Tiplet expert tips & tech support

February 13, 2009

How Can I Find Out What Information About Me Is Posted Online, and Can I Remove It?

Filed under: Internet,privacy & security — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Have you ever “Googled” someone? It’s easy. Just visit your favorite search engine, such as Google.com, and type their first and last names into the search box, preferable encased in quotation marks in order to exclude pages that happen to have the first and last name in some other order. In a matter of seconds, you have a list of links to pages that include your friend’s name. If your friend has an uncommon name, you can be pretty sure you’ve got the right person. Now imagine your friend Googling you. If the thought of that makes you nervous, maybe you’d better Google yourself and see just what’s out there. You may be surprised to find that 10-year-old discussion forum post you made is still lingering online, even though you’ve moved on to completely different things.
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Remove Adware from Your PC Desktop

Filed under: applications,computer performance,privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Imagine buying an expensive, slick new TV, taking it home, unwrapping it in eager anticipation, and finding its shiny new screen covered with stickers advertising things that you have no intention of buying:

Thai Kick Boxing Pay Per View – First Month FREE!

Universal Remote Control – FREE With Subscription to Quilting Channel!

Best TV Screen Cleaner – Only $29.95!

Worse, these stickers have that evil sort of glue that won’t let you peel them off cleanly. They tear and leave shreds of paper stuck to the screen, forcing you to scrape the remnants off with fingernails.
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February 12, 2009

How Can I Read Office (Word, Excel, etc.) Files without Buying Expensive Office?

Filed under: applications,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Gabe Goldberg

While Microsoft’s Office applications suite dominates the Windows landscape, it’s expensive and not universally used. And if you only need occasional access to Office-format files, you surely don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars to buy software you’ll rarely use, and even then only in limited fashion.

Fortunately, several free alternatives let you read these files!
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Interest Calculation in Excel 97, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007

Filed under: applications,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

Suppose you are shopping for a car. You know your budget and you have an idea what interest rate you will have to pay. You want to play around with some “what if” scenarios to see what your monthly payments may be. This is where Excel’s interest calculation functions come in.
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How to Get Started with Online Business Networking?

Filed under: Internet,social networking — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by Tina Gasperson

The people in your office have been talking about business networking online. It sounds intriguing and to hear them talk about it, it works great. It’s true that networking with colleagues and potential colleagues online can be a great way to meet new people, get your name “out there” and even find a new job or a new employee.
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February 11, 2009

Microsoft Outlook Email Corruption Hazard When Exceeding 2GB

Filed under: computer performance,e-mail,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Alex Censor

Microsoft Outlook (not “Outlook Express”), part of Microsoft Office, is widely used for sending, receiving, and filing email, email addresses, and even scheduling events.

If you store many older emails in it, especially those with attachments, be warned:
Outlook, for versions prior to 2003, tends to corrupt (and lose everything) if the total size of stored email exceeds 2GB (2048MB).
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BitTorrent P2P Network Clients for Beginners

Filed under: applications,digital media,file transfer — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

If you are planning to get into P2P (peer-to-peer) BitTorrent networking, you will be shopping for a client program to do your downloading and manage your shared files. There is an awesome comparative list of Bittorrent Clients on Wikipedia. But let me save you a lot of trouble.
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New Tricks With Your Windows Mouse, and When to Buy a New One

Filed under: applications,computer hardware,computer performance,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by Gabe Goldberg

For many people, the Windows mouse hasn’t evolved much since the dawn of the PC. This is especially true of bottom-bargain gadgets often provided as standard PC purchase accessories: two buttons boringly labeled Left and Right, wired to the computer, and sensing motion through a small rotating sphere in contact with a desk or mousepad. If you’re using one of these, a very economical upgrade can greatly improve your mousing game.

Perhaps the most basic mouse-tech enhancement was the scroll wheel, first available a decade or more ago, allowing easy up-and-down motion within most applications’ files. If your hand is already on the mouse for file editing, spinning the wheel can be much more convenient than moving the cursor to the scroll bar and then back to the file area.
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February 10, 2009

How to Find and Remove Unwanted Programs from Your Computer

Filed under: applications,computer performance,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Computer hard drive capacity just keeps going up and up as our storage needs increase, so we don’t feel the need to be as choosy as we used to about installing programs. After all, there’s plenty of room. Problems can crop up, however, when an application uses too many resources and slows the computer down – and as many of us discover, there really is a limit to how many things we can have on the hard drive before running out of space. If buying a new hard drive is not an option, it may be time to pare down the number of applications installed on your computer. Here’s how.
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Embedding or Linking Excel Worksheets in Word 2007 Documents

Filed under: applications,Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

That impressive business plan or loan application of yours would sure look better if it had a spreadsheet embedded in it. There are two ways to embed Excel worksheet data in a Word document, and we are going to cover both of them. This article applies to Word 2007.

Data stored in a non-Word application’s format is called an Object. We will be working with Excel objects. You can embed an object in a Word document or link it to a Word document.
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February 9, 2009

Notes on Vista Compatibility – and Incompatibility

Filed under: Vista — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Ross M. Greenberg 

I’ve been a Vista user since it was in early beta.  When the question wasn’t whether an application program would run properly under Vista but rather what would cause Vista to crash taking your machine, your hard disk and all the data thereon with it likely trashing your backup along the way. I also had to walk to school 3 miles. Uphill both ways.

A tool I have found incredibly useful is provided by Microsoft itself: their compatibility guide can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/default.aspx. In the drop-down box, choose “software” and then enter a software title whose compatibility you’re not sure about. It seems the list is continually updated. 
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