Gaz Rice Computer Tips

Pin Facebook chat to your taskbar Windows 7

2011-05-29T12:18:00.001+01:00

In this post I will show you how to have Facebook Chat pinned to your Windows 7 taskbar, ready to launch anytime.

The easiest way is to do this through Google Chrome – if you don’t have it you can download it here.

Firstly, open Chrome, and go to www.facebook.com.

Secondly, go to settings (wrench) > tools > create application shortcuts.

You will then be given the option of a desktop, start menu and taskbar shortcut.

Now you have www.facebook.com pinned to your taskbar we need to change it to the url of the chat.

Open the chat at the bottom of the screen and click options and then pop out chat.

Now when this window is open copy the url, it should be http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php .

Next, navigate your way to - C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

Then find the Facebook icon, right click > shortcut then edit the target field, where it says –“app=http://www.facebook.com/ “ change it to app=http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php

When you click on the Facebook icon on your taskbar it will take you straight to Facebook chat providing your logged in.

Microsoft: 'Don't let friends use Internet Explorer 6'

2011-03-05T17:23:00.001Z

In the summer of 2001 the world was introduced to Internet Explorer 6. Now Microsoft are saying “Don't let friends use Internet Explorer 6” and are encouraging people to move on to their newer and better browser, Internet Explorer 8, or even Internet Explorer 9. This is because the internet and the way in which we use it is constantly changing.

Microsoft have launched a website in order to get people to stop their friends and family to stop using IE 6. Some of the benefits to using it are – tabbed browsing, improved speed. It has a lot more to offer too, Microsoft have created a list of features that IE 8 has over IE 6 – comparison chart.

Although IE 9 is available but is Release Candidate (which means it’s very nearly to be released fully but may have some bugs.)

Download IE 8 – download

Download IE 9 – download

So my last word on this is, do the decent thing, get your friends and family off IE 6 and update to a newer IE or maybe something else……(I’ll let you decide which one).

Read PDF files as default in Google Chrome

2011-02-17T18:14:00.001Z

Everybody at some stage will more than likely need to view a PDF file. An easy way of doing this is by using Google Chrome. Since most things are done through a web browser now email and creating documents for example, why not add viewing PDFs to the ever expanding list of things your web browser does.

Right click > Open With > ‘Choose default programme’ then select Google Chrome.

When you open PDF files in the future it will open in Chrome, like in this example.

How to create a back up list of your iTunes music and apps.

2011-02-03T12:56:00.002Z

If you have a large collection of apps and music then it can be hard to remember them all and should there be a problem where you lose them all for what ever reason it would be nice to have a list of them to fall back on to regain your collection. So in this article I will show you how to create a way to make a list of all of the contents of your iTunes collection by creating PDF lists, this way you have a list and the file size is quite small.
Firstly for this to work you will need to have a PDF Creator Software installed on the computer. I personally use FoxIt Reader, this is free lightweight software that will allow you to view and create PDFs.
Now that we have installed the software we are ready to make our list of iTunes contents.
First open iTunes and click on category you want to make a list for, example – Apps.
Now go to file > print and you will be shown a dialogue box with a list of options. Also click on the page setup button to make sure the page orientation is on landscape. Click on both pages and you will now be given a list of printers depending on how many are on you network, however you want to click on the FoxIt PDF Printer from the list or what ever PDF software you have installed. When you click on o.k you will be given the option of where to save the file, this is entirely up to you, I chose my desktop.
That’s it you should have now successfully created a back up list of you apps. The same is done for making a list for music and outcome is the same.

Enable/ Unlock the hidden Administrator account in Vista

2010-11-09T19:49:00.002Z

In previous versions of Windows there is the option to log on as the admin account. However this doesn’t seem to be an option in Vista unless you use this little trick that I found.
First, go to start and in the search box type cmd (this will bring up command prompt, now don’t double click it yet because we want to run it as a administrator, to do this right click on cmd.exe and choose ‘run as administrator’.) As shown in the picture.
NOTE: If you have UAC (User Account Control) active then you will be shown a notification, just click continue.
2) Now that the command prompt window is open, type the following, –
“ net user administrator /active:yes ” (without quotation marks)
If you got to Start> Control Panel > User Accounts > then click on ‘manage other accounts’, you will now see the Administrator account.
If you no longer want it you can follow the steps above but instead type – “net user administrator /active:no” (without quotation marks). If you go to Control Panel and user accounts you will notice it is no longer there.
Thanks for reading.

Log into Windows Vista automatically from boot

2010-11-08T21:54:00.004Z

When Windows Vista boots, if you don’t want to type in your password all of the time then use these steps below and it will log into Vista automatically without prompting you for your password.

This is probably the screen you normally see when you log on to your computer, (but with your name instead of mine). Now this is where Vista wants you to type in your password. Now to stop this from happening and for Vista to log in automatically then follow the steps below.

1) First go to start and type in the search bar – “netplwiz” (without quotes)

You will now be shown this dialog box.
2) Secondly, untick the box that says ‘Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer’

3)You will then be asked to enter your password and confirm it.

This is the screen you will see when you next boot your machine instead of the log on screen.

This is usually only advised on personal computers, not computers that contain important information as it is not very secure.

If you decide to change your password you will have to go through these steps again.

Thanks for reading.

Internet Explorer 9 (Beta)

2010-09-16T15:47:00.001+01:00

Microsoft is set to release a its latest version of Internet Explorer (or IE) within in the next few weeks.

I have downloaded the Beta test version of it from their website and I have had a look and to be honest, I’m impressed. Compared to past version it’s a drastic improvement. I have discussed web browsers on this blog before and I don’t usually rate Internet Explorer as a browser, until now. Firefox, Chrome and Opera should be worried, it seems that Microsoft have finally sorted out the main problems with IE and the main problem they have solved is, speed.

Internet Explorer has been well known for its lack of speed but now this issue has been addressed this makes IE a good browser.

As well as addressing the issue of speed they have ‘de-cluttered’ it by adopting a similar layout to that of Google Chrome. Instead of the usual ‘file’ ‘edit’ etc it has all been moved to three simple icons on the right hand side. Settings icon covers all of the basics, new tab, new window and options. Next to it is the Favourites icon which contains all of your favourites. Next to that is a home icon for taking you back to your home page.

If you are interested in trying out the latest version of you can download it from the Microsoft website; Internet Explorer 9 (Beta)

How to get tabs back in Task Manager

2010-08-25T22:07:00.001+01:00

If you open task manager and can’t find the tabs, with processors ect, don’t panic. Just follow these steps and it will come back.

If this is the screen you’re seeing when you load your task manager then double click on the top of the window and it should display the tabs.

Recuva – recovers deleted files

2010-08-20T11:00:00.000+01:00

Have you ever lost or deleted a file that you really need?
Well using Recuva you may be able to get it back. Yes, that's right, Recuva will search through the particular place you tell it to in order to get your file back. Although it's not guaranteed, it's defiantly worth ago. Depending on how many time the file has been over ridden.
Recuva is a reasonably small application and won't take an awful lot of hard drive space up it can be installed within a few minutes. You can scan your whole hard drive, documents folder or an external drive, such as a flash drive or external hard drives.
As well as being able to search your hard drives for the file that may be lost, you can overwrite a file that you've want it to be unable to be recovered.
You can download it from their website at no cost. Recuva download

Tracking traffic to your website or blog Google Analytics vs StatCounter

2010-08-17T17:04:00.001+01:00

The are a few different websites that offer this service and they are very simple to set up. The two most popular in my opinion are StatCounter.com and Google Analytics.

I’ll start with Google Analytics, in my opinion this is the better of the two mainly because it can tie in with Gmail and AdSense because they are all in the same account, making it easier to access. It seems to offer a bit more in terms of the amount of data you can view. Unlike StatCounter.com, Google allows you to collect as much data as you like for free however when using StatCounter.com if found that there was a limit when using it for free.

StatCounter.com does offer some of the features that Google Analytics offers but because of the limit of the data you can store I think it is beaten by Google Analytics in terms of which is better.

I have used StatCounter over the years but recently changed to Google mainly because of the convenience of it being on the same page as Gmail and AdSense when I log in. The other reason as stated above is the limit on the data when using StatCounter for free.

The main advantage to the both of them is that you only have to insert a very small piece of code on to the pages you want to track and then sign into the account to see the results.

I hope this has helped you decide which one to use.

Volume control missing Windows Vista

2010-07-21T10:00:00.000+01:00

If the volume control has disappeared in the notification area try logging off and then on again. If it is still not there go to the start menu and right click, now go to properties. Go to the notification area tab and make sure that volume is ticked.

Adding other email accounts into Gmail.

2010-07-19T10:00:00.000+01:00

If you have a lot of different email address that you like to keep a track of then the chances are you will want them all in the same place. Well in this article I will be showing you how to keep track of all of your inboxes from just your Gmail inbox.

First open you Gmail account.

Now go to the top right and click on settings.

Then click on the accounts and imports link. -

You will now have the choice of seeing emails from a particular email address or the option of sending from it too. Personally I choose to have both options set up son that if necessary I can send a reply without having to sign into a different account. Note: You can only add 5 additional accounts.

To set up the option of reading emails from a particular account follow these steps. -

Click the add Pop account button

Now enter the name of the account you want to set up.

You will now be shown the page where you need to confirm the information such as password and servers. If you are setting up an email address from the likes of Yahoo or Hotmail then the settings will already be filled in. If you are setting up an email for a website like in this example then you will need to fill in the information but it is possible that Google will fill it in.

Once this is done then there is the chance that you will have to sign in to the the account on the website and retrieve a verification code to confirm that the email address belongs to you. As shown below.

You are all done now the emails will be now coming into your Gmail inbox for you to keep a track on.

To send from an email address follow these steps -

Click on the send from another email address button -

Now fill in the name you want to be displayed when the recipient receives the email and the email address you wish to send the email from.

Now click on set up through Gmail.

Now sent the verification email to the email address you are setting up.

Now go to your inbox by signing into the email in your usual way and retrieve the verification code now insert the code into the box provided. You email address is now set up and ready to send from.

Thanks for reading.

Remove album art from MP3 files

2010-06-26T12:00:00.000+01:00

If you have album art that you don’t to be displayed or if there is the wrong album art being displayed then there is a very easy way for you to remove it.

Simply go to the folder where you are storing the music, most commonly ‘My Music or just ‘Music’ in Vista.

Now follow these steps :

1) Go to Tools > Folder options.

2) Now click on the view tab.

3) Now select ‘show hidden files’ and 'hide protected operating system files’, as shown in the image.

Now when you look at the folder you should see jpeg files, these are the album art files, you can delete these and then the art work will no longer be displayed.

Why is my computer or laptop selecting everything?

2010-06-23T10:00:00.001+01:00

If your computer or laptop is selecting everything without you doing anything?
Then you will need to unplug your mouse and then plug it back in again. If you are using a laptop the you will need to make sure that there isn’t anything keeping the button stuck down, try getting a pen or something to try and loosen it up. You will need to be careful when you’re doing this in case you take the button off.

If you are still having no joy then I would suggest that you restart your computer. If this doesn't solve your problem then you will need to purchase a new mouse.

Choose your most used programmes to display in the start menu.

2010-06-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

Your most commonly used programmes are usually display in the start menu by default. However if you use a programme that you don't use that often because it will be one of the most recent it will make its way on the the start menu at the expense of another programme. On way to stop this happening is to disable this feature in windows. You can choose the exact programmes you want to display in the start menu by disabling the feature "display recently used programmes'.

The first thing to do is to add all of your favourite programmes to the start menu. You can do this by dragging and dropping the icons. Make sure that they are dropped above the line in order for them to stay there.

Now right click on the start menu and the click on properties. Now click on customise start menu.

Now select how many of the recently use programmes you want to be displayed, I have set it to 1, if you don’t want any to be displayed then select 0. This will only allow you to display the programmes you place in the start menu.

You can now have access to all of your favourite programmes. If you decide that you don’t want a certain programme then right click and remove from list, then drag and drop a new programme that you want to be displayed.

Advantages and disadvantages to Bitmap and Vector images.

2010-06-21T10:30:00.000+01:00

All images we view on the computer will fall into one of two categories, either Bitmap or Vector. They both have their advantages and disadvantages so it’s understandable that they are used in different situations.

When most people think of making graphics they think instantly of the issue of quality, however you should take into consideration the matter of size. When creating a website you need to make sure that the size of the image will allow it to be downloaded quickly, and in the days of broadband internet this shouldn’t really be an issue but is still go practice to think about it.

Bitmap -

The most common type of bitmap image is a photograph. Every image picture that is taken with your camera will produce a bitmap image. All a bitmap image is a collection of pixels with difference colours assigned to each one, which makes up and image when put together. This is the main reason that the quality can be poor when the image is enlarged. In the day and age of high megapixel cameras and HD this shouldn’t really be a problem providing the image is view with the correct dimensions. Bitmap images can only display 256 colours and this sometimes has an effect on the colours displayed.

The most common software that is used to create and edit bitmap images is Microsoft Paint. However if you use Adobe Fireworks you will find that the tools are divided up into vector and bitmap.

The most common file types that a bitmap is saved in is usually a jpg or jpeg image. There are others used including gif, gif (animated) and tiff.

Overall bitmap images are used to either create small animation or photographs. They are also used in a lot of websites.

Vector -

Vector images are not as commonly used as bitmap however they tend to be of higher quality this is mainly because of the way they are made. They are created using co-ordinates and mathematical equations. Unlike bitmap images a vector image can be any shape, a bitmap is usually restricted to being a rectangle.

When a vector image is either enlarged or reduced in size it will retain its quality. To do this the computer will just change the numbers involved in the mathematical formula.

Vector images especially complex ones tend to be of a lot higher file size than a bitmap, and as a result if they were online would require a lot of bandwidth.

The most commonly used software for creating a vector image are AutoCad and CoralDraw although there are others available.

To summarise it depends on the situation on whether you should use one of the other but in most cases there is a combination of the two used. Providing the download speed is good and the quality of the image is too there shouldn’t really be a problem.

Ccleaner

2010-06-19T12:00:00.001+01:00

Ccleaner is a privacy cleaner that is 100% free, because it is freeware. There are many benefits of using Ccleaner because it can clear up hard drive that is otherwise wasted by unnecessary files.
It cleans internet browsers such as:
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome
and more.
It also cleans out temporary files that are saved on your computer by windows.
There are many other third party software programs that Ccleaner clears out. More information Ccleaner.com

Control the volume with your mouse.

2010-06-18T10:00:00.001+01:00

When you're on the computer and you need to turn the volume up or down if can often result in you having to click the little icon on the task bar.
Well there is now a much easier way to change the volume when using the computer with out having to click on the icon. All you have to do is download a very small software that will allow you to control the volume by scrolling the mouse.
It's really easy just download the file, install it, then open the software and then when you want to change the volume, either left click and scroll up and down or ALT and scroll. You should find that the volume changes.
You can download it from here

Backing up bookmarks with Google Chrome

2010-06-16T23:00:00.002+01:00

Over your time on your computer you will accumulate a lot of bookmarks/ favourites. So it would be inconvenient to lose them so I advise saving your bookmarks to your Gmail account. Not only does this back them up but it will allow you to access them from any computer.
How to set it up-
1) Go to settings, the spanner in the corner of Google Chrome.
2) Then go to settings.
3) Now click on the tab ‘personal stuff’
4) Where it says sync fill in you Gmail email.
5) It will now constantly back up your bookmarks with out you noticing.
So all of those websites you bookmark (including this one :-) ) will be backed up to your email account so you won’t lose your website again.
As well as backing up your bookmarks it will back up your themes and preferences. This allows you to be able to have the same Google Chrome set up on any computer.

View hidden feeds on Facebook

2010-05-10T17:42:00.004+01:00

Have you hidden someone from your news feed on Facebook and now you want to see what they are saying?

If it was a friend or a group that you decided to hide and now you want to see what they're writing, well follow these steps.

1) Scroll down the news feed list and click on Edit Options.

2) Now click the cross next to the person or page you want to display again.

Hope this helps,

Gary.

SD Card or USB Flash pen?

2010-03-22T15:05:00.001Z

What should you use a flash pen or SD Card?

Well it all comes down too what it's being used for. If your after a storage device for your digital camera then go for a SD Card if it's for carrying a few files around then get a USB pen.

A USB pen is a lot more versatile because it can be used with every computer providing it has a USB drive. A card reader of some sort is required for an SD Card which means that you have to carry one around with you or it's not very useful.

Hiding Task Bar

2010-03-21T13:36:00.003Z

It's easier to hide it, other than remove it.
Right click on the task bar > Unlock task bar.
Then click on properties and then click on the auto hide task bar box.

Now unless your mouse hovers by it, it won't come up. This is the closest to hiding the task bar as possible.

Restore your Accessories Folder

2010-03-19T22:20:00.001Z

If when you go to Start > Programmes and then Accessories there is nothing there then this little programme will help.

It will hopefully help restore the folder and its contents.

You can download it here (you will need to run this as an administrator, and you may also want to make a System Restore Point.)

Short Cuts on Windows XP

2010-03-19T22:17:00.003Z

Sort Cuts on Windows XP

Want to make using Windows XP easier? Well by using sort cuts you can, it will save you time as well.

Sort Cuts:

CTRL and V = Paste
CTRL and C = Copy
CTRL and A = Select All
CTRL and Z = Undo
CTRL and Y = Redo
CTRL and S = Save
CTRL and P = Print
CTRL and T = Open New tab (when Internet browser is open)
CTRL and U = Underline (when writing a word document)
CTRL and B = Bold (When writing a word document)
CTRL and I = Italics (When writing a word document)

Use the Windows Key to open the start menu.

When writing in your blog use:

ALT Gr and A,E,I,O,U (to make these letter have accents on them Á É Í Ó Ú example : Café)
ALT GR and P = To post to your blog.
ALT GR and D = To save your post as a draft.
ALT GR and S = To save your post.

When in an Internet Browser:
CTRL and T = Open new tab
CTRL and W = Close Tab
CTRL and N = Open New window
CTRL and Shift and W = Close New window
CTRL and D = Bookmark/Add to favourites
ALT and Left arrow = Go back a page
ALT and Right arrow = Go forward a page
ALT and Home = Goes to your home page
CTRL and F = Find (Finds a word on the page)
F5 = Refresh
CTRL and SHIFT and H = View your history
F11 = View full screen
CTRL and SHIFT and DELETE = Delete you private data (Firefox)
CTRL and SHIFT and TAB = Switch between open tabs

Tabbed chatting in Windows Live Messenger

2010-03-15T09:12:00.001Z

You need to download and install Messenger Plus.
Once you've installed it, go to the icon next to the email icon in the new Windows Messenger and click on it.
The click on Preferences.
Then click on the conversation tab and click on "tabbed chats".
Enable it, and that's it.

Once you've enabled it then you will be able to flick between the different conversations by using the ctrl+shift+tab combination.

You can download messenger plus from here, http://www.msgpluslive.net/download/.