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Welcome to the NEW YEAR issue
of Pamela's Monthly Review. To start your year off with a laugh, I wanted
to share with you this great YouTube video from "Across the Pond."
Great British Humour! Make sure to have your speakers on.
Before I begin I want to thank all my
readers for sending on last month's issue to friends and family. What a
wonderful response I had from your efforts! So many new members have
signed up to receive my FREE newsletter which means that
my dream of spreading computer knowledge far and wide is being
fulfilled. Many of these new members have ordered a copy of the First
Edition of my new book Computer Tips for Seniors
making the stock that I had prepared for the holiday season limited. I
still have a small amount left so if you want to have everyday computer
tips always next to your computer, or you need an extra gift that will
be happily received, order now to avoid disappointment.
SEASONAL REMINDER: It's
that time of year again; the New Year is here and it's time to make your
computer run more efficiently. This is not a boring chore so please read on.
Once the steps are completed, you will be so pleased that
your computer is running fast and without problems. It does take a little patience but in the long run you will
benefit and so will your computer.
MAKE THIS YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION!
If you have saved all your Documents in your "Document" folder now's the time to
consolidate and transfer all the old, unused, documents to an external medium so
that it frees up space on your hard drive. If you have a fairly new computer
with a 500GB hard drive you may think that this procedure is not necessary but
clearing off old files and folders and organizing the files in use can help you
locate them much faster.
I make a point of doing my
"Computer Spring Cleaning"
at the beginning of each year and if you would like to join me in this endeavour
read on.
Every time I need to save a file I make sure that it
goes in the appropriate folder with a date as the first part of the saved file
name so that I can find it easily. In other words: 010111 Letter to Jim
or 01-01-11 Letter to John.
Make new folders in your "Documents" named for the
previous years. Maybe you have documents from 2008, 2009, 2010 stored together
which makes them more difficult to find. If you have not
looked through your Document folder for some years gather all your files from
previous years and put them in the appropriate folder. You can "highlight" a
whole block of files from 2009 and then drag them to the folder named 2009; this saves
a great deal of time. Repeat this procedure for all the other years and you will
see how "tidy" your "Document" file looks and how easy it will be to find your
files when you need them.
Do the same with your "Pictures" folder. If you have
saved pictures in your "Documents" folder drag them into your "Picture" folder
and then make folders for each occasion i.e. Granddaughter, Holiday in Italy
2009, Visit to the Museum etc.
Delete unwanted files and folders and drag all your old
useful files and folders to an external medium i.e. Flash Drive, External Hard
Drive, CD or DVD and keep it in a safe place to access at a later time.
Remember to save all future documents in your organized
"Document" folder and pictures in your "Picture" folder. (My Documents or My
Pictures for XP users) If you think of your
computer like a giant filing cabinet it will be easy for you to organize your
work.
Each month I
will also be featuring products or software that I have reviewed and tested for
ease of use and reliability. If the manufacturer has a promo code it
will be available through my website. Only products that I have tried
and tested will be featured in this publication.
PRODUCT REVIEW: This month I am
giving you more information about the
Apple iPad. I
have found so many more useful features while using my iPad that I
wanted to share them with you.
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When you reply to or
write a new email with the Apple iPad, it adds a "period" at the end
of a sentence if you tap the "spacebar" twice and you do not need to
click the "shift" key to create a capital letter at the beginning of
a sentence or paragraph; it appears automatically.
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Once you begin to use
your iPad and write emails or notes, the iPad recognizes words that
you use often and a pop-up appears as you write. If you click the
spacebar it enters the suggested word. Spelling suggestions are
handled in the same way.
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The iPad recognizes email
addresses as well and will insert them into your email automatically
when you begin to type the first few letters of the address.
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The iPad can save
pictures from your emails in its Picture folder which can then be
inserted into emails to send to your friends and family.
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It's easy to delete
incoming emails from the "inbox." Click "edit" at the top right of
the list and either hit "delete all" or mark each email that you
need to delete. The iPad will count the emails that you wish to
delete - then click "delete."
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Don't worry if your iPad
locks up just hold down the "Home" button and the "Sleep/Wake"
button simultaneously. This will cause a "manual reboot" and your
iPad will be "unlocked" and ready to use.
NEW FEATURE NEXT MONTH:
The information about the Apple iPad has been so
popular that I will be including a few iPad Tips and Tricks in future
issues.
REQUEST:
If you have an Apple iPad and have some useful tips and features that
you would like to share with your fellow iPad users, please send them to
me and they may appear in next month's edition.
EASY FIX:
You may have a file which open as "Read
Only" which means that you are unable to edit the file. When you are ready
to edit the file you will need to remove the "Read Only" attribute. Once you
locate the file right click on the file you want to change, and click on
"Properties." You should see a dialog with the Attribute setting
"Read Only" - uncheck
it if it's checked, and press OK. If no error appears, the setting has been
removed. You can now edit the file and save it with its new settings.
Let me know what you think about
this feature and if you would like to see more of the same in future issues. Was this information helpful?
Fast and Easy: I
am sure that many computer users receive
emails with brightly
coloured backgrounds or patterned backgrounds that make the email difficult
to read. The worst part is that when you click "reply" the background is
still there. If this is part of a "thread" and you know that many emails
will follow you may wish to remove the coloured background. If you are using
Word as your email editor with Microsoft Outlook, there is a simple
procedure:
-
After you click "reply"
you can remove the background of the email by clicking on Options"
and choosing "Page Color."
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Click "No Color" and
then begin to type your reply.
Let me know what you think about
this feature and if you would like to see more of the same in future issues. Was this information helpful?
TIP OF THE MONTH:
This is the answer to the question that I
have been asked most frequently in the last month.
QUESTION:
Why can I not open my "flash drive" to add or delete files?
It tells me that the drive is "Read Only."
ANSWER:
Many
flash drives have security switches that prevent files and folders from
being inadvertently erased or altered. If the switch is in the "locked"
position the "flash drive" files will appear as "Read Only." The switches are
very tiny and sometimes it is just a "slide lock" so you will need to
look very carefully to find it. Once you switch it to the "unlocked"
position you will be able to add, delete or alter the files that you
have saved.
ALSO FOUND:
on Page 112 - Question 2 of the FIRST EDITION of my book
Computer Tips for Seniors
Let me know what you think about this feature and if you would like to see more of the same in future issues.
Was this information helpful?
SEASONS PHOTO ALBUM:
Have you ever wondered how
EACH SEASONS
flowers and foliage look in other parts of
the world? Here is your chance to share photos of the changing seasons in
your area with others. Each season I will be adding your photos to the
online SLIDESHOW for other readers to
enjoy. FALL or AUTUMN is this month's theme and I am looking forward to receiving your BEST photos
of AUTUMN in your area. I think that the FALL colours display the
most wondrous sites but the months pass quickly SO GO OUT WITH YOUR CAMERA TODAY! Visit the SEASONS PHOTO ALBUM to see how your photos will be
displayed along with others that have been submitted.
Please take your pictures in the highest resolution and make them at least
3.5 inches square before sending them to me.
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