Computer Info –
This Week’s Meeting
Today’s
meeting will start will 10 minutes of questions and answers. Then Keith McDonald from
The next
meeting will be July 21st.
Watch for changes to our August meetings as Wes & I and John &
Terry will be off to
MovieMaker in Windows XP
Microsoft has released an upgraded version of the MovieMaker that is included in Windows XP. You can read about it and download it from this web site.
With this
program, you can import video, pictures and audio – and then combine them into
a movie of your own. When you are
finished with your video project – you can choose to save it as a movie to your
computer’s hard drive – or directly to a CD – or directly to a DVD – or have it
reduced in size suitable for sending via email.
With this program, you can save pictures directly from a video clip – there are 30 frames (or pictures) for every second of video that you have.
Ad-aware
Computer users now find themselves battling spyware (software that tracks a user’s online behavior and reports back to a third party) and adware (software that delivers targeted pop-up ads to a user’s computer).
Ad-aware has an established record of locating and removing the vast majority of spyware and adware files it encounters.
It can be downloaded for free from http://www.lavasoft.de
Word – Keeping Track of Changes
You can track all of the changes being made to a document. Open the document – then Opening the Reviewing Toolbar by clicking View Toolbars, and Reviewing and then clicking the Track Changes button. You can also activate the Track Changes function directly by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-E or double-clicking TRK in the status bar.
Now any of
the changes you or others make to the text will be shown with some combination
of a distinctive color, underline, or strikethrough mark. Changes are shown depending on the view you
are using to look at the document. Click
View,
Insertions in the Normal View are by default shown in color with an underline. Deletions are shown in a color with a strikethrough.
The Display For Review drop-down menu on the Reviewing Toolbar gives you several ways to view changes in your document.
Review changes made by a particular document reviewer by choosing Show and Reviewers and selecting only the reviewer whose changes you want to see.
One thing to learn ---- remember that you will be saving a file that will tend to grow and grow with the changes that are made to it.
Word – Making a backup of your file.
When you edit and save a document in Word, Word saves any changes with the document. This means that if it contains errors or you deleted a portion of your document --- then these changes become permanent and you can’t recover the file that you started with.
But Word does allow you to make a backup copy of the document (with a *.WBK – backup file). Click Tools, Options, and the Save tab, and check the Always Create Backup Copy checkbox. Word will then save the previous version as a backup when you save a document. Each new backup copy replaces the previous backup copy in your document folder, so there is only one backup file for any given document. This is a handy way to protect against accidental content loss due to error or file damage.
Internet Explorer – Install On Demand
Internet Explorer allows Web sites to automatically install software on demand. While this feature can be very convenient, it also opens a whopping security hole for spyware, viruses, and Trojan horses. You should disable the Install On Demand feature.
Click Tools, Internet Options, and the Advanced tab. Locate the Enable Install On Demand checkboxes and uncheck both boxes to protect your system. As a minimum, uncheck the Enable Install On Demand box. Apply your changes and click OK.
Service Pack Pioneer
Microsoft plans to release a new, improved version of Windows, Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2). This will include improvements to Windows XP’s built-in firewall, a pop-up ad blocker, anti-spyware features, and a number of other changes aimed at making Windows XP more secure.
You will be able to download the service pack 2 for free --- but remember the old saying – “Pioneers get arrows, settlers get land” --- this applies to those who install the Service Pack 2. If you are planning to install it, wait until two months after it is released. Two months should be sufficient time for the pioneers to discover the problems caused by SP2.
During the two months waiting time, read computer magazines and surf the Windows XP web forums to learn about the bugs discovered in SP2. Visit Windows XP Annoyances.Org forum
http://annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
and the Windows XP Gripes forum
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertone/default.mspx
You can find out more about this Service Pack by visiting
http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/productinfo/xpsp2/default.aspx
Free Games
John demonstrated some of the free games that you can download from the Miniclip website --
http://www.miniclip.com/Downloads.htm
-- so visit the site if you would like to try some of them. They are html files – so when you double click on the file after you have unzipped it – it will open your browser to play the game.