|
Click for Presentation Materials: |
|
Computer and Technology |
|
12 Great Utilities for Less Than $10 Each Floyd presented and discussed 12 very useful utilities. The Utilities that he covered are: Days Ease. Makes calendar making easy. Screen Print32*. It allows you to capture user-selected areas of the screen. Other similar programs are: “Snag it”-drag and drop: and Microsoft Photo Editor. Start Up Control Panel*. It allows you to configure which programs run when your computer starts. It’s a “poor mans” version of the TUT program which has often been recommended here. Any Password*. You store all of your passwords in encrypted files that can be protected by a password. Shortcut Manager. It allows review of all shortcuts and provides tools to fix shortcut problems. Slice32. It allows you to cut files into manageable size for transport and distribution. Shred2. It deletes a file completely. HD Heartbeat 2. It monitors and warns you if your hard drive is getting too hot or is close to failing. Picture Slide Show*. It lets you continuously display all of the pictures in a folder. Disk action2. It can tell you what your disk is doing. File Warden. Files can be encrypted or securely deleted. FileSnoop. It obtains all essential information about the files on your system. Floyd brought up each application and demonstrated its use. Programs marked (*) are free; others are $7.95 at PC Magazine. For ordering information: Click Here.
“Q & A Session” by Dean Steichen * Chris Satterthwaite asked: “What is a blog?” The resulting discussion made it clear that none of the members responding had much of an idea as to what a blog is much less having used one. The consensus was that it’s sort of an open forum where anyone can post his thoughts. * For a problem with opening a message in Rich Text try using Word. Try” Save As” and try opening with different programs. It might be a Mac message. No resolution of this one. * Problem. Outlook opens with a MSN sign in page. Check Outlook Services and Default web page. Get rid of MSN. * A discussion of a card reader problem lead to a number of suggestions. * Dean says Clean up your machine. Use TUT. Check Cnet for other tools. * Bring up Device Manager (from system Tools) and check it in detail. There should not be any items tagged in color. Red or Yellow. Color indicates malfunction, bad drivers. In the event of a bad driver it can be replaced. Delete it and XP windows will reinstall it. * Display Control Panel in Classic View. Dean feels that it is easier to use. * He recommends that you turn off automatic updates. (Norton e.g.) * Norton likes to be in control-a case was mentioned that Norton 2006 AV said that Spybot was incompatible. * Vendors are dropping support for windows 98 since Microsoft no longer supports it. |