In most programs, when you goof up, you get some kind of a sterile, impersonal, message that sometimes makes you wonder exactly what you've done (or not done) wrong. 

Sorry, I'm too lazy to go looking for a good example right now.  But, next time your computer bonks at you and a little window pops up complaining about something you only vaguely understand, remember these words. 

By contrast, some programs are designed with a little more of a personal touch.  Take for example this dialog, from DVD Decrypter:



To get this warning, I clicked on the 'Cancel' button, then when I didn't think it was responding quickly enough, I clicked it again.  Apparently, it just wanted a little more time to handle the first click, and didn't appreciate my lack of patience!

I had a great time last month, teaching a "Windows Basics" class at the Gerrish-Higgins (Roscommon) Public library.  Demand was (is still, I hope!) high, and we ended up with a fairly long waiting list for the next class, along with requests for a variety of specialized topics. 

The Gerrish-Higgins library is hosting more computer classes this Spring; this time there are two different classes being offered.  I'll be teaching another 'Windows Basics' class on Mondays (3/10, 3/17, and 3/24), and an 'Internet and Email' class on Mondays (4/14, 4/21, and 4/28).  The classes will run from 5:30pm-7pm at the library. 

The cost for each class is $30 per person, and registration should be done through the library.  The Basic class is coming up fast (less than 2 weeks from this writing), so it's important to get registered quickly!

Windows Basics

(3 night class; 3/10, 3/17, and 3/24)

As before, the 'basics' class is for both new users and everyday users who would like a better understanding of their computer.  It will cover these topics:

• the differences among files, folders, programs, shortcuts, and documents
• the 'My Documents' folder, what it is and what it does for you
• using the mouse - click, double-click, right-click, and scroll - what do they all do? 
  
• CD's, DVD's, floppy disks, and flash drives - what they can do and what they can hold (probably NOT how to burn CD's/DVD's)
  
• power cycling - 'Turn Off', shut down, restart, suspend, hibernate
  
• special keys on the keyboard - Windows key, context menu key, Esc, Ctrl, Alt, Enter, and the Fx keys
  
• understanding the Windows file system - how are files stored and how can I find them when I need them?
  
• navigating Windows - maximizing, minimizing, restoring, and resizing windows
• the Windows desktop - including the start menu, the task bar, the Recycle Bin, and all those desktop icons!
• managing/running more than one program at a time, and switching between them
• keyboard shortcuts for common tasks (cut, copy, paste, print, open, close, exit, etc.)
• printing - and the printers collection
  

Due to time constraints, this class will NOT cover any topics related to the Internet, including:

• web browsing
• search engines
• email access
• advanced networking topics - dial-up networking, cable, or DSL Internet connectivity

Basic Internet and Email

(3 night class; 4/14, 4/21, and 4/28)

This class will be aimed at users who are comfortable with the computer in general, but would like a better grasp of what the Internet is all about (it's not complicated, I promise!).  Registrants for this class should be comfortable using the computer keyboard and mouse, but don't necessarily need experience with the Internet or Email before registering. 

The Internet

• Connection types - dial up, broadband, and wireless
• How the 'web' works - Servers, clients, requests, and responses
• What is a web page – understanding HTML
• What's out there, and how to find what you're looking for
• Internet security - Spyware, Adware, viruses, firewalls, certificates, and more

Email

• Email fundamentals - anatomy of a message
• Email addresses - what are they and how do they work?
• Different types of email accounts that are available
• Mail servers and DNS - why they matter
• How to send and receive email messages
• Developing a contact list
• Filing email into folders
• Email viruses

Purpose

To configure a printer driver so it will automatically print in 'duplex' - on both sides of the same sheet of paper

Assumptions

• You already have a printer capable of printing in duplex
• You have that printer configured for printing on your computer (it's in your Windows Printers Collection)

Process

Basically, you are going to set up an exact copy of your current printer, but with different default settings.

1. Open your printers collection, right click your printer, and make a note of the port it is using (click the 'Port' tab to see the port information).
2. Close that printer's settings windows, then click 'Add Printer'
3. Click 'Next', then 'Next' again (with local printer selected).
4. On the ports list, choose the port to which your printer is already connected; click 'Next'
5. Find the manufacturer and printer name on the following list, click 'Next'
6. Choose 'Keep Existing Driver', click 'Next'
7. For 'Printer Name', enter any name you want - I recommend putting the word 'Duplex' in there somewhere so you know it's the duplexer
8. Select 'Do not share this printer'; click 'Next'
9. Print a test page if you like; click 'Next'
10. Click 'Finish'

You'll now have 2 printers in your Printers Collection that (except for their name) are exactly the same. Now you have to edit the properties of your new 'duplexing' printer:

1. locate the duplex settings in 'Printer Preferences..." (often on the 'Finishing' tab)
2. modify the settings so the printer prints in duplex, click 'OK'
3. Close the printer settings dialog

Now, any time you want to print in duplex, just select your new 'duplexing' printer, and it will happen automatically.

I recently needed to size an image, using Adobe Photoshop CS, to a 1:1 scale.  This was needed because I wanted the image to print out in its 'actual size'.  Photoshop probably has this capability built in somewhere as a tool, but I haven't seen it.  For sure, there are some third party tools out there, but I stumbled through a no-frills, simple approach using just Photoshop's built-in toolkit.

Since I had a scale (a ruler) in the actual photograph, I was able to use this method to modify the scale of the image to make it 1:1.

• Open the image file
• Click Image>Image Size
• Change the 'Width' dimensions to 'mm' if it isn't already set that way
• Make a note of the width (in my example, the width was 1,587.5mm)
• Close the Image Size Dialog
• Switch to the 'Measure Tool' (it shares a button with the 'eyedropper tool'
• Using the Measure Tool, measure the scale (the ruler) in your image as exactly as possible.  In my example, I was able to measure 23mm on the scale.
• Make a note of that measurement, and of the distance Photoshop says you've measured (in the top bar, there is a 'D1' measurement; in my example, it was 1,035.2)

Now it's down to simple math.  You can figure out the ratio by which the whole image's size needs to be scaled by dividing the distance Photoshop says you measured by the measurement you took.  In my example, 1,035.2/23 = 45.001.  So the reduction factor I need is 45.001.

• Take the width of the image (mine was 1,587.5) and divide that by your reduction factor (mine was 45.001).  That result will be the proper width of your image (mine was 35.271)
• Click Image>Image Size again.
• Make sure the 'resample image' checkbox at the bottom of this dialog is 'unchecked' (otherwise, the quality of the image will get hosed)
• Enter your new, proper, value for the width of the document
• The document's height should change too...keeping the image's scale intact
• Click OK, and your image is now sized 1:1!

As I said, this worked for me because I had an actual scale in the digital image to use for measuring.  As long as the photo is taken at a right angle to the face of the subject, you should be able to use anything in the photo that is of a known distance.  For example, you could follow this method using the diameter of a penny if one was visible. 

Apparently, Senator John Edwards' campaign called me at about 3:45am today.  We heard the phone, didn't get up to answer, and found a recorded message on our machine (later) in the morning. 

The message was an invitation to join Edwards' campaign for president, and apparently they expected us to be so excited about that idea that we should call and record an audioblog entry documenting our support for him...at 4 in the morning? 

The recording specifically mentioned Edwards' web site, and gave these instructions (almost word for word) on how to record our message.  Can a presidential candidate really be so stupid as to call people at 4am?  Does it make more sense for someone who _doesn't_ want Edwards' to win to make those calls at horrific times of day? 

I'm not impressed.  I did visit Senator Edwards' web site, but probably not for the reasons they'd hoped. 

In Windows XP Pro, I recently ran into a problem where Windows Update wouldn't install any updates.  It would load and show that it wanted to install 'Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1' and 'Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)', but would always fail when it tried to do the update. 

A Google search found this post, where the writer recommends re-registering the DLL's needed by Windows Update.  It worked perfectly for me! 

Here are the instructions, shamelessly copy/pasted from the original post:

To repair this problem the dll files associated with the windows update program have to be registered.  To do this you'll need to run regsvr32.  Go start then run:

• regsvr32 wuapi.dll
• regsvr32 wuaueng.dll
• regsvr32 wuaueng1.dll
• regsvr32 wucltui.dll
• regsvr32 wups.dll
• regsvr32 wups2.dll
• regsvr32 wuweb.dll

My UT Startcom PPC6700 Windows-based smartphone recently died (OK, it's just having trouble holding a charge, frequently locking up, won't sync with Windows XP, generally being a pain, etc.).  Anyway, I've ended up buying and returning a couple potential replacement devices for various reasons, so I thought I'd list them here.  Most of these 'issues' are just differences in the portable Operating Systems, with a few of my own specific experiences thrown in.  Your mileage may vary. 

UT Starcom PPC6700 - (Windows Mobile 5.0 device)

Pros:

• Syncs flawlessly with Outlook
• Syncs OK with Thunderbird (with BirdieSync add-on)
• is able to access all the IMAP4 folders in a mail account
• comes with Office Portable - able to open/edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint docs
• uses a mini-SD card for external storage (which I already have)
• Integrated WiFi
  

Cons:

• Can't 'delete' messages from IMAP4 mail account - Can, however, 'move' them to the 'trash' folder, accomplishing the same thing with an extra couple strokes
• poor value - my device went belly-up after less than a year; wouldn't take a charge, wouldn't sync to any PC at all
  

Palm 755p

Pros:

• true sync with IMAP4 server account
• able to delete IMAP4 mail messages naturally (just 'delete' them from the device, and they're gone from the server)
• great interface - having only had Windows mobile in the past, it was easy and intuitive to get used to navigating around
• uses a mini-SD card for external storage (which I already have)
  

Cons:

• unable to view any of the IMAP4 folders on my account with the included mail software - may be possible with add-ons like:
• Chattermail ($40)
• Snappermail ($25-60)
• No WiFi antenna - can't connect to higher speed hotspots
  

Blackberry 8830

Pros:

• very natural, clean UI - I like it best of the three compared here
• integrated GPS service/device - works great with Google Maps Mobile
• Sweet (bundled) Yahoo! messenger app. I don't normally use IM much, but I used this within three hours of starting testing (I needed to communicate with a vendor who only would chat via IM). Looks like this is available for other OS's too - at least Palm
• The BlackBerry can tell when it's in its holster, which is cool, because when you pull it out, it turns on, and when you put it away, it turns off on its own. You can even set different ring/notifications, depending on whether the device is holstered or not.
  

Cons:

• Can't connect to (and view) IMAP4 folders - and I can't find an add-on that will do it, either.
• uses a micro SD card for external storage - I'd have to buy one to replace my mini-SD version
• No WiFi antenna - can't connect to higher speed hotspots
• No ability to open/edit Word/Excel/OOo documents - $99 add-on looks like it should work
• can't find a way to sync contacts with Thunderbird at all - had to sync with Outlook to get addresses on the device
• I hate the desktop software that comes with it - specifically, the separate 'media manager' was a pain for me - wouldn't close/restore/minimize; it just didn't respond like a good application should
  

A while ago, I set up a small Microsoft Access database that would track Church committee membership.  It manages basic information about committees and the people who belong to them.  It also includes a couple very basic reports. 

It's far from a 'complete' solution, but it's probably a pretty good starting point for a bigger project.  I thought I'd post it here in case anyone wants to give it a look. 

Church Committees.mdb (1.01 MB)

When you are entering dates in an Excel spreadsheet, you might want to enter just the numeric part (i.e. without any dashes or slashes), hoping Excel would figure out what you were doing and turn it into a 'real' date automatically.  You might think Excel has a built-in cell format you can apply that would handle this for you...it apparently does not. 

You can, however, build your own 'custom formatting' rule for a cell to accomplish this.  So, for example, if you want to type in '112507' but have Excel transform that into '11/25/07', you would set up your custom format (using Excel 2003) like this:

1. Right click the cell, choose 'Format Cells...'
2. In the 'Category' list (on the left side), scroll down and click on 'Custom'
3. In the 'Type' textbox, type in your new rule (in this case '0#"/"##"/"##', with out the single quotes)

Now, when you type in that cell, your date will be reformatted according to your new rule. 

To apply this custom format to an entire column of cells: 

1. Right-click your custom-formatted cell, then click Copy.
2. Highlight the cells you want to apply the format to, then right-click one of them
3. Choose 'Paste Special' from the context menu
4. Click 'Formats' from the 'Paste' group

I'm excited about the new dasBlog (2.0), if only because it promises to give me better control over comment-spammers.  It was pretty satisfying to watch the (dasBlog 2.0) updater tool wipe out all the 'bad words' that had accumulated in this blog's entries, and hopefully now I'll be able to keep a better handle on it. 

If you're reading this, I was able to upload the new blog engine and get things going on the live site!

My Confluence installation requires a JAVA_HOME envronment variable, but ever since I installed Confluence, I've been manually setting JAVA_HOME after every system restart**.  I just ran across this blog entry which suggests setting JAVA_HOME in Ubuntu's /etc/environment settings file. 

I haven't rebooted yet, but this looks like a good solution to my problem.


** ok, there really have only been a handful of system restarts in several months, and always due to my own negligence.  Kubuntu has been solid as a rock. 

Early this summer, I had a customer who bought a notebook PC (an HP) which happened to come pre-installed with Windows Vista on it.  Business requirements demanded that it should have Windows XP Professional instead, so I offered to 'downgrade' (ha ha) to XP Pro for him. 

As I learned (after hours scouring the Internet and chatting with HP technical support), this particular notebook _can't_ have XP Professional installed, because you can't disable 'Native Mode' for SATA in the system BIOS, and you can't install XP while the SATA drive is in native mode. 

That was the third strike for me.  I've had two other bad experiences with Vista 'upgrades', and have lost a good deal of time and money trying to work through it.  I've been a Microsoft Partner for several years, but I just can't support (pun intended) a system that is _so_ broken.  I refuse to recommend Windows Vista to any customers who rely on their computers for more than very casual use. 

Maybe Vista Service Pack 1 will be more useable. 

Whew, what a summer...we've been working (and playing) pretty hard for months...no time for blogging at all! 

I'll try to do better.  Maybe having this post here will force me to try...?

I'm not quite ready to let go of Windows...there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but I'm learning...

I ordered a laptop (for someone else) from Dell on July 3rd...decent deal, including 3-5 day shipping.  When he emailed on the 9th to ask if he could pick it up on the 13th, I had a half-written reponse telling him 'no problem' when I thought I'd better check first.  After all, I had a mediocre experience with Dell delivery once before. 

Sure enough, Dell's web site said the "preconfigured" laptop was in production, and wouldn't ship until 8/1 (29 days after ordering), and wouldn't arrive until 8/5 or 8/6.  Whatever...cancel that order.  Office Depot has HP's with larger displays sitting on the shelf waiting for you. 

The AutoCorrect feature in Microsoft Office 2003 is a handy feature, replacing common spelling errors for you as you happily peck away at the keyboard.  It can also be used to speed up the typing of common, complicated, or lengthy terms.  Essentially, you can use it to create macros that will be replaced with longer, more cumbersome phrases automatically (and without errors). 

For example, you could create an autocorrect for the letters 'hspb', setting it to correct to 'heat sealed plastic bag'.  If you have to type this several times a day, it's easy to see the speed benefit. 

That same set of autocorrect macros is shared by the whole Office suite.  So, if you create autocorrect entries for yourself in Word, they'll be available in Excel, Access, Infopath, etc. 

A coworker of mine recently wondered why her just-added autocorrect entries weren't working in Infopath forms.  They worked great in Word, but Infopath just ignored them. 

The solution I found is that any autocorrect entries stored (in Word) as 'formatted text' will not work in Infopath.  Entries stored as 'plain text' work great.  So, even though Word will turn two-hyphens-and-a-greater-than (-->) into a pretty arrow, if you store that in an autocorrect, Infopath will ignore the whole entry.  Here are a couple screenshots of what I mean:

Formatted text entry

Plain text entry

For this example, I stored an autocorrect entry (shop) that will replace with 'shopping bag'.  I stored 'shopping bag' as formatted text and tested it in Infopath...only to find out it won't work.  Changing the entry (in Word's autocorrect list) to plain text ('shop1' for this example) makes the entry work in Infopath as well. 

Notes:

• It looks like you can tell the 'formatted text' entries in the autocorrect list by the asterisk (*) at the end of their text (aside from selecting each one and noting the 'Formatted text' radio button is selected). 
• Access the autocorrect feature by clicking Tools>Autocorrect Options in Microsoft Word.

In the process of cleaning up a Windows XP (Home) PC, I ended up with a situation where it would get to the 'Windows is starting up...' screen, and just stay there for 20+ minutes.  Doing a hard reset didn't help; it would boot back to that same spot and just hang there. 

I found this forum post, where they've suggested to plug the PC's power cord directly into the wall instead of a power strip.  Since I had just purchased a new power strip, and then plugged that PC (and another one) into it, I thought I'd give it a try. 

Yeah, it worked.  The PC booted up as fast as XP ever could.  I'm assuming the two PC's together must be drawing too much current for the power strip/surge protector, and so the troubled computer wasn't getting enough juice to boot properly...?