List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

San Diego ComputorEdge Sponsors

Colocation and Data Center

redIT

With approaches like smart security, customized colocation and an extensive range of managed services, redIT helps you intelligently leverage IT.

Instruction/Training

CCNA Boot Camp

Get your Cisco Certified Network Associate certification. Cisco CCNA 2-Day Boot Camp Hurry, Classes are limited!

Macintosh Specialists

Maximizers

Serving San Diego County Since 1988 * Onsite Macintosh Service for Home and Small Office Needs * ACSP: Apple Certified Support Professional ACTC: Apple Certified Technical Coordinator Apple Consultant's Network

Repair General

AAA Emergency PC Repair

If We Don't Fix It, You Don't Pay! 24/7 Off Hours/Weekends/Holidays Immediate Service. Mention ComputorEdge and receive 10% off repairs.

Hi-Tech Computers

Notebooks, Monitors, Computers and Printers We Buy Memory, CPU Chips, Monitors and Hard Drives Windows 7 Upgrades Phone (858) 560-8547

Tom's North County PC Repair

Serving All of San Diego North County! 20 Years Experience - We Come to You

Colorado ComputorEdge Sponsors

Computer Store, Full Service

AXESS (AXS) Computers

Systems, Laptops, Servers, Point-of-Sale, Security Components,

Software, Upgrades, Maintenance, Support, Networking

Instruction/Training

CCNA Boot Camp

Get your Cisco Certified Network Associate certification. Cisco CCNA 2-Day Boot Camp Hurry, Classes are limited!

ComputorEdge™ Online — 02/10/12

Click to Visit ComputorEdge™ Online on the Web!

Web Tracking with Google Analytics

Google Analyics is an easy, free way to gather traffic data about your Web site.

Magazine Summary

List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

Digital Dave

by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Connect Parallel Port Scanner to USB; OpenOffice/LibreOffice; What's Wrong with Microsoft Internet Explorer?

Google Analytics for Tracking Web Site Traffic

by Jack Dunning

Discovering Who Visits ComputorEdge

Jack presents an overview of Google Analytics—a free tool for tracking Web site traffic. It shows the locations, search engines, browsers and more about visitors to your Web site.

Windows 7 Tips and Tricks: Start Menu Secrets

by Jack Dunning

More Tricks with Libraries, Internet Searches, and Tools to Add to the Start Menu

Simulate the Windows XP All Programs Start Menu, add Internet Search to the Start Menu in Windows 7 Professional, create a super tool kit (GodMode).

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

by Wally Wang

Marketing Mirrors Focus

Marketing Mirrors Focus; Become an iBooks Creator; Making Money in Financial Engineering; Evidence That Change Occurs Quickly; The Game of Life; The Comic-Con Effect; The Finder Window.

Beyond Personal Computing

by Marilyn K. Martin

Are You Addicted to Graphic Design?

Marilyn shares some amusing anecdotes about graphic designers.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

by ComputorEdge Staff

Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.

"For Donald R. Hicke: Revo Uninstaller," "Installing XP on Windows 7 Machines," "Microsoft Security Essentials, MSE-Configurability," "Multiple EPUBs Open at Once," "Eye Color and Grade Point Average," "Impact of E-books on Print Industry"

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.

Send mail to webmaster@computoredge.com with questions or comments about this Web site.

Copyright © 1997-2012 The Byte Buyer, Inc.

ComputorEdge Magazine, P.O. Box 83086, San Diego, CA 92138. (858) 484-1998

Click to Visit ComputorEdge™ Online on the Web!

Digital Dave

“Digital Dave answers your tech questions.”
by Digital Dave

Connect Parallel Port Scanner to USB; OpenOffice/LibreOffice; What's Wrong with Microsoft Internet Explorer?

Connect Parallel Port Scanner to USB

Dear Digital Dave,

OK, so I'm cheap. I have two scanners that are old, yet quite adequate, reliable and serviceable. The problem is they connect via parallel port which, like most desktop owners, I lack on my computer. I thought I was quite clever when I purchased a parallel port-to-USB adapter, only to find they only work on printers and not scanners. Why? Anyway, is there hope? These scanners are like old friends.

Tom Countryman

San Diego, CA

Dear Tom,

Many people have run into this problem, but there is some hope. The problem with connecting a parallel port to the USB port is two-fold. First is making the proper hardware connection. This is the purpose of the adapter. The second problem is converting the parallel data that comes to the USB port.

The parallel port was originally designed to be one-way for printers. The informational bits are sent over eight parallel data wires simultaneously making up one byte (eight bits). The USB 2.0 port only has two data wires in a twisted pair for transmitting and receiving. That means the eight bits arriving at the USB port need to be combined into one serial eight-bit byte. This is a software (or driver) problem.

Adding to the problem is the fact that there are a number of different types of parallel ports. The simplest is the printer parallel port, but there were a couple of enhanced parallel ports developed for use with other types of equipment such as dedicated scanners. The major difference for a scanner is that it is sending data to the computer while a printer receives data from the computer. You can see the problem if the data lines are trying to move data in the opposite direction from what is expected for a printer.

Unless you can find drivers specifically for your scanners which will do the parallel to USB conversion, you will not be able to use the USB port with your scanner. (I'm not saying they don't exist. Your best bet would be the manufacturer.)

What should work for you is adding a parallel port card to your computer. You can get one for $10 to $20. Make sure that it is the proper configuration to fit into your computer. You will still need the drivers for your scanner, but they only need to match your operating system, not the USB port.

Digital Dave

OpenOffice/LibreOffice

Dear Digital Dave,

After creating both an OpenOffice.org and a LibreOffice document in each program I loaded the docs into another computer with WIN 98 and Microsoft Word 2003. I could not open either document in this computer. I thought that OO and LI could open Word docs and Word could open the OO and LO docs. However, I can not open the OO or LO documents with Word. What am I doing wrong??

Thanks,

Ron Del Principe

San Diego

Dear Ron,

You have half of it right. Both OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice should read Microsoft Word documents (DOC) without a problem. However, Microsoft had little interest in supporting any free competitor, therefore Word 2003 will not read the Open Document Format (ODT for word processing) which is use by both of the other programs. (Microsoft, under pressure from the Europeans, added support for the Open Document format in Word 2010.)

There may be a plug-in for Word 2003 to read ODT documents, but it is just as easy to save your OpenOffice (or LibreOffice) files in the DOC format (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. In OpenOffice use File => Save As... to select the DOC format for Microsoft Word.

When your document is loaded into OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice, save the file in Word DOC format. You should then be able to load the document into Word.

Digital Dave

What's Wrong with Microsoft Internet Explorer?

Dear Digital Dave,

I've been a long time reader and have learned a lot from you. Thank you!

That being said, I've noticed a strong undertone of "bashing" Microsoft Internet Explorer from both you and some of your readers. I've been using Explorer since my first 386 computer and have enjoyed all the improvements to date.

I currently have a high-end gaming computer with Explorer 9. I download files, watch movies, play games, search, and all the "normal" stuff. My family and friends have asked me if they should switch to Chrome or Firefox. I tell them I've tried them both and see no speed improvement or reason to switch.

I do keep my computer in top performance mostly with programs I've learned from you. So please give me the straight scoop. What is wrong with Internet Explorer and why should I recommend switching?

Thanks again,

Larry Stark

Westminster, Colorado

Dear Larry,

Perhaps I have been a bit rough on Internet Explorer. While it has had its problems over years, the current version does have some advantages. As with most aspects of computers, which particular Web browser you choose will depend the strengths of the browser

and personal preference. Let's take a quick look at Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Google Chrome is for people who like a clean, simple interface. Chrome was the first to introduce the omni-box URL/search field. When you enter anything into the box, it determines whether it should go directly to a site or do a search.

Chrome does use more memory and will take a little longer when loading multiple tabs, but this is because each tab actually runs in a separate process. This makes Chrome less susceptible to crashes. If only loading a single Web page, Chrome has tested to being the fastest of the three browsers.

Firefox, while rarely coming in first in any category, is consider the most rugged and stable of the three browsers. However, the biggest plus is probably the extensive list of add-ons and extensions available for Firefox. I use Firefox for FireFTP which is an extension for transferring files to and from remote servers. If you want a browser to be more than just a way to surf the Internet, then Firefox is a good choice.

Internet Explorer has had its problems over the years. It has always been a target of hackers and Microsoft has never conformed to the HTML standard. This has caused problems for Web page designers. This is why you should always keep IE handy. There are still some sites which will only work properly under IE.

Here's a comment about Internet Explorer from one Web programmer I know:

"My problem with Internet Explorer is the millions of man-hours it has cost Web developers by Microsoft not conforming to accepted standards. It makes it hard for me to be objective about normal use, or think it's worth giving IE a chance when there are really good alternatives. I see no reason why IE should continually be given chances as if the other browsers are only temporary substitutes. Also, you still have people running pretty much every version of IE, because the latest versions don't run in XP, so you have to support the older versions which were legitimately terrible. Firefox and Chrome still receive patches on XP as well as later versions of Windows (as they should)."

If you're not a Web developer then Internet Explorer looks a little more innocuous. While Microsoft still thinks that it should be the standard, it has done a decent job of fixing many of the problems. However, like most Microsoft products, Internet Explorer suffers from feature-itis (too many features causing bloatware).

One of the pluses of Internet Explorer is that it easily wins out in hardware acceleration. That means if you're watching videos or animations, IE will have much less hesitation and jerking than the other two browsers.

I actually use all three Web browsers. Google Chrome is my primary browser for its clean interface. I use Firefox for specific extensions. And I load Internet Explorer when I'm having problems with a particular Web site. Since they are all free, there is no reason not to install them all. You can pick your favorite for the default and use the others as desired.

There is no reason to recommend a browser switch to your family and friends as long as everything is working the way they want it. But there may be times when it's a good idea to suggest they try another browser—if only for a special problem.

My attitude toward Internet Explorer may be tainted by the fact that I get more questions about problems with IE than any other Web browser. (That may be due to the fact that more people use IE than any other browser.) It's easy to tell someone to try another browser—especially when I can't figure out the answer.

Digital Dave

Google Analytics for Tracking Web Site Traffic

“Discovering Who Visits ComputorEdge”
by Jack Dunning

Jack presents an overview of Google Analytics—a free tool for tracking Web site traffic. It shows the locations, search engines, browsers and more about visitors to your Web site.

Google's net income for 2011 was close to ten billion dollars. With numbers like those you would think that Google was squeezing every penny it can out of its services. Not so. Google seems to have almost as many free services as they do paid. But once you understand how Google thinks, it's easy to see why they give away so much good stuff.

Google's primary business model is selling advertising. For advertising to work, people need to see it. Google knows that for people to see advertising on the Web there needs to be traffic. Virtually everything Google does is about producing traffic. Whether offering free e-mail (Gmail) or trying to take on Facebook (Google+), Google knows that their livelihood is dependent upon putting more ads in front of computer users.

Owning a Web site is also all about traffic—unless you're talking to an exclusive group—or yourself. A Web page merely exists if no one sees it. If you want to know what your site is doing, then you need to know if anyone is visiting—and when. I built a visitor tracking system into ComputorEdge years ago. While I can't tell anything specific about individuals, I do know how many people access each article and whether they arrived from weekly e-mails, favorites, linked articles, RSS feeds, e-mailed articles, or directly. I also use the free service Google Analytics to track visitors on ComputorEdge. I can't say that Google Analytics is better than my system. It won't deliver the specific information that I get (and use regularly) in my analysis, but it does give me information that is useful and independent.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics has become a mainstay for tracking visitors at Web sites. While many Web hosting companies will offer an analysis package for a monthly fee, Google Analytics is free. It is fairly easy to implement and will help you understand where your visitors come from, what they visit on your Web site, what type of computer they use, what's their favorite operating systems, and more.

There is much more to Google Analytics then will be covered here. There are a number of features I have yet to explore—and I've been using it for years. The following are a few of the general statistics available from Google Analytics for ComputorEdge in 2011.

Once a Google Analytics account is set up, sub-accounts are established for each site that you want to track. You need to enter the URL of the target site, then copy the JavaScript code generated by Google Analytics. That JavaScript code will be pasted into every page that you want to track. If you have a Web site automatically generated by Web building software from a hosting company, then you will want to include the JavaScript code in the general header which is displayed on all of the Web pages. Since the code in the header will be part of every page, you won't need to add the code to each individual page. If you have more than one Web site, then each site should have its own tracking. You can set up tracking for more than one site in the same account.

Visitor's Overview

The Visitor's Overview is the first page encountered when opening Google Analytics. It will give you an overall look at what your Web site is doing (see Figure 1). As can be seen, over the past year the majority of ComputorEdge readers are regulars (Returning Visitors). While there were close to 167,000 visits, 70,743 were considered unique visitors. The peaks are on Fridays when the issue is published.

Figure 1. The Visitor's Overview for ComputorEdge during 2011.

Visitors are identified primarily by the computer they are using through the cookie saved on that computer. Often only a caller ID (a specially generated random code) is saved in the cookie making every person who uses that one computer look like the same person. If a person uses a different computer, he or she will appear to be a different (unique) visitor. If cookies are turned off in the browsers, then the tracking programs must use the IP (Internet address), which is assigned at the router or modem at home or at your company. One IP address may represent a large number of people.

Demographic Profiles of Readers

There are a number of demographic breakdowns which are of interest. The first is where the readers live or work. Figure 2 shows the number visits from the top countries. A closer look shows the number one geographic area is San Diego followed by Colorado. This is due to the fact that those the two locations are where ComputorEdge was printed on paper.

Figure 2. ComputorEdge visitors based upon top countries.

There is also a map overlay of the density of visitors from around the world (see Figure 3). Hovering over a country displays how many visits originated in that country. In this case, 121 visitors in 2011 were from Russia.

Figure 3. World map showing the density of visitors.

Knowing which Web browser is used by readers says a little about the user's computer and a lot about reader's browser preference (see Figure 4). While Internet Explorer is still going strong, it is losing ground to both Firefox and Google Chrome.

Figure 4. Internet Explorer is at the top of the list for ComputorEdge readers despite admonitions from Digital Dave.

Based upon operating system number, Macintosh users are 9.44% of the ComputorEdge readership (see Figure 5). These numbers are not too different from those seen in the overall computer market. Probably the most significant change in the last year was in the use of iPad to visit Computoredge. The number in December for iPad users was up 68% over the average of the previous eleven months. Only Android showed a similar significant (although smaller) increase in use. Everything else stayed in the same ballpark.

Figure 5. Readers of ComputorEdge based upon operating systems in 2011.

Since mobile operating systems can be identified on the Web, Google Analytics gives a separate breakdown for mobile devices (see Figure 6). It seems that the iPad and possibly some tablets hidden in the Android numbers (maybe a few hundred based on devices listed) are used more for reading ComputorEdge than smart phones.

Figure 6. Mobile operating systems used to access ComputorEdge.

Cool, New Real-Time Google Analytics

One of the most fascinating features of Google Analytics is the Real-Time (beta) Overview (see Figure 7). This view shows the people who are visiting the site right now. The view on the far right is a 60 second interval. The bars actively move from right to left while you watch. The view left of the 60 second view is a 30 minute view. This is interesting to watch as long as you have traffic. It's depressing if not.

Figure 7. A Real-Time view of activity on ComputorEdge.

Also in Real-Time there is a world map showing the current location of those readers. The circles get larger with more readers and hovering over a circle with the cursor will reveal the name of the city.

Figure 8. A world view the location of ComputorEdge readers in Real-Time.

This has been a quick look at one of the most useful (and least expensive—free) tools for tracking visitors on a Web site. If you have a Web site and don't do tracking, or know someone in this situation, then you should implement Google Analytics.

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Windows 7 Start Menu Secrets (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Windows 7 Start Menu Secrets (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Windows 7 Explorer Secrets (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Windows 7 Explorer Secrets (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Windows 7 Taskbar Secrets (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Windows 7 Taskbar Secrets (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Windows 7 Tips and Tricks: Start Menu Secrets

“More Tricks with Libraries, Internet Searches, and Tools to Add to the Start Menu”
by Jack Dunning

Simulate the Windows XP All Programs Start Menu, add Internet Search to the Start Menu in Windows 7 Professional, create a super tool kit (GodMode).

In the last two weeks, the Windows 7 Start Menu was introduced and tailored with the Start Menu Properties settings. These options take us a long way toward making the Start Menu work for us. Yet, there are other tips which can give us even more flexibility and troubleshooting power. First, a trick to simulating the old Windows XP All Programs menu tree is demonstrated. Second, we take a look at launching Web pages and searches directly from the Start Menu. Last, we add a power troubleshooting tool (some people call the "GodMode") to the Start Menu.

These tips not only show you how to implement the features, but the same techniques can be used for a multitude of other tricks. That way you will be able to build a Start Menu which will best serve your individual needs.

Windows 7 Start Menu Library Access

In the Customize Start Menu window launched by the Start Menu tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu window (right-click on the Start button or any empty space in the Start Menu and select Properties), there are many options which will tailor the Windows 7 Start Menu, as seen last week. Yet, with the use of Windows 7 Libraries much more can be added. Since any shared folder can be included in a Library, whether local or over a network, quick access can be added to the Start Menu.

The following trick adds a Programs menu tree, similar to All Programs in Windows XP, to the Documents Library in Windows 7. These steps can be used for any other folder on the local computer or over the network, automatically creating new menu trees for quick access.

Simulate the Windows XP All Programs Start Menu

If you were dissatisfied with the function of All Programs in Windows Vista, you could open the Properties menu and restore the Start Menu to "Classic Start Menu" with the same look and menu tree as Windows XP. Windows 7 does not include this classic option. (You can personalize the look of everything in the system by selecting the Windows Classic theme in the Personalization window of the Desktop—right-click on the Desktop and pick Personalize—but that will not affect the operation of All Programs in the Start Menu.) The use of Windows 7 Libraries can simulate the Windows XP All Programs functionality for launching programs.

The first step is to open Windows Explorer (Windows logo key plus E) and navigate to:

C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs

This is the folder which holds all of the shortcuts used by All Programs in the Start Menu. You can copy and paste the line above into the Windows Explorer location field at the top of the window (click the folder icon on the left end of the field to select, then paste and enter). Click on the words "Start Menu" in the same field and you will see the Programs folder selected, as shown in Figure 1.

Next right-click on the folder and Select Include in library => Documents. Documents is selected because it is the standard Library folder which can be displayed on the Start Menu that uses the most general file types.

Figure 1. After locating the Programs folder, right-click and select Include in library to add Programs to the Documents Library.

As long as you have customized the Documents item on the right side of the Start Menu to "Display as menu," hovering over Documents => Programs will display the Programs menu tree (see Figure 2). (If "Open submenus when I pause on them with the mouse pointer" is not selected in the Customize Start Menu, you will need to click through. See last week's column for more information on customizing.)

Figure 2. By adding the Programs folder to the Documents Library, hovering over Documents => Programs (when in the "Display as menu" mode) in the Windows 7 Start Menu will behave in the manner as the Classic XP All Programs for launching programs.

While this example shows the adding of a new Programs tree to the Start Menu, the technique can be used for any shared folder located anywhere on the network which has been included in one of the standard Windows 7 Libraries appearing on the Start Menu.

For example, the Favorites included in the list of possible Start Menu customizing items is not the same Favorites found in Windows Explorer. The former is the list of Favorites created while browsing the Web—mostly Web sites. The latter is the special list of links created for use under the Favorites heading at the top of the left side Navigation pane of Windows Explorer. Both folders are located at C:/Users/[user name]/ (i.e. C:/Users/Jack). The Internet Favorites folder is called Favorites. The Windows Explorer Favorites folder is called Links.

While you can add the Internet Favorites to the Start Menu through the Start Menu Properties, if you want the Windows Explorer Favorites to appear on the Start Menu, you will need to use a technique similar to that for adding Programs. Include the C:/Users/[user name]/Links folder in the Documents Library as shown above. Then you can access your Windows Explorer Favorites via Documents on the Start Menu.

Adding Internet Search to the Start Menu (Windows 7 Professional and above only)

By default when you start a search from the Start Menu in Windows 7, it does not automatically offer the option to Search the Internet. However, this is a feature that can be turned on in the Local Group Policy Editor if you're using Windows 7 Professional or above.

Note: If you're using Windows 7 Home Premium or below, not being able to add "Search the Internet" to the Start Menu is really not a big deal. As outlined in Windows 7 Taskbar Secrets, , you can add an address/search field to the Taskbar completely bypassing the Start Menu search. Right-click on the Taskbar and select Toolbars => Address.

To open the Local Group Policy Editor, type "group" in the "Search programs and files" field in the Start Menu, then select "Edit group policy." This is by far the easiest way to find this editor. Opening the Control Panel and doing the same search will also work, but wandering around looking for it, "gpedit.exe", can take a while. Once the editor is open, the process is straight forward. Navigate to Start Menu and Taskbar (as shown in Figure 3), select and edit (right-click or Action menu), then Enable and Apply.

Figure 3. Use the Local Group Policy Editor to enable the Search the Internet link on the Windows 7 Start Menu in Windows Professional.

Once the feature is enabled, the Internet search option will appear whenever you beginning typing in the Start search field (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. When a search term is entered into the "Search programs and files" field in the Windows 7 Start Menu, the Search the Internet link will appear if it has been enabled in the Local Group Policy Editor.

You will note that there are a number of other options in the Local Group Policy Editor, mostly to prevent something from happening. One or two of them may be of interest—especially if you have other users on your computer who might misuse certain features. But of course, you need to be using Windows 7 Professional or above.

Adding Super Help to the Start Menu

When you do a search from the Start Menu for terms related to Windows 7 or hardware installed on your computer, a list of suggestions will normally appear under Control Panel (see Figure 5). This is a handy list taken from an extensive group of ideas, suggestions and how to's. At times, depending upon a number of factors, the Start Menu may only show a few of the related items. In this search, items related to the word "hard" (hard drive, hardware, etc.) are displayed. If you added the words "drive" or "hardware" the list would be further limited.

Figure 5. The Windows 7 Start Menu displays the search "hard."

If you click on the Control Panel banner, the Control Panel will open allowing you to conduct the same search in the upper right hand corner. There are literally hundreds of possible items on this list and at times you may wish to peruse them all.

Opening a window which displays this complete list of Control Panel suggestions and functions has become known as "GodMode"—although I prefer simpler terms such as "Tool Kit" or "Super Help." The cool thing is that you can create a tool to open the window which lists all of these items and pin it to the Start Menu, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. The super Tool Kit is pinned to the Windows 7 Start Menu.

There are two techniques for creating this special tool kit. The first is to create a folder and give it a special name. This folder can be added to the Start Menu and pinned to Windows Explorer, but not added directly to the Taskbar. The second technique involves creating a shortcut and modifying it. With the shortcut technique, the tool kit can be pinned directly to either the Start Menu or Taskbar.

Tool Kit Folder

On a clear spot of the Desktop (hold down the Windows logo key and then press D to view the Desktop) right-click and select New => Folder. A folder icon will appear on the Desktop with the label "New Folder." Enter (or copy and paste) the following as the name of the folder:

Tool Kit.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

If the name of the folder is not selected, slowly click on the name label to enter the editing mode (or right-click and select Rename). Press enter after you have edited the name as shown above. The folder will turn into a Control Panel icon. You can pin the folder to the Start Menu by dragging the icon over the Start button in the lower left hand corner and releasing. (Press and hold the left mouse button on the icon, move the cursor over the Start button, then release the left mouse button.) You will then seen the new tool kit in the Start Menu, as shown in Figure 6 above. If you click on Tool Kit, the new option, a window with all of the items will open, as shown in Figure 7. Simple searches with the search field in the upper right hand corner will filter the list.

Figure 7. While the number of Control Panel items may be limited in the Windows 7 Start Menu, opening the new Took Kit window allows more complete searches.

Tool Kit Shortcut

The first folder technique is fine if you only want to pin the new Tool Kit to the Start Menu. However, this folder will not pin directly to the Taskbar for quick launch—only to Windows Explorer. To create an icon which will pin directly to the Taskbar, you must create a special shortcut.

On a clear spot of the Desktop (hold down the Windows logo key and then press D to view the Desktop) right-click and select New => Shortcut. A wizard window will open for creating a shortcut. In the field "Type the location of the item: Enter (or copy and paste) the following:

explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Click Next. Then in the next window enter then name "Tool Kit" (or any other name that you prefer) and Finish. There will be a special looking folders icon on the Desktop with the name you just entered. Now you need to change the icon into a control.

Right-click on the folders icon and select Properties from the menu. In the Shortcut tab click the "Change Icon..." button. Enter (or copy and paste) the following:

control.exe

Click OK twice, then, after that window closes, Apply and OK The icon will now look like a control shortcut. You can drag this shortcut to either the Start Menu or the Taskbar. Alternatively, you can use the right-click menu to pin the shortcut to the Taskbar or Start Menu.

You can find these tips and others in the e-book Windows 7 Start Menu Secrets available in EPUB format for iPad, NOOK, Kobo, etc. and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle at ComputorEdge E-Books.

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Windows 7 Start Menu Secrets (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Windows 7 Start Menu Secrets (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Windows 7 Explorer Secrets (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Windows 7 Explorer Secrets (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Windows 7 Taskbar Secrets (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Windows 7 Taskbar Secrets (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? (EPUB for iPad, NOOK, etc.)

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? (MOBI for Amazon Kindle)

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“Marketing Mirrors Focus”
by Wally Wang

Marketing Mirrors Focus; Become an iBooks Creator; Making Money in Financial Engineering; Evidence That Change Occurs Quickly; The Game of Life; The Comic-Con Effect; The Finder Window.

Marketing Mirrors Focus

Many people believe that Apple only sells products because their marketing is so good. The truth is that no amount of marketing can disguise mediocre products. (Think how much money Microsoft spent marketing the Zune MP3 player, the Microsoft Kin phones and Vista.) Slick marketing may initially sell a product, but if customers aren't happy with that product, they won't keep buying it regardless of how fancy or expensive the marketing might be. Just ask Motorola how many millions they spent on last year's Super Bowl ad to market the Xoom tablet to compete against the iPad. Then ask Motorola how much money they earned selling Xoom tablets.

Marketing identifies both a product and the company's image at the same time. When those two work together, you have a powerful marketing message such as Apple's ads that demonstrate the elegance of the iPad or the iPhone. When the product message clashes with the company's image, you have mixed messages, much like Research in Motion's recent cartoon characters that represent the major traits of Blackberry users.

Figure 1. Research in Motion's Be Bold superheroes.

Research in Motion caters mostly to business users, while their cartoon superheroes appeal more to kids. If you were selling mobile phones to children, cartoon superheroes might be a smart marketing tactic. However, if your corporate image represents a secure business tool and you use cartoon superheroes, now you're just confusing your audience. Are you still selling secure business phones or are you appealing to children who want to use a mobile phone?

Research in Motion's cartoon superhero marketing simply reflects the company's own confused direction. If you thought watching Bill Gates buying shoes with Jerry Seinfeld seemed pointless and silly to help market Vista, then Research in Motion's cartoon Be Bold characters comes a close second.

In too many companies, marketing exists in a vacuum from the rest of the company. The marketing department takes a product, thinks how they could position the product in the market, and then they create an ad campaign that often wastes more money than they bring in through additional sales.

Of course, most marketing departments don't realize this because they rarely track how their marketing actually affects sales. Tracking sales is the sales department's job, not the marketing department's job. The marketing department just wants the freedom to come up with creative ads that may or may not work, just as long as they keep getting paid to do so.

One reason why most marketing fails is because the ad agency gets paid in advance. If the ad agency only got paid based on commissions from the sales they generated, most ad agencies would either learn real fast how to generate sales through marketing or they would starve to death.

If you want to see the mental health of a company, just look at their ads. If the ads are confusing, chances are good the company itself is equally mixed up. Windows Phone 7 phones barely have 2 percent of the smartphone market partially because their marketing campaign doesn't help one bit. Microsoft's marketing message is that we need to save people from staring at their smartphones by getting another smartphone. Nowhere in these Windows Phone 7 ads does Microsoft clearly demonstrate the advantages of the Windows Phone 7 interface over current smartphones.

Ultimately, your sales message reflects your state of mind. If you want to increase your sales, you need to create a sharper sales message, and you can only create a sharper sales message when your own thinking is equally clear and focused as well.

If you're working for a company that lacks a clearly defined marketing message, chances are good that company's executives are equally confused (and you may want to find a new job in a better company soon). If you're looking for a job, look at your own sales message in the form of a resume and job application. Is your sales message clear and focused? Or is it just as muddled as Research in Motion's "Be Bold" campaign with cartoon superheroes?

All life is about marketing, whether you're selling a product, trying to get a job interview, or trying to get a date. To learn more about how to sharpen your sales message (while clarifying your own goals in the process), read The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy.

If your resume doesn't highlight anything special about you, your chance of success is no better than buying a lottery ticket. Once you read "The Ultimate Sales Letter" and learn how to apply marketing techniques to deliver a compelling sales message, you might find yourself increasing your chances of success in the job market as well. Does your resume market you like Apple or Research in Motion? If your resume makes you look as scatter-brained as Research in Motion, it's time to clarify your focus so you can present a coherent message to others as soon as possible.

Become an iBooks Creator

After Apple introduced their free iBooks Author program for creating interactive e-books (iBooks), some people will likely rush out and create their own iBooks, but many more will still feel intimidated at the thought of using iBooks Author. If you're handy at creating Web sites for people, grab a copy of iBooks Author and start creating iBooks for people.

There are vastly more people who want to create a book than people with the skills and desire to learn how to use iBooks Author. By releasing their free iBooks Author program, Apple has also created a whole new job field for people willing to rush in and take advantage.

At the simplest level, creating an iBook is nothing more than editing text, which is a service that many people already offer. Now add in the service of not only editing text, but pouring it into iBooks Author and creating an iBook to sell through Apple's iBookstore, and you have a whole new business.

Go one step further and combine graphics skills with editing skills and you can create custom graphics along with video to highlight information in an iBook. To create custom content for an iBook, you should also learn HTML and Javascript skills as well.

Since one person is unlikely to possess all these skills at an equal level, an editor could combine forces with a Web designer (who has HTML and Javascript skills) along with a Photoshop and video specialist, and this team can market themselves towards helping people create iBooks as a service.

Although Apple promoted iBooks Author as a textbook creation tool, you can also create children's books (where kids can play with graphics on the screen much like mechanical contraptions in paper children's books), business white papers or sales brochures, or other types of non-fiction books that someone might want to create such as a yoga book that could include actual video of different stretching exercises.

Think of an iBook as a packaged version of a Web site. The technologies to create both are similar, but the main difference is that an iBook will provide more text focused on a single topic with graphics and interactivity supporting that one topic.

Since Amazon will likely release their own standard for interactive e-books that run on the Kindle Fire, be ready to start offering e-book creation services to the rest of the world that wants to create e-books but don't want the hassle of doing the work themselves. Creating interactive e-books will be a new opportunity for anyone willing to take the time to learn the skills needed to use iBooks Author and any other e-book creation tool that comes out from Amazon, Adobe, or any other company in the future.

While other people moan and complain about the state of the economy, others are identifying potential opportunities and taking advantage of them. Given a choice between moaning and complaining or taking advantage of opportunities staring at you right in the face, guess which option most people are likely to choose?

Making Money in Financial Engineering

Traditional engineering is about putting together machines or structures to create something useful. However, there's a new form of engineering called financial engineering, which seeks to use principles of math and statistics with computer programming to master the art of stock, currency, or commodities trading.

Financial engineers, also called quantitative analysts or quants, basically use statistics and probabilities to identify potential trading opportunities that are often too quick for human beings to notice and react to in time. So quants focus on writing computer programs and create algorithms that trade the markets in real-time with no human interaction whatsoever. The better quants get rewarded highly, often getting a percentage of the profits their programs can generate.

If you have a background in math, engineering, or computer programming, you might consider taking additional finance, statistics and programming classes to master this fascinating combination of high finance with programming languages like C++ and C# to create the fastest and most efficient algorithms possible. After all, nothing can challenge you more than creating an efficient trading algorithm that can earn you hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars as a reward for your programming prowess.

To learn about financial engineering, visit QuantNetwork, watch short video tutorials about financial engineering from Nathan's Lessons, or read a book like Paul Wilmott's Quantitative Finance. To see the job opportunities for quants, visit Quant Finance Jobs and browse through their latest job listings to learn what skills companies want, how much they're willing to pay, and where they're located.

Figure 2. Jobs for quants pay into the six figures.

Financial engineering just shows that there are plenty of programming opportunities out there that don't fit within a traditional career path. If you want to turn your programming skills into money without writing a popular game like "Angry Birds" or starting up your own high-tech company, consider quantitative finance. As long as you're willing to live in a financial center like New York, Hong Kong, Toronto, or London, you can really test your programming skill by seeing how much money your algorithms can yank out of the global financial markets every day.

Evidence That Change Occurs Quickly

Back in 2007, Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system commanded a respectable share of the smartphone market. Then Apple introduced the iPhone, which Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, laughed at, claiming that Microsoft is selling millions of phones a year while Apple is selling zero phones a year.

Four years later, Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform is dead, their Windows Phone 7 operating system is struggling with a 2 percent market share, and in the past quarter, the iPhone alone generated more revenue than every product sold by Microsoft while gobbling up 75 percent of the mobile smartphone profit share at the same time.

Figure 3. The iPhone makes more money than Microsoft.

In 2007, Steve Ballmer correctly said, "Apple is selling zero phones a year." However, just because one company or product may have zero market share today doesn't mean it won't have a majority of the market share tomorrow. At one time, zero percent of the population used digital photography. Today, ask Kodak if they still feel secure with their film business, knowing that at one time, nobody used digital photography.

Canalys reports that for the first time, smartphone shipments overtook sales of computers . As more people get comfortable using smartphones and tablets, fewer people will need to buy or upgrade their Windows PC as often as they did in the past. The result will simply be less reliance on Windows PCs over time, which even Windows 8 may not be able to reverse.

Now if Windows 8 tablets prove as popular as Windows Phone 7 phones, expect the dominance of Windows to crumble as rapidly as the fall of Windows Mobile, Symbian OS, or Blackberry OS in the smartphone market. Get ready to watch the fireworks fly as people depend less on Windows PCs, rely more on mobile devices, and change the computer market forever.

The Game of Life

Back before the days of computers, people used to play board games as an inexpensive form of family entertainment. One classic board game is "The Game of Life," where players start off as young adults and choose to pursue a career right away or go into debt attending college in hopes of getting a higher paying job.

As players progress through life, they get married, have children, and wind up learning about money management, the high cost of raising children, and risks of gambling until they finally retire at the end. The player with the most money is the winner (although in real life, people often end up with plenty of money but still wind up feeling miserable anyway).

You can still buy "The Game of Life," but for a less expensive and much simpler alternative, download and buy "The Game of Life" for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

Figure 4. You can play "The Game of Life" on an iPad.

Playing the iOS version of "The Game of Life" lets the computer take care of the mundane details like handling money and enforcing the rules, and lets you simply enjoy playing with the hassle of setting up the game and folding up the board afterwards when you're done. By playing on your mobile iOS device, you can play "The Game of Life" in places you could never play before such as on an airplane, at a doctor's office, or in the back seat of a car.

Figure 5. "The Game of Life" gives you a 3-D view of the game board.

Board games, like printed books, are suddenly getting too clumsy and expensive to use compared to their electronic versions. Once you get used to playing board games like "The Game of Life" on a computer that takes away all the inconveniences of board games, you may find yourself playing more electronic versions of board games and never playing a real board game again.

The Comic-Con Effect

Every year, San Diego hosts Comic-Con, a combination comic book, cartoon, science-fiction/fantasy convention that keeps growing every year. Hollywood loves coming to Comic-Con to preview their latest science fiction/fantasy movies to gauge the crowd's reaction, but lately, Hollywood has been less enthusiastic.

The problem is that the crowds at Comic-Con tend to love anything in the science fiction/fantasy realm, so they give great reviews to movies like "Sucker Punch" and "Battle: Los Angeles." Then when these movies arrive to the general public, Hollywood has high hopes that inevitably get dashed to the ground when most people wind up disliking the movie.

The problem is simply that the crowds at Comic-Con do not represent the tastes of the general public. So now Hollywood is relying less on Comic-Con attendees reviews and more on reviews from a broader mix of people. This is the same problem currently facing Microsoft.

Microsoft loves releasing betas of their software to get feedback from people, but the only people willing and capable of downloading and installing these betas are tech-savvy computer users. Thus Microsoft's feedback consists largely of tech-savvy users who love tinkering with complexity and toying with change so they tend to love anything different whether it makes the program easier to use or not. This is why all of Microsoft's early beta testers never caught on to Vista's numerous problems that ordinary users hated.

For those of you still using Vista, right-click on the Recycle Bin and a menu appears. Normally you should choose Empty Recycle Bin but with Vista, there's a Delete command that physically removes the Recycle Bin icon from the desktop. Since this command is so easy to choose, many people accidentally choose it and then have to go through a convoluted process through the Control Panel to put the Recycle Bin icon back on the desktop again.

Figure 6. Vista lets you delete the Recycle Bin icon from the desktop.

Basically, Vista makes it easy to make a mistake, but hard to correct that mistake. Windows XP didn't offer this "feature" and Windows 7 corrects this problem, which means Microsoft actually changed the Windows user interface to add this "feature" in Vista that people wound up hating.

Why wasn't this problem spotted early in Vista's beta testing? Most likely because beta testers loved the idea of deleting the Recycle Bin and never cared what ordinary users might think.

By relying on tech-savvy beta users, Microsoft's feedback always favors the tech-savvy crowd that loves toying with complexity. The end result is that Microsoft ignores the general public's point of view simply because the general public never gets to voice their opinion until the product actually gets released, and then it's too late.

More people still use Windows XP than Windows 7 because Windows XP works and people don't want to learn a new user interface unless it offer dramatic improvements in productivity and efficiency. So why does Microsoft keep tweaking the user interface of Windows from Windows XP to Vista to Windows 7 and now to Windows 8 without providing a simpler user interface that the general public can understand and use right away?

If you listen to the tech-savvy crowd, you'll always get different answers about user interfaces than if you listen to the general public. Listen to the wrong crowd and you'll make the wrong decisions. Hollywood is learning that from previewing movies at Comic-Con. Microsoft still hasn't learned that lesson and it's going to get more painful when the general public takes one look at Windows 8 and instantly makes up their mind about the Ribbon and Metro interface that forces them to learn how to use a Windows PC all over again to do exactly what they're able to do right now.

*                    *                    *

Open a Finder window and you'll see a Favorites category where you'll see folders like Applications and Documents. By clicking on these folder names in the Favorites category, you can jump to that folder without wading through the hierarchy of folders within the Finder window.

If you don't like the list of folders under this Favorites category, just drag and drop them off the Finder window. If you want to place your own favorite folders under this Favorites category, just look for it within the Finder window and drag and drop it underneath the Favorites category.

In the early days, before Wally became an Internationally renowned comedian, computer book writer, and generally cool guy, Wally Wang used to hang around The Byte Buyer dangling participles with Jack Dunning and go to the gym to pump iron with Dan Gookin.

Wally is responsible for the following books:

My New Mac, Lion Edition

My New iPad 2

Steal This Computer Book

Microsoft Office 2010 For Dummies

Beginning Programming for Dummies

Beginning Programming All-in-One Reference for Dummies

Breaking Into Acting for Dummies with Larry Garrison

Strategic Entrepreneurism with Jon and Gerald Fisher

How to Live with a Cat (When You Really Don't Want To)

The Secrets of the Wall Street Stock Traders

Mac Programming For Absolute Beginners

99% Fairy Tales (Children's Stories the 1% Tell About the Rest of Us)

The Zen of Effortless Selling with Moe Abdou

The 15-Minute Movie Method

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method." Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com.

Beyond Personal Computing

“Are You Addicted to Graphic Design?”
by Marilyn K. Martin

Marilyn shares some amusing anecdotes about graphic designers.

How You Know You're Spending Too Much Time on PaintShop Pro

1) When you look at every greeting card as a possible tag.

2) When you buy a new coat, and tell your friends it's your new Raster Layer.

3) When you see a frown on someone's face and you tell them to put a bezier curve on.

4) When you sign papers and you are frantically looking for your tag to put on them.

5) When you tell people you put on your gem tubes instead of your earrings.

6) When you can tell what fonts are being used in TV commercials.

7) When other women complain of PMS, you think of PSP.

8) When you look at pictures on people's walls and think, "I could have put a better frame on them than that!"

9) When your idea of "marching ants" differs from the little columns of black insects roving through your kitchen.

10) When you go to the paint store and ask where the "custom" brushes are.

11) When you think it would be so much easier to "flood fill" your walls instead of painting them.

12) When the word "challenge" makes you instantly look for a picture at the end of the sentence.

13) When you are in the hot sun and you look around for a "drop shadow" to sit under.

14) When your boss gives you a new assignment and you ask if there is a tutorial for it.

Acquired PaintShop Pro Syndrome

The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has just announced the identification of a new disease. Tentatively named Acquired PaintShop Pro Syndrome, the disease is highly infectious. Scientists at the CDC say the disease is caused by a bacillus called staphloairbrush because of its brush-like shape. Under the microscope the bacillus is long and slender with a bristle-like appendage at one end.

Symptoms of the disease include feverish babbling of words, such as font, blade, image, fill, and talking about invisible friends such as Kittypoo, Luv2pnt and Qeenfont. Additionally, symptoms include feverish trading and storing of filters, masks and plug-ins, and a "groaning" Graphics Folder.

The disease is especially dangerous because it cannot only be passed along directly from one infected individual to another, but documented cases have been found where the sufferer caught the disease from reading a tutorial or joining a graphics exchange group.

Family members should be aware that while the disease may occasionally enter remission, it is at present incurable. The patient should be given a quiet corner with a comfortable chair, amply supply of snacks, and good lighting. Interruptions should be minimized to not enrage the afflicted.

A Day in the Life of a PaintShop...Semi-Pro

Step 1: Fix yourself a drink. Bottled water or sodas usually work. If you choose tap water, pick a sturdy glass to avoid "liquid accidents."

Step 2: Put the cat outside or in another room, to avoid all "sudden arrivals" on your desk. Especially so that there's no chance of kitty knocking over your drink on your keyboard.

Step 3: Stock up on snacks, the sweeter the better, since carbohydrates are brain food. Bring whole bags of cookies to your work station after softening them up in the microwave for 10 seconds.

Step 4: Get into comfy clothes, sit before your computer, then rip a bag of cookies open with your teeth. That will show your computer who's boss around there.

Step 5: Open up your PSP program and smile with the sure knowledge that you will have created a masterpiece by nightfall, something so spectacular that the world will finally take notice of you.

Step 6: Fill the transparent image with a background of your choice. Change your mind and undo it. Search for a different background. Eat a cookie.

Step 7: Search through the CD where you've been storing special images. Reboot your computer when your CD-Rom freezes. While your computer restarts, wander into the kitchen for more snacks.

Step 8: Fill the new transparent image with a solid color of your choice. Then decide you don't like that light color, and change it to a darker color. Sit back to admire it and dip into your growing pile of snacks.

Step 9: Wonder what would happen if you applied a filter to that solid color. Attempt to apply a filter. When nothing happens, attempt another filter. And another. Realize that your filters aren't working.

Step 10: While the cat sneaks back in to sniff and lick your snacks, go to PSP/Plugins/Filters and check to see if you unzipped and installed your filters into the right folder.

Step 11: Close out all windows and reboot your computer. Use the time to head to the kitchen for lunch. Make yourself a sandwich with chips. Go back to your computer and search for a spot to put your lunch that the cat can't reach.

Step 12: Fill your transparent image with a solid color. Any color. You don't care anymore.

Step 13: Attempt to apply a filter. Make another attempt. And another. Find out that some filters work and some don't. Send a hasty e-mail to a friend asking why this is happening.

Step 14: While you wait for your friend to reply, take a bathroom break and head for another beverage. Scotch may fit your temperament at this point, but settle for a soda.

Step 15: Get a reply from your friend with techno-babble about setup.exe, msvcrt10.dll, plugin.dll and so on. Huh? What? How? Come again?

Step 16: Frustrated, eat your lunch and half your snacks. Return to your PSP program and look at your image with the acceptable solid color background. You decide that it's a nice color after all. Maybe not the nicest, but nice. You figure you can live with it, and might even come to like it. Polish off the entire rest of the cookies, and set the plate on the floor for the cat to lick up the crumbs.

Step 17: Your new image is finished! A masterpiece! Brilliant! You've just created a new background to use on a Web page.

Step 18: SAVE!!!!! Then head for the scotch.

Twelve Steps Of Recovery For Grapholics Anonymous

1) We admit we are powerless over the need to create graphics, and that our life revolves around "make one more graphic before I (insert one here: go to bed; feed the cat; cook supper; go to work; open curtains to recognize outside world)"

2) We believe that a power greater than ourselves exists, and its name is PaintShop Pro.

3) We have made the decision to turn our lives and what skills we have over to the care of Graphics Utilities, that they may help us create that which we cannot do on our own.

4) We have made, and continue to make a searching and fearless inventory of the Web to find copyright-free graphics. And also searched our computers, that we may delete old graphics to make room for new ones.

5) We admit that we cannot make good, modem friendly graphics without the help of GIF Wizard and LView Pro.

6) We are entirely ready to let any graphics utilities we can find remove all defects from our graphics.

7) We humbly ask that our computers not crash due to all the graphics stored therein.

8) We have made a list of all the people who make better graphics than we do, and are willing to try and outdo them.

9) We admit our jealousy of those who make better graphics than we do, and appeal to them whenever possible to teach us how they did it.

10) We continue to take inventory of our hard drives and Web sites and promptly remove any "amateur" graphics that we find.

11) We seek, through "help files" and source codes, to learn every nuance of others' secrets so that we will always be making better graphics.

12) We have had a spiritual awakening as a result of borrowing others' ideas. We have tried to help all other novice graphics' junkies to make better graphics by sharing our knowledge—but not enough that they make better graphics than us.

(Many of these amusing anecdotes can be found on multiple Internet joke sites. But special thanks to Computerjokes.net)

Marilyn is a freelance writer and humorist, with a special interest (besides computers and technology) in Science Fiction. A SF Horror story appeared in July 2011 in Deadman's Tome. And in January 2012 she had a SF Police Procedural appearing in Cosmic Crime magazine, and a SF Dystopian Romance appearing in the Strange Valentines anthology. She also has almost seventy articles on Helium.com, and is writing a humorous Young Adult SF series, Chronicles of Mathias. Volumes One and Two have received a "Gold Star for Excellence" from TeensReadToo.com, and are available from most on-line bookstores.

ComputorEdge E-Books is now converting Marilyn's computer humor columns into e-books. The first book, Computer Confusion in Paradise: Lo! And in the Beginning There Was Total Befuddlement!, is now available at our E-Book Store in both EPUB format for iPad, NOOK, etc., and MODI format for Amazon Kindle.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

“Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.”
by ComputorEdge Staff

"For Donald R. Hicke: Revo Uninstaller," "Installing XP on Windows 7 Machines," "Microsoft Security Essentials, MSE-Configurability," "Multiple EPUBs Open at Once," "Eye Color and Grade Point Average," "Impact of E-books on Print Industry"

Revo Uninstaller

[Regarding the January 13 Digital Dave column:]

For Donald R. Hicke:

Just a suggestion for uninstalling programs. While CCleaner does help clean the registry file and delete unnecessary files I prefer to use a comprehensive file uninstaller program like Revo Uninstaller. When it uninstalls a program it does a very complete check of the reg file and the hard drive to find any left over bits and pieces of the uninstalled program. It also includes a tool box that helps you manage what programs start up automatically when you boot your PC and lets you decide which cookies and history files you want to delete or save.

It isn't too hard to learn to use if you leave the pop-up help window feature turned on.

-Buck F, El Cajon

Installing XP on Windows 7 Machines

[Regarding the January 13 Digital Dave column:]

Actually, most systems that come with Windows 7 these days don't have drivers to support XP anymore, so without checking a lot to ensure things will work, going back to XP may not work at all.

-Rich Ernst, San Diego, CA

Here's what I think: I had to buy a new computer when my old faithful went bad. The new one has Windows 7, a big fat zero when compared to XP. I lost my old Excel SS which was my all time favorite and the multitude of icons are nearly useless, always searching for the right icon.

I am getting a little more used to Windows 7 now, but it stinks to high heaven and I wish I was back with XP everyday. The e-mail drove me off and I now use Yahoo and Google. I have said too much, but we old people all talk too much! (I am 95. I love ComputorEdge.)

Thanks for listening,

-Al Crispin, Tustin, CA

Microsoft Security Essentials, MSE-Configurability

[Regarding the January 13 Digital Dave column:]

I've put this on many friend's computers, but when I tried it on mine, it deleted some old joke programs I'd saved, without warning. I looked, but could not find any setting to ask me about any file or files it ran across that it wanted to quarantine or delete before doing so.

Is there such a setting to not automatically delete things it doesn't like?

BTW, this was on an XP system, I've since moved to Windows 7 and don't know if MSE is different on the two operating systems, but I'm scared to try.

-Rich Ernst, San Diego, CA

Multiple EPUBs Open at Once

[Regarding the January 13 Editors Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers column:]

"One final thing I miss when my books are 'e' is the ability to have a bunch of them open at once. Not what everybody wants, I know, but lots of people do. Multiple cookbooks, books on a topic, poetry books, reference volumes, the list goes on. I can't even make up for this loss by printing out pages from my e-books in most cases."

On the Mac and I suspect on all platforms you may open multiple EPUBs at the same time using Calibre. There are a number of interesting things you can do with Calibre, but only iBooks will open EPUB3, which I now have a bunch of.

Creating EPUBs is a snap of only a few seconds on Mac OS X Lion. Look for new EPUB services you may add. My favorite is pointing to several folders with RTF files and with a right-click saying make an EPUB.

iTunes can be used to add a cover to any existing EPUB if it is missing one. Just drag and drop to the lower left when holding on the file in the right window. I drag images right off Web pages in Safari and drop them in iTunes to make covers as needed.

-Victor Healey, Marietta, GA USA

Eye Color and Grade Point Average

[Regarding the January 6 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

I always love Wally's column. But this week he had this quote: "Next to eye color, grade point average is the most useful indicator of a suitable applicant." Wally, I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What is the speaker (whom you quoted) talking about?

-Peter, Los Angeles

The comment about eye color being as useful an indicator of success as a grade point average simply means that grade point average means little to nothing in predicting the future of someone. We've all probably met someone with lots of education, high grades, and a high IQ, yet that person is completely incompetent. We've all probably also met someone with a low education background and IQ, yet performs a task so well and competently that it takes your breath away.

The basic idea is that grade point averages, like college degrees or any other type of credentials mean little next to the person's ability to actually produce useful results. So judging someone based on their grade point average makes as much sense as judging someone by their eye color. In other words, both are equally useless.

-Wally Wang

Impact of E-books on Print Industry

[Regarding the January 13 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

If Wally's prediction is correct that book publishers are at risk of extinction, can paper mills be far behind?

Perhaps there's hope for the world's forests after all, thanks at least in part to e-books and tablets.

-Barry Fass-Holmes, San Diego

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