Category: ‘Whatchamacallit’

Automobile and Technology – Originally Published March 2011

July 18, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

My oldest Grandson just got his Learner’s Permit and has become the official driver for many of our family outings.  That got me to thinking about the fact that I never cared much for driving.  I didn’t get my first driving license until I joined the Navy.  For some reason, they needed it for identification purposes.  I guess that the automobile is just one of those things I have that I could easily live without.  If Lake Charles had a decent city bus system, I probably wouldn’t drive at all.

Like so many other things, our vehicles are loaded with computers and other technology.  I’ve decided that I could live without most of it.

When the check engine light in my pickup goes on, I can’t hit CTRL-ALT-DEL, start the task manager and begin diagnosing the problem.  I’m stuck with visiting a repair place that is certified to do the repair.  I know I can interface with my vehicle’s computer.  Of course, to do it efficiently would cost at least a hundred dollars for the proper equipment and the software.  Then I would still probably end up having to go to the certified technician for my repair.

Do I really need to have a computer tell me when I need to stop and check the air pressure in my tires?  Could a missed firmware update cause a flat tire?  Do I want to take a chance on my transportation being infected with a computer virus?  I guess there isn’t any sense in complaining.  Computer chips in our automobiles are here to stay.  Since we have them, I can only wish the technicians would install some useful programming.

I remember a Plymouth my father had when I was a young man.  It had a push button gear shift.  On the left side of the dashboard was a light sensor that automatically dimmed the headlights whenever another car approached.  Your headlights also dimmed when they were reflected off of a white building.  I wonder why the designers/technicians have decided automatic dimmers aren’t as important as your tire pressure?

I wish that someone would invent an automobile application that automatically turns on the radio and tunes in programs I want to listen to.  I would never miss Kim, Leo or Ira again.  A good program could also change the station when a show I don’t like comes on.

If that GPS thing knows where I stop to use the toilet and can help them unlock my car from afar, why can’t they program my vehicle to hit the brakes when an accident is imminent?  It would sure be a lot cheaper than my car telephoning for the ambulance.

I sure wish they would hurry up and invent those robot car drivers that I’ve read about for years in the Popular Science magazine.  Then we wouldn’t have to worry about the other driver talking on the phone, reading the newspaper, eating their lunch, combing their hair, etc.

How come automobiles don’t have a program that keeps them from drifting into the adjacent lane?  Couldn’t they put in a subroutine so the car will stop when the traffic light turns yellow?  I sure hope they put in a line or two of code to stop tailgating.

I think they should incorporate Bluetooth into our automobiles.  When you can’t find you car in the parking lot, you just pull out your smart phone and locate your network.  Of course, you’d have to be within 30 feet of where you parked.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just say, “Play CD” and your sound system would start.  You could say “Set cruise control” and never get a speeding ticket.  Sometimes I’d like to say “Eject passenger”, but that would probably be illegal.

Enough of my wishful thinking.  They’ve already made the best technological advancement possible.  You can plug your coffee cup in and keep the coffee hot.  What will they think of next?

Thanks for reading.

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One Handed Column – Orignally Published January 2011

July 18, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Here it is again.  Another New Year is started and it’s time to submit another column for the monthly club newsletter.  At first I was just going to update the one I wrote last January . I thought it was a pretty good column with all my New Year technological resolutions.  I’m embarrassed to tell you that I didn’t do a very good job of keeping them.  Maybe I should just make a resolution to procrastinate more.  I’ll bet I could keep that one.

Then I gave it a little more thought and decided I could do a column with predictions about what technological advances would occur in 2011.  Heck, I can make predictions just as well as John Dvorak, Steve Fox, Tom Spindler or any of those technical guys.  Wait a minute, I feel a prediction coming on right now.  I foresee that in December 2011, the ‘Twas parody will be recycled in the monthly club newsletter.

After a little more thought, I decided that a man of my talents could easily start some new New Year’s technological traditions.   I could take an old computer, install a countdown timer and tie a cord around it.  After making sure the countdown time is synchronized, I could tie a stout cord to the machine and dangle it out the window.  At midnight, when the timer hits zero, I’d cut the cord and let it fall to the ground.  Doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun than watching some old ball in slime square fall?  Who needs fireworks on New Year’s?  Lets just network a bunch of computers together.  Have them randomly display the world famous blue screen.  We’ll get a lot of ooohs and aaahs for sure.

Epilogue: I almost hate to tell you what I’ve decided to do for this months column.  I had a lot more ideas to write about.  I usually start writing early in the month so that I have plenty of time for editing, correcting spelling, etc.  Unfortunately, on Christmas Day, I fell on the concrete and bruised my ribs.  I also fractured a wrist and am forced into one handed keyboarding, so this column isn’t going to have an ending.

Once again, I have proved that it’s easier to get older than it is to get wiser.  Thanks for reading.

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Bah! Humbug! – Originally Published December 2010

July 8, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Bah! Humbug!
It’s that time of the year again.  The retailers want us to spend all of our hard earned nickels on lots of things that we don’t really need.  I remember last year when I got suckered into buying a multifunction printer that also copies, scans, faxes and probably would clean my nose after a sneeze.  The problem is that I don’t need to do all of that stuff and would probably have saved some money if I’d just bought a scanner and a box of tissues.

About the only difference in the holiday season every year is that it usually seems to start earlier and earlier.  This year, I saw my first Christmas display on labor day.  Newegg started advertising Black Friday deals sometime during the first part of November.  I’m expecting the 2011 season to start around the Fourth of July.

Bah! Humbug!
During the holiday season, I spend a lot more time online getting my news.  I refuse to pay extra for a newspaper on Thanksgiving Day.  Do they really expect me to pay more for the extra advertising?  I can look at all the same ads online for free.

You can predict the news.  On Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can be sure that we’ll read about celebrities working at some homeless shelter or at a soup kitchen.  Where are they the other 363 days of the year?

Bah! Humbug!
This is the time of the year that the scammers are out in full force.  I consider myself to be pretty computer literate, but I almost got scammed when I got this e-mail from order-update@amazon.com:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,
Your order has been successfully canceled. For your reference, here’s a summary of your order:
You just canceled order #823-2346426-4655389 placed on November 23, 2010.
Status: CANCELED
ORDER INFORMATION (this was the link)
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
Because you only pay for items when we ship them to you, you won’t be charged for any items that you cancel.
Thank you for visiting Amazon.com!
Amazon.com
Earth’s Biggest Selection
http://www.amazon.com

I do quite a bit of shopping at amazon and I almost clicked on the order information.  If I hadn’t noticed that it wasn’t addressed to my amazon e-mail address, I would have been scammed.  The bad guys have sure advanced from pickpocketing, breaking into cars at the parking lots and giving us all a free I-Pod.

Bah! Humbug!
Every year, I’ve got to listen to some novelty song about five zillion times.  I’m just happy that Grandma doesn’t get run over by a reindeer as often as she used to.

Bah! Humbug!
It’s that time of year when we get to watch all of those TV specials and rerun movies that are better off forgotten.  It was a Wonderful Life when it was a movie, but 9000 times as a TV special leaves something to be desired.  Did you know that Jimmy Stewart has been dead for thirteen years?  The only good thing you can say is that during the holidays, we don’t have to watch the regular lousy television programming.  Don’t get me started on the commercials.

Oh well. Time for me to stop bah humbugging and write some club related stuff.  As I hope you know by now, our club web site (SWLAPCUG) is back up and running.  Travis and Tom have spent lots of time getting it tweaked to be user friendly.  All club members will soon be able to read the minutes of club meetings, view the treasurer reports, download newsletters, share computing tips, laugh at my inane jokes and many other exiting things.

When you go to the site, click the login button and you will be asked to register.  Your login information from the old site will not work.  Just pick a user name and password and enter your e-mail.  After a few minutes, you will get an e-mail with your registration information and a verification link to click.  This is the only time you will have to go to the web site from your e-mail.  The next time you are on the main page, enter your new username and password.  Click the login in button and you’re in business.

You don’t have to register to view many of the items on our web site; however, you won’t be able to participate until you do.  After you’re registered, one of the moderators will move you to the club members list.  More features are available to club members than to general visitors.

All of the features on the new site aren’t working yet.  In the Forums is a “Suggestion Box” topic.  If you’ve got any ideas for improving things, let us know.  Remember, we can’t make the site easier to use if nobody knows that you’re having a problem.  Once again, the link for our web site is: Southwest Louisiana PC Users Group.

Bah!  Humbug!  My wife just told me to put my shoes on because she wants me to go and help pick out the son in laws Christmas present.  I know what that really means is I’ll have to carry something.

Thanks for reading.

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Over-Technologied? – Originally Published November 2010

July 8, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I remember back in the early 1960’s when my father, a feed salesman, was received a Texas Instruments calculator from his company.  At that time, the TI was a top of the line calculator with an electronic memory.  This machine could add, subtract, divide and multiply.  He was proud of that calculator.  If you would ask him to add multiply 2 times 3, he would get the machine out to do the problem.

I was reminded of that calculator a few weeks ago when someone I know turned on their global positioning system to get directions to drive to Beaumont from Lake Charles.  Luckily, we got to the right place because he knew where it was.  The GPS address put us a couple of blocks away.

Every month or so, I scroll through the saved television programs list on my digital video recorder and delete programs that I’ve recorded.  I realize now that I just don’t have the time to watch them all.  Besides, I have to make some room for the new programs I want to record.

These incidents are starting to make me wonder if our society might be getting “over-technologied”.  Don’t bother to look that word up in your dictionary or thesaurus.  Over-technologied is a term that I made up to describe a situation where technology is used either unnecessarily, stupidly, inadequately or in some other silly manner.  I think that people who have the latest, greatest, newest technology and then don’t know how to use it are extremely over-technologied.  I made up the word, so I guess I can make up the definition.

For example, how many people do you know that have thousands of pictures and movies saved on their huge hard drives?  With high speed digital cameras it is easy to take ten pictures instead of one.  You have a better chance of getting the “perfect” picture but end up not being able to find it because you have to sort through a thousand pictures to find it.  Isn’t that being over-technologied?

It’s election season again and I get countless phone spam calls urging me to vote for candidate Mr./Mrs./Ms. over-technologied.  I call them that because they have used technology to call every phone number and irritate the people on the other end.  I use my own technology to keep track of who I get unwanted calls from.  The over-technologied candidate doesn’t get my vote.

How many people do you know have a microwave oven that will defrost, weigh the food and then start cooking so as to be finished just in time for dinner?  Many of them have more than timer, a whole bunch of built in programmed recipes and many other features.  If they’re like most people, they use their microwave to reheat their leftovers or make popcorn.  Do you think they might be over-technologied?

I could probably write three or four articles on how our cell phones are over-technologied.  Personally, I don’t even carry a cell phone.  I usually just carry my pocket computer which also happens to be able to connect to Sprint if I want to make a phone call.  If you don’t agree that cell phones are over-technonologied, ask the next ten people you see how many applications they have on their cell phone.  Then ask them how many they actually use.

When I was a kid, my old junker car would break down on the side of the road.  It was usually pretty easy for me to fix it.  These days I drive an over-technologied pickup.  If there is a breakdown, I might as well call for a tow truck because the mechanic would have to run a computer diagnostic before he could fix the darn thing.

Do you think that modern cameras are over-technologied?  My camera is a couple of years old and still has more features than I ever use.  The instruction manual is about three fourths of an inch thick.  I often wonder if I will ever learn how to do some of the advanced functions.  I probably would have the time to memorize the instructions if I could just get away from my over-technologied television.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this tongue-in-cheek article about having too much technology.  Be careful, technology can also be dangerous.  An incident with my debit card is what got me thinking about too much technology in the first place.  If you’ve got the time, just Google “dangers of too much technology” and read the 239 million articles for yourself.

I could probably ramble on for a couple more pages about how we are over-technologied.  I just realized that having five computers on my home network isn’t enough.  I’ve got to go do some research on that tablet computer I want to buy.  After all, I want to stay over-technologied.

Thanks for reading.

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Computer Maintenance – Originally Published October 2010

July 5, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

October is Fire Prevention Month.  The professionals tell us that the best fire safety is accomplished by preventing the fire in the first place.  You should install smoke alarms and replace the batteries every year.  Keep your matches away from the kiddies and keep your fires safety plan updated.

I think that is also pretty good advice for keeping your computer running smoothly and free of viruses and trojans.  Right now, I have five computers on my home network.  Every two weeks, I get out my maintenance list and do all my updates and in depth scans.  This month, I thought I’d share what I do to keep them all running smoothly and error free.

1.  Create a System Restore Point: Even though I know I’m pretty close to perfect, I occasionally make a mistake.  If I do, I want to be able to go back to my starting point if I have to.

2.  Run Windows Update: One of the things I’ve always disliked about Windows is automatic updates.  I’ve got mine set to notify me when there is a critical update.  I almost always download and install critical updates pretty quickly.  For other updates, I wait until my maintenance day.  Before I download and install, I do an internet search on the update.  If I find that updates cause other users a lot of problems, I usually wait on downloading.  It isn’t necessary to install every update to keep your computer running smoothly.

3.  Run Revo Uninstaller: Over the years, I’ve discovered that when you no longer need a program, it’s better to get rid of the darn thing right away.  Otherwise, all it will do is take up space on your hard drive.  Unused programs often also steal from your system resources and cause your computer to run slower.  Revo Uninstaller is a freeware program that does an excellent job of removing software from your disk drive.  After the program is uninstalled, it searches and removes most files, folders and registry keys that are often left on your computer.  You can get Revo Uninstaller here.

4.  Run Secunia Personal Software Inspector.  Secunia PSI is a program that scans your computer and checks your installed software for updates and patches.  Secunia is an easy program to use, but it wants to add itself to the automatic startup every time you run it.  To prevent this, go to the advanced section and uncheck the auto start.  You can get Secunia PSI here.

5.  Run a Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware scan: The program name says it all. Malwarebytes’ has created an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application.  Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is extremely effective at finding and removing virus, worm, trojan, rootkit, dialer and spyware programs that infect your computer.  I don’t think I’ve ever read a negative review about it.  It is free for home use and you can download it here.

6.  Run a virus scan.  What else can I tell you.  If you don‘t have a good anti-virus program installed, please don‘t come crying to me when you get infected.  I use Avast Antivirus (it has my favorite price), but there are many good antivirus programs, both free and fee.

7.  Run a SUPERAntiSpyware scan: SUPERAntiSpyware detects and removes spyware and adware.  It also removes malware, trojans, dialers, worms, keyloggers, hiJackers, parasites, rootkits, rogue security products and many other types of threats.  That’s a lot of free removal that you can get when you download SuperAntiSpyware.

8.  Run Wise Registry Cleaner: There are two theories about using registry cleaners.  Some people think they are great because by getting all of the junk out of your registry your computer will run faster and more effectively.  Others think that the gain is not worth the risk.  CAUTION! Using programs that change the registry can permanently disable your computer.  Make sure you back up the registry before you make any changes.  Wise Registry Cleaner is a fairly fast scanner that lists the scan results into two categories: 1) safe to remove, and 2) can remove, but not completely safe.  You can get Wise Registry Cleaner here.

9. Run CCleaner: CCleaner is a freeware program that optimizes your PC by combining a system cleaner and a registry cleaner.  Simply put, it is about the best program there is for cleaning junk off of your hard drive.  Almost every technical and geek site recommends it.  It has an easy to use interface.  Click on analyze and a few minutes later click on run cleaner.  If you use the registry cleaner, it reminds you to backup before making any changes.  You can get CCleaner here.

Finally, I shut down my computer and reboot.  Then, I open msconfig to make sure that nothing has sneaked into my startup.  Lastly, I create another restore point.  That way, it I have any problems before my next maintenance day, I know I have a tested safe restore point.

All of the programs I’ve mentioned in this article are either freeware or free for home use.  A word of caution.  If you decide to try them, carefully read the installation screens.  That way you won’t accidentally have a new toolbar installed on your computer.

Happy Computing and thanks for reading.

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OCZ Technology Equalizer Laser Mouse – Originally Published September 2010

July 3, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Last June, I talked about using keyboard shortcuts to make your computer navigation easier.  I mentioned that in the early years of computing, I wouldn’t buy a computer mouse because I thought that they were useless technology that just wasted your time.  After all, you had to remove one of your hands from the keyboard to use it.

My thoughts have definitely changed over the years.  I don’t just use any mouse though.  I spend a little extra money and buy multi-button programmable mouses.  I like any technology that makes my computing easier.

The mouse I am using these days is an OCZ Technology Equalizer Laser mouse.  To be honest, I never heard of the company before I bought the mouse, but Newegg had a close out sale of $9.99 with free shipping, so I took a chance and bought one.  I figured that if I didn’t like it, I could always make it into a computer club Christmas present.  Turns out I really like it and went back to order another one, but they were sold out.  Imagine my surprise when a week or so later, the UPS driver brought me another mouse.  It seems that Newegg had a computer glitch and filled my order twice.  I contacted them and offered to pay for the extra mouse, but they told me to keep it with their compliments.  As much as I hated to, I accepted their offer and ended up with two mouses for $5.00 each.  Although they are no longer manufactured, they retailed for about $40.00 apiece.

My mouse has seven buttons, four of which are programmable.  The Keys that can’t be changed are the left click, a key that changes the mouses DPI.  After the first day, I haven’t pushed that key.  I don’t play too many games, so I have no need to change the DPI.  There is another small key that is next to the left click key.  In gaming mode, the small key is a continuous fire key.  In regular mode, it is a double click key, which is extremely handy.

Like many other programmable mouses I’ve owned in the past, this mouse uses A4 tech programming.  One of the programming features is the “Lucky Jump” and the “Net Jump”.  These are functions that let you list programs and start them with one click.  This is a lot easier than minimizing all your windows and double clicking an icon on your desktop.  It is also easier than searching through you start menu.  Like most programmable mouses, I can record macros and assign them to a key.  It is so nice to push one key when I enter a poker parlor and say “Hello everyone!  Good luck to all.”  I’ve saved me a lot of typing over the years.  I also use a programmable keyboard on my desktop computer.  It’s a Microsoft DMC 3000 that I bought for $10.00.  I’ve always been a cheapskate.  It’s my Dutch heritage.

Over the years, I’ve literally saved millions of keystrokes.  For instance, I create a lot of shortcuts.  The normal method is to take your hand off of the keyboard, right click the mouse button, move the arrow to new, then move the arrow to the right and left click shortcut.  My easier and much faster method is to keep both hands on the keyboard, move my pinky finger over and push the button I’ve programmed to create a shortcut.

I’m lazy.  I like pushing a key to check my e-mail, another key to shift to my web browser, another to start Facebook, etc.  I’m sure you’d enjoy using programmable equipment too.

My next goal in computing is to study and finally master AutoHotKey, a free, open-source utility for Windows.  With it you can create hotkeys for the keyboard, joystick and mouse.  Then you can automate almost anything by using scripts to send keystrokes and mouse clicks.  I should be able to get even lazier.

Thanks for reading.

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Computing Memories – Originally Published August 2010

July 1, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

This months computer club meeting topic of the Smart Table got me to thinking about how much technology has changed in my time.  One of my first computer memories was when I was still in high school and UNIVAC was in all the news.  No one really had any idea what the thing was good for.  The census used one to somehow make counting the population easier.  It was a different world back then and nobody really much cared about a machine that was bigger than the family car and needed a special air conditioned room.  The thing that really interested them was the Texas Instruments pocket calculator.  My daddy was a feed salesman and the company that he worked for provided him with one of these expensive machines.  I remember him getting it out to show us how he could add 2 and 2 without making a mistake.

When I joined the Navy, I had my first experiences with using a computer.  I got to run the keypunch machine.  If I made a mistake, a ship could easily get 10,000 pounds of butter instead of 1,000.  Back then, the Navy paid in cash.  In later years, our paychecks were actually an IBM computer punch card.  Now, many employers don’t even issue checks.  It’s all done electronically.

In the late 1970’s computers started to catch on.  IBM was the company created the home market.  Their 8086/8088 weighed about 30 pounds and had a whole MB of random access memory.  It blazed along at a speedy 4.77 MHz.  Other companies that built computers soon started advertising themselves as IBM compatible.  If you worked for IBM, you were required to wear a tie.

This is also the era when many of us started building our first computers.  Zenith Heath Kits were all the rage.  They didn’t work any better, but we were smarter because we built our own.

The operating system of choice in those days was PC-DOS.  There were many other ones, but the home market was mainly CP/M or one of the DOS systems from Apple, Atari or Commodore.  In the early 1980’s, a fellow you may have heard of bought an operating system called 86-DOS which was also known as Q-DOS (for Quick and Dirty DOS).  Bill Gates later renamed it to MS-DOS for the company that he founded.  I’m pretty sure that Microsoft is still in business today.

Home computing started to really take off in the 80’s when Radio Shack introduced the Trash 80 (oops. I meant TRS 80).  Apples home computer was the Lisa and Texas Instruments had something called the TI-99.  I remember the first computer I bought.  It was a Commodore VIC20.  I loved that computer with its 5 KB of RAM and the data cassette storage, even though it often took 3-4 minutes to load a program.  Incidentally, the VIC20 was the first home computer that sold a million units.  In later years the Commodore 64 was even better.

The first really innovative computer program to be sold was the spreadsheet VisiCalc.  Like so many other successful things, clones like Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc and Microsoft Excel were soon on the market.  Did you know that Microsoft’s Excel was first introduced for the Apple Macintosh?  It was only later that it was ported to Windows.  Wordstar was the first commercially profitable word processor.

The real software revolution were the games.  I don’t think you could walk 50 feet without seeing somebody playing Space Invaders, PAC Man of one of the many variations of Pong.  I’ll confess that my favorite games were made by Infocom.  They specialized in “interactive fiction” games.  I still remember their advertising slogan, “We put our graphics where the Sun don’t shine.”  Graphics adapters later put this type of adventure game out of business.  Their first game was Zork which debuted in 1980.  I still have it on my desktop computer.

In the old days, the only decision to be made when you bought a monitor was whether to have green or amber output.  The only sound you could hear was the tinny beep for the operating speaker.  The only mouse in the computer room lived in the wall.  Printers were all dot matrix and printed about 30 characters a minute.

Of course, one of the biggest changes in computing has been the internet and use of e-mail.  I’ve heard that e-mail was invented by a Nigerian that had a lot of extra money to spend. The browser choices were Mosaic or Netscape.  We’ve come a long way from logging in to the Bulletin Board.

I’m going to shut up for this month.  Please remember that I’ve just written about some of my computing memories, so the facts may not be 100 percent correct.  I’m just amazed at how far technology has advanced.

See you at the Smart Table.  Thanks for reading.

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Windows Keyboard Shortcuts – Originally Published June 2010

July 1, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I remember back in the last century when the computer mouse was invented.  I resisted buying one because I thought it was useless technology that wasted time because you had to remove one of your hands from the keyboard.  Back then we could do it all with the CTRL and ALT keys. Other tasks were easily accomplished with a batch file.

Back then, we were mostly limited to CTRL – cut and paste.  Now, the old saying has come true, “We’ve come a long way baby!”

When the Windows 95 operating system was released, a new key was added to the keyboard.  For me, the windows key has always been a “super” key.  It has so many useful functions that I find it hard to believe how many people fail to use the flag key.

Here’s a list of the shortcuts I personally use the most often.  This list is for Windows 7, but many of the combinations work with previous Windows versions.  Just hit your windows key and the key(s) in the left column to enable the right column action.  It’s a heck of a lot faster than moving the mouse and clicking.

+ Home Minimizes all but the current window
+ Spacebar Preview Desktop (makes all open windows transparent)
+ Left Arrow Tiles the window on the left side of the screen
+ Right Arrow Tiles the window on the right side)of the screen
+ Alt + # key Accesses the Jump List of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
+ T Cycles through the items on the Taskbar
+ # key Switches to a running program on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
+ Shift + # key Launches a new instance of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
+ Ctrl + # key Accesses the last active instance of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number
+ T Cycles through the items on the Taskbar
+ M Minimizes all windows
+ Shift + M Restores all minimized windows
+ D Show/Hide Desktop (minimizes/restores all windows)
+ L Locks the computer
+ Tab Accesses Windows Flip 3D and cycles forward through open programs
+ Shift + Tab Accesses Windows Flip 3D and cycles backward through open programs
+ Spacebar Preview Desktop (makes all open windows transparent)
+ G Cycles through gadgets
+ Up Arrow Maximizes the current window
+ Down Arrow Minimizes the current window
+ Home Minimizes all but the current window
+ Left Arrow Tiles the window on the left side of the screen
+ Right Arrow Tiles the window on the right side of the screen
+ F1 Launches Windows Help And Support

Of course, there are many other keyboard shortcuts that use the CTRL or ALT key instead of the Windows key.  Personally, the combination I use most often is CTRL+Z.  This is the shortcut that will undo a previous action.  I make so many mistakes that I learned that one a long time ago.

I don’t think that it’s possible for anyone to memorize all the keyboard shortcuts. I suggest you search the internet and review the lists.  I’m sure that you’ll enjoy your computer more when you waste less time reaching for the mouse.

That’s about all I’ve got to say this month  I think that it’s time for me to either ALT+TAB or ALT+F4 away from my word processor.

Thanks for reading.

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Funny Stuff on the Internet – Originally Published May 2010

June 30, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I just love going to a carnival.  I don’t go on many of the rides any more, but I just love all of the fun things there are to do.  Unfortunately, carnivals can be pretty dangerous too.  There are always pickpockets who will steal everything they can.  We often hear of rides that injure people.  About the only thing that is really safe is the healthy food you can buy.

The internet is a lot like a carnival.  Everyone knows about the dangers and we all keep our antivirus programs updated.  I know that all of the SWLAPCUG club members have got their router firmware updated and their firewalls activated to keep the bad guys away.  Since everyone is so safe, I thought that this month I’d talk about some of the fun things to do on the internet.

There’s about 161,000,000 of them.  I know that everyone doesn’t have the same idea of what’s fun, but maybe if I tell you about my favorite sites, you might find something entertaining.

One of the things you can find a lot of on the internet are free games to play.  If you’re looking for games to play, good place to start is the Freeware Genius lists of top games.  My personal favorite online game is Texas Hold’em Poker.  There are a lot of places to play, but you’ll usually find me at World Series Poker at games.com.  If you like to play hearts, I recommend you try Bicycle Hearts at the Microsoft Gaming Zone.  The Gaming Zone has been around for quite a while and they have lots of games.

I’ve never been much of a television or movie watcher, but I love to listen to the old time radio shows.  Most evenings I’m listening to The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Jack Benny, or my personal favorite – Fibber McGee & Molly.  My hard drive has about 21 GB of radio program files.  You can get them at The Internet Radio Archive.

In December 1995, Bill Watterson retired from cartooning and I lost my daily dose of one of the funniest cartoons ever.  Now, thanks to the internet, I can still read Calvin & Hobbes everyday.  You can probably find a daily comic you’ll like at GOCOMICS, COMICS.com, or ArcaMax Publishing.  None of the comics sites require registration.  Make sure you check out Pickles, another one of my favorites.

“The Alphabet has been Updated with 15 Exciting New Letters” is only one of the funny satires you’ll find in The Onion.  The fictional paper was started in 1988.  They‘ve been around more that twenty years, so they must be doing something right.  Their fictionalized news seems so genuine that it has occasionally been cited as real news.  I’ve got to warn you though.  There is often adult language used in the paper.  Another funny paper is the Bongo News.

Another web site that never fails to make me laugh is Over The Hill, a senior citizen humor site.  If you like senior citizen humor, you also might like to check out Geezer Guff.  The Darwin Awards is a chronicle of enterprising demises honoring those who improve the species………by accidentally removing themselves from it!

Maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but I think some of the videos on You Tube are extremely funny.  One of my all time favorites is Blonde Star, a commercial parody.  Of course, the Little Babies make almost everyone laugh.

Sometimes when I’m really bored, I click the Random Link Generator 40 or 50 times and end up finding an interesting web site to browse.

As you might or might not know, I’m a transplanted Northerner. When I talk with my brother and sisters on Facebook, I usually translate into Southern for them.  Everybody gets a few laughs.  Translating into a dialect is easy when you use The Dialectizer.  As I write this you can convert into eight different dialects.  It hardly ever fails to make me laugh.

Here is a sample:
As y’all might o’ might not know, I’m a transplanted No’therner.  When ah talk wif mah brother an’ sisters on Facebook, ah usually translate into Southern fo’ them, dawgone it.  Ev’rybody gits a few laughs.  Translatin’ into a dialeck is easy when yo’ use Th’ Dialeckizer.  As ah write this hyar yo’ kin cornvaht into eight diffrunt dialecks.  It hardly evah fails t’make me laugh.

That’s just a few of the things I like to do on the internet for fun.  I hope you enjoyed them too and maybe found a new site you’ll visit often.  Do you have a favorite place you think everyone should know about?  Why not take a minute right now and go to the club website.  Log in, go to the forums and post the link so we can all check it out.

Thanks for reading.

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My New Technology – Originally Published April 2010

June 30, 2014 Posted by Tiny

My New Technology
By Tiny Ruisch

I’ve finally replaced my old IPAQ pocket computer. It was four years old and getting to be outdated technology.  Not only was it getting old, three of the buttons had quit working and the rest were very erratic.  During the course of a typical day, I usually had to reboot it three or four times.  I’ve carried a pocket PC for many years (it was my third IPAQ).

A few months ago, when I mentioned to Stuart that I was going to buy a new IPAQ, he suggested that I buy a smart phone.  I told him that I wasn’t interested in smart phones because I liked Windows Mobile and the ease of syncing with Outlook on my home computers.  He showed me his HTC Mogul phone and I liked what I saw.  I did a little research and ended up buying a HTC Touch Pro 2 (TP2).

The people at the Sprint Phone Store seemed to think I was a little nuts when I explained that I wasn’t buying a phone, but was replacing a pocket computer that happened to have cell phone capabilities.  The TP2 is loaded with a 3.6 inch touch sensitive screen, a slide out keyboard, GPS, Bluetooth, wireless WI-FI and a 1500 mAh battery.  This machine boasts 512 MB of ROM and 288 MB of RAM.  The expansion slot will accept up to a 16 GB MicroSD card.

One of the features that I really like is the speakerphone.  There are two speakers on this machine.  You can set it on a table and easily talk up to ten feet away.  That is really useful to someone who mostly only makes family calls where everyone talks at the same time.

The camera and video camera are adequate, but not great.  What is great is the output.  With a cheap video cable, you can hook the phone up and view on your television or computer monitor.  Last month at the SIG meeting, I hooked up to Woody’s 62 inch TV.  Everyone agreed that the picture was decent and the processor adequate for watching videos.

The TP2 has a slide out QWERTY keyboard.  The keys are slightly bigger than most phones and are offset to resemble a typewriter.  The screen tilts which makes the keyboard much easier to use.  Almost everyone that I’ve showed the machine to has told me that they wish their phone had this keyboard.

I’m included on my daughter’s Sprint plan.  She subscribes to everything they got.  I can use my new Pocket PC for web surfing, email, GPS, TV, music, Sprint radio, voicemail and messaging.  Many of these features I’ll probably never use, but I have tuned in to Handy Manny on Sprint TV and handed the phone to my grandson.  Worked fine.

I won’t bore you with a list of all the software applications installed on the TP2.  I use the Windows Mobil Media Player every day while I’m on my morning walk.  Eleven audio and seven video formats are supported.

I use Excel and Word Mobile all of the time.  I can reach in my pocket and tell you how many miles I walked last year.  When I’m at the doctors office, his questions are usually easy to answer because I’ve got most of my medical data on my pocket PC.  Reviewing past blood glucose is helpful in maintaining my blood sugar levels.  Its nice to have the history in my pocket every day.

I’ve been experimenting with voice recognition and have downloaded a few utility programs.  Everything I’ve tried on my home network seems to be working OK.  Many things (like printing) is usually easier done from either my desktop or laptop.  I’ve got my machine set to automatically synchronize every time I connect.

I should take a minute to tell you how hard I am on my telephones.  I usually carry them in my shirt pocket and I often forget to remember to hold on to them when I bend over.  I’ve accidentally dropped two of them in the toilet.  So far, I’ve managed to drop my TP2 three times.  The worst incident was when I was walking.  I took the machine out of my pocket.  When I put it back, I missed the pocket and dropped it on the concrete roadbed.  I’m happy to report that you can’t tell that I’ve dropped my pocket computer.

There are a few things I dislike about the TP2, most of them inconsequential and easily fixed.  The system calculator is lousy.  It has a copy function, but no paste.  I wish the screen was a little bigger.  The solitaire program is still pretty hard to beat.

I’d guess that you can see I’m pretty impressed with the capabilities and quality of the TP2.  It’s a great pocket computer with a pretty decent telephone attached to it.  Just ask when you see me and I’ll be glad to demonstrate it for you.  I‘ll even show you how I wrote this article on my pocket pc.

Thanks for reading.

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