Tiplet expert tips & tech support

February 28, 2009

How to Take a Screenshot and Edit It Using Picasa

Filed under: applications,photos and video — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Did you ever wish you could share what you’re looking at on your computer screen right now with someone else? Maybe you just beat your all-time high score in Solitaire, or you really like the new theme you just installed on your desktop. Did you know that you can make an image of anything that is displayed on your computer monitor, including Web sites, files, and pictures, manipulate it, and save it onto your hard drive in a format that’s easy to email or upload to the Internet? Taking a screenshot, as this is called, is very easy.
(more…)

February 25, 2009

How to Burn MP3 Music Files to CD Using Windows Media Player

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

by David Hakala

To make a data or Audio CD, a laser beam literally burns tiny dimples into the surface of a disc. That is why making a CD is calling “burning.” Windows Media Player supports burning of CDs in both data (ISO) format and CD-Audio (CDA) format.

CDA is the format in which commercial audio CDs are burned at the factory. A CDA disc can hold 70 to 80 minutes’ worth of music, regardless of the size of the original music files. CDA is a lossless format, so CDA files are faithful to the quality of the original file. CDA is needed if one plans to play the CD on an older CD player that does not support other file formats.
(more…)

February 24, 2009

Maximize Bittorrent P2P Download Speed

Filed under: applications,computer performance,digital media,file transfer,photos and video,Windows — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Bittorrent P2P (peer-to-peer) networks are delightful when downloads are fast. They are especially irritating when they are slower than direct-connection downloading. These tips can help you squeeze the most speed out of your Bittorrent sessions.

Optimize your maximum number of half-open TCP connections. Those are the connections you make to different peers on a P2P network. In Windows XP SP2 and SP3, the maximum number of connections is set at 10 by default. This arbitrary ceiling limits your exposure to potential virus sources, but it slows down your downloading. Better to have 50 peers each dishing parts of a file at 10 Kbps than just 10.
(more…)

February 22, 2009

How to Lock a Text File Using a Free Tool Called Locknote

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

by Tina Gasperson

If you have a need to keep your notes really secure and private, a little tool called Locknote should work well for you. Locknote is free and easy to use. All you do is download Locknote and run it. There’s no installation required.
(more…)

How to Rip an Audio CD Using Windows Media Player

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

by David Hakala

Converting Audio CD music to other file formats and saving them on your computer is called “ripping” the CD. Windows Media Player allows you to rip files from CD and save them in a variety of formats.

The most commonly used formats are MP3 and WAV. The WAV format is uncompressed so it provides the highest fidelity to the original music. But WAV files can be megabytes large. An MP3 file is up to 10 times smaller than a WAV file but loses some fidelity due to compression. Many users save WAV files for use on their local computers and make MP3 files when they plan to transfer files over the Internet.
(more…)

February 21, 2009

How to Troubleshoot Your DirectX Installation

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

by Tina Gasperson

If you’ve had trouble installing a new game on your Windows PC, it may have had something to do with your DirectX installation. DirectX is a set of instructions that allows games and other media-intensive applications to run on many different kinds of hardware. If there’s a problem with your DirectX, then your application may not know how to work with your computer. DirectX comes pre-installed on your Windows computer, and you can run a built-in DirectX troubleshooting application called DirectX Diagnostic Tool to see if there are any problems.
(more…)

How to Create Charts in Excel 2007

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

by David Hakala

Charts make boring worksheets interesting. They also convey lots of information at a single glance. The new ribbon bar in Excel 2007 makes it easier than ever to fill your workbooks and other documents with nifty charts of all kinds.
(more…)

February 20, 2009

Best RSS Feeds Readers

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

by David Hakala

So you want to try this RSS feed stuff. It sounds pretty cool to get all your news, gossip, and other every-changing information delivered to you in one easily sorted and read place. But to use RSS you need an RSS reader program. There are hundreds out there. Here are a few of the best.
(more…)

February 19, 2009

How Can I Use Standard Internet Programs with AOL?

Filed under: applications,e-mail,Internet,online computing — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Gabe Goldberg

Back in the Internet’s pre-history, AOL was the leading online service, providing connectivity, software applications, content, news, games, and support. But as Internet availability and diverse content grew, the need for an all-inclusive “walled garden” — as AOL was charmingly called — diminished.

Even now, though, AOL provides many people’s entire online experience.
(more…)

How to Print Envelopes and Labels Using Microsoft Word 2000

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

by Tina Gasperson

Putting off mailing thank you notes to everyone who gave you a gift on your wedding day because you know it will take forever to address all of those envelopes? You can stop procrastinating. It’s easy and quick to print professional-looking envelopes and stick-on labels of all different sizes with Microsoft Word 2000.
(more…)

Change the Behavior of the Enter Key in Excel 97, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007

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

by David Hakala

When you press the Enter key in an Excel worksheet, it normally drops you down to the next cell in the column. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Excel allows you to specify to which cell the selection goes after you press the Enter key, or whether the selection remains unchanged.
(more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress