Post by Doreen on May 20, 2010 22:51:36 GMT -5
Daily Tips:
Integrated vs. Dedicated Graphics
Some desktop computers may not have a graphics card. Instead, the computer’s motherboard has a chip that performs the video processing. The biggest downside to integrated graphics is that the video chip shares your computer's memory, otherwise known as RAM, which degrades the PC's overall and video processing performance.
Open A New Program Quickly In Windows 7
One puzzle for Windows 7 users is how to open a new instance of a program that already has an open window, because pressing the icon on the Taskbar simply highlights the open window. For mouse users, the answer is found in clicking the middle mouse button or depressing the scroll wheel on a program’s Taskbar icon. For a pure keyboard alternative, use the SHIFT-WIN (the Windows logo key)-number combo to open a new instance of the program that matches the number slot on the Taskbar.
Antishake Features
If you're an amateur photographer who spontaneously stops to take photos in a windy locale, you'll want to invest in a camera with antishake technology. This counteracts any blurred photos that could result from a shaky hand combined with a slow shutter speed when you take the photo.
Daily Terms:
continuous autofocus
Some digital cameras have a focusing system that continually focuses on every object you point the lens at. Most cameras, however, focus only after you partially depress the shutter button.
contiguous data structure
A set of information stored in consecutive memory locations.
contiguous
Side by side. Two or more items are contiguous if they are touching each other. For example, contiguous sectors on a disk are physically next to each other
Q:
I have windows xp. After receiving a low memory message, I deleted some old files and ran the disk cleanup. It reported over 9 million mb of memory that needed to be compressed. I agreed OK and in about 15 seconds screen disappeared like it was finished. Ran it again same outcome. Tried to defrag. it said I had 0% memory and 4% memory on 2 drives, won't let me defrag. Is there something else I can try?
A:
There are a couple of things you can try, but first, you really should make sure you have any files that are important to you safely backed up onto either CDs, DVDs, or an external flash drive or hard drive.
Once you are confident that your data is safe, you can get started trying to free up some space on your computer.
Since you have told me that you have already tried the disk clean up utility on your computer, I am going to skip that step for now.
The first step along the way, is to go to the Control Panel, click on "Add or Remove Programs" and look through the list of programs that are installed on your computer. There are probably a few programs listed that you have not used in years, and you can free up a little bit of space by removing those programs. Depending on the type of program you remove, you might free up a little bit of space, or a lot of space.
Next, take a look at some of the files that you backed up. If you have so many photos on your computer that they filled one or more DVDs, consider just keeping them on the disks and not on your hard drive. This will mean that you will have to load the DVD on your computer to view the photos, but it can free up large amounts of space on your computer.
The same is true if you have a lot of music files, video files, and even documents on your computer. As long as you have backup copies on disk (I would probably make two copies on disks, one to use on a regular basis, and another for a backup that doesn't get used as
often) You can remove those files that you don't use very often from your hard drive and just access them from the DVD when needed.
Once you have freed up some space on your computer, you should try running the disk cleanup again. Make sure you empty the recycle bin, and you will also be able to run your defrag utility.
Occasionally, all these steps will make no difference at all on the amount of used space on your hard drive. In cases like this, your best option, is to make sure your files are all backed up, and then run the system recovery disks that came with your computer. This will erase your hard drive, and install Windows XP again.
Q:
Ever since I bought a new computer with Windows 7 and Office 2010 on it, my documents print backwards. Everything prints starting with first page, which means that I have to rearrange the documents when I pull them off the printer.
How can I change this?
A:
This is actually a setting in your printer properties.
I can't tell you exactly how to change this setting since you have not told me what kind of printer you have, but I can point you in the right direction to find the setting and change it.
First, you need to access the properties for your printer. Here is how to do that in Windows 7
Click on the "Start Orb" and then click on "Devices and Printers" on the right side of the start menu.
In the Devices and Printers window that opens, right click on your printer, and click on "Printing Preferences"
The options you will see in the Printing Preferences window will vary depending on the type of printer you have, so at this point, I will tell you where the setting is for my HP Color LaserJet 2605. You might have to look around in your printing preferences dialog box to find the same settings.
For my HP printer, I click on the "Advanced" tab, and in the "Layout Options" section, I can change the page order from "Front to Back" to "Back to Front".
Once I have made my selection, I click the "OK" button at the bottom of the dialog box to save my changes and close the window.
I hope this helps you find the settings for your printer
