Computer Help
tips for eveyone!
Dirty little secrets of the keyboard revealed
Sep 11th
Here is a very interesting artcile witten by Steve Ranger from silicon.com.
“Next time you are eating at your desk, try not to think of multitude of germs lurking on your keyboard — along with some other unpleasant debris.”
The main cause of a bug-infested keyboard is users eating lunch at their desk, as the crumbs encourage the growth of millions of bacteria.”
“Last year researchers for Which Computing tested more than 30 keyboards from a typical London office and found some harbored levels of bacteria that could put their user at high risk of becoming ill. In one case a microbiologist suggested the removal of a keyboard as it had 150 times the recommended limit of bacteria — five times filthier than a toilet seat that was swabbed in the same test.
Full article: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-277938.html?tag=nl.e550
Basic computer definitions everyone should know
Aug 3rd
If you use a computer, chances are you are going to come across these words. It’s important to have a basic understanding of these words as it might clear up some of those computer mysteries you might have had in the past.
- CPU (Central Processing Unit) = This is similar to the brain of the computer. Anything that you do on the computer gets processed by the CPU.
- Hard Drive = Consider your hard drive like a storage room, cupboard or container. It’s where you keep all your files that you are not currently working on. Current hard drive sizes are 80 Gigabytes to 500 Gigabytes and even larges in size. 1 photo on your computer is around 0.004 Gigabytes. You can imagine how many photos you can store on a 500GB hard drive!
- Memory = When you open a document, spread sheet, photo, etc. Part or all of that document gets loaded from the hard drive (storage room) into the memory. While this file is in memory you can make changes to it and once you are done and you save and close it, that updated file now gets moved (written) back to the hard drive.
- Motherboard = This is the board that connects all the components of a computer. Each of the components of a computer (hard drive, CPU, memory, etc.) gets plugged into this board and makes it possible for them to communicate to each other.
Hope these definitions have given you a better understanding of what happens under the hard shell of the computer.
Cheers,
Rene Els
Tips and Tricks for the 2007 Microsoft Office System
Jul 3rd
Last week I posted a video link that showed you how to use the “Fluent User Interface” of Office 2007. This week I have another video link for you that covers the entire Office 2007 Suite tips and tricks for beginner users. It’s goes for a while, but I think you’ll end up with some good tip and tricks at the end of it.
Click here http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=XT102584591033&CTT=5&Origin=HA102584511033
Have a good weekend!
Office 2007 Video Tip
Jun 25th
If you use the Microsoft Office 2007 suite then this video tip is for you. I had a look at it and found it easy to understand. Highly recommended if you want to increase you Office 2007 skills. This tips is directly from the Microsoft Office site.
Remember you can always call elscomm for your all your computer needs.
Cheers!
Set your windows so they all have the same view
May 6th
Gee! Has it been a while since I last posted an article. Lots have been happening and unfortunately the computer help blog suffered from it. Well it’s time to get back into it.
Microsoft Windows XP lets you show the contents of folders in a variety of ways, such as a simple or detailed list of the files, or as thumbnail images. Each folder in My Computer or My Documents can have its own view. That’s useful for folders like My Music or My Pictures, because you can look at your digital photos in Thumbnails or Filmstrip view, and see your song titles in Tiles view. But changing the view for every folder can be time-consuming. Read more here
If you got any computer problems or need computer help, please email or call us. Tel 0402 936 861
From the Carbonite Blog – Can you believe 2 billion files restored!
Feb 19th
Every so often I get a briefing from our operations staff on data center statistics. Last week, I learned one number that startled even me: as of Jan 20th, we had restored over 2 billion files for our customers. I assume that most of these files would have been lost if they had not had Carbonite. Also, Carbonite’s restore process has been extremely reliable. You’d think with that many files being restored that there would be some that are lost or corrupt. While these kinds of problems occurred once in a while when we were young, it doesn’t seem to happen anymore. The RAID disk arrays that we use to store your data are 36 million times more reliable than the hard drive in your computer. That’s one reason that online backup is far more reliable than a cheap external hard drive.
- David Friend, CEO Carbonite
Read full article here http://winzip.carbonite.com/blog/post/2009/02/Can-you-believe-2-billion-files-restored!.aspx
Take your Internet Favorites with you
Feb 15th
Here is a simple tip to make a copy of all your Favorites in Internet Explorer 7. The benefits of doing this is that you can make a backup copy of your favorites and save it somewhere else. You could also save a copy of your Favorites to a USB flash drive and take it with you. With this you can plug the flash drive into another computer and have all your favorites wherever you go.
Here is how you do it.
1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Press the Alt key on your keyboard.
3. Notice at the top of Internet Explorer you have File, click on it.
4. Select Import and Export…
5. This will initiate a wizard. Click on Next
6. Select Export Favorites and click Next.
7. Following screen will show all you Favorties. I would recommend you export all your Favorites, so leave it highlighted on the top folder called Favorties. Click Next.
8. You will now need to select the destination where you want to export the favorites to. Click on the Browse button. I would recommend that you save it directly to you USB flash drive or you save it to your desktop for now and copy it later. Select either and click Save.
9. You are now back at the destination screen, click Next.
10. Click Finish and you will receive a message that the export was successful.
11. You can now view the exported Favorites by going to the location where you saved them.
That’s this week’s tip.
If you require any computer support please call us on 0402 936 861.
Cheers!
Create PDF files using Word 2007
Feb 15th
If you use Microsoft Word 2007 and want to convert your documents into PDF files you can do so in a couple of simple steps.
- First we need to download a piece of software that will allow you to do this. Click on this link to download the software.
- Once you have download the software double-click on it to start the installation. Follow through the installation steps to completion.
- Once you are done open the Word document that you want to publish as a PDF document.
- In Word 2007 click on the
button then select Save As follwed by PDF or XPS (see below)
Word 2007 Menu
Now you can select where to save this PDF. Simply select a location and press Save. You now have you newly created PDF file.
Think you’re safe backing up to an external hard drive or second computer?
Feb 11th
Article written by Dave Friend from Carbonite.
Think you’re safe backing up to an external hard drive or second computer?
Couple of keyboard shortcuts
Feb 9th
Here are a couple of keyboard shortcut tips from one of the elscomm technicians – Russell.
Example of how-to use:
Pressing the Windows Logo + (plus) the D key: Minimizes all open windows and displays the desktop.
Note: Windows Logo is the keyboard button that has the windows logo on it. 
Shortcuts:
- F2: Rename object
- F3: Find all files
- CTRL+X: Cut
- CTRL+C: Copy
- CTRL+V: Paste
- SHIFT+DELETE: Delete selection immediately, without moving the item to the Recycle Bin
- ALT+ENTER: Open the properties for the selected object
- CTRL+ESC: Opens the Start menu (use the ARROW keys to select an item)
- ALT+F4: Closes the current window
- Windows Logo+F: Find files or folders
- Windows Logo+E: Windows Explorer