Questions and Answers

While the questions below all have answers to the specific problems raised, taken as a whole they also give a guide

how to go about solving any computer problem.

Q Email received from Microsoft suggesting a upgrade to Office 2011. Do I need to upgrade?

A No. Query whether email actually from Microsoft. Go to View and Headers to check email.

Q Why do so few people make backups?

A Ignorance: is getting less.

Laziness : is getting more common.

No Time : is the key copout.

Ergo : make it automated to peripheral HDD or The Cloud.

Q How do we deal with Zip files and Winrar? Many programs come zipped but then unzip themselves but sometimes they don't

and I am asked to buy Winrar yet I know one can download free copies and I appear to have one. Also, when sending files

one converts them to a smaller size - is this zipping or some other technique?

A Winrar is shareware. Shareware is where someone writes a program that you can try out for free and if it is useful you are requested to make a

donation to the author. With Zip files the other person has to have the appropriate program to unzip the file.

Q Compression. What is the best way to send large files?

A By using Zip files. They are naturally smaller anyway.

Q Why do I need to know the technical details of my computer?A So someone can answer questions about any problems you have.Q How do I find the details of my computer?A In Window XP, go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System InformationQ Why is an Apple Mac so different?A There are 3 major operating systems: Windows, Linux, Mac. Programs for one will not run on either of the others.

Note also the following:

Q How do I fix my HP laser printer which spits out paper with no printing on it (OS Ubuntu 11.04)?A Establish printer model(Brother HL2040). Search Google for "HL2040 natty" First result gives answer.Q I have an in-line email I want to print in negative colours. How?A Search Google for "print negative". Google suggests "print negative image". Third hit

titled "Printing Reversed Images (Microsoft Word)" gives answer.Q Has there been any research on what fonts to use for readability?A Short answer is "yes". Google will provide details.Q How and when should I check whether an email I sent has been received?A Google "outlook email tracking" to see articles on how to do it in Outlook. See Wikipedia article "E-Mail tracking". Note the sentence "Even though it is an opt-in process, a recipient may consider it inconvenient, discourteous, or invasive." Entering the search term "email tracking etiquette" in Google brings up the article "Email Etiquette for Read Receipts | eHow.com" which expands this point of view.Q How do you transfer photos from the web to a disc? A To save to hard disk, right-click on photo and select “Save to Disk”