Category Archives: Windows

Ease of Access, Windows, Windows Secrets

Ease of Access Magnifier in Windows

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We’re starting a series on different aids that are available to computer users who require special tools to assist them while using technology. At this point, we’re gong to concentrate on free aids that are currently available inside Windows itself or in other applications. Let’s start with Magnifier, a handy tool…even if you are not visually impaired.

Head to the start button (the globe down on the lower left of your taskbar in Windows 7). Click it and then click on All Programs. Scroll down to Accessories and click there:

Photo of Magnifier 1
Start, All Programs, Accessories then Ease of Access.

 

The Ease of Access folder contains different tools to assist various users who need them  but, of course, anyone can use those same mini-apps.

Photo of Magnifier 2
Click on Magnifier.

In this post we’re going to use the Magnifier. Once you click it, everything on your screen gets much larger. Since your actual screen doesn’t get any larger, obviously, you are faced with only one section of your desktop. Move your cursor (mouse) around the screen and the desktop or current application will move around accordingly. Everything seems a lot larger.

Photo of Magnifier 3
Icons, images and type are all larger.

 

Everything is still there, it’s just magnified by whatever percentage the magnifier is currently using. You can adjust that percentage by clicking on the icon of the magnifying glass.

Photo of Magnifier 4
The – and + icons zoom in or out, depending on which one you click.

 

Zoom in or out. You can make things a lot bigger or just a bit larger, it’s up to you. When you’re finished, click the X up on the top right of the menu to go back to normal. We’ve found this tool to be very handy when we’re examining old photos or handwritten documents. Details that aren’t visible in the originals are often much easier to see or read using it. Try Magnifier out yourself and we think you’ll find quite a few uses for it.

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Windows, Windows Live Movie Maker

DVD Covers – Create your own for free

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We’ve shown you how to create DVD movies and DVD slideshows in our last two posts. Since many of the DVDs that you create will be gifts, why not dress them up with an attractive cover?

DVD cases, at least the basic plastic ones, are about five inches by five inches. This refers to the size of the image that you’d want to create. For the front cover, a combination of words and images would work well and for the back cover, perhaps some notes or a dedication would be better. Either way, the covers are easy to create.

Here’s how we prepared a cover in Word. Setting the margins to leave a five by five square in the middle of the page works best. We used a top and bottom margin of three inches and one and a half inch on the left margin, two inches on the right. Then we chose to show a grid so we would know what our actual working space was. Here’s how it looked in Word:

DVD Cover
Use the Custom Margin setting.

 

Arrange the photos in the square and dress them up a bit using the menus in Word. Here are a couple of the settings that you can use:

cover 3

DVD Cover 2
Choose the borders and other effects in this menu.

 

DVD Cover 3
Place each image with this menu.

 

There are almost an infinite set of choices for your covers in Word. We’ve given you some ideas about the basics but you’re on your own as far as finalizing everything else. Once you have the photos set up, type in the words and print it up. Remember to leave a bit of wiggle room around the edge for cropping after you print. Keep your words away from the edge as much as you can. Our five by five dimensions are approximate, right?

If you’ve created a DVD movie or copied a movie that you own, you can download cover art from the IMDB site, for example. Original movie posters abound on the Internet. Save the image to your computer, open it in Irfanview and adjust the size until one of the dimensions is about five inches. Since photos aren’t ever square, use your discretion as to which dimension you set to five inches. In our experience, setting the height to five inches is usually best, leaving the width to be settled according to the height you choose. You must preserve the aspect ratio in order for the image to look normal. Here are the menus you need when you’re editing a photo in Irfanview:

DVD Covers 4
You want to resize the image.

 

 

DVD Covers 5
Set the new height (usually) to 5 inches and make sure you select Preserve Aspect Ratio (Proportional) in order for the width to look appropriate. If you set the height, the width is set automatically.

That’s about it, folks. Create the DVD using Windows DVD Maker, then use Word and/or Irfanview to create the cover. If you take your time, you’ll be able to come up with very professional results. If you have the program already, use Photoshop or GIMP to do the same thing. Most people have Word already, that’s why we chose it.

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Computers, Create a Slideshow, Free Software, Windows, Windows Live Movie Maker

Free Slideshow Software

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Slideshow 01
The splash screen for Windows DVD Maker.

We’ve all seen those magical slideshows before, right? Ken Burns has done whole movies using them. Baseball and the American Civil War came to life by using a relatively simple slideshow technique. Now, if you’re using Windows 7, you can release your inner Ken Burns by creating your own slideshow, complete with music accompaniment. Here’s how:

1. Most versions of Windows 7 and one version of Windows Vista, come with Windows DVD Maker. We mentioned this software in our last post, describing how to create DVD movies using AVI files. Here is that post: Making Movies using Windows DVD Maker  . The same software will also create a cool slideshow. You can either insert a blank writeable DVD or go to All Programs and run the program from there. Here is the first menu you see:

Slideshow 1
This time we are going to add photos (pictures) to the DVD menu.

 

2. You can  drag and drop photos into the blank space or use the standard Window’s browse menu. We dragged a series of photos from a folder into the open space in the window. Here’s what we ended up with:

Slideshow
Select the photos one by one holding the CTRL key down, then drag them all to the window.

 

3. Once the photos are in place inside the software, they are in a folder that Windows uses to create the DVD slideshow. Double click on the folder on the menu, the one that reads Slide show (? photos), and you will be able to rearrange them in the order that you want. If you do this beforehand, it’s probably easier but feel free to experiment. Drag the first photo to the first space and continue on through your photos. There is room on the DVD for a lot of photos, probably 140 or more, so if you want a specific order for them, it will take time. Here’s what the menu arrangement menu looks like:

Slideshow 02
Drag the photos up or down the line to arrange them.

 

4. Once the photos are arranged, click next and continue to design your slideshow. On the main menu, look to the right side and experiment with the different menu styles by clicking on any that look interesting. This sets up the menu or splash screen that you’ll see when the DVD first opens. There are lots of good ones so scroll through them all. Here’s what you’ll see:

Slideshow 03
Menu styles are on the right.

 

5. There are other parameters that you can set for the slideshow. On the top of the menu above, you’ll note where to change the Menu text, customize the menu or adjust the slideshow itself. The following photos show some of these settings:

Slideshow 06
Add a title, change the names of the buttons and add notes.

 

Slideshow 07
Add music, change the interval between slides and use different transitions.

 

The tools in the menu above are quite powerful for such a simple program. You can add music to fit the length of the slideshow, change the length of time each photo is on the screen; you can even change the way slides are presented in sequence. Once you’ve got some settings arranged, press the preview button and you’ll be able to run through the slideshow in test mode to see if everything works the way you want it to. If not, go back and change things again.

If you aren’t ready to burn the slideshow now, make sure you save the project for another time. If you are ready to record it to a DVD, simply press the burn button on the main screen.

TIP: Besides making video DVDs and slideshow DVDs, Windows DVD Maker will let you make multimedia DVDs as well. Add photos and slides to the same project and WDM will sort it all out and come up with an amazing DVD that will amaze your audience. You can record a narration track and add it to the slideshow, too. Use your own creativity to explore this free software.

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed our last two posts. We also hope you will create wonderful DVDs for your friends and families, just in time for the holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows, Windows Restore, Windows Secrets

Windows Restore – your very own time machine!

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Sometimes things go wrong with your computer. It starts to act different, freezing or locking up after you’ve installed some software or added a new driver for a piece of hardware. In the old days, you’d have to figure out the problem, sort it out and maybe reload Windows. Remember those days? Well, thanks to Microsoft Window’s restore function, there’s no need to do any of this. Just go back in time to when your computer was functioning properly. Here’s how you do that:

1. Head over to the Start/Windows icon button, click it and look for Control Panel.

Photo of Windows Restore 1
Click ‘Control Panel’

 

2. Here’s the next screen. Look for System and Security.

Photo of Windows Restore 2
System and Security up on the top left then ‘Find and fix problems’

 

3. The next screen that pops up is pretty much vacant but down on the lower left, look for the word Recovery on the bottom left, as in this photo:

Windows Restore 3
The last word on the lower left is ‘Recovery’. Click it to continue.

 

4. The next menu explains what system restore is all about. There is even a recommended time and date, basically the last restore point. Read the menu then click on ‘Scan for affected programs’. Restore does not affect anything that you have created, such as a document or photo. All it does is restore your computer to an earlier date and time, getting rid of  any changes to system files or installed software. When you ‘scan for affected programs’, Windows will tell you what software you’ll have to reinstall. Here’s the menu that we’re talking about:

Photo of Windows Restore 4
Once you’re read this menu, click on ‘Scan for affected programs’.

 

5. Let’s see what would be affected if we restored this computer right now:

Photo of Windows Restore 5
We installed Photoshop Elements recently so it is the only software affected if we use restore right now.

 

6. If you know that the suggested restore point is not the one you want, click on the button to the left of ‘Choose a different restore point’. Like this:

Photo of Windows Restore 6
Click Next after select ‘Choose a different restore point’.

 

7. At any given point in time, Windows has several restore points to choose from. Obviously, the farther back you go in time, the more programs will be affected. Here’s a list of the restore points for this computer:

Photo of Windows Restore 7
There are eight restore points on this computer, each one just before software was installed.

 

8. Before Windows installs any software or even its own updates, it creates a restore point. That way, if something screws up, you can go back to the time before that software was installed and start over again. If you’ve made a mistake in the installation process, you get to go back in time to fix it. Wouldn’t it be great if life were like that?

 

9. Once you decided on which restore point, click Next and the final menu pops up:

Windows Restore 8
Here are all the details of what you’re about to do.

 

10. Once you click ‘Finish’, Windows will start the process and reboot. When you log in again, your computer will be set back to the date you chose, complete with all of your documents, photos, etc. but without the offending software or update. Life is good again, right?

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Remove KB971033, Windows, Windows Secrets

How to Delete Windows Updates

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Every now and then Microsoft releases updates for its different versions of Windows. Usually these updates are beneficial, good for you and your computer. Sometimes, these updates can cause your computer to malfunction, not often but every now and then. There are two things you can about this, the easiest being to simply delete the offending update. Here’s how you do that.

1. Head to your Control Panel (Start/Windows icon on the lower left of your taskbar then look for the words Control Panel up on the right middle and click on them). Like this:

Photo of Windows Update Removal 1
See ‘Control Panel’?

 

2. Clicking on the words Control Panel opens up this screen:

Photo of Windows Update Removal 2
What we want is the section that says ‘Programs Uninstall a program’

 

3. Click on Programs and the following screen pops up:

Photo of Windows Update Removal 3
Look up on the top left for the words ‘View Installed updates’ and click them.

 

4. You have to view the updates carefully to find the one that you want to delete. Better if you know the number of it, KB971033 for instance. If you don’t, you can sort the updates according to different parameters. We suggest you sort them by date of installation. Here’s what that looks like:

Photo of Windows Update Removal 4
There is even a calendar that appears if you hover up on the top right.

 

5. Once you’ve found the correct update, simply right click it and choose ‘uninstall’. You could also click it once and then choose ‘uninstall’ at the top. Either way, Windows will remove the offending update.

Photo of Windows Update Removal 5
Right click and choose ‘Uninstall’.

 

Depending on which update you uninstall, you might have to reboot your computer.

 

Back at the start we said there were two ways to get rid of an update. What’s the second? You could restore your computer to previous day before you installed the update. We’ll explain how to do that in our next post. Stay tuned.

 

Thanks for reading!