Tiplet expert tips & tech support

January 26, 2009

Twitter Is Easier with Clients and Add-ons

Filed under: social networking — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

You’ve taken the plunge and signed up for Twitter, found some friends to follow, and you’ve bookmarked your profile page so you can remember to add regular status updates. Even so, sometimes it is hard to remember to visit yet another page frequently throughout the day, and if you’re out on the road, it may be impossible. What you may not have realized is that there are free tools available that make it even easier to use Twitter and make it a part of your daily routine.
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Using the Vista Sidebar and Gadgets

Filed under: Vista — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

“Gadgets” are small programs that do useful things like tell you the weather at a glance; remind you of appointments or tasks to do; or quickly add up a few numbers like a pocket calculator. The cool thing about gadgets is that you don’t have to remember where they are or take time to open them. They are right there at your fingertips all the time, in the Windows Vista Sidebar.

The Sidebar is a pane at the side of the Vista screen where gadgets are kept and organized. The Sidebar makes great use of wide-screen monitors and also looks good on standard monitors. You can easily customize the Sidebar’s location and whether it is “always on top” of other applications or hides beneath a maximized application.
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January 25, 2009

How to Back up and Share Your Digital Photos

Filed under: photos and video — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

If you’re like many home computer users, one of the things you use your computer for is to store your digital photographs. Device manufacturers know that photos take up a lot of space – several MBs each – so they keep making hard drives larger and larger to accommodate all the digital media people are storing on their desktop systems. Still, many people feel uncomfortable with the idea of having all their precious photographic memories stored on a hard drive that could fail at any moment. One way to help insure you won’t lose your digital images is to save them on a back-up hard drive. Another way is to upload them to an online digital image storage service.
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What Is History Swatter and How Do I Get Rid of It?

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

by David Hakala

Q: How does one get rid of History Swatter? And, how did one get History Swatter to begin with? — Bill

A: To get rid of History Swatter and a bunch of other adware you undoubtedly picked up with it, run a scan with an antivirus program such as Avast! Antivirus or an adware remover such as Ad-Aware Plus. Both are free for non-commercial home users.
You probably got History Swatter by downloading MyWebSearch Plus, or by downloading any of several hundred free applications that bundle MyWebSearch as part of their super-duper deals.
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January 24, 2009

What Is Linux and How Do You Get It?

Filed under: Linux — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Linux is an operating system for your computer that is free to download, install, use, and copy. An operating system is the software that “operates” your computer and makes it easier to run all the applications that you use from day to day. You are probably familiar with Windows, an operating system with versions such as Windows 95, Windows XP, or Vista. Linux is similar to Windows, except that it is open source, which means that no company controls its distribution, and anyone who wants to can change the underlying code and/or redistribute the software.
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How to View and Convert .docx Files Online

Filed under: online computing,Vista,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Docx is the new file format used by Microsoft Word 2007 by default. It cannot be opened by previous versions of Word. If you do not want to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, there is an alternative way to convert docx files to previous versions’ doc format.
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January 23, 2009

How to Print Mailing Labels and Postage Online

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

by Tina Gasperson

With all the things you can do with a computer and an Internet connection, going out to the post office seems an old-fashioned but necessary excursion into the “real world” to take care of business. It’s possible now to pay most of your bills online, so mailing letters with a stamp is almost a thing of the past. The only time a trip to the post office is necessary is when you have a package or large envelope to mail – and woe to you if you don’t have all the supplies necessary to get your package ready. Boxes, big envelopes, packing material, and the all-important sticky mailing labels – because after all, who wants to handwrite an address when the printer is right there, ready to do your bidding?
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Uninstall Outlook Express The Easy Way

Filed under: applications,e-mail,privacy & security — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

You may want to get rid of Outlook Express if you do not use it for email. It is a weakness in your system’s security perimeter, a favorite target of hackers. Much malware targets Outlook Express because Outlook Express has been around since 1998, is installed automatically on every machine running Windows 98 to Windows XP, and is so devilishly difficult to remove that very few people take the trouble. To remove Outlook Express manually you must:

Rename three folders, for every user account on the system
Find and delete seven registry keys
Rename 17 files twice, for they are in two folders

Most people would rather pull out their toenails one by one. Outlook Express consumes a trivial 190 KB of disk space so they leave it alone. The back door for hackers remains open and unnoticed. Here is how to close it easily:
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When It’s Safe to Right-Click on Your Windows PC

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

by Gabe Goldberg

Windows exists to let you manipulate objects on your PC. (And, of course, to make Microsoft even larger — though possibly not more disliked — than the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.)

But if all you could do to things was left click, highlight, drag, drop, copy, and delete them, that wouldn’t be interesting. So we use the right mouse button for object-specific actions.
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January 22, 2009

How to Speed Up File Transfers or Downloads

Filed under: file transfer — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by David Hakala

Technically, fetching and displaying a Web page involves downloading (transferring) lots of pretty small files. But in common usage, file transfers/downloads means retrieving a large file such as a program that you want to install on your computer. Even on a broadband connection, large downloads can seem to take forever. Let’s see how we can speed them up.

You might try a program other than your Web browser. Browsers are designed for downloading lots of small text and graphics files. They are not optimized for speedy, error-free transfers of large files in the dozens or hundreds of megabytes range. There are standalone programs designed for downloading large files.
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How Can I Keep My PC Clean and Tidy?

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

by Gabe Goldberg

Like changing your car’s oil or replacing your home’s air conditioner filter, a little PC cleaning pays off with a faster, more reliable, and longer-lasting computer.

Although nothing suggested here is either rocket science or inherently dangerous, always follow the medical adage, “First, do no harm”. So don’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable (perhaps have a more experienced person clean up while you watch and learn), and back up your system and data. Then reboot, to get a clean start, and don’t open any programs.
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