Tiplet expert tips & tech support

February 22, 2009

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

How to Change the Boot Order On Your Computer

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

by Tina Gasperson

Chances are your computer is set to check your main CD drive for a bootable CD at boot time, and if there’s not one there, to boot from your main hard drive. Most of the time, that’s exactly what you want and there’s no need to change the order in which your computer looks for booting instructions. But if you wanted to run an alternative operating system from a memory stick, you’d need to tell your computer to look there first for its “marching orders,” so to speak.
(more…)

February 19, 2009

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…)

February 18, 2009

How to Free Up Space on Your Hard Drive

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

by Tina Gasperson

If your computer is running slower, it could just be that you’re running out of space on your hard drive. It’s easy to check and see. Find the icon called “My Computer,” either on your desktop or in your start menu, and click on it. What you’ll see next is a list of the hard drives and other drives on your computer. “C:” is almost always the letter that represents your main hard drive. Right click on Local Disk C: and then click on Properties. You’ll see a window with a graphic representation of your hard drive space. Blue is the used space, and pink is the free space. If a very small percentage of your hard drive is free, go ahead and click on the “Disk Cleanup” button to the lower right of the graphic. The Disk Cleanup utility will take a few seconds to calculate how much space you can free up. Good time to go get a soda.
(more…)

Create new Worksheet from Master Using Macro in Excel 97, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007

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

by David Hakala

Sometimes you have a repetitive task that cannot be recorded by Excel’s macro recorder. Take, for instance, this fairly common example. You need to create a new worksheet, give it a name, place it at the end of all the tabs in your workbook, and save the updated workbook.
(more…)

February 17, 2009

How Can I Capture PC Screen Contents?

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

by Gabe Goldberg

It’s often desirable or necessary to capture — that is, record into a file — what’s on your Windows screen. Windows has two basic tools for this: the Print Screen (or PrtScreen or some other variant) key captures the contents of your entire Windows desktop onto the Windows Clipboard; pressing Alt and PrintScreen captures only the active program window. Sometimes one of these choices is exactly what you need.
(more…)

February 16, 2009

Organize Your Email with Outlook 2007

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

by David Hakala

If you are overwhelmed by the tons of email messages that flood your inbox each day, take heart! There are lots of tools in Outlook 2007 that help you sort the wheat from the chaff and prioritize the wheat. Most of these tips work in earlier versions of Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Live Mail, too.
(more…)

February 15, 2009

Convert WAV and WMA Files to MP3

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

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.
(more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress