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.

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.

Caringbridge.org

While this may at first seem to be a bit off-topic for a technology blog, it really isn't. Being of a certain age, I am finding that more and more people around me are developing serious medical conditions. And there is usually very little that I can do to provide any real comfort or support. But I was recently introduced to a wonderful free service called Caringbridge that I think more people should be aware of. Here, in a nutshell, taken from their website, is what they're about:

"CaringBridge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery.

A CaringBridge website is personal, private and available 24/7. It helps ease the burden of keeping family and friends informed. The websites are easy to create and use. Authors add health updates and photos to share their story while visitors leave messages of love and support in the guestbook."

When someone is seriously ill, they and their caregivers can be exhausted and overwhelmed by the day to day turmoil of treatment. They may want, and need, to keep in touch with those family and friends they rely on for support, but have trouble doing so because they are just so exhausted.

Imagine a day of medical tests, filled with delay after delay, and indignity upon indignity, and then receiving discouraging news about your condition. Then imagine coming home having to make a dozen phone calls, or to send out emails to update all the people who are waiting to hear some good news. Then, imagine instead, writing a single short note and sending it to your Caringbridge site to share with everyone at once.

Best of all, the visitors can just check a box if they want to be notified of any new posts. So you don't have to send out a single email, or make a single phone call, and everyone will have the latest news.

There is even a free iPhone app that lets you post updates when you are out of computer range.

Caringbridge.org can be a godsend. Check it out if you know someone who might benefit from it.

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."

What I do with my cell phone

Listen to yesterday's Fresh Air from NPR, downloaded from iTunes It's a beautiful day and the surfers are making the most of it. Take a short video, edit it and upload it to my free Posterous site.

Listen to language instruction audiobook downloaded from audible.com, in another, probably futile, attempt to pick up a little Spanish.

Check my email and respond to the less annoying ones.

Check CNN website to see if I've missed any big news stories.

Decide to make Carnitas for dinner, so I use the Shopper app to make up my shopping list. I tap on the items I need, and when I get to the store it puts the items in "aisle order". Can't remember exactly what I need so I refer to my MacGourmet app which has the complete recipe.

Check the What's on TV app to see local listings. Use the Tivo app to schedule a recording later in the week.

Check the public library's website to see if the book I ordered is ready to be picked up. I'm in luck for once. Put in a request for a book that was just reviewed.

Need directions to doctor's office. Use Google Maps.  Add the address to my Contacts so I won't have to look it up again.

Start a crossword puzzle. Play a couple of silly word games.

Get a text message from my son letting me know when baseball practice will be done.

Read a few pages of "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" in the Kindle App. Wouldn't want to read War and Peace on the phone, but it's fine for short stretches.

Back home I put in a load of washing and set the timer to remind me when it's time to go down and put it in the dryer.

Beeping from phone reminds me I have an appointment tomorrow.....

Someday I may even make a phone call.

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.

Make your own damn website

Most people my age don't know about all the free stuff available on the web. For example this website. Didn't cost me a penny to create. And doesn't cost me a penny to keep online either.

Want to create some photo albums for your family to see online? Free.

Want to securely store some important files online as backup? Free.

Need some fun games for the grandkids to play when they visit? Free.

etc.? Free.

It is amazing how many free services are available. Don't worry about why they are free, and of course don't be surprised if they go out of business some day because they suddenly realized they can't pay the bills because they were free. You can just go out and find another free one.

So, what's up with the title of this post? Well, lots of people take a look at the website I've created for my son's baseball team and say wistfully that they wish they could do that themselves. And I always assure them that they can. And even offer to show them how. But no one has ever taken me up on the offer.

It's possible that they don't really want to do it themselves, but it's more likely that they don't realize how easy it is to do. Most internet service providers (ISPs) give you not only the online storage you need to build your own website but the software to do it. The information is all there on their support pages if you just go look. They're not going to come to your door and tell you about it, but it's there.

And Apple users who have the iWeb program have even more sophisticated tools at their disposal. And they can upload their finished website to their ISP, for free.

While I've been sitting here drinking my tea I just set up a quick sample website using iWeb. And uploaded it so you can see how easy this is. Look here.

It took me about a half hour, and most of that was spent trying to decide which photos to include.

So go ahead, make your own damn website. Call me if you need any help. I love this stuff.