Recovering Data from a Bad SD Card

Now that was cool. My wife went to transfer her pictures from her camera yesterday. She took the SD card out of the camera and plugged it into her netbook. Instead of displaying her folders, it displayed a message telling her the disk was not formatted and giving her an opportunity to do so.

What to do? I tried it on my computer and the same error message appeared. This was not good. Granted, I had already transferred a number of the images at various times. Some are on Facebook, some on Flickr, and some on my hard disk for potential future use. But not all of them, especially a few she had recently taken.

I have one machine running Ubuntu 10.1 so I booted it and tried again. No luck. Same error message.

Google search to the rescue! I located an open source multi-platform application distributed under GNU General Public License that claimed to be able to read an un-mountable disk and recover files. I wnet to http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec and downloaded the zip and extracted the files.

After reviewing the documentation found in their Step-by-Step documentation at http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec_Step_By_Step I found the command line I had to use to run it. The command had to be run from the root at a command prompt in Ubuntu. I am just starting to fiddle with Ubuntu and had no idea how to get to the command prompt. In Windows I just Win+R to open the Run dialog box, type cmd, and press Enter. No such thing in Ubuntu/Linux.

Another Google search revealed that the command mode is called terminal mode and Ctrl+Alt+t would open a window. Following the guidelines in the documentation I found in the extracted folder, I typed:

sudo Downloads/testdisk-6.12/photorec_static

Sudo enables a normal user to run a superuser command in linux. Downloads is the folder I saved the app into. Testdisk-6.12 is the folder the program was extracted into. Photorec_static is the name of the program.

A series of DOS like windows offered me various opportunities to look at all the disks on the system including the one I was unable to read, the SD card. After some poking around I was able to recover hundreds of pictures saving them to the hard drive. Interesting that each image had two sizes, the thumbnail size used when looking in a folder from explorer in Windows and the full sized image.

I was then able to reformat the SD card and copy the recovered images (large ones only) onto the disk. This same method could be used to find data on a badly behaving hard disk drive, a flash drive, or any other mountable disk. Real CSI stuff!

By the way, you do not have to use Ubuntu. The app works in a variety of operating systems including Windows.

Bounced Email

Q;
I have a  number of deletes of email I put through, several times. They keep coming back on my screen. How can I prevent this ?

A:
I assume you are referring to bounced emails or delivery errors. Bad email addresses will bounce back to you so you know your mail was not deliverable just like the USPS returns undelivered mail. When someones address is good, but cannot receive mail for the time being for reasons such as their mail box is full, the email system keeps trying to deliver and lets you know the progress. Read the delivery error message to understand why it was bounced back to you.

I have my bounced messages go to a special folder so they are not in the middle of all my "normal" email.

Of course, if an email address is no longer valid, you should stop sending mail to it.

Creating a Book

Q:

I am putting a book together using Microsoft Word. I downloaded a template where I see the 2 small pages at once all the time as I am writing. I would like for the page numbering to begin after the title page, forward, and T. of C. pages but the template is locked. It starts numbering after the title page and I can't eliminate the "footer" option.  Is there an easy fix to this?

A:

Downloaded the template from where? If you are going to publish on LuLu.com, you need the template from them and you will NOT see two pages at once. If you are printing on your own computer, you do not need a template. Just: Page Layout > Page Setup > Margins > Pages > Book Fold. Then when you print, print two sided. If your printer does not do it naturally, Word will have you do all of one side and then have you put the paper back in to print all the other sides.

Page numbers are easy: Insert > Page numbers. Getting them on just the body is another thing. You have to section the book so the portion to have page numbers stands by itself. To create a separate section: Page layout > Breaks > Section Break Next Page this is instead of Ctrl+Enter to start a new page. To stop the page numbers from flowing from section to section, you have to turn off Link to Previous in the header and/or footer area in the section you do not want to carry forward from the previous section.

TOC is easy also, you just use a heading font for the subtitles, have the insertion point at the page you want the TOC to be created at, and then: Reference > Table of Contents. It will create a TOC with those subtitles as the wording and the current page number as the number.

Booklet Printing

I like to print long documents as booklets printed on both sides of a standard size paper. This ends up being 5.5 X 4.25.

In Word this is an easy task under Page Layout > Page Setup > Margins > Pages > Book Fold > OK.

That's it. Your document is reformatted to fit, page numbers are redone, and you are ready to print. A duplex printer is nice, but a simplex one works just as well. You just have to follow the instructions and put the pages back in upside down for the second sides to print.

But what about using a word processor other than Word? If you have the document as a PDF, this becomes an easy task.

Open the PDF version of the document in Adobe Reader. File > Print and choose Page Scaling > Booklet Printing. Then Booklet subset > Both sides and OK to begin printing.

Simple, right? One issue that might be a concern is the size of the font printed. What happens is the 8.5 x 11 formatted document is resized to fit on a sheet half that size. Therefore the font size is a lot smaller. Depending on your eyesight, that might work for you.

Here is how to solve that issue. Go back to the original document and change the size of the paper and the margins, then save it as a PDF and try it again. If you get the document size down to a smaller size page the font size will be "normal" on the booklet printing.

Change the Page size to 5 X 8.

Change the page margins to .3" all around.

Now save it as a PDF and the booklet will have "normal" font sizes.

You might have to play around with the margins and paper size to get it to print the way you want. But the end result will be booklet printing from any word processor.

I use Google Docs a lot and when you select printing, it creates a PDF for you. If you do not have a word processor that allows the creation of a PDF, there are a number of printer drivers you can install that will give you PDF printing capability. One that I use is called "PDF redirect v2". It is a free download and works great.

For a PDF version of this white paper with screen shots: Booklet Printing.pdf

Tiny Tabs and more

If you upgraded to FireFox 4 (and I suggest you do), there is a new feature you might like. I like to have three open tabs all the time while browsing—my Google docs page, my email, and my Facebook. Those three tabs take up about half of the space for tabs. As I open other pages, the tabs get smaller and smaIler. 

Right-click the tabs you always have open and select Pin as App Tab. The tab is instantly made the size of the icon and the words go away. To reverse the process, right-click and choose Unpin Tab.

A couple of shortcuts that have been around for a while can help you "see" the window better. F11 removes all the data above the page you are displaying. Mouse up to the top of the window to have it pop back in temporarily. F11 again to bring it back.

Words too small? Ctrl + to enlarge the page and Ctrl – to reduce it in size.

Auto Creating Lines in Word

In Office 2003 I used to be able to type three dashes and it would automatically create a line across the page. Now in Office 2010 all I get is three dashes. After some searching in Word Help, I discovered how to turn that feature back on.

1. Click the File tab
2. Help > Options > Proofing
3. Click AutoCorrect Options
4. Select the AutoFormat as You Type tab
5. Check Border Lines and then click OK

While you are in AutoCorrect Options you might want to poke around and enable or disable other options as well. For example, I do not like a fraction like 1/4 to automatically become a superscript, or for a "double-quote" to be turned into a left or right double-quote.

Now in addition to getting a horizontal line when I type three dashes followed by pressing enter, three of these characters work to give different types of border lines across the page:

~             Wavy line

-              Lite line

_             Heavy line

#             Triple line

*             Dots

=             Double line

Try them out. You will be glad you did and will start using them in your documents.

Join.me

By Dick Evans

Here is a great product and it is FREE! Need to help someone with a computer problem and they are at another location, maybe even in another state? Need to show a group of people how to do something on the computer while they watch what you do – with phone support? 

This is a free tool from LogMeIn. Download the app, run it, share the URL and conference 9-digit code with a friend, and you have sharing your screen with a friend. It includes text chat, voice conferencing, mouse and keyboard sharing, and more.

1. Support someone else

Have them open a browser and type join.me 

Then have them click the orange button with the triangle inside

With Internet Explorer, click Run to install

Using the phone or an email, have them communicate the 9 digit code to you. This is a one-time code, so you do not have to remember it for later.

On your end, type the 9 digit code into the join box, and then click the green button with the triangle inside.

You are now connected to the person needing assistance, but you do not have mouse control.

On your window have a similar set of icons. Click the mouse icon and then the Request Control box.

They will be asked a question on their end about allowing you access. Tell them to do so and you have control of their system as though you were right there.

2. Set up a demonstration or training session

Just like the above example, but you are the one installing the app and obtaining the code which you will share with as many as you want to join in the session. I strongly suggest that you DO NOT give them control of your mouse and keyboard (unless you want to for some chaos!).

Click the telephone icon to obtain the free conference number they can call to hear what you are saying in your presentation. Once they dial in you can all voice chat while watching the demonstration on the shared screen, and even share files with each other.

It couldn’t be easier!

For a PDF with screen shots, see http://rwevans.com/JoinMe.pdf

The Power

Remember that old TV show, "Have Gun--Will Travel"? 

Paladin was a good guy with a black hat. His services were for hire. This was one of the most popular shows of the late 1950's. Okay, so you were not even born way back then. Google the show title and watch an episode or two. His Colt .45 gave him the power and those who hired him, the authority to fulfill his missions.

Luke 10:1,17

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit... When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!" (NLT)

Jesus gave the disciples authority and power to go out two by two. Had they not gone would they have had the power?

If you want to have the power you have to do the work. It comes as a result of the doing. You do not get it first and then walk out. Power comes in the walk. As we walk God directs us onto the right path. But without motion there can be no direction. You just stand still looking around.

Just as in the law of physics that says every action has an equal and opposite reaction, every time we step out to complete the Father's work here on earth another piece is added to our spiritual man. We don't feel it, but we can tell when the next assignment comes along. We are able to recognize it quicker and complete it with an added level of confidence.

As baptized believers we have been given the Holy Spirit along with the authority and power to do whatever He tells us to do when we do so in the name of Jesus.

Making a Quick Video

I just discovered a great Web site to create quick animations of pictures. Take a dozen or less pictures and upload them to www.animoto.com to produce a 30 second video of your images with neat backgrounds and audio.

The site is easy to use and does just what it says it does. For a few dollars a month you can create unlimited flicks without their logo appearing at the end. It will link to your Facebook and Flickr pages (and other sites) so you can both grab your images and publish your results. You can also download the video to your desktop or publish it to your YouTube account.

Check out a clip I just made of some of my “old” pictures...

http://animoto.com/play/YlFIsz56JqepYDrCtrOyhw

Pictures in Documents

It is a wonderful change having digital cameras that take such high resolution pictures. Years ago we used 35mm film and it is costly and time consuming. You paid for the film, took your limited number of shots, then dropped the exposed film off to be printed. A week or so later, you picked up the prints and found a few worth saving. Then to make more prints you returned to the store and ordered additional ones from the negatives. Okay, some of you are not old enough to even remember doing that!

Back to the future. We can take as many shots as our SD card will hold. Even then all we have to do is pop in another to continue shooting. We get home and pop the card into our computer and get to see them right away. We can edit them, crop them, change the lighting, and even print them out in as good a quality as we used to see with the 35mm camera from years ago. And we can print as many as we need right in our own home.

The best thing is that we can send them to others in emails, post them on Facebook, include them in a Web page, and include them in writings created in our favorite word processing app.

To get that 35mm quality, the images are saved as pretty large files. Most are over 1mb and some more than 5mb. With hard drives of 320gb and more today, that is not a big problem. Even the SD cards for our camera are up to 32gb at reasonable prices. Size only becomes an issue when we want to email them to someone, post them on Facebook, or include them in a document.

Read the entire document at http://www.rwevans.com/Pictures%20in%20Documents.pdf 

LibreOffice

Downloaded LibreOffice this afternoon. The download was 220mb and it installed in a few minutes. When you open it from the shortcut it places on the desktop, it opens a window for you to choose the app you want to work with. The word processor is called Text Document.

You can save documents in its native format (.odf) or in a number of others including .doc and .docx. Yes, it support the new format for Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010. No, it does not have ribbons like Microsoft and that may be a plus or a minus for you. But the toolbars are familiar and easy to work with.

Although I have only used the text document app, I can say it is fast and easy to use. It includes the ability to output as a PDF and as an HTML file. Of course there is a spell checker and those familiar red squiggly lines when you spell something wrong. No green or blue squiggles, though.

Why would I even try out a non-Microsoft app like this? Well, I have more than one computer and to upgrade all of them with the latest Office 2010 app is expensive. I used Google Docs quite a bit, but that requires an Internet connection. This app installs locally and is free.

Oh, it also does mail-merge, which is an important feature for me.

What other apps are included? A spreadsheet app, a presentation app, a drawing app, and a database app. Pretty much all you need for home or office work. And there are versions for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

Give it a try at www.LibreOffice.org

Another Excel Shortcut

Easy way to open a new sheet in an Excel workbook is to press Shift+F11

A New tab will appear at the bottom of the workbook with the name Sheet n with n being the next available sheet number.

More Online Storage

Yesterday I registered for Box.net. They are an online storage site offering 5gb free for personal use and a reasonable monthly charge for more. In addition to having a place to store files up to 25mb each, you can share and collaborate on those files easily.

Here is an overview I wrote on signing up for Box.net. Once I dragged and dropped it to the site using the easy web interface, I clicked Share and was given this address:

http://www.box.net/shared/t627p0pip3

All I have to do is share that address with anybody and they have access to view it, download it, or share the link with others. And I can see how many people have opened it by signing into my Box.net account. I can also have Box.net email me each time the file is accessed.

Don’t like that strange link address? Use Tinyurl.com to turn it into something else like:

http://tinyurl.com/evans-stuff

Another Cloud Application worthy of mention. Give it a try.

More Shortened URL’s

I have been messing around with a couple of other short URL Web sites, and there are a number of them out there. TinyURL.com has been around for quite a while. No registration to be bothered with and you can get a randomly generated address like http://tinyurl.com/y6gr3d or something like that. Or you can enter the address you want and if available that is what you will get like http://tinyurl/mypicture. That is it. Pretty simple.

I wrote about Google’s goo.gl last time, and it works a lot like tinyurl. But it tracks the URLs you have created and give you a chart of how often they have been clicked on. Of course you need a Google account to get this information, but that is free.

Then I found tiny.cc. It works like both of the above sites and generates random addresses. But, if you register you have access to two other features and registration is free. First you get to edit the address and request one that people can remember easily like tinyurl does. Second you can a number of reports on activity occurring when someone clicks on your links. Not just how many opens, but where it was opened from and more.

Give them all a try and let me know which one you like best.

www.TinyURL.com
www.Goo.gl
www.Tiny.cc

URL Shortener

I am sure you have seen the funny looking URL’s showing up on Facebook and other places. They look like this http://goo.gl/...

Google has given us another great tool.

When you have a long URL of any length and want to pass it on to someone else, go to goo.gl and get a shorter one!

For example here is a YouTube URL to a talk my wife recently gave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vNp2t1ERvA

Using goo.gl by simply entering that URL into the box and hitting Shorten, I get this url to use:
goo.gl/KF8BA

A lot shorter and easy to type when Copy/Paste doesn’t work.

Using Windows Live

Have you tried Window's Live? I have had a Hotmail account for years. I don't use it much because I have my own domains. Every once in a while I may use the address when asked for an email address at a site I do not know well so any junk emails fall to my Hotmail account. Hotmail is much more than a free email account. Now it is a piece of this new Cloud App called Windows Live.

You get 25gb of free storage on SkyDrive and a Cloud version of Microsoft Office 2010 that works for 99% of my writing. In addition to Word, you get Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Add to that a calendar, contact manager, integration with Messenger and MSN, and storage to upload and manage your pictures!

All you need is a computer with Internet access and a browser. All the apps you need are in the CLOUD. Don't get me wrong, some need to purchase Microsoft Office to do more complicated tasks like MailMerge in Word. But for everyday writing and spreadsheets the cloud app works great.

Check it out today at www.windowslive.com and choose what cloud app to run or at the old address of www.hotmail.com and start at your email.

Keyboard Froze!

Recently I had to rebuild my main notebook. All of a sudden it the keyboard and mouse pad stopped working! I tried an external keyboard and mouse and they worked. It seemed software related, but I could not find the issue causing it. So back to basics I went.

I backed up all my files to an external drive and double checked that I could read them. Then I used my notebooks built in system restore option and back to factory specs I went. Everything worked great. No more keyboard or mouse pad problems.

But now I had to reload the applications I wanted on the “new” machine. Bad news is I had to reload them. Good news is I could leave off all those apps I had installed in the past and no longer used.

I came across this Web site that allows you to pick and choose the apps you want to install. It downloads them all at once and installs them. This is much quicker than locating them online one at a time, downloading, and installing. Great site. Check it out at http://ninite.com/.

Oh, the piece that took the longest was getting all the Windows updates. But now I have a clean machine running a lot faster then before. Took some time to finish, but it was worth it.

Notepad in the Cloud by Dick Evans

I was looking for a way to enter text on a Web enabled cell phone so I could take notes while I am out and about. My old PDA had a version of Word on it and I got very used to being able to pull it out of my pocket and type a note. Many of the newer cell phone have nice slide out QWERTY keyboards, but no apps to use. The keyboard is for texting and updating contacts. I wanted more.

A couple of useful cloud apps allow you to take notes and keep a things to do list. I have talked about the to do list before and that Site is http://www.tadalist.com. No need to explain it. Just open the site and start your list. You have to register, but there is no cost.

The other one I just located is a notepad in the cloud. The site is http://www.notepad.cc. It too is free. When you open the site you are presented with a blank page. Just start typing. It is being saved using the URL in your address bar generated by the site. You have the option of changing the name at the bottom of the page. You can also password protect the page or share it with the world.

I typed this post using notepad.cc. You can locate it at http://notepad.cc/sdfg67.

Back to the cell phone. I do not have a slide out keyboard on a data enabled phone. I assume one could simply go to either of these Web sites and work using the cell phone just like I have done on my notebook. How about giving them a test on your data enabled cell phone and tell me how it works?

Paste Options

When pasting text into a Word document, the Paste Options button displays and you have to go to the mouse and click it to choose the option you want. Well, usually I want to use Keep Text Only. There is a way to use the keyboard to select the option and keep your hands off the mouse.

Instead of Ctrl+V to paste the copied text, use Ctrl+Alt+V. A dialog box displays with three options and the second one is the equivalent of Keep Text Only. So, press the down arrow key once, and then press Enter.

Your hands never have to leave the keyboard and after doing it a few times it quick to use. Give it a try.

Another Word Shortcut?

I wish I could say I know all the shortcuts available in Microsoft Office. But, I do not even know all the visible buttons on the ribbons! Every once in a while I stumble upon something I have not used before. This time it is a shortcut to clear all formatting from a selected area.

Copy/Paste works great, but when what has been copied contains formatting and links and color we may want to clean it up for use in our new document. Sure, we can click the Paste Options button and select Keep Text Only. But that removes everything except text, even the images we may have wanted.

Now we could also select Match Destination Formatting from the Paste Options button. But, that makes the style of the character match the current document. It does not remove any links and actually changes them to be default, underlined blue. All images do remain.

Next time try this out. Paste the selected material to your document. Select it and then Ctrl+Spacebar. All formatting is removed and the images remain. Also, if any of the selected area was centered or aligned right, it remains that way.

Another useful shortcut is Shift+Ctrl+C and Shift+Ctrl+V. This is the equivalent of the Format Painter button on the ribbon except it does not disappear after using it. Yes, you can double-click the format painter button to have it stay on and press it again to turn it off-or Esc.

Simply click in the text with formatting you want to use elsewhere and press Shift+Ctrl+C. Now select text elsewhere and press Shift+Ctrl+V to paste the format to the selected text.

All the shortcuts I talked about in this article work in the previous versions of Word as well as the latest, Word 2010.

Change Normal Template in Word 2007

When I use Word 2007 I don’t care for the default settings in the Normal template—the default when you start a new document. I prefer the Word 2003 normal settings, but I do like the 1.15 line spacing. What do I do? Usually I start a new document and click No Spacing before starting. This gives me the spacing I like, even though it keeps the font and font size from 2007.

I have always known I could change the Normal template to be what I preferred, but never got around to it. Then I read an article on TechRepublic that reminded me of what I wanted to do and showed me step by step how to get it done.

To read the article and change the Normal template to your personal preferences, see
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6137320.html

Get the Message Out

Ever set up a phone tree to get the message out to members of a team or committee? Or even just had to make a bunch of calls to get the same message out to people?

Here is a site that will make the phone calls for you: http://www.phonevite.com -- 25 free calls twice a month or .05 per call for an unlimited number of calls. You record the message you want sent and give them the phone numbers--cool. Hours of phones calls done in minutes!

Disposable Email Address

Tired of all those spam messages clogging your inbox? Well, the next time you sign up for a new Web site or have to download something that wants your email address, use a valid dummy email address. Yep, I said dummy. It is really an email address, but only a temporary one. You can even check it on line to see what kind of spam gets to it.

You do not have to sign of for anything or register or leave you good email address. Just use it.

Go to www.mailinator.com and see how it works. Put simply, any mail you sent to xxxx@mailinator.com can be accessed at www.xxxx.mailinator.com or by opening www.mailinator.com and typing in the xxxx email name.

You use whatever you want for the xxxx. However, I suggest an odd combination of letters and numbers or you may be sharing the inbox with somebody else. Not that you really care since this is a disposable address anyway!

Want to check it out? I just emailed this message to myblog@mailinator.com so head over to http://myblog.mailinator.com to read it.

Save a Web Page as a PDF

I know I can save a Web page as an MHT file in IE and open it again in IE. But I really don’t need it in that format. I really want to send the page and not the link to someone else so they can view it.

Enter PDFmyURL.com. You supply the URL and it sends you a PDF of the page. Quick and easy and the links work on the PDF side. And it is free.

Try it at http://www.pdfmyurl.com

Making a Coloring Book

We have taken a good number of photos this summer and some of them would work nicely as pages in a coloring book. But how do you convert a full color digital picture into something that will look like a black and white line drawing? Good old Google. I searched and found a number of choices. This one works well, is intuitive to use, and is free.

Just download Photo to Sketch. It runs on any Windows PC from 95 up through Windows 7. I installed it on Vista and XP. It works great.

Here is the picture I used:

And here is the resulting sketch:

I downloaded it from http://download.cnet.com/Photo-To-Sketch-Standard/3000-2192_4-10547780.html?tag=mncol;1

Give it a try. Make some great coloring books for your grandchildren.
 

Building a Simple Web Site with FrontPage

Dick Evans has just released a new book called Quick and Easy Web Sites.

It is a simple approach to building sites using HTML and FrontPage and applications that come with Windows. There are plenty of screen shots and step-by-step instructions to walk you through the techniques I use. You will be creating great looking sites in no time.

Buy the book or download and print your own.

Click to preview a few pages...

Excel - Changing Case

Ever had a group of items you pasted into a worksheet and they were all UPPER case? What you copied was a list of names and you really want only the first letter of each name upper case. This a tedious change if you have to do it by hand, but you do not. Excel has functions for changing case.

Open a new workbook and enter the following in cells A5 down:

GEORGE SMITH
MARY JONES
HARRY HAPPY
SAM SPADE
JOE GERARD

Let’s say the names came into cells A5 down. Insert a new column between A and B assuming B is already occupied. Then, in B5 enter =PROPER(A5) and press Enter. The result is the name from A5 with only the first letter of each name capitalized. Point to the fill handle in B5 and double-click. The formula is propagated down through all cells adjacent to active cells in column A.

The fill handle is that square in the lower right corner of the active cell. As you mouse over it the white cross of the mouse pointer changes into a black plus sign. While it is a plus sign is when you double-click it.

Click on B5 to make it active. Scroll down to the row containing the last cell used in column B. Hold down the shift key and click once on that last used cell in B. You have just used the shift-click method to select all the cells from B5 down through the last used cell in B. Then Ctrl+C to copy.

Right-click A5 and select Paste Special > Paste Values. The properly formatted names now appear in column A. You may delete column B.

The resulting cells in A5 down now contain:

George Smith
Mary Jones
Harry Happy
Sam Spade
Joe Gerard

Two other case changing functions may prove useful as well. UPPER and LOWER. The former converts the text to all UPPER case and the later to all lower case.

Free Tape Calculator

I know, a great calculator comes with Windows. Just click Windows+R, type calc, and press Enter. It does all the basics and has a scientific mode and converts decimal to hex to octal to binary. What it does not have is a tape. So when you have added a column of numbers, you have no way to prove your work.

Enter the Moffosoft Free Calc. It has all the basics as well AND a visible and printable tape displaying all the entrees. So now you can add up a column of numbers and check your work before using the answer.

Check it out at http://www.moffsoft.com/

PageBreeze FREE

I just came across a great little HTML editor. Not only is it free, but it includes a WYSIWYG editor, a drag and drop form builder, spell checking, and FTP (download only for the free version). They have a professional version with a lot more features, but this version fits the bill for most of the day to day editing I have to do.

As the publishers description says “You'll find that you'll be creating great looking Web sites almost instantly with virtually no learning curve. It offers the kind of power you would find in the leading commercial products. It's visual editor is actually powered by Microsoft Internet Explorer, so you can always be certain that you are seeing exactly what you will get when your Web site is uploaded to your server.”

The reviews I read are mostly good. Looks like it works great for simple sites and a good way to learn HTML, but professional designers using lots of the tricks of the trade do not find it useful. Of course I would think they would be sticking to Expression Web or Dreamweaver anyway!

Give it a try.

Free Online HTML Editor

Often I have to create a line of HTML code. Rather than bringing up a large application like Expression Web or Dreamweaver this online service presents a WYSIWYG interface.

Create the document with graphics and pictures and lines and color. Then click the Source button to reveal the HTML. Select All and Copy and Paste it to your eBay product description, a newsletter you are about to send, or even to update a part of a page on your Web site.   

Try it out at http://www.free-online-html-editor.com/

Using the Cloud

So you just got that new notebook. It has plenty of hard disk space, a couple of gigabytes of memory, and the latest Windows 7 operating system. But you are not all set to go. Sure it may have come with a trial version of Office 7 or even 10, but after the trial you have to shell out almost as much as the notebook cost to continue to use it.

There is another way. Use the "Cloud". In other words, let the Web provide you a means to do your word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. All you need is a browser and an Internet connection. You can save the files in the cloud and access them with any type of browser capable "computer" -- your Windows based netbook, notebook, or desktop, an Apple Mac, Linux machine, and even your cell phone. If it accesses the Internet, you can work.

Save your work on your local machine or leave it on the cloud or both. While it is in the cloud, you can share it with others easily.

There are a number of different Web applications out there. The two I find very useful are Google Aps and ThinkFree. Both allow you the create Office compatible documents easily and for free. ThinkFree give you 1gb of free storage to maintain you files.

Try them by simply going to docs.google.com or thinkfree.com.

Use the cloud and save the bucks.

Resizing an Image

I have been a fan of many of the Windows XP Powertoys for many years now. One that I probably use more than any other is the Image Resizer. With it I can select a group of images taken with my digital camera and resize them to send by email, or resize them to upload to my Facebook page with just a right-click. Simple to do and the image sizes are reduced from 1-3mb down to less than 100kb!

I was not pleased to find that the program would not work in Vista or in Windows 7. Good thing I still have some XP machines to use…

Enter a new program that does the same job but in XP, Vista, and Windows 7!

Download the Prish Image Resizer (Click here) and install it. Now find an image (or a group of them) and right-click. Notice the new selection called Prish Resizer?

As you mouse over the option you see a number of options. Click any of the options indicating a size such at Resize to 1024 and the image you have clicked on will be resized and the results placed in a folder named resized. If you do not have a folder of that name, it will be created.

The top option is just Resize… It opens the application on the desktop and presents you with many options on how to resize it and where to place the results including overwriting the original.

Give it a try. I think it works great!

Convert PDF to Word

I have been waiting to see something like this for a while. Yes, I know I can purchase software to do the job. This one is FREE.

Run the application in the cloud by going to http://www.pdftoword.com/ three steps:

1. Browse your computer for the PDF you need to convert
2. Choose the resulting format—Word or RTF
3. Submit the email address you wish the results to be sent to  

Don’t expect instant response as the site places your conversion in the queue. When you get to the front of the line, it will be converted and sent to your email address. When I ran my trial, they were in the midst of a server upgrade and the conversion took a while to get back to me. It was worth it; the document was a perfect conversion of the PDF including pictures and links.

There is a 5 MB limit on the free on-line version, so if you have a larger file to do, split it into smaller pieces. To create a PDF I use PDFredirect and you can use it to print to PDF parts of an already PDF formatted document.

I have not tried it yet, but it is supposed to do Excel as well! Yes, you can pay for a version that will install on your machine and has more features.

What is Memory in my Computer?

There is much confusion over the meaning of all numbers associated with our computers. I touched on some of this when I wrote about the Task Manger a few blogs ago.

What are all those Mb’s and Gb’s all about?

When you go to the local store or surf the net looking for a good deal, each computer has numbers like the following:

2 GB memory, 160 GB hard disk, 2.4 GHz processor

First, let us review the terms. Mb is megabyte, GB is gigabyte, TB is terabyte, and GHz is gigahertz. Mb or megabyte refers to 1 million bytes and a byte in simple terms is how much storage is needed to store on character of data. GB means gigabyte and refers to 1,000 MBs. TB is terabyte and refers to 1,000 GB’s. GHz is gigahertz and is measurement of speed. Years ago this was referred to a gigacycles.

The memory even if not mentioned as such is that number from 1 GB -8 GB. This refers to the amount of RAM or random access memory in the box. RAM is primary storage. This is a key number as far as speed and the number of applications that can be open at the same time. More on this later.

The 80GB – 1TB number indicates the amount of hard disk space available in the box. This is not primary storage, but rather secondary storage. This is where all your applications including the operating system (Windows XP, Vista, or 7) is stored. It is where you save all your personal documents and pictures and songs and movies. The bigger the drive, the more stuff you can accumulate.

I can remember back in the 1980’s when I would tell customer they would never need more than a 10 Mb disk drive to store all their stuff. When Windows came along that number was not even large enough for the operating system never mind pictures and movies.

How much do we need today depends on what you are planning on storing locally. If you are not into digital pictures or downloading movies, 80 GB should be more than enough for the foreseeable future.

The GHz value indicates the speed of the CPU or central processing unit—the brain of your computer which is located inside the box on the motherboard (also known as the system board). Older machine ran at 400-600 GHz and the newer ones are much faster. Suffice to say, the bigger the number the faster your computer can process data. Yes this affects the speed of your Internet surfing.

How you find out the speed of your computer and how much RAM you have is simple. Hold down the Windows key (the flag key left and or right of your spacebar) and tap the Pause key (usually top right on the keyboard). This brings up the Systems Properties window. Under the General tab locate the Computer section. It tells you the name of the CPU, how fast it is, and how much RAM is installed.  To find out the size of your disk drive hold down the Windows key and tap E. This opens the My Computer window. Locate the C: drive and mouse over the icon. The Total Size value displays along with the amount of free (or available to be used) space left.

Back to RAM.  It is primary storage and is used by the CPU to access and run your applications and work on your data. It is volatile. When the power is turned off, the contents of RAM goes away. This is why we have secondary storage devices like the hard drive, CD/DVD drives, and USB flash drives. Those devices are used to save what we have been working on so we can access it again later.

When you turn on your computer the operating system is copied from the disk drive to RAM. You see a Windows GUI (graphical user interface) and select an application to use. Let’s say you choose Microsoft Word. That application is added to RAM and you see the interface for Word so you can type a letter. What you type is added to RAM. When you save your letter, a file called a document in Word, is created and placed in secondary storage on your hard disk drive. Even what you save on the desktop is placed on the hard disk drive.

Think of a chalkboard as RAM. As your write on the board it is like writing a letter in Word. You can write until you fill the board. When you are done, you erase the board (like closing the program). Now you can draw a picture as if you were in the Paint program. The chalkboard is the RAM that is temporarily storing your data. Need more RAM? Then you have to get a larger the chalkboard.

The more applications you have open as noted by the number of items on the task bar—that horizontal list of application on the bottom of your desktop, the more of RAM is used. When the amount of RAM in use is close to the physical memory available, you see a message saying you are running out of memory. This does NOT mean you need more hard disk space. It means you must close some programs. However, due to some issues with certain applications, you may want to restart the computer to free up the maximum amount of RAM.

Computer running slow?

Check the amount of RAM you have and the amount free disk space. Adding RAM is usually easy, but on older machines there is a maximum amount determined by the number of slots on specifications of the motherboard. The more RAM the better.

If the disk drive free space is not 10% of the total size of the drive, you could begin to slow down. Run the Disk Cleanup program under Start > Accessories > System Tools to clean out unnecessary files.

Replacing the hard drive can be a challenge. It is easier to purchase an external hard drive that plugs into a USB port. Transfer all your pictures and movies to it. This will free up plenty of space and leave the files accessible when you need them.

Other reasons for a slow computer have to do with ad-ware and malware you may have picked up even with a current security program. More at another time on how I deal with these issues.

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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)