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ComputorEdge™ Online — 07/13/12

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Possibly the Best Free Windows Utility Ever!

AutoHotkey may have a mundane name and intimidate novices, but the free software has more power than you might suspect.

Magazine Summary

List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

Digital Dave

by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Disappearing Windows; Sharing Wi-Fi; Windows XP Won't Update.

A Look at the Power of AutoHotkey

by Jack Dunning

An often overlooked utility program, it could become your best friend for your PC.

Some people avoid AutoHotkey because it requires scripting. However, once you understand the possibilities there is plenty of incentive to learn a little coding.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

by Wally Wang

Delusional Thinking

Delusional Thinking; Create Your Own E-Books; Tracking Finances with iBank for the iPad; Almost Microsoft Office for the iPad; The World is Going Mobile; Keyboard Shortcuts.

Beyond Personal Computing

by Marilyn K. Martin

The Mystifying World of Characters and Their Keys

Amusing anecdotes about letters/characters and their corresponding keys.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

by ComputorEdge Staff

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

"SmartMedia Card reader for Olympus C3030," "KompoZer Macros," "Speed Up My Mac/Stellar Application Review"

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

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Digital Dave

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

Disappearing Windows; Sharing Wi-Fi; Windows XP Won't Update.

Disappearing Windows

Dear Digital Dave,

How do I stop a window from disappearing behind other windows that are open in Windows 7 64?

Dennis

Oceanside, CA

Dear Dennis,

There are two relatively easy ways to make a window always-on-top so it won't disappear when you are using other programs. The easiest is to use a utility called AquaSnap (free for personal use) which replaces the Windows feature Aero Snap. Once installed and set up, all you need to do is grab the top bar of the window with the cursor (click and hold the left mouse button) and shake. The window will then stay on top. Shake again to return to normal. (AquaSnap is one of the programs that Jack Dunning mentions in his e-book Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs.)

The second method is a little more complicated, but also more robust. By using AutoHotkey (also free) you can add a routine which will make any window always-on-top. (Coincidentally, Jack is doing an article on AutoHotkey this week which could help you to implement this solution. I probably need to take a closer look at the program myself.) I found the following AutoHotkey code snippet on the Web:

!a::

WinGet, currentWindow, ID, A

WinGet, ExStyle, ExStyle, ahk_id %currentWindow%

if (ExStyle & 0x8)  ; 0x8 is WS_EX_TOPMOST.

{

Winset, AlwaysOnTop, off, ahk_id %currentWindow%

SplashImage,, x0 y0 b fs12, OFF always on top.

Sleep, 1500

SplashImage, Off

}

else

{

WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, on, ahk_id %currentWindow%

SplashImage,,x0 y0 b fs12, ON always on top.

Sleep, 1500

SplashImage, Off

}

return

The always-on-top is toggled on and off with Alt+A. I don't know all the specific commands (yet), but when I threw this code into an AutoHotkey file and ran it, it worked.

Digital Dave

Sharing Wi-Fi

Dear Digital Dave,

The other day my fiber-optic Internet cable was cut by the landscapers doing my next door neighbor's yard. Naturally it happened on a Saturday and the cable people don't work on weekends. My neighbor offered to let me access his Wi-Fi but the connection was too poor, even when he moved the Wi-Fi router closer to my house. I was without Internet for three days. What should I have done?

Stanley

San Diego, CA

Dear Stanley,

Sadly, these kinds of mistakes are all too common. It's useful to have a backup plan for when your Internet goes down.

I've had to go over to my daughter's house to work at times. I take my laptop and hook into her Wi-Fi. There is also a good chance that your local library will have free Wi-Fi Internet access.

However, this will not solve the problem when you use Netflix for your primary source of entertainment. It's not reasonable to drag your entire family to the library every evening to watch videos on your laptop. Plus, the library is often closed.

Your best bet for accessing your neighbor's Internet connection is to add an "N" type Wi-Fi router to his router (which is probably a "G" router). The "N" has a much greater range and has a better chance of reaching your house. If you already have an "N" router in your house, then there is a good chance that all you would need to do is take it from your house and plug it into your neighbors router. You could be up and running with your usual Wi-Fi network in a matter of minutes. At worse, you may need to make some minor changes to the setup.

If you are heavily depended upon the Internet for your business, then it could be worthwhile to invest in a 4G cellular account which you can share throughout your house. It will add to your monthly costs, but will be a lifesaver in emergencies.

Digital Dave

Windows XP Won't Update

Dear Digital Dave,

I am updating and cleaning old XP computers and I have one that will not install a couple of updates; they "fail." I have tried all the Microsoft ideas and the "Fix it" utility without success.

The problem is that turning off automatic updates gets you the constant "your computer may be at risk alert" and ugly red shield on the Taskbar. If you don't turn it off the PC is constantly loading the update and trying to install it, which keeps failing, and putting the PC in a processor hogging situation. Help!

Ralph Nebiker

San Diego

Dear Ralph,

If your task is to "clean and update" old XP computers, then by far the fastest and most thorough way with the least hassle is to do a clean install on all of them. It's the only way to be sure they are clean and the PC won't have a chance to get into a weird state between patches that might cause them to fail.

Having said that, I assume that your steps included returning to an earlier Restore Point, running various antivirus scans and attempting system repair. It seems that your best alternative is still to do a clean install of Windows XP. Then you will need to run all the updates. This could take a while, but not as long as all the other troubleshooting. If you can't live with the alerts and warning icons, you may need to do this.

There could also be associated hardware problems, but it would be difficult to determine which device is the culprit. If you do a clean install and you still have the problem then the issue is the aging hardware.

Be sure that you backup all of your critical files before you start the process. Good luck.

Digital Dave

A Look at the Power of AutoHotkey

“An often overlooked utility program, it could become your best friend for your PC.”
by Jack Dunning

Some people avoid AutoHotkey because it requires scripting. However, once you understand the possibilities there is plenty of incentive to learn a little coding.

I thank Ralph from Colorado Springs for this recommendation (see this week's Editor's Letters). I'm sure that I've heard AutoHotkey mentioned before, but I never took a close look at its capabilities. (Digital Dave did mention it in October of 2010 as a possibility for keeping individual windows always-on-top.) Most of us tend to rely on the features we normally use within programs and don't look much beyond that. That means we either have to learn new key combinations for each program or write specific macros to do redundant tasks. I'm as guilty of that as anyone. Ralph tweaked my curiosity. I've started reviewing AutoHotkey and so far I like what I see. (I'm sure that right now there are some regular AutoHotkey users saying, "What took you so long?" I kick myself for not paying closer attention.)

In my defense the name AutoHotkey does not do the software justice. It implies that it is merely another way to set up hotkeys—which can already be done in Windows for launching programs. However, once I started looking into AutoHotkey I soon realized that there is much more to this free program than the name implies. I saw that it uses a scripting language which makes it robust and flexible, plus it even supports regular expressions which is a powerful way to manipulate text strings. AutoHotkey is an excellent program for making your Windows computer your computer through the addition of personalized power tools.

AutoHotkey—Fast Scriptable Desktop Automation with Hotkeys

AutoHotkey is an interactive programs that allows you to tailor your Windows for the things that you do. For example, if you want to enter your e-mail address into a text field or word processor, you can reduce the action to a quick hotkey combination. The primary downside is that it is necessary to code the actions as a script which when loaded will create the hotkeys. (The idea of writing and running a script may put off many people who don't think they are capable of any level of programming, but I have included some simple examples which are easily replicated.)

The beauty of AutoHotkey is that it works in virtually all Windows programs and environments (including Windows 8 Desktop and the Metro interface). If you set up AutoHotkey to input "by the way" every time you type "btw", then it will do it in your word processor, when editing your Blog on the Web, leaving a comment at a site, writing an e-mail, and most other text editing situations. You don't need to set it up for each individual program—only for each computer. Since it is a scripting language, AutoHotkey is a powerful utility. What's offered in this article only scratches the surface.

Another plus for AutoHotkey is that each script can be compiled into an individual executable file (EXE). That means that you don't need to install the main AutoHotkey program on every computer. You can write your scripts on one machine with the full installation, then after compiling the scripts you can distribute the applets to other computers. Each can be loaded directly with either a double-click or placed in the Startup folder for automatic loading when booting.

Installing AutoHotkey

I noticed that the CNET download of AutoHotkey attempts to add another unwanted utility to your computer, so I recommend that you do a direct download from AutoHotkey. I did this without getting any annoying extra toolbars or utilities.

When installing AutoHotkey, there are three options, as shown in Figure 1. The Main Program is the interactive environment that allows you to write and run the scripts. The Script Compiler will convert the text script into an executable (EXE) file which will activate the new hotkey features directly on any Windows computer without installing the main program. "Enable drag and drop onto the script" is not active by default since it could cause the accidental launching of programs.

Figure 1. Installation of AutoHotkey has three options.

Once you've installed the latest version of AutoHotkey, you're ready to get started.

Writing an AutoHotkey Script

As with most script writing (programming) the basic file for writing code is a text file. Any text editor will do, although I recommend using Notepad++ which is one of my favorites referenced in

Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs

. However, for the purposes here, Notepad which is the AutoHotkey default editor and included with Windows will do just fine.

To create your first script file, right-click on any open area of the Desktop. Select New => AutoHotkey Script from the menu (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Create a new AutoHotkey script by right-clicking on the Windows Desktop.

A new file will be created with the name "New AutoHotkey Script.ahk" (see Figure 3). At this time you should change the name to something that will denote the purpose of the new script. In this case using "test.ahk" will work fine.

Figure 3. A new AutoHotkey file (AHK) is created on the Windows Desktop.

AutoHotkey scripts use the .ahk extension. If the .ahk does not appear at the end of the file name, the script will not automatically invoke the main program for activation. This is how the computer system recognizes AutoHotkey scripts.

To write your first script, right-click on your new file and select Edit Script from the menu (see Figure 4). The script will open in your default text editor (in most cases Windows Notepad).

Figure 4. Right-click on the file icon and select Edit Script from the menu to open the script in the default text editor.

The new script file will contain standard preliminary code, as shown in Figure 5. You can edit this information (Author), but for our purposes it's not necessary to make any changes. (Lines which start with a semicolon ";" are comments and do not affect the running of the script.) The lines at the bottom are AutoHotkey commands, but I have not yet investigated them. Based on the comments next to each command, it seems that they are good things to keep, so I left them as they are.

Figure 5. The new AutoHotkey script contains boiler plate text added by the main program when the new file was created.

The next step is to add the code which will create the hotkeys. In Figure 6, four different sets of code have been added to the script. Each section outlined in red activates a unique hotkey feature. They can be added to the script and tested individually or added all at once. (You can cut-and-paste the individual lines of code from the explanations below. It is important that the code (syntax) be exactly as it is shown or the hotkey will not operate properly.)

Figure 6. Four sets of code have been added to the script to perform the following functions: 1. Open a Google search in the default Web browser; 2. Launch Windows Notepad and return a message when it is closed; 3. Launch the Windows Calculator; 4. Convert "btw" to "by the way" anywhere it is typed.

Hotkey 1: Open a Google search with the default Web browser.

#space::Run www.google.com

The number symbol (#) represents the Windows key (). The word "space" is the space bar. The hotkey is represented by the symbols which appear before the double colon (::). In this case #space means hold down the Windows key () and hit the space bar. The Google search screen will be opened in the default Web browser.

Hotkey 2: Open Windows Notepad; return a message when Notepad is closed.

#n::

RunWait Notepad

MsgBox The user has finished (Notepad has been closed).

return

Again, the number symbol (#) represents the Windows key (). The "n" is the letter n on the keyboard. In this case #n means hold down the Windows key () and hit the letter "n" on the keyboard.

This is an example of combining a number of commands into one script to be run sequentially. This is done by putting the hotkeys and the double colons on a separate first line (#n::). The following lines are executed in order when the hotkey combination is invoked. First Windows Notepad will open (RunWait), but the remainder of the script will wait until Notepad is closed. When Notepad is closed the message displayed is "The user has finished (Notepad has been closed)." The command "return" indicates the end of that routine and is required for every group of commands formatted in this manner.

Hotkey 3: Open the Windows Calculator.

^!c::Run calc.exe

The up-arrow symbol (^) represents the Control key (CTRL). The exclamation point (!) represents the Alt key (ALT). The "c" is the letter c on the keyboard. The hotkey is represented by the symbols which appear before the double colon (::). In this case ^!c means hold down the Control key, plus the Alt key and hit the letter "c" on the keyboard. The Windows Calculator will open.

Hotkey 4: Change "btw" to "by the way" whenever typed.

::btw::by the way

The code for this type of simple real-time substitution ("by the way" is added when "btw" is typed in any editing program or field) always starts with the double colon (::). The first group of letters are the hotkeys and the second group of letters following the second double colon (::) is the text which replaces the first group. It is activated when the first group is typed, followed by a terminating character such as a space, period (.), comma (,), quote marks, etc.

After you have added the new code to the AutoHotkey script, save the file.

Activating a AutoHotkey Script

When you have saved your new AutoHotkey script, you can activate it by right-clicking on the Desktop icon and selecting Run Script from the top of the menu (see Figure 7). The hotkey features will be loaded into memory and the functions will activate whenever you use the hotkey combinations.

Figure 7. Right-click on the AutoHotkey icon to activate it by selecting Run Script from the menu.

Note: Exercise some care when deciding which hotkey combinations you'll use in your script. In some cases they may override other common Windows hotkeys. In other situations, built-in program hotkeys may take priority over your assigned AutoHotkey hotkeys. For example, if you assign +E (#e) to an AutoHotkey script, the combination will no longer open Windows Explorer. On the other hand, if you try to use Control+H in an AutoHotkey script, it will not work in Google Chrome which will continue to open a History page.

After an AutoHotkey script is activated, a green icon containing the letter "H" will appear in the Notification area located at right-hand side of the Taskbar. If you hover over the icon with your cursor the file name of the script will appear (see Figure 8). Each time you activate a new script an additional icon will appear in the Notification area. You can run multiple scripts at the same time.

Figure 8. The icon in the Notification area will identify the running AutoHotkey script.

If you would like to deactivate (or reload a newly saved version of) an AutoHotkey script, right-click on the icon in the Notification area and make the appropriate selection (see Figure 9).

Figure 9. Right-click on the AutoHotkey icon in the Notification area to deactivate (Exit) the script.

This article should contain enough information to help you jump-start your AutoHotkey solutions—even if merely to change "btw" to "by the way." It should also offer enough insight into the scripting language for users to see how it could benefit them (and save key strokes) in their day-to-day computing. I would encourage everyone to give it a try. It's free and can make your computer work (whether word processing, writing e-mail, Facebook posting, or coding other programs) significantly easier.

This introduction to AutoHotkey barely touches on the program's capabilities. However, I think that it is a valuable enough tool for most Windows users that it's well worth the time to continue further exploration. I intend to write more columns which will address how to compile scripts into executable files and how to write various types of scripts. I will try to keep the scripts simple enough for anyone to include in their own scripts—even if they've never had any programming experience. If you have any specific comments that you would like to see addressed in the future, please leave a comment.

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:

Currently only at Amazon.com, Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Just released and available from Amazon, Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8! Also available at Barnes and Noble and ComputorEdge E-Books.

Available exclusively from Amazon, Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“Delusional Thinking”
by Wally Wang

Delusional Thinking; Create Your Own E-Books; Tracking Finances with iBank for the iPad; Almost Microsoft Office for the iPad; The World is Going Mobile; Keyboard Shortcuts.

Research In Motion's CEO, Thorsten Heins, recently said that "there's nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now." In the meantime, Blackberry sales keep falling, Research in Motion's Playbook tablet still isn't selling, and Blackberry 10 OS has been delayed until next year, even though nobody quite knows why Blackberry 10 OS is supposed to save the company and compete against the iPhone and Android. To claim that there's nothing wrong with Research in Motion is like the captain of the Titanic claiming that there's nothing wrong with the ship as water pours into its cracked hull and people start drowning.

There's a reason why Alcoholics Anonymous insists that people admit they're alcoholics since admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing that problem. The more you deny you have a problem, the less likely you'll take any action to fix that problem. As long as Research in Motion continues denying that anything is wrong, they'll continue skidding down the drain as fast as possible. When you refuse to deal with reality, you risk making wrong decisions based on incorrect assumptions. Yet if you just open your eyes and see what's right in front of your face, you can either accept facts that may contradict your beliefs, or you can choose the more comfortable (but ultimately self-defeating action) of continuing to deny those same facts.

Perhaps one of the biggest delusional myths centers around the usefulness of tablets. Many people, who have never used an iPad, still insist that an iPad is useless without a physical keyboard and that it's only a content consumption device rather than a content creation tool. These same people likely stand by an airport and continually insist that heavier than air flying machines are impossible and that the Y2K computer bug is going to end civilization by the year 2000.

Just as anyone can watch heavier than air flying machines take off every day or see that the Y2K computer bug didn't end civilization at the start of the year 2000, so can many people see that others can create useful content on an iPad without a physical keyboard. If you have the right cable, you can connect your iPad to a projector and turn your iPad into a whiteboard through a $1.99 program called MediaSlate Pro.

Figure 1. Connect your iPad to a projector with a cable and you can create and present information using the MediaSlate Pro app.

Once you have your iPad connected to a projector, you can start drawing on the MediaSlate Pro screen. If you're like most people, you can just draw simple blocks, arrows and diagrams. If you have an artistic bent, you can create more impressive drawings. Anything you draw on MediaSlate Pro now gets projected on the screen so a roomful of people can see what you're creating (although the handful of delusional people in the room will probably insist that you're not creating anything on the iPad, the projector doesn't exist, and electricity is physically impossible).

Besides letting you create your own drawings, MediaSlate Pro lets you import any pictures stored on your iPad so you can display them on the screen and draw notes on those pictures. By using MediaSlate Pro, everyone in the room can brainstorm while one or more people draw pictures on the iPad. When you're done creating a picture on the iPad, you can share it through Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail.

MediaSlate Pro essentially combines the features of a drawing program with the capabilities of a projector. Unlike a presentation tool like PowerPoint or Keynote, MediaSlate Pro gives you interactive capabilities. You don't just show images to people that they passively stare at. You show images to people and then draw on those images based on the ideas of other people in the room, which is something difficult to do with ordinary presentation software.

If you need to present ideas and get feedback on those ideas, you might prefer a program like MediaSlate Pro instead of PowerPoint or Keynote. With the cost of a connecting cable and projector, MediaSlate Pro can turn your iPad into an interactive whiteboard for jotting down ideas that you can later share with others.

Create Your Own E-Books

If you want to create e-books, you can use Apple's free iBooks Author program. Not only can this free program create PDF files, but it can also create proprietary iBook files that allow you to add interactive features not possible in ordinary Kindle or EPUB files. The drawback of iBooks Author is that it only runs on the latest versions of OS X 10.7.2. If you like the idea of creating e-books but want to do it directly on your iPad, then you'll want the $4.99 Book Creator app instead.

Unlike iBooks Author, Book Creator lets you create fixed text EPUB files. With standard EPUB files created through programs like Pages, you might create text and graphics that appear on a page, but if you tilt your iPad sideways, the amount of text that appears on a page will change. Tilt your iPad in portrait mode and the amount of text flows to fill the page in portrait mode. If the reader changes the size of the text font, the amount of text on each page changes once again.

Such flowing text can be convenient for displaying large amounts of text, but risks separating graphics from the text that describes those graphic images. That's why Book Creator created fixed text EPUB files so everything you place on a page always remains together on that page. This makes Book Creator better suited for creating e-books that require text and graphics to be together such as children's books or cookbooks.

To create an e-book in Book Creator, you'll need to create your graphic files in another program and then import them into Book Creator. To create text, you can type it directly into Book Creator using the iPad's virtual keyboard or any external, physical keyboard you might prefer.

One interesting feature of Book Creator is the ability to add any audio files stored on your iPad. You can also record anything through the iPad's built-in microphone as well, so you could narrate your e-book. With the right graphics and your imagination, you can create an EPUB e-book containing text, graphics and audio.

Figure 2. Book Creator lets you add audio files or record your own audio.

Book Creator creates standard EPUB files that you can edit with another program if you wish. The most amazing feature of Book Creator is that it lets you create e-books anywhere you take your iPad. Instead of being tied down to a regular desktop or laptop computer, Book Creator turns your iPad into an e-book creating machine. Once you're done creating your EPUB file, you can import it directly into the iBooks app to read it, or copy and transfer the file to any computer to share it with others.

If you're interested in creating your own e-books but find iBooks Author or Pages too complicated, give Book Creator a chance. You might be surprised at how easy it is to create e-books and how fast you can create them just by using your iPad.

Figure 3. Book Creator makes it fun and easy to create e-books on the iPad.

Tracking Finances with iBank for the iPad

In the old days when Windows PCs dominated the market, many people used Intuit Software's Quicken money management program to track their finances. When the Macintosh started growing in popularity, Intuit offered Quicken for the Mac. When Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel processors, Intuit suddenly found that their Quicken for the Mac program relied too much on the PowerPC processor. If you wanted to run Quicken for the Mac, you could either run it on a PowerPC Macintosh or run it through Apple's Rosetta emulation software on an Intel Macintosh.

However, when Apple dropped Rosetta support in OS X 10.7 Lion, Quicken for the Mac users couldn't run Quicken on their Macintosh anymore. Intuit released a feeble Quicken Essentials program for the Macintosh, which doesn't come close to offering the features of the Windows version of Quicken. As a result of Intuit's puzzling inability to come out with a decent version of Quicken for the Macintosh, many people have been switching to the $49.95 iBank instead.

While iBank is a great alternative for Quicken on the Macintosh, the company has now released the $14.99 iBank for the iPad. The iBank for the iPad app is like having a full-blown money management program right on your iPad. If you have iBank version 4.5 on your Macintosh, you can even synchronize your data between iBank for the iPad and iBank on the Macintosh.

Figure 4. iBank makes it easy to set up different types of accounts to track on your iPad.

Setting up accounts on iBank for the iPad is simple because the app already recognizes different banks from around the country. Just select your bank and start recording your daily expenses. By having your iPad with you at all times running iBank for the iPad, you can make sure you record expenses as they occur rather than wait until you get back home or to your office where you might forget to record a transaction.

Instead of waiting to create charts when you get to your Macintosh running iBank, just create charts directly on your iPad. Now you can see, at a glance, where your money might be going. Track your investments through iBank for the iPad and you can see how well (or how poorly) your investments might be doing on any given day.

Figure 5. iBank for the iPad can create charts to help you track your money.

With iBank for the iPad, you have all the money management features of iBank within the convenient touch interface of the iPad. You could probably even run your entire personal finances off iBank for the iPad and skip a separate money management program for your Macintosh altogether if you wished.

The real power of iBank for the iPad is the mobility of the iPad combined with the money management features. For people who don't need mobility, then you'll probably be happier with iBank running on your Macintosh. However, for those who need to track finances on the go, iBank for the iPad might be the most powerful financial management program you can get on any tablet today.

Almost Microsoft Office for the iPad

Microsoft is reportedly testing a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad. While many people say that such an app is important for businesses that rely on Microsoft Office, there's already plenty of office suites available for the iPad such as Apple's own iWork office suite for the iPad. While iWork can import and export Microsoft Office files, you may not want to go through such a hassle each time you want to edit or view a file. For those people who insist that Microsoft Office compatibility is crucial to make the iPad useful, just get the $19.99 QuickOffice Pro app for the iPad.

QuickOffice Pro can create and edit both current Office file formats (.docx, xlsx, and pptx) used in Microsoft Office 2007/2010, but can also create and edit older Office file formats as well (.doc, .xls and .ppt). Now no matter what file format you need, QuickOffice Pro supports it. Create a Word 2003 document on your iPad and then transfer it to your computer, or transfer an Excel 2010 file and edit it on your iPad. QuickOffice Pro gives you complete file compatibility.

Figure 6. QuickOffice Pro can create and edit Office 2007/2010 and older Office 2003 files.

Figure 7. QuickOffice Pro lets you edit and create complex files such as Excel 2010 spreadsheets.

Unlike Apple's iWork suite that consists of three separate apps, QuickOffice Pro consists of a single app that can create word processor documents, spreadsheets, or presentation files. If you're familiar with Microsoft Office, you should have little trouble adjusting to the touch interface of QuickOffice Pro on the iPad.

Naturally, QuickOffice Pro can't offer all the features of Microsoft Office, but for most people, just the ability to create and edit basic Office files is enough to make the iPad useful. If you need to use Microsoft Office files on the iPad, you can hope that Microsoft will eventually release Microsoft Office for the iPad, or you can just get QuickOffice Pro instead and start being productive right away. Unless, of course, you still deny that anyone can create and edit Office documents on an iPad even though you can see that's possible right before your eyes.

The World is Going Mobile

Antoine LeBlond, Microsoft's vice president of Windows Web Services, said that "next year, tablets will outsell desktop PCs. If tablets sell more than desktop PCs in 2013, you can be certain a large number of those tablets will be iPads with Microsoft Surface and Android tablets making up the remainder. While the exact date when tablets start outselling desktop PCs may be in doubt, the long-term trend is clear. The world is going mobile and tablets make desktop PCs look as antiquated as mobile phones make landline telephones look like antiques.

The mobile trend means that your data will no longer be stored on just one device but shared through multiple devices. Apple's iCloud already lets you share data among your iPhone, iPad and Macintosh so the next battle will no longer be between specific smartphones or tablets, but between specific cloud services.

Once you start relying on iCloud, you'll be more likely to stick with the iPhone, iPad, or Macintosh. Start using Microsoft's SkyDrive and you'll probably rely more on Windows. Use Google's Drive and Android might be your best option. The ideal cloud service will keep your data synchronized without requiring constant maintenance. Choose the cloud service that meets your needs and you'll know which devices you can rely on. For many people, the lure of the most popular smartphone (iPhone) and most popular tablet (iPad) will be enough to choose iCloud.

*                    *                    *

Press Command+Shift+/ in any Macintosh program and the Help menu should appear. That's because every Macintosh defines these odd keystroke combination to open the Help menu. If you want to define other keystrokes to work identically across all Macintosh programs, click the Apple menu, and choose System Preferences. When the System Preferences window appears, click the Keyboard icon under the Hardware category.

When the Keyboard window appears, click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab and then click Application Shortcuts. Now if you click the plus sign, you can add your own keyboard shortcuts to all your Macintosh programs.

Figure 8. You can create a keyboard shortcut to work with all your Macintosh programs.

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

“The Mystifying World of Characters and Their Keys”
by Marilyn K. Martin

Amusing anecdotes about letters/characters and their corresponding keys.

Everyone on a computer knows the alphabet. At least in their own language. But there still seems to be a lot of confusion about individual letters/characters and their corresponding keys. Throw in questions about where deletions go, the difference between upper and lower case, and exactly where the spacebar is, and you'll probably never look at your keyboard the same way again.

Why Help Desk Techs Go Grey

Customer: The keys on my new keyboard are too stiff. Can you install new software to soften-up the keys?

Tech: Uh...

Customer: I don't have a right arrow key.

Tech: Please point to your spacebar.

Customer: OK.

Tech: Now move your finger to the right, over the other keys, until you find the left arrow key.

Customer: Oh, there it is!

Customer: OK, I got most of my email address in the little box. But where's the AOL key?

Tech: AOL key? You mean the @ key above the numbers?

So Where Do Deleted Characters Go?

Catholic Church Explanation:

The nice characters go to Heaven, where they are bathed in the light of happiness. The naughty characters are punished for their sins. Naughty characters are those involved in the creation of naughty words, like "sex."

Buddhist Explanation:

If a character has lived correctly, and its karma is good, then after it has been deleted it will be reincarnated as a different, higher quality character. It's the cycle of reincarnation, always changing into something better. Those funny characters above the numbers on your keyboard will become numbers, numbers will become letters, and lower-case letters will become upper-case, capital letters.

Bitter and Cynical Explanation:

Who cares? It doesn't matter if the characters are on the page, deleted, undeleted, underlined, bold or italic. They're all the same. Here and then gone. Gone is best.

Mac User's Explanation:

All the characters written on a PC, laptop or tablet when deleted go straight to computer hell. If you are using an old PC, you can probably see the deleted characters, because you are in PC hell too.

Horror Writer's Explanation:

Every time you hit the Delete key, you unleash a tiny monster inside the cursor. It rears up, bears its fangs, and tears into the poor unsuspecting characters. They are shredded, the cursor drinks their blood, and then eats them, lines, curves, dots and all.

Military Explanation:

The deleted characters are packaged up and sent to China. There they are unwrapped in secret, straightened out and then re-bent into Chinese characters. Then they are drowned in red paint, so that they will never, ever again be English characters.

IBM's Explanation:

The characters are not real. They are only iconic concepts, existing only on the screen when they are needed. So to delete them is to simply de-conceptualize them, while your software spins new icons.

Redneck Explanation:

Them little character critters are always trying to hide, that's why the screen goes blank to protect them. So I don't mess with no Delete key. I just raise my scattergun and blast the screen. Hey, you got any old monitors lying around you'd like to sell?

Animal Lovers' Explanation:

You've been deleting them? Can't you hear them screaming? Why not go out and club some baby seals while wearing a mink, you murderous hypocrite!

The Conundrums of Upper and Lower Case

"How do you type an uppercase zero?"

"Upper or lower caps?"

"What's lower case?"

"How do I type numbers in capitals?"

Tech: You need to think up a password with a combination of numbers, symbols and upper and lower case letters.

Customer: Upper and lower case? What's that?

Tech: You know, big letters and little letters?

Customer: Oh, yeah! But I don't know a lot about computers, so don't use that technical jargon with me.

Customer: I keep getting "Access Denied" every time I try to log in.

Tech: I think the problem is that you are typing your user name and password in all caps. So let's try again, and use lower case letters.

Customer: Uh, I only have capital letters on my keyboard.

Keyboard Korrections

Customer: Everything I type, the wrong letters pop up on the screen.

Tech: Have you done anything different to your keyboard?

Customer: Well, I did take off all the little key caps and then put them back in alphabetical order.

Customer: I just spilled soda on my keyboard. So I took off the bottom row of key caps to mop it up. So can you tell me the correct order to put the key caps back on?

Characters in Other Languages

Do you need more software or another keyboard for foreign language keys? No! Open your Windows symbol, and type in Accessories. Scroll through until you find "Character Map" and open it. You select the font then the foreign language or scientific character to be inserted into your text. Hold down the "Alt" key and type the numerical code that corresponds to the character being inserted.

Using Keyboard Characters For Pictures:

Cowboy Hat: =]

Homer Simpson: (_8(|)

A Heart or Ice Cream: <3

Spacebar Issues—Star Wars Not Required

Tech: Sir, you keep getting an Error Message because you are spelling out space. Just hit the spacebar instead.

Customer: OK, where's that?

Tech: Long horizontal bar, bottom of the keyboard.

Tech: Now press the spacebar.

Customer: I don't have one. I have an enter bar, return bar and a shift key.

Tech: No, I mean the spacebar. The long key on the bottom.

Customer: I still don't see it.

Tech: It's right under your c, v, b, n and m keys. Now do you see it?

Customer: Oh, there it is!

Customer: OK, I'm double-spacing by hitting the spacebar twice. Is there an easier way to do this? How can I fix it so that everytime I hit the spacebar, it'll double-space?

Tech: Now type "D I R Space A Colon".

Customer: (long pause) Do you want me to put anything in that space?

Keyboard Character Questions

"So do I hit 'F' and '8' at the same time?"

"Do you want a forward backslash or a backward backslash?"

"Where's the integral key?"

"Do you mean the letter zero or the number zero?"

"Where's the OK button?"

"The backslash with the question mark, right?"

"Where can I find the letters 'com' and 'dot' on my keyboard?"

"An exclamation mark: That's the big stick with the dot underneath, right?"

"So where's the smiley-face key?"

To Capitalize on a Dilemma: Caps Lock or Shift Key?

Some people don't really get the hang of the difference until some helpful person intervenes. Like the man who would turn the Caps Lock on and off just to type one capital letter.

Or the TV editor who typed most of the text in capital letters, as was standard in those days. But for the occasional lower case character, he used the shift key. Someone kindly explained how the Caps Lock worked.

Overheard in Computer Class

The professor asked what the biggest PC retailer was at the time. People guessed IBM, but the professor said No, it was Dell. Then one female student leaned over to another student and whispered sagely, "Well, of course! That's why every keyboard has a DEL key!"

Helpful Hints for a Computer Instructor to Tell Their Class

When you see "press any key" instructions, remember that it never means Power switch, Caps Lock, Shift, Control, Alt, Num Lock or Scroll Lock.

When asked to press the Caps Lock key, I mean the key—not the little indicator light.

Longest Words Using Only Adjacent Keyboard Characters:

referred (and) dressers

Longest English Word Using Only One Keyboard Row:

typewriter

The Saga of Bob

Tech: OK, Bob, let's back up and try something simple first. Type a capital "B" and then press enter.

Bob: A capital "B?" Like in Bob?

Tech: That's right. Capital 'B' like in Bob.

Bob: That's the character with two loops, right?

Tech: <face palm> Right...

Logging on - Correct Pronunciation Not Required

"OK, so I've just pressed remote control delete to log on."

"So I hold down control, alternator and delete?"

"I pressed central, alt, delete to log on."

"I just pressed colt, alt, del."

Long Ago and Far Away—Logging on in Canada

A tech reports that in the early days, before PCs, they sold a proto-computer to a Canadian company. In order to sign on, they had to press Ctrl-A. But phone instructions got hijacked by the local dialect. The tech would say "Now hit Ctrl-A," and the reply would be "OK, I just hit Ctrl, eh? And nothing happened, eh?"

(Most of these amusing anecdotes are on multiple Internet joke sites. But special thanks to computerjokes.net, rinkworks.com and go4expert.com)

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 has converted many of Marilyn's computer humor columns into four e-books.

* Computer Confusion in Paradise: Lo! And in the Beginning There Was Total Befuddlement!, in both EPUB format for iPad, NOOK, etc., and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle.

* Computer Hardware: "Parts Is Parts", in both EPUB format for iPad, NOOK, etc., and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle.

* Computerholics Anonymous: PC Users, Abusers and Confusioners, in both EPUB format for iPad, NOOK, etc., and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle.

* My Computer, My Nemesis: Bravely into the Smiley-Face Virtual Void!, in both EPUB format for iPad, NOOK, etc., and MOBI format for Amazon Kindle.

* All four e-books can be found at our E-Book Store.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

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

"SmartMedia Card reader for Olympus C3030," "KompoZer Macros," "Speed Up My Mac/Stellar Application Review"

SmartMedia Card reader for Olympus C3030

[Regarding the June 29 Digital Dave column:]

Hello Dave and Gabby,

I just gave my Olympus C 3000 away (close relative to your model) and used a Viking Digital card reader for years without problems. The one I had was an older version of this one being offered on Amazon, but this should do the trick. Good luck.

-Jerry Hughes, San Diego, CA

Hi Dave,

Regarding the SmartMedia card issue with the Olympus camera, I don't know whether this camera has one, but most digital cameras have a USB port and can be connected directly to the computer via USB cable so the camera just becomes another device. I do that all the time and have for many years. Thanks for all your great work. I've been reading ComputorEdge for about 25 years and save a lot of your articles for future reference.

-Doug Clements, Poway, CA

Hi Gabby,

I bought an Olympus D-400 Zoom in 1998, without a USB port. Didn't work either with Windows 7. The Olympus people weren't any help. I got help at Best Buy. They had an All-in-one Reader/Writer by Dynex. Getting to see the pictures is more round about, but I do get them to my Laptop.

-Fraulene, El Cajon, CA

Thank You, Dave! A simple thank you doesn't seem adequate. I really appreciate your prompt response and solutions. That is why I have been such a loyal subscriber for so many years. I would also like the other readers who responded to know how much I appreciated their input too.

-Gabby DeDonato

KompoZer Macros

[Regarding the June 29 Editors Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers column:]

Ron in Thailand may want to try AutoHotkey to program some macros for the often used keyboard shortcuts. I have not used KompoZer nor designed Web pages, but used AutoHotkey to keep several non-native program shortcuts running, e.g. it's easier for me to use Ctrl+Shift+W than Alt+F4, and I wrote one that uses Win+V to move e-mail messages in Thunderbird rather than mousing.

-Ralph, Colorado Springs, CO

Speed Up My Mac/Stellar Application Review

[Regarding the June 29 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

Hi Wally,

Always read your wonderful Mac centric articles first.

Just tried to buy "Speed Up Mac" Stellar based on your recent recommendation. Very unusual company operation! Just wanted to let you know that Stellar/Speed Up Mac is a nightmare to do business with.

I Downloaded the software. Paid via paypal. Received no registration code. Tried to call the company and was on hold with an archaic answer system for 15 minutes and then disconnected. Tried to e-mail them and could not send. Tried to Skype them, no answer.

I don't blame you, but I think this company is totally incompetent (or worse) in the customer service field. As an Apple affectionado you know how spoiled we Apple folks get with Apple Care service (which rocks), etc.

Keep up the great writing.

Your loyal fan,

-Claude Diamond J.D., Winter Park, CO

In the 6/29/12 issue of ComputorEdge, Wally Wang suggested a product to improve Mac efficiency: "Stellar Speedup Mac".

I purchased this product, but it did not prove worthy. It was very slow and showed no discrimination on which files it recommended for deletion. (In fact, it seemed to recommend deleting all files.)

Since The seller promised no questions asked refund if not satisfied, I requested a refund. Of course, the seller reneged. I thought that you should know. I will be glad to provide copies of all transactions if requested.

-Brad Burnett

ComputorEdge always wants to hear from you, our readers. If you have specific comments about one of our articles, please click the "Tell us what you think about this article!" link at the top or bottom of the specific article/column at ComputorEdge.com. Your comments will be attached to the column and may appear at a later time in the "Editor's Letters" section.If you want to submit a short "ComputorQuick Review", or yell at us, please e-mail us at ceeditor@computoredge.com. If you would like to review our recent e-books, please visit ComputorEdge E-Books.

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