The Trouble with Single-Spacing

The single most annoying computer-related problem I have had over the years is the difficulty in formatting text. I once spent the better part of a day re-typing my husband's resume over and over again just to get the bullet points to line up. It made me long for the days of typewriters and carriage returns that went thwack! when you hit them.

And why on earth is it so hard to single-space something?

Based on the number of questions I get, I know I'm not the only one irritated by this. It's not just Microsoft Word documents either. A lot of web-based text editors have similar issues, including email programs.

So here's a quick tip that will save you a lot of time when you're either in a hurry or just not in the mood to figure out the "right" way to create a piece of single-spaced text:

Instead of hitting "enter" use "shift-enter".  Works almost all the time.

I know it may not be the best thing to do all the time, something to do with hard-returns and paragraph breaks versus line breaks, yak, yak, yak. But for most casual uses it's just fine. Shift-enter. Done

Print Screen to the rescue

Here's a quick tip that can save you some trouble: If you're ever having trouble printing out a web page because the website is being buggy, you can always just do a printout of the screen.

I know this because it saved a lot of hair-pulling around here a few weeks ago. We had purchased tickets online for a baseball game and needed to print them out to take to the stadium. Every time we printed them out, the bar code field was blank. And naturally, the bar code was the most important part of the transaction. In fact, the bar code was the only thing that we really needed.

It was clearly visible on the screen, but it just...would...not...print...out.

We called the ticket broker, and the rep said that we weren't the only ones calling in. And they didn't have a solution. We fumed for a while and then someone (actually it was me) had a brilliant idea. Just do a screen print.

I'm working on a Mac, and it was easy peasy. I have mine configured so that if I hold down the Command-Shift-4 keys it lets me drag a box around what I want to capture. Command-Shift-3 takes a picture of the whole screen. You can also set up shortcuts that let you capture just the active window.

You can accomplish the same thing on a PC by using the PrtScrn key if you have one, which makes a copy of the screen that you can then paste into a Word document or an image editor. And I'm sure there other ways to do it too.

But my real point is, don't panic. If you can see something on the screen there's a way to get it printed out.

Before you call me.....

Who knows why it works, but the method that has the highest chance of fixing even your most complicated computer problem is the simplest: just shut everything off, wait a few minutes, then restart. Internet connection go out? Restart. Browser acting up? Restart. Menu bar gone missing? Restart. Printer won't print? Restart. No sound coming from speakers? Restart.

If the simple restart doesn't fix the problem, the next step is to make sure that everything is  completely shut down, perhaps even unplugged if you're the superstitious type. Wait for 30 minutes, then try again.

Then, and only then, if the problem is still there are you allowed to call your favorite geek for help.

Attachments that won't open

Your brother-in-law emailed you a file. You clicked on it and it won't open. What to do next? Well, the first thing to do, if you want to go about this systematically and learn something in the process, is to find out what kind of file it is. He may have sent you a photo, or an audio file, or a plain text file, or a Word document, maybe a spreadsheet, or god only knows what all. Usually, when you click on a file (or double-click it) it just opens up on its own. That's because your computer recognizes that particular kind of file and chooses the appropriate program for you. But in some instances the file type isn't recognized by your computer and so it does the digital equivalent of standing around scratching its head. Once you know what kind of file it is, then you can tell the computer what kind of program it needs to use to open it.

So, how to recognize file types?  In most cases it's simple. You look at the file name, and the last bit, the part after the dot, will tell you. That bit is called the file extension:

.doc - Word files .txt - plain text files (Word opens these, but so can other text programs) .xls - Excel files .jpg - photo files .jpeg - also photo files .gif - different kind of photo file (may be animated) .mp3 - audio file .pdf - come on, you know this one, they're PDFs

So a file named " barbeque.doc" would be a Word file, while "barbeque.jpg" would be a photo, and so on.

Now the little list above shows just a fraction of all the file types that exist. For example, people with the newest versions of Word may be sending you files with the annoying .docx extension. You may have to download a little add-on thingy from Microsoft, but after that your regular copy of Word will open them. But the ones above are the most common.

I've found that the main reason that a file I've received in an email is unopenable, is that the person sending it accidentally removed the file extension while he was renaming it. So a photo file that was originally named "DSC00815.jpg" is now "Bermuda.sunburn". The problem with that is that "sunburn" is not a file extension. In order for your computer to recognize the file as a photo he should have renamed it "Bermuda.sunburn.jpg".

If you know he sent you a photo, and the file name doesn't look right, just rename it yourself, adding the .jpg to the end. That may just do the trick. You can't damage the file by renaming it, so even if you don't know what type it is you can try different extensions with no harm. You will get an error message when you change the extension, but it's safe to ignore it, and you can always change it back if you're wrong.

Most computers come pre-installed with some sort of software that will read the basic file types in the list above. You may not have Word, but you should have some sort of word-processing software that will open a .doc or a .txt file. Ditto for .jpg and .gif - you probably don't have Photoshop, but you most likely have a basic photo viewing or editing program. Spreadsheet files? Maybe not. If you don't have Excel you may not have a suitable program. Not to worry. You can always download a free program like OpenOffice or use a free web service like GoogleDocs. Audio files should not be a problem either. For PDFs you can download Adobe Reader or lots of other free PDF Readers.

So if you've taken a look at the file and it has one of the extensions above (watch out for any extra stray punctuation like a dot a the end that doesn't belong there), and you've opened those kinds of files above before with no problem, then there's something else wrong with the file and you may never know what the issue is.

You shouldn't be embarrassed to ask the sender what kind of file it is and to resend it. You'll be surprised how many times the problem turns out to be on their end and not on yours.

Well, it hasn't killed him yet.....

And that's the best that can be said about the transition process I'm putting my husband through right now. He desperately needed a new computer, and so I figured we might as well switch him over to a Mac, since all of our other computers are Macs.

The problem is that he is, how can I phrase this to put him in the best light? Well, "uncomfortable with change." And so all the little things that some of us would adjust to fairly easily, like the different placement of the "close" buttons on the windows (on the right on a PC, on the left on a Mac), first alarm him, and then annoy the hell out of him.

There have been a few times when I was afraid that his head might explode. For example, there were a rough couple of minutes when he thought I had accidentally erased all of the notes in his Outlook contacts file. Ditto when he became concerned that he wouldn't be able to access any of his email from last year.

But to his credit, it's been less than a week since the big switch and he's hanging in there. And learning a bit more every day.

The takeaway lesson here is that if you're thinking about making a switch to a Mac, go for it. If Mark can do it, so can you.

Update: September 17, 2010 - It's been a rocky summer, but all is well. He still has the occasional question, but overall I'd say the switch was a success. And I'm not constantly worried that the house is going to be invaded by viruses.

My computer's really slow....Do I need a new one?

It depends. But first things first. Did it just suddenly get really slow? Danger, Will Robinson! There's something seriously wrong, and the first thing you need to do is backup all of your stuff to external media. But if it's been a gradual slowing you can relax a bit. There are any number of reasons why your computer may have slowed down over time. With Windows machines in particular there seems to be a gradual buildup of what I think of as electronic silt, or sludge, that can slow things to a crawl. This can happen so gradually that you don't even realize it until one day you notice that you can make yourself a cup of tea and scramble some eggs for breakfast in the time it takes to open a spreadsheet.

There are a lot of software products on the market that claim they will speed up your machine. Don't fall for their pitches. Many claim to speed things up by cleaning out your "registry". This is so dangerous that I get twitchy just thinking  about the damage you could do by attempting it. Registry editing is something best left to the pros, believe me. It's a mistake I've made more than once.

Some people will tell you all you need to do is "defrag" your hard drive. If only it was that simple. I've done that many times, and the speed increase was minimal.

The best thing to do is to reinstall Windows (notice I'm not addressing Mac users? That's because the Mac OS rarely silts up like Windows does).You'll need to back up all your files first, because what you'll basically be doing is erasing your hard drive and then putting things back to the way they were when you brought the machine home. It's the only sure way to get things humming along again. It's a bit complicated, so you should probably call your nearest geeky friend or relative and ask them to help you out.

But back to the sudden slow-down scenario. It could be that something is about to fail on your computer. So be sure you keep backing everything up to external media while you're waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Or it could be that you've acquired some sort of malware, what people call viruses and spyware. If that's the case, the fix is the same as for the silting problem, because the only sure way to get rid of malware is to reformat your hard drive and reinstall your operating system. Again, there are a lot of products on the market that claim they will remove malware. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. The problem is that you can never be 100% sure that your system is clean. The programmers who create malware are clever and relentless, and once your computer is infected there's always a chance that the removal tool you've used didn't catch every last bit of nasty code. So you need to wipe the drive. Sorry.

So, you shouldn't need to get a new computer just because yours has slowed down. It just needs a thorough cleaning. But if you were asking the question because your computer is older and you're looking for a good excuse to get a new one, go for it. I'll help you with the shopping.

File Save.... File Save As....

God, I really hate to have to write this post. Anyone below the age of 40 has known this since they were toddlers. But there are those among my friends who are unclear on the concept, so here goes: The difference between the "File...Save" and "File....Save As" options in any File menu  is that if you choose the first option while you are editing a file you will be overwriting (updating) the file. If you choose the second option you will be given the opportunity (via a pop-up menu) to create a new version of the file, with a different name (and in a different storage location if you prefer).

Why is this important to know? One, because it's always nice to know how things work, and so you won't be confused about why there are two options.

And two, because if you're at all unclear about the difference, you should remember to use "Save As" all the time. Here's why. When you choose "Save As" you get the pop-up menu I mentioned. And it will automatically show you the current name of the file and where it is located. So you can examine the info and then decide if you want to make any changes. You don't have to, you can just leave it alone, but you have the option. Not so when you use "Save". When you use "Save" it just writes over the file. No going back.

When you use "Save As" and you choose a new file name, one that is different from the original, you will be creating a new file and leaving the original untouched.

I often use "Save As" a lot when I'm working on a project where I am making incremental changes to a file and I want to be able to go back to an earlier version if I mess up. I just keep creating new copies named things like "cat_photo_1", "cat_photo_2", "cat_photo_3", etc.

What the hell is a podcast, and why would you care?

I take a long walk most mornings along the beach. And while I'm walking I listen to podcasts and other audio content on my iPhone. I catch up on NPR programs like Fresh Air and more geeky stuff like This Week in Tech. The problem is that when I mention to someone later that I heard this or that on a podcast, I get a blank stare. Or worse, I get asked for an explanation. Many of my friends have never heard of podcasting, which I have to admit is an unfortunate name. Nothing to do with pods or ipods or anything at all pod-ish.

Podcasts are audio and/or video files that you can download from various places on the internet. A podcast is just a generic term for the files. They can be produced by almost anyone. Hell, I could make one myself and distribute it to my friends if I had anything to say.

However, most podcasts are produced by people who actually have something interesting to say. Most of them are episodic and let you subscribe to have them automatically downloaded to your computer when a new episode is available.

There are lots of different ways to download them. Some of them are available on their own websites and some of them are available through programs called "podcatchers." I use iTunes as my podcatcher because it's so easy and because I'm already using it to manage my iPhone.

If you're interested in seeing what kind of content is available, just open up iTunes and go to the iTunes store and click on the podcast link. There are podcasts for every taste and interest. News, science, music, astrology, foreign language study, arts and crafts, humor, sports.....you name it and somebody is producing a podcast about it.

[caption id="attachment_350" align="alignnone" width="444" caption="Screenshot from iTune podcast page"][/caption]

Download a few and check them out. My favorites are NPR's Fresh Air and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me and Car Talk, and the TWIT Network's This Week in Tech, The Daily Giz Wiz, and MacBreak Weekly, all produced by Leo Laporte.

Leo is the king of podcasting, and I've been subscribing to his shows for years. My family teases me that I talk about him as if I actually know him.  But in fact, many times when someone asks me where I heard something, I avoid the whole podcast explanation by just saying, "My friend Leo told me."

Do you need to be on Facebook?

No. Not unless your kids want you to be. And in that case they can set everything up for you and just give you the password.

Password Protection - Not

You really don't need to protect your passwords from yourself. Really you don't. But apparently most people I know think they do. Because I get calls all the time from friends saying that they can't get onto their home network, or log on to their router, or that old email account they haven't used in a while, because they can't remember what password they used.

So here's a quick tip: keep a log file of your passwords. You don't need to post it for everyone to see. But for god's sake, do put it somewhere where you can find it.

It doesn't need to be a computer file. Frankly, it might be better if it's not, because then if your hard drive dies you'll still have your passwords (because you and I both know you're still not backing up your hard drive). Even a collection of post-it notes in a drawer somewhere is better than nothing.

And about the router password. You password-protect your router to protect yourself from people outside the house, not inside. So do yourself, and your houseguests, a favor and tape the password onto the router. We'll all be glad you did.

Why I Hate Outlook

Because it stores all your important information in one big file. Yep, that's right. ONE BIG FILE. It's called a .pst file, and it contains everything you've ever entered into it.

So that if something happens to that file, you have now lost all of your contacts, all of your notes, all of your calendar info, and all of your email. ALL AT ONCE.

And don't think it won't happen. Hard drives crash. Sodas get spilled onto laptops. Oops, sorry, your stuff is gone.

I have been trying to wean my husband off  Outlook for years. I first started nagging him about the issue a few years ago when his .pst file was a litle over 2GB. It was behaving erratically, refusing to open, refusing to close, and being very, very slow. That's when I discovered that that version of Outlook wasn't designed to handle files over 2GB. He was supposed to be archiving his older emails to keep the file size down. But he didn't want to do that because he likes having them close at hand.

So we upgraded to a newer version of Outlook. Problem solved, in his mind. But I started to worry. And nag, "Please switch to a different program".  But he was resistant because he was used to Outlook, and he didn't want to have to learn a new system.

And so the file keeps growing. And growing. And growing. It's now a 5GB ball of wax.  And to me it looks just like a time-bomb. It's too big to back up to a CD, and he doesn't have a DVD burner. I back it up to my computer over our wireless network and it takes for-ever.  And since it's a pain in the butt to do, I don't do it as often as I should. When it goes he's probably going to lose a few weeks worth of stuff. And I'm going to have to bite my tongue.

So, if you're one of those people who has an automated backup program (anybody?) or if you back up your Outlook file to an external device every day (anybody?), then by all means,use Outlook to your heart's content. It's a terrific program, very sophisticated, very versatile, and you already know how to use it.

But don't come crying to me when you lose all your stuff.

What’s a Browser?

Ok, I know this sounds ridiculous to anybody under the age of 30. Everybody knows what a browser is, right? Nope. I know lots of people who use their computers almost every day who go completely quiet when I ask them what browser they're using. Internet Explorer? Silence. Firefox? Silence. Safari? Silence. Trying a different tack, "what program do you use to go onto the internet?" Dead silence. "How do you go to a web page, like CNN.com or Amazon?" The answer 9 times out of 10 is "Google".

So, here's the deal. If you're going to use a computer, and you're going to be asking other people for help, there are a few basic terms you need to be familiar with. Browser is one of those.

A browser is a program that you run that lets you access web pages on the internet. There are lots of them. The aforementioned IE, Firefox, and Safari, plus Opera, Google's fairly new Chrome, and others. They all do basically the same thing, they just have different layouts and features. Pick one and stick with it.

At the top of each of these browser program windows you will usually see two places where you can enter text. One is called the "address window" and the other is the "search window".  Here's an illustration:

The arrow on the left points to the address window, the one on the right to the search window.

First, the address window. Say we're on the phone and you're complaining that you're on the American Airlines website trying to book a flight and you're having trouble. In fact, all you can see are ads for rental cars. The easiest way for me to make sure that you're on the right web page, and haven't accidentally navigated yourself out of AA entirely, is to have you read me the info in the address bar. So it's important for you to know where it is and what it looks like. Whenever you are browsing the web,  the address (also called a URL) shows up in the address window.

And if you're trying to go to a website where you know the address (URL), then that's where you enter it. Quick tip here: you don't need to type in the "http://www" any more. If you do, you'll just be wasting time. All current browsers assume that that's what you want, so you can just type the last bit, like amazon.com or google.com. In fact, most of them don't even require the .com any more. You can just type amazon or google and you're good to go.

Second, the search window. In the illustration above the default search engine is Google, but there are other search engines available, and  if you look closely at the left side of the little window you'll see a down-arrow. Clicking on that will show you a menu of other options, like Yahoo! and Wikipedia. You can always go to the home pages for Google.com or Yahoo.com, etc. by entering their addresses in the address window and entering  your search terms there, but the search window is a handy little shortcut.

Things to remember if you don't want to look like an idiot

Ever have this experience when someone is trying to show you something on your computer? Usually one your kids?  Their fingers fly around on the keyboard, something happens on the screen, you look confused, then they look at you like you're a moron? And you get the feeling that everyone in the world knows that cute little keyboard trick but you? Well guess what? Everybody else does. Computers aren't new any more. You don't get a pass by looking dazed and saying "I'm just such a klutz with these things." This stuff is here to stay, so focus, and learn a few things. You'll be glad you did.

The following skills are extremely basic. But anyone reading this who is rolling his eyes and thinking that everybody knows them already obviously never met my friends.

Selecting text and images:

You can select almost anything that you want to copy by holding down the left mouse button while dragging the cursor across the screen. As you do that,notice that the text gets highlighted. That means it's selected. When you've highlighted everything you want to select, release the mouse button, and it should stay highlighted (highlit?).

Here's a selection trick that comes in handy for making small selections and also for refining larger selections. Highlight some text, then hold down the shift key and use the right or left arrow key to expand or contract your selection. When you're done, just let go.

Copy and Paste:

You can copy text and/or images in almost any program or web page. Then you can paste them somewhere else, such as into another program. Here, there, anywhere. Very handy.

All you have to do is first select the content you want to copy (see previous paragraph) and then do one of two things (I know, there are other ways, too, but these are the easiest to remember for most people) - either click on the program's File menu and then Copy, or use a keyboard shortcut (Windows users hold down the Control key and the letter C, Mac users hold down the Command key and the letter C). At this point, nothing will happen, you just have to take it on faith that you've made a copy of the selection.

To paste, put the cursor into the space where you want the selection to go. Make sure you see the cursor blinking in the space where you want the text to go. Then do one of two things - either click on the program's File menu and then Paste, or use a keyboard shortcut (Windows users hold down the Control key and the letter V, Mac users hold down the Command key and the letter V).

So, Control-C for Copy and Control-V for Paste? What's up with that? Why not Control-P for Paste? Don't ask me, I didn't design the system. That's just the way it works. Control-P is for print. Get over it.

Copy and Paste is nearly universal among computer programs. Doesn't work with Quicken, but with almost everything else I've used. You can even use the keyboard shortcuts in situations where the window you're dealing with doesn't even have a File menu. So give it a try.

Setting your browser's home page:

A lot of people don't know that you can change the web page that opens whenever you start your browser. In fact, I know a few people who think that without the Yahoo home page they can't get to the internet. Not so. In fact, if you want, you can have your browser open to no home page at all, just a nice white blank space, which can be very soothing sometimes.

Every browser has some sort of "preferences" menu that lets you choose what page you want to see on start-up. It won't be hard to find, it's somewhere in one of the menu bars at the top of your browser window. And the directions are pretty clear. So change it to something fun, like CNN or Martha Stewart. You'll all be happier when you don't have to look at Yahoo any more.

Use Google to find help:

This is the biggie. Google really does have all the answers. You know when you email me and describe a problem you're having with your computer and I get back to you right away with the answer? It's not because I'm a genius. Not even close. The truth is I just googled the symptoms you gave me, and the answer was right there. Usually on the first page of results.

So the next time you run into a stumbling block, can't figure out how to do something, have an odd error message - instead of emailing me, try typing the problem into Google first and see if you can figure out the answer on your own. You'll feel so empowered.

Back in the early days of home computing you had to follow very rigid search rules. Things had to be within parentheses, in order of importance, etc. Life has gotten a lot easier since then. Now you can be pretty relaxed about the search terms you type in. Recently I couldn't remember how to type the character for a trademark. So here's what I typed into the Google search bar - keyboard shortcut for trademark symbol on a mac. Got the answer right away. No special syntax needed, just plain english. ™

Nothing lives in Word....Really

A common misperception among my friends is that all their documents are "inside" Microsoft Word. This leads to all sorts of confusion. For example, sometimes they will think a file has disappeared because it no longer shows up on the File menu in Word. Or they will think that they need to open Word before they can edit, copy, rename or delete a file. Recently, I realized this isn't a small issue. It's a basic misunderstanding of the way their computers work. I seem to remember that during the DOS era you needed to open the program that created a file before you could access the file (or I could be hallucinating, it's been a long time). But in any event those days are long gone, and we need to move on, people.

So listen up - nothing is in Word. And that goes for Excel and all your other programs. Here's a simple way to look at it. A program like Word or Excel is just the software that creates the files. The files are independent of the program. A file can be a document, or a photo, a video, or a sound recording. Actually there are many more, but those are the most common.

When you create a file and then choose to save it, you are usually given a choice as to where you want to save it. You may not have realized that if you've always chosen the default location (which is in your "My Documents" folder when you're working in Word). But you really can choose to save it to other places - your desktop, a special folder you've created somewhere else, or onto an external hard drive or flash drive. Your choice.

The good news here is that once you've grasped this idea you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation when you want to use that file again. Let's say you've saved your most recent document to your desktop, something you might want to do if you plan on editing it a lot. When you want to work on it, do you have to open Word and then find the file in the file menu? No, you do not.  All you need to do is double-click on the file icon that's sitting on your desktop and Word will open up automatically and the file along with it. Le voilá.

This works with other types of files, too. If you double-click on a photo file, your photo viewing program will open it up for you. Click on a music file and your music player program will take over. Video? Ditto. Didn't life just get a lot simpler?

I want to keep this post short, so I'll write a separate post that explains how to keep track of all your files now that they've been liberated from Word.

You aren’t backing up your stuff, are you?

It's ok to admit it. Hardly anybody does on a regular basis. But you're going to be sorry. Here's why: Try this simple mental exercise. Imagine that the next time you press the power button on your computer it doesn't start up.

It's that simple. It's going to happen to everybody. Computers break. And when they do they take all of your stuff down with them. Photos, letters, email. Poof. All gone. Unless you have them backed up.

Backing up just means having copies of everything you care about.

And your files need to be copied to someplace other than  your computer. If your computer stops working it won't make any difference how many copies you have on it, they'll all be gone.

So, what should you be doing?

I think the ideal backup strategy involves having at least three copies of everything you  cherish. The following strategy is called the 3-2-1- Rule by Peter Krogh, and I first heard about it on Leo Laporte's TWIT podcasts :

3 copies, on two kinds of media, one of which is off-site

1) The original, on your hard drive.

2) A copy on external media of some sort. This could be on a flash drive (these are cheap and easy to store) or an external hard drive that you connect with a cable to the main computer.

3)  Another copy that is stored off-site somewhere.

That last item is really important. Off-site. Because if your house burns down, or is hit by an earthquake, or you get flooded out, it sure would be nice to have copies of your stuff somewhere else, wouldn't it?

You can accomplish off-site backup any number of ways. You can take your home backup copies (on drives or disks) to work and leave them there, and vice versa. You could give them to a friend for safekeeping. One of Leo's friends mails his backups to his mom every week. Or you can subscribe to any number of free web services that will let you store your stuff online: Dropbox,  Box.net,  Skydrive,  ADrive. Those of you using Macs can subscribe to Apple's MobileMe service.

But the thing to remember about any backup strategy is that it only works if you remember to do it.  So the easiest and safest thing to do is to set up a system that backs things up for you. In other words, take yourself out of the equation. There are a number of paid web services that allow you to do this. I use Carbonite, but there are others on the market that do the same thing. You set up an account online and then their software automatically uploads your files without any attention from you. If your computer ever crashes you can simply download your files from their site.

So no excuses, ok? Back your stuff up.