Computer Info –
This Week’s Meeting
We would like to thank Keith McDonald for his participation in demonstrating Microsoft’s MovieMaker at the last meeting.
This week we will look at writing CDs using Roxio’s EasyCD Creator. But mostly – let’s do questions and answers.
The next meeting will be next week, August 4th.
Display All Programs in Windows XP
Windows XP is different ----- Right click on the START button – choose PROPERTIES. Then CUSTOMIZE – take the check mark out of SCROLL PROGRAMS. That will display all of the programs at once.
MovieMaker
MovieMaker comes with Windows ME and Windows XP. But the features that Keith demonstrated are not available in that version. You will have to upgrade (it is free) to the latest version of MovieMaker.
Can import audio, video and still pictures into collection – to use for your project.
It allows you to easily use various video transitions between pictures as well as vary the time interval between picture changes.
It allows you to add titles at the beginning of your presentation – before a particular picture (or clip) – and add credits at the end of your presentation. You have complete control over the font, font size and color for your text.
By using the storyboard, you can fade your music out (by overlapping it to the beginning of the next selection).
Check at Microsoft’s web site to download a funpack for MovieMaker. Also check out their newsletters and forums for MovieMaker.
The file extension for MovieMaker project file is MSWMM. Save your project as a video file and then the extension is WMA. This file can be inserted in a PowerPoint presentation.
OpenOffice
Keith mentioned that Open Office was a very good FREE (he likes that word) word processor and spreadsheet and that they are very compatible with Word and Excel.
Itunes
Itunes is a very good media player that can be downloaded again for FREE (that word that Keith likes).
Correcting Spacing Between
Paragraphs in Word
This is one that has frustrated me many times. When I copy some text from a different source (such as the internet) and then paste it into my Word document --- it will be double-spaced before and after the paragraph. I right-click and choose paragraph and notice that the spacing before and after the paragraph is set to AUTO. I have to change it to zero (0) to correct it.