Desktop Sidebar - Changing Gadgets

Sidebar is usually turned on by default. You may want to change or edit the clock, calender, and slide show that is set in the sidebar of your new to Vista computer. This is done by:

• Left clicking on the Start Orb
• Go to All Programs
• Then Accessories
• Finally to Windows Sidebar

This will open Windows Sidebar on the right side of your monitor. If you want to add new gadget, just left click on the little plus sign at the top of the Sidebar. This will bring up a selection of gadgets that come with Windows Vista. At the bottom of this Window is a link that will take you to a web location where you can choose from more gadgets.

If you want to remove a gadget from the sidebar move your cursor over that gadget. A "X" will appear. Left click on this "X" and that gadget will be removed from the Sidebar.

Wireless Network - Connecting

Most all laptops have a built-in wireless card. This is the 802.11 Standard, not the wireless internet that Verizon and Sprint sells. The later is internet wherever you are at. The former requires you to be within 400 ft of a WiFi network transmitter.

• From the Start Orb left click
• Then left click on Connect to
• Wireless networks on top are higher priority
• Move to network which you want to connect
• Left click on it, to highlight it
• Then at the lower right, click on Connect
  

Resource Monitor - Intro

Ever wonder what you computer is doing? Have you ever wondered if your processor is being over worked? Have you ever noticed that your computer suddenly got slow, then you started to panic?

In Windows Vista there is another tool, beside the Task Manager it investigate what is happening with you computer. It is call the Resource Monitor. You open up the Task Manager by doing the 3-finger salute. Then at the bottom right you left click on Resource Monitor.

Through this monitor you can see in graph form and number wise four important aspects of your computer.

1. CPU - How hard your processor is working.
2. Disk - The amount and speed that data is being written to your hard drive.
3. Network - Here you can see if any information is going or coming from your computer.
4. Memory - High usage of memory is usually the first place on will see slowness of their computer.
   

Windows Calender - Sharing

In our household we are constantly struggling with three different schedules that can change every two weeks if not every week. We try to sit down once a week and review what is planned for the next week. It is inevitable that one of us misses something.

Windows Calender offers a solution to families like ours. It is under the menu item titled Share.

The calender can be published to a location on the internet to be seen by those you want. It can be sent via email to family members. And what I think is neat is that you can sync it with other family members calenders.

This may not eliminate scheduling problems, but it should greatly reduce them.

Windows Calender

Windows Calender is one of the applications that is put into Windows Vista. This application along with Windows mail, Windows Calender can eliminate the need to get Microsoft's Office Outlook.

You get to Windows Calender from the Start Orb. If is does show up left clicking on the Orb, then you will have to go to All Programs.

In the left column, you have the current month calender. Below that is option to have multi calenders. At the bottom of the left column is a space to keep track of daily tasks.

The center column is daily appointments. It is broken into hours. You can view day, work week, week, and month from the View menu at the top of Windows Calender.

Finally the left column allows to to do some more customization.

Vista SP1 - First Look

Vista SP1 is out and being install on people's computer. The overall consistence is that there is little or no noticeable difference. There are a few application that break after Service Pack 1 gets installed.

I have yet to get Service Pack 1 installed on my computer. However, I have talked with a few people that have. They all have told me that they have not noticed any really difference. Some of the other things I have read over the web is as follows.

• Microsoft has posted a list of what application break after Service Pack 1 is installed (read more).
• Cnet.com is reporting that Service Pack 1 was release early to users who have the 64 bit versions of Vista.
  
• Info World says that Microsoft pulled its updates during the middle of people's updates, thus resulting in endless reboots.
  

Sharing On A Network

Every home has at least two computer, now days. At some point in time there arises a need to share files across the network. In Windows XP and Vista this is done by turning on File and Print Sharing.

Turning on File Sharing in Vista is done as follows:

• Left click on the Start Orb then Network
• Click Network and Sharing Center along the top of the window
• Turn on Network Discovery and File Sharing. You may want to turn on Public Sharing
• Go back to the Start Orb and then Computer
  
• Left click on C drive go to the folder you want to share
• Right click it and left click on Share. You will get a dialog box asking who you want to share this folder.
  
• Type in Everyone and click on Add
• Next to the new entry for Everyone
• Leave it as to Reader if you just want to give read-only access
• Change it to Co-owner if you want to give full access

Vista will now set up that folder as a share. Repeat the process for any other folder you'd like access to over the network.

Windows Experience Index

The Experience Index is designed to help you judge what your expeinece is going to be like when using Windows Vista on a specific computer. You can see how the hardware stacks up against Windows Vista. This way you can identify where a little upgrade here or there could improve your computer's performance.

You get to the Windows Experience Index by holding down the Windows key and pressing the Pause/Break key.

The Windows Experience Index measures five major things that will affect you computers performance.

1. RAM random access memory
2. CPU central processing unit
3. Hard disk
4. General graphics performance
   
5. 3D graphics capability

Note: That there is not rating for the software or programs that you are using on that specific computer. For that you will have to consult the softwares recommended requirements.

File Association - Change

Yesterday, a customer brought his computer into where I work. He was having trouble opening his email attachments. His friends was able to open the same email attachments with no problem.

I started up his computer on the test bench. I had him open his email and one of the attachments that he said he was having problems opening. It was less than a minute I saw the problem.

His email attachment was a ".doc" file. His computer he had not opened those files in Word, yet. I moved the attachment to his Desktop, then right clicked on it. I then left clicked on the Properties option. At the top of the properties option where is reads, Opens with: I left clicked on change, then selected Word.

Now he was able to open his Word email attachments just by left clicking on them.

From time to time when a program gets install to open specific files the association does not get connected. Then you have to connect the two manually. That is what I had done in this case.

Windows Mail - Phishing Filter

Among all the email I get, periodically, I get an email from a bank that says my account information has been corrupted and I must click on the link to login and reset my financial information. What is the kicker is that I may not have an account with a specific bank. This is called Phishing.

This type of deceptive practice is designed to your identity by tricking you to disclosing valuable information. This information is like passwords, login, and credit card data. The email is designed to get you to a link in the email that will take you to fake website of that bank or financial institution.

Windows Mail has an intelligent filter that looks at email to detect many of these fraudulent links and to help protect you from this online deception.

You get to the Phishing Filter the same way you get the to the Junk Email option. The only difference is by left clicking on the tab on the top right that reads, Phishing. Then check the box in front of Protect my Inbox from messages with potential Phishing links.

Windows Mail - Junk Mail Filter

Nothing clogs the email inbox more than junk email, otherwise known as spam. Regardless of all the laws, and other legal action, spam continues to be to be a serious problem. It forces you to wade through a long list of unwanted and sometimes offensive messages, just to find the email you want to read.

In a effort reduce this problem, Windows Mail includes a built-in Junk Mail Filter that automatically screens email. Its' job is to identify and separate out junk e-mail. This filter needs you to train the filter what you consider to be junk and what is wanted. Windows Mail starts identifying and separating junk mail the first time you use it, without any need for special settings.

To access the Junk Email Filter open Windows Mail, left click on Tools then go down to Junk e-mail options. This will open a window that allows to set up your Junk Email Filter to your specific preferences.

Windows Mail - Importing Addressbook

The one thing we all can't do without is our email address book. When switching from an old computer to a new one this can be very frustrating especially if you have to type in all your whole address book into Window Mail.

Below is the how-to:

• After you have finished the export process from Outlook Express.
• Go to the Start Orb and All Programs
  
• Open Windows Mail, but make sure you run it as administrator
• In Windows Mail, go to the File menu, select Import and then Windows Contacts
• Go to the Import to Windows Contacts window, select the first option - CSV (Comma Separated Values) - and press the Import button
• Now you have to Browse to the file where you exported the Address Book from Outlook Express and then press Open When you are done press Next
• In the CSV Import window choose the fields you want to import. If you are not sure which fields to select, select all of them and press the Finish button

Now the Address Book has been moved from Outlook Express to Windows Mail.

Windows Mail - Overview

If you have been looking for Outlook Express on you Vista computer, you will not find it. No, you are not totally without a way to get your email other than through your web browser.

Before I go any further, I feel the need to do a little review when it comes to the different types of email. As far as the average computer user is concerned there is two different types of email.

1. Web Based Email - This is the most common type of email. Web based is simple and easy to use from any computer that has internet access. All you have to do is open Internet Explorer type in your email provider's domain name. Then login with your email address and password.
   
2. POP Email - POP (Post Office Protocol) downloads your email to your computers hard drive. You need what is called an email client. There is several different ones. The two most common are Outlook and Outlook Express.Outlook Express has been replace in Windows Vista, with Window Mail.
   

This new version of an email client has several new features. An overview of the changes is the that it is easier to use along with some built in security features.

Instant Search - More Detail

The Instant Search box is downright may not be that obvious. It is in the Start menu, Control Panel, Windows Media Player, Windows Explorer, and even certain Vista applications (like Contacts and Windows Mail). This makes it great when your trying to find a specific picture or program.

There are two important things you will want to understand about Instant Search.

1. It is context-sensitive, meaning it will begin the search from whatever program or window that is open. When you search is with the Control Panel is open you will see Control Panel results ahead of any others. If Photo Gallery is open, the search will begin from Photo Gallery.
2. Instant Search is dynamic, Meaning it works as you type. The search is narrows the results a bit further with each letter (or number) you add to the search. Type “su,” for instance, and you’ll immediately see all documents, applications, and other items that contain those letters. Keep typing, however, until you get to “summer.”

Practice doing some Instant Searchs. Left click on the Start orb and then click Search in the right-hand pane. This will open Vista’s basic Search window. This search will look on all the drives on your computer. You can narrow your search by show only buttons across the top, or click one to quickly filter your search results.

Importing to Outlook 2007

I have come across a few people that are upgrading from Outlook Express to Outlook 2007. There is a work around this problem. I have put the instructions below:

Copy all the Outlook Express 6 to a .dbx files to the desktop on the Vista computer.

Open Windows Mail (built into Vista)

Left click on File, then down to Import, Messages, Outlook Express 6

After the files are imported into Windows Mail, open Outlook 2007

Left click on File, Import and Export to start the wizard

Select Import Internet Mail and Addresses and click Next

Select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x or Windows Mail.

Check both boxes to import mail and address book. Click Next

Choose how you want duplicate items to be handled, and then left click Finish

Now you can start using Outlook 2007.

System Restore

System Restore is not a back up of files or programs. System Restore is save setting a different times. It is meant to be use if a install of a program of a printer goes bad. Then you can rollback the setting on your computer to a previous known good time.

An example is what happen to me this week. This elderly gentleman brought in his computer and printer. The printer would only print what looked like computer code. After trying to uninstalling and reinstalling his printer drivers. It stopped working all together. Finally, I used System Restore to a time before he bought the printer. I reinstalled the printer worked just fine afterwards.

To get to System Restore:

• Click on Start Orb then left click on Computer and select Properties
• In the left margin click Advanced system setting
• In System Protection tab

It is from this place than you can set a system restore point before you install any software or hardware. However, it is a good practice that you have you computer create system restore points automatically, just in case something goes wrong.

Disk Defragmenter

Just like your car needing a periodical tune up, so does your computer. Until Windows Vista there was a graphical representation that allow you to watch the process of cleaning your computer. However, Vista just lets you know that it is being done along when the job is finished.

Disk Cleanup removes all the unused and deleted files. Defragmenting organizes the remaining files. This preserves the integrity of the remaining data along increase retrieval time of those files.

To Defrag your hard drive do the following steps.

1. Left click on the Start Orb
2. Go to All Programs
   
3. Left click on Accessories, then System Tools and finally Disk Defragmenter
4. Click Defragment Now

NOTE: If you know that your computer is going to be running, you can schedule the defragmenting process when it is convenient for you.

Disk Cleanup

Over the years hard drives have gotten larger. Because of this regular maintenance has become less important.

It is like moving into a bigger house and not having to do spring cleaning every year. Instead a general cleaning of the closets and the garage are just not done. Unused items and clutter just start to pile up. This clutter will slow down your computer's performance. It means that your computer has to wade through more stuff to find the files you want.

The average computer user should do Disk Cleanup about once a month. Those who use their temp files and delete stuff should run it more often.

The steps for going to Disk Clean Up is the same in XP as well as Vista. To run Disk Clean Up

• Left click on the Start Orb
• Go to All Programs
  
• Then Accessories
  
• System Tools
• And finally Disk Clean Up

All you have to is walk through the wizard that takes you through the steps to cleaning out the clutter.

Note: The illustration on the right is of a computer that was taken out of the box and saw heavy use. It had not run disk clean up. The customers complaint was slow performance.

Cleaning Trail and Junk Programs

When you get a new computer, take it out of the box and turn it on. It goes through a startup a process. Windows Vista will ask for things like for the time, date and what time zone.

During this process the manufacture of the computer installs their own customize software. Some of it can be use for the average computer user. Most of it is there to remind you who made the computer. Then there is a group of trailware. These are programs that have a 30, 60, or 90 day use period and then you are expected to buy it.

These manufacture programs and trailware will slow you computer down. Especially if you are not going to use them. The best thing to do is just uninstall them. You will notice a nice boost in performance.

The best way to uninstall them is through the Programs and Features of the Control Panel.

• Left click on the Start Orb button on the bottom left hand of your screen, then choose Control Panel
• Double left click Programs and Features

Now you will see a list of all the programs that came pre-installed with your new computer. The programs that you don't want select and press the uninstall/change button above the list of program install on your computer.

Note: Trialware, is often referred to as crapware or junkware. Critics complain that crapware is unwanted, useless, and sometimes hard to remove by design — all while taking up valuable disk space. Most crapware is operational for a trial period in hopes of persuading the user into buying the full version.

Increase Performance - Services

One of the major complaints about Windows Vista has been its' use of system resources. There are rumors that when Service Pack 1 gets install on everyone's computer, in March or April, the bulk of this problem will be solved.

Services are programs that run in the background for the sole purpose of making things go faster when we click on a icon or do most anything on computer. Depending upon what you use your computer for some of these services are not needed. Simply by changing some of these services from Automantic to Manual mode can greatly increase the performance of your computer.

Black Viper, is one of the most respected experts when it comes to tweaking one's computer for optimum performance. A lot of what he writes about is for after the installation of SP1. If you are comfortable enough in editing the services, I would suggest that you reads Black Viper's Notes For A Happier Computer And User.

There are other people who just like to make adjustments to anything, just to see if it could run fast and more efficient. Tweak Vista.com is another website about things you can do to improve the performance of your Windows Vista computer.

I would strongly recommend before you start doing any of these people's recommend tweaks that you take the following steps, just in case something goes really wrong.

1. Back up all you data files and settings
2. Create a bootable recovery disk
3. Write down what setting you have change and how to change them back.
   

This blog is not written to the geek. It is written to the average computer user. However, it is good to know a little bit about what can or can not be done. That is why I have given you some links to information that would be good to share with the individual who you go to for your personal computer help.

Task Manager

After opening the Task Manager, most people will check it to see if;

1. If a specific applications are running, non responsive, or not running.
2. The amount of the processor that is being used.
3. How much of the memory (RAM) is being used.
4. The Processes are what programs are running in the background to make the computer work the way you want.
5. Services that are in use are separated out by different tabs. The different is that a can be one or more processes that adds functionality to Windows by providing support to other programs.
   
6. The tab that is next to the right is labeled Networking. It will tell you your upload and download speeds and volume.
7. The far right tab has to do with the and their login the to specific computer you are looking at the task manager.
   

Three Finger Salute

Just like Windows XP, and other versions of Windows before it, Windows Vista has what has been commonly called, the Three Finger Salute. In Vista access the 3 key combination is pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time.

Depending upon the way your computer is configured the traditional Three-Finger-Salute will give a menu with several options. These options are:

1. Lock the computer - This will keep that family member or coworker from using the computer while you are taking a bathroom break.
2. Switch Users - This option is available only if there are two or more user accounts on the computer. If there is more than one user account, it is handy to switch between users quick and easily.
   
3. Log off - Keeps the computer on but closes the current users login. Here we have another handy option for the computer who has more than one user accounts.
   
4. Change a password - This feature I see very few people use. If the current user needs to change their password. Here is a quick and easy place to do it.
5. Start Task Manager - The Task Manager is a great diagnostic tool. You can see the system performance, running processes, and other valuable information. We will cover it in tomorrow's post.

Sharing Files

The ability to share folders across a home or business network is a great tool. The folder may have an important documents that you wish to access from both your desktop and laptop. Instead of keeping the folder on two different computers, you have them on one computer. Then when it comes time to access the folder from the another computer, you can.

The files you share with someone on the network can be updated if you give that user permission to do so. However, you can limit the remote user’s access to read only. This is accomplished at the same time you set up the sharing permission.

• From the Start Orb then go My Computer

• Open the Windows Explorer

• Find the folder you wish to share using the folder tree on the left

• Left click the folder

• In the preview pane on the right, select the folder with a single left click

• Select Share from the toolbar on the top

• Choose the users who you wish to access this folder. Note: If the user you want to access the folder is on a different Network, then you must change the Network settings.

• Select the type of Permissions for the added user: Reader, Contributor, or Co-Owner.

• Click Share and wait for the sharing process to complete

• All the files are shared! Other local users or network users can now access these files.

NOTE: If you want remove the file sharing, reverse the process.

Photo Gallery - Tools

Microsoft put into Photo Gallery some basic tools that will help you make those pictures look better, before you send them on to your family or friends.



At the top of Photo Gallery's main window left click on Fix. This will open the photo you selected into a new window. On the right hand side is a menu with five options. These option are to help you do some basic clean up and adjustment of you photos.

1. Auto Adjust. This feature will examine the photo and automatically adjust its brightness, contrast, color, and tint with a click of the button.
2. Adjust Exposure. This option expands thus giving you two choices; brightness and contrast. Each can be manually edited by the use of its' own slide bar.
3. Adjust Color. Here this tool expands to three options, color, tint, and saturation. The color choice lets you change to cooler or warmer colors. The tint lets you put in more accurate color to the individual picture. Finally, saturation which determines if the images colors are virtually gone (grayscale) or a deeply rich color.
4. Crop Picture. In my opinion this is a must. I seem to always have a picture that needs to be trimmed and rotated. This is the tool that will do it.
5. Fix Red Eye. Red eye removal works quite well. Most digital camera, today, have this feature built into them. I would first have the camera set for red eye removal. Then use this feature it your subjects still have red eye.
   

Note: At the bottom of the menu on the right side is an undo edit button. This is just in case your edit did not look so good. You can start over from the beginning.

Backup and Restore

I always encourage computer users to backup their important files. In the few minutes it takes to back documents, pictures and music will save a lot of heartache when something goes wrong with your computer.

This is especially important before you do any major changes to your computer. I like to back up my files at least once a week. This way if some disaster happens I can recover most of my data.

In Windows Vista, as well as with Windows XP there is three levels of saving information.

1. System Restore will roll back setting to a previously good settings. This roll back of the operating system is used when an installation of a printer or some program goes wrong.
2. Full Backup is saving data, programs, and settings. Full backups are usually of the complete hard drive.
3. Data Backup is a portion of the hard drive. This type of backup is usually of pictures, music, and documents found in the My Documents folder.

Accessing the backup and Restore is done by;

• Start Orb
• Then Left click on Control Panel
• Go to System Maintenance and then Backup Restore Center
  
• It is from Backup Restore Center you can choose what type of backup or restore you want to do. It will walk you through the backup process.
  

Before you start backing up those all important files, choose a backup media source that is equal or greater than then files you are backing up. This can be anything from a flash drive, CD, DVD or external hard drive.

Sidebar - Properties

Along the right side the Desktop is several widgets. They are usually a clock, a calendar, and a small picture that changes periodically. This is know a the Vista Sidebar.

Each item inside the Sidebar is know as a widget. Widgets have been around for years. Microsoft decided to include them in Windows Vista as a useful little feature. However, there are some people consider them annoying and don't want them on their Desktop.

The easiest way to turn off the Sidebar and its' widgets if to put your cursor over the Sidebar and right click. Then move the cursor over proprieties and left click.

At the top of the Windows Sidebar Properties window is a check box that reads, Start Sidebar when Windows starts. Uncheck the box and click ok and the bottom of that window.

Now the Sidebar will not start when ever you start your computer.

Games

If you got Vista Home Basic you will get the standard stock games that cames in Windows XP. They are games like solitaire, Minesweeper, and etc. However, if you got Vista Home Premium, or Ultimate you get some neat 3D games. Vista Business does not come with any games by default, because you are not to play games while working.

From the Start Orb you go to Programs, then left click on Games. This will open up the Game Explorer. There you will see updated icons for games you normally see in Windows XP. In addition there are a few more games.

Chess is an addition. I like this one. It is 3D. Choose you level of play. Then you get to play against the computer. If you haven't played chess against a computer before it may take a game or two to get the hang of it. Overall it will keep you mind sharp, and it is fun.

Mahjong's the popular Chinese tile board game is another one of the games added to Vista Home Premium and above. I was hooked on this game when Vista first came out in beta testing. I must of have played this for hours. Great graphic, great fun, and just a great all around game for wasting time.

I must admit there are other games, but chess and Mahjong are only two games I play outside of Solitaire. Maybe some day I will expand my horizons and play some of the other games, but for now three games are enough for me.

You can read about the games in Vista on the Microsoft website. I recommend that you just open you Game Explorer and start playing.

Drivers Drive the Hardware

Drivers are a little piece of software that helps the operating system talk to the hardware of a computer. In the case of a printers and other external device, a driver is a computer program allows interaction with that hardware device.

The communication breakdown between Windows Vista and the computer hardware has been the main complaint about Vista. This is nothing new. Even today, people are having issues with Windows XP and certain hardware device drivers.

What makes Windows Vista so difficult for some people is how different Vista looks in comparison to Windows XP. Because the look is different there are a few people forget how to get to the device manager. So let us review how to get to the Device (Driver) Manager.

• Left click on Start Orb
• Go to the Control Panel
• Left click on System
• Then on Device Manager in the left margin
• Right-click the device you want and choose Properties
• On the next window you can have a look at the driver situation
• Then, click on Driver tab and update Driver

In the next window you can locate the driver on your computer manually or let the wizard look for it,also on the Internet if you are connected. In some case something goes wrong or the device has problems, click on Rollback and Windows brings you back to the previous driver.