Posted by Ann Westerheim on Wed, May 09, 2012 @ 02:55 PM
At the start of the Spring soccer season, I had the task of making sure all the practice and game times for my family got posted in my Outlook calendar. With a game every weekend, and two practices during the week (times two teams), an entire season's worth of entries would have taken a long time. The good news is that the soccer league made it easy by enabling an export of the calendar right on their web site. With a simple click of the link to "Download for MS Outlook", they had already set up an export of the data, and all I had to do was import it into Outlook.
This may sound intimidating if you're a beginner, but it just involves a few mouse clicks. With my exported calendar from the web site saved as a "CSV" file (Comma Separated Value), the next step is to go to the "File" tab in Outlook and select "Open" from the left hand navigation. Next, hit "Import", select "Import from another program or file", select "Comma Separated Values for Windows", then browse for the file, and hit "next".
This is just one example of using the "Import" function, but keep in mind that you can export and import contacts too. Learning a few simple key strokes can save a lot of time!
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Wed, May 02, 2012 @ 02:11 PM
Keeping your computer system up-to-date is important, but every once in a while an update can cause a problem. Recently, Internet Explorer 9 caused some trouble with Intuit Merchant Services. In our office, what we saw is that hitting the "submit" button to complete a transaction did nothing at all (no error message, no response). If you clicked away to "cancel", then an error message would appear. Turns out there are several symptoms reported: web pages missing information or not rendering properly, downloads not working, "Page Cannot be Displayed" when accessing known good links, and similar problems.
For work arounds, go to the Intuit QuickBooks support page: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/Articles/SLN50403 Alternatively, transactions can be processed outside of QuickBooks through the Merchant Center - https://merchantcenter.intuit.com. You may not see any problems, and most of the early problems have been resolved, but if you see problem that can't be worked around, you can reach Intuit support at 800-558-9558.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 09:37 AM
Internet Explorer can run in full screen mode, which is a great thing if you want to show a demo of a web site, but a big concern when all your navigation is gone and you don't know why. In full screen mode, all your toolbars and navigation fields will be gone, in addition to your start menu at the bottom of your screen.
If one day you find your browser like this, don't worry, you can get back to normal by hitting the "F11" key. This toggles you in and out of full screen mode.
You may have hit the F11key by mistake, or in some cases, a web based program may automatically set your browser in full screen mode (such has if your kids play a game like MineCraft on your system, which happened to me). It's quick to restore things back to normal with F11. Full screen mode may also be something you want to try for demos or other presentations.
While we're on the subject, when you get your tool bars back, you can also customize what you see. Right-click your mouse in the grey area on your toolbar and you'll get the choice to add a "Favorites" bar and "Google Toolbar", which are useful. You can pick and choose how much screen real estate you use for navigation.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Mar 12, 2012 @ 03:02 PM
Has this ever happened to you? Out of habit, you hit the "X" in the upper right hand corner of a window to close it. The problem is that with the newer versions of Internet Explorer with "tabbed browsing", you wind up closing all you open web pages when you do this. Ouch!
There's a simple fix so that you'll get a warning in the future when closing multiple windows.
In Internet Explorer, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options". Click on the "General Tab" and then select "Settings" in the "Tabs" area (note there are also "Settings" buttons for "Search" and "Browsing History". Place a check mark in the box next to "Warn me when closing multiple tabs". Click "OK" and restart Internet Explorer for the settings to take place. In the classic case of "the cobbler's children have no shoes", I only fixed my own setting today!
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Mar 12, 2012 @ 09:48 AM
Mark your calendars! There's just one day and 15 hours left until "Pi Day". Pi is the mathematical symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Pi = 3.1415926535… (Get it, 3/14 in month/day format?).
Check out www.piday.org to learn more about Pi, see some cool videos about Pi, view one million digits of Pi, and get in the spirit of the day!
Pi Day was created by Larry Shaw in 1988 when he was at the San Francisco Exploratorium working as a Physicist. The initial celebration involved staff and the public walking around one of the circular spaces, and then consuming fruit pies. In March of 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution recognizing March 14 as National Pi Day.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Fri, Mar 09, 2012 @ 12:08 PM
We routinely attach documents when sending emails, but did you know that you can also attach calendars, other emails, and business cards?
When we're working on email problems for clients, such as analyzing why a message got through a spam filter, or why a message wasn't delivered, we'll often ask the client to send us the email as an "attached item". This enables us to see the full technical header information embedded in the email, which is critical for understanding the full path of the email, and where the trouble spots are.
In Outlook 2010, instead of selecting the "Attach File" paperclip, choose the "Attach Item" paperclip instead. (In older versions of Outlook, click on the little arrow next to the paperclip icon to see the "item" option.) This will then give you the option of sending a Business Card (from your Outlook Contacts), a Calendar, or an Outlook item. Typically we're working clients who are sending us problem emails as attached items, but this is also a useful tool for sending someone multiple emails at the same time, without forwarding each one by one.
The Calendar option is also pretty useful. You can pick a date range, and you'll also have the option to display just availability, limited details, or full details. Use the Business Card option to send someone contact information without needing to "cut and paste" or re-type the information. Check it out!
By the way, if you use another mail client such as Entourage (an older mail client for Mac), you can attach emails in emails by opening the email to attach, going to "Message" and go to "Forward as Attachment".
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Thu, Mar 01, 2012 @ 02:02 PM
The Microsoft Windows 8 consumer preview was released yesterday and the initial reviews look good. You can download the beta release at the Microsoft Web site, or just get a tour. ZDNet's Ed Bott has been testing Windows 8 on a tablet and calls it "the most important software release in almost two decades." In general, the tech reviews have been very positive.
If we look back at past Windows releases, Windows 95 was a huge event, Windows XP had long term staying power, Windows Vista was a disaster, and Windows 7 sparked a major refresh cycle for PCs. Windows 8 now hopes to bridge the gap and unify desktop and tablet computing.
You'll be able to touch, swipe and zoom. You'll be able to purchase Apps from the Microsoft Store, and you'll be able to access your files, photos, and music from wherever you sign in. There's no more "Start" button and everything looks pretty different! Check Ed Bott's post on ZDNet for a tutorial on how it all works.
It all looks very cool, but time will tell if it's just "too different" for folks, or if the market wants to hang onto Windows7 for a lot longer. Possibly it will wind up being a lot more about mobile than the PC. Read more on CNET.
Have you checked out Windows 8? Tell us what you think!
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 01:05 PM
February 7 is Safer Internet Day, which is organized by Insafe each year to help promote safer and more responsible use of the Internet and mobile phones, especially among young people. There are events all over the world today with this year's theme focused on "Connecting generations and educating each other". This is a great idea because we can all help each other - tech savvy young people can teach their grandparents about how to get around on-line, and grandparents have the wisdom to help their grandchildren stay safe.
To learn more and get informed with some helpful statistics, visit the saferinternetday.org web site. Did you know that 26% of children report having a public social networking profile and 36% of 9-16 year olds report that they definitely know more about the Internet than their parents? 48% of parents report that they get Internet safety information mostly from family and friends. In the spirit of the day, talk to your family about Internet safety and help spread the word! You can also help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Thu, Feb 02, 2012 @ 02:24 PM
A year ago I got rid of all the paper on my desk and every day it's a wonderful sight in the morning to see a clear desk! Microsoft Outlook "Tasks" are a great way to stay organized, and by changing the font, size and color of overdue tasks, you can get even more organized!
Changing the appearance of overdue tasks can help them stand out more. In Outlook 2010, select "Tasks" from the navigation bar. In the "View" tab, select "View Settings". In the "Advanced View Settings" pick "Conditional Formatting". When you highlight "overdue tasks" you can pick any font you want to make the tasks pop out on your list. If red is too harsh and scolding, pick something else that works for you!
We strongly advise clients to get more from the technology you already have. When you get a few free minutes, explore the settings that will work for youl
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 @ 11:14 AM
If you want to zoom in or zoom out of a web page to make the font bigger or smaller, a simple trick is to use the control key and the scroll on on your mouse: Hold the control key (Ctrl) and then spin the scroll up or down. The scroll wheel is located between the left and right buttons on the mouse. Not every mouse has a scroll, so you can also use the control key with the plus sign and minus sign. A third option is to hit the ALT key plus "P" to pull up the page menu and then select "zoom".
This is a good trick to remember if you find a small font size on your screen one day. Since is possible to change the size by mistake, it's good to know how to change it back.