Sunday, March 24, 2013

Keyboard Shortcuts with the CTRL Key


Using Keyboard shortcuts – is often a quicker and easier way to activate a command than grabbing for the mouse…

Try using some of these popular keyboard shortcuts with the CTRL KEY (remember  a full keyboard has two (2) CTRL KEYS on the bottom keyboard row - one on the right and one on the left of the space bar, whereas many laptops, notebooks, etc only have one due to space  constraints.
  • CTRL KEY - Holding the CTRL KEY down and pressing other key combinations will initiate quite a few actions (including these noted to the right) The commands vary based on what program you are in..

  • CTRL with the + or – will magnify or de-magnify what you are seeing on the monitor when you are on the Internet; Great when you forget your glasses or reading fine print

  • CTRL + H: In Word this opens the Find/Replace Dialog Box; but when you are on the Internet this opens the browsing HISTORY

  • CTRL + N: On the Internet, this opens New Window; In Outlook, this opens a New Mail Message; In most WP programs, like Word & Excel, it opens a New Document

  • CTRL + P: In most application programs (Word or on the Internet) this will open your Print Dialog Box so you can choose what you want to print and how many

  • CTRL + S: In most application programs, this will open the SAVE Dialog Box

  • CTRL + T: On the Internet, this will open a new TAB for tabbed browsing
  • CTRL + A: Will highlight everything in a document (word, excel, power point allowing you to change formatting etc) or, use CTRL + A when you want to highlight all the the files or folders to copy and or move them to another location - such as to & from your computer and or flash or portable hard drive.. 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Cloud Computing & Syncing


CLOUD COMPUTING – simply means an online (or off-site) storage location for those things we normally save on our computers: documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, photos, music, videos etc will now also be saved in the "clouds" so that we can access from anywhere in the world, anytime....

These are just a few of popular cloud computing services - almost all offer some FREE online storage as well as a variety of paid storage plans - Even as I am preparing this information, the amount of free storage is changing, as are the rates & programs for paid storage - so do your homework... 

  • GoogleDrive
  • SkyDrive - those with Hotmail/Live accounts get some storage free on Sky Drive 
  • Apple iCloud
  • Amazon Cloud
  • DropBox 
When we use these services including MSN  (hotmail, live accounts) or Google (Gmail accounts) or iCloud (Apple) accounts one major advantage is that each time you're connected to the Internet and make changes to data, files, photos etc. you can choose to have your account "sync" to your multiple devices.  

"Syncing" can include documents, photo, music, apps, emails, contacts, calendars etc. changed on one device will now appear on all devices that are in "sync" (desktop, laptop, iPhone, Smartphone, tablet, iPad etc.. - Making life much easier and saving confusion, time and money (not having to buy books, music, movies, apps for each individual device)...

You want to be careful that information you are putting in the clouds is NOT COPYRIGHTED, because if they are, that could potentially be in breach of copyright laws and the files could get deleted or your account suspended because of this.  

I think many of us feel more comfortable storing Music files on an external or portable hard drive..but you can certainly upload them to any of the Clouds..

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Quick hello from Hodel Libary


Hello from Hodel Library! 

We were happy to have so many folks from Spring Frenzy come over to visit our library and sign-up for free library cards.  And we’re looking forward to meeting more of you. 

We can show you how to look at Consumer Reports on your computer.  We can show you a wonderful database called NoveList where you can read book reviews, get ideas for books you might enjoy based on the authors you like, and look at book club discussion ideas. Newspapers, magazines and “how-to” resources are available 24/7.  The best part?  It’s all free! 

For more information, you can call us at 453-5809, email me at wbirkhead@mohave.edu , or visit the Hodel Library on the Mohave Community College Campus (1977 Acoma Blvd. West).

Thanks,

Wendi Birkhead, Campus Librarian & Library Coordinator
Hodel Library
Mohave Community College
1977 Acoma Blvd. West
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403
Phone: 928-505-3311
wbirkhead@mohave.edu
www.mohave.edu

Friday, March 1, 2013

File Extensions-What are they?

The following is a list of some of the most popular "file extensions" you will see on your computer and or receive in an email...  File Extensions tell the computer the specific type of "file" something is...    Note if any file extension has an "x" at the end of it, it is an indication it was done in one of the Office 2007, 2010, 2013 programs... (ie.e docx; xlsx, pptx)
Extension
Example File Type
zip
Zip archive
pdf
PDF Document
mp3
MP3 Audio File
jpg
JPEG Image
exe
Executable file
wmv
Windows Media Video
doc
Microsoft Word Document
ppt
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
mpg
MPEG-1 Video
tif
Tagged Image File Format
wav
Waveform Audio Format
mov
QuickTime
psd
Photoshop Document
wma
Windows Media Audio
xls
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
mp4
MPEG-4 Part 14
txt
Plain text file
bmp
Windows bitmap
pps
PowerPoint Show
aif
Audio Interchange File
pub
Microsoft Publisher
gif
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) Image
qbb
QuickBooks backup file
dat
Data
rm
RealMedia
mdb
Microsoft Access
htm
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
flv
Flash video
wpd
WordPerfect Document
rtf
Rich Text Format
jpeg
JPEG image
html
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document
pst
Microsoft Personal STorage
ttf
TrueType font
mswmm
Windows Movie Maker Project File
eml
E-mail message
bat
Batch file
wps
Text document; MS Works