by Gabe Goldberg
After you start most software installation and update processes, perhaps after accepting whatever terms and conditions the vendor imposes, you see buttons with labels such as “Express (Recommended)” and “Custom.”
If you wouldn’t let an amateur handyman work on your house without detailed instructions, or let a car salesman pick your automotive options and accessories, you should learn advantages of the “Custom” choice.
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by Dee-Ann LeBlanc
There are three major sites that OS X users in the know keep a close eye on: MacHeist, MacUpdate Promo, and MacZOT. These three sites offer discounts on software written by independent developers, and can save you a ton of money on a lot of excellent software.
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by David Strom
Yes, it is a Windows world out there, as those of us that use Macs on a daily basis know. And while the Internet has leveled the playing field somewhat, it can be annoying to come across the occasional Windows Media audio or video file that you would like to view on your Mac. There is a simple solution: download Telestream’s Flip4Mac and you won’t ever have to worry again.
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by Gabe Goldberg
Anyone who’s used a PC more than briefly has wandered through the fundamental directory/folder/file structure underlying Windows’ graphical user interface. And any PC that’s been used for a while likely has convoluted structures of user files — text, photo, spreadsheet, music, video, etc.
So it’s occasionally necessary to print the contents of Windows file folders (directories) for chores such as listing user folders and files contained in data backups, keeping family/hobby/volunteer material separate and organized, tracking files changed by software patches and installs, and noting file details when reporting problems.
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by Tina Gasperson
You may have downloaded a file with an MP4 extension and found that your audio player wouldn’t recognize the file. MP4 is a file format that can contain audio, video, or even still photos, but by default most audio players will not work with MP4. You’ll need a program that is specifically designed to convert your MP4 file to the MP3 format. Note that this only works for MP4 audio files, not those that contain video or other visual formats. MP3 is an audio-only file format. Look for a shareware or freeware program to convert your files, and follow the instructions.
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by Tina Gasperson
Q: How can I convert my PowerPoint productions to video so I can post to YouTube? — Marie
Converting the PowerPoint file format (.ppt) to a video format such as .avi or .wmv is possible, but it will probably cost you money and getting good results can be tricky whenever you’re making such a drastic change to the way a file is encoded. I recommend that instead of converting the file format, you download and install a free program called CamStudio.
CamStudio is a freeware screen recorder. It records all activity on your computer screen for the length of time you want, and saves it as an .avi file, suitable for replay and for uploading to a service such as Youtube.com. To use CamStudio, download and install it. Double-click the shortcut for CamStudio that was saved on your desktop.
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by Davis Strom
If you have an iPhone, one of your frustrations is that you don’t easily have any way to make copies of your files from your Mac desktop and view them. You can use iTunes to move videos, photos and music files, but anything else is an issue.
It is an odd omission: Any iPod since the very early days has the ability to act as an USB-connected hard drive and you can drag and drop files to it—as long as you have enough room on your iPod, that is. Luckily, there is a solution – actually, several solutions. You’ll need to download an app for your iPhone, and we found many of them that claim to offer this feature. Sadly, none of them allows this simple configuration of being able to plug your iPhone into your computer via USB. But since the iPhone is chock full of connectivity, there are several ways to skin the file transfer cat. We tested a variety of apps that can connect in between your desktop and iPhone in some interesting, and perhaps too clever, ways.
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by David Hakala
Have you ever encountered one of these error messages when you tried to delete or move a file on your Windows machine?
Cannot delete file: Access is denied
There has been a sharing violation.
The source or destination file may be in use.
The file is in use by another program or user.
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
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by David Strom
After having my laptop stolen from the trunk of my locked car in a shopping mall parking lot, I am very paranoid about making copies of my data. Apple’s latest version of the Mac OS includes backup software called Time Machine that will make regular copies of the files on your hard drive. But what if you aren’t running this version (10.5) or want to use something else? My recommendation is a product called SuperDuper. You can try it for free with some limitations before you purchase a copy for less than $30.
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by David Hakala
Excel formulas may require a lot of arguments. It can be hard to remember that “12*4” means 12 monthly payments for four years. It might be easier to read your formula if that argument read, “12Months*Years”. Well, you can give arguments and cells easily remembered names in Excel.
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