Thank you for all of the emails over the last couple of weeks regarding the past year in review.  Keep in mind you can find all the articles online at DNRonline.com and my site, DoubleClicks.info if you want to catch up.

Many emails asked about the Android Market link (market.android.com).  Before starting you should note that I work for Ntelos Communications, Waynesboro, VA, USA (that should make disclosure folks happy).  I have used Windows, Blackberry, iPhone (not as much) and now Android phones.  Android phones are currently my preferred flavor.  Keep in mind Android is the name of the operating system (created by Google) not the actual phone manufacturer, etc.  Again, that is opinion and I am sure there are a bazillion people out there who would argue with that statement.  But, I write the column…

The above mentioned site is the default Google site for apps available for this type of phone.  You can get free apps and some that can cost from less that one dollar to several dollars.  Of course, there are also free apps which are missing the enhanced features you pay for if you get the "Pro" version.  For instance, a game may have two adventure levels for free but if you purchase it you will get all 30 game levels.  There are games, business, utilities, entertainment, education and any other type of applications/programs you can imagine.

According to Distimo (bit.ly/ygIsBD), a company that watches of the stats of mobile apps, as of December, 2011, there were 400,000 Android apps in the marketplace.  Of those applications over 270,000 were free. 

In addition to the Android Market there are many other places to get apps.  You can search for apps online or go to specific sites.  Here are the other two sites I frequent. 

My number two favorite after the default market is the Amazon "Appstore for Android" (amzn.to/x2w2F5).  Many of the apps in the market at Amazon and everywhere else are repeated in each site online; however, prices may vary and some are only available at specific sites. 

Why is Amazon my #2?  If you log into the Amazon site you can get one free app every day.  I check the site most every day and have 250+ apps; however, I have only installed about ten of them.  I have the rest in reserve for future use, testing or forgetting about them.  If you buy one (for $0) you do not have to install it on your phone or tablet at that time; or ever.  Some of them are junk but some of them are excellent.  One that currently costs $9.99, "OfficeSuite Pro 5" I got free several months ago.  This application is basically an office program that will allow you to view, create and edit Microsoft Office files, i.e., Word, Excel and PowerPoint files with your smartphone. 

The final site I like is called 101 Best Android Apps (101bestandroidapps.com).  This is where new apps are released by developers before they are officially approved by Google for the Android Market. 

Wikipedia says that the approval process for apps is that Google, "…places some restrictions on the types of apps that can be published, in particular not allowing ‘sexually explicit material’, ‘Violence and Bullying’, ‘Hate Speech’, ‘Impersonation or Deceptive Behavior’, copyrighted material (without permission)…"

The 101 Best Android Apps site mentioned above allows many of the unapproved ones to be downloaded to your phone as an .apk file (similar to .exe for Windows).  Warning, be very careful when loading an .apk file as it could contain harmful code…check out the reputation of the developer first! 

Tags: android, apps, Blackberry, disclosure, free apps, google, iphone, microsoft, operating system, phone manufacturer, preferred flavor, smartphone, windows, year in review

Thanks to all of you readers who support the "Double Click" column by reading and writing.  It is very much appreciated.  Please keep it up.  I always enjoy hearing from you.

So it is that time of year again when we review all of the sites I have mentioned over the previous year.  As always, have fun remembering, discovering, or rediscovering all the info!  If you prefer to click on links and not type all of these, visit the DoubleClicks.info site and click away.

If the site addresses are too long to type I have shortened them using the, "bit.ly" app which I have discussed before.  All of these sites should be free (or have a free version) unless marked "nf".  Without further ado…here they are in their order of appearance with short descriptions of each.

• Open Office is a Microsoft Office clone that works almost as well.
• Ubuntu a free operating system which you can run alongside of or instead of Microsoft Windows.
• Ron’s video training I created a couple of videos for fun, it never went any further than these two…maybe one day.
• Change your User Account Picture one specific Double Click training video.
• VirtualBox an application that allows you to run multiple operating systems on one computer.
• Open DNS the best app out there for blocking objectionable sites from the kids.  It is slightly complicated but at the top of the features pile.
• Facebook you know about this one and if you don’t you won’t be interested.
• Windows Live Essentials a free suite of applications which do many different things from Microsoft.
• Create a Panorama an article I wrote for Microsoft about how to join individual pictures together to make a panoramic picture.
• Double Clicks my site for this column.
• eBay, TigerDirect.com, NewEgg.com, 1SaleADay.com, DealDump.com online tech stores, the sites are free but the stuff on them is nf.
• Active KillDisk application to absolutely clean your disk of personal information and everything else.
• True Crypt folder and/or file (and more) encryption software.
• XOOM this is Motorola’s entrance into the PC Tablet market, it is a good one, but later in the year I show you the best (IMHO).
• Keepass.com, LastPass.com, RoboForm.com, 1Password are some of the password recording applications around, still I chose KeePass over the rest.
• Open Wi-Fi leads to False Arrest an article showing why you should lock down your wi-fi network to stay out of jail.
• Your Home Router (192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1) the IP Addresses that will most likely get you into your home router.
• Nook Barnes & Noble’s ebook reader.
• Project Gutenberg where you can download most any book that is not under copyright any longer.

OK, this took us through June, 2011.  Next week we will visit part 2 of last year’s links.

Tags: clone, different things, Double Click, ebay, free operating system, free version, microsoft, microsoft office, microsoft windows, multiple operating systems, open office, panorama, previous year, Ron Doyle, target, time of year, training, video training

Cassie from Winchester wrote and asked me about Windows 7 and how to pin tasks to the taskbar.  She went on to ask about Jump Lists.  I was surprised in that these are very beneficial for Windows 7 users and I had not written about them before.  I remember when W7 first came out and everyone in the world was writing about it.  I decided not to discuss it at length since not many people had it at that time.  Since time has passed I figure many of you are now using W7 and would like some tips. 

First, what is pinning a task?  If you look at the bottom of the W7 screen you will see a Taskbar which is almost identical to the previous versions.  The taskbar has several programs "pinned" to it when you first get your computer such as Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.  You can add or remove any program on your computer to the taskbar as you wish.  

When you hover your mouse over these icons you will get diverse notices at different times.  If the program is not opened you will get a text "bubble" showing the name of the program. 
 
If you hover your mouse pointer over the icons when the program is running (this presupposes the graphics capability of your computer is older) you will get a text bubble.  This bubble shows the name of the file or the website name which is currently open in the program.  If there are several "pages" open in that application you will see a list of the names.  To go to any of them just click the one you want to see and it will open to the top of your screen.  

However, if you have a newer computer with a better graphics card, you will get a "thumbnail" of the page that is open in the program.  If you have multiple pages open you will see a thumbnail of each one, depending on the program.  As before, click on the one you wish to see.  I currently have three sites open in my browser so I see three thumbnails. 

Next, if you knew about the previous tricks, have you tried right clicking on an opened program’s icon?  I will use Microsoft Word for my example.  When I right click on the Word icon a "jump list" pops up.  Each program may show a few choices but they are basically the same.  In this example, mine shows Recent, (shows the last documents I have opened in Word)  and three options for that program.  The options are usually the name of the program which will open another "session" of that program, "Unpin {or Pin} this program from taskbar" which will remove (unpin) or add (pin) the program’s icon from the taskbar, (obviously) and "Close window" which allows you to close the program from the taskbar.   

Oops, I just ran out of room.  Next week, we’ll look at how to add programs to the taskbar and talk more about jump lists.

Tags: button, easy windows, graphics capability, icon, internet explorer, microsoft, mouse pointer, taskbar, thumbnail, trick, users, winchester, windows explorer, Word

Я не говорю NIKAKие иностранные языки; однако, слово Microsoft делает. Это реально русско? Мне нужно один из моих русских друзей вне там препятствовал мне знать. Спасибо заранее!

Here is the paragraph above as I wrote it, "I do not speak any foreign languages; however, Microsoft Word does.   Is this really Russian?  I need one of my Russian friends out there to let me know.  Thanks in advance!"

As it says I do not speak any other language, other than English and Geek, so how did I write that paragraph?  Not I, but Microsoft Word did it.  I am using Office 2010 which includes the capability of translating from one language to another.

This feature originally came into being with Office versions 2003 and 2007.  However, it was extremely awkward to install and use.  With Office 2010 it is built right in and works well.   It allows you to translate your document from the language it is written in to one of over 20 others.  A few of the languages are Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, Thai and Turkish along with a few diverse dialects thrown in.

If you are currently using Office 2003 or 2007 never fear.  All you need to do is search online for, "Microsoft Translator installer for office 2003" and you can install it on your system.

The Word program does not actually compose the translations.  What it does is ask your permission to send the document to the "WorldLingo Service", worldlingo.com.  It sends it in an unencrypted format which means that someone could possibly intercept your text through the net and gain possession of that information.  This is highly unlikely but it is possible.  I wouldn’t recommend sending top-secret material through the system but day-to-day things are probably OK.  The choice is yours.

To use the service in Office 2010 click on the Review command tab, then go to either the Language or Proofing group.  The group you have will vary as to which version of Office 2010 you have, i.e., Student, Business or Professional.  You will see a "Translate" button.  When clicked a Research pane will open on the right side of your document window.  Use the dropdown arrows to choose both your "From" and "To" languages; although the "From" will be preselected.

Then click on the Translate the whole document" link and wait just a few seconds.  Exactly how fast it will finish the translation depends on several things.  The first is which language you choose, next is how much text is in the document, and finally the speed of your internet connection.

Also, I hope that someone would tell me how accurate the translation at the beginning actually is.  I am sure it isn’t perfect but does it have an intelligent, similar meaning?

Tags: arabic, capability, dialects, foreign language, geek, language other than english, languages, microsoft, microsoft word, office versions, russian, russian friends, secret material, translate, translation, translator, word program

Last week I wrote about two Menu Applications for Windows operating systems.  I specifically mentioned Windows Vista and 7 but those two apps will work on most any of them.  They were “Desktop Sidebar” and “RocketDock“.  Check last week’s Double Click for more details.

I also mentioned bringing the Windows’ “Quick Launch Toolbar” that many of you, just like me, miss in the newest versions of the Windows operating systems.  I received several emails from readers saying they were really looking forward to this information, so here we go!

The Quick Launch Toolbar was a really great app and was available up until Windows 7.  Yes, even though you may not have realized it you could restart it in Vista by right clicking on the taskbar.

However, in Windows 7 the QLT is hidden so that you have to really hunt for it and once found you will need to set it up.  I am going to save you from a time consuming hunt.

1)  Unlock your taskbar (This isn’t necessary but makes it much easier set up.)

2)  Right click on the taskbar and choose “Toolbars” then “New Toolbar…”

3)  A browser window will open up waiting for you to enter a location of the toolbar items you want to enter.

4)  Use the following for the Quick Launch Toolbar:

C:\Users\REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

After entering the above folder path the QLT will immediately appear all the way over on the right side of your taskbar.  To move it to the left, click on the dotted lines and drag the toolbar all the way to the left (yellow arrow in graphic).  Warning: this is about the trickiest part of the set up.

Then remove all the text you will see all on the new Quick Launch Toolbar.  To do this, right click on the dotted lines (at the left edge of the new toolbar) and uncheck “Show Text” as well as “Show Title” from the menu.

Once you have it located and looking the way you want it to look I suggest checking the “Lock the taskbar” checkbox.

In case you do not remember how to use your old favorite all you have to do is drag shortcuts to the QLT.   Then the programs will be added to the toolbar and will now, “launch quickly”.  The icons may also be rearranged to your heart’s content by dragging them around the QLT.

Enjoy having your Quick Launch Toolbar back home again!

Tags: apps, browser window, desktop sidebar, Double Click, internet explorer, menu applications, microsoft, navigation system, quick launch, Quick Launch Toolbar, taskbar, toolbar, windows 7, windows operating systems

Many people do not care for the almost-new Menu navigation system for Windows 7.  I personally see where Microsoft could have made some additional changes; however, I still like it very well.  My favorite feature (which was also available in Vista, though not nearly as robust or accurate as in W7) is being able to click the Start button and type what you want to open or find.

Suppose you want to open a blank Microsoft Excel workbook.  All you need to do is click the Start button and type, "Excel".  Excel will be highlighted at the top of the list. You press Enter; it opens and is ready to go.  You could also press the Windows Key on your keyboard and begin typing.    It is the one on the left side of the spacebar that resembles the Windows logo.  You know the key; it is the one you never use.

Let me take you one step farther.  Let’s pretend that you have document which you created years ago.  You know that it is on your computer; however, you have no idea what it was called or where you saved it.  You do remember that it had the words, "Emerald City" somewhere in the text.  You need to find that email to write some more about Dorothy. 

Use the Start button again and type, "Emerald City".  Then relax as your computer searches your entire hard drive for any document including email that has, "Emerald City" in the text.  In just a few seconds it will appear in the list along with all the others (if there is more than one.)  Just as before, clicking on the correct file will open the document and you can read away. 

Of course, there is the standard procedure where you click Start, "All Programs" and scroll to the program you wish to start.  Then just click and go.  Of course this doesn’t find a particular document very quickly.

There are fancier solutions if you do not like the Windows’ Menus.  One I have used for years is called, "Desktop Sidebar" (desktopsidebar.com).  It is very customizable but will also take you a while to learn how to use.  It is easy for the geekier of you out there, but complicated if you are not used to "adjusting" things on your computer.

Another more simple to use menu launcher is named, "Rocket Dock" (rocketdock.com).   RocketDock is an attractive and fun program launcher.  It is neatly animated and pops at you when you hover the icons.  It supplies a pleasant modern interface which easily arranges your most used applications for quick access.  The downside  with both of these is you need to download, install and then learn how to use them.  For both of these free programs there are instructions on their respective sites.  Check them out if you want something new for your computer. 

Next week we will look at where one of my old favorites went and how to bring it back to life in Windows 7 the "Quick Launch Toolbar".

Tags: desktop sidebar, Email, emerald city, excel, excel workbook, hard drive, keyboard, menu navigation, microsoft, navigation system, new menu, quick launch, Quick Launch Toolbar, rocketdock, spacebar, start button, toolbar, windows 7, windows logo, windows menus

Tags: airline, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, autonomous vehicles, babies, driving car, fbi, fix it, games, google, Google cars, hackers, hacking, help, hodgepodge, internal documents, iPad, Jim Britt, microsoft, mulitplayer, nato, navy, nevada state legislature, online, online bookshop, parting shot, pilot, pool, pregnant, sites news, u s navy

Last week we covered the first three items in Excel’s “Formula Auditing” tools: Tracing Precedents, Dependents, Remove Arrows and Show Formulas in Excel’s “Formula Auditing” tools. Today we will wrap up the last three features.

I am sure you have never seen an “Error” popup box in Excel. That’s not true, unless you are an Excel Pro and have never made a mistake. I picked one that is easy to reconstruct for this column.

I created a formula that divides a number by zero. I know you all know why you can’t do that. Okay, you were taught, but you don’t remember why not either. In Excel if you do that you will get, “#DIV/0!” which (if you speak Excel you know) means you cannot divide any number by zero (0). If you’re not sure what that means you can click the “Error Checking” button. This button is found under the Formula Tab and then in the Formula Auditing command group.

Once clicked, you get several options; “Help on this error,” “Show Calculation Steps,” “Ignore Error,” “Edit in Formula Bar” and others you can check out. This should help you figure out the error made and give you some guidance as to how to best correct it. The “Help…” link is usually the best to aid me.

Also, keep in mind you can get this same help directly from the cell containing the error warning. You will get a little green triangle in the upper left corner of the offending cell. When you click on that cell you will see a yellow diamond with an exclamation mark in it. When you click on the exclamation mark you will get the same list of options you saw in the previous area and you may click on the one you choose.

Next is the “Evaluate Formula” button, which I am not that fond of; however, it may really pay off for you. It will basically walk you through a complicated formula step by step. This gives you the ability to evaluate how each part of the formula works and even if it does work the way you designed it to.

Finally, one of the neatest Excel tricks for auditing formulas: the “Watch Window” command. If you haven’t tried it before give it a shot now.

Let’s say that you are working on Sheet 3 in your workbook and want to view changes occurring in cell A10 on Sheet 1. This is hard to do until you use the “Watch Window” feature.

Navigate to the Watch Window button and click it. Now go to the sheet and cell you want to view and click on it. Click the “Add Watch” button at the top of the window and you will always see the Book and Sheet name along with the Cell Name, (if you have named it) the cell address, value and formula, no matter where you go with Excel. You will see any change reflected in the watch window where you can immediately deal with it or be advised what is happening.

Let me know if you appreciate these looks at Excel and if you would like to learn more, or if you would like to explore other Office products.

Tags: arrows, audit, auditing, bookkeeping, command group, dependents, doubleclick, excel, excel formula, finances, formula bar, formulas in excel, guidance, microsoft, mistake, office, precedents, ribbon

At the end of last year I wrote a column with regard to Microsoft’s spreadsheet program Excel.  Due to the email response, (which to me at least was unexpected) it has now turned into three columns.  I guess there are more of you Excel users out there than I thought.

I have continued to get email questions about Excel, so today I thought I would give you a couple of other tips about auditing cells.  These are in response to reader questions.  Remember to email questions to me…I thrive on them.  (Well, OK, not really thrive, but I do like to get them.)

Tip #1:  Sometimes you need to look at all of the formulas on a spreadsheet.  You can click on each cell containing a formula and look at the top of the Formula Bar.   But that takes a while and what if you miss one?  In Excel versions 2007 and newer, the way to see them all at once is to navigate to the Formula Tab on the ribbon, look to the right side and find the "Formula Auditing" commands.  Once there, click on the "Show Formulas" button.  There all of your formulas are displayed at once.  Click it again to turn them off.  Now here is a really neat shortcut.   Just use the "CTRL + ~" key combo.  (Press and hold the Ctrl key and then tap the tilde key.)  Works like a charm! You can be located anywhere in a workbook and it works every time for showing and hiding formulas.

While at the "Formula Auditing" command area, let’s look at several more features.

Tip #2:  Trace Precedents and Dependents:  This may be too deep for you non Excel folks, but read on, you may add a couple of new words to your cyber vocabulary.  If you have a simple formula adding 1, 2 and 3 for a total of 6 (I hope you are all with me up to now at least) and something appears wrong you can poke around in the formula and figure it out.  Many times it is helpful to be able to view what your formula utilizes to find an answer.

In the formula above you can click on the cell with the answer/formula in it and click "Trace Precedents."  Poof, you get a little blue arrow showing you the cells used in the formula (shown on right).

To determine a dependent, click on one of the digits making up the list you are adding, say the "2".  Click "Trace Dependents" and you will get an arrow showing which cells in that spreadsheet depend on the value.  By using these two tools you can usually figure out why a formula is blowing up on you.  To clear the arrows, click the "Remove Arrows" button.

We will finish up formula audits next week and then move on from Excel…unless I hear from you.

Also, if you are a visual learner like me, you may want to visit the DoubleClicks.info site to see screenshots of what we talked about here.  (Hey, don’t worry, you are already here…have a great day!)

Tags: audit, auditing, bookkeeping, cells, email response, excel, finances, microsoft, office, office microsoft, reader questions, regard, ribbon, spreadsheet program, works like a charm

Last week I mentioned that Family Safety is one of the applications you get if you choose to install Windows Live Essentials (WLE). Here is a very short description of all the apps which come with a full installation of WLE. If any of them sound appealing try it, if not ignore them.

First go to “explore.live.com,” scroll down the page and click, “Windows Live Essentials” then you will be taken to the main page. Here you will see each of the applications available and a short blurb on each.

Messenger is Microsoft’s “chat” or messaging client which is used to send text messages in real-time to other people who are online. They can be online via either their computers or phones.

Live Photo Gallery allows you to edit photos, share those photos, and even movies, online. I wrote an article for Microsoft last year about using Photo Gallery to create panoramas at http://bit.ly/cflZcw.

Movie Maker is a neat little app that will let you take your digital pictures and turn them into a movie with music, sound effects, and transitions. You can also do a little movie editing and publish them online. I have used this along with other programs to create a couple of YouTube videos. Search there for “dblclx” to find them.

Next is Live Mesh which I have written about several times over the past three years. It provides “cloud” storage and auto-backup capabilities for your files.

Live Writer is a program mainly for bloggers and there is Family Safety, both of which I have covered in detail over the past several months.

Live Mail is the replacement program for Outlook Express. It is a good application for email. I highly recommend it if you don’t have Outlook or Thunderbird already in place for your personal email access.

The last four parts of Live Essentials are really just add-ons for other programs. First is Messenger Companion, which adds a couple of extra features to Messenger’s chat program. The most appealing one gives you the ability to add comments directly from within Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE). I am not an online “chatter” so I have not really used this other than to test for a short period. The second add-on is Bing Bar which adds a toolbar to MSIE for searching, checking your email, etcetera while surfing the web.

Finally, the last two are Outlook Connector Pack and Silverlight. The connector pack allows you to add Hotmail.com, Live.com email accounts and Messenger to the full version of Outlook. Silverlight is an add-on which allows special video, audio and/or interactivity to be run on your MSIE browser. Silverlight is worthwhile if you go to a site requiring it. However, so far it isn’t widely accepted throughout the net-world.

Note: When you start the install for WLE select the link that says, “Choose the programs you want to install.” You can then select ANY of the above applications. If you choose the other link you will install all of the applications on your system.

Tags: applications, apps, edit, Essential, family safety, free, mesh, messaging, microsoft, movie maker, music sound, panoramas, pictures, several times, short blurb, sound effects, text messages, transitions, windows, youtube videos