Computer Info – October 16, 2002

 

This Week’s Meeting

            I think we will discuss creating CD labels using EasyCD Creator and CD Stomper.  We will also look at creating CDs using EasyCD Creator 5. 

 

Office In Color

            There were some questions last week about Office in Color and it being installed with Office 97.  I had never heard of it so I looked it up on the internet.  What I learned was that Office In Color is a program that comes with many HP printers (and maybe their computers). 

            It is NOT a program written by Microsoft but a company called KMT.  It is an Add-on program that presents it’s own toolbar when using MS-Word or Excel or some of the other programs in the Microsoft Office package. 

            There are some help files for using this program (add-on) at the following web site.                   

                                    http://www.swgc.mun.ca/computing/hp4500/dsce.htm

 

Recording Into Computer – Using the Volume Control

            The secret to recording into your computer is the VOLUME CONTROL.  Most of us have a speaker icon on the taskbar near the clock.  If you left click on it once, it will open the master volume control – a slide bar that controls the output of your speakers.  If you double click with the left mouse button, it will open up many specific volume controls.  There should be one for playing WAV’s – MIDI’s – CD’s – using your MICROPHONE, etc.  Notice that each one of these can be muted.  So if you are not hearing audio when playing certain types of audio files, see if there is a checkmark in the MUTE box.  Normally, the only one that we mute is the microphone – to prevent feedback from the speakers.

            But if we want to record something into our computer from a cassette player, how do we know what input device is the one selected and what the volume level of it is.  When you have double clicked on the volume control and are viewing the play volumes – on the top menus, choose OPTIONS and then PROPERTIES.  Notice that it says you can adjust the volume for PLAYBACK or RECORDING.  Place a checkmark next to RECORDING.  Then click OK.  The volume controls that are now shown are for INPUT (or recording).  Don’t stop yet.  This time instead of having a mute checkbox under the specific volume controls, there is a SELECT box.  Be sure to place a checkmark in the SELECT box for the device that you are trying to record from.

 

WMV (Windows Media File)

            This is the definition of WMV that I found on the internet -- WMV stands for Windows Media Video – a video format that was developed and controlled by Microsoft.  WMV is a generic name of Microsoft's video encoding solutions and doesn't necessarily define the technology what it uses -- since version 7 (WMV7) Microsoft has used its own flavor of MPEG-4 video encoding technology (not very surprising, it's not compatible with other MPEG-4 technologies.)

            I didn’t find a good solution to converting it to a MPEG (MPG) format or an AVI.  But you are wondering why we should convert it.  Well, here is what prompted us to look for a solution.  It wasn’t recognized by everyone’s system.  If you are using the latest version of  Microsoft’s MovieMaker to create it, it is not recognized by older systems.  If you wish to now convert it to an MPG which is what we call the “standard” – it is hard to find a program that will do it.  If you wish to make a VideoCD from it, you are told that it cannot do it from that format.

            Here is how we were able to accomplish making a VideoCD from the WMV.  First, we are running Windows XP and the Windows Media Player will recognize the format and allow us to play it.  But there is no ability to convert it or record it to a VideoCD.  Next we tried bringing it into VideoWave 4.0 – it could not be read into it.  Next we tried bringing it into VideoWave 5.0 – that version could read it.  From that program, we recorded it as a MPEG-1 format.  We then opened Roxio EasyCD Creator 5.0 and tried to create a VideoCD from it – but it would not accept that type of MPEG to record as a VideoCD.  Back to VideoWave 5.0 – this time we recorded it as a MPEG (VideoCD format).  This time EasyCD Creator allowed us to create the VideoCD – that can be played in any DVD player that has the ability to play VideoCD’s.

 

Excel – Shortcut Keys

CTRL-HOME

            Moves the pointer to A1

PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN

            Scroll up or down through your worksheet, one screen at a time.

ALT-PAGE UP or ALT PAGE DOWN

            Moves the pointer one screen to the left or right.

CTRL-SPACEBAR

            Selects the entire column

SHIFT-SPACEBAR

            Selects the entire row.

CTRL-A

            Selects the entire worksheet