Computer Tips & Tricks - The Next Generation
Time For Fun & Games:Ever been to a web site where they have some cute animation (well maybe annoying, too) but you wonder - "how'd they do that"? Here's how. First off - just 'right-click' on a blank space on your desk top, choose 'New', then 'Folder'. The folder will appear on your desk top. Click in the box under it to name it "GIFs". Now you have a place to stash those animations you're going to get, right click on an animation - click on 'Save Picture As' & 'save to' Desktop/GIFs. Another tip - to put a GIF in an e-mail message, in your open message, click "insert", then picture/browse/desktop/GIFs. Click on the GIF you want - and bingo - it will appear in your message.
OH! I did a bad thing! Could happen. I received a LOL (Laugh Out Loud) e-greeting from friends & sent it to other friends. Well, they may not be friends any more because - while the site is a hoot - it carries with it a huge amount of stubborn pop-up ads - which I didn't realize till I sent the greetings & tried to close the window. AH - but there is a solution to the Curse of The Pop-Ups! If the plague descends & it seems you can't escape - this is the way you close a window quickly - Click Alt+F4 & those pop-ups are in the toilet...no - NOT NOW - or you're out of here - and yes - it works that well!! Note! This was written before the availability of the many pop-up blockers - but it should work anytime you're trapped.
So do come visit me at my web page..... Woodland Studio - there's a section devoted to digital camera photography - with benefit of pictures which you may find helpful.
Here's a gem of a program that will knock your socks off! It's maybe like the most useful thing yet & it's free. So OK - how many times have you been blithely typing away when suddenly you look up at the monitor and - omigawd - CAPS LOCK was on! Or tried to enter your password in a case sensitive slot & it keeps telling you it's wrong & YOU KNOW you're right!? Ooof - CAPS LOCK is on. It really works. And if you want to do something in all caps - JUST HOLD DOWN THE SHIFT KEY AND STRIKE "CAPS LOCK". It will unlock the key. Go to CapsUnlock & download now - seeing is believing! It's easy to get used to - remember to hit "Shift" when you want all caps - and it works for me!
Irfan has limitations as an editor but there are some things it can do that nothing else seems able to do - easily anyway. After it's installed, right click on the image of your scanned document and click 'open with Irfanview'.
In the toolbar at top, click "Edit" and in the 'drop-down' menu, click "Insert text into selection. Using your mouse, outline the area where you want text added to form a box. A window will open saying 'add overlay text' with a space to type what you want and a choice of fonts, text color, etc. It takes a little practice but is actually easy. Then save the change to the correct file.
It doesn't delete existing text but if you want to change a word, I'd suggest opening it in one of your paint programs and simply 'paint' white over the word to be deleted.
Irfan also performs magnificently in changing things like .gif file to a .jpg, etc - in fact it has the largest selection of file extensions I've seen. Just click on 'save as' and pick from dropdown menu by File window at bottom.
Another neat trick is resizing. Click Image/Resize - and make your selection. Very quick and easy. Just make sure when you do all these things listed here that you save the changes to the correct file - either overwriting an existing graphic or creating a new - renamed - one.
Our local paper had a recent syndicated column by Linda Knapp, a columnist for the Seattle Times. It dealt with cleaning the dreck out of your computer. I don't rank as a novice but I certainly am no expert. Many of the things she touched on, I knew - but others were new to me. It's written in very straight-forward terms. It develops that she writes a regular tech column. You can go here to her classy web site - Getting Started - and read her archived columns. Look for the one on cleaning the 'gunk" out of your computer.
What's that saying - the greatest invention since sliced bread? I've been looking for just the right program to tack sticky note type reminders on my puter desk top for quite a while. I wanted a simple, little, free program. That's not asking too much, is it? Well-l - yes - it seemed it was. I downloaded & tried some that were too big, too fussy, too 'in-your-face', too everything. Awhile back I downloaded a little gem called ATnotes. This is everything I wanted - unobtrusive but always there, easy, efficient & neat appearing. It's free, people. You can find it at the ATnotes site - it's yours for the downloading - and take a peek at its creator's home town of Innsbruck while you're there.
A site, related to the one above(and in fact, linked to that web site) is Public Domain Music, established by Benjamin Tubb. Another wonderful place to listen to and research old music!! I'm really impressed by what this man does and his willingness to share his talents.
I'm not much of a games player - well-l-l - you know - solitaire and hearts - the usual - but I this pinball game is great fun. Space Cadet came bundled with my original Win95. Somehow, it got lost & I couldn't get it back. After much searching I found this site where someone had posted the download. The sound seems just a little 'off' but, as I recall, it was in the original.
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Sonofagun! I downloaded the plugin for Blogger that enables you to use Microsoft Word as a vehicle for posting to your Blog - don't even have to be online. How about that. The following is what I posted:
"What fun! An experiment – posting to my Blog using Word. I downloaded the Plug-In that’s now available. Will it work? Let’s see!"
It did work and very well, I might add. Those words have a certain 'ring' don't they - sort of like the first words spoken over the first telephone by Alexander Graham Bell - "Mr. Watson, come here! I want you!"
Only problem for me is that I don't want to post in journal-type separate entries - most recent entries at top and so on. I want to use my Blog like a web page. Who knows - maybe the Blog-Police will come after me for violating one of the Prime Rules of Blogdom!! By using Word - I eliminate the option of 'editing' an entry and thus keeping it going in a traditional text timeline. (I can & often do post new entries in this blog at the top - but some I've written are more like essays & read like a short story. HOWEVER - for those of you for whom that doesn't matter - this easily added download will be a terrifically handy tool. One caveat - you have to have WinXP or 2000 - and you can't add photos from Word. Now that would be too good to be true!!