by David Hakala
So you used Windows Media Player to “rip” music from an Audio CD to your hard drive. Then you burned the files to a data CD, popped it into your PS2 game console, and nothing happened. “Unsupported format.” You tried transferring the music files to your iPod only to learn that the device will not play Windows Media files. You need MP3 files in both cases.
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by Tina Gasperson
In perhaps its most technologically advanced move ever, the IRS made it possible to file taxes online through partnership with several private sector companies. Whether you’re an individual, business, corporation, or nonprofit, there is an option for you at the IRS’s eFile Web site.
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by David Hakala
If you use Microsoft Outlook, your address book, contacts, mail, etc., you are using either a Personal Folders file (.pst) or an Offline Folders file (.ost) to store your mail and other data. If the file becomes damaged for some reason, there are tools available that may be able to repair it.
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by Gabe Goldberg
Unless you’re a compulsive packrat — and can prove it with multiple neatly organized file cabinets — you’ll eventually find that a gadget or appliance has separated from its operating instructions. And unless it’s something brick-simple with just On/Off buttons, or you’ve memorized its every esoteric function, you’ll be baffled and frustrated.
Even worse, many products now come with one-page pictures-only “Quick Start” instructions showing how to plug them in or insert batteries, turn them on, and not much else. Perhaps a real manual was delivered on a now-missing CD or a now-forgotten Web URL was given as a clue for help.
Don’t despair! Many manufacturers offer full manuals on their Web sites, easily located and perused online or downloaded for printing or offline reference.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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