MOUSE TALES NOVEMBER 2009

 

 

 

 

 

You may not need a new computer to use Windows 7

In my opinion Microsoft 's success in^-providing­ a "Vista fix" is truly' amazing. In fact,

the more I become acquainted  with Windows 7 the more I believe if it delivers 

all  it has promised  unless your need for a new computer is imperative,

you should wait until its release before making a decision

to purchase a new computer.

Windows 7, promises greater ease of use an reliability rather than a plethora of new  resources demanding

Bells and Whistles. This means that unlike all the previous major windows upgrades that required more

power­ful computers, Windows 7 ­will work  with slower microprocessors and fit into less hard drive space.

By being less demand­ing of your computer's resqurces, you may dis­cover you will not have to purchase a new computer to

access the new features of Windows 7. And even more important because Windows 7 will run on a full range on PC's to

include inexpensive netbooks, you may be able to purchase an extraordinarily pockerbook friendly computer

that provides most of the teatures of Wiondows 7.

Another feature of Windows 7 I consider to be good news is its any time upgrade.Because of the smaller size of Windows 7,

 three versions will be loaded on even lower-end computers.

Should users running the "Standard" version upgrade their hardware perhaps a

 high-definition monitor -- or need to simultaneously run more than three state of the art resource demanding

software programs, they'll be prompted to upgrade to the pricier Home Premium or Ultimate version.

In other words, you’ll not have to purchase the 800 pound gorilla version of Windows 7 untill you actually need it.

And if you discover you do need to upgrade, and decide you want to upgrade Microsoft will make the

process much more user friendly than the Vista upgrade process. You need only enter your credit card

 information, a 25 character code,

Make a few keystrokes and reboot.

 

Windows 7 release date announced

Windows 7, the next major release of the world's most popular operating system, will be officially available to the public on 22 October.

Microsoft is hoping it can avoid the negative press that surrounded the launch of Vista, the last major Windows release, almost three years ago.

Windows 7 has been designed to be compatible with Vista so users do not have to invest in new hardware.

Customers who buy a new PC with Vista will be offered upgrades to Windows 7.

At the Computex 2009 trade show in Taipei, Microsoft's Steve Guggenheimer said: "We've received great feedback

from our partners who are looking forward to offering Windows 7 to their customers in time for the holidays."

Mr Guggenheimer said that Microsoft will make an upgrade option available, so PC makers and retail partners can offer

 customers the ability to purchase a Windows Vista-based PC and install Windows 7 when it is released.

When Vista was launched many users expressed frustration that the operating system did not work with all types of

existing hardware and peripherals, or programs used commonly on PCs.

And a Vista compatibility programme for hardware proved to be confusing and, in some cases, somewhat misleading.

Windows 7 features

  Windows XP mode - a virtual PC that can run older applications that might not run on Windows 7

  Remote Media Streaming - access your home digital media over the net

  Aero Peek - full screen previews of applications

  Windows Touch: Support for multi-touch devices

  Gadgets: Widgets now appear on the desktop and not in a sidebar

Windows 7 will also have "comparable system requirements" to Vista, which should mean that if your PC is capable

 of running Vista it will also run the new version.

Windows 7 promises a major usability improvement on Vista, and a simplification of security measures which caused frustration for many users.

Beta testers of Windows 7 have reported that it is faster than Vista, especially in terms of start-up and shutdown sequence of the computer.

 

 

Hide Excel sheets - really hide them

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You can hide an Excel sheet, but users can unhide it just as quickly.

 If you want a more securely hidden sheet, hide it in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).

Fortunately, the technique is simple for you — and users won’t suspect a thing.

First, let’s look at the traditional method for hiding a sheet:

Open a new workbook.

Click Sheet2’s tab to select it.

From the Format menu, choose Sheet.

 

 

To unhide Sheet2, you’d choose Sheet from the Format menu and select Unhide.

Then, you’d select Sheet2 in the Unhide dialog box and click OK. (For now, don’t unhide Sheet2.)

 

 

Excel has a more secure setting known as “very hidden.” A very hidden worksheet can’t be unhidden

using the Excel user interface because it doesn’t appear in the Unhide dialog box.

The average user won’t even know the sheet exists, let alone know how to unhide it.

You’ll need the VBE to apply this property as follows:

Switch to Excel’s VBE (press [Alt]+[F11]).

In the Project Explorer, select the sheet you want to hide. This time, hide Sheet3.

In the Properties window, select 2 - xlSheetVeryHidden from the Visible property’s drop-down list.

 When you do, Excel applies the property and then selects the first sheet, Sheet1,

When you return to Excel, Sheet3 isn’t visible. Nor does Excel list Sheet3 in the Unhide dialog box.

 In fact, Excel dims the Unhide command if the only sheets hidden are very hidden sheets.

 

 

The result is a very stealthy sheet, but it’s still vulnerable to savvy users who know the technique.

 To unhide Sheet3, return to the VBE and choose -1 – xlSheetVisible. (That’s a negative 1, which denotes the constant’s value.)

Here are a few  Tips for the Mouse Tail ...dE

SHRINK TO FIT
Have an MS Word document that is just a bit too long. A few lines stuck on that last page.

"Shrink" the document a bit and lose that last page
You could try a different font size. Or,  adjusting it up and down just to find the exact

change that will remove the need for the unwanted last page.
Word will do it for you....

The Word feature we're looking for is "Shrink to Fit" and it's found in the Print Preview.
Readers using older versions of Word can either go to the File menu,

Print Preview choice or use the Print Preview button located on the Standard toolbar.
Those of you using Word 2007 you'll find Print Preview in the Office Button

in the list of options offered by the Print choice.
Once in the Print Preview, you're looking for the Shrink to Fit button.
No matter the Word version, click it.
Instantly, Word shrinks your document's font size to reduce the number of pages by one.

*******************

Use Run to find file path location

In Vista....You can find the path of a file on your hard drive by Click Start/Run then

drag and drop any file to it and the path of that file will appear.

*******************
Taskbar Tips
To shut down two or three open programs quickly, and  leave the rest running.

Hold down the CTRL key as you click their buttons on the taskbar.

Then, right-click (still holding down the CTRL key) one of those depressed buttons

and select “Close” from the resulting menu.
And there are other functions. You can also minimize, maximize, restore, cascade,

or tile these windows using this technique.

*******************

Sal I found the following on a newsletter that I get and found it interesting...

MP4 files are compressed video files. Their main purpose is to make video files much

smaller so that they are easier to work with and support. Video files used to be very big

in size and they were very difficult to work with. But now, the same files are compressed

with the same material and they go by the new name of MP4s.
MP4 files work very similarly to MP3 files in that they are compressed files that do not

affect the quality of sound. (In case you're not sure, MP3s are music and audio files,

 so an MP4 is just taking that to the next level with videos). The term MP4 is also known

as MPEG-4 AVC, which stands for advanced video coding.
Since MP4s deal mostly with video files, they are a little more complex than the MP3 music

 and audio files. But, they are still able to be compressed by using special coding procedures.

 For example, certain aspects of the files are minimized. Those are usually the temporal and spatial redundancies.

 The motion and intra estimations of the frequencies are usually transformed as well. And last, but not least,

the file goes through a lot of compression and decompression, which is referred to as codec.
There are MP4 players,  and it works just like any other media player. You can purchase the device at

 any regular electronics store and you then just hook it up to your computer or television.
As with everything else, the MP4 technology has its ups and downs. The advantages.

 MP4s are able to produce videos with a DVD quality at a rate of 1 Mbps or less with a

broadband Internet connection. (that's fast) So, if you were to get an MP4 player,

 you could get your videos and watch them in a matter of seconds.

MP4 players can also play older MP formats, including MP3 audio files.
The disadvantages, there will more than likely be several piracy issues within the MP4 technology.

The MP3 format went through this as well. As you may already know, there are pirated versions of

movies on the Internet that are ready for download at any time. So, with MP4s mainly dealing with videos,

 the piracy problems are sure to get out of hand as this technology becomes more and more popular.

 Just keep an eye out for that!

************************

JOKE

 

During a recent password audit, it was found that a blonde

was using the following password
MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofy
When asked why such a big password, she said that it had

to be at least 8 characters long

 

 

I didn’t know this. Maybe true?????

Snopes--Eye Opener I always suspected David and Barbara Mikkelson who were behind "Snopes" were  Obama and liberal oriented  - now we know!!  Go to Google!! Who watches the watchers?  Please read it all to the bottom! Guess we have to use "Truth or Fiction" now. For the past few years www.snopes.com has positioned itself, or others have labeled it,  as the 'tell-all final word' on any comment, claim and email.  But for several years people tried to  find out who exactly was behind snopes.com.   Only recently did Wikipedia get to the bottom of it - kinda makes you wonder what they were hiding.  Well, finally we know. It is run by a husband and wife team - that's right, no big office of investigators and researchers, no team of lawyers.  It's just a mom-and-pop operation that began as a hobby.  David and Barbara Mikkelson in the San Fernando Valley of California started the website about 13 years ago – and they have no formal background or experience in investigative research.  After a few years it gained popularity believing it to be unbiased and neutral, but over the past couple of years people started asking  questions who was behind it and did they have a selfish motivation? The reason for the questions – or skepticisms - is a result of snopes.com claiming to have the bottom line facts to certain questions or issue when in fact they have been proven wrong.  Also, there were criticisms the Mikkelsons were not really investigating and getting to the 'true' bottom of various issues. A few months ago, when my State Farm agent Bud Gregg in Mandeville hoisted a political sign referencing Barack Obama and made a big splash across the Internet, 'supposedly' the Mikkelson's claim to have researched this issue before posting their findings on snopes.com.  In their statement they claimed the corporate office of State Farm pressured Gregg into taking down the  sign, when in fact nothing of the sort 'ever' took place. I personally contacted David Mikkelson (and he replied back to me) thinking he would want to get to the bottom of this and I gave him Bud Gregg's contact phone numbers b&#0; and Bud was going to give him phone numbers to the big exec's at State Farm in Illinois who would have been willing to speak with him about it.  He never called Bud. In fact, I learned from Bud Gregg no one from snopes.com ever contacted anyone with State Farm.  Yet, snopes.com issued a statement as the 'final factual word' on the issue as if they did all their homework and got to the bottom of things - not!   Then it has been learned the Mikkelson's are very Democratic (party) and extremely liberal.   As we all now know from this presidential election, liberals have a purpose agenda to discredit anything that appears to be conservative..  There has been much criticism lately over the Internet with people pointing out the Mikkelson's liberalism revealing itself in their website findings.  Gee, what a shock?   So, I say this now to everyone who goes to snopes.com to get what they think to be the bottom line facts.. .'proceed with caution.' Take what it says at face value and nothing more.  Use it only to lead you to their  references where you can link to and read the sources for yourself. Plus, you can always Google a subject and do the research yourself.  It now seems apparent that's all the Mikkelson's do. After all, I can personally vouch from my own experience for their 'not' fully looking into things.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snopes.com I have found this to be true also!  Many videos of Obama I tried to verify on Snopes and they said they were False.. .. Then they gave their Liberal slant....!!! I have suspected some problems with snopes for some time now,  but I have only caught them in half-truths. If there is any subjectivity they do an immediate full left rudder.   Truth or www.truthorfiction.com a better source for verification, in my opinion.   I have recently discovered that Snopes.com is owned by a flaming liberal and this man is in the tank for Obama. There are many things they have listed on their site as a hoax and yet you can go to Youtube yourself and find the video of Obama actually saying these things. So you see, you cannot and should not trust Snopes.com. ...ever for anything that remotely resembles truth! I don't even trust them to tell  me if email chains are hoaxes anymore.   A few conservative speakers on MySpace told me about snopes.com <http://snopes.com// a few months ago and  I took it upon myself to do a little research to find out if it was true. Well, I found out for myself that it is true.  Anyway just FYI please don't use Snopes.com anymore for fact checking and make your friends aware of their  political leanings as well. Many people still think Snopes..com is neutral and they can be trusted as factual. We need to make sure everyone is aware that that is a hoax in itself.   Free music files With all the lawsuits over music copyrights, you might be thinking that everything available online without a price tag is illegal. That's just not so. Illegal music is still floating around the Internet, but there are also plenty of sites offering great, legal music for free. At Amazon Music, you'll find songs from both new and vintage albums. There are popular artists including Beck, Depeche Mode, Mannheim Steamroller and even Ella Fitzgerald.   There is also a large collection of songs from independent artists. You'll need to sign in as an Amazon member or sign up for free to access the music. Cost: Free Link: www.amazon.com   Daily Tip: Is A Netbook Right For You? Nobody really likes being weighed down by extra baggage. When you're on the move,  it's best to carry electronics that will increase your productivity without becoming a burden, so a netbook might  be a perfect solution. A portable computer that is smaller and less powerful than a notebook, this lightweight PC can be the perfect travel companion for someone who doesn't need the full processing  power of a notebook but does need quick access to Web applications, such as email, instant messaging, and video chat.

 

Daily Tip:
Protect Yourself On The Web

You can never be too careful with your personal information. Some Web sites will disguise themselves

as sites you trust and use phishing tactics to steal sensitive information you enter, and if your computer

downloads a keylogger, it will attempt to obtain passwords, logins, PINs, and more by recording every

 keystroke you make. To fend off these Web nasties, look for antivirus and antispyware software that protects

 your computer while you surf the Web by blocking potentially infected Web sites.

 

Daily Tip:
Create Personalized Shortcuts

You can gain easy access to any application by creating your own keyboard shortcuts. For example,

you could open Microsoft Word by using a simple keyboard shortcut command such as CTRL-ALT-W.

 To create a personalized shortcut, right-click an application shortcut icon and choose Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab, click in the Shortcut Key field, press the keys you want to use for your

shortcut (such as CTRL-ALT-S), and click Apply. Now when you want to open the application,

all you have to do is enter the keyboard shortcut you chose.

 

Daily Tip:
Tabs In Web Browsers

The next time you need to have two Web pages open at once, or you want to easily backtrack

to a page you've already visited, utilize your Web browser's tabbed browsing option. Instead

 of opening an entirely new window for each Web page you have open, this will add a tab to the

 top of your current Web browser window with another Web site page opened.

When you want to toggle between the different Web sites you've visited,

simply click the tabbed Web page you want to see. Most Web browsers will let

you open a new browser tab by pressing CTRL-T.

 

 

 

 

 

  

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