How much space/room is left on any drive or folder?

Check your Computer Properties (determine how much space is used/ open) To determine how much space is used – unused on a computer (C Drive), or on a flash drive, portable hard drive or memory card, or in a specific folder –such a My Documents or My Pictures?

• Open Windows Explorer – (Quick Access: Windows Flag Key + E) which is a 2 sided screen – whatever is highlighted on the left is what you are looking at on the right..…
• Hover your mouse over the Drive or specific folder you want to check
• When you do this, Right Click on the Drive or folder
• When the action list appears – find PROPERTIES at the bottom of the list
• Now Left Click on Properties

Easily copy files/folders from one pc to another

We are always being asked how to transfer data "easily" from one computer to another.. Here are several options - all of which are quite easy:

USING AN EXTERNAL OR PORTABLE HARD DRIVE

You can "copy" all of your folders/files from one computer to either an External Hard Drive or Portable Hard Drive for temporary storage.  When you are ready, simply "paste" them to the correct main locations on your new computer...

WINDOWS EASY TRANSFER (Microsoft) - You will need an easy transfer cable to use this option..

P  Click "Start."

P  Click "All Programs."

P  Click "Accessories."

P  Click "System Tools."

P  Click "Windows Easy Transfer."

P  Follow the onscreen prompts to transfer the files you want.

MOUSE WITHOUT BORDERS (Microsoft) This is a free software download from Microsoft that was designed for people who use many computers in the same room. For example, a laptop or tablet that you take to meetings might sit right alongside the desktop PC in your office and allows you to control up to four computers from a single mouse and keyboard.

I have to tell you that I've used it many times now since the fall of 2012 and have no hesitation introducing it to all of you...  I find it easy to download and use, so that I can copy folders and files from on computer to another - whether PC to laptop or vice versa.. Also very easy when you are moving folders or files from one pc to another (as long as they are both up and running at the same time...and it works very well between Windows XP, Vista 7 & 8 operating systems, but I haven't been able to use it yet on Macs (assume the software isn't approved yet by Apple)...but I've also just downloaded it to my Smartphone and love it...

Link to download: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35460

No matter which way you choose, be sure the data transfer is complete before deleting the information on the disk or old computer.

Are your documents & photos safe & private in DropBox?

As soon as the post about DropBox hit last Thursday, May 10th, many of you sent me emails asking how private DropBox was.  Remember, DropBox, like most “cloud computing” services is very careful about privacy. DropBox even claims that files we store with them are actually safer while stored in your DropBox than on your computer; they also state that they use the same secure methods as banks.

So yes – your files are backed-up, they are all stored securely, and password-protected.  No one else using DropBox can see what is in your private files UNLESS you deliberately invite or you put your files into your Public folder.

HOWEVER – Personally, I wouldn’t recommend using DropBox on a “public computer” such as those in the classroom.  Your home and work computers, which are used by you and you alone are fine, but remember the DropBox folder is just like any other folder, so on a public computer it can be accessed…

Remember: everything and anything in your Public folders, just like those in your Shared/Public Folders on the computer are accessible to anyone...  

Next week we will be talking about “Google Drive” (which was introduced at the end of April 2012 and is a great addition to the Google Doc’s storage app).  Yes, like “DropBox” it is another “cloud computing” service, but obviously from Google.  For many of us, especially those with free GMAIL accounts this may be your better option, especially for those who often use public computers

Check back on Wednesday, May 16^th for more discussion about Google Drive vs. DropBox…

What is DropBox?

Dropbox, which started just 5 years ago in 2007 by 2 MIT Graduates who continually forgot to bring their flash drives to class, has a free service (as well as other monthly & annual fee programs) and their software works with Windows, Mac’s, Android and other operating systems…  Yes – this is a “cloud computer” service, similar to what emails users who have hotmail, live or msn with SkyDrive or what gmail users use with Google Drive to save their photos, documents and other files to share or access from anywhere they are..…

Check them out at www.dropbox.com

How to use DropBox:

Go to www.dropbox.com and download their free software to your computer or smartphone (or any other mobile device).

·         Select a location on your hard drive to place the "Dropbox Folder."

·         Drag and drop files you want to upload to Dropbox into the new Dropbox folder on your computer. You can also upload files directly to your Dropbox account using their website upload tools.

·         You can now access your Dropbox files from any computer using Dropbox website or installing the software on that specific computer.

·         Access your files on an iPhone or Android device using the mobile Dropbox application.

·         Any adjustments made to Dropbox files will synchronize automatically.

If you need more help using this, visit www.dropbox.com which has an easy to follow tutorial on their website, or visit our two favorite websites for learning just about anything:

www.ehow.com or www.youtube.com

As of October 2011, Dropbox had more than 50 million users and recently announced (in April 2012) a new feature that allows users to automatically upload photos and videos from their cameras, tablets, SD cards and smartphones.  We’ve also heard that they are going to be giving users up to 3 GB of additional storage space for free, which some feel is to encourage users to use them, vs. Hotmails SkyDrive or Googles Drive for docs & photos… 

Think twice before rushing to buy a new computer

Before you rush out to buy a new computer you’ve seen advertised, because your PC might seem a little slow, you might want to consider a few things…

First of all, when you are on the Internet visiting various websites – are you one of those individuals who always clicks “install this toolbar” assuming it will be helpful when you visit the website again in the future..  Many experts say that more than 75% of the software that is on your computer – either pre-installed or installed by you is never used…  So be careful about what you install and why and consider removing software that you have never used - It is easy to do, but if you aren't sure how to do this, ask for help.. 

Second, organize what you have on your current computer.  Be sure that all document, photos etc. are neatly stored away in specific topic folders so that it is easy for you to find…   Once eveything is neatly organized, if that hasn't helped - consider storing all for your documents, photos, music and videos on a portable hard drive,  You can purchase a 1TB portable hard drive for under $100 – much less than a new computer will cost.  Once you have cleaned off unnecessary application software programs and documents you don’t want or need – you may be pleasantly surprised at how well your computer performs…  Also once you know where everything is it helps to control duplicates – and this especially applies to any of us who have been allowing our digital cameras or camcorders to download our digital media files…  we may have many more copies on our computers than we think, which will cause your computer to crawl…

Third, make sure your drivers are current.  Drivers are the software that allow peripheral equipment to work well with your computer, and those for your printer & scanner should be updated periodically..

Fourth, while we’re talking equipment, we also find it helpful (and healthful) to use the keyboard shortcuts as often as possible.  You want to protect your wrist, elbow & shoulder from tendinitis related issues, caused by the repetitive motion of going back & forth all day long from keyboard to mouse and vice versa… If you are hands are on the keyboard than use keyboard shortcuts to give commands and if they are on the mouse, use the menu or toolbar/ribbon icons… 

In Picasa - what’s the difference between Folders and Albums?

Q: In Picasa - what’s the difference between Folders and Albums?

A: Folders actually contain photos and they use space on your hard drive; whereas Albums, only exist within Picasa.

Lets say you name your folders by date & event, like I do. You might have a main folder for a specific year, then within that year you might have sub-folders by months or events - then within a specific event folder you might have additional sub-sub-folder... For example, you went to California for 2 weeks, so inside a California Trip folder, which is inside your 2011 Folder, you have 3 sub-folders for: 320 pictures in a San Diego sub-folder; 120 in a Hollywood sub-folder and another 280 in a San Francisco sub-folder. Your family and friends might love you, but showing that many pictures to anyone would probably not be a great idea, so we want to “choose some from each city sub-folder, to create a “synopsis” folder or album, to create a slideshow, a book, or other project..

That’s where your Picasa Albums can come in very handy - but it's important you understand albums versus folders....

Folders actually contain photos.
The folders you see in Picasa are the real folders you see when you are looking in your Picture drawer on Windows Explorer (what I call my vault).

• If you delete a photo from a folder in Picasa, the real photo in the real folder on your hard drive, will also be deleted.
• And, when you delete a photo from a folder in your Picture drawer on Windows Explorer (what I call my vault) it will no longer be in the Picasa view.

Albums, on the other hand, only exist within Picasa.
Albums "point to" photos in folders, they don’t actually have their own copies of photos.

• Albums let us create multiple ways to view and organize the photos in your folders.
• If you add a photo to an album, the photo remains in its original folder and Picasa adds a reference to that photo to the album.
• If you delete a photo from an album, the photo remains in its original folder and Picasa removes that album's reference to that photo.
• A photo exists in exactly one folder, but the photo can appear in (be referenced by) several albums.
• If you delete a photo from a folder, the photo will be removed from the folder AND any albums it appears in (because the albums no longer have a photo to reference).

Some of us organize our photos using Windows Explorer by creating a main Project folders in the Picture "vault" for our “copies”, but another way to do that is to create Albums in Picasa, to organize your photos.

Main difference is, if I put copies in a folder in the Main Picture drawer using Windows explorer they are truly copies; whereas albums are not true copies…

So when you use albums in Picasa, you are not using actual space on your hard drive

How to manage what photos are in Picasa

I DON’T WANT ALL MY PICTURES IN PICASA – I WANT TO CHOOSE WHEN AND WHICH PHOTOS ARE IN PICASA?

This can be done, but remember you cannot disable the initial scan for photos after installing Picasa – after you have downloaded Picasa to your computer, it will ask you to make one of 2 choices:

• Scan your My Documents, My Pictures drawer OR


• Scan your entire computer, which would mean all drive’s plugged in

But once this is done, you can use the Folder Manager to specify which folders on your computer Picasa should scan in the future.

• Once the initial scan begins in Picasa, click the Tools menu.


• Select Folder Manager


• In the Folder Manager, exclude all folders that you don't want to include in Picasa


• Once you have made your selections, click OK

So, for those of you who only want pictures or folders in Picasa when you want to edit those specific folders or pictures; simply remove all folders from Picasa. Now when you want to work on a specific photo or folder, simply drag the photo (s) or folder (s) to Picasa to the Picasa editing screen once you have opened your Picasa…

How to Scan Photos Using Picasa

In our last blog posting, we described how to scan photos and documents to your computer using Picasa. Picasa is Google’s Free photo editing software – if you don’t have this on your computer, you can go to www.picasa.com and download it)..

Scanning allows us to save our photos and/or documents onto our computers in “digital format”. Most all-in-one printers today have built in scanners, but we often hear they are confusing to use. So, for an easy option, Picasa might be the right choice for you…

Once you get going, you'll find that you can easily scan 50-60 or more photos in an hour (and this is true whether you use Picasa, your scanner's software or your operating system software such as Windows Photo Gallery, so it’s a great winter or rainy day project… And it’s wonderful to know that those old family photos won’t be lost.. Here's how:

• Be sure your computer and printer/scanner are on
• Open your “Picasa” application software program
• Always scan just one “1” photo or one “1” document at a time
• Put the photo on the glass of the scanner – face down
• In Picasa, click ‘Import’
• Click the arrow for the drop down list of devices. You'll see your scanner listed, select it
• Each scanner shows a different screen, but I believe all have an option to "Preview"
• Click the "Preview" option and now you'll see your photo
• If you want to crop the photo you can do it now or save the entire photo & crop later
• Once you're happy with, Click the button to Scan
• When it’s done scanning, you’re back at the standard Picasa Import screen
• Click Import all
• Select or create a folder to put it in
• I usually name mine: "Scan & today's date - i.e. Scan 2011.11.2"
• Now my first and subsequent photos scanned today will go in that folder
• Tomorrow I would create a new folder & name it with the correct date
• This way I can either name each individual photo or number them 1, 2, 3 etc..
• Once the photos are in the folder you want, you can certainly export them to your 'My Picture/Picture drawer - in whatever folder you want them in"

Tip: Once you have completed your scanning for the day, some of the Picasa forums recommend that you use Picasa’s Batch Edit command, and choose “I’m Feeling Lucky” and “Sharpen” to all of the photos in the “Old Photos-Today’s Date” that you just created… you can always open this again later to do individual editing of each photo you’ve now saved on your computer..

Note: In our classrooms, the Scanner is hooked up to one specific computer, so that is where your photos will be saved. Once they are in your specific folder, and if you want to move them to another computer in the classroom or your home computer, simply copy the entire scan folder you just created to your flash/removeable drive and then copy them to the computer of your choice...

Windows Explorer-The computers filing cabinet

When you use Windows Explorer, you can see all the documents stored on your computer (or your network), which makes it easy to select documents, folders, travel drives, digital cameras portable hard drives to work with them.

Windows Explorer uses the same “folder system” you would in a “filing cabinet”. Folders and sub-folders are "containers" to store documents (files). The folders that Windows creates for you are named My Documents, My Music, My Pictures & My Videos. They get their names from the fact that you use them as follows:

My Documents: Use this folder to store other types of documents you save, such as typed text or spreadsheets

• My Music: Use this folder to store music you copy to your computers


• My Pictures: Use this folder to store pictures, such as those you get from a camera or scanner, or from the Internet


• My Videos: Use this folder to store videos, such as those you get from a video camera, emails or from the Internet

In Windows XP and older operating systems you will see that you must open the My Documents drawer to see the other master folders, such as My Music, My Pictures, My Scans, My Videos...

In Windows Vista and Windows 7 Operating Systems, the Master folder is called a Library and in that you will find each of the individual master folders, including My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Scans, My Videos..

For those of you using MAC’s – you now have Macintosh Explorer – check it out at www.ragesw.com/products/explorer.html

How to add “attachments” to your email message…

Once you are in your email account and into the section where you can write/compose a new email message:

Be sure to fill in the names whom it is going to in the BCC (to protect everyone’s privacy) - also be sure to fill in a subject and then write your message

Now – click the “attachment” option which usually has a paperclip icon beside it (it might also say Add attachment, insert attachment or insert file/photo”

With many programs you will now see a BROWSE button which allows you to open the Document, Picture, Video or Music files so that you can find what it is you want to attach

Once you have found the correct folder and then found the correct “file” highlight/left click on the file name – with most services if you left click the file twice it will insert/add it to your email message. Remember if you have several files in one folder, you can use the CTRL or SHFT keys to add multiple files.

If you want to send a different file from a different folder or section, just repeat the steps above.

Once you have attached all the files you want, you will send the email message the same as you always do. If you want to be sure what your recipients will see, simply send a copy to yourself as well…

Notes:

Most services allow you to add attachments up to 25GB, although this varies depending on the email provider :

IN AOL – the ATTACH FILE button is in the bottom left corner of the email message

IN YAHOO: When you choose the file you want to attach it appears in the file field, when you are finished, select the 'Attach Files' button and you will receive a message that you have successfully attached your files.

IN HOTMAIL: In newer versions it will ask you if you want to save the attachments as online documents/photos – you can say yes or no (when you say yes they will be saved in your online/cloud documents/photo folders)

IN GMAIL: Click the "Send" command once you have added as many attachments as you desire and they will be added to your message

Name & Save Your Work

Whether you are writing a letter using Word Pad, Word, Word Perfect OR creating a list of items from home or contact list using a spreadsheet software such as Excel OR creating a slide show for a power point presentation - remember when you begin - name your document immediately.
How we name a document is the same, although it varies some based on the version of software you are using...

You will notice when you open a document in Word it will have a Document Number in the title bar; if you open a spreadsheet in Excel it will have a Workbook Number - these will be replaced when you name your work (the more “new documents or spreadsheets you open” the higher the numbers get all day )

We name documents and save them in our choose of specific folders so that we can find them easily when we need them again... Saving work in folders is done in the same way in which we file work in a metal file cabinet...

• Go to File on the Menu Bar (or in newer versions go to the Office Button)
• Choose "Save As"
• In the newer versions of Word/Excel etc - you want to choose "Save as 97-2003" so that it can then be opened by others using these earlier versions
• Be sure you are in the correct DRIVE - at home the C Drive - OR if you are using a flash memory stick-choose that drive; OR at work or in school, choose the drive assigned to you.
• Then open the “My Documents” or "Documents" drawer
• Now choose or create the folder you want your work saved in
• Now NAME THE DOCUMENT, such as 2010.10.18 letter to paul
• Remember you can not use / or \ slashes when naming anything on the computer and numbers always come before letters on the computers filing system
• Once you are done typing the name you can use Enter on the keyboard, or choose OK or save with the mouse
• It is now saved and when you look at the work on monitor you will see the new name at the top on the title bar and on the open button on your task bar

How to find a lost file on your Computer?

If you are using Windows XP – this is a quick way to find lost files on your computer.

Open the “Start Menu" (either left click on the Start Button left side of the Task Bar OR tap the Windows Flag Key on your keyboard)

When the Start Menu appears, choose “Search” and the Search Dialog Box Opens, with 3 search options:

1. All or part of a file name
2. A word or phrase in the file
3. Look In

Use Option 1 when you know all or part of the document-file name, but you can also add the file extensions (for example for word file, type *.doc, Excel *.xls, Acrobat *.pdf, *.ppt and *.exe for executable files.

Use Option 2 when you don't know the name of file but know that it contains a string of text, by typing the text you want to find from any file or folder. This is time taking process but creates very precise result.

Use Option 3, Look In, to Look in Specific Drives, Folders or Networks that you want to Search for what you put in Option 1 or Opiton 2 In Look in, click the drive, folder, or network you want to search.

To save time, always select the specified drive or location instead of whole computer
Click Start Button, point to Search, and then click For File or Folders, a Search Results dialog box will appear.

In Search for files or folders named, type the file name or folder name you want to find in containing text.

To specify additional search criteria, click Search Options, and then click one or more of the following options to narrow your search:

• Select Date to look for files that were created or modified on or between specific dates
• Select Type to look for files of a specific type, such as a text or WordPad document
• Select Size to look for files of a specific size
• Select Advanced Options to specify additional search criteria
• Click Search now.

What’s the difference between folders and files?

Folders - are very similar to manila folders in a file cabinet. Inside each of the Folders we will store our “files”. You can create sub-folders, or sub-sub folders to keep your “files” even more organized on different projects that you may be involved with. Such as initially you might have a folder for “Insurance”, but once it begins to get full – you may want to have sub-folders for different types of insurance: health, life, car, home, boat etc..

Files - each individual item we save on the computer – whether it is a photo, document, spreadsheet, song or video is known as a File. Files are the items that you are able to view and to work on if desired. An example would be the images you download from your digital camera; or the Word document that you've created. If you download a CD of music to your computer – although it is only 1 CD, each individual song or track of music is then an individual file.

TIPS:

• When naming files or folders we cannot use computer language symbols such as back or forwarded slashes ( / or \)
• When naming a file with dates you can use: 8.24.10 or 8-24-10 but cannot use 8/24/10.
• Use spaces when you name files or folders to make your filing easier.
• The filing system on the computer always puts numbers before letters 0-9 will always go before a-z, so if you want a file or folder to stay at the top, name it 0.0 to do - the zeros will keep it at the top, vs. naming it to do which would it put it towards the bottom of your list

What is Windows Explorer?

Windows Explorer gives you a fast, easy way to view, copy, delete, move, etc., the folders and files found on all of your disk drives (like a big filing cabinet) It’s important to remember, Windows Explorer is very different from Internet Explorer..

Windows Explorer lets you play with – find & organize the files and folders on your computer, just as though it were a metal file cabinet and work easily moving and/or copying files and folders to and from different drives, such as when you are copying files/folders from your computer to your portable hard drive or flash drive.

Internet Explorer is “Browser” software that allows you to connect to other computers via the World Wide Web & search for information

The easiest way to access Windows Explorer is to hold the windows flag key down & tap the letter “E”. You can quickly and easily access the Windows Explorer this way without having to minimize any other applications or screens that you have open and are working with

How to use the Windows “Find” & "Search" command

The "FIND" & "SEARCH" commands are so helpful when we are working on the Internet, in emails, and especially in operating system and application programs, such as Word, Excel, Power Point, BookSmart or others.

We use the 'FIND" & "SEARCH" commands to quickly and easily search for:

• within a web page that's open in your favorite browser OR
• search for a word or phrase in a Microsoft document OR
• use it to search for a file or folder on your computer

To access the FIND functions in the program you are working in, you can go the Menu Bar in that program, then go to Edit, and it will be in your toolbar list

OR

Use your keyboard shortcuts to find/search for text in a document or webpage - simply press the CTRL + F keys at the same time and this will open the FIND function.

OR

To access the SEARCH functions, to easily find a folder or file on your computer, go to your START menu and the SEARCH function is listed and it will then display the SEARCH dialog box to help you find what you are looking for by either name or contents

Folders vs. Files – What’s the Difference?

When you are "saving/filing" items on your computer - it is helpful to know the difference between a file and/or a folder... sounds obvious - but to many this is confusing...

FILES – are each individual item on your computer that has a name – so if you take 5 photos, your camera will give them each a name – that “name” is a file – all file names end with an extension that tell us and the computer what the file is most photo’s will end in .jpg or maybe .bmp, .gif, .png, .tif etc.. If you have a music CD you want to copy/download to the computer, and that one CD has 12 music tracks – then there will be 12 different file names – music/audio file extensions might be .mp3, .wav, .wma

FOLDERS – symbolized with a manila folder – are the places where we store/file things of a like nature – PC’s are shipped with common folders - With Windows 98 and XP Operating Systems, the common folder names are: “My Documents”; “My Pictures”, “My Music”, “My Videos”, “My Scans”; in newer Windows Operating Systems, Vista & Windows 7, the word “My” has been dropped in your filing libraries

You can create as many folders, sub-folders, sub-sub folders, etc. as you would like. When you create a new folder - remember that whatever folder is highlighted in Windows Explorer or in the Filing Name Drop Down Box - that becomes the "Parent" to your new folder and therefore your new folder can & will be found "inside" that highlighted folder...

Using Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is the computers “filing cabinet” allowing you to quickly & easily move and or copy item (s) from one folder and or drive to another..

QUICK & EASY WAY TO OPEN "WINDOWS EXPLORER" use keyboard shortcut: hold down the windows flag key and tap the letter E... This will always open the Windows Explorer no matter where you are on your computer (minimizing anything else you had open)

• The Windows Explorer Screen is divided into two sections/panes: Left & right and divided with separator bar.
• In Windows Explorer - whatever is highlighted on the left column, is what you are looking at on the right side of the screen
• Windows Explorer Left Pane uses plus (+) and minus (-) signs to display or close what is in a folder in older operating systems (XP & older) and in the newer vists or 7, it uses > arrows

TO CREATE A FOLDER (OR SUB FOLDERS) IN WINDOWS EXPLORER:

• Open Windows Explorer – Expand whatever drive or folder you want to put your new folder in
• Be sure on the left that you have highlighted the folder you want your new folder to be in
• In older operating systems (XP or older) you can either right click on the folder/drive you are on or go to the menu bar, File, New, then choose folder - a folder will appear and you now type in the new name for this folder
• In newer operating systems (Vista or 7) you will see on the action bar at the top of your screen - New Folder or Create new folder - again when you choose this, a folder will appear and you now type in the new name for this folder

Organize Files & Folders on your Computer

WINDOWS EXPLORER shows you where all your files are on your computer – an easy way to access this is to hold down the Windows Flag key + Tap “E” on your keyboard using the same “folder system” you would in a “filing cabinet”. Folders and sub-folders are "containers" to store files (documents, picutres, videos, movies, music etc). Every item named on a computer is a file and files are sorted into foldder, sub-folders and sub-sub-folders, which you create and name.

Some of the standard folders/drawers that Windows creates are: My Documents, My Music, My Pictures & My Videos. In Windows Vista & Windows 7, the word “My” has been dropped….They get their names from the fact that you use them as follows:

• My Documents: Use this folder to store other types of documents you save, such as typed text or spreadsheets
• My Music: Use this folder to store music you copy to your computers
• My Pictures: Use this folder to store pictures, such as those you get from a camera or scanner, or from the Internet
• My Videos: Use this folder to store videos, such as those you get from a video camera, emails or from the Internet

WINDOW EXPLORER BASICS:

• Windows Explorer Is The Computers “Filing Cabinet” Allowing You To Quickly & Easily Move And Or Copy Item (S) From One Folder And Or Drive To Another
• The Windows Explorer Screen Is Divided Into Two Sections/Panes: Left & Right And Divided With Separator Bar
• Windows Explorer for Windows 95 thru XP Uses Plus (+) And Minus (-) Signs To Display Or Close What Is In A Folder; Windows Vista & Windows 7 use the common Arrow signs
• Whatever Is Highlighted On The Left Pane Is What You Are Looking At On The Right Side Of The Screen