Usability

Smartphones Aren’t All That Smart

By terry Leave a Comment

In my online computer tips newsletter, I wrote several articles about my new Cingular 8525 smartphone.

First, what is a “smartphone?” It’s a combination of a cellphone and a personal digital assistant – a PDA.

I this case, I bought the Cingular 8525, which is Cingular’s latest and greatest model smartphone. It runs Windows Mobile 5 as its operating system.

That’s the first problem. Despite the hype, a smartphone is not a PDA with a cellphone built in. It’s actually a new and different device — with a new and different operating system. Think Windows XP versus Windows Me versus Windows 98.

Just because something works on a Windows Pocket PC doesn’t mean that it will work on a Windows Mobile smartphone. It probably won’t. You’ll need to get the Windows Mobile version for a smartphone.

But, that’s not always enough. I ran into software that worked on other Windows Mobile 5 smartphones, but would not work properly on the one I got. Whether this was a hardware design problem, a Windows Mobile 5 customization problem for that phone, or whether I had a bad unit, I ended up with an unacceptable smartphone.

Read more in my article Cingular 8525 Smartphone Gets the Heave-Ho!

Filed Under: Cellphones, PDAs, Smartphones, Software, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability

HowTo: Email a Web Site Address

By terry Leave a Comment

Have you ever received an email that had a broken link?

Sometimes, the length of a URL is so long, or it’s at the “wrong point” in a sentence such that the email program breaks the URL — and wraps part of it onto the next line of the email.

If we’re sending the email to a mailing list, our email program may not break the link, but the mailing list program might do that.

We can solve the problem sometimes by making sure that we paste the URL into the first column of a line of the email.

Other times, that’s not enough.

Fortunately, there is a free fix…

Continue reading HowTo: Email a Web Site Address

Filed Under: Email, System Control, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability

HOWTO: Changing Program Icons

By terry Leave a Comment

Almost all purchased programs come with their own unique icons. Some are pretty or cute, while others are ugly.

If you create your own programs or Command files (.cmd) to run several commands, you’ll end up with a plain, unattractive default Windows icon for that file type.

However, you can change the icon to any other icon that you can find on your computer.

Most icons are actually encoded into the program files themselves, but Windows knows how to find them. Windows also has a set of generic icons that you can choose to use.

Let’s create a Windows shortcut to immediately shut down your computer, without getting the Stand By, Turn Off, Restart or Cancel.

1. Right-click on a blank part of the Windows Desktop, and select New, Shortcut.
2. In the “Type the location of the item:” box, enter the following:
shutdown.exe -s -t 0
(don’t miss the “-s -t 0″ part — they mean shutdown, time delay, 0 seconds)

Continue reading the full HOWTO: Changing Program Icons article with images…

Filed Under: HowTo, Other, Software, System Control, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

Why I Recommend Firefox…

By terry Leave a Comment

I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten on the Firefox versus Internet Explorer subject in my newsletter. For a while last year, I beat it to death…

But, recently, in responding to a reader’s question, I mentioned that I recommended Firefox over IE for web browsing. His response was “You Do?”

The reason that I recommend Firefox over Internet Explorer boils down to security while web surfing.

First, there’s the ActiveX issue.

ActiveX is a proprietary Microsoft technology that allows a web site to download a program to your computer via Internet Explorer � and to automatically run that program.

While Microsoft uses the innocuous term “ActiveX Control” for the program, you need to understand that this is a full-fledged program that can do anything on your computer — just like any other program can.

Unlike Java and JavaScript, ActiveX doesn’t run with any special security controls. That’s why people like Trend Micro can provide their marvelous online anti-virus scanner HouseCall to get rid of viruses. Windows doesn’t block their “ActiveX Control” from being able to work properly.

Unfortunately, the adware and spyware guys love this same feature — and use it to easily install adware, spyware, or usually “downloaders” (special programs that do nothing but download and install the programs that their masters wish you to run) onto your computer.

Before Windows XP Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer would blithely accept any ActiveX control that a web site wanted to give you.

Continue reading Why I Recommend Firefox…

Filed Under: Firefox, Free, Security, Software, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web Browsers, Windows XP

HOWTO: Adding a Print-To Button to Word, Excel or PowerPoint

By terry Leave a Comment

Recently, my HOWTO article was “Adding a SaveAs Button to Work/Excel/Powerpoint.

This week, we’ll add another button that I find very useful — the Print To button.

Why do I want to add a “Print To” button to Word (or Excel or Powerpoint?

In part, it is because I have three printers that I use routinely. But, the real reason is that I detest any function that prints only to the “default printer.” (Microsoft Word’s label wizard is another that prints only to the default printer.) So, I want to choose which printer ANY TIME that I print a document.

Filed Under: Office, Office Suites, Software, Usability

OpenOffice 2 – the free office suite

By terry Leave a Comment

OpenOffice.org is a free software office suite, available from the website of the same name. Most people just shorten the name to “OpenOffice,” but the “.org” is really part of the software’s name.

But, a lot of people like to drop the “.org” and refer to the free suite as OpenOffice.

Why is that part of the name? Good question.

Why should I use it? Because you can!

Filed Under: Free, Office, Office Suites, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability

Thinking About Broadband Internet Access

By terry Leave a Comment

If you’re still using dialup Internet access for use from home, you should start thinking about “broadband”.

What’s broadband? That’s the term for getting your Internet access via a cable or DSL connection, or even a fiber-optic connection if that’s available to you.

Ads by Terry
Slow PC? Clean It.
Tune Up Your PC with RegCure – Free Scan!
terryscomputertips.com/regc5

Free NetZero Dialup Account
Up to 10 Hours Per Month – Free! Great Backup for Cable Internet
terryscomputertips.com/NetZeroFree

During the roll-out stage of cable and DSL Internet access, there weren’t too many choices. If only one was available in your neighborhood, that’s the one you got.

For some of us, that’s still the case. Although I live in a relatively large city (Baton Rouge), my area of Baton Rouge does not have DSL access available. The phone company’s equipment servicing my subdivision is not compatible with DSL.

Unfortunately, just a few years before the DSL rollout started, the latest-and-greatest phone switching equipment was released � and it turned out to be incompatible with DSL.

Filed Under: Broadband, Cable, Dialup, DSL, Internet Access, Speed-up, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability

Picasa the Free Photo Editor and Organizer from Google

By terry Leave a Comment

The Picasa photo editor and organizer will surprise you with its unique interface and its amazing power. With Picasa, you can easily edit photos with basic fixes, as well as adding any of 12 lighting and color effects. You can organize your photos, write captions on them, and even order prints.

One way you can make more dramatic images, especially if you’re moving from a high-pixel photo to the much lower resolution of a web page, is to crop you photo to get only “the important stuff”. The reason I specify a high-resolution image for starting is that, if you want to print it later or expand it to be a Windows “desktop” background.

Picasa is extremely intuitive and, I found, a pleasure to use � especially when compared to most of the graphics editing progams available today.

Read more in my article Picasa � the Free Photo Editor and Organizer from Google and download the free Google Pack which includes Picasa from there.

Filed Under: Free, graphics, images, photos, Software, Storage, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

GoToMyPC – Remote Access to Your PC – Review

By terry Leave a Comment

As I wrote in one of my weekly newsletters, I’de been trying the 30-day free trial of GoToMyPC. I’m very impressed with this service and its capabilities.

GoToMyPC is designed to allow a PC user to access his computer remotely. This user might be a salesman, a tech support person, a business man who left some files at the office (or at home), a traveler for business or pleasure. Access could be from across town or across the country.

Getting Started With GoToMyPC – 30-day free trial

On the remote PC, the PC that you’re actually using, you use a Java-capable web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) to access your host computer (your office or home PC). Any web browsers that supports Sun Microsystems’ Java (free, www.java.com) will work, although not all features may be available on some browsers. You can even access and control your Windows PC from a Mac.

Filed Under: Firefox, Free Trials, Internet Explorer, Networking, Opera, Other, Software, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web Browsers

Slow-loading Web Browser Links

By terry 1 Comment

One of my forum readers in my Windows XP /2000/etc forum (which are now shut down thanks to too many spam posts) wrote about a problem he was having.

He wrote:

IE6 SP1 browser..links take long time to download

My computer contains: Athlon 3200gb, 1 gig Ram, I have WinXP SP2 Home, and IE 6 SP1. When I click on a link in my OE e-mail, I am immediately taken to the web-site. When on a web-site, and I click on a link within the site, it takes “forever” to download the page….I watch the green progress bar, not much happens. It says “done”, but I still have to wait a long time for the page to download. I click the F5 key to refresh and still it takes a long time for the page to download.

I’ve checked for malware (AdAware, SpyBot, MS anti spyware, CCleaner….none), I ran a system scan for viruses (AVG and then TrendMicro Housecall….no viruses), I cleaned out cache, Temp files and cookies. Nothing helps.

I also ran Start/Run/ sfc /scannow with my original Win XP CD and this didn’t help. I also ran IE Fix…didn’t help.

This problem occurs on e-mails with Links from e.g. PCMag.com; Lockergnome.com; AllExperts.com, etc.

What suggestions can U offer??

I would hate to format/reinstall.

_________________

Irving S.

I wrote back to Irving with a list of suggestions — and his problem was solved.

Read how in Slow-loading Web Browser Links

Filed Under: Firefox, Firewalls, Internet Explorer, Opera, Registry Repair, Speed-up, Stability, System Control, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web Browsers, Windows Repair, Windows XP