manually. One of the important options is Verify Backup. This increases the time required to make an image.
The next window is the Archive Comments window. You can type anything you want in this box. It serves as a reminder and is tagged to the image. You may wish to list software added since your last image, or other notes. When you've finished entering your descriptive comments click Next, which will open a window explaining exactly what, where, and how. Click Next and your Image will be created.
Taa Daa! See that wasn't so hard. If you continue to use True Image (and I hope you do) please spend the time to read the documentation. Backups are the most important thing you can do to protect your data, and you want to do it right.
For those on a budget Acronis has released version 7 for free. Obviously this is 3 full versions behind the current version 10, so there will be quite a few missing features. To get the free software you have to visit http://www.acronis.com/mag/vnu-ati7 and register. Acronis will email you a password and license key. You then visit the Acronis website and login to My Account using the password they provided in the email. You can download the software from there and use the license key to register.
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4) Formatting Documents by Section
by Carol A. Bratt
Although many word documents contain only one section, if you want to change headers or footers, page size or orientation,, margins, line number, page borders, or the number of newspaper-like columns in different parts of a document, you have to use sections.
The most common circumstance perhaps is when you want to change headers or footers in the middle of a document. In that case, you have to add a new section; there's no alternative solution.
You also might need to add a section if you have a wide table in the middle of a long report. Most of your pages will be printed in portrait orientation, but you'll need to add a section break before and after the table so that you can print it in landscape orientation. You could print the table separately and collate it by hand, but using section breaks resolves all your layout problems for you and why not do it the easy way?
Word recognizes four different types of section breaks:
Continuous — Defines a new section, but dopes not force a page break. Continuous section breaks are used almost exclusively for changing the number of newspaper-like columns in a document, or resetting line numbering (which you usually see in legal documents).
Next Page — The most common type of section break, a Next Page section break, not only defines a new section, it forces Word to start the section on a new page.
Odd Page — Like the Next Page break, except Word can add one additional blank page to force the new section to begin on an odd-numbered page.
Even Page – Like the Odd Page break, but Word stars on an even-numbered page.
Section breaks are visible in all views when you click the Show/Hide button to make special formatting characters (non-printing characters) visible. 
Just as paragraph formatting is stored in the paragraph mark at the end of a paragraph, Word stores section formatting in the section break at the end of the section. Formatting for the final section in a document is stored in the last paragraph mark in the document. If a document has only one section, the document's final paragraph mark holds the section formatting for the entire document.
Inserting and Deleting Section Breaks
To insert a new section break into a document, follow the steps below:
- If the document does not yet include one, I strongly recommend that you put a dummy manual section break at the end of your document. To do so, click once in front of the final paragraph mark in the document. Press Enter a couple of times. Then choose Insert, Break. In the Break dialog box, choose Continuous and click OK.
Figure 1
- If all the headers and footers in the document will be the same, you'll find it much easier to establish them now.
- Carefully determine what section breaks you will need in your document, what type they should be and where they will occur. In particular, if you plan to change the number of newspaper-like columns for a short run in the middle of the document, you'll want Continuous section breaks both before and after the change.
- Starting at the beginning of the document, create the section breaks, one at a time, by using the Break dialog box shown in Figure 1.
The dummy section break at the end of the document can help you salvage important formatting information, because you can copy or move the section break, although copying or moving the final paragraph mark won't have any effect on section formatting.
After establishing all sections, carefully go back into each section and apply the section formatting you require.
If you must delete a section break, select the break and press Delete. The newly merged section takes on the settings of the section break at the end. Immediately examine the document for odd formatting changes. If you find any unwelcome formatting, press Ctrl + Z or click the Undo button to restore the section break. 
Copying Formatting Between Sections
Section breaks store the settings for the section. You can select, delete, copy, or move these settings at will.
The simplest way to copy section formatting from one section to another is by copying the section break. If you want to copy the section formatting from section number 5 to section number 1, follow these steps:
Select the section break at the end of section 5 and press Ctrl + C to copy it to the Clipboard.
- Click just in front of the section break at the end of section 1.
- Press Ctrl + V to paste the section break you copied previously.
- Press Delete to delete the old section break at the end of section 1.
If you created an extra dummy section break at the end of the document, all the document's original section formatting is stored in that section break. To restore a specific section to the document's original formatting, copy that dummy section break to the end of that specific section.
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.
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!
Darwin Awards - Hope you don't have any relatives listed on this site!!
Ghost Hunting Tips - I know I'm a day late with this, but you never know when you'll need this valuable information!
Rubik's Cube Robot - Am I showing my age? I spent hours trying to figure this out. Wish I had a robot!
Toilet Paper Wedding Dress - Looking to save money on your next wedding?
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