July 27th, 2010 Rick's Computer Tips

Its been quite awhile since the last edition of Rick's Computer Tips was published. So time to "get it started" again with some new info and tips. The new editions will feature tips for the following:

• Windows Operating Systems
• Microsoft Office applications
• Web Browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome)
• Technology News

Window Operating Systems - Free Up Hard Drive Space

If you have had your computer for more than a year, its likely that there are files on your hard drive that couple be deleted. This happens when programs are loaded on to your computer, you're downloading information from your browser, or even updating that come from Microsoft to keep your operating system with the latest security and performance improvements. Over time, these files, which get stored in installation and temp folders on your C: drive can rob you of storage space. Here are a couple ways to clear files that are no longer needed.

Using Windows tools to free hard drive (HD) space - Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 all provide a tool (Disk Cleanup) that automatically looks thru the places where temp files are stored on your computer, and identifies which can be deleted (and the amount of space that will be freed up). Go to START/ALL PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS, and select DISK CLEANUP.

• Select the disk drive you want to clean (most will only have a C: drive)
• Click OK and it will  search your hard drive for files to be cleaned (and amount of space freed)... this could take a few minutes
• A window will pop up showing check marks next to items which can be safely removed. It will also show some other items that could be removed if you don't use them.
• When you are done reviewing what will be deleted, hit OK. It will ask you if you are sure, click OK again.

Microsoft Office - Using Templates

Microsoft has literally thousands of templates that have been created for use with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. These templates save you from recreating forms. Examples are:

• Brochures
• Calendars
• Certificates
• Invoices
• Letters/Newsletters
• Resumes
• Time sheets

Using Templates in Microsoft Office Applications - There are a couple ways o find templates that you can customize for your needs.

Method 1 - Using the Microsoft Office Software on your computer

• Open your Microsoft Office application (Word, Excel, Powerpoint).
• Click on NEW.  You'll see along the side options to choose (eg. blank document, blank web page, and "Templates").
• Select a category that you are interested in, and you'll see several templates you can use.
• Select a template you want to use and follow instructions (the procedure is slightly different between versions of Microsoft Office), and hit OK.
• The template will open on your computer, and you can edit the template to suit your needs.
• Save with your file name when done.

Method 2 - Using the Microsoft Office Web site

• Go to the Microsoft Office Templates website
• Select the category you are interested in.
• Click on the template that you want to use, and click on DOWNLOAD.
• The template will be downloaded. Click on the download, and it will open in the Office application it was designed in. You can now edit it to your needs

Web Browsers - Adding Bookmarks Bar at top of Browser

If you have certain web sites you frequently go to, there's a slick way of putting those links at the top edge of every browser window you open. Each browser version (IE, Firefox, Chrome) does it slightly different. Once installed, a single mouse click on the link and your site is open. No need to go to favorites or type in the site URL!

Bookmarks Toolbar using MOZILLA FIREFOX

• At the top of the Firefox Browser window, select VIEWS/TOOLBARS and check BOOKMARKS TOOLBAR
• Firefox browser window will now show links across the top of the browser window
• To add a link you frequently visit,  do the following:

• Open the web site in your browser window,
• Once open, move your mouse cursor over the icon the the left of the web site address
• Hold your LEFT MOUSE BUTTON down and drag it to the area where the links are shown for the BOOKMARKS TOOLBAR
• You'll see a little mark appear indicating it will place the link in that spot.
• Release the mouse button, and now you will see a new link to the website

§  You can edit the name by clicking on this icon with your right mouse button and selecting PROPERTIES, then hilighting the name and changing it to whatever you want, and then clicking on SAVE 

·         To delete a link form the BOOKMARKS TOOLBAR:

o    Move mouse cursor to link in the BOOKMARKS TOOLBAR you want to remove and click on it, using RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON

o    Select DELETE

Bookmarks Toolbar using MICROSOFT IE

·         At the top of the IE Browser window, select TOOLS/TOOLBARS and FAVORITES TOOLBAR

·         IE browser window will now show links across the top of the window

·         To add a link you frequently visit,  do the following:

o    Open the web site in your browser,

o    Once open, move your mouse cursor over the icon the the left of the web site address

o    Hold your LEFT MOUSE BUTTON down and drag it to the area where the links are shown for the FAVORITES TOOLBAR

o    You'll see a little mark appear indicating it will place the link in that spot.

o    Release the mouse button, and now you will see a new link to the website

§  You can edit the name by clicking on this icon with your right mouse button and selecting RENAME, then hilighting the name and changing it to whatever you want, and then clicking on SAVE 

·         To delete a link form the FAVORITES TOOLBAR:

o    Move mouse cursor to link in the FAVORITES TOOLBAR you want to remove and click on it, using RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON

o    Select DELETE

Bookmarks Toolbar using GOOGLE CHROME

• At the top of the Chrome Browser window, select TOOLS icon and select ALWAYS SHOW BOOKMARKS BAR
• Chrome browser window will now show links across the top of the window
• To add a link you frequently visit,  do the following:
• Open the web site in your browser,
• Once open, move your mouse cursor over the icon the the left of the web site address
• Hold your LEFT MOUSE BUTTON down and drag it to the area where the links are shown for the FAVORITES TOOLBAR
• You'll see a little mark appear indicating it will place the link in that spot.
• Release the mouse button, and now you will see a new link to the website
• You can edit the name by clicking on this icon with your right mouse button and selecting EDIT, then hilighting the name and changing it to whatever you want, and then clicking on SAVE 
• To delete a link form the FAVORITES TOOLBAR:
• Move mouse cursor to link in the FAVORITES TOOLBAR you want to remove and click on it, using RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON
• Select DELETE

Technology News

This section will be used to share info on new technology regarding computers, software, cameras, cell phones and media in general

Store and transfer large/multiple files to other computers and other people - 

Have you ever taken a bunch of phoots and wanted to share with others, but couldn't due the the file size(s) is too large, and your mail service will not allow you to send them? There a great free application available called Dropbox which will provide you a way to share with others.

Dropbox offers 2 Gigabytes of free storage online, which you can "share" with others (you can increase this amount by recommending others to Dropbox). Once they register, you receive an additional 250 Megabytes for each person registered.

How Dropbox works

• Go to DROPBOX.COM and register.
• Download and install the software on the computer you want to use. It will create a "My Dropbox" folder in your "My Documents" Folder. Use this just like you would any folder on your computer (cut, paste, copy, delete, etc.).
• Place files you want to share with others in the "My Dropbox" folder
• Go to START/ALL PROGRAMS/DROPBOX/DROPBOX
• A "blue box" icon will appear on your task bar (Lower RH Corner of screen)
• Click on this icon with YOUR RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, and click on LAUNCH DROPBOX WEBSITE
• You will see a listing of the files you placed in your Dropbox folder
• To share a file or folder from this with another person:
• Move mouse icon over the file/folder you want to share
• A "downward V" will appear to the right - click on it
• A window will appear, where you select SHARE FOLDER OPTIONS
• In the window that appears, add the email address(es) you want to share with in the top panel, and in the bottom window add any note you want to communicate to the person(s)
• Click INVITE

• That's all there is.. your friend(s) will receive an email with a link to this file/folder that they can copy to their computer to view or use.

Manage your Computer Files - Windows Explorer 101

OK, admit it... you have stored files on your computer for years and never taken the time to manage how they are organized, or how you would go about rearranging the files even if you wanted to. What better time than now to set a New Year's resolution to get your computer organized to make you more effective in computing.

This Rick's Computing Tips will show you how to use the Windows Explorer feature, and provide some simple ways to manage your files, photos, and music.

What is Windows Explorer?
Windows Explorer is an application on Windows operating systems that shows you folders and files on your computer.
To open Windows Explorer, go to START, select PROGRAM FILES, and then select ACCESSORIES, and finally, select WINDOWS EXPLORER. (See image).

Once you do this a window similar to the following will open up
(Note: settings for Windows Explorer may cause the image to look slightly different from this image).

Let's 1st talk about the sections of this image.

• "Address Bar" - This is the top line on the window where the path to the file you select is shown. For example, in the sample above, it shows and then the words "Rick" and "Document". This is indicating that the files shown in the main window are from the User "Rick", and in his "Documents" folder.
  
• "Organize & View" Section - This is the control bar where you can change the look of this window (Organize) or the look of the files (Views)
• "Favorite Links" - This shows default links on your computer, plus links you define that you use frequently. This can help you navigate quickly to a file/folder you use often.
• "Folders" - This allows you to display the folder structure of your computer (or a specific folder within your computer)
• Main Section - This is where the folders/files in a folder (the folder hilighted on the "Folders" section) are displayed.

Setup the Windows Explorer Layout
This is done by selecting the "Organize" button, and then "Layout". The little window that opens will show 4 options to choose ("Menu Bar", "Details Pane", "Preview Pane", and "Navigation Pane"). The image displayed here has all three options selected ("Details", "Navigation" and "Preview"). Note - Windows will hilight the options that are active, so in this case, all but "Details Pane" will show as hilighted when you click on "Organize" and "Layouts". If you don't care to see a preview of the file (far right section of the Windows Explorer window) that you hilight in the "Main Section", click on the "Preview Pane". It will no longer be hilighted, and the pane on the right side of the Windows Explorer window will go away. Play around with the different combinations to find one that suits you best.

"Favorite Links"
This is great for folders you tend to store things in frequently, and allows you to place a link here that displays the files/folders in the location you set for that link. So how do you create a shortcut? Its really simple:

• In the "Main Section" or the "Folder Section" hilight the folder you would like to make a "Favorite".
• Hold your LEFT mouse button down after hilighting the folder, and DRAG the "folder icon" up into the "Favorite Links" section, and once you find the place you want the link to display in the list of Favorites, release the LEFT mouse button. There you go! You now have a shortcut you can click on to take you directly to the files in that folder. (Note: This ONLY WORKS WITH FOLDERS - you cannot create "Favorite Links" of files.)

Find Files
There are several ways to find a file. We'll look at a couple of them.

• Computer Search Tool - This method uses your computer to find it for you. This is done using the "Search" box that is displayed in the upper RH corner of the Windows Explorer window. Just type in all (or a portion) of the file/photo/folder name in the "Search" box. In the "Main Section" of the Windows Explorer window will appear all the files on your computer with the word/letters you type in the "Search Box". To select one, double click on it, and it will open.
  
• Browsing the "Folders" section -This section can expand to show sub-folders, and allow you to navigate down to the folder where your file is stored. To do this, HILIGHT the Folder you want to go into in the "Folders Section", and as you do, you will see a symbol to the left of it (either a "+" or an ">"). Click on that symbol to show the "Sub-Folders". Continue this on the folders within the folders until you find your file in the "Main Section". Double click on the file to open it.

Organizing Files/Folders
Now that you have the basic functions of Windows Explorer, lets talk about organizing files. Its important to 1st explain that Windows sets up a basic location called "My Documents" on your computer hard drive for users to manage files. This has been done to help identify personal files different from the operating system files, and makes them easier to separate for backing up files or transferring only your personal files to a new computer. Of course, you can store files anywhere on your computer, but if you ever want to back up your files to protect them from loss, or minimize the work you have to do to copy your personal files between multiple computers, using "My Documents" as your storage location is a good plan.
Within "My Documents" there are already folders created for "My Music", "My Pictures", "My Videos", etc. This is great for storing photos you have download. music you have for your iPod or MP3 player. You can also add folders in "My Documents" for other types of info you want to group.

Create a new folder in "My Documents"

• In your Windows Explorer "Folders" section, hilight "My Documents" (or "Documents" in Vista), press your RIGHT mouse button, and in the menu that pops up select "New" and then "Folder".
  
• A new folder will appear in the list with the Folder Name hilighted. This is done so you can immediately type in the name you want for the new folder. Type in the Folder Name you want and hit enter. That's it! Now, whenever you have a file to save, when you do a "Save" and the window pops up for you to select a location to save it, just navigate to that folder, double click it, and hit "save".

Move Files/Folders in Windows Explorer - There are times where you want to MOVE a file/folder to a different place on your computer. Its easiey done using Windows Explorer.

• Click on the file/folder in either the "Main Section" or the "Folder Section" to hilight it.
  
• Place your mouse pointer on the hilighted file/folder icon, hold down the LEFT mouse button, and drag it to (on top of) the new folder you want to place it in (you should see a little "arrow" underneath the file/folder you are moving which says "move to"), and release your RIGHT mouse button. The file/folder will be MOVED to that location.

Copy Files/Folders in Windows Explorer - There are times where you want to COPY a file/folder to a different place on your computer. Its easiey done using Windows Explorer.

• Click on the file/folder in either the "Main Section" or the "Folder Section" to hilight it.
  
• Press and Hold down the "CTRL" botton, then place your mouse pointer on the hilighted file/folder icon, hold down the LEFT mouse button, and drag it to (on top of) the new folder you want to place it in (you should see a little "+" underneath the file/folder you are moving which says "copy to"), and release your RIGHT mouse button. The file/folder will be COPIED to that location.

Those are the "basics" to file management. Many of the things described here can also be done when you hit the "save as" command in applications (move/copy, rename, etc.), in the window that appears (looks like a mini-Windows Explorer). There are alot of other "techniques" that can be used to further optimize file storage, but the tips above should help you make your computer more organized in 2009!

Editing Photos from your Digital Camera

Like many of us, you probably own a digital camera and have been wondering how to download the pictures to your computer, and use them for things like email, newsletters, or even posting on the web. Some of you daring souls would even like to edit them! This edition will show you how to download your photos, and do some basic editing to them (reduce file size, rotate images, remove red eye, crop an area of the photos, and adjust brightness, contrast, and colors). S let's get started~!

DOWNLOADING PHOTOS TO YOUR COMPUTER

All cameras should come with a cable that has a USB port end and an end that goes into one of the ports on your camera.

• Connect the cable to the camera, and then put the USB port into a port on your computer/laptop.
• Turn on your camera. Normally, you should hear your computer make a sound "da-dup", which signifies the computer is acknowledging something is hooked to the computer, and its looking for the software to use the device (camera).

- Watch the Task Bar at the bottom of your monitor (lower left).... you'll likely
see a little popup appear describing what is happening. Once everything is set up
it should say "(the device) is connected"

• Another window will pop up which is the "AutoPlay" menu (see image). This is where you select the method to download the photos.

• Select the item called "Import Photos using Windows"
• The computer will then begin importing the photos (a window will pop up when it is doing this), and it will ask you to "enter a tag". This is optional, but is a nice feature, which allows you to find different photos later if you don't remember where you put them on your computer.
  
• Click on the "Import" button, and your photos will be loaded to your computer
• Next, a new window will open. This is the "Windows Photo Gallery". It will show all the photos you just downloaded, as well as all the other photos you may have downloaded before. Here is a sample image of this window

EDITING PHOTOS
Ever had photos you took come out too dark, too light, people with "red eyes", or with items in them you don't want in the photo? Well, now you can edit your photos to fix them. In this issue, you'll see how to do the following:

• Reduce Photo File Size
  
• Rotate Image
• Remove Red Eye
• Crop
• Adjust Exposure
• Adjust Color

Reducing Photo File Size - As digital cameras get higher quality capabilities, the photos file sizes continue to increase. A digital camera with a 8-10megapixels will produce a photo file of 3-4MB. This can result in problems emailing, as some email services have a limitation on how big an attachment can be in an email. To avoid this, you can reduce the photos file size by reducing the photo quality. Don't worry, it won't affect the photo like you think... It will still look great unless you want to create an 8x10 or larger photo copy. For viewing on the web, or your computer, reducing the photo quality is rarely noticeable.

So how do you do it?
Using Windows Photo Gallery:

• Click on "EMAIL" at the top
• In the window that opens, slect one of the size options (Smaller, small, medium, large, & original). You will see the file size listed next to it.
  
• Once you select the size, the computer will open the email system (and a new email message) you have specified in your "Internet Options" (Control Panel in Windows)
• Then send the email as you normally would do.

Using Microsoft Office Picture Manager (part of MS Office Software):

• Open the image you want to resize using MICROSOFT OFFICE PICTURE MANAGER
• Click on the "FILE" command at the top of the window, and select "EXPORT".

• In the window that opens on the right (see image), under the area that is listed as "export with this file format", click on "jpeg options".

• Click on the "Select a custom compression setting", and enter a "compression amount" in the box. I use 30, which is 70% compression. You can use any value, but the smaller the number, the smaller the file size.
  
• Click on "return to export" at the bottom of the box on the right.
• I normally add an "R" at the end of the file name that is listed in the "Export with this file name" box so you can keep the original, and save this as a separate photo file
• Click on the "OK" button to finish the compression.

You now have a file of the selected image which is 30% the size of the original.

Rotating Image - This usually is necessary when you turn your camera to a vertical position when taking a picture. While this won't matter if you just send your photos in to photo shop to make prints, if you want to use it online, in a newsletter, etc, you'll need to rotate it to make it appear correct. We'll use the following photo as an example:

Using the image above as an example, click on either one of the "circle" arrows to rotate the photo. In this case we want to rotate the photo "counter-clockwise" so we click on the LEFT "circle arrow". The photos will now be upright. Hit "save" to keep photo this way.

Remove Red Eye - Red Eye results from the light of the flash is reflecting from the retina, which is covered with tiny blood vessels. The more open the pupils are, the more red eye effect you get in your photos. Red eye is more pronounced in people with light eye color. It is also more pronounced in people with blond or light-red hair and in children.

So how do you fix it? Using this example:

• Using the Windows Photo Gallery, click on the word "FIX" at the top of the window, and then click on "FIX RED EYE" option on the right.
  
• Following the description that pops up, position your mouse near the eye, hold down the Left mouse button and drag across the eye, creating a rectangle that surrounds the eye. When you release the mouse button, the red eye will disappear.
• If some red eye remains, repeat the process.

Crop Image - Cropping images is convenient when you have photos that have areas on the image which you don't want in the picture. The example below shows the concept of cropping. The tool will allow you to draw a box around the area of the image you want to keep (light colored rectangle in photo below), and once you hit the "crop" button the area of the photo outside the rectangle goes away.


To crop a photo do the following:

• Using the Windows Photo Gallery, click on the word "FIX" at the top of the window, and then click on "CROP PICTURE" option on the right.
• Note that a rectangle appears around in the middle of the photo. This is the "CUSTOM" mode under the "PROPORTION" option on the right side of the window. This will allow you to change the rectangle position or size to your desired height and width.
  

- To adjust the rectangle size, position your cursor on one of the white squares at the
mid-point of the lines or in the corners, and holding your LH mouse button down,
drag the line/corner to where you want it. When you have the position you want
click on the "APPLY" button.
- To move the rectangle, position your mouse inside the rectangle, and while holding
down the LH mouse button, drag the rectangle to where you want it.

• You can select a standard photos sizes by clicking on the word "CUSTOM", and selecting the photo size you want. When you do this, the rectangle shape will change to that photo size. Move the rectangle around to position it as you want the photo to appear.
  
• When you have the position you want click on the "APPLY" button.

Adjusting Exposure -This is great for increasing/decreasing contrast or brightness of the image. You can try different levels to see what helps make the photo look better.

To adjust the exposure on a photo do the following:

• Using the Windows Photo Gallery, click on the word "FIX" at the top of the window, and then click on "ADJUST EXPOSURE" option on the right.
• You will see two slider bars (BRIGHTNESS & CONTRAST) on the right.
• Position your cursor over one or the other. Holding down the LH mouse button, drag the marker to the left or right until you find the CONTRAST or BRIGHTNESS you want.
  
• Once you are done, click on the "x" in the upper RH corner of the window (just above where you adjusted the exposure)

Adjusting Color -This allows you to adjust the "COLOR TEMPERATURE, TINT, and/or COLOR SATURATION of the image. You can try different levels to see what helps make the photo look better.

To adjust the color on a photo do the following:

• Using the Windows Photo Gallery, click on the word "FIX" at the top of the window, and then click on "ADJUST COLOR" option on the right.
• You will see three slider bars (COLOR TEMPERATURE, TINT, and/or COLOR SATURATION) on the right.
• Position your cursor over one or the other. Holding down the LH mouse button, drag the marker to the left or right until you find the COLOR TEMPERATURE, TINT, and/or COLOR SATURATION you want.
  
• Once you are done, click on the "x" in the upper RH corner of the window (just above where you adjusted the exposure)

There you go... some basic tips on downloading and editing your digital camera photos.... I should note that even if you are still using film cameras, you can still edit photos on your computer if you take your film to the developer and ask them to put the images on a CD. Then, all you do is load your CD into your computer, and copy the images from the cd to your computer hard drive. Then you can use all the techniques listed above to edit these photos too!

Enjoy! - Rick

Backing up Data on Your Computer

How many of you reading this have had some sort of computer failure where you lost "important" information on your computer? Well, if you haven't yet, your time is coming..... Hard drives will fail eventually, and unless you establish a method for backing up your data in a separate storage device, you will likely experience this gut wrenching event at one point of your computing experience.

This blog will give you 3 techniques for backing up your data to help reduce the pain of a computer hardware crash. There are several ways to back up your important data, but these 3 are fairly simple to do.

Easiest Backup Technique
This technique requires you to have a "thumb drive", or "memory stick". You've probably seen these in ads, or others carrying them in their pocket. Essentially these are small "hard drives" (actually they use "flash" memory, and are sometimes called "flash drives") that you can plug into one of your USB ports on your computer. Then, when you click on "My Computer" in your Start Menu, you will see a line that says "removable drive" listed along with your C:, D:, and other computer drives. Thumb drives come in all sorts of capacities, from 256 megabytes (mb) to over 32 gigabytes (gb), and prices from $5 to $40. My recommendation is to buy one no smaller then 4gb. This should be plenty of storage for general computer users. If you have alot of music or photos that you want to back up, then the next backup option likely will be more appropriate. Here are photos of "thumb drives".










To Backup using a "Thumb Drive":

• Insert thumb drive in USB port on a computer
• Click on "Start", and then "My Computer" and verify the thumb drive shows on the list of drives under "My computer". If it doesn't, remove thumb drive, and reinstall - check again.
• To back up info, go to the info you want to backup (eg. folder(s), files(s), image(s), etc.) on your C: drive, hilight the items and select "Copy" (or hold the CONTROL button down and hit the "C" key)
• Now, navigate to the thumb drive listed under your "My Computer", and double click on it to open it. Now, hit "Paste" (or hold down the CONTROL button and hit the "V" key) to put a copy of the file(s)/folder(s) on your thumb drive. That's it!

Note: it might be good to set up a "Backup Folder" on the thumb drive prior to storing data on it. That way, you have a separate folder for backed up data on your thumb drive, and can use the thumb drive to put other info you want on the drive separately. To set up a "Backup Folder" on your thumb drive:

• Double click on the "thumb drive (listed as Removeable Drive)" listed under "My Computer" to open it.
• Click on your "right" mouse button, and in the window that opens select "New folder"
• A new folder will appear with the name highlighted - just type BACKUP FOLDER and hit enter

Now, when you paste info onto the thumb drive, make sure you double click on the BACKUP FOLDER to open it before you "Paste" (or hold down the CONTROL button and hit the "V" key) to put a copy of the file(s)/folder(s) in the BACKUP FOLDER

Back Up File using a "Portable Hard Drive"
The latest storage method to become popular is the "portable hard drive". These come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and can store from 30gb-1000gb (or 1 terabyte (tb)). This type is best for when you have large amounts of photos, video, music files that require alot of storage space. These are similar to "Thumb Drives", in that they work by plugging it into a USB port, and show as a "removeable drive" under your "My Computer" drives. These portable drives may also require you to plug in a power cord to operate. Here are a couple examples of portable hard drives.









Backing up to these devices is just the same as with the Thumb Drive:

• Insert USB port from the "portable hard drive" into the computer
• Click on "Start", and then "My Computer" and verify the portable hard drive shows on the list of drives under "My computer". If it doesn't, remove USB plug, and reinstall - check again.
• To back up info, go to the info you want to backup (eg. folder(s), files(s), image(s), etc.) on your C: drive, hilight the items and select "Copy" (or hold the CONTROL button down and hit the C key)
• Now, navigate to the portable hard drive listed under your "My Computer", and double click on it to open it. Now, hit "Paste" (or hold down the CONTROL button and hit the V key) to put a copy of the file(s)/folder(s) on your portable hard drive. That's it!

Using a Backup Program
Finally, the best solution to backing up your data is to use a program installed on your computer, that does this on a regular basis, and doesn't require you to do anything after you set it up. There are tons of programs out on the market, but I found a very good "freeware" backup program called Cobian Backup. This program allows you to select the files/folders you want to have backed up, let's you select how frequently (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.), and allows you to store the info on a different drive (thumb, external/portable hard drive, or 2nd internal hard drive). IMPORTANT - YOU NEED A DIFFERENT LOCATION THAN YOUR C: DRIVE! This program will allow you to back up data automatically (set a time when your computer will be on, and it runs at that time), or manually (you open the Cobian Backup program and select "run program").

To use this program, its is necessary that the 2nd drive (thumb drive, external/portable HD, or 2nd internal HD) connected to your computer. Many leave this drive attached to the computer all the time, and only disconnect when needing to take the drive to another computer. Then its like having another hard drive on your computer!

Rather than detail the steps to setup "Cobian Backup" in this blog, if you are interested in setting up this program on your computer, contact me and I'll walk you thru it.

There you go, some easy steps to help you protect that important information you store on your computer. Believe me, once you have a hard drive crash and lose your contact lists, favorite photos, iPod music, or important personal info, you'll be wishing you had done this!

- Rick

Create (and Share) your Calendar Online!

We are all busy with day to day appointments, meetings, and places to be. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to check on a friend or colleague's schedule before trying to hook up with them? Well, today there are several ways to create a calendar online, that you can share (if you want). The advantage of having an online calendar is that a) its available for those you want to see it, and b) you can update it from anywhere you can access the internet via a computer.
AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Hotmail, and most major email providers now have versions of online calendars that you can use, and they're free. Simply sign in to your email (or register for a new email account at the site), and you are ready to go!
The system I have found very convenient is provided by Google. I will show how to set up a Google Calendar since I use theirs, but the above mentioned sites all work in a similar fashion.
All set? Here goes...

The 1st thing to do is go to www.google.com/Calendar. Once there, you can click on the "Take a tour of Google Calendar", or get right at it, setting up your calendar. If you already have a GMail account, just long in with it to get started. If you do not, click on the "Create an Account" button.

Creating an Account:

• Enter your email address in the 1st boxFill in remaining information
• Hit enter.
• Check your email account, and look for a Verification email from GCalendar.
  
• Once you click on the verification link you are now a proud owner of a Google Calendar (or GCalendar as us "tekkies" refer to it!) :-)

Setting up an Appointment:

• Click on the calendar day you want to put the apointment on (calendar at left).
• The window will change to that day. Note, if you have a multi-day event, drag your mouse across the days you want in the calendar at the left, and those days will show in the window for you to select.
• Let's say you have a 3 day vacation planned for Labor Day, so Click on Aug. 30th, and drag across to Sept. 1st, and those 3 days appear
• Next, drag your mouse across the 3 boxes at the top (just onder the dates (Sat 8/30, Sun 8/31, and Mon 9/01)
• You'll see a little window pop up. Click on "edit event details". This will open a window where you can put in all the details of your 3 day event (Event Name, Whether it repeats, Location, Description (here you can list itinerary, contact numbers, etc.), Options (want a reminder sent to you? Want to be shown as "busy" during this time?)and sharing (Want this to be shared, or kept private?)
  
• Hit Save, and that's it!

So now you have your own personal calendar, where you can go to and check, add, delete appointments at any time you can access a the internet.

OK, so what about "sharing your calendar? As you saw, the options allow you to determine what can be shared, and what will remain private. Let's say you wanted your spouse, or say, your investment club to be able to see your calendar. Here's how you do that.

Sharing a Calendar:

On the LH side of your calendar, you'll see "My calendars". Your name should be there. Click on the "Settings" link just below it. Here you will now be able to determine who can see the calendar. Simply do the following to provide them access:

• Enter the person's email address
• Determine the level of access you want them to have (click on "down" arrow in the white box underneath PERMISSION SETTINGS)
• Click on "Add Person" button
  

Once you complete this, the person you added will get an email with instructions on how to view and add their own calendar.

Other "Tweaks"
There are some other cool things you can do. If your friends also have GCalendars, you can add them to yours so you can see their schedules right next to yours. Simply do the following:

• Click on the "Add" link underneather the "Other Calendars" box on the left
• Select the option you want (choose a person's email address), and hit "Add"
• This sends them a request to add their calendar to your calendar. If they are not a GCalendar user, it will ask them if they want to create one.
  
• If they do add theirs to your list, it will show up in your list of "My Calendars" on the Left. It will be a different color, and their events will now show in that color on your calendar.
  
• You have the option to turn their calendar "on" or "off" any time (use "settings" under "Other Calendars".
  

There you have it! Now you can be in the know on your schedule any time, any place, and share with anyone!