If you're running Windows XP, you can finally donate that old fax machine to a local charity and use the desk space for something more valuable—like a box of doughnuts. An easy-to-use fax service is built into Windows XP so you can send and receive faxes from your computer.
http://tinyurl.com/24csp
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
PIXresizer - Free Image Resizer
Do you have a 5, 6, or more megapixel digital camera and you love to send the photos you take to your family or friends ? A person on dial up will hate you if you send these full sized photos. Most times it is best to send smaller file photos. If the receiver wants the larger photo you can resend it to them. A good size to email is 640 by 480, this will get the point across but won't take all day to send or receive. I use this free program when I want to re-size a bunch at one time. This is a great little program and very easy to use. Here is what the author says about it:
PIXresizer - Free Image Resizer
PIXresizer is a photo resizing program to easily create web and e-mail friendly versions of your images with reduced file sizes.
The reduced files are saved in a different folder, so your original images are not altered at all. PIXresizer offers several different resizing methods to choose from and can automatically recognize image sizes to calculate the best fit. In addition, it can convert between image formats (JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG and TIFF), rotate images, convert to grayscale and resize multiple images in batch mode. A great companion for webmasters and digital photographers. Read more or download it from here:
http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm
Monday, January 22, 2007
Old Time Radio
The OTR Network Library is a free resource for Old Time Radio (OTR) fans. This site has over 12,000 OTR shows available for instant listening, with 100 more added each week. The only draw back is the files are in Real Audio format. Most users will find that they do not have a player for RA, but there is a link to download it from the page. The RA format is best for low quality audio and the files are very small for the large time they have to play. 30 minutes or longer for some of the radio programs. I downloaded a few and found it best to store them on your hard drive rather to play them streaming.
http://www.otr.net
http://www.otr.net
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Officer & Fireman of the year
I have posted to the Web Officer & Fireman of the year
as selected by the Versailles American Legion.
View them at:
http://tinyurl.com/2cejzf
Also Danny Jackson has two new (old) photos I have uploaded.
View them here:
http://tinyurl.com/2q7jfb
and
http://tinyurl.com/37vje6
All of my public albums are at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.demaree
as selected by the Versailles American Legion.
View them at:
http://tinyurl.com/2cejzf
Also Danny Jackson has two new (old) photos I have uploaded.
View them here:
http://tinyurl.com/2q7jfb
and
http://tinyurl.com/37vje6
All of my public albums are at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.demaree
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Ham Radio Grid Locator
Find that grid online
If you are looking for a particular grid square, then Laurent Haas, F6FVY, may have exactly what you need.
He has programmed a tool based on Google Earth so that you can click on any spot in the world and the corresponding full grid locator is automatically displayed. Go to F6FVY’s website to use the free service. Adjust the map to the desired location and click on the spot you want to know the data on. A small window will pop up with longitude, latitude, and grid square locator. The website is: http://f6fvy.free.fr/qthLocator/fullScreen.html
When you arrive at the Web Page click the minus (-) sign on the Left of the page to display the USA. Then drag the centered map to the location you want to find the grid square for. Then you can zoom in with the plus (+) sign. I like the satellite view or hybrid view, but look at the map view too, as it may help you locate the exact location of the grid.
If you are looking for a particular grid square, then Laurent Haas, F6FVY, may have exactly what you need.
He has programmed a tool based on Google Earth so that you can click on any spot in the world and the corresponding full grid locator is automatically displayed. Go to F6FVY’s website to use the free service. Adjust the map to the desired location and click on the spot you want to know the data on. A small window will pop up with longitude, latitude, and grid square locator. The website is: http://f6fvy.free.fr/qthLocator/fullScreen.html
When you arrive at the Web Page click the minus (-) sign on the Left of the page to display the USA. Then drag the centered map to the location you want to find the grid square for. Then you can zoom in with the plus (+) sign. I like the satellite view or hybrid view, but look at the map view too, as it may help you locate the exact location of the grid.
Monday, January 15, 2007
large photo via email
Q.
Someone sent me a very large photo via email and it is so big I can't see but just a small part of the picture. I use Outlook Express for reading mail. Is there a way to make it smaller to view the complete image ?
A.
You need to save the photo first to your hard drive. You can put it in "my pictures" or any other directory, just make sure you know where you put it. Save it under a name that you can recognize. If you saved it to "my pictures" you can click "My Documents", then "My Pictures". Then click on the file's name that you saved it under. Now your defalt image viewing program should let you see the complete photo. If not there should be a minus (-) sign to shrink it down to size. If you are an advanced user you can open it with any other imaging program you have, such as Paint Shop Pro, Paint, Pacasa, ACDSee, etc, etc.
Someone sent me a very large photo via email and it is so big I can't see but just a small part of the picture. I use Outlook Express for reading mail. Is there a way to make it smaller to view the complete image ?
A.
You need to save the photo first to your hard drive. You can put it in "my pictures" or any other directory, just make sure you know where you put it. Save it under a name that you can recognize. If you saved it to "my pictures" you can click "My Documents", then "My Pictures". Then click on the file's name that you saved it under. Now your defalt image viewing program should let you see the complete photo. If not there should be a minus (-) sign to shrink it down to size. If you are an advanced user you can open it with any other imaging program you have, such as Paint Shop Pro, Paint, Pacasa, ACDSee, etc, etc.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Do I Upgrade Or Replace?
by Lockergnome on January 12, 2007 at 12:44 pm · Comments
Categorized by Gnewbie Gnook / Related Information
Q: My two-year-old computer has become extremely slow and I am trying to decide whether to upgrade it or buy a new computer. - Denny
A:Any computer that is connected to the Internet is bound to build up the “grime” associated with cruising on the “Information Superhighway” and cleaning out that grime should be the first step for anyone that is experiencing slow performance from their computer.
The longer it has been since you have thoroughly cleaned up or reloaded the operating system, the more likely it will have a dramatic improvement on the performance.
Many users assume it’s time to buy a new computer when it becomes very slow and make the additional mistake of overlooking the pain involved when starting with a new computer.
A new computer will likely be faster than your old one, but you will have to install all of your old programs, re-establish your network connections, reinstall your printer drivers, scanner drivers, digital camera software and restore your backups (if you even have them).
What about your e-mail messages, address book, pictures, music, videos and favorites? Will you know how to transfer those items? If you are tech savvy, these kinds of details may not be that difficult, but for most novices getting the new computer to work like the old one can takes weeks if not months.
If you have to hire someone to transfer all of your data and programs as well as get you back on your home or business network, it may be substantially cheaper to cleanup and upgrade your existing system.
If your computer is taking a lot longer to boot-up than it did when you first got it, this is the first indication that a cleanup may be in order.
The quickest way to determine if you have excessive grime clogging up your computer is to check to see how many processes are running in the background. To do this, close any open programs, click on the Start button then on Run and type “taskmgr.”
This will open the Task Manager which has a number of tabs across the top, but you want to look at the bottom left corner for the Processes. If the number is above 35-38 for desktops and 38-42 for laptops, you will likely benefit from a cleanup of your computer.
The higher that number is the more valuable a cleanup will be as these processes rob your computers ability to perform your desired tasks.
Cleaning up your operating system, while leaving all your programs and settings in tact and adding additional RAM can generally bring a two to three year old computer back to a life and be substantially cheaper than buying a new computer, especially if your primary use is the Internet and e-mail.
Having had to perform both tasks for hundreds of users, it is without question, a lot less stressful for the user to get an existing computer back to health than it is to start over, provided the computer is not too old.
You don’t have to learn anything new or go track down your original disks or try to figure out where all the critical files reside on your hard drive - contrary to popular belief, everything does not reside in the My Documents folder!
Each situation is unique, so take some time to really think both scenarios through and do the math in both time and money before you make your decision. The advertised price on a new computer is just the beginning, not the end!
Ken Colburn
President of Data Doctors Computer Services
Host of the award-winning Computer Corner radio show
Author of Computer Q&A in the East Valley Tribune newspapers
Categorized by Gnewbie Gnook / Related Information
Q: My two-year-old computer has become extremely slow and I am trying to decide whether to upgrade it or buy a new computer. - Denny
A:Any computer that is connected to the Internet is bound to build up the “grime” associated with cruising on the “Information Superhighway” and cleaning out that grime should be the first step for anyone that is experiencing slow performance from their computer.
The longer it has been since you have thoroughly cleaned up or reloaded the operating system, the more likely it will have a dramatic improvement on the performance.
Many users assume it’s time to buy a new computer when it becomes very slow and make the additional mistake of overlooking the pain involved when starting with a new computer.
A new computer will likely be faster than your old one, but you will have to install all of your old programs, re-establish your network connections, reinstall your printer drivers, scanner drivers, digital camera software and restore your backups (if you even have them).
What about your e-mail messages, address book, pictures, music, videos and favorites? Will you know how to transfer those items? If you are tech savvy, these kinds of details may not be that difficult, but for most novices getting the new computer to work like the old one can takes weeks if not months.
If you have to hire someone to transfer all of your data and programs as well as get you back on your home or business network, it may be substantially cheaper to cleanup and upgrade your existing system.
If your computer is taking a lot longer to boot-up than it did when you first got it, this is the first indication that a cleanup may be in order.
The quickest way to determine if you have excessive grime clogging up your computer is to check to see how many processes are running in the background. To do this, close any open programs, click on the Start button then on Run and type “taskmgr.”
This will open the Task Manager which has a number of tabs across the top, but you want to look at the bottom left corner for the Processes. If the number is above 35-38 for desktops and 38-42 for laptops, you will likely benefit from a cleanup of your computer.
The higher that number is the more valuable a cleanup will be as these processes rob your computers ability to perform your desired tasks.
Cleaning up your operating system, while leaving all your programs and settings in tact and adding additional RAM can generally bring a two to three year old computer back to a life and be substantially cheaper than buying a new computer, especially if your primary use is the Internet and e-mail.
Having had to perform both tasks for hundreds of users, it is without question, a lot less stressful for the user to get an existing computer back to health than it is to start over, provided the computer is not too old.
You don’t have to learn anything new or go track down your original disks or try to figure out where all the critical files reside on your hard drive - contrary to popular belief, everything does not reside in the My Documents folder!
Each situation is unique, so take some time to really think both scenarios through and do the math in both time and money before you make your decision. The advertised price on a new computer is just the beginning, not the end!
Ken Colburn
President of Data Doctors Computer Services
Host of the award-winning Computer Corner radio show
Author of Computer Q&A in the East Valley Tribune newspapers
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Simple Backup Tool
Sometimes there is very important information stored on your hard disk that you want to have secured somehow. This is an very easy to use folder mirroring tool that makes it possible to have automatic backup done in defined interval or when you want to do the backup into another drive or folder on your computer. This makes sure that at least this selected folders are always safe. Latest addon to this product is the possibility to have multiple master folders backed up into several target folders.
As usual, this is also something that I personally use for my own stuff also. I backup the most critical files every four hours onto another drive to keep all source and document files secured.
http://downstairs.dnsalias.net/files/SimpleBackupToolInstall.exe
As usual, this is also something that I personally use for my own stuff also. I backup the most critical files every four hours onto another drive to keep all source and document files secured.
http://downstairs.dnsalias.net/files/SimpleBackupToolInstall.exe
Monday, January 08, 2007
Search the Web for Sounds
FindSounds.com is a free site for finding sound effects and musical instrument samples on the Web. It is a Web search engine, like Google and AltaVista, but with a focus on sounds. It provides powerful features, yet is simple and easy to use, and suitable for all ages. Note to parents: audio files containing obscenities are filtered out so this site is safe for children. To learn how to search the Web using FindSounds.com, visit the Help page.
http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll
http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Google Images
If you are a reader of this Blog you know I love the Google search Engine. I just was experimenting and typed in my Ham radio call sign, which is my domain name also (wb9otx). I found lots of links but then I clicked on "Images" and to my surprise every photo I have ever up-loaded was listed. I clicked on a few that I had forgotten. There are hundreds, take a look, you may find one or two you want to save for yourself. See them Here:
http://tinyurl.com/y6f5fa
http://tinyurl.com/y6f5fa
