Print This PageAsk the Tech Talk Guys
At least once a week, Wayne and I have phone calls where we discuss the latest questions from students and visitors to DiscoverSkills.com. For geeks like us, it’s really kinda fun to troubleshoot problems and come up with (hopefully) good answers. We really take pride in it.
A few weeks ago, I was doing my daily 30-minute tredmill routine, and listening to an audio podcast of an online technology mentor that I highly respect, and he made the comment that a great way to share all the answers you provide your students, was to record them and make them available for all to see on your Web site.
Why didn’t WE think of this?
That same day, I emailed Wayne with the idea…
- Ask students to submit questions right on the DiscoverSkills site.
- Every few weeks, when I’m in Lincoln doing a class, I’ll bring my little flip-cam (and high-end audio recording equipment), and we’ll record a series of short videos to answer those questions.
- We’ll post the videos on DiscoverSkills (by way of YouTube) for everyone to see.
And that’s how “Ask the Tech Talk Guys” was born. BTW, if the name sounds familiar, we borrowed the idea from our favorite auto-mechanics, the Car Talk guys on NPR.
So here’s what we need you to do: Below, in the comments area, we want you to leave your technology questions. On a regular basis, we’ll pick the most representative questions, and then answer them on video, posting the video here on DiscoverSkills for you to see.
NEW!!! – We now have a Google Voice phone number where you can leave questions. Just call us at 402.937.0926 to get our Voice Mail. Leave your question and we’ll answer it in the Tech Guys broadcast, or here on the site.
That’s it! So let’s get going with the questions…
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
About every other time that I try to get on AOL,
my computer just shuts down. What is
going on?
Cec… to clarify, when you say “shut down”, do you mean that when you double-click the AOL icon, and AOL tries to start, the compute actually powers off? Can you relate the start of this to something else that was done on your computer… such as install a new program or piece of equipment? Just need a few more details.
Thanks for posting!
Obliviously I’m on Gmail. On the left side of my screen is a “Chat” column. I’ve never used it. But recently I’ve noticed that it has shown up with a red camera symbol in front of my name. As well as a “Call” list of individuals that I do email regularly. I have never chatted, and don’t really know how too. I do have a web cam attached to the computer but again don’t really know how to use it. Could you address this in a webinar? or email. I also suspect that my granddaughter has possibly initiated this.
Roger – Thanks for the message. This will be a good one for our upcoming Tech Talk Guys video.
I didn’t mean my computer shuts down, but my AOL
screen freezes and I have to turn off computer
to get out of AOL
Oh, OK… so AOL is freezing up your computer, to the point where you have to shut it down. Can you relate the start of this happening to anything thing else that happened on your computer (adding something new?).
Lately my printerwill not print when I go through the usual process of making a print request. It wil randomly decide to print a day or two later, after we’ve sent it several requests and then everything prints out at once! I’ve noticed on the print request screen under “status” it says “error”, then “7 documents waiting”….or however many requests we’ve sent. Something is out of whack and I don’t know why it is doing this.
Carmen – Whenever a printer starts “consistently” acting up like this, the first thing I always recommend is to reinstall the drivers. Drivers are the programs that tell your computer and Windows, how to specifically “use” your printer. For some reason, and I’ve never really figured out why, printer drivers seem to eventually “mess up” more than any other device drivers I’ve used.
So… what I would do is go into the Windows Printer Window, and delete the current driver (delete the icon for your printer). Next, put in the CD/DVD that came with your printer, and follow the directions to again freshly install the printer driver (software). See if that works.
BTW, rather than use the CD that came with your printer, you may also want to visit the printer manufacturer web site and download the latest driver for your printer from them. Most printer companies are constantly updating and improving those drivers, so getting the latest copy might be worth it.
I don’t know where to look for “Windows Printer Window”. I found “Devices and Printers” option when I go to the “Start” menu options
Yes, Devices and Printers is the same thing. You should see your printer listed there, and this is also where you can delete the printer before you reinstall it.
How can you remove the advertisement on the right hand side of emails in your in-box when you want to print one out? This advertisement always cuts part of the email or coupon, etc. (that most time is important) off. I have tried different things but have not been successful.
Hi Barbara: Wish there was an easy answer to this one, but there’s not. Still, here are some things to try.
(1) One way to always take control of what your printing in email is to “select” what you want to print out, then “copy” and “paste” it into a blank word processing document. Extra work, I know, but you can then get just what you want to print and even resize the text if it’s too small.
(2) You can block Hotmail ads by visiting this web site and following the directions…
http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-All-the-Ads-in-Hotmail
What they are basically having you do is add the “host” that is sending you the ads to your “block” list. This is a good solution, but kind of involved to do.
(3) If you use Firefox as your browser, there is a free ad-on that can block Hotmail ads. Here’s the address…
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hotmail-ad-zap/
Wish I had a better solution, but the free email services like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo mail make their money on advertising, and therefore make it hard to remove the ads.
ads for microsoft 7 show fixing faces on pictures by simply putting a box around one that is undesireable and around one from another picture and pasting the desired one over the undesireable one. Is it really that easy or are there other necessary steps?
Hi Gwendell:
In most photo situations it’s NOT that easy, and Microsoft is just hyping a product.
But having said that, in a situation where you’ve taken a group of people (like they have with the family on the couch) and have taken multiple pictures from the same angle and at the same distance/zoom (i.e. the size of people is the same from picture to picture) AND the background has not changed, then it CAN be pretty easy to do with photo editing software that lets you combine pictures.
Specifically with Photoshop Elements (since that’s what I personally use and we teach at the Lincoln lab), in older versions it would just be a matter of carefully selecting the person in the “good” picture and then copying/pasting them into the “bad” picture. In later versions of Elements, there is a feature called Photo Merge Group Shot and Photo Merge Faces which helps you do this, and is pretty easy to use. You can find it under FILE / NEW on the top menu.
Thanks for the question!
We have an old computer with Windows XP and a new one with Windows 7. The XP uses Outlook Express and the new one uses Windows Live Mail. We are trying to use both but the email issue is a problem. In spite of my efforts to direct email to the Windows Live machine, we are receiving some on the XP computer using OE. Then other messages go to the Windows 7 using Live. PLEASE HELP
Gary
Hi Gary:
When you have two different computers, using local programs (i.e. OE and WLM) for email, the thing to keep in mind is that by default, OE and WLM both delete messages from the email server (your mailbox on the Internet providers computer) when they retrieve messages. So, for example… let’s say it’s 9am and you check your mail on the XP machine and there are 5 new messages. Those messages are downloaded to the XP machine and deleted. Then between 9am and 10am you get 3 new messages (but are not logged in, so haven’t seen them yet). Then at 10am you login with Win 7. Those 3 messages are downloaded to the Win 7 machine and they are deleted from the host computer.
Do you see what’s happening?
To solve this, so that you can see ALL the messages on both machines, you need to make it so that the messages are NOT deleted when they are retrieved. In both OE and WLM you can do this in the email account settings, in the Advanced area. There is a checkbox that says “Leave a copy of the message on the server”.
Now, the only drawback is that other than the messages you delete in either OE or WLM (which will also be deleted from the server), all the other messages will accumulate on the server. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but some providers do have storage limits. You’ll want to check this.
Very good question… hope this makes sense.
John Lortz
I’ve tried over and over again to answer your survey before tomorrow’s deadline, but it will not accept my email address, saying ‘It’s already in use’. Frustrating? Yes. I may not win my flash drive!
Sally
Hi Sally:
Sorry about that! Should be “fixed” now, so go ahead and try it again.
Here’s the link, if you need it…
http://www.discoverskills.com/classes/special-computer-class-survey/
We ran the survey last fall, and you hand filled it out then, using the same email address. When I set this survey up, I forgot to uncheck an option that says “not to allow duplicate emails”.
Anyway, sorry it caused you the problem. Let me know if anything else comes up when you try to do the survey.
Hi John,
I am interested in learning more about how to make good use of an Ipod that I own and have never yet tried because I don’t know what to do with it. Can you help with such a situation?
Hi Jean:
Speaking of iPods…we JUST had a two-part class finish up last week called “Digital Music and iStuff” where we talk about that exact topic! We will be having the class again toward the summer months… but in the meantime, I’ll see if I can’t do a video blog that at least might help you get started. Keep an eye on our eNewsletter….
Thanks for posting, Jean…
Hi John!
What a great idea this is!
I wanted to copy something from the internet and didn’t realize that it was 85 pages long! When I did realize this and that I only wanted about 2 or 3 pages, I tried to stop my printer. How??? I looked thrugh my books and everywhere I could think of but couldn’t find anywhere that told me how to stop a printer that is in progress. Thanks for your help.
Hi Barb: Couple suggestions… First, when you see something online that you want to print, one way to just get what you want is to first select (highlight) it, and then when you go into the Printer window, choose to print “Selected”. An alternative is to select what you want to print, and then copy and paste it into a word processing document, and print it from there (I personally do it this way a lot).
Now, as for stopping a print job that’s in the “queue”… believe it or not, that can be a problem! Just this morning I had issues with the same problem. There’s no perfect way to do it in Windows, and have it actually stop. So here are some steps you can take.
(1) Pull the paper from your printer so that the printer stops because it’s out of paper.
(2) Go into the Printer window (print queue) so you can see the job. Click on the job, and from the Document pull-down menu, choose CANCEL.
(3) You may have to choose CANCEL more than one time.
If the job does NOT dissapear after about a minute, the next step is to shut down your computer (the normal way), and then restart it again, still leaving the paper out of your printer. When it starts back up again, go back into the printer queue to see if the job is there. If it is, cancel it again… and this time it should work.
Pretty squirrelly, right? Wish I had a better, less convoluted way…
I am using Adobe Photo elements 6.0 I am puting text on the pictures and would like to have text smaller. I set the size to 6pt (the smallest on the scale) but would like it about half of the size that produces on my picture.
Thank you for any info on this.
Richard
Hi Richard. Sorry I’m just now seeing your post.
Besides using the slider to scale the text, you can also directly type the number in. So if you click in the size box and type 3.0 pt, that will make it smaller.
Try that and let me know if it works!
Thanks John, it works great Now i can get started on my 2,800 pictures covering 50 yrs.
Hi! John,
I keep getting a note that says “Virtual Memory Minimum Too Low”. What
does that mean, and how can I fix it.
Rita
Hi Rita:
First of all, what version of Windows do you have (Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7)? If I know that, I can offer a few suggestions….
And THANKS for posting!
Hi! John,
Thanks for your quick response. I’ve Windows XP.
Rita
Thanks Rita… now, I should have ALSO asked you this. Do you get the message when you are doing anything in particular? Is it consistent in when it comes up?
After you answer that, I’ll direct you to a place in Windows where you can actually adjust the virtual memory. Normally, Windows handles this automatically, but perhaps that got turned off for you, somehow.
One more question… Can you open My Computer, then choose VIEW / DETAILS, and look to see how much free space you have on your C: drive?
Hi! John,
No, I don’t get the message when I’m doing anything in particular … it’s just periodically that it comes on. I’ve 52.1 GB Free Space, and under that it says: Total Size and that number was 71.6 GB.
Thanks, John,
Rita
Hi! John,
I’m wondering if you saw my note dated April 8th, about my problem. Hope to hear from you soon.
Rita
Hi Rita… Sorry! Totally missed your earlier post!
Anyway, since you have Windows XP, I want you to check one more thing for me…. Here are the instructions:
(1) Click Start , click Run , type sysdm.cpl in the Open box, and then press ENTER.
(2) Click the Advanced tab, and then under Performance click Settings .
(3) Click the Advanced tab, and then under Virtual memory click Change .
(4) Under Drive [ ] , click your C: drive.
Under Paging file size for selected drive , see if this is set to “allow Windows to manage the page file”, and if it is NOT, then choose that option and then click Set .
(5) Click OK to close the dialog box and apply changes.
When you are done, you may be prompted to restart your computer.
Now, if it was already set to “allow Windows to manage the page file”, let me know, and we’ll go to the next step.
Hi, John,
Thank you so much for giving me a solution to a problem I’ve had ever since I upgraded to XP: namely, I used to be able use a DOS command to print out a list of my files and folders on a particular disk. For several years I’ve asked and asked and no luck. Today — voila! you showed us how to us PrtScr/paste to do just that. It works fine but the print is rather small. Any suggestions appreciated.
S.
Hi Sally: Sorry I didn’t answer this sooner, it somehow got past me!
When you use PrtScr you are basically creating a screen shot that is turned into a picture, so that when you PASTE into your word processor, you are pasting a picture/graphic that can be resized by dragging the “handles” (small squares at the corners and sides of the picture). Try dragging those handles to make the picture bigger, and you should also see the text get bigger.
But also realize that as you drag the picture bigger, the quality will probably go down and the picture might start to “pixilate” a bit. Still, you should be able to get the text bigger this way.
Another thing I didn’t mention during the seminar, is that if you hold down the ALT key while pressing the PrnScrn button, Windows will take a screen shot of ONLY the “active” window, instead of the entire screen. If you do this, and then paste onto a blank Wordprocessing page, and then resize it bigger with the handles, it might make the text bigger at a better quality.
Thanks for attending the seminar, and for leaving the comment here!
We received a notice to install Explorer 9 a couple of days ago. We installed it, but then lost all our favorites on Google. Therefore, we did the “go-back” thing to the previous date and everything was fine again. This evening, I tried to set the option to install updates without asking first. It said there were 3 updates to install, so I started the installing process, and it said, “installing Explorer 9″. I immediately cancelled it so that we wouldn’t lose our favorites again. Should we just ignore the Explorer 9 update or is it important?
Thank you for your help.
Hi Carol: Question… I just want to make sure I understand which favorites you lost. When you mentioned you “lost all your favorites on Google”, do you mean that you lost your Google toolbar (on IE) that had all your Google favorites? This set of favorites is different from the actual Internet Explorer favorites.
In other words… when you go to your favorites now… where exactly are they? Do you have the Google toolbar installed?
I have Vista and our new computer has Windows 7. Our old printer AIO Printer 922 (Dell) will not work on either computer. I am seeing in google that it won’t. Is that true?
Hi Chris!!!
In looking around, I initially found the same thing… i.e. Dell didn’t come out with a Windows 7 driver for the A920. However, in doing some more digging I did discover that it IS listed if you manually attempt to install a printer. Try these steps…
(1) Start Button / Devices and Printers
(2) At the device window, choose “Add a Printer” at the top, left
(3) In the Add Printer window, Dell will NOT be listed as a Manufacturer. Click the Windows Update button, and after a few minutes, MS will update the list to include 3 Dell choices.
(4) Choose the “Dell Inkjet Drivers” choice
(5) Scroll down the Printer list, and you should see “Dell AIO Printer A920″
Since I don’t have the printer myself, I didn’t install it…. but it IS there, so you might as well give it a shot!
Hope things are going well with you!!!! Let me know how this turns out!
Hi! John,
I just saw you instructions and followed them, and “allow Windows to manage the page file” was not checked, so I checked that option and clicked SET.
Then, I had to restart my computer, so hopefully, my problem is taken care of.
Thanks so much for your help.
Rita
I have a fairly new monitor–an eMachine. It had a welcome feature with a tour of the monitors features. Now it continues to flash off and on and is very annoying. When I push the ‘end tour’ button on the side of the monitor, nothing happens. It just continues to flash off and on. How do I stop it before it drives me batty?
how do you get to your ebooks?
Winston…
Sorry I didn’t reply to this sooner! From the menu at the top of the page, if you choose CATALOG you’ll be taken to a page where we have our eBooks for sale. Also, you can get to our free eBooks (there’s just one at the moment) by going to ONLINE LEARNING and then choosing eBOOKS.
If you have any other questions about the books, feel free to email me directly at jlortz@discoverskills.com.
John Lortz
John; I just read all of the Q&A and learned a few new things, simply a great part of your over all program. Great stuff John.
Hi Harold!
Hey… thanks! I’m hoping to get this a bit more active here, and take some of the best questions and turn them into a true Q&A section.
Take care!
John L.