Probus Club of Sydney Inc.

Editorial

This page comprises a selection of the tips and links published in 2006. It could provide a useful addition or commencement for your own file of tips. Use the Print Preview feature from the File menu. You do not have to print every page.

Most of our Members believe, or state, that they have a low level of computer literacy. These tips are for them, not for gurus. Most newspaper IT sections seem to presume more knowledge by readers than a couple of years ago.

Please advise of any problems by emailing Frank Barr-David at frank.barr-david@aya.yale.edu . Not clickable because of Spammer's trawling for addresses.

This is my last version of Computer Tips for the Probus Club of Sydney. Since I rashly undertook to start a web site in 2000, I have enjoyed (most of the time) the "use it or lose it" experience as my knowledge expanded. I can thoroughly recommend anyone of Probus age to have a go at controlling a computer. There is always more than one way of doing anything, using a mixture of logic and imagination. As I have said elsewhere, there needs to be a sense of purpose to the use of a computer.

See you at meetings.

Clyde Dickens

Microsoft Vista has arrived.

Check that your system can cope with the successor to XP.

Access the Microsoft supplied Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor by clicking www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready .

Your Computer Tips Editor found out (1) "Your computer can run Windows Vista" (2) "Norton Internet Security is not compatible with Vista" (3) "You need a new audio driver" (4) "Your scanner will not work with Vista" (5) "Microsoft Works and QuickTime and the CD/DVD burner may not work as expected with Vista"

Some IT magazines comment that 1GB of RAM is advisable if Vista is used - only half of that (512 MB) is currently installed.

Your Computer Tips Advisor and your website editor will not be changing from XP at this time.

Regular use of your installation

Just starting out with computers?

Here's a few practical things that could provide provide a reason for turning your computer on regularly. Tell your partner about them.

Don't be too concerned about Spam, recent trade journal articles indicate that action by ISP's like Ozemail and Bigpond have cut this down significantly. And there are a number of specific software programs for spam detection.
Use Google to find the following and more web sites that would be of interest. Don't forget to dot "pages from Australia" (near Search) when relevant to improve the specificity of its results.
Get on to mailing lists for subjects of interest. For example Mosman Municipal Council issues information updates on Art Gallery displays, Community activities, and Environment action. Its web site is very comprehensive and Council Minutes and DA progress can be accessed. Find out what your council has on offer.
And it is very useful to use the Library site to review availability of books at Mosman and associated libraries in the Shorelink network, place them on hold, extend the borrowing period, check your account record, and cancel earlier arrangements. Find out if your library can do the same.
The Art Gallery of NSW is an excellent marketer of its services. No wonder it can claim that more people visit it each year than attend football matches. At least once each month a very comprehensive newsletter is distributed.
The National Trust and The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust keep their mailing list subscribers well informed. Each of those organisations has a web site worthy of regular visits.
Qantas will be pleased to add you to its mailing list and keep you informed about special deals. An you can check up on the status of your Frequent Flyer points from its web site, and make bookings free of the fee charged for telephone bookings.
Bookings can be made very efficiently for the Sydney Opera House via its web site. There is opportunity to be added to its list for receiving early information about present and coming events.
CInemas have web sites where current screenings and session times are shown
Build up a list of Favourites, including your favourite international news sites (Your Editor believes that the BBC News site is the best news site in the world). Add useful travel research sites, and those for the organisations noted above.
Web sites for schools of grandchildren can provide interesting viewing.

Google at www.google.com makes a useful Home page for any PC - it takes less time to download than most ISP pages. When it is open go to the Tools menu at the top of the page, then >>> Internet options >>> General tab >>> Home Page = Use Current >>> OK

Weather watching

If weather forecasts for individual postcodes could be of use to you, say when planning a country holiday, then try clicking on http://www.weatherzone.com.au/

Member Peter Adams supplied that source which will appeal to keen weather watchers. There is a free service as well as subscriber services.

Click on the link in the About WeatherZone box near the top right hand corner of the home page for more details.

Everyone should have a shortcut on their desktop to the Bureau of Meteorology Radar Loop screen site - see Recommended Links below. Keen weather watchers or those seeking extra information should try weatherzone as well.

Housekeeping Practices

Not work, part of the use it or lose it activity

Email management

If you go to your snail mail letterbox each day - be consistent and open your email Inbox at least once each day.
Do not leave messages cluttering up your email Inbox any more than you would leave mail in your snail mail letterbox, or piled in a heap on your desk. Move them (before or after responding) to a folder for the subject matter such as a person, or an organisation >>> Select (click on) the message >>> Edit button >>> Move (or Copy) to Folder >>> select the Folder (for New Folder type name in box) >>> Move (or Copy) >>> OK.

Also don't leave items in your Sent messages folder. Either move them to a folder with compatible subject messages, or delete them.

Delete the Deletions. If you don't, people sending you emails may be told that your system is overloaded, and cannot accept their message. The same result can occur if the Inbox becomes full.
Use the Reply button to acknowledge receipt of an email message. That is equivalent to acknowledging a verbal message in conversation. As in verbal conversation, there is no need to say "thank you for thanking me". Many widely distributed emails also do not warrant a response. But do follow normal rules for thanking people who have helped you.

Do not send emails in a format you would not have accepted from your Secretary.

Use two depressions of the Enter key when a paragraph is appropriate.

Bill Gates will "wrap" to the next line of print on all other occasions according to the size of the window open in the receiving computer.

You are backing up, aren't you?

Hardly a month goes by without hearing about someone who has lost difficult to replace information, or treasured family photos, because of theft of a PC or a major system crash. Or of someone who patted themselves on the back for having back up disks in a safe and accessible place.

For our club, the membership database is copied to a remote location (another Committee member) for the same reason that businesses copy vital data to another place - sometimes many times each day.

Good practices - even if you are not a Virgo

Unless you like to work with papers spread all over your desk, credenza and floor without regard to content, use folders to collate same subject files. With My Documents open, or in other locations, >>> File menu button >>> new >>> Folder >>> in the box which appears >>> Rename >>> type subject title, say Holiday research. Repeat that process for all subjects for which you have a number of files. To move a file into a folder - this is easiest if the following tip has been adopted - left click on the file and keep that left click button down >>>drag (move) the file icon until it is over the folder icon >>> then release the click button. For comfort click on the folder to check.
"List" files in each folder. This gives a much more concise presentation than other options, with more files identifiable in an open window. To do this >>> View menu button >>> place dot next to word List >>> Tools menu button >>> Folder Options >>> View tab >>> Apply to All Folders. The same format will appear in each folder when next opened. This is perhaps the most strongly recommended tip in this section.
Clear Desktop clutter. If you rarely use a program for which there is a shortcut icon on the Desktop >>> Right click it >>> delete. The program itself will remain accessible from Start >>> All programs >>> double click on the program name.
Use the Quick Launch area of the Task Bar, which is usually at the foot of the screen. This is useful for frequently used programs and needs only one click instead of the double click needed to open icons on the Desktop. To organise this >>> right click on a blank part of the Task Bar >>> untick Lock the toolbar >>> click Toolbars >>> tick Quick launch >>> click anywhere on Desktop to close the menu >>> click Lock the Toolbar >>> drag (left click button held down) program icons to the Quick launch area of the task bar >>> release the left click button. Move them out in the same manner.
Set up the task bar according to your own tastes. Right click on a vacant area >>> untick Lock the Task Bar >>> click Properties >>> Tick boxes as you wish >>> click Customise >>> for each item, click on whatever is showing next to it >>> decide whether to Always Hide, or, Hide When Inactive, or, Always Show >>> Click OK >>> Click Apply >>> Click OK. Your Computer Tips Editor "Always Shows" his Security program icon, "Hides when Inactive" a couple of others, and "Always Hides" the others which Bill Gates likes to show.

Get rid of unnecessary files. Follow this process ....... Start >>>> Programs >>> Accessories >>> Systems Tools >>> Disk Cleanup. Follow the prompts.

Defragment your hard disk. In the eloquent words of a Dummies text book writer, "if you don't defrag your hard disk from time to time it will look like a bottle shop after a holiday weekend with opened boxes in the wrong aisles. When the computer moves files around it breaks them into chunks spread across your hard drive. It can still find them but it takes more time." The process is Start >>>> Programs >>> Accessories >>> Systems Tools >>> Disk Defragmenter. Follow the prompts, making sure that you check Disk C where your data and programs are kept. If you system has another disk (or partition) for recovery programs - defrag that too. You may get a message saying " This volume does not require defragmenting" - believe that.

Ensure that security programs, as well as virus definitions, regularly updated. Otherwise you may cause grief and cost to yourself and to email contacts.

Remember that passwords can be case sensitive and ensure that the caps lock key is not on before entering a password.

Technical Hints

Print your screen

If you want to keep a hard copy record of what appears on your screen - say an error message for quoting to your guru - do the following:-

While the screen shows what you want to print >>>

minimise (click - [minus] sign in left hand box at top right of screen) >>>

open a Word document >>> leaving it blank, minimise that >>>

maximise the screen you wish to print (click on its name in the Task Bar at the foot of your screen) >>>

press the Ctrl key (usually at the bottom left hand corner of your keyboard) and while it is depressed press the key with Print Scr inscribed on it >>> release both keys >>>

Minimise the screen >>> maximise the Word document >>>

While the Word document is open, click on the Paste button (small icon showing clipboard and sheet of paper usually near top left hand side of screen next to small icons for cut (scissors) and copy (two sheets of paper). If you hover the curser over those or other icons, a printed identification will appear >>>

Voila ! the screen will be on the Word document. Repeat the process if you wish more than one screen to be printed together >>>

Print the Word document in the usual manner >>>

Close the Word document, UNLESS you want to keep it on file - in which case Save in the usual manner >>>

If no longer needed, close the screen.

Cut or Copy and Paste

This is a marvelous feature to use when composing a letter, a report or an email. Words or sentences or paragraphs can be moved from one part of the document to another, to improve flow or cohesion.

Select the data (move the curser over while holding down the left click button) that you want to Cut or Copy.
Click the Cut Icon (scissors) on the Standard Toolbar - or press Ctrl+X - to cut the data.
Or
Click the Copy Icon (overlapping pages) on the Standard Toolbar - or press Ctrl+C - to copy the data.
For the technically minded, the data is moved to the Clipboard.
Move the curser and click it at the changed location where the data is to appear.
Click the Paste Icon (clipboard with small message thereon) on the Standard Toolbar - or press Ctrl+V - and the words cut or copied will appear.

A similar process can be used to transfer a selected URL address from an Internet page to an email or a Word document. Open and minimise the recipient document first. Minimise (not close) the Internet page until the address is pasted.

Definitions by Google

If your hard copy dictionary is not up to date with current jargon - or if for example you want to understand a medical term - use Google.

In the box where search clues are entered type the word define followed immediately by a : followed by the word(s) to be defined. Then click Google Search

For example if you don't know whether a bull market is going up or down, type define:bull market
If you want to know more about osteoarthritis, type define:osteoarthritis

As when using any dictionary, it is useful to know how the spell the words you are looking up.

Friends sending you Excel files - and you don't have Excel?

You can open Excel files even if you don't have the Excel program installed. Microsoft want you to experience Excel in the hope that you might purchase it, so they have available an Excel viewer program for downloading from the following link. Once it is installed, any Excel file that comes to your system will be opened without your intervention.

The free web page editor used for this page cannot handle the direct link to the program download, so Google search for Microsoft download excel, THEN click on Download details: Excel Viewer 2003

Note or print the download instructions when the page opens.

Restore images not appearing on email messages.

If the pictures referred to in a message do not appear, a likely explanation is that security settings have been altered during an update from Microsoft - you do use Microsoft or Windows Automatic Updates don't you? From being lax about security, Bill Gates' mob are now sometimes, in the view of some, over-zealous to the stage of impracticality.

To restore the settings in Outlook Express, go Tools >>> Options >>> Security tab >>> remove the tick from "Block images and other external content in HTML mail" Then restart.

Saving email messages to My Documents file.

You may wish to keep a copy of an email message in a folder with Word and other documents or images for the same subject. To do this from your email Program >>> Select (click on) the message >>> File >>> Save As >>> navigate to destination folder >>> click on that >>> Save. Then check the destination folder for comfort.

Internet synchronised clock

Did Bill Gates change your computer clock for you at the start of daylight saving? If not, XP users (?others) can arrange for a time check to be made each time you connect to the Internet.

To do that, double click the clock (icon or numbers) at the bottom right hand corner of the screen >>> click Internet Time tab >>> tick (click) in the box labelled Automatically synchronise with an Internet time server.

High cost printer ink

It is generally accepted that printer manufactures make more money from selling ink than they do from selling printers. To demonstrate that, keep a record of ink purchases costs and note how little time it takes for that sum to aggregate to the cost of the printer.

Many PC owners buy their ink at lower prices from other sources, despite 'warnings' about that from the vested interest printer manufactures. PC magazines that can be read in local Libraries, and Google, will lead you to vendors.

It is a regular surprise to Your Computer Tips Editor to note that some friends who do the above still continue to use the default (default = what happens when you do nothing) setting for actual printing. The greediest use of ink results from using "Best" or "Standard" or similar Print Quality settings in the Printer window that appears when arranging printing. The use of "Fast Draft" or "Gray Scale" print quality will usually suffice for most home jobs. Different brands and models have different paths to the setting process. Look for "Print Quality" settings, often after clicking Properties.

Changed your email address - or otherwise sending one message to a group of contacts?

Use .bcc ........ It saves many lines of printing on the received email and does not disclose individual recipient details.

Click on the View menu near the top of the window, then tick All Headers. On the "To" line use your own address. On the now appearing "Bcc" line, enter all the addresses to which you wish to send the message. This can be done using Groups you have set up (use the Help menu to see how to do that), or by transferring them one by one from the address book. Bcc meant "blind carbon copy" in the olden days when information copies of letters were typed using an additional sheet of carbon paper in the typewriter.

To obtain comfort that all has gone as you wish, select and right click on the "Sent " copy in its folder >>>> Properties >>>> Details tab. There will be revealed all the recipients. If you follow the same pattern on the self addressed message that you received, other recipients will not be shown- as they will not be for any other recipient.

Recommended Internet Links

Use the Favourites facility for easy reference to regularly visited Internet sites. Click on the Favourites button at the top of an Internet site page and then Add to Favourites or Organise Favourites. For comfort, test each addition or change.

Here are some of the "most" Favourite sites for Your Computer Editor

Use the Back Button (IE7 back arrow) to return here

BBC NEWS | News Front Page For up to date information, sometimes quicker than Australian sites for Australian news including sport.

128 km Sydney Radar Loop One of the most popular sites in Australia. After looking at the radar, navigate to Sydney metropolitan (or elsewhere) forecast

White Pages telephone book. Note the tabs on the index page.

Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. This is slowly developing magnificent use of government land

Hardware and Software research

If you are not as shameless as Your Computer Tips Editor and do not wish to read computer magazines on display in newsagents without purchasing, then the following links may be useful:-

Many of the articles in these magazines are for technical geeks only, but some can be of practical use to self confessed learners.

When searching the sites, look for links to Reviews and hints/tips.

http://pcauthority.com.au/	To return here
http://www.pcuser.com.au/	use the
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/	Back
http://www.apcmag.com/	Button (IE7 back arrow)

Add to Favourites these sites so that you can continue to look at current month issues.

Possibly useful link

If you or a friend have the difficult task of placing a loved one in a Nursing Home, the following link may be useful in your research :-

http://www.accreditation.org.au/

Follow the links that seem relevant, including the Quicklink one titled Reports on Homes.

Digital Photography

Use a digital camera - and read its manual, several times.

Photography has changed. Instead of waiting until a roll of film is full, taking it to a photoshop for printing, and throwing out those that do not meet requirement, there is now a better method.

As soon as the shot - or a series of shots - has been taken, edit them by deleting some, cropping some, and using in-camera features such as the Nikon D Light to improve lighting. When you get home, transfer (Copy not Move) them to your PC. Inspect them on the screen. Use Picasa or Adobe Photoshop to improve (see below). Delete some more to average up the quality of composition or clarity. Print some for Grandma to carry around. Transfer all to CDs for distribution to subjects, as well as back up/saving PC disk space.

New digital camera?

If you are apprehensive about taking a new digital camera on a special vacation - practice before you go. Be a tourist in your own town.

Unless you have experience and confidence, leave the camera setting on automatic.
Take pictures of scenery, people, things.
Try sunny day, grey day, and dawn or dusk shots.
Enjoy taking many shots for each subject and in the camera editing out immediately all but the best.
Choose close up and distant subjects. FInd out the ease of using digital zoom.
Transfer images from the camera memory to your computer (read the manuals and use Help menus)
Experiment with enhancement processes, such as free Picasa (see below) or purchased Photoshop. It is marvellous to find out how easy it is to add light to dull images and to crop out extraneous content.

Enjoy freedom from the limited capacity of film and delayed viewing of images. But make sure you carry spare batteries and a charger. Get more memory capacity than the minimum.

Want to organise your photographs for posterity?

Try http://www.picasa.com This is a free Google production that does many of the things that cost money for other programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Probably because of the free Google program, Adobe are now marketing much less expensive software called Photoshop Elements - good enough for all but professional photographers.

After clicking on the above link, start your education process by clicking Features on the page that opens, and exploring (perhaps selectively printing) the Organise, Edit, Print, Backup, Create menus.

When images have been transferred to Picasa, double click a thumbnail to improve, using the Basic Fixes or Effects (particularly Sharpen) tabs.

Use the Export button at the foot of the page to transfer images improved back to a My Documents or My Pictures folder.

Use the Email button to send one (or more using the Held button) images from the Picture Tray at the bottom left hand corner. Picasa compresses the images so that they can be quickly transmitted even to dial up Internet users.

Your Editor currently has a project to transfer family photographs from cumbersome albums to CDs - copies of which can be sent to more than one family member. These have been scanned into My Pictures (XP). Considerable editing is required for most album collections - start by ignoring all shots without a family member included, scenes from holiday locations are not likely to interest later generations.

Recent shots have been directly loaded from a digital camera, surely one of its most useful features, along with the ability to crop or delete images in the camera. Your Editor has calculated that if he lives for another 10 years and takes 500 shots per year he will save enough photo printing costs to pay for the camera.

There are many processes for obtaining a satisfactory result, but consider the following as input to your decision.

Start the file name for each photo with the year (YYYY) it was taken. That will enable images to be sorted into sequence. Picasa has a drop down menu that leads to Sort Folder by file name after the Actions Button is pressed for a folder.

Decide on the number of folders you will need when organising your photos - say separate ones for "Mum and Dad", "Tom", "Dick", "Sarah", etc.

Include in the file name the initial(s) of the family member(s). That will facilitate distributing the images to separate folders for each person. Images can be copied so that they appear in more than one folder.

Don't scan more than say four images in each batch - memory requirements may cause transfer errors. Establish your limit consistent with efficient production.

Your Editor scans/transfers each image into My Pictures, gives if a file name, then moves and/or copies it into the desired folder(s) in My Documents.

The transfer from a My Documents folder to Picasa is organised automatically by Picasa - once the first transfer from each folder has been made by using the Import button >>> Select device >>> Folder sequence.

Use the Picasa feature of adding a caption to each image, with more detail than can be included in the file name.

Use the Picasa feature to vary the colour/contrast/light elements, or to Sharpen, in each image - unsatisfactory results can be reversed. Click on the image to do this. Quite remarkable results can be obtained with 40 year old photos.

Before getting into full scale production, practice with a test batch.

Don't rush the scanning process - images require much more memory and time than data.

Don't forget to regularly use the Backup feature of Picasa - separate from the production of "Gift" CDs. Setting up the files of photos is a laborious task which you would not want to repeat.

Picasa Web Albums.

This free feature from Google enables you to upload albums of images from your Picasa files to the Internet, for viewing and possibly downloading by scattered families and groups of friends.

Go to www.picasaweb.google.com

First, click on Learn More. Study and for later reference print the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and information about public and unlisted albums.

Then, follow the links from Create a New Google Account. For security you will be asked to enter a password for your access, and provide your email address.

Then practice and learn.

Some caveats.

For a couple of images it is much easier to distribute by attaching to an email. See tip below for reducing size/time for this.
It may be more desirable to burn CDs/DVDs to distribute multiple images to family and friends for later or long term availablity.
The Internet record does not delete source files, it is an extra presentation.
Use of the Internet albums will be influenced by Internet download speed and cost impact.

For examples, click on http://picasaweb.google.com/ckdwebpicasa/PCOSexample

Change the image size using the three rectangles near the yop right hand corner. Try the Slideshow. Note the length of caption that can be displayed.

For the technically minded, the camera was set to automatic, the image subjects were about 1500 metres distant, 3x optical zoom was used, and cropping and enhancement was done in Picasa.

If you wish, click on the link to Clyde's Public Gallery, and view pictures taken in July on the Rhine. There are other (unlisted) albums uploaded but not available to the public - only to people to whom a specific link is sent.

Sending pictures by email?

The basic rule is "Don't clog up the Inbox of your recipient with large files straight from the scanner or camera". There are many methods for reducing image file sizes. The one used by Your Computer Tips Editor is provided by the free Google program "Picasa" This can be found by clicking More on the Google home page.

In Picasa, use the Email button to send one (or more using the Held button) images from the Picture Tray at the bottom left hand corner. Picasa compresses the images so that they can be quickly transmitted even to dial up Internet users.

There are other methods. Here is one. SInce adding the above to this page, a SMH reader of the Icon supplement has won a prize for the following:- (Words added may help)

When emailing photos using Outlook or Outlook Express avoid the problem of having to reduce the size of large digital photos one at a time and do them all at once. Instead, launch Windows Explorer (Open the folder where the photos are filed), >>> select the photos to send (if more than one, keep holding down Ctrl key while clicking on each of the file names), >>> right click, >>> choose Send To and then Mail Recipient.

A dialog box appears offering to resize your images. Choose 'Make all my pictures smaller' >>> click More Options >>> select a size to use.

Click OK and a new email message with the resised photos included as attachments will appear.

Your Computer Tips Editor will continue to use Picasa because all his better photos are filed there, but the above has been tested and is useful knowledge.

One more thing on this subject. If you have a friend who regularly send you photos that take many minutes to download, tell him/her that you would appreciate them adopting one of the above techniques.

Photo Story 3

If you have "mastered" Picasa or another form of enhancing photo images - see Ideas for editing and storing photographs below - you can create a video with titled images and a variety of presentation effects. This will produce a result which can be transferred to CD/DVD for distributed to proud parents, for family or holiday collections.

Music background and personal voice commentaries can be added.

To download this free Microsoft program, click on

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/Photo.asp

Then ..... click on the link to Photo Story 3 for Windows page (the free web site editor program used here cannot handle the long link needed for direct access).

For later reference, print and file some of the available guidance and instruction links .