Windows 7 Shortcuts – Speeding Up How You Work

Posted on June 30, 2012 by garysch

We’re all looking for that way to make our work simpler and to do things faster yet we often curse our computers for slowing things down and that is usually down to us having to do too many clicks to get to do what we want or can’t remember those clicks.

Yes, it has got quicker there is no doubt about that both Microsoft and Apple work hard to make that experience better. In Windows 7 Microsoft added in some neat shortcuts as well as much faster searching for documents, if you’ve done searching on an Apple Mac you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Some of the shortcuts available are tiling programs so that you can have them side by side, adding shortcuts easily to the Start menu and task bar, jump lists to get to documents faster, using the keyboard to get to switch from program to program quickly (has always been available but now more fun and can get to the desktop quickly) and the quick searching facility.

Here are how they all work in these video tutorials and don’t forget I have more videos available on my website www.jargonfreehelp.com

With Windows 7 it is now easy to place programs side by side easily, it could be a Word document and an Excel Workbook and you need to refer to information on one or work on both together. Alternatively you could be working on a document and have the Internet or email open next to it. Check out this video to see how to do it.

Now one of my favourites are jump lists, this feature allows you to quickly get to files you have used recently or created as favourites by pinning them. To see just how easy this is to use have a look at this video.

Creating shortcuts so that programs are readily available on the Start menu or task bar is saves you clicks and the programs you use often are always there, see how in the video below.

Now something that has been around for ages on Windows but now given a 3D look and the ability to quickly jump to the desktop is using the keyboard to switch between programs. Once you use this you’ll realise this is what a lot of kid know about as they jump from Skype, a game or their instant messaging to Word hoping you still believe they are doing their homework. This video shows you how to do it too.

 

Finally, the feature that could really save you a lot of time is how quickly Windows 7 is at searching for documents, files and programs. If you’ve ever sat there waiting whilst the hard drive chugs away only for it to come up with no results you’ll know who infuriating it can be. Not only is it so fast you could consider it instant but now you do not need to worry about using wildcards like the asterisk (*) in your search. To see how it works watch the video below.

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Finding Your Way Around Excel 2010

Posted on June 26, 2012 by garysch

Seems like the Ribbon that Microsoft have introduced in Office 2007 should have been a good idea but it seems to have confused people, I know this because my wife found the switch over difficult and I did lots of training when Office 2010 was rolled out at one of my clients where I did a lot of the training.

It’s one of those things, you get it installed at work and your boss expects you to get going immediately. But hey, they moved everything around. Not very helpful. Perhaps if they had to use it out of the blue they too would be looking around for whatever happened to the copy and paste buttons. Even better where is open and save.

Here is a little video tutorial that should give you some help with Excel 2010, its very similar to Excel 2007 so if you are having trouble with Excel 2007 this may help too. Tutorials for Word 2010 and PowerPoint 2010 are on their way. Looks like I’ve a lot of tutorials to update. Don’t forget for more tutorials see my website www.jargonfreehelp.com.

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Using Excel Functions on a Mac

Posted on June 25, 2012 by garysch

OK, so this one is a little specific but as both a Windows and Mac user the one thing that does frustrate me is that Excel on a Mac uses the Insert Function differently to how it works on Windows. If I’m being honest I prefer the way this works on Windows. The result is the same and the functions are the same it is just the way you create them using what should be a useful wizard.

So I have created a little video to help you with this. Just bear in mind that once you know how to use the Insert Function on a Mac then the functions work the same as they do on Windows. If you do look at my other tutorials at www.jargonfreehelp.com about Excel functions such as IF, VLOOKUP, PMT etc all work the same.

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Printing a Selection with Excel 2010

Posted on June 23, 2012 by garysch

This is another one of those questions I get asked regularly “how can I print just this section in Excel?”. Thankfully the answer to this is easy and can be done in one of two ways. One is to select the area you want to print, click on the File tab, click on Print and just below settings is to click on the drop down list and choose Print Selection.

The other option is to again highlight the area click on the Page Layout tab and then click on the Print Area button and choose Set Print Area. Doing it this way means that if you want to print this selection again you do not need to highlight it again and when you save you file it will be remembered for when you open it again.

To see how to do these and how to clear the print area watch the video below and don’t forget I have more tutorials on my website www.jargonfreehelp.com

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Copying Video from Computer to iOS Device – iPad, iPhone, iPod touch

Posted on June 20, 2012 by garysch

This is a question I get asked a lot, how do I get my video from my computer to my iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. It sounds like something that should be really straightforward but it seems many of people don’t know where to start. Below are three video tutorials to help you out. The first thing is to have the video, this could be something you’ve created that may have been recorded on your camera or edited in iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere or some other video editing package.

It could also have been downloaded or given to you on a disc or memory stick. The other option is that you ripped it from a DVD, and I do have to point out that in some countries ripping DVDs is illegal even for personal use.

The three videos below include two on how to copy video from a DVD using software called Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr) which is conveniently free and does a great job. Also good for generally converting video files, even if not from a DVD, to work on your iOS device. The third video is how to get the video from your computer to your iOS device. You do all realise now that iOS device refers to any of the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, just making sure.

So here are the videos:

Copying Videos from a DVD Using Handbrake for Windows


Copying Videos from a DVD Using Handbrake for Mac


Copying Videos from your Computer to Your iOS Device

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Turning a PowerPoint Presentation into a Video

Posted on June 10, 2012 by garysch

If you’ve got a PowerPoint presentation and you have added a voiceover and/or some timings it is possible to convert it into a video.

This can be useful as you may want to prevent people from taking the slides from your presentation and use it in their own. It could be that you want to load it online as a video so that people can enjoy your presentation.

To see how to do this using PowerPoint 2010 see the video tutorial below, for more tutorials see my website www.jargonfreehelp.com:

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Organising Files and Folders On a Mac by Colour Coding Them

Posted on June 9, 2012 by garysch

Looking through files and folders and remembering where you are up to can be really time consuming, but for some time now I have been colour coding my files so that I can see their progress. This is a great feature on Apple Macs and use it for a number of things.

When I’m doing photography and video I often colour code files to indicate if they are good or bad, so if I’m looking through my photos I might mark them green because I like them or red if they are ones I would more than likely not look at again.

I also use the colour file label, which is used for colour coding, to mark the status of a document that I am working on, so one colour can be used for in progress, another for review and another for complete.

What is great is that I can use the Finder for searching on these files or folders based on their colour.

See my video tutorial below to see how to do this, for more tutorials see my website www.jargonfreehelp.com:

Posted in Computing, file management, mac os x | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Using Evernote

Posted on June 8, 2012 by garysch

Evernote is a great tool which I use all the time. As the name suggests it is good for storing notes but it is how it does it that I find useful. Most of the time I use it on my iPhone but it works the same way on other mobile devices like Android. I can use it on my computer by logging into the the evernote.com website or by using the app on my iPhone or iPad.

I like that I can take a photo of something and it appears in the note, if it is something like a business card or an article I have photographed it will use optical character recognition (OCR) so that I can search on the information if there is text in the photo. You can also add tags or type in some useful information into the note and search on this too. And it is quick, well so far, I guess it could slow down when I get loads of notes in there.

I can also share notes and categorize notes in the way you would put files into folders.

To see it in action watch my video below. For more video tutorials see my website www.jargonfreehelp.com

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Leaked Password on LinkedIn Means Changing Lots of Logins

Posted on June 7, 2012 by garysch

How many of you have used LinkedIn and been concerned about how your LinkedIn account has had its password leaked and need to hurriedly change your password? Well it shouldn’t be just LinkedIn you should be worried about, many of you use the same email and password combination for a whole load of accounts like FaceBook, Twitter, Gmail (which is also your Google account for things like Google Docs, Calendar, Adsense, Analytics etc), Dropbox, WordPress and their may be a whole load more. If you use these for banking, PayPal or anywhere that involves money or sensitive information I would change those first.

There could be quite a few to change, I would not delay in sorting these out now. If you have these apps on a mobile device it is likely you will be required to enter a new password when you next use them or sign into them.

Here are some instruction on how to change your passwords for some of these services:

To change LinkedIn:
1. Go to LinkedIn.com
2. Login
3. On the top right where you see your name hover the mouse over it and click on settings.
4. You will see under your name and Primary Email it says Password and next to it a link that says Change, click on Change.
5. A box will pop up type in old password a new one and confirm it.
6. Click on Change password.

To change gmail and your Google account which includes Google Docs:
1. Go to gmail.com or google.com
2. Login
3. In the top right you will see your name, click on it and a menu will appear, click on account.
4. On the Accounts page click on Security on the left.
5. In the password management section click the button Change password.
6. Type in your current password and a new one which you need to type in twice.
7. Click save.

To change Facebook:
1. Go to Facebook.com
2. Login
3. Click on the arrow in the top right and choose Account Settings from the menu
4. You should now be in the General Account Settings
5. You will see Password on that list under Name, Username and Email, click on the Edit link to the right.
6. Type in current and new password, you’ll need to re-type it.
7. Click Save Changes

You might need to change Dropbox too, to do that.
1. Go to Dropbox.com
2. Sign in
3. In the top right where you see your name click on it, a menu appears, choose Settings.
4. Across the top you will see some tabs click on Account settings.
5. On the right is a box labelled Password reset, type in old and new password.
6. Below that under the Email preferences click on the Change settings button.
7. That’s it, it does not need a confirmation or for you to re-type.

To change Twitter:
1. Go to twitter.com
2. Sign in
3. On the top right you will see a silhouette of a head with an arrow next to it, click on it and choose Settings from the menu.
4. On the left you will see a link to Password, click on it.
5. Enter your old password and a new one, you will need to type it again to verify it.
6. Click on Save Changes

This is not a comprehensive list of all of those you need to change but if you are using the same email combination and password as the one you used on LinkedIn you should change them.

Don’t forget that I have more tips and tutorials at my website www.jargonfreehelp.com

Gary

Posted in Computing, facebook, gmail, google, linkedin, twitter | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Formatting an External Hard Drive to Use on Windows and a Mac

Posted on May 20, 2012 by garysch

Are you one of those people, like me, who uses both Windows and a Mac and has to transfer files from one to another with an external hard drive or memory stick. Mac OS X and Windows 7 can read the files from the other file system but cannot save them. If you need to save the files too then what you need to do is format it so that it can be used on both. One problem is the 4GB file size limit, that is per file, which might not sound like a lot but if you’re doing video editing then it can be an issue. I edit on a Mac so what I would like is a hard drive with a partition that I can use for both and another that I can use for the video files on the Mac.

Watch the video below to see how to do it.

Posted in Computing, mac os x, windows 7 | Tagged | 2 Comments