Working With Bookmarks/Favorites In Chrome by Google

FOR THOSE OF US WHO USE “CHROME" GOOGLE'S WEB BROWSER, use the bookmark manager to organize your bookmarks and folders. Remember "Website Favorites" are called "Bookmarks" in Chrome & other browsers.. To open the manager, follow these steps:

1. Click the wrench icon (in the upper right hand corner of your chrome web page screen) on the browser toolbar. Mac users: If you don't see the wrench icon, go to the menu bar at the top of your screen and click Bookmarks.
2. Select Bookmark manager.

Here are a few tips for using the manager:

• Move bookmarks or folders around
  Simply click the item you want to move and drag it to its new destination within the folder list on the left.
• Edit the name or web address of a bookmark, or a folder name
  Select the item you'd like to edit, click the Organize menu, then select Edit. You can also easily edit bookmarks and folders from the bookmarks bar by right-clicking the item in question and selecting Rename.
• Search bookmarks
  Use the search box at the top to quickly find a bookmark within the manager.
• Add a new bookmark folder
  In the folder list on the left, right-click the location where you want the new folder to reside and select Add folder
• Delete a bookmark or folder
  Right-click the item and select Delete.

WORKING WITH FAVORITES IN INTERNET EXPLORER:

To organize your list of Favorite Websites:

If you have added to your list and didn’t put addresses into specific topic related folders you can do it anytime to make it easier to find items of similar interest… To do so…

• Left Click on FAVORITES
• Left Click on ORGANIZE and your list will appear
• To move a web address to a folder, left click on the site which highlights it
• Then left click on “MOVE TO FOLDER”; then left click on the FOLDER to put it in, OR
• CREATE NEW FOLDER” and then repeat the process and “MOVE TO FOLDER”.
• When you are finished left click OK

To alphabetize your Favorite List:

• Left click on FAVORITES on the menu bar (not the toolbar icon)
• Point to and highlight any item on the list – then RIGHT CLICK on that item
• A menu will appear – toward the bottom of the menu – choose “SORT BY NAME”
• Left Click “SORT BY NAME” - all items in your Favorite List are alphabetized
• Addresses not put in specific folders are always at the bottom of the list

President’s Day ~ Washington's Birthday

A little trivia about President’s Day, which is celebrated today Monday, February 21st this year and Presidents in general.. Did you know that:

THE THIRD MONDAY IN FEBRUARY is designated in the United States as Washington's Birthday, but now commonly known as Presidents Day.

1885 IS WHEN WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY BECAME A FEDERAL HOLIDAY – although many across the newly formed United States celebrated Washington's Birthday in the 17th century while George Washington was still alive, it didn’t become a federal holiday until 1885 when Chester Arthur signed the official bill

BARACK OBAMA IS OUR 44TH PRESIDENT, but there actually have only been 43 presidents: Cleveland was elected for two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice, as our 22nd and 24th president.

EIGHT PRESIDENTS WERE BORN BRITISH SUBJECTS: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and W. Harrison.

NINE PRESIDENTS NEVER ATTENDED COLLEGE: Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Cleveland, and Truman. The college that has the most presidents as alumni (seven in total) is Harvard: J. Adams, J. Q. Adams, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Kennedy, G. W. Bush (business school), and Barack Obama (law school). Yale is a close second, with five presidents as alumni: Taft, Ford (law school), G.H.W. Bush, Clinton (law school), and G. W. Bush.

PRESIDENTS WHO WOULD BE CONSIDERED "WASHINGTON OUTSIDERS" (i.e., the 18 presidents who never served in Congress) are: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Taylor, Grant, Arthur, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, F. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and G. W. Bush.

MOST COMMON RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION among presidents has been Episcopalian, followed by Presbyterian.

ANCESTRY OF 42 PRESIDENTS is limited to the following seven heritages, or some combination thereof: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, or German.

BARACK OBAMA IS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN to be elected president of the United States. He was also born in Hawaii, making him the first president not born in the continental United States.

OLDEST & YOUNGEST PRESIDENTS: The oldest elected president was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president—he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated.

THE OLDEST LIVING FORMER PRESIDENT: was Gerald Ford, who was born on July 14, 1913, and died on Dec.27, 2006, at age 93. The second oldest was Ronald Reagan, who also lived to be 93 years.

TALLEST & SHORTEST PRESIDENTS: The tallest president was Lincoln at 6'4"; at 5'4", Madison was the shortest.

EIGHT LEFT-HANDED PRESIDENTS: James A. Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama

These trivia facts were from the following websites:

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/holidays/tp/presidents_day.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/prestrivia1.html

Tips to use your mouse effectively

USING YOUR MOUSE CORRECTLY

• Left Click – Makes something happen “gives the computer a command”
• Right Click – Will always show you an action menu list of commands to choose from, based on whatever your mouse/cursor is on…

MOUSE SELECTION “HIGHLIGHTING” SHORTCUTS

TO SELECT A LINE OF TEXT: Place the mouse pointer in the left gutter area (the mouse will turn into a right facing arrow). Now left click the left mouse button once.

TO SELECT A BLOCK OF TEXT: Place the insertion point at the beginning of the block of text you want to select, Hold down the SHIFT Key, Place the I-beam at the end of the block of text and left click the left mouse button.

TO SELECT THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT: Left click Edit on the menu bar and Choose Select All, OR Hold CTRL Key + A

TO DE-SELECT (or unselect) ANYTHING HIGHLIGHTED/SELECTED: Left click anywhere in the white space of your document.

Warning-Phone Numbers on Facebook!

Do you, your friends or family have a facebook account?? Then it's possible your home, cell, work and other telephone numbers are listed on Facebook?

Yes that's right - If you or your friends or family, has a friend on Facebook that posts or reads posts on Facebook using their iPhone app (on any smartphone) to access Facebook, then it ‘s more than likely that your private phone numbers (home, work, cell and any others they have noted in their contact list) and those for everyone else in their contact list that has a Facebook accounts - will all be matched up and listed on Facebook!

How & Why?? Because Facebook's "Contact Sync" feature, which synchronises friends' Facebook profile pictures with the contacts in their phone. So it imports/uploads all the names and phone numbers you have on your (smart)phone, uploads them to Facebook's Phonebook app and then matches them up with all users on your account and so on & so forth...the implications are overwhelming on our personal information being shared..

Be sure to check your friends & change your Privacy Settings:: When you are on your Facebook Account, go to the top right corner of your screen, click Account, then Edit Friends. Go to the left side of your screen and click phonebook. Everyone's phone numbers are now being published.

Let friends and family know this, so telephone numbers can be removed.

To change privacy settings: go to Privacy settings, then to phone, then to customize and choose "only me"

Remember - options change in your privacy settings, so check them often to be sure of what is and isn't activated...

Weekend happenings & MCC classes

So much to do and so little time… When you aren’t taking classes at Mohave Community College - there is always something going on in Havasu and more often than not, there is so much going on you can’t do everything you’d like to…So check out these websites…

http://www.golakehavasu.com/

www.bullheadchamber.com/forms/CalendarofEvents2010-2011.pdf

This weekend
Thursday-Sunday, February 17-20th, WinterBlast..Sara Park, Visit website: www.westernpyro.org

Thursday-Monday, February 17th-21st, Havasu Pocket Cruisers - A gathering of sailors and their trailerable sailboats from across the country - Daytime sailing events on the Lake

Friday-Sunday, February 18-20th, Rockabilly Reunion - Pre ‘68 vintage car and motorcycle show, carnival, food and beverage vendors, beer garden, pin-up girl contest, swap meet, vendor village, giveaways, 1950s hair salon and barber. Gate entry $5-Windsor Beach, London Bridge Road

COMPUTER CLASSES:
Learn something new - lots of fun classes at MCC begin every day - Interested in computers or doing more with your digital photos, there are seats are still available in some of our late February-early March classes, so be sure to call Registration and sign up today 928-453-1139 or 855-7812…And remember to ask about our 25% off senior discount!!!

MOVIE MAKER LSC100A- 125: Two 4 hr. classes on Feb 28 & Mar 7, Monday mornings, 8:30am-12:20pm

INTERNET AND IT’S MANY USES LSC071-122: Two 4 hr. classes on Feb 28 & Mar 2: Monday & Wednesday afternoon, 1pm-4:50pm

FIND & ORGANIZE WHAT’S ON YOUR PC WITH WINDOWS EXPLORER LSC062-125: Two 4 hr. classes on Tuesday & Thursday afternoon, March 1 & 3, 1pm-4:50pm

POWER POINT SLIDE SHOWS: LSC069D-121: Two 4 hr. classes on Tuesday & Wednesday morning, March 1st & 2nd, 8:30am-12:20pm

WORD – WORKING WITH TABLES LSC100-124 : One 4 hr. class on Thursday morning, March 3rd 8:30am-12:20pm

PICASA PHOTO EDITING: LSC100A-122: Two 4 hr. classes on Tuesday & Wednesday mornings, March 8th & 9th , 8:30am-12:20pm

CREATE A BOOK WITH DIGITAL PHOTOS: LSC100A-224: Two 4 hr. classes on Wednesday afternoons, March 9th & 23rd, 1pm- 4:50pm

CREATE GREAT LOOKING DOCUMENTS USING MS WORD: LSC068-122: Two 4 hr. classes on Thursday & Friday mornings, March 10th & 11th 8:30am-12:20pm

EMAIL HOW TO’S-BASIC & ADVANCED: LSC071-124: Two 4 hr. classes on Thursday afternoons, March 10th & 24th 1pm-4:50pm

All MCC campuses will be closed Saturday-Sunday, March 12th thru 20th for Spring Break... All classes will resume on Monday, March 21st...

We'd enjoy hearing your comments on our new "blog" design....and as always if you have questions you'd like answered just email me at cherie_houston@hotmail.com anytime..

How to change what programs run at Start-up

How & why to change what programs run at “start-up” when you turn your computer on..Many of the programs installed on your computer, automatically “RUN” as soon as we start our computer each time and stay running the entire time our computer is on – Most run with or without our permission and can slow our computer down considerably…

We can control which programs run and which don’t when we start-up our computer and it’s easy to do this… When you want to see what is running at Start-Up, Open your Start Menu (Windows Flag Key) and you can then modify ~ add or delete ~ the programs in your Microsoft Configuration Utility…

• Open the Start Menu (either click on Start or the Windows Icon, or Tap your Windows Flag Key on the keyboard)
• At the bottom of the start menu, type "msconfig" into the search bar.
• Press "Enter" and then open the "Startup" tab of the window that appears. Programs that run at startup have checks next to their listing.
• Uncheck the boxes next to programs you don't want to run at startup.
• Check the boxes next to programs that you do want to run at startup.
• Click "Apply" and "OK."

Valentines Day Trivia & Fun & Recipe websites…

Happy Valentines Day everyone… What a wonderful holiday to break the long winter months…

Every February we celebrate Valentine's Day by giving flowers, candy and cards to those we love and we all remember those days when we were young and eagerly awaited the valentine celebrations when we first started school.

This celebration is in honor of Saint Valentine. But here are a few trivia facts you may not know…about Valentines Day and St. Valentine"?

• The history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint “St. Valentine” are shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition
• According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)
• Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia
• Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages (written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap.
• Another valentine gentleman you may be wondering about is Cupid (Latin cupido, "desire"). In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Eros, god of love. Cupid is often said to be a mischievous boy who goes around wounding both gods and humans with his arrows, causing them to fall in love.

www.holidays.kaboose.com/valentines-day

www.allrecipes.com//Recipes/holidays-and-events/valentines-day/Main.aspx

www.foodnetwork.com/valentines-day/package/index.html>

You know more than you think about computers...

I want to thank one of our students in AZ, Patti W for sharing these-thought you'd enjoy them...they might just make you feel better about your computer skills!

Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?
Customer: A white one...

===============

Customer: Hi, this is Celine .. I can't get my diskette out.
Tech support: Have you tried pushing the Button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Tech support: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note.
Customer: No, wait a minute. I hadn't inserted it yet... it's still on my desk... Sorry...

===============

Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?

===============

Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello... I can't print.

Tech support: Would you click on 'start' for me and....
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates.
===============

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha , I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it.

============== =

Customer: I have problems printing in red..
Tech support: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah.....................thank you.

===============

Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.===============

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.

Tech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: OK
Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard?
Customer: Yes, there's another one here. Ah, that one does work.

===============

Tech support: Your password is the small letter 'a' as in apple, a capital letter V as in Victor, the number 7.
Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters?

===============

Customer: I can't get on the Internet.

Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five dots.

===============

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?
Customer: Netscape.

Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program.
Customer: Oh, sorry... Internet Explorer.

===============

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.
===============

Tech support: How may I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first email.
Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the little circle around it?

===============

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.
Tech support: Are you running it under windows?
Customer: 'No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.'

===============

And last but not least...

Tech support: 'Okay Bob , let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter 'P' to bring up the Program Manager.'
Customer: I don't have a P .
Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob .
Customer: What do you mean?

Tech support: “P” - on your keyboard, Bob
Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT

How to get better digital photos & videos

First ~ be sure you have visited the specific website for your camera – this is the quickest and easiest way to learn all the specific features of your digital camera and all that it can do. Most camera manufacturer’s websites have tutorials that will teach you- via video – all the specific features unique to your camera; once there, save it to your favorites and visit the site often…

Second ~ go to your favorite search engine - Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.. and search for your digital camera or camcorder model + tutorial, many times tutorials are created by users like yourself, who love their camera and have wonderful tips to create better photos and make the most of your new camera and all that it has to offer.
Third ~ The following are some popular websites to help you improve the quality of the photos and videos that you take and to learn more about “digital photography” from the comfort of your home… explore and enjoy:

• http://www.better-digital-photo-tips.com/
• http://www.dcresource.com/
• http://www.digicamhelp.com/
• http://www.digital-camera-help.com/
• http://www.digital-cameras-help.com/
• http://www.digitalphotography.tipcentral.net/
• http://www.digital-photography-school.com/
• http://www.digital-photography-tips.net/
• http://www.digitalphototipsandmore.com/
• http://www.homephotog.com/
• http://www.photographycourse.net/
• http://www.takegreatpictures.com/

Puzzle & game websites

Free Puzzle Websites, including crossword and word search puzzles and if you are looking for more games – remember to use http://www.allmyfaves.com/ for great websites on any topic you can think of…

http://www.webcrosswords.com/

http://www.wordgames.com/

www.puzzles.about.com/popular.htm

www.nytimes.com/pages/crosswords

Spring Frenzy 2011 Begins Tomorrow Feb 7th

Spring Frenzy is a week long event in Lake Havasu City geared for adults - local and visitors alike and will be held Monday – Friday February 7-11th…

There are over 100 classes and activities offered - many at the Aquatic Center, but others in the community including at Mohave Community College. Every class you can think of is offered from - swimming, floral arranging, wine tasting, etc..... The week ends with a dinner and dance. Cost is only $4 per class; $10 per day or $30 per week

I will be teaching 1 hour computer classes on a variety of topics Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9am-5pm - so if you haven't registered already stop by the Aquatic Center and sign up...

Spring Frenzy began “10 years ago” in 2001 with 92 people participating – this year LHC expects more than 1,500 people to participate. Now that’s a success story thanks to the hard work and dedication of LHC’s Park & Recreation Dept. at the Aquatic Center and all of the businesses throughout the city that participate, including Mohave Community College…

For “what’s happening” in Lake Havasu City or Bullhead City, be sure to check out these websites… there is always something going on and more often than not, there is so much going on you can’t do everything you’d like to…

http://www.golakehavasu.com/

www.bullheadchamber.com/forms/CalendarofEvents2010-2011.pdf

And remember - next weekend Saturday & Sunday, Feb. 12th and 13th is Winterfest on McCulloch Blvd McCulloch Boulevard - from Acoma to Smoketree - is transformed into a giant street fair complete with food and merchandise vendors, music and entertainment. There is something for every age. There are RVs and offroad vehicles for adults to look at and pony rides and inflatables for the children

GREAT WEBSITES FOR SUPER BOWL SUNDAY….

This coming Sunday, February 6th, 2011 is "Super Bowl" Sunday. No doubt this is a fact known by every die hard football fans and everyone around them... Thought you'd enjoy checking out the NFL's 45 Super Bowl Website and we also found some great websites for Super Bowl Recipe ideas... So enjoy...

45th NFL SuperBowl Website:

www.nfl.com/superbowl/45

Super Bowl Recipe Idea Websites:

www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/party-ideas/superbowl-food

www.cooksrecipes.com/holiday-recipes/super-bowl-party-recipes.html

www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Holiday---Celebration-Recipes/Super-Bowl-Recipes

Tutorial for Picasa's many features

There are so many wonderful features to use in Picasa ~ a great free software program from Google, that allows you edit and be creative with your digital photos..

If you don't already have Picasa on your computer, just go to their website and download the free software - it's easy and only takes a minute... you may be pleasantly surprised by all the photos it finds on your computer that you knew you had but couldn't find!!

www.Picasa.com

For those of you who do have Picasa and are confused or not sure how to use some of the many features - such as their new picnic editing; name tags which recognizes faces; creating a movie; using web albums to share entire photo folders, geotagging and much much more - Google has a great tutorial website that will work with you on all these wonderful features... This is definitely a website that should be in your favorites...

www.picasatutorials.com

So if you are bored on these cold winter days... experiment with your digital photos and videos and you'll be amazed at all you can do and how easy it is...

Tutorials for Windows Movie Maker 2.6

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (which is an older version than the new Windows Live Movie Maker) but is more enjoyable to use. Movie Maker 2.6 allows you to be more creative has more options to work with your digital photos, music and video when "creating" your new movie...

There are many websites you can go to to download Windows Movie Maker 2.6, but this one is quick & easy and much less confusing - it only takes a few moments to download it and you will then find it in your start menu and/or in your Program Listing...

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 free software download
http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-124-windows-movie-maker

The following websites at Microsoft will help you when you forget what you've learned in class... Check out each of these websites and save them to your favorites for future reference..

Let Movie Maker create a movie for you
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/getstarted/movies.mspx

AutoMovie, a feature of Movie Maker, automatically creates a movie for you using a theme, title, and background music of your choosing. AutoMovie is the best way to quickly see what Movie Maker can do. This article shows you how to use AutoMovie to create an exciting movie in just a few minutes.

Create and trim video clips
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/getstarted/clips.mspx

Movie Maker can automatically split your home movies, which might be an hour long on a single tape, into smaller clips that are easier to edit. You can also manually trim your video clips to show just the most interesting moments. This article shows you how to use Movie Maker to automatically split movies into short clips and then how to manually divide those clips.

Work with Movie Maker Collections
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/create/collections.mspx

Movie Maker organizes your video, music, and pictures into collections. You can then drag items in your collections to your storyboard to make a movie. This article shows you how to add items to your collections, edit items, and add them to your storyboard.

Use special features to polish your movie
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/create/polish.mspx

Once you add video clips to your storyboard, you can make your movie more fun and professional-looking by adding transitions, special effects, background music, narration, titles, and credits. This video and series of articles show you how.

Save your movie in different formats
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/create/formats.mspx

Once your movie is polished, find out how to save it and share it with your friends.

Enjoy the Library at MCC

Hello everyone and greetings from the Hodel Library at Mohave Community College-Lake Hsavasu City Campus..

I would like to invite anyone who is interested to visit the Library for a one-on-one demonstration of the online databases, so:

• If you are hunting down branches of your family tree, we can show you how to access Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest.
• If you are a quilter or collector, you might enjoy reading articles from the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center.
• If you have a question about a medical issue, you can get up-to-date information (and sometimes videos) with Consumer Health Complete.
• If you need to use a computer - we have a complete computer lab with printers for your use (an no time limits)

Just ask for Wendi or Mary Jo at 928-453-5809 or 928-453-5809. Or, you can come on by and visit with us in person at Mohave Community College 1977 Acoma Blvd. West (we’re located toward the back of the campus, not far from the 500 Computer Class Building).

Check us out online: www.mohave.edu/library

Remember, the Hodel Library is open to everyone in Lake Havasu City!

Wendi Birkhead, MLS, Campus Librarian
Hodel Library - Lake Havasu City Campus
Mohave Community College
1977 W. Acoma Blvd
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403
wbirkhead@mohave.edu

Who is PayPal and why would you use them?

Wikipedia's description of PayPal: PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet..

But to me: PayPal is simply an easy and safe way to pay for things that I buy online…

Many say that PayPal is:

• the fastest, safest easiest way to pay and get paid
• the most popular online payment source in the world today
• lets us send money to anyone with email
• free for consumers
• works very easily with our existing credit cards and checking accounts
• easy to join-it takes just a few minute to set-up your free online account

Personally, I like the fact that I can shop online and not share my financial information with the company I am buying from (credit or debit card or checking account information with anyone other than paypal). Everyone seems to agree that PayPal uses the newest and best anti-fraud technology to help protect us and our financial information… so that if a companies information is compromised my account information isn’t…

With PayPal it’s also easy to transfer money to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world from whatever computer you may be at.

You can pay most retailers on the internet with PayPal and in some cases that is the only payment form they accept.

If it’s free than how does Pay Pal make it’s money. Easy, they charge the sellers for each transaction. So for “sellers” the rumblings are that PayPal’s fees are increasing much too high and much too quickly!!

Visit their website for more information: www.paypal.com

What are Internet Cookies?

Cookies are helpful, because they make it easier for us to “move around” when we revisit a website again in the future..

Cookies are pieces of information that actually create a very small “text file” which is placed in a folder on the hard drive of our computer - they are generated/created when we visit a website, by the server that the web page is on. Some people say it’s like “our id card” so that when we go back and revisit a website, it tells that website that we are back – not us really, but that the computer we are using is back visiting the website again!!!

We can delete or change the way in which cookies and/or temporary Internet files are saved by changing our Internet settings. The way we change our Internet settings varies depending on the Internet Browser and level of Browser that we use…Remember there are different browsers (all of which are free) and different members of a family might use different browsers..

Some of us might use Internet Explorer 7, 8 or even 9 (Microsoft products); some might use Chrome by Google; others might use FireFox by Mozilla, while others who have an Apple Mac might use Safari.. and the list goes on…

If you aren’t sure how to change your Internet settings, for your specific browser software and level, you might want to visit this website and save it in your favorites…

http://www.aboutcookies.org/

Excel 2010 - Create an "Auto Fill List" Office 2010

EXCEL 2010 - HOW TO CREATE/ADD YOUR OWN CUSTOMIZED “AUTO FILL LIST” (this has changed a little since earlier versions of Excel)

If you have a list/header row already typed on a spreadsheet – skip this step

“Type your list either in the first row or the first column” of an Excel spreadsheet

• Highlight this customized list that you want to add to the Auto Fill Master list
• Now, go to the File Tab & choose “Options”
• In the Options list – in the left column, Choose Advanced
• Bring the scroll bar on the right down almost to the bottom.. until you see the button “EDIT CUSTOM LIST” (to the right of “create lists for the use in sort 7 fill sequences”)
• That Opens the Edit Custom List Dialog Box – toward the bottom right, left click in the button Import
• Now you will see your list in the right column-“List Entries” and in the left list “Custom Lists” – Click OK

Notes:

• If you have a list in another program (word, word perfect, email, etc) – simply highlight and copy the list in that program, open the Edit Custom List Dialog Box, right click and choose paste – the list will not be in the “List Entries” and when you add it – it will be added with the commas after each word/phrase.
• To change this list in the future (add or remove titles), come back to this dialog box, left click on the custom list on the left side that you want to change – the list will appear in the “List Entries” on the right – make the change and then click on ADD, then click OK
• You can only change “custom lists” you’ve created, not ones that came with your software..

INTERNET – EVERYTHING IS SO SMALL..

When what you are looking at on the Internet is too small – simply change the size… not just the text size.. but by “zooming” you can enlarge or reduce everything you see on the monitor including the text, photos, icons etc…

There are several different ways you can do this quickly and easily, including keyboard shortcuts:

• TO ENLARGE: Hold the CTRL button (bottom left & right corner of your keyboard) and tap the plus “+” sign (far right of the keyboard row with the numbers)
• TO REDUCE: Hold the CTRL button (bottom left & right corner of your keyboard) and tap the minus “-“ sign (far right of the keyboard row with the numbers)

OR

• TO ENLARGE AND REDUCE: Hold the CTRL button (bottom left & right corner of your keyboard) and roll the wheel on your mouse up to enlarge and down to reduce

OR

For those who use Internet Explorer:

• Use your status bar – bottom right corner of your screen, is the zoom list – which allows you to choose or customize screen – OR
• On your I.E. command toolbar, choose Page, and when the drop down list of actions appear – choose Zoom – then choose or customize the size you want.

Who and What is spokeo.com

In the last few weeks, many facebook & myspace users have been posting the following information about the website spokeo.com in their status to make others aware of this website and their concerns…

Spokeo.com is an online USA phone book w/personal information: everything from pics you've posted on Facebook or other websites, your approximate credit score, home value, home address, income, age, marital status, names & ages of your children, etc.

You can remove yourself by first searching for yourself on their site to find the URL of your page, then going to the Privacy button on the bottom of their page to remove yourself – HOWEVER many people have commented that using this privacy button, is how spokeo and other similar companies are getting our email addresses, so be careful – Overwhelmingly the comments on the message boards and forums are indicating that the data they publish is more incorrect than accurate..

According to wikipedia.com – Spokeo.com’s headquarters are in Pasadena, CA founded by Harrison Tang and launched in Dec. 2006 and now becoming “popular”. They are a social network “aggregator” website (similar to zabasearch.com that was popular a few years ago doing the same thing). They accumulate information from a wide variety of information gathered online and offline from “public” resources (such as phone books, social networks like facebook, myspace and others, , marketing surveys, mailing lists, government censuses, education real estate listings, and business websites). This information might include demographics, education and career information, photos from on line photo albums, estimated property and personal assets, email addresses and other usernames for sites such as facebook, and much much more.. Recently they announced their ability to scan social networks, blogs, photo albums, dating sites, music networks, video sites, ecommerce stores, and other web services in real-time to help find online profiles with similar usernames..

Most information seen for free is very basic, but of course then you can sign up and pay for additional information, which again, many people report is totally inaccurate. Users report problems with removing their listings, and some independent reports verified that the removal process was "spotty."

For more information you can check them on www.breakthechain.org or www.snopes.com - Here is the direct link to snopes comments about them...
www.snopes.com/computer/internet/spokeo.asp

HOW TO GET PHOTOS FROM YOUR CELL PHONE TO YOUR COMPUTER..

You’ve taken photos or videos with your cell phone, but how can you get them to your computer so you can print or email them… There are several ways, depending on the type and model of your cell phone – use one of the following tips or check your cell phone manufacturer’s website for their tutorial instructions for your specific cell phone..

CABLE FROM CELL PHONE TO COMPUTER: Some phones, come with cables that have a connection for the phone and the other end has a USB port connection – if you phone has this, you will copy and paste the photo’s from your cell phone to your computer, the same as you would from a flash drive/memory card to your computer.. For example, if you have a Motorola phone you can use a tool called Motorola Phone Tools-It isn't free but comes with a USB cable you can directly connect to the computer

FOR CELL PHONES WITH TEXTING CAPABILITIES: Then you can simply “email the photo’s to yourself or anyone else with an email address” just like a text message; instead of a phone number you would send it to the “email address”

FOR CELL PHONES WITH MEMORY CARDS: Before you take pictures with your cell phone, be sure you have a memory card in the slot and that your camera setting is set to save all photos & videos that you take, and other information you’d like, to the memory card. Refer to your user manual to make sure you buy the right kind of memory card for your cell phone If your cell phone didn’t come with one. Common cell phone memory card formats include: TransFlash MicroSD, MiniSD, Sony MemoryStick but, the most popular is MicroSD (remember "MiniSD" and "MicroSD" are not the same kind of cards)..

Small memory cards require a larger adapter to insert in a computer memory card reader.
Once your small memory card is in the adapter, insert the memory card adapter into a memory card reader or into your laptop/computer/printer’s built in memory card reader..

Now it is ready to be “read” - Open Windows Explorer (Windows Flag Key & E), you will then see your memory card with an assigned drive letter – typically E or F. When you left click on that drive, look to the right side of the screen and you will see the photos and or all information on the memory card.

1. Highlight the photos you want to put on the computer
2. Choose COPY
3. Now go to or create a new folder for the picture
4. Once you are in the correct folder, choose PASTE

Your photos are now on your computer in the folder you have chosen or created…

Everyone is invited to visit the MCC Library

Hi All! My name is Wendi Birkhead and I am the campus librarian of the Hodel Library on the Lake Havasu Campus of Mohave Community College. I want to invite you to visit us and find out about all the wonderful books, DVDs, audiobooks, and electronic materials we have to offer.

Many people don’t realize that we are open to everyone – students and non-students, alike – and anyone can get a library card for free.

We carry bestsellers, fiction and nonfiction. Through the computers in our library or when you access our website:
www.Mohave.edu/library (listed on this blogs list of favorite websites), you have access to fantastic databases such as Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest, Consumer Health Complete, the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center and more.

We have plenty of computers for your use and we don't have a time limit on how long you can use them. You also can use our databases to look at articles from journals such as Consumer Reports, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, PC World, U.S. News and World Reports, etc.

Please give us a call at 928-453-5809 to ask for more information. You can also come on by and visit with us in person at Mohave Community College 1977 Acoma Blvd. West. We are located toward the back of the MCC campus, just behind the 500 Building, where the Computer Classes are held.

Let us know how we can help and we look forward to meeting you.

What is Twitter & What are Tweets!!!

Twitter began in 2006 and is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc. and based in San Francisco, CA, but has several other locations in the US including San Antonio, TX and Boston, MA.

Twitter is another free social networking site (like facebook) where users can send and receive “tweets”.

A “tweet or tweeting” is a text message/post with up to 140 characters and all you need to use Twitter is an Internet connection or a mobile phone. You can follow many different tweets and followers can follow you..

You must join Twitter - which is free and you will be required to “sign up” and create a username and password as you do with all Internet accounts..

Twitter is used world-wide by individuals, celebrities, businesses from breaking world news to updates from friends …

Check it out for yourself at http://www.twitter.com/ - Twitter website makes it easy to join and offers lots of helpful tips for those of you who are learning to use their service. And again, it's free and simply another new way to "stay in touch"

Free Typing Websites

Ready to improve your typing skills – there are plenty of wonderful websites that offer you “free” tutorials to test and improve your typing skills..

The following are just a few online “free websites” that can help you with your speed and accuracy.

For those of you who are accomplished typists, take a typing test on any of these to see how your skills are..

Try several of them until you find one that you enjoy – and then use it often – even a few minutes a day can make a big difference… Enjoy

www.learn2type.com

www.typingweb.com

www.powertyping.com

www.freetypinggame.net

www.learntotype.org

BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER AND INFO? Part 2 of 2

Our last blog posting stressed the importance of "backing up" our computer hard drive - losing a document or one photo can be upsetting - but if your computer crashes and you lose everything that can be overwhelming and costly... Believe me it's not pleasant - as much as I preach the importance of backing up, I know how busy we can all get and it's easy to forget, so the last time I lost information I decided it was time to do something where I don't even have to think about it... So for me - an outside company - was the best choice and I choose carbonite.com which offers unlimited storage...

HOW CARBONITE WORKS – IT’S EASY & GREAT ADVANTAGES..
Install Carbonite – then your Back-Up is done each time you are on your PC/Internet ; Relax it’s secure; Restore lost files easily & Remote Access

WHAT CARBONITE IS AND WHAT IT ISN'T...
Again, with Carbonite you get unlimited backup of the irreplaceable files on your computer. That said, your Carbonite subscription does NOT include some services often confused with backup.

• Online/offsite file storage. Carbonite is NOT a place to move files from your hard drive, to free up space on your hard drive. If you remove any file from your hard drive, Carbonite waits 30 days for you to recover it, and then we delete that file from our servers, too.
• Program or system backup. Carbonite backs up the irreplaceable files on your computer – user-generated content such as photos, documents, music, etc. Carbonite does not back up software programs, temporary files or system files
• External Hard Drive backup. Carbonite consumer products does not allow you to back up your external hard drive, unless you purchase their external hard drive support with as a small business
• Archiving. Carbonite does not keep every version of every file you’ve ever created. Carbonite's PC product offers versioning, which allows you to recover some versions of your files, going back up to 90 days

Check them out www.carbonite.com

BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER AND INFO? Part 1 of 2

A great New Years Resolution when it comes to your computer – is to “back-up” your information on a regular basis so that no matter what happens – all your data is protected…

Whether you back-up using CD’s, a Large Flash Drive, Portable or External Hard Drive or use a company like I do “carbonite.com” or Mozy.com or use your internet provider (many offer back-up services) – Backing up on a regular basis is critical. This is especially important for those of us with older computers or if you have large document, photo, music or other media files…

If you use one of the services – remember to ask how much space is included and what the charges are for additional storage (personally that’s why I like carbonite.com-it offers unlimited storage)

If you decide to use an external hard drive – there are many on the market, so watch the sales flyers – this one was recently advertised and has more storage than most of us would ever use… so a great investment:

• Office Depot’s “Clickfree" HD1035 Backup External USB Hard Drive, 1000GB”, which Automatically backs up your computer without any confusing software to install
• Back up your computer in just 1 step-No software to install or set up and incremental backup lets you save only the files changed since the previous backup – About $135.00

Our next blog will talk about using a company, like I do… www.carbonite.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2011

On behalf of our entire staff at Mohave Community College and myself, we want to wish you and yours a healthy, happy New Year full of blessings and joy ~ May this year "2011" be the best year of your life! Cherie Houston

~ William Arthur Ward quotes (American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)

ANOTHER NEW YEAR

“Another fresh new year is here . . .

Another year to live!

To banish worry, doubt, and fear,

To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest . . .

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity once more

To right some wrongs,

To pray for peace,

To plant a tree,

And sing more joyful songs!”

Top Ten New Years Resolutions

Trying to decide what your New Years Resolution should be for the upcoming 2011!! Maybe the list published on the USA.Gov website can help you to decide what would be best for you - Check it out at:

(www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml)

Technology is so helpful today... And when you visit the USA.Gov website (link is above) and each of the following resolutions is linked to the associated website for helpful information to help you reach your goal...

According to USA.Gov, these are the most popular New Year's resolutions year after year:

• Drink Less Alcohol
• Get a Better Education
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Manage Debt
• Manage Stress
• Quit Smoking Now
• Save Money
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others

Computer Classes Begin January 5th

On Wednesday, January 5th my computer classes begin again at Mohave Community College…

We have some great classes lined up from January thru April to help you become more comfortable with your computer, digital camera, using social networks, such as facebook and blogging, using your printer and lots of different software so you can create letters, newsletters, greeting cards, spreadsheets, power point slide shows, even to create your own books with or without photos…and of course lots of tips for using your email or skyping family all over the world…

The following classes are being held in January prior to LHC’s Spring Frenzy.. To reserve your seat, Call Registration 928-855-7812 or 453-1139.. Consider signing up with a friend – coming to class with someone else gives you the motivation to practice and the more people in each class the more is learned from questions....

COMPUTERS FOR THE FUN OF IT LSC062-121: Jan 5 & 6: Wednesday & Thursday morning, 8:30am-12:20pm, - Two 4 Hour classes reviewing computer hardware, software, printing tips, keyboard shortcut tips, customizing desktop-changing backgrounds, create shortcuts, using quick launch bar, Start Menu, Task Bar, control panel & much more…

DIGITAL CAMERA BASICS LSC100A-221: Jan 7 & 10: Friday & Monday afternoon, 1pm-4:50pm, Two 4 hour classes-Intro to digital cameras; pixels, camera lingo, basic how to’s, move photo’s to your PC with memory card & memory card reader, organize photos on your PC using Windows Explorer; save photos to portable drives Bring your digital camera to class

INTERNET AND IT’S MANY USES LSC071-121: Jan 10 & 12: Monday & Wednesday morning, 8:30am-12:20pm, Two 4 Hour classes designed to help you get totally comfortable with the internet, tips & lingo, such as ISP, browser, blogger; when/why to use F5 & F11; website basics, hyperlinks, email basics, using “Google & Bing” to search web, images, news; translating to & from different languages; blogging

CREATE/PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK LSC100A-124: Jan 11 & 18 Tuesday mornings, 8:30am-12:20pm, - Two 4 hour classes learning to create & publish your own book, using free book publishing software from www.blurb.com known as personal book making & publishing-use your wp skills & digital photos and learn in quantities as small as just one. You decide: soft or hard cover, various sizes, all text, all photos or a combination of photos & text, story book or recipe book-we will also work with walgreens.com to create a book & greeting cards using your photos Bring photos to class (on camera or flash drive)

HOW TO BUY & SELL ONLINE LSC101-121: Jan 11 & 13 Tuesday & Thursday afternoon, 1pm-4:50pm, Two 4 hour classes-Buy and Sell on Line, find what you want; searching, making travel arrangements, general shopping tips, intro to online sales with sites such as eBay; eBid; craigslist & others: shortcuts, security

LIST AND DATA MANAGEMENT WITH EXCEL LSC069-121: Jan 12 & 14 Wednesday & Friday afternoon, 1pm-4:50pm, Two 4 hour classes-Learn to work with numbers & text (budget, contact lists for mail merges) Workbook vs. worksheet; cells, columns, rows, auto-formats; margins, grid lines, sorting numbers & data & print basics Bring an address book or contact list to class

FIND & ORGANIZE WHAT’S ON YOUR PC LSC062-124: Jan 13 & 20, Thursday mornings, 8:30am-12:20pm, Two 4 hour classes-Find what you’ve saved on your PC; organize your work, files & photo’s to find them quickly & easily. Learn to back up your pc, photo & documents with portable flash & hard drives, memory cards and memory card readers..

PICASA PHOTO EDITING LSC100A-223: Jan 18 & 20 Tuesday & Thursday afternoon, 1pm-4:50pm, Two 4 hour classes learning to edit & print Digital Photos using Picasa (a free Google software) learn to upload photos from your camera and/or scanner to the PC and learn t order prints on line.. Bring photos to class (on camera or flash drive)

CREATE GREAT LOOKING DOCUMENTS LSC068-121: Jan 19 & 21 Wednesday & Friday mornings, 8:30am-12:20pm, Two 4 hour classes-reviewing the basics to open, create, save documents; highlight; cut-copy-paste, set & change margins; create letters, envelopes, labels & use clip art, word art to enhance documents, create flyers & invitations & lots of printing tips

MOVIE MAKER LSC100A- Sec 226: Jan 19 & 21 Wednesday & Friday afternoons,, 1pm-4:50pm, Two 4 hour classes learn to create movies with your photos, music & other special effects: transitions, titles/credits, your favorite music, timeline narration, and much more. This software is free with Windows XP, Media, Vista and/or Windows 7 … Bring photos to class (on your camera or flash drive)

50 Best Websites 2010

Every year, TIME (Time magazine) publishes a list of what they feel are the top 50 websites – according to their promo, the list ranges from the helpful to the distracting, the big hitters to the unknowns..

So when you have some time to relax and explore, check out their website which makes it easy by sorting their list into ten (10) primary categories…

• Music & Video
• Sports
• News & Info
• Financial & Productivity
• Shopping & Travel
• Health & Fitness
• Social Media
• Games
• Education
• Family & Kids

Hope you enjoy… here's the link:

www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2012721,00.html

Merry Christmas Everyone

From our families to yours, may you have a peace and joy filled Christmas…

CHRISTMAS BELLS
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet, The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along, The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound, The Carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said;
‘For hate is strong, And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!’

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!’

Listen to Christmas Music Online

Thought you might enjoy listening to Christmas Music Online - check out these free sites and enjoy the musical magic of the holidays... Enjoy.....

www.Pandora.com/ChristmasMusic

www.christmasmusic247.com

www.xmasmelody.com

www.accuradio.com/more/accuholidays

How many photo images can be stored on a Memory Card?

The following information for photo images is a guideline, the number will vary based on several things, such as camera model, internal file size, compression settings, what you have chosen for resolution and compression mode settings and finally, JPEG or .JPG (is a compressed file) compression will result in different file sizes based upon picture complexity…
MP=Megapixels: MB=Megabytes, GB = Gigabytes

This approx. number of photo images can be used on these 2 different size SDHC Memory Cards on 4 different size cameras - 6MP, 8MP, 10MP and 12MP. The SDHC Memory Card is one of the most popular memory card styles used today by camera manufacturers..

4GB: 6MP=1905 images; 8MP 1270 images; 10MP 802 images or 12MP 677 images

8GB: 6MP=3812 images; 8MP 2540 images; 10MP 1604 images or 12MP 1354 images

Note: all memory cards have a DCIM folder (Digital Camera Image) which should never be removed..

Digital Camera Basics

If you are purchasing a camera for 4 x 6 snapshots a 3-4 Megapixel is fine, but you will find as you shop for this holiday season – December 2019 – that most cameras today come with 12 Megapixels or more, so that isn’t a problem. If you like a particular brand of camera, go with it. Some features to look for are:

Battery Type
Depending on your preference you may want regular AAA batteries because they are everywhere and easy to replace or a proprietary rechargeable battery that comes with your camera. It’s really just a matter of choice.

LCD size
Generally, the larger the LCD, the better. The larger your view, the better idea you have whether the picture is good, or if you should take another.

View Finder
Most new cameras don’t have an eyepiece to view your subject, you use the viewfinder instead. If an eyepiece viewer is important to you, make sure the camera you purchase has one. Only in very bright sun is the eyepiece viewer important.

Zoom
For me, Optical Zoom, is the most important feature. When you frame a picture, you usually want a part of the scene- maybe just the face or faces – maybe the whole body and the interactions between people- maybe the people as they relate to the vast scenery. The larger your zoom, the better chance you have of capturing what you’d like to see in a picture. The average zoom sold today is 4X. So ask about Optical Zoom (not Digital Zoom)

Image Stabilization
This helps make your picture more sharp and less fuzzy. Image stabilization is more important the longer your zoom and has become a standard feature in most cameras today .

Our next post will discuss memory and memory cards...

What to do when your computer says you have "low memory"

A "memory too low message" is an indication that the amount of random access memory (RAM) in your computer is inadequate for the program you are trying to run.

Older computers attempting to run newer software often run into this problem. If you only get the memory low message when you attempt to run a specific program, then you've identified the problem. You can either not use that particular program or you can install additional memory.

The best way to get rid of a memory low message is to add more memory. Another benefit of adding more memory is better overall system performance. How much more memory you will be able to add depends on your operating system (Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista or the newest Windows 7) and the hardware that you have within your computer....

Check your manufacturer’s website for your specific computer to determine what upgrades you can make - this will tell you how much more memory you can add. Or call a respected tech support person if you are unsure or uncomfortable trying to do this on your own...

Enjoy your Holidays-Classes Resume in 2011

Just a quick reminder that as of today, our computer classes are over now until after the holidays and MCC is on holiday break.

On behalf of all of us at MCC, we wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and fabulous and healthy 2011 ahead... Still not quite sure where this year went...

Our classes will begin again the week of January 3rd and continue thr the end of April with more topics than you can imagine... We will be sending a list of our January classes and an update on Spring Frenzy which is held the first week in February during the the next few days so sign up early and remember if you have any questions - just email me...

cherie_houston@hotmail.com

Until then from our family to yours, have a safe, healthy and happy holiday...

Difference between Webcasts & Podcasts

Difference between webcasts & podcasts

Webcasts and Podcasts have a few things in common, but they are very different.

Both are different ways of getting information, via audio and or video "streaming" to a lot of people anywhere in the world using the Internet. The words themselves, like so many other new words being added every year to our vocabulary & dictionaries for computer lingo, are fairly new:

• Webcast became popular in the mid 1990’s
• Podcast became a popular term in 2001 because of the Apple iPod…

A basic difference is that Webcasts are sent in "real time," meaning that they are "live" (even though some Webcasts are saved and then viewed later) and they are watched on a computer... So many companies and organizations use webcasts today versus holding “in person” large conventions or seminars (often referred to as webinars-another great new word)

Podcasts end up being archived and can be viewed at a later date and they can be saved and played back on your iPod or many smartphones today, and if they are audio only then you can play them back on your portable music player, like your mp3 player.. Many Podcasts are “pre-recorded” and then published on their site as files you can open at your convenience – fast-forwarding, starting & stopping and rewinding – whatever you want.

Most of us find that Webcasts can't be copied and shared as easily as a Podcast can

DOWNLOADING PICASA 3

PICASA (a Google product) is a FREE award-winning software used for working with photos, on your PC, from emails, disk, CD-Rom and digital cameras.

**PICASA’S NEW VERSION 3, can only be used with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. If you are using an older “Operating System” such as Windows 98, 2000, ME, then you will continue to use Picasa Version 2

Downloading Picasa to your computer is quick and easy and again FREE - Just open your Internet and on the Internet address toolbar, type: http://www.picasa.com/

• Click on the button that says “DOWNLOAD PICASA”
• This brings you to a dialog box where you must choose whether to “RUN” or “Save” the file, Click “RUN”.
• Depending on your Internet service speed, this may take a few minutes
• Another dialog box will appear asking: Do you want to RUN the software? Click RUN
• The software should be installed on your computer. If you’re asked other questions, respond “yes” or “OK”. Picasa 3 will be installed on your PC
• Picasa then will search over your whole computer for pictures or merely look in the “MYPICTURES” directory. I prefer the MYPICTURES directory only, but you can choose whatever option you wish
• The Picasa Icon is now created and on your desktop (and you can add it to your Quick Launch)
• The Picasa Media Detector should be installed on the system tray in the taskbar toolbar. This is necessary so that Picasa 3 can add any new photos that are added to the MyPictures folder.

Picasa software allow you to:

• Create quick & easy photo Slide Shows- with or without music
• Easy to view Photo Library
• Numerous quick & easy photo editing tools including red eye reduction, cropping and changing photos form color to black & white or sepia
• Photos can be sorted by folder or timeline
• Great tools for printing - wallet, 4 x 6 or full page
• You can convert you photos to movies with sound & motion
• You can easily upload your photos to an online web album for easy sharing
• Or identify all "faces" in your photos for easy sorting-called tagging
• and much much more...

Once you have download the free software, like all Google products, there are great tutorials which will help you learn to use the software - or join us in class...

WHAT IS PODCASTING?

~ Kevin Bachelder

Podcasting is often referred to as online radio. It’s a way that allows anyone to share their thoughts, opinions and expertise with everyone else. It allows anyone to be a content creator regardless of their background. All you need to create your own podcast is a passion for a specific topic, a computer and a microphone..

Podcasts can be audio or video. If you’re looking to find other people who share a similar passion (knitting, photography, travel, SciFi movies, etc.) there’s probably already several podcasts out there on that topic.

Most podcasts are normally free to listen to and very easy to enjoy.

This video does an excellent job of describing podcasts:
www.commoncraft.com/podcasting

This is one of Kevin's podcasts:
http://www.tuningintoscifitv.com/

The following are just a few directories of "podcasts" you can explore to find just about any topic imaginable.. If you don't like one podcast, move on to another until you find the ones you enjoy..
www.podcastdirectory.com
www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts
www.podfeed.net

HOW TO KEEP YOUR MONITOR AND KEYBOARD CLEAN

First-turn the computer off before cleaning the monitor or keyboard…

Monitor ~ The new LCD flat screen monitors/TV should be cleaned with a micro-fiber cloth and water or solution designed for them-Most manufacturers recommend never using products that contain ANY alcohol, ammonia, or other strong solvents on LCD & Plasma screens.

Keyboard ~ First, turn the keyboard upside down and tap it gently to release any crumbs, dust, pet hair; Then versus paying for a can of compressed air, I use the cool setting on a hair dryer after I’ve tapped the keyboard ~ Be careful what you use to wipe it down. Electronic items usually come coated with a very fine film of glossy finish and this material can be damaged by harsh cleaners, especially ones that contain ammonia compounds or alcohol

Mouse & Phones ~ Especially this time of year (winter) I use alcohol wipes on my mouse and all phones at the office, at home and my cell phone; especially if and when the grandkids are around….

BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER AND INFO

It's very important to back up your computer as well as your important files - documents, photos, music, videos and movies - often. Today more and more of what we do is on our computers and we want to be sure we don't "lose it all" if our computers crashed...

When you back up your files - you can use a CD, Large Flash Drive, Portable or External Hard Drive or a company such as Carbonite.com; Mozy.com or your Internet provider (many offer back-up services)

Backing up on a regular basis is critical – especially for those of us with older computers or if you have large document folders, photo, music or other media files… If you use one of the services – remember to ask how much space is included and what the charges are for additional storage (personally that’s why I like carbonite.com-it offers unlimited)

External Hard Drives-Such as Office Depots “Clickfree" HD1035 Backup External USB Hard Drive, 1000GB”, which Automatically backs up your computer without any confusing software to install - These allow you to back up your computer in just 1 step ~ No software to install or set up and incremental backup lets you save only the files changed since the previous backup – About $135.00

Or use a company, such as Carbonite.com,which is easy and has great advantages..
Once you install Carbonite, future back-ups are done each time you are on your PC/Internet, so you can relax and you can Restore lost files easily and you will have Remote Access to the data on your computer...

What Carbonite is – and what it isn’t: Carbonite offers unlimited backup of the irreplaceable files on your computer. That said, your Carbonite subscription does NOT include some services often confused with backup:

• Online/offsite file storage: Carbonite is NOT a place to move files from your hard drive, to free up space on your hard drive. If you remove any file from your hard drive, they wait 30 days for you to recover it, and then they delete that file from their servers also.
• Program or system backup: Carbonite backs up the irreplaceable files on your computer – user-generated content such as photos, documents, music, etc. They do not back up software programs, temporary files or system files.
• External Hard Drive backup: Carbonite consumer product does not allow you to back up your external hard drive, unless you purchase their external hard drive support with as a small business.
• Archiving: Carbonite does not keep every version of every file you’ve ever created. Their PC product offers versioning, which allows you to recover some versions of your files, going back up to 90 days
• Carbonite costs $54.95 per year-check them out at http://www.carbonite.com/

Suggestions for Online Greeting Card Companies

I get asked all the time which “online greeting card company” do I recommend…

Personally I use http://www.jacquielawson.com/ for all my special cards and I've used them for years; I like that their cards are different and interactive...it's $12 a year or $18 for a 2 year membership.

Although they don't have the hundreds of cards that companies like http://www.hallmark.com/ or http://www.bluemountain.com/ have, I like that Jacquie Lawson’s cards are so unique and interactive...

Almost all of the card companies, especially those that have a membership fee and even some that don’t, allow you so save your email addresses and dates and schedule cards out in advance, so check them out...

Here are a few others that offer free cards and I've used these also - so enjoy...

http://www.myfuncards.com/
http://www.americangreetings.com/
http://www.123greetings.com/
http://www.egreetings.com/
http://www.rattlebox.com/
http://www.e-cards.com/

Great gift idea websites..

These are 2 of fastest growing & most popular websites today for “special deals” – I use both quite often, because they offer great deals and help save money. And as most of you know shopping in malls is one of my least favorite things to do.
So shopping online, especially for the holidays, is my way to shop and I’ve been very pleased with both of these companies… Cherie Houston

www.restaurant.com
A great websites where you purchase discounted gift cards either directly from the one of more than 15,000 restaurants nationwide or buy a "restaurant.com gift card" at their discounted price and then it is redeemable at any of their affiliated restaurants nationwide. As with anything we buy on line – read the specific guidelines of each restaurant when you buy their card or if you aren’t sure – call them. When you put in a zip code, you can then choose the mile radius that you want to check from that point for participating restaurants and you will see the specific restaurants address, tele # and webpage if they have one…

www.groupon.com
Groupon is based in Chicago but has offices all over the US – you’ve seen them in the news lately because they were just purchased by “Google”… I really like this website and use it often for gift ideas here in New England and in Arizona… They offer unbeatable deals every day on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in cities through-put the US and now that Google has bought them I have no doubt they will continue to grow in leaps & bounds… Because Group promises the participating businesses a minimum number of customers, those of us who buy from them get discounts we can’t any other way – it’s called "collective buying power!" And your credit card is very safe-they never save our CC info on their servers..

Holiday Websites to enjoy

December 1st already - the holidays are coming and one website you might enjoy is from Betty Crocker, where you can sign up to receive a new recipe each and every day by email… check it out…

www.bettycrocker.com/products/cookie-mix?WT.mc_id=paid_search_300104_636117&WT.srch=1&esrc=11165

Remember that “www.allmyfaves.com” has added their annual “Happy Holiday” tab with lots of wonderful websites to help you with all aspects of the holidays…And,

these are just a few favorite holiday & cookie recipe websites fellow students have recommended… enjoy… and if you have a favorite website you’d like to share – send it along…

www.christmas-cookies.com

www.bhg.com/holidays/christmas/recipes/

www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/index.html

www.mrfood.com/Cookie-Recipes/Hanukkah-Butter-Cookies#

www.howcast.com/videos/410753-How-to-Make-Hanukkah-Chocolate-Coin-Cookies