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I Do Windows|IDW021106 Episode
I Do Windows for Week Ending February 11, 2006Each week we help listeners improve their computer knowledge and participate more fully in the digital age. We introduce ways that computer can help listeners at work and at home.IDW021106Show Notes:- Answers to QuestionsBruce has broadband. His ISP wants to switch him from using a static IP address to a dynamic IP address. The ISP says he'll get faster performance. Should he make the switch?A static IP address means you have an IP address assigned to you. This great for hosting servers. A dynamic IP address is an IP address that changes every time you connect to the internet. The ISP pulls an IP address from a pool. This means your IP address is different all the time. Its a bit more difficult to host servers using a dynamic IP address. Don't believe the ISP about dynamic IP speeding up your connection. It has nothing to do with your connection speed.Joe wants to know more about the little key that appears at the bottom bar of a Web browser. How can he activate it?This key is an indicator used on sites that allow commerce or data entry. The key lets you know that the data that is being sent is encrypted to insure its security on the Internet. When you send data on the Internet, the path of delivery isn't a straight shot. The data actually hops from server to server. If it's not encrypted, it's possible for someone to read the data from the server. The security has to be activated by the site that is requesting the data. You can't turn it on. when you're shopping on the Internet, keep your eyes open for that key. If a site doesn't have it, take your business elsewhere.name unknown – Why is it that when I have a problem and Windows prepares a problem readout to Microsoft and I send it, I never get an answer?Just think for a minute how many copies of Windows XP are out there. There's no way Microsoft could possibly respond to them all. Error reporting may not be a complete waste of time though. According to Microsoft, these error messages are recorded and catalogued automatically. Vendors can get information about how often their software crashes and what the common error screnarios are. So I guess it's useful. You can disable error reporting in Windows XP by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties, clicking the Advanced tab then the Error Reporting button.name unknown – My father needs an easy program for creating web photo albums of his digital pictures easily.The answer depends on what he wants to do after he creates the albums. If he would like the capability of ordering prints and other photo products from them there are several sites that offer free album capabilities including Ofoto, Shutterfly and Snapfish. All three offer free storage, album sharing, and similiar print quality and pricing. Yahoo and AOL also offer photo albums. I think Ofoto is probably easiest to use, the software is free, and it offers some additional nice features like red-eye removal.http://www.ofoto.com http://www.shutterfly.com http://www.snapfish.com http://photos.yahoo.com http://www.flickr.com(How could I forget to mention Flickr during the show! I don't know I forgot that! ) Keith gets strange noise from his computer when he moves his mouse. It sounds a little like bad radio transmission. What can he do to fix this?What you are hearing is radio interference. You hear stuff when you move your mouse because that's the mouse transmitting signals to your computer. Try moving the sound card to a different slot. Also, move cables away from the sound card and speakers. This should help.- Hints and Tips - Excel tricksAdd a Calculator to Excel toolbar1) Choose View, Toolbars, Customize.2) Click on the Commands tab.3) In the Categories list, choose Tools.4) In the Commands list, choose Custom (you’ll see a little gray calculator icon next to it).5) Drag the calculator icon to the toolbar, letting it drop wherever you’d like it to reside.Paste into Another Application1) Select the cells you want to transfer.2) Hold down the Shift key and choose Edit, Copy Picture.3) Make certain that both “As shown on screen” and “Picture” are checked.4) Click in the non-Excel file where you want the Excel info to appear.5) Choose Edit, Paste.Create Vertical Titles1) Select the cell that contains your title and the cells you want the title to span.2) Choose Format, Cells (or use CTL+1) and click on the Alignment tab.3) In the degrees box, type 90.4) Under Text Control, check Merge Cells.5) Click on OK.Add Art to Spreadsheets1) Click the cell you want your fancy text to appear in. You could skip this step and drag the text to where you want it later. (WordArt doesn’t exist within cells, but rather over cells.)2) Select View, Toolbars and click on Drawing. This invokes the Drawing toolbar.3) Click on the WordArt icon to bring up the WordArt Gallery.4) Choose the fancy text that appeals to you, click it, and press OK.5) Enter the text you want displayed as WordArt.6) Using the text handles, shrink or enlarge your WordArt to the appropriate size.Save All Spreadsheets in One Fell SwoopTo save all of your spreadsheets at once, hold down the Shift key and open the File menu. The File menu will give you two new options:Save AllClose All
[ Wed, 01 Mar 2006 17:59:09 -0600 ]
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