Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Flip It
Here is a new one for you. Ctrl+Alt+DownArrow on some video cards will flip you screen 180* -- turns it upside down! Ctrl+Alt+UpArrow turns it back. Does not work with all video cards, but will not hurt anything by trying. Useful? Probably not, but fun to try. Might make your neighbor at work really confused when you flip his/her screen when they are not looking... LOL
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Free eBook
In addition to these tips, I write a daily Inspirational Thought as part of our ministry--The Evans Ministries. You can download one month of ITs that I recently put into book form. I hope you enjoy each of these writings and comment on them in this blog or directly to me in an email. I know this is not a technical post, but it is an important piece of what I do.
Download the FREE eBook from http://www.rwevans.com/freebook/itaug02.pdf
Download the FREE eBook from http://www.rwevans.com/freebook/itaug02.pdf
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A Simple Temperature Conversion
With the temperatures diving down under freezing this winter, the subject of Fahrenheit versus Celsius comes up. In the USA we use F and other countries use C. When we are at 32F they are at 0C. So in the Celsius world zero is freezing and anything above zero or + is above freezing. Anything in the minus like -10C is below freezing or really cold!
There are other calculators out there and Excel can do the job as well. Here are the formulas for Excel:
F to C: =5/9*(temp-32)
C to F: =temp*9/5+32
Note: temp should point to the cell where the inputed degrees is located.
Do it right off the Web by linking to http://www.rwevans.com/convert_temp.htm
There are other calculators out there and Excel can do the job as well. Here are the formulas for Excel:
F to C: =5/9*(temp-32)
C to F: =temp*9/5+32
Note: temp should point to the cell where the inputed degrees is located.
Do it right off the Web by linking to http://www.rwevans.com/convert_temp.htm
Friday, January 08, 2010
Task Manager and More
Hardly a day goes by when I do not learn something more about something. You may have known this, but I did not and it is very useful.
I know Ctrl+Alt+Del usually opens the Task Manager. You can even right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager, but these do not always work. There is another way. To open the Task manager simply Shift+Ctrl+Esc.
Who cares, you say. What is the Task Manager anyway? Well it is a utility process in Windows and it shows what is happening inside your computer; in RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory and this is where the OS or operating system resides. When you start up Windows, or “boot” the OS loads from the hard disk into RAM. When you click to open an application, the OS finds it on your hard disk and loads it into RAM.
How much RAM do I have?
When you bought your computer there were three numbers that were important. The computer I am on right now has a 2.26 GHz processor, 2.0 GB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive. GHz has to do with speed. The bigger that number, the better. The smaller of the other two GB numbers indicates how much RAM you have. In today’s world, 2 GB or more is best but 1 GB will do. The last number indicates the size of the hard disk drive. This is where the OS, all your applications, and all your documents including pictures and movie files are located. Nowadays, the hard drives are usually 160GB or greater.
To see the first two numbers on your keyboard press Win+Pause. This will open the Systems Properties window in the General Tab. The numbers are under the Computer section near the bottom of the window. To see the size of the hard drive, Start > My Computer and then mouse over drive C: and a popup will display the used and total size.
Back to the Task Manager. There are five tabs on the window: Applications, Processes, Performance, Networking, and Users. Let’s look at the first three.
Applications
This list shows the open applications. These are the applications you have opened like MS Word, FireFox, etc. If one of those is stuck, this is where you can select it and then click End Task to close it down. I have found that using Switch To sometimes gets it going again, so try that first.
Processes
This is a list of the behind the scenes programs that are running in RAM. Some are OS related, some are pieces of the applications you have active, and some could be the result of malware on your computer. Malware is a generic term a that refers to a Virus, a Trojan, Spyware, a Worm, etc. Malware is short for Malicious Software. Right now I have 87 processes running and I do not know what most of them are. Some are obvious by their name, but most names are cryptic.
Performance
This displays a neat graphical representation of how hard the CPU or Central Processing Unit is working. If it is at 100%, the machine is going very slow. Typically this number is less than 10%. It moves up when you are moving data or applications in and out of RAM and when heavy processing is happening.
There are four sections below the graphs that show Totals, Commit Charge, Physical Memory, and Kernel Memory.
Totals
These numbers relate to the number of different things going on within RAM. Threads are portions of processes that are running. One process may have any number of Threads. Handles are reference points the processes use to jump around to locate what they need next to run the job. Kind of like using a door handle to get from one room to the next.
Commit Charge
This is the amount of RAM + Disk Cache that is currently in use. Disk Cache is storage (like RAM) associated with the hard disk drive and used to hold frequently accessed data from the hard drive to improve access times. This is graphed in real time on the second set of graphs and listed as PF Usage or Page File Usage
Physical Memory
This shows the actual amount of available memory. The Total should always be larger than the Total Commit Charge. If it is not, then the hard disk drive is being used as temporary storage or pretend RAM and your machine starts to crawl.
Kernel Memory
This is memory used by the OS. Paged can be used by other programs if needed. Non-paged can only be used by the OS.
So what’s the bottom line? When your system says you are out of memory, it does not mean you have to add more RAM or get a bigger hard drive. It means the processes currently running are taking too much available RAM. Solution is to close some processes from the taskbar and perhaps even to restart the machine. Sometimes applications do not handle garbage collection (the removal of all work space when the program is closed) very well and pieces of memory are locked so other processes cannot use them. Restarting is the only way to correct this issue.
I know Ctrl+Alt+Del usually opens the Task Manager. You can even right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager, but these do not always work. There is another way. To open the Task manager simply Shift+Ctrl+Esc.
Who cares, you say. What is the Task Manager anyway? Well it is a utility process in Windows and it shows what is happening inside your computer; in RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory and this is where the OS or operating system resides. When you start up Windows, or “boot” the OS loads from the hard disk into RAM. When you click to open an application, the OS finds it on your hard disk and loads it into RAM.
How much RAM do I have?
When you bought your computer there were three numbers that were important. The computer I am on right now has a 2.26 GHz processor, 2.0 GB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive. GHz has to do with speed. The bigger that number, the better. The smaller of the other two GB numbers indicates how much RAM you have. In today’s world, 2 GB or more is best but 1 GB will do. The last number indicates the size of the hard disk drive. This is where the OS, all your applications, and all your documents including pictures and movie files are located. Nowadays, the hard drives are usually 160GB or greater.
To see the first two numbers on your keyboard press Win+Pause. This will open the Systems Properties window in the General Tab. The numbers are under the Computer section near the bottom of the window. To see the size of the hard drive, Start > My Computer and then mouse over drive C: and a popup will display the used and total size.
Back to the Task Manager. There are five tabs on the window: Applications, Processes, Performance, Networking, and Users. Let’s look at the first three.
Applications
This list shows the open applications. These are the applications you have opened like MS Word, FireFox, etc. If one of those is stuck, this is where you can select it and then click End Task to close it down. I have found that using Switch To sometimes gets it going again, so try that first.
Processes
This is a list of the behind the scenes programs that are running in RAM. Some are OS related, some are pieces of the applications you have active, and some could be the result of malware on your computer. Malware is a generic term a that refers to a Virus, a Trojan, Spyware, a Worm, etc. Malware is short for Malicious Software. Right now I have 87 processes running and I do not know what most of them are. Some are obvious by their name, but most names are cryptic.
Performance
This displays a neat graphical representation of how hard the CPU or Central Processing Unit is working. If it is at 100%, the machine is going very slow. Typically this number is less than 10%. It moves up when you are moving data or applications in and out of RAM and when heavy processing is happening.
There are four sections below the graphs that show Totals, Commit Charge, Physical Memory, and Kernel Memory.
Totals
These numbers relate to the number of different things going on within RAM. Threads are portions of processes that are running. One process may have any number of Threads. Handles are reference points the processes use to jump around to locate what they need next to run the job. Kind of like using a door handle to get from one room to the next.
Commit Charge
This is the amount of RAM + Disk Cache that is currently in use. Disk Cache is storage (like RAM) associated with the hard disk drive and used to hold frequently accessed data from the hard drive to improve access times. This is graphed in real time on the second set of graphs and listed as PF Usage or Page File Usage
Physical Memory
This shows the actual amount of available memory. The Total should always be larger than the Total Commit Charge. If it is not, then the hard disk drive is being used as temporary storage or pretend RAM and your machine starts to crawl.
Kernel Memory
This is memory used by the OS. Paged can be used by other programs if needed. Non-paged can only be used by the OS.
So what’s the bottom line? When your system says you are out of memory, it does not mean you have to add more RAM or get a bigger hard drive. It means the processes currently running are taking too much available RAM. Solution is to close some processes from the taskbar and perhaps even to restart the machine. Sometimes applications do not handle garbage collection (the removal of all work space when the program is closed) very well and pieces of memory are locked so other processes cannot use them. Restarting is the only way to correct this issue.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Free Images
I have written about the seriousness of using images that belong to someone else without their permission. We all like free stuff, but just because it is on your end of a Google search does not make it free for anything except for viewing. The copyright can come back to bite you BIG. Click to read the previous post.
I was looking for a free animated image to use to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I found a nice site in the UK that has a number of royalty free images. They give permission on the site for you to use them as you wish. Here is what their site reads "If anyone wants to use the free animated gifs on this site for your web site, powerpoint presentation or as animated avatars do feel free to use them and download them to your hard drive."
Give them a try. They are located at http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk
I was looking for a free animated image to use to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I found a nice site in the UK that has a number of royalty free images. They give permission on the site for you to use them as you wish. Here is what their site reads "If anyone wants to use the free animated gifs on this site for your web site, powerpoint presentation or as animated avatars do feel free to use them and download them to your hard drive."
Give them a try. They are located at http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Which Browser Do You Use?
For a long time I was stuck on Internet Explorer. I guess I assumed if Microsoft made it then it must be the best to use for Windows. Wrong!
Well IE starting freezing up on me in different ways on more than one of my machines. I was getting tired of forcing IE to close and reopening it or even having to restart the machine to get it back working.
So I tried Firefox and was greatly impressed. It did everything IE did and seemed to do it better. At least it did not hang up on me. There were even some add-ons that IE did not have that are pretty cool.
Along comes Google Chrome, so I tried it as well. And I like it the best out of these three. Smooth to use, seems faster than either IE or FF, and it takes much less real estate at the top of the screen. I like the fact that the address bar is also my Google search engine. And when I type something like ric.edu and hit enter, it knows to put in the http:// and open the site.
I have downloaded Opera and it looks fine, but I have been so pleased with GC that I have not spent much time with it.
One downside with GC is that there are some sites that will not work with it. For some of my emailings I have been using Constant Contact. It is a great service and reasonably priced. Much of it works with GC, but when I get to updating there are issues. I switch to FF and all the problems go away. Oh, IE will not work on that site either--editing issues.
Which one is your favorite and why?
Well IE starting freezing up on me in different ways on more than one of my machines. I was getting tired of forcing IE to close and reopening it or even having to restart the machine to get it back working.
So I tried Firefox and was greatly impressed. It did everything IE did and seemed to do it better. At least it did not hang up on me. There were even some add-ons that IE did not have that are pretty cool.
Along comes Google Chrome, so I tried it as well. And I like it the best out of these three. Smooth to use, seems faster than either IE or FF, and it takes much less real estate at the top of the screen. I like the fact that the address bar is also my Google search engine. And when I type something like ric.edu and hit enter, it knows to put in the http:// and open the site.
I have downloaded Opera and it looks fine, but I have been so pleased with GC that I have not spent much time with it.
One downside with GC is that there are some sites that will not work with it. For some of my emailings I have been using Constant Contact. It is a great service and reasonably priced. Much of it works with GC, but when I get to updating there are issues. I switch to FF and all the problems go away. Oh, IE will not work on that site either--editing issues.
Which one is your favorite and why?
Reducing File Sizes
You take a picture with your digital camera and then try to email it to a friend. It is so large that you can only attach one at a time. Even if you just want to upload it to Facebook, it takes a long time. Want to fix that problem? Read on.
Not too many years ago we were careful about the size of our files. We had to be or they would not fit on a 1.44mb diskette. Now our digital cameras create pictures over 1mb each. But with computer hard drives reaching into the terabytes, it is easy not to pay attention to the size of the files we save.
However, bloated files take longer to open and when located on a network drive they tie up bandwidth on the network as well as being slow to open. In our anxiousness, we often double-click two or more times on the same seemingly non-responsive icon only to wait and have multiple windows open, one for each of our frustrated clicks.
Why should we be concerned? The more bloat on the hard drive, the slower it runs and the more frustrated we become. We can control the size of our files and here are some examples of what we can do.
Click to read the complete white paper as a PDF
Not too many years ago we were careful about the size of our files. We had to be or they would not fit on a 1.44mb diskette. Now our digital cameras create pictures over 1mb each. But with computer hard drives reaching into the terabytes, it is easy not to pay attention to the size of the files we save.
However, bloated files take longer to open and when located on a network drive they tie up bandwidth on the network as well as being slow to open. In our anxiousness, we often double-click two or more times on the same seemingly non-responsive icon only to wait and have multiple windows open, one for each of our frustrated clicks.
Why should we be concerned? The more bloat on the hard drive, the slower it runs and the more frustrated we become. We can control the size of our files and here are some examples of what we can do.
Click to read the complete white paper as a PDF
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Forwarding Email
I really dislike those emails I receive that have been forwarded a number of levels down and are filled with all kinds of junk. Do you feel the same way?
For the few I do send on to others, I spend the time to clean them up. This can be a simple task done right in the email program after I have clicked the forward button. Most often I have to select all of the body of the message and paste it into Word to clean it up. When I have finished the fixing, I copy and paste the results back to the email and send it.
This process works well, but it does take a little time. I have discovered a neat little program that is free and does the job well. Google emailStripper, and download it from its maker, www.papercut.biz.
Here is what they have to say about it:
emailStripper is a free program for cleaning the ">" and other formatting characters out of your emails. It will restore "forwarded" or "replied" emails back to their original state so they're easier to read.
With emailStripper open, you select the body of the email, then on the emailStripper screen click Paste. Next click Strip It! and the email is restored to a readable format. You can make additional changes in the text, if necessary right in the emailStripper window.
When you have it the way you want, click Copy and the cleaned up text is placed on the clipboard. Return to your email screen, remove the existing body text, and then Ctrl+V to paste the cleaned up version.
The next time you click that Forward button, take the time to clean it up. Your email friends will appreciate it.
For the few I do send on to others, I spend the time to clean them up. This can be a simple task done right in the email program after I have clicked the forward button. Most often I have to select all of the body of the message and paste it into Word to clean it up. When I have finished the fixing, I copy and paste the results back to the email and send it.
This process works well, but it does take a little time. I have discovered a neat little program that is free and does the job well. Google emailStripper, and download it from its maker, www.papercut.biz.
Here is what they have to say about it:
emailStripper is a free program for cleaning the ">" and other formatting characters out of your emails. It will restore "forwarded" or "replied" emails back to their original state so they're easier to read.
With emailStripper open, you select the body of the email, then on the emailStripper screen click Paste. Next click Strip It! and the email is restored to a readable format. You can make additional changes in the text, if necessary right in the emailStripper window.
When you have it the way you want, click Copy and the cleaned up text is placed on the clipboard. Return to your email screen, remove the existing body text, and then Ctrl+V to paste the cleaned up version.
The next time you click that Forward button, take the time to clean it up. Your email friends will appreciate it.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Copyright Issues
I understand that when someone creates something, they own it and the copyright for it. Of course, if someone were to take that item and use it, they would be violating the copyright. But who would know?
Truth is nobody would know unless they came across the item and knew it was theirs or belonged to someone else they knew. When that is discovered, the original owner must be able to provide the proof that they do hold the copyright.
There are a couple of ways to copyright something. You can apply to the government for a copyright and it will be officially registered with the US Copyright Office. Another approach is to mail a copy to yourself and not to open the package. Tell the post office what you are doing and they will seal all the edges and hand stamp each seal. If you have to take someone to court about violating your copyright, you can produce the sealed package as proof you own it.
The real message here is for you to make sure you are not violating someone else's copyright. It is a principle I speak often of when teaching Web Development classes. If you create it, you own it. If you Google it and copy/paste you are probably stealing it. Want to use a picture in your work, grab your digital camera and take it yourself. Do not grab it off the Web.
If you really like the work someone else has done, contact them and ask permission to use it. In most cases, they will grant permission. Sometimes they ask that you give them credit for it by including a link to their site or their email address. Do not just use their image and hope you do not get caught.
Of course, you can purchase thousands of royalty free images on CD's over on the Web and in your local office supply stores. These can be used without worrying about the copyright because when you bought the package you received a license to use the items that came with it. Make sure that license allows you to use it publically and not just on documents you print out. It will usually not allow you to use the items for sale to others.
A few weeks ago, I received a lawyer's letter telling me I had violated the copyright on an image used on one of my Web sites. This was a simple graphic I had added in 1999—10 years ago. The letter said I needed to prove I had a license to use the image or be prepared to be sued for up to $25,000!
I had no idea where I found that image. I could not believe that I found it on the Web and copy/pasted it into my site. This was against all I had been teaching for years. However, I could not remember anything about the image. Well, I removed it from my site and copies of it from my computers.
This was good, but they still wanted payment for its use. We negotiated down to a reasonable figure and were just wrapping things up when, in my work of cleaning out for our move, I came across a CD of royalty free images I had purchase in 1996.
You guessed it; the image was on that CD. I was able to prove I had a license to use it and did not have to pay any penalty.
So remember, if you use someone else's item like an image or picture, get permission in some form and SAVE IT where you can find it later. Ten years down the road you may be challenged and have to pay a huge penalty for not keeping good records.
I suggest keeping your documentation right in the folder you have the work (Web page, document, etc). If it comes from a CD, scan the license into a PDF and keep it in the folder. If it was an email giving you permission, save the email in the folder.
Be careful as there are people out their searching the Web for unauthorized usage of their work with the intent to collect large sums of money for your failure to abide by the copyright laws or being lax in keeping good records of your work.
Truth is nobody would know unless they came across the item and knew it was theirs or belonged to someone else they knew. When that is discovered, the original owner must be able to provide the proof that they do hold the copyright.
There are a couple of ways to copyright something. You can apply to the government for a copyright and it will be officially registered with the US Copyright Office. Another approach is to mail a copy to yourself and not to open the package. Tell the post office what you are doing and they will seal all the edges and hand stamp each seal. If you have to take someone to court about violating your copyright, you can produce the sealed package as proof you own it.
The real message here is for you to make sure you are not violating someone else's copyright. It is a principle I speak often of when teaching Web Development classes. If you create it, you own it. If you Google it and copy/paste you are probably stealing it. Want to use a picture in your work, grab your digital camera and take it yourself. Do not grab it off the Web.
If you really like the work someone else has done, contact them and ask permission to use it. In most cases, they will grant permission. Sometimes they ask that you give them credit for it by including a link to their site or their email address. Do not just use their image and hope you do not get caught.
Of course, you can purchase thousands of royalty free images on CD's over on the Web and in your local office supply stores. These can be used without worrying about the copyright because when you bought the package you received a license to use the items that came with it. Make sure that license allows you to use it publically and not just on documents you print out. It will usually not allow you to use the items for sale to others.
A few weeks ago, I received a lawyer's letter telling me I had violated the copyright on an image used on one of my Web sites. This was a simple graphic I had added in 1999—10 years ago. The letter said I needed to prove I had a license to use the image or be prepared to be sued for up to $25,000!
I had no idea where I found that image. I could not believe that I found it on the Web and copy/pasted it into my site. This was against all I had been teaching for years. However, I could not remember anything about the image. Well, I removed it from my site and copies of it from my computers.
This was good, but they still wanted payment for its use. We negotiated down to a reasonable figure and were just wrapping things up when, in my work of cleaning out for our move, I came across a CD of royalty free images I had purchase in 1996.
You guessed it; the image was on that CD. I was able to prove I had a license to use it and did not have to pay any penalty.
So remember, if you use someone else's item like an image or picture, get permission in some form and SAVE IT where you can find it later. Ten years down the road you may be challenged and have to pay a huge penalty for not keeping good records.
I suggest keeping your documentation right in the folder you have the work (Web page, document, etc). If it comes from a CD, scan the license into a PDF and keep it in the folder. If it was an email giving you permission, save the email in the folder.
Be careful as there are people out their searching the Web for unauthorized usage of their work with the intent to collect large sums of money for your failure to abide by the copyright laws or being lax in keeping good records of your work.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Keyboard Shortcuts
Over the years I have accumulated a number of shortcuts I find useful in my everyday dealings with the commputer. This list is not in any particular order. I suggest reading it one at a time and trying them out. Start to use them a little at a time and you will be surprised how your productivity improves. These simple keyboard clicks save me time as I use applications daily.
Please let me know of others you may use. I always like to add to my toolbox.
Win+D - Minimizes all open windows so you can see the desktop. A second tap restores them
Win+E - Opens Windows File Mamanger
Win+F - Launches Windows search
Win+L - locks they keyboard and can only be unlocked with your windows password.
Win+Pause - Opens the System Properties
Win+R - Opens the Run dialog box
Win+Pause - Opens System Properties
Win+U+U - to shut down
Win+U+R - to restart
Alt+F4 - Closes the active window/application
Ctrl+Alt+Del - Opens the Task Manager
Ctrl+F - accesses the Find feature in the currently-running program
Ctrl+Shift-F9 - Removes hyperlinks in MS-Word (great for cleaning up pasted web pages)
Shift+Alt+D in Word pastes the current date in the default format
Ctrl+; in Excel pastes the current date
Shift+Ctrl+C in MS-Word copies the format (same as format painter)
Shift+Ctrl+V in MS-Word copies the saved format
Ctrl+1, 2, and 5 in MS-Word changes the spacing to single, double, or space and a half
Shift+F3 in MS-Word toggle the case from UPPER, to lower, to Sentance case
F4 in MS-Excel toggle $ in a cell reference
Alt+= in MS-Excel is AutoSum
Alt+F9 in MS-Excel to reveal the hidden programming behind the text
Ctrl+X, C, and V are used in most programs to Cut, Copy, and Paste to the Windows clipboard
Ctrl+H in Word opens Find and Replace
Ctrl+N in Windows Explorer 7 and earlier opens a duplicate window
Ctrl+S opens the Save dialog in most programs
Shift+Ctrl+S opens the SaveAs dialog in some programs
Ctrl+O opens the Open dialog in most programs
Ctrl+Z is undo in most programs
Ctrl+Y is redo in most programs
Ctrl+P opens the print dialog in most programs
Ctrl+A selects all items in most programs
F5 restores the current window
F2 opens the rename function for the selected item
F1 opens the Help function in most programs
PrtScrn causes the picture of the desktop screen to be saved in the Windows clipboard
Alt+PrtScrn causes the picture of the active window to be saved in the Windows clipboard
Ctrl+L, E, R, and J in MS-Word for aligning Left, Center, Right, and Justified
=rand(p,s) in MS-Word generates random text (p=# paragraphs, s=# sentances)
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Add a Calendar to the Desktop
I cannot count how many times I have double-clicked the clock in the system tray to get a date from the calendar. Of course you have to be very careful not to click OK and change the system date or all your new and modified files end up with the wrong dates.
Well, I finally did something about it. Check out www.rwevans.com/calendar. It opens a small browser window with an easy to use calendar. Nothing fancy. All it does is allow you easy access to the calendar so you can find that date you need to find. Drag it to a location on your desktop or minimize it to the task bar where it is ready at any time to use.
Well, I finally did something about it. Check out www.rwevans.com/calendar. It opens a small browser window with an easy to use calendar. Nothing fancy. All it does is allow you easy access to the calendar so you can find that date you need to find. Drag it to a location on your desktop or minimize it to the task bar where it is ready at any time to use.
I Lost Send To Compressed!
All of a sudden the right-click > sent to compressed option was gone! Along with it was missing the ability to double-click a compressed file to extract the files.
I had no idea what caused the removal of this ability from my Windows XP machine, but it was a problem. I used to use PKZip and it was great, but it takes extra steps to decompress and compress files and folders. XP is great; right-click and you are good to go. But, no more.
I Googled every combination of words I could come up with and found a few suggestions. Here is the simple solution if it happens to you, or to me again.
First, locate a computer that has the right-click working. Then, from the Run dialog box (Win+R) type at the run line type this %userprofile% \sendto, and then click OK
Copy the Compressed (zipped) Folder file to a flash drive, diskette, or CD. Or somehow get it over to your desktop.
On your desktop, at the run line type this regsvr32 zipfldr.dll, and then click OK
At the run line type this %userprofile% \sendto, and then click OK
Next, drag the file from your desktop to this folder
Now right-click > send to should have the compressed folder selection
I had no idea what caused the removal of this ability from my Windows XP machine, but it was a problem. I used to use PKZip and it was great, but it takes extra steps to decompress and compress files and folders. XP is great; right-click and you are good to go. But, no more.
I Googled every combination of words I could come up with and found a few suggestions. Here is the simple solution if it happens to you, or to me again.
First, locate a computer that has the right-click working. Then, from the Run dialog box (Win+R) type at the run line type this %userprofile% \sendto, and then click OK
Copy the Compressed (zipped) Folder file to a flash drive, diskette, or CD. Or somehow get it over to your desktop.
On your desktop, at the run line type this regsvr32 zipfldr.dll, and then click OK
At the run line type this %userprofile% \sendto, and then click OK
Next, drag the file from your desktop to this folder
Now right-click > send to should have the compressed folder selection
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Instant Virus Check
Wonder if there is a virus lurking around in your machine right now? If you have an Internet connection, try out http://www.nanoscan.com/. This is especially useful when you are away from your own machine or even using your notebook at one of the local WiFi available restaurants or coffee houses. It work very quickly--try it out.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Getting Rid of U3
Not to be confused with R2D2, U3 is an application that is piggybacked on the SanDisk Cruzer USB Flash drives. The Cruzer flash drives are a nice size and I like the slider to expose the connection. Those darn caps seem to always get lost or do not stay on after a while. However, I am not thrilled with the included U3 and extra software that comes with it. It takes too much time to mount the drive, I do not want the extra software, and I want all the gigs I paid for.
This procedure will remove U3
1. Open your browser to:
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1415
2. Download the application
3. Plug in the flash drive and wait for the U3 launch pad to load.
4. Run the application choosing one of the two options. Both options remove U3 and format the drive. (Yes ) keeps all your data (takes about 1 hr/gb) or (No) destroys all data on the drive (takes about 10 sec)
You now have a full sized USB flash drive without the U3 application
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Converting Formulas to Values in Excel
Ever need to convert cells containing a formula to its value?
Sure, you can select the cell, copy it to the clipboard, paste it back to the same cell, click the Paste Options button, click Paste Special, and then click Values. The cell contains the value instead of the formula.
There is a better way. Simply select the cell to be converted, press F2, and then F9.
Sure, you can select the cell, copy it to the clipboard, paste it back to the same cell, click the Paste Options button, click Paste Special, and then click Values. The cell contains the value instead of the formula.
There is a better way. Simply select the cell to be converted, press F2, and then F9.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
IE7 and the Scroll Wheel
I just discovered a neat feature in IE7. Click a link with the scroll wheel instead of the left or right mouse button and the page opens in a new tab. Use with links off a Web page, the Links bar in IE7, and the Favorites links. This saves a number of clicks. To close the tab, click the tab with the scroll mouse.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Remove the Hyperlink
How many times have you copy and pasted from a Web page into a Word document and been frustrated with all the links that carried over? Sure, you can pull down the Paste Option button’s arrow and select Keep Text Only, but this removes all the formatting as well. You may want to keep the fonts and colors, but just not the links.
One at a time, you might right-click each link and select Remove Hyperlink. A longer method is to click Insert > Links > Hyperlink, and then on the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click Remove Hyperlink.
There is a better way.
Click the hyperlinked word(s) and press Shift+Ctrl+F9. The hyperlink is removed. To do all at once, Ctrl+A to select the entire document, then Shift+Ctrl+F9 and all hyperlinks in the document are removed.
One at a time, you might right-click each link and select Remove Hyperlink. A longer method is to click Insert > Links > Hyperlink, and then on the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click Remove Hyperlink.
There is a better way.
Click the hyperlinked word(s) and press Shift+Ctrl+F9. The hyperlink is removed. To do all at once, Ctrl+A to select the entire document, then Shift+Ctrl+F9 and all hyperlinks in the document are removed.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Closing Multiple Excel 2007 Workbooks
I often end up with many open workbooks. To close them one at a time takes a number of clicks by right-clicking and selecting close for each one. If I had made any changes to a workbook, a dialog box opens and I have to decide to save or the workbook, or not. There is a better way.
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/webct_files/Closing%20Multiple%20Workbooks.mht
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/webct_files/Closing%20Multiple%20Workbooks.mht
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
What Happened to About?
Finding the version of current applications is not as easy as it used to be. Since the early version of Windows, every application has had a menu option for Help. Clicking Help dropped down a list which included at the bottom an About selection. Click it and you were given a window listing the company who wrote the application and its version number.
With Office 2007, this has changed. No longer is there a Help menu option to click or an About selection. But there still is an About screen.
Click the Office Button, then in the lower right of the status bar, click Word Options (or Excel Options, or PowerPoint Options). In the left pane, click Resources. Locate and click the About button.
OR: Office > Word Options > Resources > About
The familiar About window displays with the current version of the application. Notice the System Information button? Clicking it will display details about the hardware you are using.
With Office 2007, this has changed. No longer is there a Help menu option to click or an About selection. But there still is an About screen.
Click the Office Button, then in the lower right of the status bar, click Word Options (or Excel Options, or PowerPoint Options). In the left pane, click Resources. Locate and click the About button.
OR: Office > Word Options > Resources > About
The familiar About window displays with the current version of the application. Notice the System Information button? Clicking it will display details about the hardware you are using.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Excel AutoFormat
Office 2003 had a neat feature allowing you to take a generic worksheet and apply formatting (color and style) by selecting from a list of premade sets. This is not available by default in Office 2007. However, it can be added to the quick access toolbar with a few clicks.
To see how go to:
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/webct_files/excel%20autoformat.mht
To see how go to:
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/webct_files/excel%20autoformat.mht
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