Export Your Webmail Contacts List

I heard a scary story on the radio the other day. I was listening to Leo Laporte's Tech Guy call-in show on KFI and someone called in to say that clients had recently lost all of the contacts from their online email account. And there was no way to get them back. They were devastated. Years and years of email addresses and other info, gone in a flash.

The caller was recommending that everyone immediately export their contacts list so that they will have a backup in case they run into this sort of situation, and Leo agreed.

They were using webmail of some sort, and it doesn't really matter which one - AOL, Yahoo!, Gmail, hotmail or anything else. The point is that it's foolish to rely on them to keep your data safe. It's rare for a disaster to happen, but it's not impossible, as these poor people learned.

Each system will have different methods for exporting a file with all of your contact information, so I won't try to walk you through it here. But check it out now, before it's too late.

What Do You Mean When You Say Google?

What exactly are people talking about when they refer to Google? Well, if we're talking about the seniors I work with they could mean any number of things - the most common are the Google Search page, the Google Search bar,  Gmail, and the Google Chrome browser. It's very helpful to know, first of all, that they are not all the same thing, and secondly, what each one is.

The Google Search Page:

Google.com - This is where you go when you want to "google something". In other words, to look something up, to look for information about something or find a link to a web page.

Google Search Bar:

Many people have something like this built in to whatever browser they are using. Sometimes it is in a separate line all by itself and sometimes as seen here it is just a little window on the same line as the address window where you type in web addresses (URLs). It functions as a shortcut to Google search. It simply saves you the trouble of going to the main Search page. You can type your search term in directly without going to the main google.com web page.

Gmail

Some people call this Google Mail. This is just a regular email system like hotmail or Yahoo! Mail or AOL mail. You send and receive email by going to the Gmail web page (gmail.com) and signing in with your email address and password.

You can do this from any computer that is connected to the internet. It is not connected to Google Search, they just happen to be produced by the same company.

The Chrome Browser (seen in the screenshot above)

This is also referred to as Google Chrome, but I try to avoid that term because Google has other products named Chrome - an operating system called Chrome and a netbook computer called the ChromeBook .

But the Chrome Browser is exactly what it says, a web browser, and is a competitor with Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, and Apple's Safari. You use them to navigate the internet.

You do not need to be using Google's browser (the Chrome Browser) to use the other Google products like Search and Gmail. Most people in fact use IE, Firefox and Safari. I prefer to use the Chrome Browser because it is fast and the interface is uncluttered, but I don't need to just because I have a Gmail address.

Once you've got these separate products straight you won't get so confused when someone else says they "just use Google". You'll be able to say with confidence, "Oh, did you mean Gmail or are you using the Chrome Browser".

Why You Should Have More Than One Browser

I ran into a situation with a client the other day that reminded me how dangerous it is to have just one browser application installed on your computer.

With this particular client the problem was that Internet Explorer suddenly stopped working. At all. Every time she launched it it shut down immediately. It apologized first and offered to report itself to Microsoft, but still.

At that point it became clear that we were in real trouble, because the easy solution would have been to update IE or to download another browser. But we couldn't. Because we needed a working browser to do either.

It eventually got all sorted out, and she now has both Firefox and Chrome installed, but the experience put the fear of god into me. Everyone should have an extra browser or two around for emergencies. Download one now.

Laptop vs. Desktop, Part 2

In a previous post I mentioned that a laptop may not be the best choice for an older user because they may need a large screen because of vision problems and a separate keyboard because of mobility issues. To expand on that theme, here are two more reasons that a desktop setup may be the better choice.

1) Many older people have an awful time trying to move the cursor around the screen with the touchpad that is typical on a laptop. Using a mouse is difficult enough. The touchpad is nearly impossible for anyone with hand tremors or severe arthritis.

2) Laptops are by nature portable. But an older person with unsteady gate or coordination problems may not appreciate that portability. What you see as an advantage they see as a hazard, something that they can drop and smash.

And while I'm on the subject of mobility issues, when shopping for a computer for an older person be sure to take a look at some of the all-in-one models like a Dell Inspiron One or an Apple iMac. They will be much easier for a senior to manage simply because they'll never have to get down under the desk to turn the damn thing on or off.

How to Save Emailed Photos - Step-by-Step

Here's a question I get a lot. Someone just emailed me a photo. I want to save it. How? Sounds simple, but it can be daunting because there are a lot of steps, especially if you're a Windows XP user as most of my friends are.

So here's a step-by-step guide using Gmail as an example. If you're using another email program your process might be a little different, but will be very similar.

Step 1: While looking at the email that has the photo attached, click on the "Download" link. See the red arrow below.

Step 2: In the window that pops up that says "File Download" click on the "Save" option (circled in red).

Step 3: In the next window that pops up, if you see an icon for "My Pictures" in the column on the left, then click that. If, as in the example below, you don't see a "My Pictures" icon, then click on the one that says "My Documents".

Step 4: Those of you who clicked on "My Documents" in Step 3 should now see a "My Pictures" item in the main window (see the red arrow below).  Double-click it.

Step 5: At this point everybody should see "My Pictures" in the small "Save as:" window at the top (circled in red below).  That indicates that the photo will be saved in your "My Pictures" folder, which is where Windows XP wants you to save everything. Click "Save" and you're done.

If you have any sub-folders already created you should see them in the main window. If you want to create a new sub-folder, you'll need to click on the small yellow and orange icon indicated by the red arrow below.

Step 6: If you've opted to create a new sub-folder, you can name it here.

Once you've named your folder, click "Open".

Step 7: Now you should see your new folder in the "Save as:" window at the top. Click "Save" and you're done.

Learn the language. Please?

I love to help people with their tech issues. I really do. But the most frustrating part of the job is often just trying to figure out exactly what's wrong, or what's being asked, because the user can't communicate clearly.   Today's gadgets are wonderful tools and can open up whole new areas of fun and learning. But you've got to put in some work if you expect your friends to help you out when you're in trouble. It's just like learning a few words of Spanish before you get on that bus that's going to take you into the backcountry in Mexico. You don't need to know any Spanish but you'll be glad you do if there's a problem.

The days are long gone when you could pretend you didn't know what a mouse was and people thought it was cute. It's time to cram some basic terminology into your brain.

Desktop - The word that people use for what you see on the computer screen when there are no programs running. It makes no difference that it doesn't particularly resemble the top of any desk  you're familiar with. That's what it's called. Live with it. There are usually icons on the desktop that you click on to open the programs. As with real desktops some are messier than others.

Browser - The program that you use to access the internet. There are quite a few options:  Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and others. You need to know which one you have. You should see the name of the program in the upper-left hand corner of the window when you have the browser open.

Address Bar - The area where you type in a URL (aka the web address) to get to a website. It is at the top of the browser window, but looks slightly different in every program.

URL - the address of a website - amazon.com is a URL

Search Bar - Most current browsers have an area to the right of the Address Bar where you can do a quick web search without going to a separate website. For example, regardless of what page you are currently looking at you could type search terms into the Search Bar and get taken directly to a Google results page. The Google Chrome browser goes one step further and lets you do searches by just typing in your search terms in the Address Bar.

Window - The rectangular area that pops up when you open a program that lets you work within that program. For example, if you open up the Word program a window will pop open so you can create a document. If you open up your web browser program (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.) a window will pop open that lets you go to web sites by typing in a URL . Windows can be resized and also moved around on the screen. That lets you look at more than one thing on your desktop at a time and you can bounce between the different windows and even copy text and images from one to another.

Don't print everything in color

Printer ink is expensive. Really expensive. Every computer I know lets you change the print settings to default to black and white. But out of the box the default will invariably be to print color. Which is a huge waste of money. Learn how to change the settings. I can't tell you here exactly how to do it, not knowing what software and hardware you have. But there is a way to do it and if you look in the printer manual or look online you will be able to figure it out.

Back it up - again

Again with the backup reminder, you say? Well, yes, again. Because you're still not paying attention. 3 - 2 - 1

Do it.

Text, Email or Phone? What's the Difference?

Now that so many of you have not only cell phones but cell phones capable of sending text messages and email, it has become clear that some of you aren't sure which method to use when. So here's the short course:

When you want to reach someone right away and need an answer right away, send a text message. If the recipient has their phone turned on and with them, they'll get it - right away.

When you want to tell someone something but don't need an immediate response and you don't care if they read it for a few hours or longer, send an email. Most people don't check their email on their phones, so there's no guarantee that they will see your message right away.

If you absolutely, positively need to speak to someone in person, call them and leave a voicemail. But don't be surprised if they don't pick up. More and more, people are starting to prefer texts and emails over talking on the phone.

Examples:

If you are in the middle of Home Depot and have wandered away from your spouse, don't send her an email asking where she is. Send her a text. She'll get it right away.

If you want to let somebody know that you had a really good time at their party last night and ask them for the recipe for the bean dip, don't send them a text. There's nothing that needs urgent attention and you may interrupt her in the middle of something important. At the very least you're going to annoy the hell out of her.

Don't call someone on their cell phone and not leave a message. Unless you have blocked your number they'll be able to see who it was who called them. So don't leave them hanging, leave a message.

Things You Can Change

Again, this is really, really basic stuff. I've been amazed recently to find so many of my friends being irritated on a daily basis by their cellphones and computers. Unnecessarily irritated in many cases. So here's a few tips: Cellphones:

• You can change the ringtone.
• You can change the volume of the ring.
• If you find them annoying you can turn off the alerts for incoming emails and text messages.
• You can change the order of the icons on your home screen to make them more convenient for you.

Computers:

• You can change your desktop background.
• You can even replace it with a photo of your own.
• You can turn the speakers off so that you won't get startled when you go to a website that automatically plays music.
• You are not stuck with the Yahoo or Comcast home page that the cable installer set up for you on your browser. You can make it anything you want.
• You can add your own shortcut icons to your desktop to make it easier to get to your photos or emails or web pages.

Gadgets these days are extremely customizable. If you find something annoying, ask somebody how to change it. Chances are it's easy.

There are two kinds of people in the world...

.... those who want to learn how to use their computers and gadgets and those who say they want to. I don't know why it's taken me so long to figure this out, but I have a feeling that now that I have my life will be much more serene. Up to this point I have always assumed that when someone asked me to show them how to do something, like change their desktop background or email their photos to their kids, they really wanted to learn. And I would try to teach them. With mixed results. Extremely mixed. Sometimes things would go well and other times not. There might be some stomping off involved. Sometimes.

So here's what I've discovered. A typical request for help starts out, "Can you show me how to do X." Some people mean it. Others mean "I can't figure this out myself, and frankly I don't want to, but it sure would be nice if you'd just do it for me and then I won't have to." The problem is that the second group never says that. Don't ask me why.

So the trick is to find out which group people are in before the fight starts. Because the people in the second group will never remember what you show them, because they weren't paying attention, they were just waiting until you fixed the problem for them and they could go back to what they really wanted to do.

I think I've been slow to figure this out because I enjoy solving problems and I love all the latest tech gadgets. It's been difficult for me to accept that not everyone is as excited as I am. But alas, they are not. So in the future, I'm going to be sure to ask the right questions at the outset, "Would you like me to do that for you? Or do you really want to learn how to do it yourself?"

How not to address an email

I do not want the email addresses of everyone in your address book. And I'm sure that most of the people in your address book don't want mine either. So stop sending them to us.

Did you notice you were doing it? Probably not. And even if you did you probably didn't know how to avoid doing it or you wouldn't have done it in the first place.

So here's the deal. When you send an email out to more than one person by typing or copying the address into the "to:" field, everyone can see it. That means that if you've included all 150 people in your address book they all get to see each other's addresses. Ditto with the "cc:" field. And some people might not appreciate you sending their email address to total strangers (or ex-husbands). Also, if your list is very large it can be a drag to scroll past all those addresses to get to the actual message.

How to avoid this? Use the "bcc:" field instead of the "to:" field. Most young people aren't familiar with the origin of "bcc", but those of us who remember the days of carbon paper and typewriters know it was used in business letters. It meant "blind carbon copy" and let the author signal to his secretary to send a copy  to one or more people without the original recipient being aware of it.

In an email, when you paste those addresses into the "bcc:" field everyone who receives your email will see only that you sent it, but not to whom.

So - put your own address in the "to:" field, leave the "cc:" field blank, and put all those other addresses in the "bcc:" field.

Much cleaner, and much appreciated by all your friends.

Control-F is for Happy

Often it's the little things in life that make me happy. Control-F  makes me happy. Or more accurately, Control-F when I was using a PC. Now that I'm using a Mac my heart belongs to Command-F. They both do the same thing. F is for find. And they let you find text on a web page. That's it. Doesn't sound like much, but oh my, the time it saves you.

I'm sure you've had the experience of googling a search term, then clicking on a resulting link and being totally baffled about why google sent you to that page. If you wind up on a page that has a lot of text and goes on forever, it can be really tedious to search through it looking for what you're interested in.

So, just hold down the Control key (the Command key on the Mac) and hit the letter F at the same time. Then look around. A small pop-up window will  appear somewhere on your browser. Might be at the top, might be at the bottom. Just enter the term you're looking for and it will get highlighted for you. Try it right now, on this page.

Happy?

How I Know

How do I know the keyboard shortcuts to type the degree symbol? How do I know how to create a web page? How do I know how to transfer shows from my Tivo to my iPhone? People ask me for computer help all the time, and sometimes they ask me how I know all that stuff. I just figured out the answer myself the other day. I know how because I am interested, and because I don't have anybody to ask. So I have to figure it out for myself. My friends don't have to figure it out themselves. They can ask me. And I'm glad they do.  Most of the time.

How to get your photos from here to there

Friends usually call me in a panic when they've promised to send someone a photo within the next 5 minutes and then they realize they don't know how. And while I'd love to be able to walk them through the process in 30 seconds that's not going to happen.

If we were in the same room, and if I was familiar with all their gadgets, then perhaps it would be different. But there are so many combinations of digital cameras and camera cards and cables and card adapters and email programs and computer operating systems that, barring a miracle, it's just bound to get ugly.

So the time to learn how to email your photos is before you need to.

Here are the main issues. Do you even know where the photo files are on your computer? Do you want the person you are sending them to to be able to print them out or just be able to look at them on their computer? How many are you sending? Because most service providers won't let you send a large number of photos at one time.

The first trick is to get your photos from the digital camera into the computer. And there are a number of ways to do that. The easiest by far is to buy a card adapter from Amazon or Best Buy that plugs into a USB port on the computer. You just put the camera card into the adapter and copy everything onto the computer. The details of doing that vary from operating system to operating system, but it's usually pretty straight-forward and little dialogue boxes pop up on the computer screen to help you along.

As far as sharing the photos, if your computer is a Mac then you're way ahead of the game, because Apple has made it fairly easy to share photos with the native iPhoto software that comes with your machine. The photo below has an arrow pointing to the email icon.

Click on the photo you want to share, then click on the email icon and follow along. You'll be asked to decide how big you want the photo to be and then your email program will open up and automatically attach the photo to an otherwise blank email. Just add any message you want to send along, address it and press send.

The file size you should choose depends on what the other person wants to do with the photo. To print it out at a decent size you should send the original file, for just looking at it on the computer you can use any of the other options. Experiment by sending things to yourself to see how they look.

Those of you on Windows machines are in for a bumpier ride. I know some of you use XP and some use Vista and some use Windows 7. Microsoft has posted directions on their support pages that walk you through the steps. Click on the links below.

Windows XP

Windows Vista and Windows 7

With computers there is always more than one way to skin a cat, so there are other ways to attach photo files to email than the ones above. And there are other ways to share photos without using email. But I think the steps above  are easiest for people who aren't too tech-savy to understand. And remember, practice doing this before you wind up in a bind.

Printing out your Gmail

It has come to my attention that some of you out there are confused by the printing options in Gmail. One of the really nice features of Gmail is that it can show  your messages in a conversational "thread." If you send Susie an email and then she replies and you reply back and then so does she and so do you, etc, all of the messages you exchange will show up in the main message window on one line, with the number of the nested messages shown in parentheses next to your name and Susie's name.

This can be very handy. However, when you click on that line you'll see all the messages stacked up, and then off to the right an option that says "Print All".

Apparently a few of you think that this is the only print option available. It's not.

You can print out individual emails by clicking again on the one you want to single out or clicking on the "Expand All" option right under "Print All". Then all you have to do is click the little down arrow to the right of "Reply" and you'll see the option to print out just the current email.

OK?

Flash Drives

One of the easiest ways to back up the files on your computer and keep them safe is to put them on a flash drive. What's a flash drive? Geez Louise, where have you been the last 10 years?

Flash drives, also known as thumb drives, are like itsy-bitsy hard drives. They're small enough to carry around on a keychain, or around your neck (some even come with lanyards so you can do just that). You just plug them into the USB port on your computer and they act like a hard drive.

When they were first available they wouldn't hold much data, but I saw one on Amazon just now that will hold 128GB. That's bigger than the hard drive on my last Dell desktop. They're asking $375 for it, but the smaller ones are dirt cheap. You can get a 2GB model for under $10. That's a lot of storage.

They have a lot of advantages over CDs and DVDs for backup, too. For one thing, they're solid-state, which means they don't have any moving parts. So they can get knocked around quite a bit without breaking. I've lost CDs by accidentally scratching them, and one by leaving a post-it note on top and having the surface of the disk peel away when I took it off. Who knew? Flash drives are also generally formatted so that you can use the same one on both Macs and PCs, which is handy.

You can buy them at almost any place that sells office supplies. My local hardware store sells them. They're all about the same, so don't worry about which brand to get. Get the cheapest one they have. And back up your stuff.

How to keep track of your files

In one of my first posts I mentioned that a lot of people think their documents or photos are stored within the programs that created them, so that for example their Word documents are actually accessible only from within Word. But they're not. You can store your files in lots of different places on your computer - on the desktop, in your My Documents folder, or even in a folder you create. So it's important to understand how that process works. It helps to think of your computer as an electronic filing cabinet. In a physical file cabinet you can have lots of file folders, and each folder can have many different kinds of stuff in it. Same thing with computer files.  You can put different file types in a file folder, so that a single folder can contain documents, photos, audio files, video files, spreadsheets and on and on. You can even "nest" folders, putting lots of folders inside other folders. Folders are just a device that help you stay organized. You can name them anything you want, and you can store them  anywhere you want.

Both the Windows and the Mac operating systems have programs that let you visualize the contents of your computer. The Windows program is called "Windows Explorer" (not to be confused with Internet Explorer, which is their web browser, and I'd love to talk to the nitwit that named it that). The Mac program is called "Finder". They're different in looks, but they both do the same thing - allow you to keep track of where your files are.

Here's a Windows Explorer window:

And here's a Mac Finder window:

For now, ignore the stuff in the left-hand columns and focus on the stuff to the right. Those rectangular icons (yellow in Windows and blue on the Mac) are supposed to look like manila folders. If you click on the plus signs (Windows) or arrows (Mac) next to any of the folder icons the view will expand to show the contents of that folder. In the image below you'll see that I've expanded the Mac's Pictures folder to show that it contains .jpg files, a .png file, a PDF file, a .pxm file and a bunch of file folders :

Some of these files were created by the Photoshop program, some came directly from my digital camera, the .pxm file was created by the wonderful Pixelmator image editing program, and one file I downloaded from the web. If you were to click on the little arrows next to any of the other folder icons they would expand in the same way and you could see what files (or other folders) are stored in there. The point is that I put those files in there, not that they wound up there automatically.

You can create your own folders any time you want, using the File menu in Finder or Windows Explorer.  You can store your files in any folder you want. You're not stuck with the "default" location that your Word or other program chooses for you. All you need to do is choose the location you want when you save and name the file, using the Save As command in your File menu.

Why webmail?

Someone asked me such a basic question the other day that I was almost stumped for an answer. I had mentioned that we have broadband access through  Comcast cable, and she asked why I didn't have a comcast.net email address. I've had a Gmail account for so long I'd almost forgotten why I got one in the first place. The answer is that if I ever want to change ISPs I won't have to change my email address. If you use the email address that your ISP assigns to you, then it's a bit of a hassle to switch to another provider because you have to notify not just friends and family but all the websites you have accounts with.

In my case that meant notifying three banks, 4 credit card companies, the local library, my doctor, two newspapers, Walgreens, my health insurance company, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, my cell phone provider, and what seemed like a zillion more.

So my recommendation to everyone is to get an email account set up that can follow you around. Gmail is great, but there are others, like Yahoo, that will give you a free account.

Desktop vs. Laptop

When my mother moved into an assisted-living facility a few years ago and was thinking about buying a new computer I tried to talk her into getting a laptop. She bought a desktop instead and I was a little miffed that she ignored my advice. I was wrong.

She made exactly the right choice, and here's why it might be the best choice for you or someone you know:

The two things that she really needed the most in a computer were a really large screen and a full-size keyboard that she could move into a position that was comfortable for her. Neither of which is available on a laptop.

And the one thing that I thought she would appreciated about a laptop, the ability to carry it around the facility, downstairs into the sitting room or outside onto her patio, was the one thing she had zero interest in.

The issue with the screen is key. A lot of older people have problems with their vision and have their browser settings adjusted to zoom in so that they can easily read the text. But then, when they're looking at a website they can't  see a whole page on the screen at one time.

Which, besides being really annoying, turns out to be compounded by other common difficulties, decreasing eye-hand coordination and/or tremors.

Imagine how frustrating it must be when the only way to see the whole page is to scroll up and down and side to side and  you're having trouble getting the mouse to go where you want it it.

So now I recommend a desktop for most older users if they have the space for one. Or at least an external monitor connected to an existing laptop. Get them the biggest screen that's practical.