Tips about "burning" CD's - DVD's

HOW DO I KNOW MY COMPUTER CAN BURN CD'S?
Fortunately, these days virtually all computers bought new include a drive that is able to both read and write (or burn) both CD and DVD media. If you’re not sure if your computer or laptop has a CD burner then there are two ways to check.

• Look thru your computer owner's guide to learn if you have a CD burner or not OR
• Go online to your computer manufacturer website - put in your model - and it will give you the specifics of whar is on your computer/laptop - or you can email them with the model # and serial #; they will e-mail you back an answer.

HOW DO I BURN FILES ON A CD?
Burning files on a CD is like saving files on a flash drive or portable hard drive. There are two ways to save files on a CD. Follow these steps:

• Highlight what it is you want to "burn/copy" onto the CD-DVD
• Once highlighted choose "copy" (anyone of 5 ways-from edit menu, icon, action key, CTRL+C, right click-choose copy)
• Put CD-R or CD-RW in your CD burner tray
• Go to the folder that has the file you want to save on the CD on it
• Right click - menu appears, choose drive your CD is on
• Now say Paste again one of he 5 ways
• You will have an extra step - whatever you have copied is being held in a temporar folder to be sure you have everything you want "burned/copied" onto the CD - once eveything is there and ready
• Now choose "Write these files to CD" - you can do it now or later - but you must choose this option

OR

If/when you are burning to a CD or DVD using a program such as Windows Media Player, Picasa, Movie Maker, Roxio or others, on the top menu bar it will have an action"BURN" choose thar option and it will walk you thru the steps noted above

You're done!!!!

TO MAKE SURE FILES ARE SAVED ON THE CD

• Go to the drive on My Computer that has your CD/DVD on it.
• Now double click on the drive with your CD and/or DVD in it - it will open and show you what is on the CD/DVD

CARING FOR YOUR CD’S & DVD'S..

Hope these tips will help you take great care of your CD's & DVD's..

· Handle only at the hub/outer edge. Don't touch the shiny surface with your fingers.

· Store in a protective case when not in use.

· Don't bend the disc when taking it out of the case

· Try not to scratch the disc when placing it in the case or in the player tray.

· Make certain the disc is properly seated in the player tray before you close it.

· Keep discs away from all heat and direct sunlight.

· DVD specs recommend discs be stored at a temps between 50 °-90 °F with less than 27 °F variation per hour, at relative humidity of 5 to 90 percent.

· Artificial light and indirect sunlight have no effect on replicated DVDs, BUT

· Magnetic fields don't effect DVDs, so they are ok on/near your speakers.

· Exposure to bright sunlight can affect recordable DVDs, specifically write-once DVDs (DVD-R and DVD+R) that use light-sensitive dyes.

Difference between CD vs DVD??

CD vs DVD is the amount of storage. Typically:

• A CD will hold about 700MB
• A DVD will hold 4.5GB (1000MB = 1GB)
• An HD-DVD will hold about 30GB
• A Blu-Ray Disc will store up to 50GB

R – means read only and indicates onetime permanent use

RW – means you can burn – erase and “rewrite” but don’t!!!

CD’s & DVD’s should be considered for one time use only – if you want to write & rewrite data use a flash drive/memory stick or portable hard drive

For music CD’s (or anything to archive) a CD-R is your best choice.

Bells on Christmas Day

When I considered what to write in our post on this special day, I wanted the post to be reminicscent of the holidays, but also wanted to be careful not to offend anyone.. So researched this favoite poem/song of mine, and learned how it had come to be written.. On behalf of our entire staff we want to wish you and yours our warmest wishes this holiday season...enjoy

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was filled with sorrow at the tragic death of his wife in a fire in 1861. The Civil War broke out the same year, and it seemed this was an additional punishment. Two years later, Longfellow was again saddened to learn that his own son had been seriously wounded in the Army of the Potomac. Sitting down to his desk, one Christmas Day, he heard the church bells ringing. It was in this setting that Longfellow wrote these lines:

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!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
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!"

Game Web Sites - All Free

With colder temps outside - many of us spend more time indoors - so if you enjoy playing games on your computer to pass away the time, check out these websites recommended by other fellow students..(not in any particular order)

www.bored.com - Bored.com is a great place to play Free Online Games. In addition to free games we also have fun and interesting websites that will cure your boredom

www.miniclip.com -MiniClip.com is the largest online games site where you can play a large range of free online games including sports games

www.shockwave.com - Shockwave.com is a very popular destination for free online games and lots of free downloadable ...

www.picartia.com - PicArtia helps you to create your photo mosaic online for free. It is popular for being fast, easy and free

www.chir.ag/stuff/sand/ - a falling sand game – just a website when you are looking to waste time..

www.freegamesonline.com - a popular site that offers action games, puzzles, mind games and much more

http://games.aarp.org - one of the most popular game websites among active adults - so enjoy

Why Software Updates are Important

It is very important to allow “updates” for your Windows Operating System, AntiVirus Software and other software and hardware being used on a regular basis.

Updates are needed to “fix” patch new security flaws and / or fix bugs, viruses etc. in your system. If you have a Windows computer connected to the Internet, you desperately need to keep your security as up to date as possible

For current updates to your Microsoft Operating System – check the following link which will look at your operating system to be sure you are current. If you are not, it will recommend (list) which updates you should download.

Note that many updates will require you to “reboot” (restart) your computer…and remember you can schedule these tasks using your System Maintenance Task Scheduler

Your Windows Operating System Updates can be downloaded from http://www.windowsupdate.com/ or by enabling Automatic Updates.

Windows Vista users can click the Start button, click All Programs, and then select Windows Update.

What's an MP3 vs iPod, iPod Shuffle etc.

It's obvious the holidays are fast approaching. I've received quite a few emails asking about iPods and MP3 Players so thought it was a topic to address immediately... I hope this helps explain the differences - and once again let your budget be your guide..

MP3 Player ~ Is a small electronic device that allows users to carry video, pictures or even thousands of songs in your pocket - can cost as little as $15 and supplied by numerous manufacturers

iPod ~ was introduced in 2001 by Apple was originally a simple pocket-sized device used to play music files butt continues to evolve and there are various types to meet various needs and budgets from $50 for the iPod Shuffle to $399 for the 64GB iPod Touch

iPod Shuffle ~ Apples least expensive and they claim worlds smallest music player. It comes in colors, it talks to your telling you the song title & artist and more Available in 2GB or 4GB ($55+)

iPod Nano ~ Apples Step-up from the iPod Shuffle, is a portable media player with a video camera and FM tuner Available in 8GB or 16GB ($150+)

iPod Classic ~ Apples top of the line iPod With 160GB of storage, iPod classic is the take-everything-everywhere iPod, with space for up to 40000 songs, 200 hours of video, or 25000 photos and 2.5 in viewing screen (about $250)

iPod Touch ~ Apples new touch screen model for music, watch movies, play games, and more in the palm of your hand. Available in 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB($199-399)

Santa Jigsaw Puzzle

Just a little someting to pass the time and when you finish putting the puzzle together, watch what happens.

Click below:

www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552

this is from my favorite greeting card website:
http://www.jacquielawson.com/

Facebook-Privacy Settings

For those of you using facebook - be sure to make this change to your settings today to protect your privacy.. Are you aware that as of today – December 15, 2009 - Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google, which allows everyone to view it.

To change this option, go to:

• Settings -->
• Privacy Settings -->
• Search -->
• then UN-CLICK the box that says 'Allow indexing'

Be sure to Copy and paste onto your status for all your friends ASAP so that we all protect our privacy..

Defragging?? How and Why’s

Defragging (defragmentation) your computer will speed it up and improve the computers performance. What defragging does is it reorganizes and optimizes the way that all the data is stored on your computers hard disk.. For Windows Vista users, the operating system is configured by default to automatically initiate the defragmentation program once a week

How to Defrag a Computer
For those of you with Windows XP, here are the two ways you can “defrag” your computer..

Defrag #1
The most common way to defrag is to:

• Click on 'Start' at the bottom left of your computer screen
• Go to Programs, then go to 'Accessories', then choose 'System Tools' folder
• When you open this you will see 'Disk Defragmenter' on the list of programs in the 'System Tools' .
• You can select a specific drive, such as “C” for your hard drive –then click on “Analyze” and it will tell you if that drive needs to be defragged.. Click on “Defragment” and it will start – time can range from a few minutes to a few hours – let it work and it’s better not to be running other programs while it is doing this…so, it was…
  
  Start ~ Programs ~ Accessories ~ System Tools ~ Disk Defragmenter
  
  In this application windows, select a drive (for example C:\) and then click on 'Analyze' to find out whether that drive requires defragmentation or not. The graphical report that is displayed will give you an idea about the amount of existing fragmentation on that drive. Clicking on 'Defragment' will start the defragmentation process. This process can take a considerable amount of time (ranging from a few minutes to a couple of hours). For efficacy purposes, it is strongly recommended that you do not simultaneously execute any other applications or programs in the background, during the time that the drive is being defragmented.

Defrag #2
Another way I use quite often is much shorter…

• Click on Start, then click on Run.
• Type the words "cmd" and hit Enter. This opens a command prompt window.
• Now type the words 'defrag', followed by a space, and the name of the drive that you wish to defragment, followed by a colon. For example, if you want to defragment drive C:\, you will have to type defrag c: and hit Enter and it will automatically begin the defragmentation process

CHANGE YOUR DISPLAY SETTINGS

You can access your Display Settings by right-clicking anywhere on the Desktop and then choosing Properties (Windows Vista – choose Personalize) or you can change these settings by going to your control panel (on your start menu) and then going to Appearance – Themes and the Display icons.
When you access the Display Properties Dialog Box – there are five tab choices: Themes, Desktop, Screen Saver, Appearance and Settings.

Themes This allows you to choose a theme which will apply to all your Windows screen,the icons, sounds and colors – such as jungle, underwater & many more.

DesktopThis will allow you to choose different desktop background images, from samples which are inlcuded or you can use the BROWSE button to find a photo you have saved in you’re My Picture Folder… Remember – if you find a photo in an email or on the internet that you want for your background, when your cursor is on the image, right click on the image and choose Set as Desktop Background.

Screen SaverScreen Savers are the “motion” choices we use when our computer is idle – many different ones are built in, or you can use the photos in you’re my Picture Folder or when you are on vacation you can purchase “screen savers” to remind you of your trip… This is also where we can change our Power settings for the monitor, noting how long it should stay on when we leave our computer alone..

AppearanceThis choice allows us to change the style and colors and size of fonts for our Windows and buttons. Just click on the drop-down arrow buttons to choose different settings; the font size option is great if text is too small – just change it to large fonts or extra large fonts.. The advanced tab allows us to change size & colors for all our screen items including borders, icons and the menus.

SettingsThis choice allows us to change screen resolution and color quality – remember the resolution determines the number of pixels used to make up the display. The higher the setting, the more detailed your display and the higher resolution gives you a larger screen area to work with, but if you find text and icons are now too small you may need to increase font size and use larger icons to compensate.You can only go up to the highest resolution that your monitor can support. Experiment to find a resolution you are comfortable with – many opt for the highest setting.

When you set a high resolution, increasing the DPI (dots per inch) setting – it makes all screen items including text appear larger.

Happy Holidays - Websites to enjoy

With the holidays fast approaching we thought you might enjoy links to some of my favorite holiday websites - You can visit Santa at the North Pole, track him on his infamous flight on Christmas Eve, find a recipe that fits just right with your celebration, find the words to your favorite hymn or carol and much more...

So as the magic of the holidays begins and we continue to count our blessings and be thankful for all that we have - we hope that you will enjoy these website links - which are in alphabetical order - save them in your favorites for next year... Enjoy

www.allrecipes.com/recipes/holidays-and-events/christmas/main.aspx

www.allthingschristmas.com

www.christmas-carols.net

www.claus.com

www.holidays.kaboose.com/christmas/index.html

www.holidays.net/christmas

www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com

www.merry-christmas.com

www.noradsanta.org

www.northpole.com

www.northpole.org

www.oldjoeblack.0nyx.com/winter.htm

www.santaclaus.com

www.santaclaus.net

www.xmasfun.com

Using & Finding Correct Zip Codes

What do the 9 digits of the zip codes mean...

In 1963 Zip Codes were introduced in the U.S. to improve mail delivery. Initially the zip code consisted of 5 numbers:

• the first three identify the state and portion of the state
• the last two a specific post office or zone

In 1983 (yes almost 27 years ago), a nine-digit code was introduced adding a hyphen to the original 5 numbers and 4 more numbers, to further speed delivery with the more sophisticated sorting equipment. The new 4 numbers indicate:

• the first two added digits specify a particular "sector,"
• the last two an even smaller "segment" (e.g., one side of a city block, or a single floor or portion of a floor in a large building).

Using the proper 9 digits will speed your mail delivery. To find the correct zip code, go to the post office website usps.com or simply click in the link below and save it to your favorites…

www.zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp

Microsoft Help and How To

Not sure how to use your windows operating system to it’s full potential, how to do system maintenance & when, to better your computers performance, and other great tips, then take some time and visit Microsoft’s Help and How To for your specific Operating System – just click on the link for your operating system & begin learning…

Windows XP www.windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/help/windows-xp

Windows Vista www.windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/help

Windows 7 www.windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help

Using Keyboard Shortcuts ~ List 3 of 3

Keyboard shortcuts are the use of keys or a combination of keys, that then perform special functions. By pressing or holding certain keyboard buttons together you can open new windows, create shortcuts, and quickly copy and paste files and more. These 3 posts will provide you with some of the commonly used keyboard shortcuts..
• TAB - move forwards through control items or links in current window
• ENTER - click selected control item or link
• BACKSPACE - move up one folder level
• HOME - go to start of current line or web page
• END - go to end of current line or web page
• CTRL + END - go to end of current document
• PAGE UP - move up through current document or web page
• PAGE DOWN - move down through current document or web page
• PRINT SCREEN - take snapshot image of current screen (must then paste it into a word document or email to print it)
• ALT + PRINT SCREEN - take snapshot image of current screen (must then paste it into a word document or email to print it)
• F2 - rename selected item
• F5 - refresh current window or web page
• F6 - move through window panes
• F11 – Full Screen view

Using Keyboard Shortcuts ~ List 2 of 3

Keyboard shortcuts are the use of keys or a combination of keys, that then perform special functions. By pressing or holding certain keyboard buttons together you can open new windows, create shortcuts, and quickly copy and paste files and more. These 3 posts will provide you with some of the commonly used keyboard shortcuts..
• CTRL + ESC - open Start menu
• CTRL + C - Copy
• CTRL + X - Cut
• CTRL + V - Paste
• CTRL + A - Select All
• CTRL + Z – Undo last action
• CTRL + B - Bold highlighted text
• CTRL + U - Underline highlighted text
• CTRL + I - Italicise highlighted text
• CTRL + Plus key - increase browser text size
• CTRL + Minus key - decrease browser text size
• CTRL + ALT + DELETE - open Task Manager
• ALT + underlined letters in menus - open menu item
• ALT + ENTER - show Properties of selected object
• ALT + F4 - close current window or program
• ALT + TAB - switch between open windows or programs
• SHIFT + TAB - move backwards through control items or links

Using Keyboard Shortcuts ~ List 1 of 3

Keyboard shortcuts are the use of keys or a combination of keys, that then perform special functions. By pressing or holding certain keyboard buttons together you can open new windows, create shortcuts, and quickly copy and paste files and more. These 3 posts will provide you with some of the commonly used keyboard shortcuts..
• Windows key - access Start menu
• Windows key + Pause - open System Properties
• Windows key + D - minimize/restore windows
• Windows key + F - open Search window
• Windows key + F1 - open Help and Support Center
• Windows key + E - open Windows Explorer window
• Windows key + M - minimize all windows
• Windows key + TAB - move through open windows on Taskbar
• Windows key + SHIFT + M - restore all windows