Why pay more?

Hi, I am back from a short sick leave so apologies for the lack of posts in the last few weeks.

This week I am going to give you a few tips and links to software which is completely free to use and can replace some really expensive pieces of software which you may be thinking of purchasing. I am in no way affiliated with any of the below companies. This is all my honest opinion.

Let's start with Office. If your needs are an easy to use word processor, spreadsheet and slide presentation suite of software, you could use Open Office. This is free software and easily installed and can save you hundreds of dollars. It can also open up documents made with MS Office. http://download.openoffice.org/index.html and you are set to go.

The next bit of software which comes free with Windows XP (SP2). Windows Movie Maker. This bit of software is GREAT for making and editing movies or slide shows. It is easy to use and you can add music and titles to each slide. Just go to "Start" -- "All Programs" -- "Accessories" -- "Microsoft Movie Maker".
There is a great tutorial at the following link: http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/moviemaker/a/mov_mak_beg.htm


If you have tons of pictures on your PC, then I would recommend using Picasa. This is free software from Google which indexes all your pictures and keeps them arranged according to date taken. It is like getting a secretary to organize all your pictures in nice, neat folders. On top of that, Picasa is great for editing pictures like getting rid of red eye and cropping pictures. It automatically keeps a copy of the original. If you have a Google account, you can also use Picasa to upload your pictures to the web to Picasa Web Albums. This is great for backup and to share your pics with family and friends. Get Picasa free at http://picasa.google.com/download/index.html

Have you heard of VOIP? That is Voice Over IP. It is a method of using internet connections to make phone calls. There are a number of companies which provide free VOIP. The one I recommend is Skype. The phone calls are free from Skype user to Skype user, and you can call at low prices from Skype to a regular phone line. On top of that, if you have a webcam (you can pick up a cheap web camera for under 20 dollars), you can also make video phone calls for FREE. Imagine calling your loved ones thousands of miles away and being able to see them while you talk. Get Skype at http://www.skype.com/download/ and make sure you get as many people as you can onto Skype because the more people on Skype, the more free calls you can make.

How to Burn CD's with Windows

Windows XP’s built in CD Burning tool.
This feature is not as flexible as other disk burning software like Nero or Roxio (even though it is built on Roxio Code) but it is still useful when you don’t have external burning software.

First, make sure the burning feature is enabled.

• Open “My Computer” and right click the icon for your burner. (eg D: ) and click “Properties”.

• In the “Properties” window, choose the “Recording” tab.

• Mark the square which says “Enable CD Recording On This Drive” and click the “OK” button.

Now let’s burn some files to a CD.
If you want to burn files like word documents, pictures, software etc, this is called a DATA CD.
Do as follows:

• In “My Computer” double click on the CD Burner drive.

• Drag and drop the files you want to burn into this folder. (Just like moving files from one folder to another). If you like, you can create new folders and organize your files in different folders by dragging and dropping them.

• Now click on “File” --> “Write these files to CD ”

• Now follow the steps in the wizard which opened up. You can give the disk a name in the “CD NAME” box.

• It will let you know when it is done burning the files.

If you want to burn a music CD (known as Audio CD), you can do the same as above or you can use Windows Media Player to burn them as an Audio CD.

• I am assuming you have Windows Media Player 11. If not, then upgrade to it by the following link. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=en&qstechnology=

• Open the Windows Media Player (Start -->Run --> wmplayer).

• Select the “BURN” button. You will see the “Burn List” on the right.

• Drag and drop any MP3 or WAV files into this window in the desired order. You can rearrange the order by dragging the music files up and down in the “Burn List”.

• When you're done, click the “Start Burn” button on the bottom right.

• It will let you know when it is done burning them.

Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.

Time travel with your pc

Did you ever open an attachment from an email only to regret it seconds later because it contained a virus?
Don't you wish you could go back in time and "unopen" it?

Well with windows XP, you can do it.

There is feature in XP called "System Restore".
This takes a kind of "snapshot" of your pc to which you can revert later on.
So, if you opened an attachment only to realise it is a virus, you just revert to your previously saved "snapshot" and all the damage is undone. I wish I had that feature in life. Undo some of the dumb things I have said or done. Could have prevented lots of hangovers.

OK, so how do we do it. (I know this will seem pretty technical but it is worth taking the time to prevent headaches and paying big bucks to jerks like me to fix your "broken" pc.)

First, we will make a "Restore Point".

• Click "Start --> "All Programs" --> "Accessories"--> "System Tools" --> "System Restore".

• Choose "Create a restore point" and click next. Give it a good description so you will recognise it later and click "Create".

Now you can open attachments and install software without fear. If you got zapped with a virus, you just revert to the previous state. (If in the interim, you installed "good" software, and revert to a previous state, that will be gone so make a "Restore Point" every now and then.)

• Click "Start --> "All Programs" --> "Accessories"--> "System Tools" --> "System Restore".
• Choose 'Restore my computer to an earlier time"
• Find the date you created the "Restore Point" and click next.
• Read the warning and click next.

The system will reboot and you will be back at the point of the "Restore Point" Kind of like going back in time.