Sunday, October 30, 2011

How to Scan using Windows Photo Gallery

One way to SCAN a photo or document to a computer with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 Operating Systems, is to use the free Windows Photo Gallery that is part of these operating systems. This will allow you to scan, edit, and organize pictures and the pictures you scan will automatically be saved Pictures folder, in a My Scan/Scan folder.

Scanning allows you to create and save a "digital" copy of your photo or document on your computer.

Most printers today are also scanners. Be sure to turn your scanner on and be sure to always scan one "1" photo or document at a time; otherwise you will have one "1" scan of multiple photos or multiple documents - Now:

  • Open Windows Photo Gallery by clicking the Start button , clicking All Programs, and then clicking Windows Photo Gallery
  • Click File, and then click Import from Camera or Scanner
  • In the Import Pictures and Videos window, click the scanner that you want to use, and then click Import
  • In the New Scan dialog box, click the Profile list, and then click Photo. The default settings for scanning a picture are automatically displayed
  • If you're using a scanner with a document feeder, click the Paper size list, and then click the size of the picture that you've placed on the scanner or click the size that most closely matches the picture
  • Click the Color format list, and then click the color format that you want the scanned file to display
  • Click the File type list, and then click the file type that you want to use to save the scanned file – for pictures .jpg is the most popular, especially if you are going to be using 3rd party software for projects, such as Walgreens, Cvs, Snapfsh etc. to create gifts such as books or mugs..
  • Adjust the brightness and contrast settings or type the values that you want to use
  • To see how the picture will appear when it is scanned, click Preview. If needed, modify the scan settings, and then preview the picture again. Repeat these steps until you're satisfied with the preview results
  • Click Scan. When the scan is complete, Windows Photo Gallery prompts you to tag/name the picture so that it's easier to organize or find later
  • In the Tag These Pictures (optional) list, type a tag name, and then click Import. Windows Photo Gallery displays the picture so you can view, fix, or organize it.
  • Once the photo is in your Picture/My Picture Library/folder-you can move it to whatever folder you want it in and you can now use your Photo Editing software to make changes to the original..


If you don't have Windows Photo Gallery on your computer - go the following link and download it for free:

http://windows-live-photo-gallery.en.softonic.com/download

Tomorrow's blog posting will explain how to Scan your Photo's using Picasa Photo Editing Software...

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What do the SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS (SSN's) mean in the United States?

SSN's are not assigned consecutively; the first was not the lowest number, and the most recent is not the highest. They are assigned regionally and in batches.

SSN's are nine-digits and has been issued in more than 400 million different sequences. SSN's are divided into three parts:
  1. Area numbers
  2. Group numbers
  3. Serial numbers

Area numbers - The first three numbers originally represented the state in which a person first applied for a Social Security card. Numbers started in the northeast and moved westward - Since 1972, the SSA has assigned numbers and issued cards based on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the original application form. Because most people today receive SSNs as infants, the area number indicates the state we were born in.

Group numbers - These two middle digits, which range from 01 through 99, are simply used to break all the SSNs with the same area number into smaller blocks, which makes administration easier. (The SSA says that, for administrative reasons, group numbers issued first consist of the odd numbers from 01thru 09, and then even numbers from 10 through 98, within each area number assigned to a state. After all the numbers in group 98 of a specific area have been issued, the even groups 02 through 08 are used, followed by odd groups 11 through 99.)

Serial numbers - Within each group designation, serial numbers -- the last four digits in an SSN -- run consecutively from 0001 through 9999. Although SSNs are issued in some order, there is no simple way to tell a person's age based on his Social Security number.

Here is a listing of how the Area Numbers are assigned:
001-003 NH
004-007 ME
008-009 VT
010-034 MA
035-039 RI
040-049 CT
050-134 NY
135-158 NJ
159-211 PA
212-220 MD
221-222 DE
223-231 VA
691-699 VA
232-236 WV
232 NC
237-246 NC
681-690 NC
247-251 SC
654-658 SC
252-260 GA
667-675 GA
261-267 FL
589-595 FL
268-302 OH
303-317 IN
318-361 IL
362-386 MI
387-399 WI
400-407 KY
408-415 TN
756-753 TN
416-424 AL
425-428 MS
587-588 MS
752-755 MS
429-432 AR
676-679 AR
433-439 LA
659-665 LA
440-448 OK
449-467 TX
627-645 TX
486-477 MN
478-485 IA
486-500 MO
501-502 ND
503-504 SD
505-508 NE
509-515 KS
516-517 MT
518-519 ID
520 WY
521-524 CO
650-653 CO
525,585 NM
648-649 NM
526-527 AZ
600-601 AZ
528-529 UT
646,647 UT
530,680 NV
531-539 WA
540-544 OR
545-573 CA
602-626 CA
574 AK
575-576 HI
750-751 HI
577-579 DC
580 VI
580-584 PR
596-599 PR
586 GU
586 AS

For more information about Social Security Numbers - how and when they began and how the use of the numbers have changed over the years, check out this website...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number

Monday, October 24, 2011

New Computer Class Series Begin Next Week-November 1st

Just a reminder that our new series will begin next Tuesday, November 1st at 9am at Union Tower I - 11th floor . This series will continue thru January 2012..

For those of you who attended the current series, please know that your seats will be held for you on the same day and time for the upcoming new series, unless you make changes with Denise...

Other than a few new students who are just beginning their classes, we will be discussing a lot of great topics that you've askedfor during this new series, including:

  • Updates on changes using Internet & Email
  • Helping you get comofrotable using our class and other blogs
  • Reviewing Word Processing Basics, using clip art, creating labels and tables & more
  • Using our Flash Drives & organizing what’s on your flash drive and in your computer folders
  • Social Networking including Facebook and
  • A favorite topic we’ll cover after the holidays: tips on using your new holiday toys..

If you know of someone who may be new to the world of computers (or new to the Union Tower Family) be sure to encourage them to talk to Denise and join in... It's always enjoyable to register with a friend so you have someone to motivate you to use your new skills

And of course, keeping the classes full always help to ensure the continuation of the program

For those of you at Union Tower II, next month I will schedule time in early December to review the Skype with anyone who is interested, so for those who want to join our classes can without having to drive in the cold weather.. we will work out the specific details for this in the upcoming weeks..

As always, if you have ideas or suggestions for topics that you would like us to be teaching, be sure to let us know… These are your classes and we want to be sure you are learning the skills important to you…

Thursday, October 20, 2011

What is clip art & how do I use it?

Holidays are coming and you might want to use clip art or photos to enhance your documents - invitations, holiday letters and more.... First of all ~ always insert graphics into your documents vs. copying them, so they react the way you want or need them to...

Clip art is a picture or graphic that can be inserted into various documents, such as those you might create in word processing, power point, excel or publisher to name a few...
You don’t have to purchase clip art software (as we did years ago) - There are thousands and thousands of different CLIP ART options built into various documentation programs and you can continue to build your own clip art collection from a variety of sources such as Microsoft online or Google images…

When you are in your word document, put your cursor/insertion point to the specific location in your document where you want the clip art, picture or symbol to be “inserted”.
  • In Office 2007-2010 Word, Excel, etc.. go to the Insert Tab
  • In Office 2003 or older versions, go to Insert on the Menu Bar and then to Pictures, Clip Art, etc.

You will now choose what you want to Insert - Picture, ClipArt, Symbol, Text Box, Word Art etc..

For clip art you will now see the gallery and/or the gallery search bar, so that you can search for or choose the image you want – if it is a picture, then open the folder or sub-folder the picture is in and choose the picture – one it is highlighted choose insert.

The image will now be inserted into your document…

When the graphic is on your page, the Picture Formatting Toolbar appears (in older versions of Word 2003 and prior-you can right click on your toolbar and turn this on or off) in Word 2007 & 2010 it appears as a new/additional tab, after the View tab..

When you insert graphics into your document, always go to the Text Wrap Icon (looks like a little dog in a postage stamp) and when the list appears choose Through. This allows you to easily work with both your text and graphics. Later, you can then change your choice of text wrapping – tight, square, behind text, in front of text (choices vary depending on your version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc 2000-2003-2007-2010?)…

Use your sizing handles around your graphic to change the size of your graphic – personally I like to use the sizing handles in the corners so that I change the height and width of my graphic all at once to be sure I don’t distort the graphic making it too tall/short or too wide/narrow…
Use the four headed arrow on the graphic to move the graphic around on your page to where you want it…

If your sizing handles boxes aren’t there or you don’t see the picture formatting toolbar, simply click on your graphic again – you must have the sizing handles around your graphic in order to see the picture formatting toolbar…

Clip Art & other graphics are a great way to enhance your documents - remember: one picture can be worth a thousand words... have fun & enjoy

Monday, October 17, 2011

Which is faster – cable, telephone or wireless internet??

This is a question that comes up all the time. The following two links are to articles on ehow.com, that we thought might help you better understand this ever changing technology:

www.ehow.com/info_8260618_fios-vs-cable-internet.html#ixzz1ahQZA7JP

www.ehow.com/about_4587185_dsl-cable-wireless-faster.html

According to “ehow.com” FIOS might be the fastest, but FIOS (“fiber optic service”) a product from Verizon, is not available everywhere. Here are some of the differences according to “ehow.com” FiOS potentially offers a lot more bandwidth than cable modems do, and both FIOS and cable offer more download speed than a typical DSL connection.

All Internet providers rate their Internet speeds with two numbers -- download speed and upload speed, where the upload speed is lower – here are the major 3:

  • Verizon advertises its top FIOS bandwidth as 20/5 -- 20 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed, and 5 Mbps upload speed
  • Comcast digital broadband typically runs at 5 to 7 Mbps download speed and 2 Mbps (or less) upload speeds
  • DSL (Digital Service Telephone Lines) are typically 1.5 Mbps download speed and 0.7 Mbps upload speeds

Each has advantages and disadvantages:

  • Verizon’s FiOS service is offered in a limited set of areas and the fiber optic cable has to be run to your home once it is available in your area
  • Cable Internet, such as Comcast’s digital broadband, typically has the widest general reach and is available anywhere there's a coaxial cable connection, over the same wires
  • DSL (Digital Service Telephone Lines) have somewhat wider coverage, but your home has to be within a certain distance of the telephone switching station

So although Cable Internet may offer higher maximum speeds than DSL or wireless connections, remember that DSL lines belongs only to the person paying for it – whereas, cable connections are usually shared with others in our area, which is why cable users often have fluctuations in the download speeds. So again, according to some, DSL – although slower – might offer more consistent speed..

No matter what – you have to do your homework and be sure you are comparing apples & apples and with technology changing as rapidly as it is, it’s another reason it’s never a good idea to sign a long term contract for any type of service…

Your personal budget should also be a major consideration before making any choice – are the extra few seconds worth hundreds of $$$$ every year??

Friday, October 14, 2011

What is the NUM LOCK key on my keyboard?

NUM LOCK is just an abbreviation for numeric lock.

The NUM LOCK key is usually located in the upper left corner of the numeric keypad on your keyboard and enables and disables your numeric keypad.

When you turn the NUM LOCK on you can use the numbers on the keypad; when you turn the NUM LOCK off the keys now perform other functions such as using the keypad as an arrow pad (typically the “other” functions are noted right on the numeric keypad keys).

On most keyboards, when the NUM LOCK key is enabled, there will be an LED light indicator, so that you know the the NUM LOCK key is turned on (just like the CAP LOCK) light indicator…

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

How and Why's of Setting Up Users Accounts (with Windows 7)

How to set up different User Accounts on your Computer..
Windows Operating Systems have always allowed us to set up different user accounts for different users of the same computer, so that when each user signs in they will see the desktop icons/software – wallpaper, screen savers and of course files & folders that are just theirs…

Although it’s a little different in each of the operating systems – Windows 7 makes it easier than ever to do this…

Note: Whenever two or more user accounts are created, one of them MUST BE an administrator account. It is then the administrator account that is able to set restriction on what additional user accounts can and can’t do…
  • Go to Start, Control Panel, User Accounts, then left click “Manage another Account”
  • Now left click on “create a new account”
  • Choose an account type, enter a name and then left click, create account
  • To password protect the account, click that choice. You will see different account options in addition to creating a password

Remember passwords are always case sensitive, so be sure to note what the different passwords are that you assign to each user

Why set up different user accounts? I’ve found it helpful to have a user account with my name on it and another user account that says “kids” for the grandkids to use and another user account for “guests” which allows anyone else to use the computer… This way, the grandkids and guests can use our computer, and I'm never concerned that any of our personal and/or work information will be compromised - it remains private and can’t be accessed by anyone else using the computer…

Friday, October 7, 2011

Using Facebook's top bar for navigation


It's helpful to know how to "navigate" around Facebook and an easy way is to use the Navigation Bar which is located at the top of your Facebook page - to the right of your profile photo...

Here are brief descriptions of each of the available options on this navigation top bar..

Home (facebook logo) - Clicking this logo will take you to your wall (News Feed) that shows all friends recent posts.

Friend requests - If any friend requests are waiting to be approved this icon will show a notification of how many friends are waiting for approval. This icon can also be clicked when you want to view any friend recommendations or search for friends on Facebook.

Messages - This section allows you to send and receive private messages between one or more people you're friends with.

Notifications - Any time a friend or Facebook application creates a new post you'll be notified in this section. Clicking this icon will show all recent notifications. If you wish to change what is capable of sending you notifications including any Facebook applications or games click the See All Notifications link at the bottom and check or uncheck what you want to be notified on.

Search - Finally, the search box in Facebook can be a powerful tool that can be used to quickly find any current friends or people on Facebook. In addition searching for terms such as a company name, product, sports team, music band, etc. will find fan pages and groups that can be joined.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Facebook - Update your privacy settings

Despite all the bad press Facebook gets about their site and the privacy issue, one of the basic reasons there is a problem is that we, the users, don’t pay close enough attention to our privacy settings, which we should carefully and often..

As technology changes, Facebook has also changed and continually is adding more privacy options for us to use to help protect ourselves –but we have to use them…

Not sure how and what to do – then see what’s news:

Click Account in the top right corner of the Facebook window and then click Privacy settings to adjust who is capable of seeing what on your Facebook profile. We highly recommend going through all the privacy settings to verify your privacy is properly protected.

Understand, that anything that is not set to FRIENDS ONLY or FRIENDS OF FRIENDS can be seen by anyone searching on the Internet. Some good tips for most of us…


  • Under Search in Privacy settings uncheck Public Search Results. This will prevent users from finding your account and profile picture in search results such as Google

  • Under Application settings, make sure you're only allowing applications you want to have access to your information. Applications that you grant rights to can have access to your Facebook profile information.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Error Message: Windows-No Disk


Question: I am getting a error message a lot lately: “WINDOWS-NO DISK” pops up on the monitor and it makes no difference what I’m working on or have open and it happens several times a day…

Answer: Tech support forums and sites (including Microsoft) indicate that this is common (more so with Windows XP & Vista) than Windows 7. THe following is the solution, copied directly from Microsoft’s website at the following link:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-system/windows-no-disk-exception-processing-message/b1a67525-d5e8-46ae-9801-6b169547e656

"The answer lies in the words "Windows: No Disk", your PC is looking for a USB device - e.g. a USB stick or a cell phone - that you've recently plugged in and have removed without using the "remove hardware safely" option in the right hand bottom corner of your screen. Put the last USB device you used back into the USB port and then use the "remove software safely" option.

The pop up message will disappear."

In my case, I didn't have to plug the USB device in, I just needed to click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray, and tell it to remove the device that is no longer plugged in.