GeekByte: Turn off Highlighting of Newly Installed Programs in Windows XP and Vista

I’m usually all for it when the computer tries to help you out and do something for you. Usually. Sometimes it can be downright maddening. If you have Windows XP you may have noticed at some point that when you install a new program it will highlight it in the Start menu. You’ll usually notice it when you have a clean install of XP and you haven’t gone in and dinked around with the settings yet. Some people like it…some don’t. If you would like to turn off the highlighting (which is one of the first things I do when I reinstall my OS), follow the steps below for your operating system.

Windows XP
1. Right click the Start menu and choose Properties. A new window will open.
2. Click the Start Menu tab at the top of the window.
3. Make sure that “Start Menu” is selected. If “Classic Start Menu” is selected, just click cancel on the window. The rest of the procedure isn’t valid for that option.
4. Click on the Customize button. A new window will open.
5. Click the Advanced tab on the new window.
6. Uncheck the Highlight Newly Installed Programs check box.
7. Click OK on both windows to save your changes.

Windows Vista
1. Right click the Start menu and choose Properties. A new window will open.
2. Make sure the Start Menu tab at the top of the window is selected.
3. The “Start Menu” option must be selected. If “Classic Start Menu” is selected, just click cancel on the window. The rest of the procedure isn’t valid for that option.
4. Scroll down until you see the option “Highlight Newly Installed Programs.”
5. Uncheck the checkbox next to that option.
6. Click OK on both windows to save your changes.

Delightful Download: SnagIT

I recently downloaded a nifty little program to use at work called SnagIT. It does screen captures kind of like using the Print Screen button on your keyboard, but with steroids. You can choose to do several different kinds of captures that only grab a certain area of the screen or even just one object (like an icon or button). I personally like that it will grab everything in a window that scrolls, such as a webpage or a folder that has a lot of files in it. I also like that you can capture just a menu in a program. It even comes with a timed 10 second delay so you can get your mouse on the exact submenu you need without having to rush to get to it. Very handy for those of us who like to make documentation on how to do things. SnagIT will capture video of your screen as well. I’m planning on using it to show users how to do certain tasks in their programs that can be a little harder to explain or follow. Home users might like it as well if you do a lot of screen shots. Even if you don’t, you’ll find yourself finding ways of using this program just to make life easier. If you’ve ever tried to copy and paste text out of a window and couldn't get it to work, SnagIT could help you with that. Just highlight the area of the window you want and after a click of the mouse you’ll have the text. What used to take me probably 5 – 10 minutes to get a screen shot and cut out what I want from it now only takes about 1 or 2 minutes at the longest to get the same thing, depending on what I am doing.

You can download a 30 day trial from TechSmith. If you like it enough to buy it, a single user license is only $40.

Farewell to Analog Cell Signals

I remember the days of the big bag phones and cell phones that were bigger than your home cordless phones of today. I have to say it’s much nicer carrying around a RAZR without an external antenna than lugging around that bag phone in my car. If you’re fan of those analog devices though, you better get ready for a switch starting in 2008. After February 18 a lot of companies who use analog cell phone waves will be going digital. Apparently about a million cell phones won’t work anymore after the switch. That’s not terribly bad since you can go down to your cell phone carrier and get a new one. However, if you have OnStar and use the phone feature of it, you will lose that capability because of this switch. GM started making changes in 2002 to their vehicles once they heard about the FCC’s decision to let analog be laid to rest, but it’s there are some vehicles that were made up to 2005 that still won’t be able to use the new digital service. Good news for some of you using this OnStar feature…you can pay just $15 and get your vehicle upgraded to be able to use the digital signals. For others, the upgrade might not be possible depending on when your vehicle was manufactured.

If you have a home alarm system, you might want to check and see if you need to go about getting something set up for the switch as well. From what I read most of the big companies have what they need in place and don’t use the analog signal. Some of the smaller companies don’t however. The alarm system uses the analog signal when a landline isn’t connected to the system. If you have a home alarm system and are worried about any potential problems, it might be a good idea to call your company and ask if it will affect you.

GeekByte: Retrieving your Recycle Bin Icon

There are times when we all get a little punchy with the Delete button and delete something that you weren’t ready to rid your Desktop of just yet. I know we’ve all done this with files and folders, but what happens if you delete My Computer or the Recycle Bin icon off of your Desktop? How do you get it back?

Luckily it’s easy to get these little guys back to their home on the Desktop. For XP users, right click on an empty area of your desktop and choose Properties. Click on the Desktop tab and then click on the Customize Desktop button on the bottom of the window. This will open another window that has checkboxes at the top under the section Desktop Icons (original, isn’t it?). Simply place a check in the boxes next to the icons you want to appear on your desktop and click OK. Click OK again on the Properties window and your icons should be back on your Desktop once again.
If you’re running Vista, the steps are a little different. Right click on an empty area of your desktop and choose Personalize. A new window will open with several links on it. On the left side of the window there will be a Change Desktop Icons link. When you click it a new window will open. Place a check in the boxes next to the icons you want on your desktop and click OK. You can then close the Personalize window.
Conversely, you can go into either of these windows and uncheck any boxes of icons that you don’t want to appear on your Desktop.

XM and Sirius to Wed?

It looks like satellite radio customers, and prospective customers, will have some new options by the end of the year. The two big satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius, might be merging in the near future. The merger still has to be approved by the FCC and Department of Justice but shareholders in both companies have approved the concept (each side voted over 90% in approval). If the merger is approved more pricing options will be available. This is a good thing since I’ve always thought that $13 a month is a little pricy for radio (but hey, I’m cheap). Plans could start at $6.99 a month and range up to $16.99 a month depending on what kind of package you want. The latter will include the option to add channels from the other carrier and keep what you have already.

What’s that you say? Wouldn’t that make it a monopoly? XM and Sirius reason that they have plenty of completion from other digital music sources such as MP3 players and cell phones that can play music to keep them from having an advantage. I’m kind of split on this one, but my first thought was that they are the big names in satellite radio and what other company offers what they do in the US? They’ll have the only satellite radio for American consumers. However, the price cuts and option to get channels from the other service that you aren’t currently on will be a big plus.

GeekByte: Keep Your PC Up To Date

One thing I’ve noticed with a lot of users is that they don’t keep their home PC’s updated. The nice thing is that most of your important software has the ability to automatically update itself. Usually the biggie is the antivirus. There are a lot of people out there who don’t realize that their software needs to update to know the latest viruses out there. Make sure your antivirus is doing automatic updates on a regular basis, and while you’re in there check what the date is on your last update file. A couple of days old is ok, but if it’s more than that then you need to update it. You also want to make sure your antispyware software is updating as well. Just like virus definitions, you need to keep your spyware definitions current so that the software will recognize any new threats.

If you’re running Windows make sure to have the Automatic Updates turned on. You can configure this setting under the Control Panel. When Microsoft releases a new update your computer will alert you and install it based on the settings in the Automatic Update configuration. You can choose to have them alert you before downloading, download it and then alert you before installing, or download and install without alerting you. These updates will keep you safe by patching any security holes that you have, and will provide you with service packs for your operating system.

You might also want to download the service packs to Microsoft Office if you own it. I’ve run into a few issues with setting up an email account in Outlook before because it didn’t have the necessary patch level to work with the server’s settings. A simple service pack install did the trick. Most of the time the service packs for a product like Office aren’t that big of a deal if you don’t have them installed, but if you are having any kinds of problems then you might want to look at installing them. You can download the service packs and other updates for Office from Microsoft’s Office website.

All in all keeping your PC safe is a big deal. One of the easiest things you can do is keep up with the latest updates for your computer. Of course safe browsing and safe Internet activity is always a must, but the patches will give you a good start to keeping the ‘puter nasties out of your PC.

GeekByte: Podcasts Are Great Learning Tools

If you’re looking for a good way to learn more about technology and have access to a fast internet connection, try listening to podcasts. Podcasts are pretty much just radio shows that are in MP3 format free for download. You can easily find them by downloading and installing iTunes. Just click on the iTunes Store link on the left side and you will see an area for Podcasts on the right. They have tons and tons out there on various topics, including technology. You don’t have to subscribe to podcasts through iTunes, but I find it’s one of the easiest ways since they are all in one central location. I have about four that I listen to every week. Even if you are good with computers you will still pick up something from listening to these podcasts. I personally listen to MacBreak Weekly, The Tech Guy, This Week in Tech, and MacBreak Weekly (even though I don’t own a Mac). All are hosted by Leo Laporte. I like keeping up through this medium since I can listen to it in the truck on the way to work and back home. If you have a long drive like I do, you’ll find that you’ll have plenty of time to catch up on the week’s tech news.

GeekByte: Clear Out Those Startup Programs

In Windows XP and Vista you can clean up what starts when you boot your computer. There’s a lot of programs that you really don’t need to have starting up every time you turn your ‘puter on. Most programs seem to want to stick themselves in the startup without you knowing, and before you know it your system tray (by the clock on your taskbar) is full of little icons and your computer takes forever to boot. There’s a couple of ways to prevent those items from starting up. The first way is to click on Start and choose Run. Type msconfig and click OK. A new window will open with several tabs at the top. Choose the Startup tab. You can uncheck the items that you don’t want starting up with your computer. If you aren’t sure of what one is, the Command and Location columns may help you figure it out. You can always go back into the Startup tab and recheck anything that you decide you would like starting up, so don’t be too afraid to get creative.

The second way is to click on Start, Programs, and choose the Startup folder. Right click on anything that you don’t want starting up and choose Delete. Doing this will place that shortcut in your Recycle Bin. Keep those shortcuts in there for a while until you are sure that you are happy with the result.

Nifty Office Downloads

If you are running a version of Office prior to 2007 and someone sends you a document that is saved in the new 2007 format (.docx, .xlsx, etc.), you will not be able to open the documents. Microsoft has provided those of us who are not on 2007 a way to open the new extensions using our current versions of Office. You can download the file format converters on Microsoft’s website. Just install the converters, and the next time you try to open a document in the new format it will convert the document so that you can open it, and then save it back as an original file extension (.doc, .xls, etc.).

There’s also a nifty download for people who have the new Office 2007 and want to save their documents as a PDF or XPS file. Just download and install the executable file and you will get a new save option in your Save As menu for the two formats.

Canon Unveils the PowerShot SX100 IS

Canon unveiled a new point-and-shoot camera a few days ago that will appeal to the novice (me) and professional (my husband) alike. We purchased one Saturday and have really loved using it. It has a lot of features that your SLR’s have, but without the complication or the separate lenses and body. It’s a mini me of sorts. My husband is as excited about this point-and-shoot as I am. That should give you an idea of the features that it comes equipped with. The SX100 comes with 8 megapixels and powerful 10X optical zoom. The other point-and-shoots that I looked at in that price range for the most part had either a 3X or 6X optical zoom. It also comes with image stabilization which is a definite perk. The one thing that it’s missing that I am used to is a view finder. Good luck finding a point-and-shoot with one of those anymore. It’s slim pickin’s. The SX100 does have a 2.5 inch LCD screen though which by far makes up for the lack of a view finder. The screen is very clear and large enough that you can see what you’re taking a picture of without the need to squint.

As far as options go, there are the standard settings that most point-and-shoots have preconfigured, like portrait, landscape, foliage, night time, etc. The SX100 give you Program, Tv, Av, and M settings so that you can set all of your options like ISO, f/stop, and shutter speed manually. This is the part that my husband was excited about. I’ve found since using the manual settings that I want to learn more about what they are and how they work. You can even do white balancing with preconfigured settings, or you can manually white balance so that you get exactly what you want. The macro setting is awesome. I am finding that I enjoy this feature the best so far. The closest the manual says you can get to an object and still focus is about a half an inch. I’ve tried this out and it holds true. The picture I’ve included at the bottom of this post is a tomato about an inch in diameter in the morning dew, taken at about an inch away. The camera does come with video capability at 640x480 and 30 fps with sound. I tried this out and was able to view the video maximized on a 17” widescreen LCD monitor without any pixelization. The sound on the video is pretty good, but you do have to be careful not to bump the camera too much or you will get those noises on the video.

Now, you may think that setting all of these features is going to be difficult. Wrong! This is one of the easiest interfaces to get around in. There aren’t a ton of buttons to begin with, and they have pictures next to them to tell you what it does (like the flower symbol for the Macro setting). It does have a wheel on the back that you can either press in the four directions, or turn around in a circle to get around your menus. The four directions are considered buttons since they each do something different when you push them. The left side of the wheel allows you to set the Macro settings, the top button the ISO settings, the right button the flash settings, and the bottom what kind of shot you want to do (continuous, single, timed, etc.).

The best part…all of this comes at the reasonable price of $300. When we compared this camera to the others we saw in the store, we felt like we got the most options for the price. Canon is really making it a point to offer point-and-shoots that appeal to both the beginner and the pro who want a camera that has SLR features, but without the bulk of an SLR.