Last week we looked at Gmail’s General Settings.  As a result of your emails, today we move on to Gmail Labels.

You get to Labels the same way you got to General Settings last week.  You must first be logged into your Gmail account (gmail.com).  Then look to the upper right corner and hover the little "gear" icon.  It should say "Settings". If not, keep hovering until you find it.  Now click it, then "Settings."  Finally, click on the second tab, "Labels."

I think Gmail received a lot of grief because of calling them labels instead of folders because when they first created them no one understood…except for us geeks.  My guess is that in recent times Google has added, "Folders" to their icons at the top of the screen where you can "put" an email to calm everyone down.

The difference between folders in Gmail and other apps is that if you label it from your inbox, it will also have an "Inbox" label and stay in your inbox.  However, when you move it to a folder, it is removed from your inbox.  But guess what, if you move it back from the "folder" you still need to remove the label…too confusing for me, so I suggest playing in Gmail and using the one you like the best.

The only thing I don’t like about Labels (which is my own learning situation) is that if you delete an email with a label of Jokes and it is also marked with the Family label it is deleted from everywhere, not just from that label.  You should remove the label to get it "out of the folder" by selecting the email, clicking the label icon and unchecking the label you want to remove.

Tags: computer, Email, folders, Gmail, google, inbox, internet mail, labels, online, Ron Doyle, software, technology, whim, wife jokes

Here you go the show notes from Monday, March 19, along with the podcast.  Enjoy to fun and games and let me know what you think.

Have fun with your new iPods if you an owner of the “new” iPod.

Liquipel http://www.liquipel.com
Save your Smartphone from becoming a Dumbphone (or any other electronic device) when they get dropped in water.

Water damage has threatened our devices for far too long. Liquipel protects every feature of your device with a revolutionary waterproof shield.

Pinterest http://pinterest.com
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

At this point in time to use it you must request an invite to the program. Without a “membership” you can only browse a little of the content.

True Crypt http://www.truecrypt.org/
If you carry around free open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Thanks for looking, listening and I hope to see you back next month, Monday, April 16 @ 10:00o am on WSVA Radio with Jim Britt.

Tags: android, computer, e-book, ebook, Email, fun and games, google, iPod, Jim Britt, radio, tablet PC, windows 7, windows 8, windows operating system, WSVA

The column about my Toshiba Thrive from last week generated several intriguing emails. 

First, "I am looking for a Tablet PC and want to know if you can tell me more about yours?"  Well, I can but I only have so much space in the columns.  You can really find all you need online starting at Toshiba.com and Googling for the "Toshiba Thrive."   I will, however go on to talk about a couple of things I did not mention last week.

It has an amazing recharging capability. The specifications said it will recharge a totally discharged battery in an hour.  Well come on folks!  Do I look like I was born yesterday?  I am not new to this stuff and I found that pretty hard to believe.  So I tested it out.  I ran my battery down to less than a 10% charge.  I plugged it in for exactly one hour and checked it.  The charge was up to 89%.  No, that is not 100% but close enough for me.  It only took a few more minutes to make it to 100%.  Just think about it, your battery is low and you have 20 minutes to spare. Charge it for those 20 minutes and you may have 25% or more of your battery capacity back.  That is amazing compared to other charging experiences I have had.

I mentioned the full size USB port last week and someone wanted to know if it would also hold a SD Card.  The answer is of course. Yes, there is a slot for one of those also.  There is also an HDMI slot (to connect to a video device like TV to deliver digital quality.) You could not ask for much more on a tablet.  Oh but wait, there is one more thing you do not find on many other tablet PCs, if any at all.  The Thrive has a replaceable battery.  That means you can order a new battery if needed and put it in yourself.  With others you have to pay a geek to do it and maybe send it away for a few weeks.

The other emails said that I had mentioned, "Swype" and they wanted to know if I had misspelled "Wipes".  Swype is a great Android program which allows you to significantly increase your "typing" speed on your phone or any Android device.  You simply slide your finger from one letter in a word to another and it predicts the word you are typing.  It is amazingly accurate and if you have an Android device and you want to try it out this free app, go to Swype.com.

The last item for today is Skype (Skype.com) and no, I have not just misspelled Swype. They are two totally different programs. The really basic description of Skype is that it allows you to call phones and other computers via the internet.  It also has the built-in capability to have video along with your audio.  That allows you to talk to and see the boyfriend, girlfriend, kids, grand kids, etc. no matter where they may be located on the globe.  It is a free computer-to-computer service but for phone calls check out the rules on their site.

Have fun computing this week and keep those emails coming!  I love to hear from all of my readers and answer your great questions.

Tags: android, battery capacity, capability, computer, experiences, googling, hardware, software, tablet PC, toshiba

Mentioned on the show this morning:

• Cup of Joe for a Joe
  
  Someone from home wants to say thanks and send you a FREE cup of coffee.
  
  Participation in Cup Of Joe For A Joe is restricted to active duty Armed Services Personnel deployed in support of OEF or OIF.
• Mystery Guest, Inc.
  
  Share your thoughts on a dining experience in chosen restaurants in your area.  (Not any in our area…yet.)
• PhotoWipe (main site)
  
  PhotoWipe is a revolutionary imaging tool that magically removes unwanted objects from your photos. Just paint over them in black, and click go! Uncovers hidden details. Sit back and watch as cage bars disappear from the zoo, and your old boyfriend or girlfriend fades away. And best of all, it’s completely free!
  
  Two other freebies are at this site too.  “Shark Ticker” and one with a good name going for it, “Banshee Screamer Alarm“.

Tethering your HTC phone may not always be possible.  It depends on the phone and the service provider.  But here is somewhere to start looking.  Google for your HTC phone and provider and see what will and won’t work.

Apple tells us about antenna attenuation.

What is Steve Jobs’ actual email address and will “he” be the one responding to you?

Hopefully get a quicker talk with the higher ups at a company by asking to, “Please, escalate this call.”

See you next month, Monday, August 16 at 10:00 am.

Ron

Tags: coffee, computer, doyle, escalation, google, HTC, java, Jim Britt, microsoft, Ron Doyle, soldier, Steve Jobs, tethering, WSVA

I had a great email from AP telling me about someone teaching her a great windows feature this week.  I thought I had written about this hidden feature long ago.  In searching through all of my columns I found that I had not, so today we will take a look.

You know how it works… you are emailing a friend about something strange happening on your computer.  It would be much easier to put a picture of what is happening in the email instead of trying to describe it.  Or take my example, when writing a training manual; pictures are always needed for the step-by-step explanations.  Or you just made that big score playing online scrabble.

Wouldn’t it be neat if Microsoft provided a free tool to allow us to grab a “screenshot” of what we needed? The answer to that is, “Yes!” They have and it has been available in most all Windows versions.   It  is still available in Windows 7.

The perceived worthless “Print Screen” button on your keyboard used to do something slick in the old “DOS days”, back before Windows ever put in an appearance.  By pressing the “Print Screen” button you could print out the screen that was displayed.  That is very boring by today’s standards; however, in those days it was high-tech.

To get a picture of your window all you have to do is press and hold down (for a second or two) the “Print Screen” button.  This key is usually found on your keyboard in the upper right corner labeled, “Prnt Scrn”.

Try it now.  Go to your computer and open a window of anything on your computer.  Press the “Prnt Scrn” button a hold it for a count of “two”.  There you have it; you have just copied whatever was on your desktop into your system’s clipboard.  If you are using two monitors you just copied both windows.

How can you prove it?  Simply open a program like Word that allows graphics and paste as you normally would paste text.  The easy way to paste is to use the “Ctrl-V” button combination.  There it is, your screenshot is now in your document.  You can paste the graphic in most programs including email; though, you will have to check to make sure yours will allow this.

Now let’s look at one last print screen trick.  Use, the “Alt-Prnt Scrn” keys if you only want to copy one active window and not your entire desktop.  The only rule here is that the window you want to copy is active, i.e., you click on that window before copying.

This screenshot remains in your clipboard until you copy something else into it or you restart windows.

Tags: computer, picture, Print, screen

I say, “Not”!  And this article from TechRepublic writer, Debra Littlejohn Shinder gives my reasoning exactly.  I am especially in agreement with the even numbered items in the list.

I would add an 11th reason to the mix and that is I never want the first version of anything.  That includes tech stuff, cars, phones, etc.

The engineers and developers never consider every option and everything you and I can do with the device.  I have found that the 1st of anything is usually the poorest of the versions with more issues.

I would like to add that even though I have been reading the TechRepublic site for years to great techie benefit, I will have one of my articles appearing there within the next month or so.  It does require a membership to read all of the information and articles there.  However, it is free and I have never gotten spammed from them.

They send me updates on the specific parts of the site that I want to receive them for.

Tags: Apple, computer, desktop, iPad, iPod, Mac, not ready for prime time, storage, zune

My mouse has no tail! No, I do not mean the little rodent variety, but the ones fitting comfortably under your hand that you poke and prod all the time at your computer.

One of my readers/listeners, Jenny saw me in a local eatery the other day while I was working on something.  I go to several of the fast-food, pastry shops, coffee shops, book stores, etc. in the area that offer free Wi-Fi access to work on columns, etc.   If you ever see me, come over and say, “Hi!” too.

But now back to the story.  Jenny had never seen a netbook and she thought it was a “cute little thingy”.  Uh, thanks Jenny.  She had also never seen a wireless mouse – she did not say that was cute.  She wanted to know about them.  If one person does not know about something there must be plenty of others who do not know about it either, so here we go.

You know how it is when you are intent on something at your computer.  Your mouse slips to the edge of your mouse pad; you pick up the mouse and have to untangle the wire to get it back just where you like it.

A wireless mouse uses a laser instead of a ball on the bottom .  What do they look like?  Look at   the mouse you use now and cut the wire off of it really close to the mouse body.  That’s it, now you have a wireless mouse…NO! STOP! Not really, but that is what one looks like.

They work just as well as a wired mouse, are much easier to keep straight and fit into your backpack for traveling with your notebook.  They have a little USB bar maybe 1.5″ long that plugs into your computer which is how they communicate.

There are two slight drawbacks to the unwired mouse.  First is that they will not work on a glass top.  Before someone out there writes me, yes I know that they do make a type of blue-laser mouse that works on glass.  However, I have a friend who bought one.  He says that it does work, but it does not work as well as advertised.  Also it cost about 3 times as much.

The second little problem is that they use batteries for power.  I have two different brands, a no name that uses two-AA batteries and one from Microsoft that uses one-AA battery.  The one that I use at work five days a week, probably nine hours a day, lasts for approximately six months before needing a new battery.  The other, I would guess even longer.

Now you are asking, “OK, Ron how much?”  You can get the Microsoft mouse for less than $20 in the local area.  Try one out.  You will like it.

Tags: computer, Double Click, internet, microsoft, mouse, usb

Mentioned on today’s show:

1. Learning curve will be large if you’ve never used computers.
2. Courses at BRCC and MTC which are excellent
   • I have had students from 16-96
   • Retired person 96 who just wanted to learn more
   • One woman in 80s who had a hobby and wanted to sell her hobby online.
   • I taught her to build her own web site and did a great job and sold her items
3. Desktop or Portable?
   • Screen Size
   • Can change text and graphics in most all programs
   • Size of monitor may be hard to navigate if too small
4. Still need “room” to move around on the screen.
5. Weight
   • My backpack weighs 11 lbs. would that be feasible for all?
   • How much do you want to carry around for a Notebook (~5-8 lbs.)
   • Small Netbook computers (~2 lbs.)
   • Tablet – iPad all the rage as of yesterday (~1 lb.)

Tags: citizen, computer, computer help, Jeff Ishee, Jim Britt, newspaper column, Ron Doyle, senior, WVSA

Several of you continued the USB line of thought from the last column and mentioned portable applications.  I thought I had written about these years ago.  However, after a search of over 750 columns I’ve written I realized that I had not mentioned them, so here we go.

A quick definition is needed here for what portable applications are and how are they used.

A portable application is a “stand alone” program that does not need to be installed on a computer’s hard drive.  When you install a regular program there are files that are written all over your computer.  For instance, many entries may be made in your windows’ registry file along with other folders somewhere else.  A portable application is installed in one main folder and no other entries are written anywhere else on the system.  This is like a step back in time.  In the DOS days and the originating days of windows all programs were installed like this; however, things are now different.

The first and predominate portable applications site is called, appropriately enough, “Portable Apps“.  If you go there you can install the basic program on your USB stick and it will provide a lot of good “little” programs.  It creates a menu system so that when you plug your USB stick in it will pop up and you can run your portable applications from there.

There are three different Portable Apps from which to choose.  The differences are in size and  what programs you get with each one.  The first choice, “Platform Only” will only install the basic program.  I don’t find this one to be very useful.  It  is only 1.3MB in size but it doesn’t do much to help you out.

The other two installs are called “Suite Lite” and “Suite Standard”.  These two are respectively 150MB and 355MB in size.  The minimum recommended sizes for your USB device is 256MB and 512MB, again depending on which version you choose.

Each of the larger versions include most of the Mozilla apps like the FireFox browser, Thunderbird email, a messaging program, an antivirus program and several other apps.  The difference between the two is that the larger version includes Open Office Portable version.  That is an excellent substitute for Microsoft Office on a budget…it is free as are all of these apps.  You can look for other portable programs online too.

Why would you want to install these or a USB stick?  You go to a friend’s house and want to do some work on your newspaper column or your personal budget.  You can perform everything you need to on your USB stick after plugging it into their computer.  None of your information is left behind on their computer since you have used your portable “system” to do your work and store your files.  You can check your email, surf the web, etc. without leaving behind any of your private information on someone else’s system.

It provides a good use for your USB thumb drive other than using it for storage only.  There are other portable app sites online – Google for them.  Even so; “Portable Apps” is the first, and in my opinion the best.

Tags: computer, Firefox, google, iPod, memory, Portable Applications, Ron Doyle, thumb drive, usb

Free Antivirus Software:

• Avast!
• AVG
• Microsoft Security Essentials

Commercial Antivirus Software: 

• Norton
• McAfee
• NOD32

Tags: antivirus, computer, Daily News Record, Double Click, Jeff Ishee, microsoft, newspaper column, radio, Ron Doyle, WSVA