Tiplet expert tips & tech support

March 22, 2009

Disabling Sleep Mode in OS X

Filed under: computer performance,Macintosh — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 8:00 am

by Dee-Ann LeBlanc

Some people for a variety of reasons want to shut off their Mac’s sleep mode. Maybe they want the computer to keep running as a juke box, or to do some work in the background.

In general, it’s recommend to disable sleep mode only when you really need to. For one thing, if the computer never sleeps, it’s burning a lot more power over time. Speaking of burning, it’s also generating heat. Never sleeping means never cooling off. Over the long term, you can damage a computer this way.
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March 21, 2009

What to Look for When Searching for an External Hard Drive for Windows XP

Filed under: computer hardware,data storage and recovery — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 5:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

If you store photos, videos, and other multimedia files on your computer, or you’re a computer gamer, chances are you’ll need extra hard drive space at some point. You don’t have to buy a new computer to gain that space, or install a new interior hard drive. External hard drives are inexpensive, portable, and very easy to use.
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How to Use Whois to Learn Who Is Behind a Web Site

Filed under: Internet — Tags: , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by David Hakala

It pays to know who you are contacting over the Internet. Before you give any personal information, even an email address, to a Web site, you should have some idea who owns it and what their reputation is. If you buy something online, you should know how to contact the vendor in case there is a problem. Think worst case: where and upon whom would you have a lawsuit served?

Most commercial Web sites have an “about” page that tells you about a company, and usually a “contact” page giving the firm’s street address, phone number, and legal name. If you don’t find such information on a site, a red flag should go up and you should do a bit of sleuthing before parting with anything of value.
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Launching an URL When the Computer Thinks It Is Text

Filed under: Internet,Macintosh — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:00 am

by Nathaniel Poor

The Mac OS and most applications do a good job of recognizing URLs so you can click on them to go to their location, either directly or with the contextual menu (usually via the right mouse button). Either click on it if the computer knows it is a URL, or right-click (or control-click with the main mouse button) on it and choose “Open URL” from the contextual menu.

But this does not always happen. Not every application recognizes a URL, even with a “www” in front of it. There are a lot of programs and possible scenarios, and the end result is sometimes you have a URL right there in front of you but the computer doesn’t understand that the text is a URL.
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March 20, 2009

How to Tweak Your Windows XP Theme

Filed under: Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 5:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Your Windows theme is a set of matched visual and audio components that make up the look and feel of your desktop. The default theme for Windows XP is called, not surprisingly, Windows XP. There are other themes from which to choose that are already included with your operating system, or you can pick and choose from different elements such as font size, colors, and audio signals, to create your own custom theme. Whether you need a theme that is easier to see, or you just want to have some fun, changing your theme to suit your preferences is easy.
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How to Use the “Windows” Key on Your Keyboard

Filed under: Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by David Hakala

The Windows Logo key on your keyboard is an enigma. What’s it do? How did it get there? Well, it’s been around since 1995, when Windows 95 was introduced. It’s used in combination with other keys to perform a host of common functions quickly, without having to point and click one’s way through a series of menus.
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How Can I Stream Movies from the Internet to My TV?

Filed under: computer hardware,photos and video — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 8:00 am

by Gabe Goldberg

If you like movies but don’t enjoy being glued to your PC while they stream from the Internet, or you prefer to watch them on your GIANT TV, get ready to spend a little money to have a lot of fun.

Roku, a small electronic gadget that’s been available for about a year, has learned new tricks. Its concept is as simple as can be: connect to a TV and a broadband Internet router, link to a Netflix (rental movie service) or Amazon Video on Demand (new movie rental/purchase service), and stream requested movies.
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March 19, 2009

Convert PDF to Word and Convert Word to PDF

Filed under: applications,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 5:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

PDF files are convenient. They’re readable by any type of computer system, as long as that computer has a PDF reader application such as Adobe’s Acrobat Reader installed. They provide consistency in the look and feel of a document that includes graphics and uncommon fonts, so that you can be sure that just about everyone who gets your PDF file sees what you intended them to see. But what if you get a PDF file that needs editing? Since PDF files are intended to be read-only, you’ll need to convert the file into an editable format, such as Microsoft Word, with a special application.
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Getting a “Restore” CD From a Vendor and Using Vista’s “Preserve My Data” Feature

Filed under: data storage and recovery,Vista — Tags: , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by David Hakala

Q: Reader John asks two questions: (1) I’m purchasing a new HP Pavilion Desktop with Vista OS. The supplier does not give the original Microsoft Program CD. Instead they include a Restore program on the hard drive. Am I entitled to the original CD? (2) Can the operating system be restored with the non-destructive installation method from the inbuilt “Restore Program”?

To answer the first question, unfortunately, no, you are not entitled to a full, retail copy of Microsoft Vista with the purchase of a new computer. That could be installed multiple times on different computers, depriving Microsoft of its hard-earned money.
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Twitter Clients for Mac OS X

Filed under: Internet,Macintosh,social networking — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:00 am

by Dee-Ann LeBlanc

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Twitter, even if you haven’t used it. While the folks at Twitter are proud of the simplicity of their approach, having every Tweet from every person you’re following just flow into one long stream can get overwhelming.

Fortunately there’s a Twitter API that allows third party developers to write tools that interact with it. In the OS X world, there are many different Twitter clients. This article discusses four of them: EventBox, TweetDeck, twhirl, and Twitterrific.
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March 18, 2009

How to Disable Browser Cache

Filed under: Internet,privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 5:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

The first time you visit a Web page, your browser stores the file in your cache so that when you visit again, the page loads quicker. The stored files load from your hard drive instead of having to be downloaded from the Internet. This is a useful feature because it makes your Web surfing much faster. Sometimes, however, browser caching is undesirable – it may cause you to miss updates on a Web page that changes frequently. There are several ways around this. You can bypass, clear, or even disable your browser cache so that each time you visit a page all the files are freshly downloaded.
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