Cleaning Computer

While online, do you sometime get a pop-up that says "Your Computer Has A Virus and needs to cleaned now!" and then proceeds to try to download a program? When you try to stop it, you cannot exit the program even if you use the 3 finger salute (ctl+alt+del).

Here is a way to get out:
1. First close all online pages from the toolbar at the bottom of your screen.
2. Now use the ctl+alt+del combination. A window should pop up.
3. Keep clicking on 'End Task' until all tasks are closed. That should get you out.
4. I would then turn off computer and reboot.

Here is a subject that I have covered in past years but newbeeys may not know. Old time radio.
Read instructions and then click on:

http://www.otr.net/

1. When online at OTR, you will a library of old radio shows..
2. Click one of your choice..
3. Click on an Episode.
4. Your Media Player should open and the sound will start. (Note: If file does not play, click link below to download a small player and install it.)

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/audio_video/media_players/real_alternative.cfm


Interesting Video that you may enjoy:

http://www.wimp.com/citymayor/

Odd files

Have you ever received an e-mail from someone with an attachment ending in .eml or some other suffix that will not work on your computer?

I have been able to view these problem files by first copying the attachment to my Desktop (Just because it is easy to find there) and then opening the file from there.

Here is the Video Du Jour. Be sure to watch the last few seconds. (Personally, I think it is a doctored video):

http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=21816

Don't forget to run your cleaning programs regularly. (I do it every Saturday morning). I use AVG (FREE) for an antivirus. CCleaner (FREE) for junk files.and Advanced Window Care (FREE) for Adware files and Registry cleaning. Some programs take a while to finish so I clean the house while I wait.


From my opinion blog September 5, 2008. A fable....or is it?

http://frankdcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/01/be-careful-what-you-wish-for.html

Mouse Stuff

Last week I mentioned that you probably have a 3 button mouse even though you only see two buttons. Try this:

1. Go online and to this web page:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/185288/bring_your_middle_mouse_button_to_life.html

2. Press your Scroll Wheel as if it were a button.
3. A circle with an up and down arrow should appear on screen.
4. Without touching the mouse scroll wheel, pull the mouse toward you. You should see the page scroll down toward the bottom of the page.
5. Push the mouse away from you and the page should scroll up to the top.
6. To disengage this feature, just click any mouse button. It should be back to normal. (You may want to read the article on this page about mousing).
7. It should also work with your word processor and spreadsheets.


Here is the 'YouTube' presentation of the week. Hope you like it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaAVZ2yXDBo

On my 'Opinion' Blog this week, my thoughts on curiosity:

http://frankdcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

Google Stuff

Beside locating an IP address, here are some other things that you can do with Google search.

1. Type in a bar-code number it is just below the bar-code.
a. Format= 5 digits a space and 5 digits.
b. Search this bar code sample 61720 05650 what is it?

2. Airline departure and Arrivals.
a. Get flight number and type it into Google. (Why wait 4 hours for granny to arrive?)
b. Try this example Delta 1461

3. Phone numbers
a. Type in your home phone number into Google.
b. (This does not work on unlisted numbers).

4. Math
a. Try 1+2+3/4 ( One plus two plus three devided by four).
b. The answer will even put in the parenthese for you.

5. Trigonometry?
a. Type Cosine of 50?

Try other stuff and let me know what you find.

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More very unusual art: (Sideshow, use full screen view)

http://www.slideshare.net/UshaMakvana/interesting-publicplaces

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Six Things you didn't know your cell phone could do. (Some may not work on your particular phone).

http://blogcritics.org/scitech/article/things-you-never-knew-your-cell/

Many of my 'Tips' are sent to me by readers. If you have something interesting, send it to me. I prefer the link if possible.

Sudoku

If you like to play Sudoku, here is a FREE version that you can download. It has many skill levels from beginner to expert. You don't have to be on line to play. It even solves the ones in your local newspaper for you if you get stuck. There is even a beginners mode where most of the squares are already filled.

1. Click the link below.
2. Click on 'Open'.
3. Click on 'Sudoku.exe'
4. Click on 'Extract all'.
5. Click 'Next'.
6. Click 'Finish'.

The program will install itself on your computer. This will run on XP but I don't know about Windows 7. Let me know if id does work on 7.

http://www.easysw.com/~mike/sudoku/sudoku-20051209a-windows.zip


Here is some more of that Trompe l'oeil art work:

http://www.stustake.com/2009/12/john-pugh-is-at-it-again-painting-incredible-murals.html


Interesting hidden symbolism site:

http://www.neurosoftware.ro/programming-blog/facebook-web-design/tutorial/smart-logos-with-hidden-symbolism-2/


Thanks to all of you who send me this great stuff.

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New Blog

I lost my website a while back when my Web provider went out of business. Most of my archives from that site were lost, so I just created a new Blog to permantntly archive my Tips.

My new Blog is called frankstips (no spaces or caps).

http://frankstips.blogspot.com/

I have posted my last few weeks of tips there.

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I think that we all receive videos in our e-mail box at one time or another. Although they are sometime welcome, sometime they just take a lot of our time in downloading them. A video file can take many minutes to load via our e-mail.

If you notice, I never send a full blown video in an e-mail. I always send a link to the source so that you do not have to download a large video file, you can run it right on the Internet.

How do I do it? This week I was sent 2 large videos by my readers. They were beautiful, but took long to download. I looked at the video of the Army parachute team and decided to share it with my subscribers In this week's 'Tips', but I did not want to make this e-mail download take 5-10 minutes.

What I did, and you can do is, see what the title of the video is. I used Google to search for "Youtube+Army+skydiving+ Kite". I got the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBaQAu3wkTI

So now you can see it without downloading the video by clicking the link above....(Use Red Arrows for full screen view).

Same for a beautiful Power Point slide show. It took me a while to download it. I watched the show and searched for "Chinas+amazing+bridges". I got the following link:


http://www.slideshare.net/ag205/chinas-amazing-bridges-4491503

Again you can view it without downloading. Use full size screen view. The best part is that you can e-mail the link to a friend and they too can view these files without downloading them. You use less disk and e-mail storage space too.

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My political Blog this week features, "Something Wicked This Way Comes".

http://frankdcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

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Word Searching

I have written about this 'Tip' in the past, but some of you may have missed it.
When you have a large document to read, you may want to find a relevent word in that piece quickly. Whether it be on the Net or on your computer you can use 'Find' to locate words quickly.
(To save time, read entire instructions and then come back and click the link in step 2.)
1. Open your Internet browser.
2. Into the Address line type http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html
3. This will open a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
4. Press Ctrl+f
5. A little window will open. In the 'Find' box, type the word right
6. Then click next a time or two. The word right will be highlighted each time you click 'Next".
7. Notice that any word with right in it will also be highlighted. (You can change the search options to make it more selective).
This also works with PDF files, word files, spreadsheets etc.
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Julian Beever is baaaaack. He gets more amazing each time. Enjoy. (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SNYtd0Ayt0
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Comment/Opinion:
Back in October of 2008, in my political Blog, I wrote about a story and film called "Seven Days in May". It was a story about an inept president ,who's acts, alarmed the military to such a degree that they devise a secret plot to overthrow him.
I am not a physic and it is June and not May and there is no plot that I know of, to overthrow an inept president, I think that the coincidences to the posts on my Blog site in 2008 are becomming more and more frequent..
If you want to reread my Blog 'Seven days in May', click the link below.
http://frankdcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/01/seven-days-in-may.html

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Recording music

Thanks for all of the feedback from last weeks 'Tips', It helps me to plan for future topics.
Last week I recommended "Grooveshark" for old and new songs.
Listening is nice, but how about recording them to play later?
If you have no way of saving these songs, I can give you the name of the program that I use save the music files. It is called 'Total Recorder'. Total Recorder saves the music in the MP3 music format. I use the Microsoft MPlayer to group them into albums. If you are not fussy like me, you can store them loosely or burn them to a CD.
Total Recorder is $17.95 to buy off of the Internet: However there is a FREE version that works but it inserts a noise every 60 seconds to prevent you from using Total Recorder for free. I suggest that you load the FREE version and try it. If you are happy with the program, you can buy the key from the company online and that will eliminate the annoying beeps. You get a clean recording in stereo if it was recorded originally in Stereo. Click link below and select the FREE version:
http://download.cnet.com/Total-Recorder-Standard-Edition/3000-2169_4-10847022.html
Total Recorder very easy to use, all you have to do is:
1. open the program.
2. Click the 'Record' button.
3. Go to GrooveShark or any other music site and choose a tune.
4. Total Recorder will not start recording until the tune starts.
5. When the tune finishes, Click the 'Stop' button.
6. You will get a message saying that you have to save the file. It will go into 'My Music' folder by default but you can save it anywhere you want.
7. Click on the song and it will play in MPlayer or whatever you use for a default.
I have also used Total Recorder on 'Youtube' to record songs. Of course there is no Video because this is a sound recorder. Boring speeches and lectures can also be recorded and saved.
If you want the full version, chick on the 'Help' tab and register.
How far back do you go???
Does anyone remember this song ? Click link and scroll down to Theresa Brewer and double left click:
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=let%20me%20go%20lover
You won't believe this Video: (Thanks Masood).
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=QESfEd180rQ
(Next week, how to find a single word in a document or on an Internet page.)

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Music site

If you like music, try this site. It has every genre from Classics to 1930's pop and everything in between. I loaded up my Ipod. And of course it passes the Frank Test, it's FREE.
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
Here is a video from YouTube:
Abbot and Costello explain Obama's full employment plan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebql3axvh4I

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File Searching

When searching for files or program on your computer, (This is for Windows XP, Windows 7 may be a little different).
1. Left click on 'Start'.
2. Left click on 'Search'.
3. Choose a specific category or all files and folders.
(Let's just scan to see how many music files you have on your computer.)
5. Click on 'Pictures, Music or Video'.
6. Check the box for music.
7. If you had a particular music file you wanted to run, type in a name. If not leave the name box blank.
8. Click on 'Search' and wait for the scan to complete.
9. There could be a long list if you are not as neat as I am.
10 Make the results screen full size.
11. Up on the 'Toolbar', click on the 'Views' icon and select 'Details' for a better look.
12. In 'Details', you can click the 'Name' column or 'Size' or 'Date' etc. to get the best view for your purposes.
You may have wanted to delete some of your really old music files so sorting by date would be good.
Experiment with 'Search', it is a very handy tool for exploring your PC.

Dumb Question.....If the Census is meant to count legal citizens, why couldn't the Social Security and IRS departments use their database to do it on the cheap? Am I missing something?
I believe that every legal citizen is required to have a SS number, even babies. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Frank

Frank's Tips

Hi gang...I know that I have been lazy for a while so I decided to send you a TIP today.
Here is a site that seems pretty informative. It like a search engine on steroids. Beside the normal stuff, it also does math functions and other things. For a test, click the site below and type into the search box, square root of 81 or some larger number.
Test it for me and send me a report on what it does:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
I could bend your ear and discuss politics but I already did that two years ago. My BLOG can still be found by Goggling it by this name:
frankdcurmudgeon
To see all titles on my Blog, use this message at the bottom of the Google page and click it for the rest of my writings:
In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 5 already displayed.If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.
Remember that I wrote those predictions long before our country was in this mess.
(One note, there may be two dates on my Blog pieces. One is the original date published and the second, newer date, is when I had to move my Blog because it was too close to someone else's Blog.)
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