Posts Tagged: ‘Software’

Open Office – Originally Published March 2012

July 14, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)The pr
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

As I write this article, you can purchase Microsoft Office from Amazon for $202.99  If you have a student ID, it is only $123.49.  There is another method for saving yourself some cash.

OpenOffice can be downloaded and used entirely free of any license fees.  OpenOffice is released under the Lesser General Public License.  This means you may use it for any purpose – domestic, commercial, educational, public administration.  You may install it on as many computers as you like.  You may make copies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees – anyone you like.  (If you check their website, you’ll find out that I didn’t write this fancy paragraph all by myself).

OpenOffice has five modules.  Writer is a full feature text document editor that many technical writers say is better than Word.  Calc is a spreadsheet program that can completely replace Excel.  Impress is the OpenOffice alternative to Power Point.  Base is a data base module.  Draw is a graphics package.

I’ve got to tell the truth. I regularly use only Writer and Calc.  I’ve got all of the other modules installed in case I have to open a Microsoft Office file.  All of the components of OpenOffice can load and save Office files.

If you do a Google search to compare OpenOffice and Microsoft Office, you will find that many of the sites rate OpenOffice the best choice for personal use and Microsoft Office as best for business use.  This is because with Microsoft, you get technical support if needed.

OpenOffice support is done via an extensive online help the forums on the website.  You can also download a user guide.  There is an online forum for asking and answering questions.  Additionally, several users have created tutorials that demonstrate the ease of using OpenOffice.  If you want to spend some cash, there have been several books written on how to use the software.

For more information, check the OpenOffice website.  You can download OpenOffice here.  Try it.  I think you’ll be convinced.  Like all of the programs featured in my Lagniappe articles, the price of the program is zero.  If you like it, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Key Tweak – Originally Published February 2012

July 11, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)The pr
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

My left pinky finger is a real klutz when I’m typing on my keyboard.  I’m a touch typist and seldom look at the keyboard when I’m writing.  Many times, I hit the caps lock key instead of the shift key.  Then, a few minutes later, I’ve found that I’ve typed a paragraph or two in all capital letters.  There are many utilities that will convert letters case, but I’ve found an easy way to avoid them in the first place.

KeyTweak is a simple utility that allows you to redefine your keyboard input signals.  The goal of the program is to make remapping keys easy and manageable.  It’s easy to use.  The installer is only a 0.3 MB download, and runs on Windows 2000 and above.  When you run it, you’ll see a map of the keyboard.  With a few clicks you can change one or more key assignments.

Other features of the program are:

A simple interface;
Ability to Teach remapping by pressing the keys to be remapped;
Easy to read lists of all current and pending re-mappings;
Remove all re-mappings with a single button; and
Enable/disable annoying keys.

If you decide to try this program and later remove it from your computer, you must remember to restore your keyboard to its original values.  To download the program, just go to your favorite download site (CNET, Major Geeks, Tucows, Softpedia, etc.) and search for “keytweak”.

Like all of the programs featured in my Lagniappe articles, the price of the program is zero.  If you like it, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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CCleaner – Originally Published January 2012

July 10, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)The pr
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

If you haven’t heard about Piriform’s CCleaner, I would guess you’ve either missed a few club meetings or dozed off during them.  CCleaner is a utility that should be in everyone’s computing tool box.  It is a optimization, privacy and cleaning tool.  It removes unused files from your system which helps it to run faster.  It cleans traces of your internet activities from all of the major browsers.  Additionally, it has a registry editor, start up manager and uninstall utility.  The program includes a drive wiper that effectively overwrites your drive data and completely erases it.

CCleaner is easy to use (see figure 1).  After you start the program, Click on “Cleaner” in the left column.  Check the items in the left pane that you want to clean (hint: the defaults are probably all you need).  After you’ve made your selections, click the “analyze” button on the bottom of your screen.  After a short time, the program will show a list of files that will be deleted and an estimate of how much disk space will be recovered.  Clicking “Run Cleaner” in the bottom right will remove the files from your hard drive.

Figure 1

There are two schools of thought about using registry cleaners.  Many say (including some Microsoft employees) that registry junk is a fact of life that doesn’t hurt anything.  They say, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.  Others (myself included) contend that regular registry cleaning will help keep your computer from getting broke.  There are hundreds of registry cleaners on the market, so there is obviously a demand for them.

Using the CCleaner Registry Cleaner is as simple to use as the file cleaner (see figure 2).  Click the “Registry” icon on the left.  Check the items you want to clean and then select the “Scan for Issues” button at the bottom of the window.  After the scan is completed, click the “fix selected issues” button on the bottom right.  I recommend that you backup the registry when the option is offered.

Clicking the “Tools” icon lets you select the CCleaner utilities.  The included tools are a program uninstaller (similar to REVO uninstaller), a start-up menu controller (similar to msconfig), a system restore function and the drive wiper.  All of these should be used with caution.

CCleaner is a contraction of the original program name.  It was originally called “Crap Cleaner” because it really cleans that stuff off of your computer.  I’ve yet to read a bad review of this program.  You can download it at www.piriform.com.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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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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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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Technological New Year Resolutions – Originally Published January 2010

June 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I’ve been writing this monthly column for almost a year now.  One of the things I’ve learned is that it is usually pretty hard to decide what topic to write on each month.  January is almost a gimmee topic.  Technological New Year’s Resolutions that I’ll try to keep.

This year I’m going to try to be better at doing my data backups.  I’ve got a backup schedule, but sometimes put it off to do other things.  I know it’s not wise to do that, but sometimes I accidentally eat a stupid pill.

This year I’m going to try harder to write a monthly column for the newsletter and actually submit it in a timely manner . I know that waiting until the last minute just makes it harder for the editor to complete the monthly bulletin.

This year, I’m going to finally organize all of my pictures and picture albums.  I’ve got photo albums in three places on the internet.  I’ve got pictures stored on four different hard drives.  I can probably delete a few thousand pictures and still have plenty left.  Do I really need more than one picture of the same scene?

This year, I’m going to devote more time to my other hobbies.  I haven’t had my telescope pointed at the sky in a long time.  My model railroad has been gathering dust for a month or so.  Oh well, at least I haven’t missed any SWLACUG meetings.

This year, I’m going to update my website more often.  I think I’ll steal some of Tom’s ideas and add some technical columns.  I could at least copy my Whatchamacallit articles.

This year I’m going to quit downloading and installing software that I’ll probably never use.  Do I really need another digital photo editor?  Will a different media player make my mp3’s sound better?  How many file cleaners do I really need ? Then of course, there are the games I’ve downloaded, played once and forgot about.

This year, I’m going to frequently remind all club members to help make our club a little better.  It doesn’t take much to do.  Just share your experiences with the software or hardware you use.  You’d be surprised at what you know that someone else doesn’t.  Some of my favorite web sites were recommended to me by someone else.  I didn’t sign on to Facebook until it was a meeting topic.  Now I spend quite a bit of time using the service.  Why don’t you write a one paragraph article letting everyone know how great or lousy the flash drive you just bought is?  Why not post a note on the club forum when you’ve found an interesting sale.  Maybe the most important contribution you could make is letting the club know what topics you would like to hear about at the monthly meeting.  Why not make a suggestion on what you’d like to see articles about in the newsletter?

On a different subject, I’d like to take a paragraph and say how much I enjoyed the 2009 club Christmas meeting.  I thought the gifts were all pretty good and I am getting a lot of use out of mine.  As always, the food was delicious and the company was better.

That’s all for this month.  Thanks for reading.

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Installing the Windows 7 Upgrade – Originally Published November 2009

June 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

FedEx delivered the two copies of Windows 7 on Friday, October 23.  I set the package on the living room table.  On Saturday afternoon, my wife asked if I was planning to open it up.  I said, “I suppose so.”

When it comes to technology and new software, I’m basically a Luddite.  I usually have little desire for the latest or greatest.  I don’t need the biggest, fastest computer.  I’d rather have reliability.  I never download beta software.  Isn’t that kind of like driving an automobile that might not have all of the parts?  Besides, why should I debug the stuff for no pay?  You’d think software companies would at least give you a license for the product if you’ve helped them fix the problems.

Back on July 7, I surprised even myself and pre-ordered Microsoft’s new operating system – Windows 7.  Normally I could care less which operating system is installed.  I just want my software to run efficiently.  I’m a pretty careful computer operator and rarely get the famous blue screen of death. (Could that be because I don’t require the latest and greatest?

Sunday afternoon, I sat down to install the upgrade on my desktop.  All my backups were up to date.  I took the advice from one of the technical journals and decided that this would be a good time to uninstall some of the software that I don’t use any more.  Surprisingly, I found twelve candidates.  Most of them were format converters or some type of picture viewer or editor.  Most of them I hardly ever opened.

Next I ran the Windows Upgrade Advisor.  This program does a detailed analysis of your system and installed software.  On my desktop, it took almost thirty minutes to finish.  The report generated includes three sections.

System Requirements: This section checks your Upgrade Status, Windows Mail and Parental Controls, CPU Speed, RAM, Hard Drive Free Space, And Windows Aero capabilities.  My system passed all except for the mail and parental.  I received the following advice, “Windows Mail and Parental Controls (Web Filtering) are not included in Windows 7.  You can get similar programs from other software manufacturers or go to the Microsoft website to learn more.”

Devices: This section of the report does a complete analysis of all the hardware on your system.  Before you run the advisor, make sure that all of your scanners, readers, etc. is attached and turned on.  All of the devices on my system were compatible with Windows 7.

Programs: This section of the advisor examines all the software installed on your computer and checks if will run under Windows 7.  My computer had two programs that were not compatible.

The first was Microsoft IntelliType Pro 6.3, which is the software for my programmable keyboard.  This program was flagged as not compatible with Windows 7.  I knew there was a software upgrade available and decided to wait until after updating to download it.  I didn’t think I would be using any fancy macros while upgrading the operating system.  The other program was Canon Camera Window MC 6 for ZoomBrowser EX, which is the software for my camera.  The upgrade advisor said, “You might experience minor issues using this program while running Windows 7.  For more information, go online to the manufacturer’s website.”

I figured I was finally ready to start so I inserted the disc into my drive and started the install.  I was immediately warned that my computer would shut down and restart many times.  The first screen had two options: Check compatibility online or install now.  Next, I was offered the option to check for installation updates, which I did.  Finally, I was given the standard little square box with the licensing agreement. I’ve already commented on these things in previous columns.

The next screen asked if I wanted to do an “upgrade” or “custom” install.  With the upgrade install, you keep all you programs, settings, disc partitions, etc.  The custom installation wipes everything and installs a fresh copy of the operating system.  I selected the upgrade option and the install started.  The first twenty minutes consisted of another compatibility check.  This time, the previous two programs were listed along with Microsoft Mobile Device Center software.  It was suggested that I stop the installation, uninstall the three programs and reinstall them after the operating system update.  There was neither a back button nor a stop install button.  The only choice was to continue the installation.  I assumed the next screen would let me quit.

The next screen told me that the upgrade was in progress.  Do not turn off my computer.  The upgrade went smoothly after that. Several times I was told that it could take several hours and my computer would shutdown and restart several times.  After the software installation, the program checked for updates.  There were eleven operating system/security updates and three software updates (including my keyboard and the mobile sync program).

Next, I went through several setup screens for preferences.  Finally I was asked to input the 25 digit software key.

The entire installation took two hours and thirty minutes.  My computer restarted four times.  The only “quirks” I noticed were the no “back” or “abort installation” buttons.  I also thought it was strange that I was asked for the installation key only after the install.  If you don’t have the key, what then?

Overall, I was pleased with how easy the upgrade installed.  My computer boots up about 1-½ minutes quicker.  Windows 7 appears to be on the way to living up to its glowing previews.

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Things I Hate About Computing – Originally Published October 2009

June 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

This month I’m going to rant, criticize and complain just a little.  The other day, my wife and I were in one of the home improvement stores and I thought that it would be a good time to pick up a new water filter for our refrigerator.  I went over to appliances and told them I needed a new filter for a Whirlpool.  He immediately asked me which of the nine filters I needed.  Of course I had forgotten to memorize the filter number so I found our refrigerator on the sales floor and told the salesman, “One to fit that model.”  Naturally, it was the wrong size filter.  When I went back to exchange it, I found out that a different model year takes a different filter.  What does all that have to do with computers and electronics?

It got me to thinking about some of the things I really hate about computing.  I’ve probably got 30 or 40 different USB cables in my junk box in the closet.  Every time you buy something that is USB supported, you get another cable.  Why is this?  It’s because each manufacturer has their own proprietary plug.  They have to include a cable because none of my other 30 cables will fit the darn thing.  I recently got a new cell phone.  Same manufacturer, different model.  You guessed it.  I’ve got another USB cable in my collection.  Wouldn’t it be nice if everything had a standard plug and didn’t have the cable included?  Think of the money that could be saved.  Wait a minute!  Then they couldn’t sucker people into paying $20 for 3 dollars worth of wire.

Another thing about electronics that makes me made are the End User License Agreements (EULA).  I’m one of those persons that read them pretty carefully before installing anything on my computer.  My complaint isn’t the fact that they are written by lawyers.  I can use the internet to identify the legal terms.  I have yet to find a EULA that can be read full screen.  Instead they write them in a little window that usually covers about a tenth of my screen.  I really think this is done to discourage people from reading the agreements.  Just get them to click “I agree” and get it over with.  I wonder how many people downloaded Google Chrome before the EULA was changed?  Do you suppose Google changed their EULA because someone finally read the EULA and told others what it said?

I can live with SPAM (I usually don’t even see it) and I don’t mind being bombarded with internet advertisements (I can always go to other sites).  I really hate it when websites pop up a window asking for information that they will probably never use.  For instance, the Des Moines Register wants to know my age, sex and country.  They then store the data in a cookie on my computer.  When I tell them that I‘m 22 year old female, I get the same advertisements as the dirty old men get.  Why waste my time?

My last big frustration is forwarded e-mails, which I usually just delete.  Should I really have to click page down 2 or 3 times to read the cute story or learn about the latest internet scare?  Besides, I think it would be a good thing if the government made business e-mails pay a 10 cent tax.  I bet we’d all get a lot less Viagra offers.

That’s enough ranting and complaining.  Next month I’ll write something useful for the newsletter.  By the way, did I mention that the two water filters had two different prices?  Does that remind you of anything computer related?

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Categories: Whatchamacallit

Blurb Books – Originally Published September 2009

June 22, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Toni Morrison said, “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
So many people have asked me about the picture book I published for my Grandson’s birthday that I thought I would use this months “free advice” column to tell everyone about it.  The idea was easy.  I searched through the thousands of pictures I took of his baseball tournament games, put in some commentary, a few baseball quotes and had the idea for a perfect gift.  Now all I had to do was get it printed and bound.  I wanted something a little classier than a scrapbook.

As with many other items, if you do a Google search for book publishers, you’ll find millions of them.  How do you decide which one won’t rip you off?  My method was to search various forums and find out what other photographers recommended.  Most of the recommendations were for Lulu, Blurb, Viovio, Shutterfly and Snapfish.  I decided to give Blurb a try and I wasn’t disappointed.

To start your book, you have to download Blurb’s Booksmart software.  You begin by deciding what the physical size of your book will be.  There are six different book sizes from the smallest (5×8 inches) to the largest (12×12 inches).  After selecting the dimensions of your book its time to add the content.  BookSmart provides templates for Title pages, Table of Contents, Introduction, Chapter titles, Index and Content pages.  If you don’t like any of them, you can design your own layout.

BookSmart provides an excellent selection of text editing tools.  You can control horizontal and vertical justification, fonts, text color, photo borders, and many other text and photo attributes.  Photos are added via drag and drop into frames on each page.  Text frames are easily added or resized.  Editing text and photographs is easy.  Photo editing is limited to zooming and cropping, flipping, and adding borders.  If you need to edit the way the photo itself appears, you’ll need to use your regular photo editor.  Another neat feature is Group Book.  You can invite other people to collaborate on your book by uploading pictures and content for you to consider adding to the book.

Blurb has an awesome help system.  Help and support, information about pricing and shipping, helpful tips and book ideas and much, much more are located in easy to find locations, with no complicated paths to follow to get there.  There are ten FAQ sections which are all searchable by keyword.  There are also five forums where customers can share their tips and ask questions.  There is also an E-mail support section.  Blurb also has several tutorials, videos and demos that will show you how to use the software.

How much will it cost to print your book?  It depends on what type of book cover you choose and how big your masterpiece is.  The cheapest book you can print is a 5×8 soft cover, 40 page, no color book for $4.95.  You could go all out and get a 400 page 12×12 hardcover book for only $186.95.  Blurbs prices to seem to be competitive with the other sites I looked at.  Shipping is extra.

After you publish your book, Blurb keeps it on their servers as long as people are buying copies of it.  There is also a public bookstore where creators can buy and sell their books.  You can set your own book price and pass the link on to people that you hope will purchase their own copy.  A word of caution.  If you decide to publish a book, I recommend you triple check the spelling and each pages layout.  Then I would suggest you have one or two other people proof read it for you.  Blurb doesn’t check the manuscript.  Once you upload the book for printing, you can’t make any changes.

The book quality is excellent.  The books are printed on a high gloss paper and the binding is superb.  I’ve borrowed the Grandson’s book a lot of times and have shown it to many people.  I have yet to receive any negative feedback.  I’ve only mentioned some of the main features.  There is a lot more you can do. The software is available for both PC and MAC.  If you’re planning on publishing a book, I can highly recommend BookSmart available from Blurb.

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