It’s a Brave New World!

Thinking about a new computer? Stores are filled with low priced towers and laptops. Why, because consumers have voted with their wallets. Tablets and smart phones are replacing conventional computers at a tremendous pace. Reports from NPD Online Research state that sales of new computers are down 11% from a year ago. Another report stated that tablets and smart phones made up 40% of all technology purchases in 2012. But some of us still enjoy sitting down at a desk with our work spread out in front of us and tapping out a column on a big old standard keyboard. For us a brand new tower or laptop with Windows 8 on it still suits us just fine. What impacts have tablets and smart phones had on new PCs?

For starters, Windows 8 no longer has support for playing DVD movies. (We can still use the DVD for reading and writing data.) Microsoft considered that tablets, smart phones and Internet TVs don’t even have DVD players as users increasingly stream movies directly from the web. Since MS pays license fees for each DVD movie playing computer, this was eliminated from Windows 8. Not to worry, many computer manufactures add DVD movie players to their products so the capability is still there. Just type DVD in the search field of the Windows 8 PC and look for any program that has DVD in it. If we have one of the truly bargain basement computers without a DVD movie player, download a free DVD player such as VLC from www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html.

Another impact on traditional computers directly linked to tablets and smart phones is the use of tiles (Martha, they used to be icons.) on the Start Screen. Tiles work like the icons on our older computers but now they preview changes to the programs they link to. For example: the mail tile will update regularly to notify us that new mail has arrived or a news tile will constantly display the latest headlines. We can modify the position and size of the tiles to meet our needs. Some tiles are rectangular while others are smaller and square. By using the right mouse button and clicking on a tile, we have the choice of using larger or smaller tiles and we can pin it to or remove it from the Start Screen if desired. To rearrange the position of the tiles simply grab one with the mouse and move it to a new position. Want a new tile on the desktop for our favorite website? Open the website and click on the site icon beside the web address. Now click on Pin to Start and a new tile appears on the Start Screen. The start screen may seem a bit awkward at first, but for folks that use the computer for basic functions every day it makes for easy access to those programs, I mean apps we use frequently.

Windows 8 also comes with a built-in SkyDrive app. With it, we can view and browse the files we’ve saved to SkyDrive.com. By installing the free SkyDrive desktop app we can also automatically sync  files across our computers.

It’s a brave new world.

Here’s an interesting idea sent in by a loyal reader. They keep a copy of Grumbles From the Keyboard in the bathroom. Each morning when they begin their constitutional, they pick up the book and read another chapter. It’s quiet time, and they can concentrate on the subject matter without interruption. Get your copy today.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

And don’t forget, after absorbing all that knowledge, you’ll be hungry. Find out what a computer geek likes to eat from my cookbook, Epicuria: An Adventure that Really Cooks!

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

The New Computer?

News reports the hot item this year were tablets. Tablet devices such as Kindles, iPads, Galaxy Tabs, Nooks, and many more. General features are size, battery life, and wireless or cell connectivity to the Internet and touch screen input. Many have virtual keyboards or can attach QWERTY keyboards via either USB or Bluetooth connections. Tablet history goes back to 2000 when Microsoft unsuccessfully released the Tablet PC. 2007 saw Apple release the first iPad primarily as a media device for movies and music and the tablet form of computer became popular.

Today the tablet is still regarded as a media device but underneath all that flash and sound is a computer capable of performing the very tasks our desktops and laptops do now. Have tablets reached the level of our binary buddies? Not yet, but they are coming on strong. So strong that we may be watching the end of the desktop or laptop computer. Tablets available today are adding capabilities as fast as possible. Different tablets use competing operating systems, such as Android, iOS and Linux. The battle heats up with the Microsoft release of Windows 8 which will be a tablet oriented operating system allowing still another set of capabilities to tablets.

Let’s take a look at features to be found in some of the tablets available today. Standard in most tablets is wireless connectivity. This allows us to visit any place with a wireless Internet connection, such as the public libraries, McDonalds, Beef O’Bradys and thousands more including relatives and friends where we can connect to the Internet. Once connected, we can surf the web, purchase airline tickets, send e-mail and open and work on documents. Built in Web Cams can enable video calls via a variety of software packages such as Skype. Digital cameras, certainly, Tablets have a very limited amount of onboard storage space so much of what we do, such as writing a letter will be stored online. For example the tablet I use is connected to Google Docs. It looks like a word processor or spreadsheet, acts like it but the software is actually running on Google’s servers and my documents are stored there. There is even some capability to print from a tablet to a wireless network printer. Most tablets that have Internet and e-mail features will automatically back up the e-mail and contacts list to online servers. And yes they all download eBooks, pictures, movies and music.

There might be a tablet in your future.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Hey, I can read that!

Progress marches on. Many of us are purchasing new computers and new software to go with it. We like to keep on the leading edge rather than the bleeding edge. One software package that many users are adding to the arsenal of tools available to them is Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 with its Word, Excel and other components. These programs are useful, full of features and make our daily chores easier. We can send out that newsletter, weekly bulletin, letters and even holiday cards.

But across the land we hear from the recipients of our missives, “I can’t open the attachment.” Investigation reveals that there are many users still chugging away on Office 2000, XP or 2003. Starting with Office 2007 Microsoft changed the default file format for documents from .doc to .docx, spreadsheets from .xls to .xlsx and PowerPoint files from .pps to .ppsx which are not compatible with the older versions and hence cannot be opened. Do not despair; there are some options available to remedy this dilemma.

One alternative is to notify the sender that we cannot open the file in its current format and would they resave the document in an older format. Using a Word document as our example (the process is the same for Excel and PowerPoint) start Word 2007 or 2010, open the document to be converted from ".docx" to an earlier format. Click the "Office" button in the upper left corner of the screen. Move the pointer to "Save As" and a side menu will pop out. Select the option for "Word 97-2003." This will save the file in .doc format.

They can also have Word 2007 or 2010 save by default to ".doc" instead of ".docx." This is accomplished by opening Word, clicking on the "Office" button in the top left corner. Next click the "Word Options" button. Select "Save" from the options bar on the left, and select "Word 97-2003" from the "Save files in this format" drop down section. Click "OK." Now our files will save as ".doc" by default.

Perhaps a more efficient method for users still utilizing older versions of Office is to surf over to www.microsoft.com/download. In the search box labeled Search Download Center type in Office Compatibility Pack for Word. Download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel and PowerPoint File Formats and follow the steps to install it on the computer. Remember this is for older versions of Office and is not needed if running Office 2007 or 2010. This download is a file converter that will allow older versions of Office to open, edit and save the .docx formats as if they were .doc files.

For those of us still using Microsoft Works Word Processor or Works Spreadsheet this converter also allows Works to open .docx files however some of the font, paragraph and other special formatting features may be lost or modified to allow the file to open in Works.

While the downloaded file converter is an easy way to extend the capabilities of our software, the software itself, old or new has many converters already built into it. Again using Word as the example, if we click on File then Open and browse through the folder where our documents reside we will see a list of all the files there that have the default format. Older versions will list document ending in .doc and new versions will display documents suffixed with .docx. But if we look at the bottom of the dialogue box we will see a dropdown box labeled Files of Type. If we click on the pull down arrow a list of formats that Word has the capability of opening. Even files created in other company’s formats such as WordPerfect can be converted and opened by Word. If the file we are looking for still doesn’t appear there, we can change the File of Type to (All Files.) This may let us see the file we want in the list but doesn’t guarantee it can be opened.

From this dropdown we also have the ability to take a document and convert it and save it to any of the formats listed there. So if we know that the person to which the document will be sent does not have Word, Wordperfect some other productivity suite, we can save it in .txt or .rtf which can be opened in Notepad if necessary.

And don’t forget, if we don’t have Office or WordPerfect and finances are an issue, surf over to www.openoffice.org and download the latest version of OpenOffice. This is a fully capable productivity suite that can open and edit .docx, .xlsx and .ppsx files and save as .doc, .xls and .pps files.

Nobody has to know we live on the bleeding edge.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Traveling? Read the Paper anyway!

An e-mail of great magnitude arrived this week from faithful reader Walt. “I am traveling up north and make sure I read your column each week in the electronic version of the Sun. I also like to send the column to some family members. The printed version I just cut out, copy and send, but this electronic version will not allow me to highlight the column and paste it into an e-mail. If I send a link from the page, my relatives are asked to subscribe before they can view the column. Is there any way to send the electronic version to my family?”

This question arises fairly often but Walt even followed up with a phone call so let’s examine the issue. The starting point is a subscription to the Sun. Fire up the computer and surf over to yoursun.com. Click on the copy of the paper of choice. Navigate to the Electronic Edition. The options available are a seven day trial or for just $3 a month, the paper and of course Bits and Bytes will be available anywhere we travel and can reach the Internet. If already a subscriber to the printed version, we automatically have a subscription to the electronic version as well.

The next step in sharing with family is to login to our Electronic Edition, use the navigation tools to find the Bits and Bytes column. Double click on the column to open it in a separate window. From the toolbar at the top click print. This opens a printable copy of the column. From here we have a few options. The column can now be highlighted, copied and pasted into an e-mail for that nephew in Michigan, or when the printer dialogue box appears, send the print job to the printer listed as Microsoft XPS Document Writer. The print job will ask us to give the job a name and save it on our computer. We can then e-mail that document to anyone and they can open it in Internet Explorer. Or the long way would be to print the column, put it in a scanner, and then e-mail it from the scanned copy. Note to those that want past columns, the Electronic Edition archives past copies of the paper. If searching for past Bits and Bytes columns simply search the Wednesday copy of the papers. (Martha, what date was that great column?) Don’t forget, additional columns appear at courtnederveld.blogspot.com.

Special alert: A new scam appears to be making the rounds. We have all gotten the e-mail from friends whose e-mail account has been hacked telling us to click a link because it is something neat. Spammers are trying to infect machines or get us to wire money to Elbonia. Now, the e-mails claim our friend is updating their phone book and please send them our phone number or have gotten robbed in some foreign country losing their passport/money and would we wire them a few thousand till they get home. Call and verify, don’t e-mail the phone number.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Is it Gerbil or is it …

I know, I know, how could anything about a computer be funny? Actually there is nothing funny about a computer. However, sometimes as a computer tech, there arrives a moment with a computer user that simply screams out for something truly silly. This is my story, and I am sticking to it.

Several years ago, visiting my wife’s sister and her family, they decided that since I was there, they would purchase their first computer. I went with them to a store selling computers and we picked out a very nice IBM model. This was a top of the line, 486 processor, (I always wondered 486 what?) We added a mammoth 14” monitor that took two men and a small pony to lift, and of course the flagship Microsoft Windows 95.

Once we got home, we opened the box and there it was in all its shiny glory. We carefully began to attach all the cables and surprise, surprise, didn’t end up with any extra cords. Now the moment of truth. I let my sister-in-law push the power button and viola, lights came on, the monitor glowed and there in front of us was the Windows 95 desktop. (OK, there might have been a three or four minute gap from pushing the button to seeing the desktop but you get the idea.) It was a glorious moment. In one $1700 movement of cash, my sister-in-law’s family had leaped into the high tech age. The world of surfing the net, email, blue screens, lockups, and an investment that in four years would be worth nothing, assuming it still worked. But then…..

My sister-in-law picked up the mouse and said, “What is this?” Now a sympathetic human would have begun the explanation of exactly how this human-machine interface device worked and why it was so important to the ease of using the computer. But a computer technician sees the world through wavy glass. “That is a gerbil,” I said.

My sister-in-law was born at night but she wasn’t born last night. Boring into my soul with her “You had better not be messing with me look.” She proceeded to tell me that the people at her work were referring to a “mouse” that they used to control the computer. What to do, she obviously had some points of reference that had her pointed in the right direction? So, I did the only thing a good husband could do, knowing full well that anything I said would be immediately reported to my wife. (I was treading on very, very thin ice.)

I then related how, Xerox had actually developed the mouse and given it to Microsoft, (She certainly wouldn’t know any better.) And that IBM used a proprietary device for moving the cursor and couldn’t legally call it a mouse. Consequently, since IBM was bigger than Microsoft, (at that time it was) they called it a gerbil.

Sometimes when you tell a story like this, the person listening looks around for confirmation. My sister-in-law looked around and saw my son who also dabbled with computers at the time and she asked him if it really was a gerbil. Usually at this point life ends and you go home. But, my son simply nodded his head and said it was true. So for the rest of the weekend, I helped my sister-in-law’s family learn how to use the computer, always referring to the gerbil.

Fortunately, we left that Sunday night and headed home. Monday my sister-in-law went to work and told all her coworkers about her new computer and the gerbil. Monday night our phone rang. It wasn’t pretty.

If you would like the true skinny on the evolution of the mouse, go to http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/. There are pictures of old gerbils; I mean mice, and their predecessors.

I wonder if she wants me to help with the next technological marvel?

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

No, not a wedding registry.

I was struck with an interesting phenomenon the other day. Riding my bicycle along a section of US41 and because of the amount of traffic, traffic lights and maybe some other issues I couldn’t see, I was actually traveling faster than the cars trying to get to their destinations. County and state spend millions of tax dollars on computer controlled lights, intersection control islands, stripes, arrows, signs and driver education only to watch traffic grind ever slower and slower. They even hire more consultants to suggest improvements that ultimately lead to… longer commute times.

Computers are similar to highways. It seems that the longer we have a computer the slower it gets. Like our roads, the obvious answer reminds me of the question about ducks flying south for the winter in the familiar V pattern. . Why is one side of the V longer than the other? Because there are more ducks on that side. Why does traffic move slower? More cars. Why do our computers run slower? More programs.

How can we improve performance? The answer seems self evident. For roads, remove cars. Computers, remove programs. But even this solution poses its own problems. There is an area just north of Veterans Blvd that was platted many years ago. Roads were put in, but nothing else. There is virtually no traffic but it is used to illegally dump, and off-road vehicles tear up the landscape. We could resolve some of the issues by tearing up the roads and returning the area to its natural state. The same plan can be used to clean up our computers by removing unused programs and files. But a magic bullet would be faster, so we hire more consultants for the roads and we download Registry cleaners that promise to speed up our computers after only a few minutes and $49.95.

What is the registry? The registry is a system-defined database used by the Windows operating system to store configuration information. More simply, it is a road system that the computer uses to find everything loaded on it and make use of it. It also stores the settings we tell a program to use when we install it. It makes sense that if parts of the road become unusable, or go to dead ends, our computer will slow down as it navigates through the maze.

Many folks have downloaded purported registry cleaning programs that promise to instantly remove dead registry entries and thereby speed up our computers. With flashing screens and impressive looking charts they boldly declare our computers are riddled with registry errors. Errors? What they are locating are leftover registry entries that are tied to nothing. Cleaning the unused entries from the registry would at best speed up any search for information within the registry which almost no one does. Oddly, if it were this simple, one wonders why Microsoft, the creators of Windows, does not provide a registry cleaner. They should know the ins and outs of the registry better than anyone. Perhaps a clue comes from Mark Russinovich, Ph.D. Computer Engineering, Microsoft Technical Fellow who states "A few hundred kilobytes of unused keys and values causes no noticeable performance impact on system operation. Even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches."

Registry cleaners, while apparently having no effect on performance, do allow us to perform registry hygiene by cleaning up dead entries. Generally these dead keys and values are created by the removal of programs via the Add/Remove feature in Windows. The problem with the $49 registry cleaners is that they have an automatic feature that most of us use. This automatic feature does not discriminate; it just removes keys and values. To demonstrate the danger of the automatic feature, I recently tested one of the “leading” registry cleaners on my test PC. It ran a scan, found over 400 registry “errors” and then removed them. I restarted the PC and it would not boot up. Apparently some of the registry “errors” were critical to the operation of Windows. The moral here is that if you must use a registry cleaner, find one that can be run in manual mode, has a backup feature that allows the restoration of entries removed from the registry, remove only those entries left from program removal and is FREE such as Piniforms CCleaner or included with a leading antivirus suite such as Norton’s PC Tuneup.

McAfee and Norton Security Suites along with most major antivirus programs provide a registry cleaner under the tools section. Another FREE cleaner can be found at www.ccleaner.com that has a backup mode just in case. Before taking any action regarding the registry be sure that you only change values in the registry that you understand or have been instructed to change by a trusted source. Be sure to back up the registry before making any changes.

Keep that traffic flowing.

Speaking of Bicycling, Check out www.peaceriverridersbicycleclub.com for the upcoming Wheels and Wings IV bicycle event. It’s a Bicycle Ride an event and a party!

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734