Sending a Fax

Every once in awhile I need to send a fax to some place. Many have purchased a 3 in 1 printer that prints, scans. and faxes. Of course they require a phone connection to do the faxing and with so many just using cell phones that feature is worthless. I have a laser printer and a simple scanner, printer, copier from HP that works great. No need for a fax... until today!

I find it interesting that you cannot scan the necessary document and email it as a PDF to them, but I have yet to find anyone who will accept that form of communications. I think it is a legal thing; the law allows for faxes but not emails.

Off I went to Google to look for a way to send a fax from my computer. There are many possible sites out there, but most require a download and come with a cost, usually monthly. All I wanted to do is send one fax.



I ended up at faxzero.net. It allowed me to send the fax and displayed a confirmation that it was received. It is all online; nothing to install on your PC. The items to be faxed may be PDF, DOC, or DOCX files. And you can send multiple files in the same fax. It was a perfect fit for what my needs were.

Lost My Windows Password

I had an old computer and forgot the password to sign in. It was not what I currently use and I tried everything I could think of to sign in. Even the password help I had set up did not give me a clue.

I went where I always go, Google, and searched for how to recover a password. I found some software I could buy to display them and a quick way to do it right from Windows.



At the sign-on screen, I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del on the keyboard twice. Another sign in screen displayed allowing me to type in the username and password. I entered the username administrator and signed on. I  created a password when I setup the machine and fortunately I knew what it was. If I had not entered an administrator password during the original install, the password would have been left blank.

Windows started up and I was able to go into the Control Panel and Users and change the password for my normal account. I shutdown and restarted using the new password and I was back in business.

Windows 8 Classic Start Menu

I really like Windows 8. It boots faster, shuts down faster, and comes back from hibernation faster. There are some neat new apps and the Metro style Start Screen is fun to use. BUT. Yes there is a but for me...

I really wanted the machine to boot right to the desktop and I missed the easy access to applications, folders, and system areas I had with XP, Vista, and Windows 7. Sure I could poke around between the desktop and the Start Screen, but a lot more clicking was required.

Enter an app called Classic Menu. It is free forever and places the start button back on the desktop view. Windows key or click on the button to open the classic start menu. To get back to the Start Screen for Windows 8, Shift+Windows.

When you first boot the machine you go right to the desktop. Oh, you get to choose which start menu format you want to use, XP. Vista, or Windows 7. Works great and you can turn it off if you want; perhaps for training someone on basic Windows 8.

Download it at http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Playing Movies in Windows 8

Windows 8 is fast and clean. It is pretty and customizable for those that like to do that. You can change how things look on the start screen and even add your own icons and links.

You can use the start screen or go right to the familiar desktop view. Except for the missing start button, you might think you were still using Windows 7.

But unlike previous versions of Windows it does not have a way to watch a movie! If that is something you want to be able to do you must purchase an additional program. Windows movie player does not come with Windows.

It is available until January 31st as a free download. After that you will have to pay for it. I believe it will cost $10.

So if you have Windows 8 take advantage of the free registration while you can.

The link is http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

Office 2013 First Look by Dick Evans

by Dick Evans 11-30-2012

I downloaded the trial copy of the latest version of Microsoft Office--2013. The download was quick and the install uneventful. I was surprised it left Office 2010 installed and active.

Before you get too excited about this new version, know that it only works with Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you have XP or Vista, be happy with versions up to Office 2010.

There are some other requirements as well, but everyone with 7 or 8 probably meets them. Your  machine needs at least a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM for the 32-bit version (2GB for the 64-bit version), at least 3GB of free hard disk space, and a graphics card that can provide at least 1,024-by-576 resolution.

Word looks a lot like 2010 but with better graphics in the ribbons. Like 2010 it has a File button and you really can't see much difference as you use it. It is in the features available that Office differs from other Word Processors. Typing a document is just as easy in Office 97 or even using Google Docs or OpenOffice.

Features in Word 2013 that really stand out.

Streamlined ribbons.

Direct access to the Microsoft SkyDrive. You can open and save documents to you Cloud storage which is free from Microsoft for 7 gb.

The ability to open and edit a PDF file. You can modify it and save the update as either a PDF or a document file.

Right clicking on a picture has an option to add a caption to the image.

As I use it more I will report on any additional features that pop out at me. And I will spend some time with Excel and PowerPoint.

How do I get the 60 day trial of 2013?

Get it at http://bit.ly/ZWg8BD only for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

What about the trial version of 2010?

It is available at http://bit.ly/rKNRSK for all versions of Windows. Or you may have gotten a free Office Starter 2010 with your new computers.

Windows 8 First Look
by Dick Evans



A new operating system is here!

The first thing you notice is a cell phone looking interface. Although designed for touch screen access, you can still use your old monitor and a mouse. The old desktop is missing. No start button. This is a drastic change! Don’t panic, everything's not as it seems. If you have a brand new computer with a touch screen, you can use your finger to move the screen and call up apps much like you can with a smartphone. But, your mouse still works and if you click the desktop icon you are taken to a familiar screen.

Gone in Windows 8

●     The start button has been removed. Hidden is a hotspot in the lower left corner of the screen that opens the Start screen, a multi-screen interface replacement for the Start menu.
●     The Show Desktop button has been removed from the taskbar. Hidden as a hotspot in the lower right corner where it was previously located.

Added in Windows 8

●     Windows 8 has short boot times, because it saves the kernel's memory to the hard disk on shutdown (similar to the existing hibernate option) and reloads it on startup.
●     Windows 8 is said to have better performance than Windows 7, even with the new interface running on top of a desktop...

• And a lot more...

Taking the Plunge into Windows 8

I decided to take the plunge. I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 running Windows 7. I went to the Microsoft download site and clicked on the $39.99 pro download available until January 31, 2013. the first thing it did was spend about ten minutes checking my machine for compatibility. When that section finished it asked if I wanted to keep my settings, files, and apps, or just personal files, or nothing. I picked the first option.

Time to pay for it. You can get the download for $40 plus a DVD for $15. You can use a credit card or PayPal. After accepting payment it displays the product key and emails a receipt.

Next the 2gb download begins with an estimate of 1 hour+ to finish. My machine was running 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate. It is a dual core Pentium @ 1.86GHz with 4 GB of RAM. And a small 160 GB hard disk drive.

That download took almost 2 hours so I decided to wait until morning to continue. When I rebooted there was an icon on the desktop to get back into the next step in the install process.

This was the same screen I had ended up on last night. There were two options I could take. the first would simply do the install. I chose the second which created an ISO file which allowed me to create a bootable install DVD, This took about 10 minutes.

I pushed the DVD back in and restarted from it. After a minute or two, the Windows 8 Setup screen appeared. I left the US defaults and clicked Next.

The next screen allowed me to either Install Now or Repair. I clicked the install option. I assume the Repair option can be used later to fix otherwise unresolvable issues.

Next it wanted the product key I had purchased and had written down. I keyed it without the dashes and clicked Next. After a couple of minutes I checked the box to accept the terms and clicked another Next button.

The next screen was very important. The Upgrade option keeps all the existing files, settings, and apps. The Custom option just installs Windows 8. I was careful to choose Upgrade.

It had me remove the DVD and restart. I was warned to not select the custom option on the restart. The tricky part was to let the old Windows 7 start normally and then push the DVD back in. When the selection screen pops up, select the upgrade option.

Read the screens carefully without making assumptions. I messed up a couple of times and had to restart the install process.

It takes a while to do the install. It asks for you to setup a log-in password, which I do suggest even if you are the only one to use your machine. Then it asks for your Microsoft email address and password. If you do not have one, register for one as Windows 8 is closely coupled with Sky Drive and other Microsoft cloud items.

That was all there is. Windows 8 booted. Everything worked. The desktop (Win+D) looks just the same as it did with Windows 7. Now I just have to get used to the new Start Menu to take full advantage of the new features. While I am doing that I can get right back to the old desktop view at any time doing whatever I was doing before 8.

More notes coming in the near future as I play with 8. Take the plunge and be one of the early adopters. The price is right!

Free Media

Check out Wikimedia Commons. You will find over fourteen MILLION pieces of media you may download and use. And you can upload some of your own to share with others.

See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Build a free website

Build a free website for yourself or your church or your club or for someone else. Very easy to get started. Free templates and drag and drop tools. No need to know HTML. Anybody can do it. Click http://tinyurl.com/freeweb7 to try it out...

Filler Text

Have you ever seen the following in a document or on a website?

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis a fringilla risus. Etiam tincidunt pharetra risus, vel blandit orci scelerisque ut. Aliquam varius metus nec diam egestas eu auctor urna pretium. Ut non dictum purus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nunc diam arcu, pellentesque eget sollicitudin non, tempus ut risus. Etiam tempus magna et justo interdum vulputate. Nulla lacinia mauris non ligula facilisis accumsan. Donec vestibulum laoreet nisl in fermentum. Aliquam ultrices viverra eros id ornare. Nam dictum arcu vel nulla viverra iaculis.

No, it is not a secret code. It is filler text used when designing a site or creating a presentation or a pamphlet. You want to set up the formatting but do not have all the content yet, so you need some filler.

It is Latin in its origin but nonsensical; a random group of words used by typesetters since the 1500’s.

Well look no further than http://www.lipsum.com. Just enter the number of paragraphs you need and click Generate Lorem Ipsum button. A new page appears with your text ready to be copied.

Watch out for this kind of email

What is wrong with this picture?

1. The From address is @usps.com and the US Post Office is a .gov
2. The To address is not you!
3. Dear customer -- they would always identify you by name
4. Attachment -- they would not send you an attachment. If you upzip it your are subjecting yourself to malware

WARNING!

Just because the name in the from box in your email is someone you know, it may not be safe to assume it is really from them.


Here is an email I received this morning. I know Vicky and might be tempted to click on the link and see what she has to show me that she found on the Internet. Then I notice the + next to her name. I use Yahoo and that means she is not in my address book. Well, that is funny. I know she is so I mouse over here name to see the address she sent it from.



Hey, that is not her!

Had I assumed it was her because of her name, I would have clicked the link and opened my computer up to untold issues. And had I added this new address to my contacts I would not have known when this erroneous address would be used again to suck me into another trap.

Some basic rules I use when looking at my emails even when I know the sender is legit’:

• If something looks funny, I don’t open it
• if there is a link, I mouse over it to see where it will take be first
• If there is a link to open a video and it is not from YouTube, I do not open it
• If there is an attachment that is from some email pass-a-long, I do not open it
• If it look slegit and it is from one of my financial or insurance companies, I go directly to the company Website to find out about it instead of taking the link off the email
• If a company I do business with sends an email that does not have my name in the email but instead reads like Dear Customer, it is probably not from who I think and I do not click on any links

When downloading apps I look for them on some legit site like cnet and not from the result of a search directly. And when installing apps I avoid adding toolbars and search engines to my browser. They not only reduce the amount of room in my browser window, they add numerous background tasks that slow down the system.

In other words, I try to use common sense and not subject myself to potential threats. And I try to run the following apps once a week:

• ccleaner
• malwarebytes
• defraggler
• full antivirus scan

Word Show/Hide

One tool I use when working with a document in Microsoft Word is the Show/Hide button. Some refer to this as the Show Paragraph Marks button, but it shows more than just the paragraph mark.

As you may know, I like to use shortcut keys at the keyboard level. Well when you mouse over the button in Word 2007 or 2010 (I did not check older versions), the popup tells you that the shortcut key is Ctrl+*. That is correct, but to access the * you must hold down the shift key. I would rather say this shortcut is Shift+Ctrl+* or you might say Shift+Ctrl+8.

What this button does is display the hidden characters in a document, which includes the end of paragraph marks (backwards P), the spaces between words as dots, tabs as right arrows, and new lines as down to the left arrows.

Being able to see these hidden marks is especially helpful when copy and pasting from an email. It shows quickly why the sentences do not fill the line allowing you to easily remove the offending marks.

Buying On Line

by Dick Evans

I remember way back when I first ventured into purchasing items online. I was apprehensive about giving out my credit card information over the net. Security back in the 90’s was pretty loose.

I began by opening a single credit card specifically for online orders. I purposely kept the credit limit low; around $500 I think. I figured if I had a problem with the account number being hijacked at least they could not get me for more than that! Good idea except my credit card company was so thrilled with my use of the card they upped my limit automatically. So much for that failsafe!

Well, security has gotten better and I am comfortable using my cards at known online retailers like Amazon and Staples and OfficeMax and Egghead... Whenever I can I like to use my PayPal account. It gives an added level of security as the place I am buying from never gets to see my credit card information. And I can use PayPal to receive funds from others.

One of my credit card companies offers a one time number. The call it a Secure Online Account Number:




I sign in to my account and request a number. It immediately creates one for me to use on my next transaction. It can only be used once and will post against my credit card. Works great. I use this for all purchases that cannot be done with PayPal where I do not have a relationship with the seller.

In addition to Discover, I understand other companies offer this service as well. Check with your credit card company and see what they offer.

One last comment regarding Debit Cards. I do not like to use them. They hit my checking account right away and offer no benefit to me at all. I would never use one for an online purchase.

The math is simple. I buy with a debit card and my checking account is hit right away. Not only do I have to have the cleared funds available but I have no recourse if I have an issue with what I purchased.

When I use a credit card, I have 30 or more days of the money being in my checking account. If my account pays interest, I am paid by the bank to leave it there. Add to that the 1% to 5% cash back rewards I get with my credit cards--they pay me to use their card. If I have an issue with something I ordered, they go to bat for me with the seller to resolve the issue. In the meantime the charge is taken off my account so I am not charged any interest.

Simply put, I use credit cards and PayPal to purchase online. If the seller is an established company, I trust them with my information. If not, I use a one time number for the purchase.

Securing Our Computers

We spend time backing up our data so if our hard drive crashes we can get most of it back to a new drive or new computer. We password protect important things like our accounting information and even set up our user name so it requires a password to log on to Windows.

But what if we lose our laptop or netbook or even our new tablet?

Sure, they may need a password to log on as us, but what if they take out the hard drive and hook it up to another computer? Yes, they can do that and access all the files except those password protected. They can even boot the computer with a CD having its own operating system like Ubuntu and access everything right on the drive without having to remove it.

There is an alternative that will protect all the data on the hard drive and remove all possibility of anyone accessing the data, even you.

Using the boot option to access setup, F2 on most of my computers, check to see if there is the possibility of adding a password to the hard drive. If so, add one. Then only those with the password can boot the machine and log on. BUT DO NOT FORGET THE PASSWORD or even you will never be able to get it to work.

Mailto Links

No matter which version of Windows you use, when you click on a mail to link on a Web page, Windows opens Outlook and attempts to process the compose email for you. Great if you use Outlook. Not so great if you use Gmail, yahoo, hotmail, or any other alternate method.

This little program takes away the problem by allowing you to assign the correct email carrier to your default browser.

Download it from http://gmaildefault.codeplex.com/ and run it. It pops up a list of email clients like Gmail, yahoo, etc. Choose the one you want to use and the next time you need to send an email from a Web page link your email app opens. No more messy copy and paste to get that email address to the right place.

Send to on Steroids

You probably know you can right-click any file and the select Send-to to get a list of apps or locations to copy the file to. Hold the shift key down before the right-click and the list of places to send it to increase to include your most used folders

Convert PDF to an Image

There are times when it is much more convenient to send an image file (jpg) to someone or to post it somewhere like on Facebook. I used to display the PDF and make it small enough to see it all on my screen. Then I would capture the image with the PrtSc key or use the Snipit tool.

I found an easier way. Just open www.pdf2jpg.net, upload the PDF, and in a pretty shore time the resulting JPG file I available for download. If it is a large PDF, you can enter your email address and they will let you know when the conversion has finished. 

More Shortcuts

You need a lot of fingers to count all the shortcuts available in apps. These have to do with browsers and work with most of the popular ones.

F6 (or Ctrl+L or Alt+D) changes focus to the address bar with the current address selected

F5 refreshes the window, but uses cache for some of the items on the page

Ctrl+F5 does a hard refresh pulling everything from the host site instead of cache

Ctrl+n with n being a number from 1-9 indicating the tab you want to switch to counting from left to right

This one is very useful to me. I cannot tell you how many times I have closed a tab in error and wished there was a way to go right back to it.

Ctrl+Shift+T reopens the last closed tab

Alt+Home opens the Home page

We all know that pressing Enter after entering the address in the address bar open the site.

Alt+Enter opens the address in a new tab

Ctrl+U opens a new tab with the source code (HTML) for the page

Analyzing Files on Disk

In a time long ago we ran under an OS called DOS. If we wanted to see what was on the hard drive or any disk, we would issue the DIR command from the command line and a tree view of the contents would roll up the screen. Using some redirection we could send the results to the printer or to a file.

In Windows we use explorer to look at any folder and can drill down into them visually, but lack the means to print a list. Enter TreeSize. Its free version shows drive contents as a list sorted by size, with simple and clear bars indicating relative size. A great way to view all your content and print it out.

Download it at http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

If all you need is that DOS like list of files, try FileList from the same company. It produces a list of files in CSV format. Open in a spreadsheet app to analyze

http://www.jam-software.com/filelist/

This is a command line app. Use Win+R to open the run dialog box. Type CMD and press enter to open a command window. See the manual at http://www.jam-software.com/filelist/manual.php to understand how to use it.

Syntax is “path to filelist.exe” “ path to be listed” “ path to output file and its name”. When it finishes, open the resulting file in a spreadsheet app to analyze the results.

Sample command line:

C:\programfiles>FileList.exe  c:\users\user\download  > c:\results.csv

This assumes the program is in ProgramFiles, the files we want listed are in the download folder for the user named user, and the results are to end up in a file at c:\ called results.csv.

CC Enhancer

In a past post I mentioned that I used ccleaner to keep my PC running smoothly. It is a simple app that cleans out lots of junk on your system. The cc stands for “crap cleaner” and it works fine. It even cleans up the registry files for you.

In addition to the junk that results from using Windows, other programs create their own and ccleaner does not address those. Well an add-on to ccleaner called ccenhancer adds the ability to clean out the junk from 500+ known applications and it all happens right inside ccleaner.

http://singularlabs.com/software/ccenhancer/download/

After you install it, run ccleaner and note all the applications listed under the application tab. Before running ccleaner, always do the updates so you get any additional apps that have been added.

While you are at it, consider download defraggler. It does a great job defragging your disks. And remember to only defrag hard drives and never solid state devices like the new drives or your USB flash drives. If you do, you will reduce their lifetime.

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

Earn 12% Per Year

I do not know what your bank is paying. I have more than one bank I do business with and not one of them pays a dime on the money in my checking account. Savings is a little better, but it is like .1% -- that’s a tenth of a percent per year which comes down to .0083333 per month!

When I was in elementary school, the local bank would come in and give us a talk on the importance of saving money. They helped us open our own savings account and gave us a book where we could see how much we had and see the increase each month as they applied the interest which was around 3%.

So how do you earn up to 60% per year? Cash rewards, that’s how.

Many credit card companies offer cash rewards for your purchases. 1% at least, but often up to 5% in specific purchases like groceries or gasoline. And that is the percentage for that month's purchases, not an annualized percentage.

Keep $5,000 in a savings account for one year and at .1% you will earn about $5 for the year. Charge $5,000 each month and receive $50 per month in cash rewards or $600 for the year. That is 120 times as much or an effective rate of 12% per year.

Of course you need to pay the credit card bill off in full each month. If you happen to get up to 5% on some of your purchases that percentage could go as high as 60%, but will probably be at least higher than the minimum of 12%.

Unlike the interest you earn at the bank, as little as that is, you do not receive a 1099 on your cash rewards at the end of the year. Your “earning” are rewards for using your credit card, not interest paid.

What can you do with those rewards? The simplest is to apply them to your credit card bill. I use them to purchase items at Amazon.com or sign on to the credit card rewards site to purchase gift cards often at lower than face value; $20 to purchase a $25 gift card is not uncommon.

The key is to use your purchasing power to make money. Charge to save. You get to delay payment for up to 30 days while you wait for the bill to come in and pay it. Pay the entire bill and earn the rewards. Then use the cash in a way that works best for you.

Adding a Site Map

Some Websites have a page called a site map. It is a hierarchical view of all the pages in the site and a great way to locate the page you need to find without having to go through a series of links from page to page.

I knew I could create one on my own using HTML, but I just found a simple way to do using a Free Online Sitemap Generator. You simply enter the URL of the site and it does all the work. Have a site you go to all the time that does not have a site map? Make one and save it on your computer. Open the resulting file in your browser and you have a personal map to all the pages on that site.

Open http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ and key in the site address (URL). When it finishes you can choose from the xml version or the html version. I saved the html version in MyDocuments and opened it in my browser.

The free version does not handle all the nested pages as some of mine were missing. But you can run it again with the starting page being that nested folder. Still easier than doing it by hand. And the pay-for version is very reasonable with lifetime updates free.

Snapshot of System

A friend reminded me of a great free app that reviews your entire computer and displays a very detailed analysis of what hardware and software you have installed. It is called Belarc Advisor and you can download it at http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html.

Here is a sample of the first page of its analysis:

A PDF Tool

I came across this neat tool while looking for a way to take a PDF file and turn it into individual PDF’s for each page. I had used Word’s Mail Merge to create invoices from a spreadsheet of names and amounts. Worked great, but the resulting document and therefore the resulting PDF had all of the invoices in one file. I needed to send them out individually.

The following screen shot tells it all:

Click to view a larger image

It worked great for my situation and I am keeping this handy for some of the other functions available.

What About the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo?

When you see the ads about these e-readers like Kindle, Nook, and Kobo you think you have to make a decision about which to purchase. Truth be told, you do not need to purchase any of them and yet you can still get the full benefit of what they have to offer.

In each case, you can download an app for your PC, Tablet, or Smartphone. That’s right. Download the app and then download the books your want to read. And you can purchase each book to be read on your chosen device and even take advantage of the free offers—hundreds of free books to download.

So sign on and register for your free account at:

Kindle   http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

Nook     http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-for-pc/379002322

Kobo     http://www.kobobooks.com/desktop

You can read your Kindle books in the cloud by opening https://read.amazon.com/ and then you will find the books you have purchased including the free ones in your Library (link in top left of screen).

After reading a few free books I had downloaded on my netbook I was sold. Why did I actually purchase a Kindle? At the time, tablets were not available as they are today. Reading on the netbook was ok, but hard to hold it and read in bed! Although much easier than my full sized laptop. Also, the Kindle screen could be read in direct sunlight. That was something none of the PC’s or tablets could do and I like to read at the beach and outdoors as I enjoy the warm Florida days.

There are many sites that offer listings of the free books available for the e-readers. I use one for my Kindle that sends me an email every day with a selection to choose from. If I go to their site I can view all that are available, but the limited selection approach works for me. One thing to note is that free books are not free forever. They are listed by the author for only a few days at a time.

Here is the site I use: http://www.ereaderiq.com/

Watch The Links

So often we get what appears to be an official email from one of our banks or even a promising email awarding us some grand prize. Here is one I received today that did not get allocated by Yahoo to the spam folder.


If you mouse over the link, that is move your mouse pointer over without clicking, you can view the URL or address of where that link will take you in the lower left of your browser window. In this case mousing over any of the links show an address of:

http://www.wolverhamptonservices.com/chase.indexi.php

Which is obviously not a link to Chase Bank! This is how they get you. You unknowingly take the link and get to a page that looks official where you enter your personal information and often comprise your bank account, credit card account, etc.

In this email the first clue was the lack of graphics in the email, the missing 4 digits of my account number, and the fact that it was not addressed directly to my first name. Then the strange link URL the kicker. Off to spam it goes!

So be careful of those emails, even if they appear to come from a friend. Make sure you want to go where the link is taking you or may end up where no man has gone before!

Password Protect a Word File

A simple protection scheme for individual Office files is to password protect them. You can choose to make them read-only, to have someone be able to view but not edit, or give someone full editing rights.  It all happens when you save the file.

Click the Tools dropdown arrow.

Select General Options.

Fill in both passwords, click Protect Document.

Confirm both passwords, and then Save.
Next time you go to open the file, you will have to know the passwords to both view it and to edit it.
Works in a similar fashion in the other Office applications, such as Excel and PowerPoint.

Editing the SendTo List

It is just a folder like any other folder on your hard drive. The catch is you have to find it to change it.

In XP, 7, or Vista use Win+R to open the run dialog and enter shell:sendto. Press Enter and the folder will open.

If you want to delete an item, right-click it and select Delete.

If you want to add a new item, copy its shortcut into the folder. For example, you might want to be able to send a file to a specific folder without having to always open that folder. Perhaps a BACKUP folder for files you want to remember to take with you on your flash drive. Just drag that folder into the SendTo folder and a shortcut to it will be created in the SendTo list. 

Make it Bigger

When looking at a Webpage, there are times when the font size is just too small.

I have mentioned before that you can make it larger by simply using Ctrl +.

Sometimes you may need to make it smaller when the button to be pressed is below the edge of the screen and you just cannot get it to move up. Use Ctrl - and the content in the browser windows gets smaller.

Ctrl 0 restores the size to normal.

Well there is another way as well. Hold the Ctrl key down and use the scroll button on your mouse. Push it away from you to make it larger and towards you to make it smaller. You still need Ctrl 0 to bring it back to normal.

Website Counters

There are many Website counters available to add to your pages. Some are free and others cost either a one time fee or a subscription. Some just count. Other gather statistics about the visitors to your page.

I just found one that is free, only counts first time visitors, and maintains statistics about who those visitors were.

There are many formats and colors you can choose from and an options to be invisible. I left mine visible and show the name of the counter for others to see. Check it out on my site at http;://rwevans.com.

Double click on the counter and you will be taken to the counter site. To see my statistics you have to sign on, but you can see all the features of the counter. They will also email you your statistics weekly. Pretty neat.

You do not have a Website? No problem, use it on your eBay listing, your blog page, or any other page you have on the Web.

Password Creator

Looking for a simple way to generate a password you can remember and that is still considered a strong password? Download this simple Excel file and give it a try:



It takes the first three letters of your first name beginning it with an uppercase letter, the first three of your first name, and adds the last four numbers of your phone number. To make it even more secure add a special character to the end, like a %. You can go one step further by always changing letters such as i to the number 1, o to a zero, and e to a 3.

In the above example Smigeo1212 would end up as Sm1ge01212% and that would be tough to crack! And knowing the formula that created it, you could easily remember it later.

Case Converter

I do not like to forward an email that IS WRITTEN IN ALL UPPERCASE. It is hard to read and is considered shouting at the person you are sending it to. To clean up an email from those >>, short lines, and other junk I do use emailstripper. I copy and paste the email content into it, click strip it, and then paste the results back into the email.

Works great, but it does not fix the UPPERCASE issues. In the past I have had to copy the stripped results into Word and change the case, then copy it back to emailstripper to get rid of all the word background junk, and finally into the email.

Word takes a while to start up and often I am on a computer that does not have Word installed. Along comes Case Converter ar http://caseconverter.com/.

Copy the text into the window on case converter and you can choose from four options: Uppercase, Lowercase, Propercase, or Sentence Case. Then copy and paste it to wherever your wish.

Using Yahoo or Gmail as default

By Dick Evans www.rwevans.com

When I click on an email link on a Web site, my system wants to open Outlook to send it. I do not use Outlook; I use Yahoo mail. How do I make Yahoo my default email in Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox?

Install the Yahoo toolbar (http://toolbar.yahoo.com)



Check the box that says “Install the Yahoo! Mail Plug-in and make Yahoo! Mail my default Mail Provider”. And note how I handled the check boxes…

Click I Agree and install the Toolbar.

When you click on an email link, you will be asked to set the default to Yahoo! or Gmail. Then every time you click to email you will go to the email provider of choice.

This works for Internet Explorer and Firefox. If you are using Chrome, when you click the link Internet Explorer opens in your default email provider.
Don't want the toolbar?
After you have installed, you can hide or remove the toolbar and the default email selection will remain changed.

Forward Email from Comcast

I have a number of email addresses, but the one I use all the time is my Yahoo account. I hardly ever look at my Comcast emails and may be missing some email from Comcast I really need to look at. The solution is to make all emails coming in to the Comcast account automatically forward to my Yahoo account—this could be any email account.

Log in to Comcast.net



Go to Email



Click the Preferences tab



Click Email Filters



Click New Filter



Fill out the form—wildcard is an asterisk. Enter the email address you want your mail to go to.

Click OK



The filter is now in place and all mail will go to your forwarding address. Test it out by sending an email to your Comcast email address and make sure it ends up in your forwarded mailbox.

Backing up Facebook

Yes, you can backup a copy of everything you have uploaded to Facebook. Then you will have a local copy of all your pictures, wall posts, notes, messages, and more to browse or just keep. Or perhaps you are tired of Facebook and want to deactivate your account. Backup first and you will have a copy for yourself!

1. Open Facebook
2. In the upper right hand corner pull down the arrow to the right of your name
3. A list of options appears
4. Click Account Settings
5. At the bottom of General Account Settings, locate Download a copy of your Facebook data.
6. Click it, and then after reading the information on the screen click Start My Archive. Followed by another Start My Archive
7. Facebook will make a zip file of all your data and send you an email when it has finished.

On the email there will be a link to click that will download the ZIP file to your computer. Extract the files in the ZIP folder. It will contain a couple of folders and an executable file. Open the executable file to view your archived Facebook data in your browser. By the way, if you do deactivate your account, remember that Facebook does not remove it from their servers. Nobody can access the data, but it is still there and if you log back into your account you will automatically reactivate it.

Setting Send From in Gmail

I have many email accounts, so when I receive an email from someone at one of them I do not always want them to see my from address as the one I received it on. This is important when you have emails auto forwarded to your Gmail account. For example, I have an email at richard@rwevans.net that auto forwards. When someone sends me an email to that address I do not want my from address to be my Gmail account, I want it to be richard@rwevans.net.  

1. Open Gmail and click Tools (the gear icon in the upper right)
2. Choose Settings and then Accounts and Import
3. Under Send mail as: click Add another email address you own
4. In the new window type the email address you want to send from, and then click Next Step, Next Step, and then Send Verification.
5. Now go to your other email and open the email Gmail just sent. Click the verification link and you are now ready to send from a different address in Gmail
6. Go back to Gmail and compose a new email
7. You now have a From box and can choose an alternate address

Export Gmail Contact List
by Dick Evans

You keep all your contact information in Gmail, but the Internet is not available. How do you access your contacts and get their address or phone numbers? 



Open the Contacts page in Gmail.
Pull down the More menu
Select Export...



Choose the Outlook CSV format, and then click Export

The file downloads to your computer as contacts.csv

A CSV (comma separated value) file is a text file. It can easily be opened in any spreadsheet program (Excel, OpenOffice, Google Docs, etc) and then used to locate all your contact information on your computer without any need to access Gmail on the net.

Exporting from Gmail to your computer can be done at any time and is a good way to back up your contacts from the cloud.