Windows 7

Wow, Its been a while since I've posted to this blog. Since my last post I've had a brief exposure to Windows7, and I'm impressed. It looks like Vista, smells like Vista, and tastes like Vista. On the other hand it's much faster than Vista, at least it seems that way for the minimal amount of time I had to play with it. I'll be putting together some new videos on Windows7 at my tutorial site www.videotutorialsonline.net.

New Years Resolution - maybe!

Every year it's the same old same. New Year's resolutions that are never kept. But we make them anyway so that at least we can say, "we meant to". Ok then, if you're going to resolve to do something, make it worthwhile.

See your computer, over there under your desk, collecting dust. Well, how much information does it hold and how important is that information? What would happen if you lost all of that information? I get people coming into my shop everyday with bad hard drives, and they're all upset because all of they're family pictures are on that drive. All of their business information is on that drive. And, of course, they have no backup. Oh, but, they meant to do it. They looked into it. They said it was time they got it all backed up. But now, unfortunately, it too late.

Backups have saved my butt many times. I especially love it when a customer comes in and says, " I have backups of all my files". It decreases everyone's stress levels, and makes my job so much more bareable.

Backups are so easy to do. The easiest way is to get an external backup drive. I made my own with a laptop hard drive and an enclosure. I keep all of my important documents on it and my web site information. Not only does it secure all of the information, I can take the web site files home to work on.

DVDs are cheap and rewriteable. Keep your files organized and copy them onto a dvd on a regular basis. Flash drives, aka Jump Drives or thumb drives, are supper simple. Plug it in copy your files. You're done. There are online backup services that can store your files for you and you don't have to do a thing. It's all automatic. I know of a real estate appraiser that keeps all of her files on an online backup service. I had to replace her drive, she downloaded all of her files, back to business in less than 24 hours. How great is that!

Isn't it worth a few extra minutes each day or each week ( depending on how much information you add to your files), to save the stress and aggravation of having to redo a project, or rebuild a database, or retype those letters and forms that you use everyday. You'll never get back those memories in all those photos you've taken.

Check out my video on backups and check out these links to online backup services. Make a resolution to backup you files. You'll be glad you kept this one.


Computer Clinic Backups page

Picasa

I've been getting requests for tutorials on how to use Picasa2. So I've created a video and uploaded it to my web site, http://www.videotutorialsonline.net . Part 1 of the video is basically an introduction to the software and an intro to it's parts. The next video will go into more details on how to actually use the many features of this software.

It's a very simple to use program that allows you to manage and edit photos, and allows you to email, upload to a blog, create CDs and more.

Check out the video and let me know what you think. There's a link to a feedback form on the homepage.

BTW, thanks for the comments you've sent. I'm glad you like the videos!

Microsoft Office Part 4

Part 4 of my series on Microsoft Office is uploaded. It contains a tutorial on how to use templates and building blocks, and some information about inserting symbols and special characters.

Hope you're getting something from these videos. Drop me a line, leave a comment. Let me know what you think.

Video tutorials on poker

Ok..how many out there play poker? C'mon now I know you're out there.....that's right you know who you are. I'm playing poker right now (listening to "A Charlie Brown Christmas")

So I make these videos about how to dual boot two operating systems and how to use Office 2007. But I wonder how many people would like to see videos (animations) on how to play poker. Games like hold'em and omaha and stud. I was thinking about creating a site with videos similar to the ones on my current site.

I'll admit that most of my knowledge has come from a web site that replayed hands in a tournament and explained or critiqued the play. But only hold 'em. I see more people wanting to learn other games.

Well...ideas are a dime a dozen. The only good ideas are the ones you take action on. Time to get to work.....after I win this tournament.

The future of online learning..now!

There are many sites on the internet offering some kind of tutorial, most of which are written out in steps. I find that I learn better when I see something being done. Video tutorials have helped me learn Office, Dreamweaver, Flash and many other applications specific to certain tasks.

I was reading an article where the author claimed that video learning on the internet is becoming more popular and may also be used in schools. I guess that's nothing new since distance learning has been around for many years. I guess with the advent of You Tube, the idea of video learning is becoming more popular.

I have several videos posted on you tube and have gotten a good response. Check out my video tutorials by clicking on the links. Let me know what you think

Vista Service Pack

The first video I posted on my web site was an introduction to Microsoft Vista called What's New in Vista. I spent quite a bit of time playing with Vista and except for a few hiccups, I like it. Well , now it seems Microsoft will be putting out a Service Pack for Vista. It's reported that it will fix most of the bugs that have been causing crashes and there's an update to the driver file which should make it easier to operate Vista with older peripherals. I'm sure in time Vista will become the operating software of choice.

Some years ago Microsoft put out a terrible operating system ( at least in the eyes of most people) called Widows XP. It crashed often, it didn't work with older programs and older peropherals (sound familiar), and today I have people insisting on Windows XP on their PCs. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

If you would like to know more about Vista, view my video and if you'd like to try it out without losing XP, view my video on Dual Booting Vista and XP.