Placing pics in Word

Word is not the easiest tool when it comes to designing pages. Some things that are simple operations in any page layout program are a nightmare to try and do in Word. Fortunately, one operation that has been improved in Word 2007 is the handling of images. If you want to place a photograph, for instance, in a Word document, from the Insert menu click on "Picture", and then choose from the dialogue box that opens. When you okay the choice, Word automatically inserts it wherever you had your text cursor in the document, and if the cursor is in the middle of a line, it will break the text at that point to accommodate the image. The result is something akin to a skyscraper in a treeless landscape. But there is much you can do to improve things. When the image is imported, you will see a dotted blue line around it, which means it is selected. And the menu bar will have changed to Format. One of the most important options there is Text Wrapping, and you have many possibilities to choose from. For simple work, I suggest "Square", which allows you to drag the image around anywhere on the page, and the text will wrap around it. If you click and drag on a corner of the image, you can resize it. I also suggest playing around with the Edit Wrap Points and More Layout Options, which give a lot more control over how the image the text interact with each other.
Embedded images: One word of caution - when Word imports an image, by default it embeds it in the document. This means that all the image information is stored within the document. It has the advantage that when you send the document to another person, you don't need to send the image as well. The disadantage is that if you try to extract and save the image as a separate item, there is a massive loss of quality. And the file size of the Word document increases by the size of the image - so it takes only a few images to quickly bloat the size of the Word document to massive amounts, certainly more than most email systems will comfortably handle. There are some alternatives, which Microsoft cleverly hides until you click on a tiny triangle next to the "Insert" button at the bottom right of the dialogue box when you choose a picture to insert. Here is some help on what the alternatives mean.

Amazing online photo editing tool

I have just come across a website called Aviary. Aviary makes web-based image editing tools, which allow you to do Photoshop-type work on an image just using your internet browser. Some of the options they offer are jaw-droppingly good, and way ahead of even Photoshop. The effects editor in particular is outstanding. If you are daunted by the idea of coming to grips with such complexity, they have done their best to make the process very intuitive, and a series of well-designed video tutorials walk you through everything you need to know. The company also recently launched a Firefox add-on that lets you right-click on any image in your web browser to edit it with Aviary. And all this for free!!! I don't know how they do it, but this site is going straight into my Favourites. In addition, it's believed that Aviary will soon be launching a suite of online audio production tools. I can't wait.

Recover deleted files

It's the stuff to rival your worst nightmares. You send a file to the Recycle/Trash bin, empty the bin, and suddenly realise you have just deleted a vital document. Fortunately, help is at hand. There are numerous programs that can recover these files, and most often they work very well. The reason they can recover files is because a deleted file is not actually wiped from your computer's hard drive immediately. All you have done is give the computer permission to use that space when it runs out of room elsewhere. So if you have not done any work in the meantime, the chances are probably better than 99% you can get the file back. The caveat is that you should attempt recovery as soon as you realise your mistake. Recuva, a free utility, offers to restore files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. "It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!"
Incidentally, if you have merely sent a file to Recycle/Trash and not emptied the bin, you don't need a recovery utility at all. Open the bin, locate and select the file, then right-click and choose "restore". That will return the file to the place from whence it came.

Archiving web pages

One of the advantages of Internet Explorer is its ability to save/archive a web page as a single archive file (to which it gives the extension .mht), a feature it has had from the early days. To do this, you simply choose File/Save As, and then the option "Web archive, single file". You can view the archived pages at any time, not necessarily when connected to the internet. If you do much research work on the internet, this archive format is a real boon.
Firefox does not have this feature built in - you get only the options to save a page as a text file (with images missing), or as a "Web page, complete". If you choose the latter, images and other bits and pieces from the page are stored in a new folder the browser automatically creates. However, an archive add-on is available which does the same job as Internet Explorer, and which appears to be able to store multiple pages in the same archive (I haven't tried this latter feature yet).

If Bill Gates ran the auto industry

The following has been going the rounds for years, but it's worth recycling. (PS: It's a joke that has taken on the quality of urban myth, as the folk at Snopes explain.)
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX) Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry as, we would all be driving 25.00 dollars cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever, your cash would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue.4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to restart the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the syun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This car has performed An Illegal Operation."
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed ahold of the radio attenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn on the engine.
On the theme of Microsoft jokes, this is my second favourite:
Q: How many Microsoft technicians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They redefine darkness as the industry standard.

Converting web documents to pdf

A couple of weeks ago I was searching for a way to turn web documents I had authored in Dreamweaver into pdf files. The answer is actually fairly simple.
Microsoft Word can open any web (html) document. The results may not display exactly as in the original, but a little tweaking will probably fix that. Then it is a simple matter to turn the Word document into a pdf, using the "Save As..." command. You will need to install the pdf add-in from Microsoft if you do not already have it, but it is a free download.

Solve Word 2003-2007 incompatibilities

Microsoft changed Word's format with version 2007. Word documents created with Office 2007 are given the file extension .docx, which is a different standard from the .doc format of all previous versions. (At least the suffix does you a clue that you are dealing with two different animals.) The downside is that if you have only Word 2003 or earlier - and I have Word 2000 still chugging along happily on one machine - you cannot open the new format. Fortunately, there are several solutions.
1. If you're using Word 2007, you can still save your files as .doc files so that anyone can read them. To save an individual file this way, in the Save As dialog box's 'Save as type' pull-down menu, select Word 97-2003 Document. You can also set that format as your default. Click the Office logo in the top-left corner of the Word screen, then select Word Options (bottom right of the dialogue box that pops up). In left pane, click Save. In right pane, for 'Save files in this format,' select Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc). Click OK.
2. If you're using Word 2000, 2002, or 2003, you can download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. The downloads are free.
3. Another option is to use OpenOffice.org as your word processor. Version 3 recently released can open .docx files quite happily. If you have only an earlier version (hey, it's a free download), you can use the updated Word Viewer from the Microsoft website and use it to open the .docx document. This document can then be copied and pasted into OpenOffice. Another possibility is to use the free online service called docx-converter which converts documents into the format readable by OpenOffice.
I should note in passing that OpenOffice's default format is called "open doc", which saves files with the extension .odt. This format can be read by virtually every word processor, even including Word!

Recovering a lost Windows password

Nothing can freeze the blood like losing the logon password to your computer. It's all-too-easy to forget these things, particularly if you have set up multiple user accounts and you use some only infrequently. Or you have set up a user account for your kids who are as good at remembering things as they are at putting their clothes away. Fortunately, help is at hand. This video at PC World explains a range of options you can follow to regain your sanity.

Free word processors

A colleague has an ageing computer, which can run only an old version of Word. She can't afford to purchase a new version, so what to do? Fortunately, there is a large range of open source (ie, free) word processors available, some of which give Microsoft Office a hefty run for its money. The most popular is probably OpenOffice.org, which almost matches Word feature-for-feature, and in addition adds a few which Office does not have, such as a drawing program. In addition, it has an installed user base of millions of people, so there is plenty of help if you strike difficulties. A list of the best-known word processors is here, and most of these run on Mac and Linux as well as Windows.
A new Office package I have only just heard of, and which is not included in the above list, is The Fifth Element, from Ssuite Software. It apparently packs in even more features than OpenOffice.org. Certainly you can't lose by trying any of these (except maybe if you exceed your broadband download cap).

How secure is your "secret question"?

Many websites that require passwords recognise that most of us have a fit of forgetfulness from time to time. So they offer a "secret question" option when you sign up, for use when you have lost or forgotten the original logon. The theory is that only you know the answer to the secret question - except that many hackers are very adept at working out the answers to these questions, especially if the question is something like "where were you born", or "what is your pet's name"? Technology Review looks further into the issue in this article.
There are other ways to solve the problem, as there are numerous programs which can store you passwords securely. Some free examples are Password Safe, Key Folder and Secret Server.

Free typefaces

I posted yesterday on clip art. Today, it's time to look at typefaces. The right typeface can really enhance the look of a document (indeed, some graphic designers consider that typography is the most important part of good design). Conversely, inappropriate typefaces - or too many different ones in the same document - can work against good design. While Mac, PC and Linux systems all come with a range of typefaces pre-installed, they are fairly limited, and I draw on a big stable of others I have gathered over the years. These days, there are plenty of websites offering huge ranges.
One of the best collection of "classic" (ie, well-designed or well-known) typefaces is at http://www.fontcenter.de
SearchFreeFonts has more than 13,000 typefaces, including many classics.
Fontyukle claims to be the world's biggest repository of type faces, and has many that are otherwise hard to get. However, its procedure for locating and downloading is clumsy. (Hints: use the search engine to locate by name, and you will have to endure a Capchacode when you start to download.)
Betterfonts claims to have over 10,000 typefaces.
There are 6500+ fonts at WebPageFonts
And a big selection at this site.
Once you have installed all these fonts, how can you view them easily, to decide which to use? Word gives you a representation when you click on the menu bar, but it may not be convenient to go into Word to see the list. A better alternative is a little program called FontView. It finds all the typefaces in your system, and displays them in an alphabet or short sentence (you can type whatever you want, and it will display those letters).
Finally, a note about the difference between a typeface and a font. Technically, the typeface is the family (eg, Arial, Helvetica, Times). The font is the individual member within that typeface family (eg, Arial Bold, Times Italic). These days, the distinction has been all but lost, and people generally use "font" to mean "typeface".

NZ's top 10 risky online behaviours

We're used to not clicking on sex drug emails, we know that sending vast sums of money to people in Nigeria isn't very clever, and most now understand that loading a Facebook photo of yourself sitting on a beach while you're meant to be off sick could get you in trouble with the boss, says The NZ Herald.

"But while Kiwis are getting better at not being screwed by cybercrooks, the internet security boffins at Trend Micro say we're still making big mistakes in our often-risky online behaviour.
Trend Micro's security experts have identified the top ten mistakes that New Zealanders are still making in their online lives - putting our finances, our PCs and our private lives at risk."

Here's the list...

Clip art

Clip art can be a real help in dressing up otherwise bland reports, newsletters and the like. In the old days (like, 10 years ago), I bought Corel Draw simply to get access to a good collection of clip art and typefaces. This has been rendered completely redundant by the internet, where you can find almost unlimited resources for free. There are scads of sites containing clip art these days, although the quality is pretty awful in many cases. Here are few in my browser's address book:
i-clipart says it has 30,000+ images in its collection.
A major resource is at Public Domain Clip Art, with 25,000+.
A newly revamped site is the Open Clipart project, which now has 11,000+ images.
And of course we can't ignore the 50,000 or so images and sounds on offer at Microsoft, for use in Word, Publisher, etc.

I surf unprotected...

...writes Michael Scalisi. "That's right. I don't use any anti-malware applications," he says.

"In over two years, I haven’t gotten a single virus or piece of malware. The only protection I have is that I’m behind a Linksys firewall and I have my Windows firewall enabled. On this computer I’ve used Windows XP, Vista, and currently Windows 7 Beta.
"How have I managed this dangerous and reckless feat without any consequences? Simple. I trust no one. If for some reason a pop up Window comes up asking me to click OK or Cancel, I click on ‘X’ instead, I never open e-mail from people I don’t know regarding products I didn’t buy. I keep my system updated with the newest security updates from Microsoft. I use Chrome as my main browser, but I also use Firefox and IE only when I have to."

AVG accidentally harms PCs

According to Ian Paul, PC World, users of AVG's virus scanner received a bit of a shock in the past week from the antivirus program, which instructed them to delete a core Windows file that their PCs actually needed. AVG mistakenly believed the file, called "user32.dll," contained several viruses. Users were instructed to delete it, which caused their computers to jump into an endless loop of reboot cycles. The only way out of this is to boot the computer from the original Windows CD and run the repair option.
AVG is wildly popular because of the free version it offers to home users. However, this is not the first time that AVG has had a problem with user32.dll. Last year, AVG alerted users that user32.dll had been "changed" and could be infected. At the time, the program did not recommend any action, but did cause users to post a frenzy of worried messages on some Internet forums. Earlier this month, AVG was also registering a false positive on ZoneAlarm, another security product. AVG says it has fixed the current user32.dll problem and apologized for the mishap on its forum.

Deleting email attachments

A friend who is a Mac owner would like to slim down her email inbox by deleting all the attachments from the emails, but keeping the main body of the message. (She has already saved important attachments to folders elsewhere on her hard drive.) As far as my investigations can tell, the Mac Mail program does not have this facility. However, the Thunderbird email program (which I use at home) does have that ability, and a Mac version of Thunderbird is available. When you install Thunderbird, it gives you the option to import your emails and address books from your other program, so you don't have to lose any important contacts. On a PC, Microsoft Outlook 2007 has the ability to delete attachments (not sure about earlier versions), but Outlook Express does not. Again, the PC version of Thunderbird does. For Mac owners who do not want to move away from Mail, I can think of two other work-arounds (both a bit clumsy). One is to forward the email to your own address, deleting the attachment at that point. The other is to save the email as a text-only file in an appropriate folder on the hard drive.

Salvaging the accidents

The "oh crumbs!" moment is a fact of life when you work with computers. (Ok, I'll admit it, the strength of the expletive is in direct proportion to the severity of the stuff-up.) How many times have I accidentally deleted text I have slaved over, or destroyed a work of art in Photoshop with a slip of the mouse?
When this happens, I try hard not to panic, stop everything, take a deep breath, and then hit "undo" keys, Ctrl-Z. (I wish life had a Ctrl-Z key to erase those dumb things I do or say.) Some programs, such as Word, have almost unlimited levels of undo. Just keep hitting Ctrl-Z, and you can go back a long way down the path you have come. If you undo too much, you can redo by going to the Edit menu and choosing that option. Some programs, like PhotoShop, by default have only one level of undo. Then, Ctrl-Z becomes a toggle between undoing and redoing. However, PhotoShop also has a History function, found under the Window menu, which allows you to go back to any particular action and alter it.
Some programs have a Revert function (usually found under the File menu). Choosing this takes the document back to the last-saved version. Depending on how frequently you save, this may take you back further than you wanted to go, but it can salvage many worst-case scenarios. As I have got myself into the habit of saving text documents at least every five minutes, Revert has been my saviour on many occasions.
Word does not have a Revert feature, but one more option is open to you, which also works for every other program without exception. Simply close the document, and when you are prompted, do not save the changes. That will take the document back to its last-saved version.

Restoring browser defaults

According to reports, a glitch in Internet Explorer 6 forced the new Microsoft search engine Bing onto users as the default search engine. Even when users manually altered their preferences, Bing came back. Micosoft says it has now fixed the problem, but similar problems have occurred before.
When one of the early versions of Windows 7 was released a month or so back, IE8 was automatically pushed as the default browser. This caused competitors Opera and Firefox to complain. If that has happened to you, and you want to reset Firefox or Opera as your default, there is a solution.
1. Close Internet Explorer if it's running, then start Firefox.
2. Click Tools, Options, then click the Advanced icon in the Options toolbar.
3. Click the General tab if it's not already selected, then make sure "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup" is enabled.
4. Click Check Now, then confirm that you want to make Firefox your default browser.
5. Click OK and you're done.

When an unwanted program lacks an uninstaller

A fairly regular annoyance in the Windows world crops up when you want to uninstall an unwanted program. Most programs either have an uninstall option, or you can delete them using the control panel "Add or remove programs". But from time to time, the uninstall routine becomes corrupted, or is even missing completely. (It's certainly happened to me on a number of occasions.) Lincoln Spector has some helpful tips on what to do in such cases.
In addition, a marvellous free utility called Revo Uninstaller, can assist in tidying up the nasty left-overs from messy uninstalls.

Dreamweaver to PDF - help wanted

This might be a bit specialised for many, but I could use some help. I am creating some web documents in Dreamweaver and would like to convert them to pdf files. Alternatively, convert to some format that I can email to others so they can view the finished product. Any ideas greatly received.