Composing Emails

These days email is an important communication tool for your business. In this article we’ll cover some tips to efficiently compose emails.

Composing an Email

A business email should be treated with the same attention to projecting a professional image as any other piece of business correspondence. When composing an email, keep these tips in mind:

Email Subject Line

Writing a clear informative or proactive subject line helps the recipient not only know what you are writing about, but also helps them follow conversations about a specific topic.

Something like Hi! isn’t very clear as a subject line but something like About Your Order #123456 is much clearer.

You do have to be careful how you word a subject line, some spam filters at the web server level or on the recipient’s computer might mark your email as spam and it will be missed or automatically deleted.

Writing Email Subject Lines

Writing E-mail Subject Lines

7 Bad Email Subject Lines

Email Body

Emails are best written short and to the point.

When composing emails, use short paragraphs and make your calls for action stand out by separating them into paragraphs or by using a bulleted list.

If there is a deadline attached to your question or request, state it in your email. This gives the recipient important information on what is expected of them and also gives them the opportunity to convey that they cannot meet the deadline and propose an alternate deadline for consideration.

Sign the Email Professionally

Include a professional signature with each email. This signature should include the following at the very least:

  • Your name
  • Your company name
  • Your contact information

It is possible to set up signatures in your email program to be inserted with each email, or different signatures for different use.

Formatting an Email

When composing emails, keep in mind that some Internet users have their email program to read emails in plain text format only for security reasons or that’s just the way their email software works. Large companies may have a policy like this for security reasons.

Also, the recipient’s email program may be set up to not show images. This is another security measure people and companies use.

So keeping the above in mind, avoid the following when composing emails:

  • Email stationary – it won’t show up if email is read in plain text. It is also sometimes very hard to read an email that arrives that uses email stationary when you allow HTML emails. You might think it’s cute, but the person receiving the email might not think it is very professional.
  • Logo images – these won’t show up if the recipient has images turned off in the email program or if they use plain text to read their emails. You just wasted an opportunity to promote your company.
  • Image signatures – like logo images, these won’t show if images are turned off or the message is read in plain text. The person receiving the email won’t know who sent it. Another wasted opportunity to promote your business.
  • Avoid relying on font formating (bold, italics, enlarged font) to convey a point, these do not show up in plain text. Your effort to emphosize a point will be lost.
  • Don’t use coloured text, this won’t show up in plain text and it does make it hard to read for some recipients.

Another tip when composing emails, is to set the line length to 70-80 characters. This makes reading the email easier.

Before you hit the Send button:

  • Reread the email to make sure you covered all the points you wanted to.
  • All the content is related to the subject line of the email and doesn’t jump into another topic.
  • Spell check your email. There are 2 versions of English, British English and American English. Pick the version that is used in your country and have your email program check the email for that version. The default for most email programs is American English so you will have to check and change this if applicable.

Composing emails that give a professional appearance will also boost the credibility of your business. Take your time when composing emails, they can make a lasting impression on those who receive them.

Posted in Email | 1 Comment

Back to navigation

Google Chrome Beta is Out

Google has released their Google Chrome browser for download to Windows XP and Vista machines today in approximately 100 countries.

Download Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows

Google Chrome is available for download at the Google Chrome home page.

Before installing, be sure to read the terms of service. ReadWriteWeb has an interesting post about a section of the terms of service. Does Google Have Rights to Everything You Send Through Chrome?.

Matt Cutts tries to clear some of the rumours about the Chrome license agreement, Google does not want rights to things you do using Chrome.

September 4, 2008 Update Update to Google Chrome’s terms of service on the Official Google Blog.

September 7, 2008 Update Google posted another article, Making terms of service clearer to further clarify their terms of service for their Chrome browser.

There is a cartoon book also available if you are interested in the technology behind this new browser.

Google Chrome Features

The features list for Google Chrome includes videos on:

  • New Tab page
  • Application shortcuts
  • Dynamic tabs
  • Crash control
  • Incognito mode
  • Safe browsing
  • Instant bookmarks
  • Importing settings
  • Simpler downloads

Google Chrome Help Center

If you need additional help, the Google Chrome Help Center has been setup covering:

  • Getting Started
  • Troubleshooting
  • Using Google Chrome

There is also a Google Chrome Help Google Group.

Google Chrome Buzz in the Internet Community

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser – Google’s announcement September 1, 2008.

Answers to common Google Chrome objections – from Matt Cutts. All of Matt’s Chrome posts including his live posting from the Google announcement September 2, 2008.

“…This release of Google Chrome does not appear to have been developed with the needs of users with disabilites taken into account, apart from limited keyboard shortcuts, basic support required for accessibility is absent.”

Google Chrome Accessibility – The Paciello Group Blog

So what do you think of the new Google Chrome browser?

Posted in Google Chrome Browser | 4 Comments

Back to navigation

Web Mail vs Email Clients

When new to the internet, the difference between web mail and email clients can be confusing to a person. You may have been shown how to use one way but don’t know how to use the other. We’ll explain here the difference between web mail and email clients.

Both web mail and email clients use the internet to read and send mail. What may be confusing is how each of these work.

When someone sends you an email it is stored on a email server. The email server can belong to a company that offers web based email accounts, your ISP provider or your web hosting provider. How you “pick up” your email will depend on what type of email account you have.

If you are only using web mail, then the emails that you don’t delete are stored on the email server. With an email client the emails are stored on your computer.

Web Mail

With web mail, you read or send email through your browser and the web mail interface.

Some examples of web mail are:

  • Yahoo! Mail
  • Gmail
  • Hotmail
  • The web mail service provided with your web hosting
  • The web mail service provided with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) account

Accessing Web Mail

When you access a web mail account you use your browser.

  1. You will be given a web address to access your web mail. We’ll use Yahoo! mail as an example. The web address to access Yahoo! mail is: https://login.yahoo.com/config/login_verify2?&.src=ym.
  2. Next, you will need to login. This requires your user name and password. Continuing with our example, enter your Yahoo! id and password, then left click, Sign in.

    If there is an option to remember your login information, avoid this, particularly if you are using a public computer. The login information is saved to a cookie on the machine. The next person who uses the computer will have access to your web based email account if you use the Remember me feature.

  3. Once logged in, you can now read the emails sent to your web based email acount and send emails from this email address.

Web Based Email Tutorials

Here at Basic Computer Information we have some tutorials for web based email accounts:

You can also set up some web based email accounts to be picked up via your email client. e.g. Gmail, your website email accounts.

A lot of people who have been taught to use web based email find using an email client intimidating, but really, it’s easier than using web based email.

If you are running a business and only know how to use web based mail, it would be a good idea to learn how to use an email client on your computer. This way you could back up the emails from the computer for safe keeping, should your web based email’s server goes down and looses all those important emails.

Email Client

An email client is a piece of software on your computer that you use to read and send emails from your computer. The advantage of using an email client is that the emails are stored on your computer and are accessible faster than using a web based email interface. Also, with an email client you can read the messages you already received without being connected to the internet (a cost savings if you are on dial up). You can also compose email while offline. Once connected again to the Internet, the emails can be sent.

There are various email client programs available. Some of the more common email clients are:

  • Outlook Express – This comes with Windows for free.
  • Outlook – part of the Microsoft Office collection of programs
  • Thunderbird – comes with the Firefox browser
  • Contact management software – may use Outlook Express to send email from the contact management software

Using an Email Client

To use your installed email client you will need to click the desktop icon for it or look in your Programs list for the shortcut.

An email client needs some setting up before you can use it:

  1. Create an email account
  2. Edit the email account

    If your email client has used the url for the email account as the name in your account list, you can edit the account name and other elements of the account.

  3. If you are a travelling type person who takes a laptop with you, you can set your email client on the laptop to leave a copy of emails on the web mail server. This way, when you get back home/to the office, the email client on your home/office computer can pick up the email. This saves you transferring or emailing yourself important emails once you get home.
  4. Like web based email, you can organize and sort email in your email client.
  5. You can also create email signatures in your email client.

So now, you know how to use web based email and an email client. It’s handy to know how to use both of these methods of reading and sending email. E.g. A business person might want to check their email from home or while away from the office. They can use web mail to check emails and leave the messages there to be picked up at the office upon their return or set up their email client at home/on the laptop to leave the emails on the email server so they can pick up the mail at work.

Posted in Email | 11 Comments

Back to navigation

Schedule a Task in Windows

We keep being reminded to do things to keep our computers in tip top shape (backup our data, defrag the drives, update our virus programs, etc.) but some just don’t seem to get around to doing these things on a regular basis. This is where Task Scheduler, available with Windows, can help you out with keeping on top of these maintenance tasks.

Task Scheduler

Task Scheduler is a free application included with Windows. With Task Scheduler you can schedule any program, document or script to run at anytime your computer is turned on. Task Scheduler starts each time you turn your Windows machine on and runs in the background while the machine is on. A scheduled task will automatically start, if your computer is on (Yes, I have bolded this phrase twice now because some do not understand that when you schedule a task in Windows the computer must be on for the task to be completed).

Why Schedule a Task in Windows?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are certain tasks that need to be done on a regular basis to keep your computer running smoothly and protect your data.

One of the most important tasks to schedule (or train yourself to do it religously) is backing up your data. You can use backup software, which should add a Scheduled Task if set up properly, but if you don’t have a specific piece of software available to do this, Windows does come with a backup application.

Your anti virus definition updates and scans are other important tasks to schedule. Again, your chosen software may automatically set this up for you, if set up properly.

If you are using a free program for backup, anti virus or spyware removal, these might not have an included function to add itself as a scheduled task.

Schedule Task

To schedule a task in Windows you need to first access Scheduled Tasks. Depending on how your computer is set up, Scheduled Tasks can be accessed via:

  • My Computer Icon on the Desktop
    1. Double left click the My Computer icon on you desktop.
    2. Look under the Other section for Control Panel, double left click Control Panel.
    3. Double click the Scheduled Tasks icon in the Control Panel screen.
  • Settings Menu
    1. Left click Start in the bottom left of your desktop screen.
    2. Left click Settings from the menu that appears.
    3. Left click Control Panel from the next menu that appears.
    4. Double left click Scheduled Tasks in the Control Panel screen.
  • Programs Menu
    1. Left click Start in the bottom left of your desktop screen.
    2. Left click All Programs.
    3. Left click Accessories in the list that appears.
    4. Left click System Tools under the Accessories menu.
    5. Left click Scheduled Tasks in the System Tools menu.

Now you should be in Scheduled Tasks. Some of your existing programs may have already added a scheduled task to the list that appears under Add Scheduled Task.

Add Scheduled Task

  1. Double left click Add Scheduled Task.

    The Scheduled Task Wizard screen appears.

  2. Left click Next to continue.

    It may appear your machine has frozen because the next screen takes a minute or so to appear. This is because a list is being compiled of the to programs installed on your computer.

Next there are two ways to continue, schedule a program to run or schedule something else to run.

  • Schedule an Existing Program to Run
    1. Left click the program you wish to schedule from the list that appears.
    2. Left click Next to continue.
  • Schedule Something Not Listed in the Program List
    1. Left click Browse.
    2. Navigate to the folder and file (program, script or document) you wish to schedule the task for.
    3. Left click Open.

Next, you give the task a name and choose when to run the task.

  1. Name the scheduled task.

    Pick a name that will make sense to you later when you want to check the list or make any changes.

  2. Choose when to run the scheduled task.

    There are a number of choices as to when you would like to run the task:

    • Daily – once a day
    • Weekly – once a week
    • Monthly – once a month
    • One time only
    • When computer starts – this before a user is logged in
    • When I log in – runs once you have logged into your computer
  3. Left click Next to continue.
  4. Specify the day and time to run the scheduled task.

    Remember: Pick a day and time of day that the computer will be on!

    If the task can run on it’s own, without your interaction, it can be scheduled while you are having your lunch or dinner.

  5. Left click Next to continue once you have made your time selections.
  6. Name and password of the user associated with the scheduled task.

    You will need to enter the name and password of the user who is authorized to run the task.

    The user associated with the task will need to have the permissions to run the program.

    The default setup is the name of the user currently logged onto the computer.

  7. Left click Next to continue.
  8. Left click Finsih to complete scheduling the task.

Now that you know how to schedule a task in Windows, there’s no excuse for not making sure that all your maintenance tasks (defrag, disk clean up, update anti virus definitions, etc.) are done and all your data is backed up.

Scheduling Task in Windows Further Reading

Advanced Options – click the link at the top of the page to skip down to the Advance Options available when scheduling a task in Windows.

Remove Scheduled Tasks – click the Remove scheduled task link at the top of the page to view the instructions for removing a scheduled task.

Changes to Scheduled Task – on the same page as above, there are also instructions for:

  • Stopping and pausing scheduled tasks
  • Changing settings for scheduled tasks
  • Opening scheduled tasks to modify them

Task Scheduler – a more indepth look at Windows Task Scheduler

Posted in Basic Computer Skills | 7 Comments

Back to navigation

Explain Blogging Please

You have heard a lot about blogging when doing research on how to promote your business but what is blogging. As we covered in what is a blog, a blog (short for weblog) is an online journal.

Explain Blogging

Blogging is when you write a post (article) on your blog and publish it for all to see. A person who publishes articles on a blog is called a blogger. The act of pushing the publish button is called posting to your blog.

To further explain blogging, let’s look at what a blog can be used for and the different parts of a blog.

A blog can be:

  • A personal online journal about things going on in your life.
  • A place where you share your interests in a hobby, stories about your pet, or maybe findings about specific aliment that you have done research on.
  • A place to share knowledge you have on a specific topic.
  • A place to cover typical customer service questions and help for your business or tips on how to use your product.
  • A marketing tool for your business.
  • A way to make money online.

There’s a few ideas what a blog can be used for. You can blog about pretty well anything you want, someone would be interested.

Blogs in Plain English

There is a video produced by Common Craft Show called Blogs in Plain English explaining how blogs work and how they can be used to spread information about whatever interests you. It is 3 minutes long. There is also a transcript available.

What is a Blog Comprised of?

A blog has different parts:

  • Blogging Software

    Blogs are run by using software specifically build for blogs. The software is comprised of programming and a database usually.

  • Blog Theme

    The theme (both visual and topic) is what the general topic of the blog will be about. To benefit from blogging the posts need to center around one central topic.

    The visual theme of your blog needs to suit the topic of your blog also.

  • Headline

    The headline is the title of the blog post (or page). For example, the headline of this article is Explain Blogging Please. Just like reading a newspaper or magazine, people look for interesting headlines before reading the actual article.

  • Body

    The body of a post (or page) is the actual article or information you present.

    It would contain words and can be complimented with pictures, diagrams or videos.

  • Post Date

    The post date is the date you published the article.

  • Comments

    Comments are where someone has read your blog article and decided to leave a comment. Comments are a great way to interact between readers and for you to interact with your readers.

  • Social Bookmarking Icons

    You will notice on some blogs there are little icons shown, usually at the end of the article, for the blog readers to bookmark your article to their page at one of the social bookmarking sites. By bookmarking your post, word is spread that your post is worth reading. This creates traffic (visitors) to your blog.

  • Permalink

    A permalink is the url (web address) of each post.

  • Categories

    Each post you make can be filed under a category.

    When the visitor clicks on a category a list of all the posts filed under that category is shown.

  • RSS Feed

    A RSS feed is a file within your blog that keeps track of all the latest posts you have made.

    Visitors of your blog can subscribe to your RSS feed to be notified of any updates you make to the blog.

  • Trackback

    A trackback is when another blog has mentioned your blog in one of their articles. You will get a notice of the trackback, if you have moderation turned on.

  • Ping

    There are pinging services which notify all the blog directories. Each time you add a post, your blogging software may be set up to ping these services, or you may have to go to a pinging service and submit the post yourself. This is one way notices that your blog has a new article for people to read are sent.

You’ll see other gadgets on a blog too.

Some people blog for a living. They either have their own blog, or write for different blogs as a regular blogger or as a guest blogger.

As you build your blog, you could be quoted on another blog or asked to be a guest blogger. This will all help to increase the popularity of your blog.

To explain blogging in a nutshell, blogging is writing articles about topics that interests you or your potential customers, thus a vehicle to promote your business or build your credibility as an expert in your chosen field.

Building a Successful Blog

If you would like to learn how to build a successful blog, we recommend you get 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. This is a ebook workbook with a task per day to improve your blog.

Posted in Blogging | No Comments

Back to navigation

What is a Blog?

When at a networking event, or in general conversation, has someone asked you if you have a blog? If you own a business, has your web designer, business coach or marketing team suggested that you have a blog yet? Do you know what a blog is?

People Keep Talking About Blogs

Lots of people are into blogging. So, what is a blog?

A blog is a website using special software to create a series of articles and pages containing various information they wish to share with the world.

Blog is short for weblog. Weblogs started out as an online means of journaling. People originally used weblogs (blogs) as online diaries but today they can be used for lots of different things.

Blog posts (entries) are shown in reverse chronological order on the home page of the blog. If you go to the home page of Basic Computer Information, you will see the latest posts to this blog.

What is a Blog Comprised of?

Blogging Software

A blog is comprised of a blogging software package where your posts and pages are stored in a database.

Blog Theme

When someone refers to a blog’s theme it can mean two different things:

  • A blog theme can refer to the visual appearance of the blog. There are lots of sites where you can get ideas for or download blog themes. The blog theme in this case, is integrated into your blogging software and formats the look of the blog.
  • The other meaning of a blog theme is what the blog is about, or it’s subject. When you decide to have a blog, you have to decide what subject you are going to write about.

Blog Posts

Blog posts are the articles you write on your blog. This website is a blog. Notice in the navigation column there is a list of recent posts (articles) that have been added to Basic Computer Information.

Blog Pages

Blog pages are static pages on your blog. These are usually the About Us, Sitemap and Contact Us pages within your blog. Some other pages on the blog could also be:

  • Your privacy policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise Here

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are files within your blog that your visitors can use to keep up to date with the latest posts on your blog using a RSS feed reader online or installed on their computer. Each time you add a post, the article title and a blurb are added to the feed. The RSS feed notifies your subscribers that an article has been added to your blog.

Blog Categories

Blog categories are a means to organize your blog posts. When you create a blog post, you “file it” under a category. Now when a visitor wants to read just your posts about a certian topic. Example, say someone came to Basic Computer Information looking for basic computer skills, when they just click the basic computer skills link under the category section of the navigation they will see a list of all the posts filed under basic computer skills.

Blog Authors

A blog can have one or more authors. A blog author is a person who writes (posts) entries to the blog.

Blog Content

Blog content can include:

  • Text – written words about a subject related to the theme of your blog.
  • Images – images you wish to share with your visitors.
  • Videos – videos can be inserted into your blog to enhance your visitor’s understanding of the post’s subject or just for fun and comments.
  • Links – links to other blogs. The links on your blog can be to your friends blogs (filed under Blogroll), or within the text of your post.

Blog Comments

Blog comments are at the end of your posts. There is a box at the bottom of this article for example, where you can leave a question or comment about this article. The comments section on your blog is where your visitors can interact with you by asking questions or leaving comments about the article.

Blog Subjects

The subject (or also referred to as the theme in this case) can be on anything you want. To be successful at blogging you need to pick the type of blog you wish to create, and then keep to that theme.

Types of Blogs

There are various types of blogs around now.

  • Personal blogs – blogs that people write about their personal life
  • Corporate blogs – businesses have blogs to keep customers informed on what’s new or to share information about their products or services.
  • Media blogs – news type blogs where the author(s) post the latest news information related to a subject.
  • Topical blogs – blogs that focus on one topic. Basic Computer Information is a topical blog for example, and so is Web Page Mistakes.

What is a Blog Related Reading

Blog definition, history and other blog related information.

Common Craft has a video called Blogs in Plain English.

Posted in Blogging | 3 Comments

Back to navigation

Saving Downloads

You can spend hours searching the internet for documents and programs that you need to learn more about a topic or increase the productivity of your computer use. You find a program to try out that seems to meet your needs or a document that you will need to reference in the future and want to save it to install or read later, how do you save/download files to your computer?

Saving downloads is not that hard, it just takes a bit of organization to be able to reinstall or find it later on your computer.

Save Download to Computer

You’ll need a specific spot to save all your downloads to. Having a specific folder for your downloads will make it easier to find them, back them up or install at a later time.

  1. Create a folder on your computer for all your downloads. This folder can be on another drive attached to your computer, on the main drive of the computer or if you are new to computers, create it in the My Documents folder.

    Within this folder you can have subfolders for specific needs, e.g. software, book research etc. This can be taken even farer by dividing the subfolders into more folders. e.g. the software folder could have folders within it for time management, word processing, graphics.

  2. Once at the page with the download you wish to save, click the download link with the right mouse button, a menu will pop up.

    Note:  Some websites that specialize in programs use automatic downloads therefore right clicking the link may want to save a web page. You don’t want this. Click the link instead and then proceed with the next step.

    If you have popup blockers turned on, you will get a message asking for permission to continue. Give the browser permission to continue. You can still follow the rest of the steps in this tutorial.

  3. From the menu that appears, left click the “Save target as” menu item.

    A new dialog box appears entitled Save As.

    You may get a security message window instead of the Save As dialog box. Left click the Save button in the bottom of the screen to proceed. Once the Save button is clicked, the Save As dialog box appears.

  4. In the top of the Save As dialog box, navigate to the folder you created to save/download files in by left clicking the arrow to the right of the top box.

    Left clicking the arrow to the right of the Save in box exposes a list of the drives on your computer, navigate to your downloads folder by clicking the drive it is on first, then the folder name.

  5. In the File name box in the lower part of the Save As dialog box will be the name of the program/document you are going to save.

    You can change the name to the left of the extension (the dot and three letters on the right of the file name) if it would help you recognize the file better in the future.

  6. The last box in the lower part of the Save As dialog box has the file type.

    The file type tells the computer what type of file this is and the computer will know which program to use to open it later (if you have the correct program to open it).

  7. Left click Save.

    A message screen appears showing the progress of the download.

    Once the download is complete, the title of the message screen will change to Download complete and 3 buttons will become available for use at the bottom.

  8. Now you have 4 choices of what to do next:
    1. Open – opens the file you just downloaded if it was a document.
    2. Run – runs the program just downloaded.
    3. Open folder – opens a new window showing the contents of the folder you just downloaded the file to.
    4. Close – closes the message window. You can left click this if your intent was to read or install this later.

Backing Up Downloads

We had you create a specific folder for downloads not only to help keep you organized, but to also make it easier to backup those downloads in case of a computer crash (breakdown).

Using a removable medium, backup the programs/documents you have downloaded!

  • You won’t have to search the internet for them again should your computer break down or is stolen.
  • The downloads would now be portable, say if you had to take to a meeting, work or school to work with further or do a presentation of your research.
  • Should your computer breakdown or if you get a new computer, reinstallation will go much faster with the files aready to go on a disk or separate drive.

Saving downloads saves time. Be organized and save/download files to one specific spot. You’ll be very happy you learnt to do this later!

Posted in Windows Files | No Comments

Back to navigation

Back Up Your Computer

Have you ever had your computer crash? Been infected with a virus, spyware or trojan? Or made the silly mistake of overwriting an existing file when you shouldn’t have? Installed a piece of hardware or software that made your computer malfunction? These type of things happen to everyone, experienced computer user or not.

If any of the above happens, you can loose everything. The operating system and programs can be replaced but your work (letters, pictures, etc.) can not unless you have performed a computer back up.

What is a Computer Back Up?

A computer back up is essentially a copy of the information on your computer. The copy can be a full back up, an incremental back up, a differential back up or a selective back up.

Types of Computer Back Up

As mentioned above there are different types of computer back up. Each will require a different amount of time to perform and may require a different type of back up medium.

Full Back Up

A full back up, as the name implies, is a back up of everything on the computer. The operating system, your settings, the software installed and your files are all backed up (copied) to another medium.

The full back up will take a long time to perfom (depending on the amount of information on the computer) and require the largest amount of back up medium.

Incremental Back Up

An incremental computer back up will back up only the files that have changed since the last back up was performed. The time to perform this type of computer back up and the amount of back up medium required will depend on how much has changed since the last back up.

Differential Back Up

A differential back up also backs up only the files that have changed but it keeps all the changes since the last full back up.

The differential back up time and storage requirements will also vary on the amount of changes since the last full back up. Seeing each change is added to the back up copy, the amount of back up storage required grows as time progresses.

Selective Back Up

With a selective computer back up, you select specific files and/or folders on the computer to be backed up.

Again, the time required and the amount of back up storage medium required will vary depending on how much has to be backed up.

What Should I Back Up?

Everything that can not be replaced needs to be backed up. This would include:

  1. The operating system if you do not have the original installation disks for the operating system.

    Computers with preinstalled operating systems may not have the original operating system installation files supplied with the computer. When purchasing a new computer, as for these. If computer supplier won’t give them to you, find another store or contact the operating system original supplier and ask for a copy.

  2. All the software that is installed on the system, especially if you do not have the original installation disks.

    Like the operating system, a new computer with software installed may not come with disks to reinstall the software.

  3. Your computer settings.

    All the customized settings you have set up should be backed up. If you can’t, no big deal, you’ll just have to redo them.

  4. Your email.

    Back up your email accounts, rules/filters, folders and messages.

    Backing up your email accounts, rules, folders and messages it very important, especially if you are running a business. Making a computer back up of your email items will also be a time saver if you have to restore the email program.

  5. Your data.

    Your data includes any letters, graphics, music, databases or other projects you have created on the computer.

    Each program you use will store your data somewhere on the computer but not necessarily in My Documents. When you install a program (or reinstall a program) try to have all the documents saved in one spot (e.g. My Documents). This will make performing a computer back up much easier.

    Note:  Some programs will not like having it’s default storage location changed. You will have to experiment to find out which do not like the storage location changed.

Computer Back Up Medium

There are various types of mediums that can be used for backing up the computer. The type required will depend on the type of computer back up being performed and the amount of information being backed up.

Some ideas for computer back up mediums would be:

  • Tape back up

    A tape back up can hold lots of information. This type of back up medium can be slow to use and be costly for an average computer user.

  • CD-R or CD-RW

    CDs and CD-RWs can be a more cost effective alternative. You will require some software to be able to write to the cd.

    CD-Rs you can only write to once. You cannot replace the information on the cd with updated information. It can appear that you have erased something from the cd but you have not reclaimed the space on the cd for use again.

    CD-RWs on the other hand, can be rewritten. It would be more cost effective in the long run if you paid the higher price for this back up medium if you have information that is continually changing and being resaved. When a CD-RW is erased, the space is reclaimed and therefore reusable. A program like Nero which compares what is on the CD with what you wish to copy to the CD can then overwrite old versions of files if you wish.

  • External Hard Drive

    An external hard drive is investment worth considering the time to reinstall things and the number of disks that would be required if a lot of information has been backed up.

    The added benefit of an external hard drive is that it is portable (if you go on a business trip you can take it with you) and can be stored somewhere secure for safe keeping.

Performing a Computer Back Up

There are various ways to perform a computer back up:

  • Back Up Software Included with the Machine.

    If you are using a computer with Windows installed Microsoft has a back up utility included with the operating system. With this back up software you can select the type of back up you wish to perform, what to back up and specify a regular schedule to perform the back up.

    Note:  I have found this back up software time consuming and a drag on the resources of the computer.

    If you cannot find Microsoft’s back up utility in your list of programs, go to the Control Panel, select Add or Remove Programs, select Add/Remove Windows Components, find Microsoft’s back up utility in the list of components and install it.

  • Third Party Computer Back Up Programs

    There various third party computer back up programs on the market. You will have to try a few out to find the one that works the best for your requirements and skill level.

    I have tried a few but have found SyncBack meets my needs right now. Like Microsoft’s back up utility, you can select the type of computer back up to perform, what to back up and set a schedule.

  • CDs

    Using cds and manually backing up your information via the cd writing software maybe the right option for you. You could have seperate cds for different purposes so it is easier to find like items when reinstalling/restoring items to the computer. I have the miscellaneous programs I like to use on one or two cds and specific projects on other cds.

  • External Hard Drive

    If you are going to use a computer back up program with or without a schedule the external hard drive will have to be connected at the time you wish to back up the computer.

    As mentioned above, the advantage of the external hard drive is that you can take it with you when working away from your base computer on your laptop or at another computer.

  • System Restore

    Windows XP has something called System Restore within the operating system. This program has to be turned on to be useful. What System Restore does is records the state of the machine at different intervals, daily and when software or hardware is installed/removed.

    In the event of a small problem, assuming System Restore has been turned on, you can restore the system to a state when it worked properly if there is not any major damage.

    Note:  Do not rely on System Restore a the only computer back up system you use. If the computer fails or if there are serious problems with the operating system you will not be able to restore the computer to a previous state. The System Restore also does not over write your data. So if it doesn’t over write your data, then it isn’t backing it up either!

Computer Back Up Tips

Here are a few tips when organizing your computer back up:

  • Keep in mind that a full back up being restored on to a new hard drive will require that the new hard drive be set up identically to the old hard drive or the software being used to restore your information may not work.
  • Keep your computer back up medium organized! If the back up is spanned across multiple disks for example, they have to be used in the same order when restoring as they were written in.
  • Always store your computer back ups in a safe place. In a business situation storing them off site would be a good idea in case of fire, flood or break in.
  • Back up on a regular basis. A computer failure can happen at anytime and without notice so being prepared will save you a lot of grief.
  • Schedule the computer back up for a time when you know the computer will be on! If you are going to use the schedule feature of the back up software, the computer has to be on at that time. This is something someone who is new to computers or not very familiar with computers tends to forget or does not realize. Yes the computer keeps time when it is off (there’s a little battery in the computer that does this besides a few other things which are beyond the topic of this post) but all scheduled updates and programs need to computer to be on and the operating system loaded to perform the tasks.
  • Keep the files you use the most often backed up more regularly. Files that change or are added frequently need to be backed up more often than other parts of the computer. A daily back up of these items might be prudent if you work on the computer a lot.
  • If you are using a computer back up program, have it verify the files once the back up is complete. This will check that the back up is a good working copy of the files. If the back up is faulty, it isn’t much use to you later when you need it.

    If you have done the computer back up manually buy selecting specific files (e.g. Burning specific files to cd), just try opening them once backed up to make sure the copy works.

Hopefully you now realize why it is important to perform a computer back up, how to perform a computer back up, what is required to back up a computer and that having a regular computer back up schedule (manually or automatic) will save you from loosing important information on the computer and ultimately save yourself time and grief should you have to restore the computer.

More Information

Backing up Files

Posted in Basic Computer Skills | 1 Comment

Back to navigation

ClearType for HTML

One of the first things you might notice after installing Internet Explorer 7 is that the type on the page seems darker.

Sample of text with ClearType for HTML turned on

Internet Explorer 7 has ClearType for HTML turned on by default (if you weren’t paying attention when IE 7 was being installed or didn’t know what ClearType for HTML was on the list of settings to review after Internet Explorer 7 was installed then you missed the chance to turn it off).

What is ClearType for HTML?

Microsoft has developed technology to make fonts clearer on the screen.

“ClearType is a software technology developed by Microsoft that improves the readability of text on existing LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays), such as laptop screens, Pocket PC screens and flat panel monitors. With ClearType font technology, the words on your computer screen look almost as sharp and clear as those printed on a piece of paper. …”

Source:  Microsoft Typography – What is ClearType?

Turn Off ClearType for HTML

If you find ClearType for HTML annoying it can be turned off.

  1. Left click the down arrow beside the Tools icon in the toobar just above the web page portion of the browser window.
  2. Click Internet Options with the left mouse button.

    The Internet Options screen appears.

  3. On the far right of the Internet Opions screen there is a tab named Advanced. Left click it.

    The contents of the white box in the center of the Internet Options screen changes with a new list of items. Accessibility should be at the top of the list.

  4. Using the scroll bar on the right of the white box, scroll down to the section named Multimedia.

    It is quite a ways down the list. If you get to Printing or Security you have gone a bit too far.

  5. The first item under Multimedia is “Always use ClearType for HTML*” with a check mark in front of it. Left click in that box to remove the check mark.

    If you look in the bottom part of the Internet Options screen it tells you the * means this change will not take effect until Internet Explorer is restarted (closed and reopened)

  6. Left click the Ok button at the bottom of the Internet Options screen.

    You’ll see a time capsule showing the change is being applied then the Internet Options screen will close.

  7. Now, close Internet Explorer by clicking the X in the top right corner of the browser window.
  8. Reopen Internet Explorer and the dark text will have disappeared!

There a few other changes that happen when you install Internet Explorer 7 besides ClearType for HTML being turned on you will notice if you are an Internet Explorer user. We’ll cover them one by one so check back soon.

If you are a website owner or a Web Designer/Developer you may also wish to read What’s New in Internet Explorer 7 on Microsoft’s website to see how the changes will effect your website design.

Posted in Internet Explorer | 1 Comment

Back to navigation

Internet Explorer 7 Released

Today on the IE Blog it was announced that Internet Explorer has been released.

“Today we released Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP. I encourage everyone to download the final version from http://www.microsoft.com/ie. …”

Source:  IEBlog : Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Available Now

There is another post on the IE Blog regarding the release of Internet Explorer 7 also:

“Now that we’ve released IE7 in English, I want to update everyone on our plans for other languages. The short version is that we will be releasing IE7 in all languages available for each version of Windows – twenty-four fully localized languages in total….”

Source:  IEBlog : IE7 for the World

October 19, 2006 Update:

On the IEBlog it is explained how the automatic updates will be distributed. IEBlog : Be Ready for Automatic Update Distribution of IE7 by November 1 explains that the automatic updates will be done over a few months. Internet Explorer 7 will not be installed without your consent according to this blog entry at the IEBlog. Your existing settings will be left as is (make sure you watch the questions on the screens as the browser is installed because there are opportunities to make changes as Internet Explorer 7 is installed).

The system requirements page for Internet Explorer 7 indicate that Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows XP Professional x64 Edition or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) operating systems are required. So it appears, for now, that those running older versions of Windows will not be upgraded.

Note:  All the links provided to download Internet Explorer 7 in this post were sourced from Microsoft. Apparently some hackers have sent out spoof links.

“Trojan download site spoofs IE7 release outlet

Hackers have created a bogus Internet Explorer 7 download site that attempts to load Trojan code onto the PCs of visiting surfers.

Traffic to the malicious website is being driven by a spoofed email message, claiming to be from support@microsoft.com, offering a link to download Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.”

Source:  The Register

What is Different in Internet Explorer 7?

I already gave the link to the changes in Internet Explorer in my Internet Explorer 7 Coming Soon post on October 9, 2006.

I have been using IE 7 RC1 for about a week now and there’s a few things I have had to get use to:

  • Tabbed browsing

    I don’t allow popups so when people build their links to open in a new window I get the little yellow message at the top of the viewing area saying a popup has been blocked, right click the yellow bar and tell Internet Explorer what you want it to do. When I come across a website that does this I have just got into the habit of right clicking the link and choosing open in a New Window from the menu that appears (saves having to wait for the page to reload if you tell Internet Explorer to allow the popup this time). Now you have a choice of opening the link in a New Window or a New Tab.

    Also, I’m so use to opening links in a new window that when I have tried out the New Tab feature I forget and click the X in the top of the browser window to close what I thought was a new window and get the “Do you want to close all tabs?” message. Old habits are hard to break.

    I have found tabbed browsing pretty handy while working on a website locally or when posting to a blog and need to refer to a source when quoting them (like I did at the beginning of this post).

  • Dead Links

    Now when you hit a dead link (try to go to a website that is gone or isn’t working at the moment) Internet Explorer gives you it’s own error page with a few options of what to do.

  • Security Certificate Expired

    If you are entering a website that has an expired security certificate Internet Explorer 7 shows you a warning page and suggests that you should not proceed. You can if you want to ignore the warning.

  • Add to Favorites

    The new Add to Favorites is cumbersome to me. I have all my links sorted into folders and now when you Add to Favorites the whole list of folders, including sub folders, are expanded. Good if you forget how you organized your Favorites but a pain if it goes in the folder at the very end of the list.

  • Menu Bar Missing

    Actually, the Menu Bar isn’t missing, it’s just hidden. To save browser window real estate, the Menu Bar is hidden (so are a few other things). Just left click the down arrow beside Tools then left click Menu Bar and it appears!

Off to install the official release of Internet Explorer 7 now. Internet Explorer tutorials will be coming soon.

Posted in Internet Explorer | No Comments

Back to navigation

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »