Computer Tips for Travelers » Windows 7

Windows 7: Snapping Windows

chrisadmin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:51:45 +0000

Windows 7 has added several innovative ways to move your windows around the screen, and manage your desktop. A great way to familiarize yourself with them is to watch the Microsoft official Windows 7 videos.

I just want to tell you about one new windows management technique that I now use *all* the time. That is to Maximize the window just by dragging it to the top of your screen. No need to find that little maximize button and click it. No need to remember the keyboard shortcut, just click and drag the top of the window to the top of the screen. When it bumps into the top of the screen, it will snap into the maximized state.

If you’ve got that … then try snapping two windows. You can drag one to the left and the other to the right. They will ’snap’ into place, taking up exactly half of the screen. This is a great way to arrange 2 windows so you can see both at the same time. For example, you could arrange your screen so that Picasa is on the left, and instructions from our PicasaTutorials.com website are on the right.

Note: if you use 2 monitors, like I do, you can only ’snap’ to the left side of the left monitor and the right side of the right monitor.

Windows 7 Search

chrisadmin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:57:37 +0000

We’ve been using Windows 7 for 9 months now, and Vista for 2 years before that, so the Search feature is second nature to us now, and if you attended any of our Vista seminars, or watched the videos, you know all about Search too. But, we’ve heard from many people who are just now switching from XP and going to Windows 7. For all of you, PLEASE learn about the Search feature in Windows 7. It makes life with the computer SO much easier!

Using XP – i.e. Before Search

You want to use a program called Excel and it doesn’t have an icon on your desktop. In XP you would click on Start, then All Programs, then Microsoft Office, then Excel. What if you didn’t know that Excel was within Microsoft Office? You’d just keep hunting and hunting, until, tired and frustrated, you either found the program or gave up?
Another example: let’s say you use an obscure bookkeeping program called Easy Bookkeeper. You don’t have a desktop icon for it, and you don’t even remember that it is named ‘Easy.’ You have no idea where in ‘All Programs’ it is, but if you hunt long enough, you might find it in All Programs, Easy Software, Easy Bookkeeper. You’d like to make a desktop icon, but you don’t know how

Enter Vista/Windows 7

Search has now become a way of operating your computer. You don’t need to know where your programs are, let Vista/Windows 7 find it for you. All you have to know is the name of the program.

To use Excel, just click on Start (the ‘Orb’ in the lower left.) You should see that an empty box has opened up directly above the Start button, and your cursor/insertion point is blinking away just waiting for you to type something. Type Excel. If Excel is on your computer, you will see it show up at the top of the list. Now you can just click it, or press Enter if it’s at the top of the list. Excel is now open and running.
Now, what about ‘Easy Bookkeeper’?’ Same thing, just click Start and type the name. If you don’t remember that the name starts with ‘Easy’ you can even type Book and ‘Easy Bookkeeper’ will show up on the list. Select that, and you’re in business.

A New Interface to Using your Computer

This isn’t just a way to search for something you’ve lost! This is a new way to use your computer. You don’t have to find a program and double-click on it. You just click Start, type the name of the program and press Enter. If you’ve been using Windows XP and are now getting a new computer with Windows 7 do yourself a favor and learn the new features. Our video series that was recorded on Windows Vista is applicable to Windows 7 as well. The big changes came in the upgrade to Vista. Windows 7 only has minor user interface changes.

Videos to Watch:

No 1 favorite feature: Search (Free)
Overview of Files and Folders (Members Only)
Desktop Tricks (Members Only

Photo Story 3 Works on Windows 7!

chrisadmin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:09:38 +0000

by Chris Guld, www.geeksontour.com

I’ve had my Windows 7 computer for 6 months now and the only disappointment has been that one of my favorite programs, Photo Story 3, would not install on it.

Photo Story 3 Now works on Windows 7

I’m so excited to report that it has now been fixed! I don’t know what or why, but IT WORKS. Why am I so excited?

No more Boring Slide Shows

Here is a simple slide show of our recent visit to St. Augustine, Florida:

So – that’s nice. I hope you like the pictures and the captions. But, a movie is SOO much better. Photo Story 3 makes it extremely easy to add narration and music. The movie below was created using the same pictures but bringing them into Photo Story 3. It took about 20 minutes to arrange them and add the narration and music. The end result is a .wmv file that I uploaded to youtube:

Windows 7 = Wi-Fi Hotspot

chrisadmin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:04:08 +0000

by Jim Guld, www.GeeksOnTour.com:

“…any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke

Connecting a Single Computer

For the RV traveler, Internet connectivity is a lifeline. Connecting even a single computer to the Internet can be a daunting experience. Everything needs to be configured properly for it to work.

There are three ways for RV travelers to connect to Broadband Internet. Satellite, Wi-Fi and Cellular (see Internet on the Road video for an overview.) Each has its own good and bad points. Nothing is perfect.

Connecting your computer is getting easier with cellular data cards and tethering cell phones. Plug it in and be browsing and emailing in no time. Last week we wrote about using a Motorola Droid Cellphone from Verizon to tether your computer to the Internet.

Connecting Multiple Computers with a Hardware Router

How about if you want to connect two or more computers to the Internet? You could buy a router and configure it to make your own hotspot. This is the way many cellular and satellite users do it. A router will not work to share public Wi-Fi hotspots. The Droid is not yet supported on the popular cellular router – Cradlepoint. But, there is a way if you have Windows 7.

Connecting Multiple Computers with a Software Router

Since the Droid could not connect to a router, I started researching other options and found Connectify. Now you can turn a Windows 7 laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot for other laptops and mobile devices to share.

Connectify is a free and easy to use software router for Windows 7 computers. With Connectify, you can wirelessly share any Internet connection: a satellite modem, a cellular card or tethered cell phone, even another Wi-Fi network. Other Wi-Fi enabled devices including laptops, smart phones, music players, and gaming systems can see and join your Connectify hotspot just like any other Wi-Fi access point and are kept safe and secure by password-protected WPA2 Encryption.

Because Connectify is free to download and use, you can save money on multiple Wi-Fi connections while on the road and still get all your devices online. You can join a Wi-Fi network and run the Connectify hotspot on the same Wi-Fi card. Now you can easily get that wireless printer working! You don’t need Windows 7 on your other laptops, just the one running Connectify.

Installation is quick and easy, and once complete, you can access Connectify from the icon in the Taskbar.

Connectify works with all Wi-Fi cards under Windows 7. Any card can do “Ad Hoc” mode, and Windows 7 certified cards can also do “Access Point” mode.

The main difference between the two modes is that Access Point mode allows you to share a Wi-Fi connection from the same Wi-Fi card that you are using to access the Wi-Fi network. Ad Hoc mode needs the Internet connection to come from another card (Ethernet, cellular or a second Wi-Fi card in your computer).

Connectify only works with Windows 7 Home and above, Starter Edition is not supported.

Some cellular wireless broadband providers’ hardware disallows the use of their device.

You can download the installation package here. It is less than 1 Meg.

Find all the supported devices here.

www.GeeksOnTour.com

Computer Education for Travelers

Windows 7 Launch

chris — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:37:43 +0000

Today is the official release date for Microsoft’s new operating system, cleverly named Windows 7 We are hosting a Windows 7 Launch party tonight. If you’re in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area – we invite you to attend. It is a free event.

Jim has been using the pre-release version of Windows 7 for several months now. He just received, and installed the commercial version this week. Tonight, he will be demonstrating the product and taking questions. We have reserved the rear Rec Hall at Paradise Island RV park for our event. It will start at 7pm and last about 2 hours. For more information, you can call us at 954-83-GEEKS.

What’s with the ‘Launch Party’? Well, I think Microsoft is trying to take a page from Apple’s playbook. They’ve been building up hype for this product launch more so than ever before. Jim visited a computer store earlier in the week and saw computers on the shelves advertised as having Windows 7 installed, but you couldn’t buy them until the launch day – today. And, the store would be open starting at midnight for your shopping pleasure!

Apparently it’s worked. We see reports from Amazon that pre-release orders for Windows 7 has exceeded the record set by Harry Potter! At least in the U.K. – we haven’t see the stats for the US yet.

What is Windows 7?

It is the successor to Vista. It looks like Vista, and works like Vista, but it works better. It’s been streamlined. See Microsoft’s website for further details. If you have Vista now, upgrading is a pretty simple matter.

If you have XP, it’s more complicated. It depends on your hardware. Generally, if your computer is more than 3 years old, we don’t recommend upgrading. Wait till you’re ready to buy a new computer with Windows 7 pre-installed. If your computer is up-to-snuff, you will need to wipe everything off to do a ‘clean’ install of Windows 7.

Should you Upgrade to Windows 7?

chris — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Should you Upgrade to Windows 7?

by Jim Guld
Windows 7 has just moved from testing to the RTM phase. That means that Microsoft says it is ready to go, or Released To Manufacturing. What does that mean to you? Windows 7 is the computer operating system that will succeed Windows Vista. It will be in stores October 22.

Why People didn’t Like Vista

It needs more RAM than most people have: Vista got a bad reputation when it was released nearly 3 years ago. Most of the bad press was because Vista needed more system resources than its predecessor, Windows XP. Computer manufacturers were loading Vista on under-powered systems and it just didn’t work very well. When Chris got her laptop with Vista it had 2GB of RAM Memory and she had problems. We upgraded her to 4GB of RAM … problems gone. Most computers in stores today do come with 3-4GB of RAM.

It works differently than XP: XP had been around for several years and was the most stable Windows OS to date. People got used to that and liked it. It was very similar to the previous version of Windows. But it had some serious flaws when it came to security.

Vista was substantially different than XP in looks as well as “under the hood.” Some who bought Vista were confused and frustrated because Vista didn’t work the same as XP. And, more importantly, if the computer didn’t have enough resources of memory (RAM), speed (processor), and disk space, it didn’t hardly run at all.

Windows 7 continues on the Vista track

Windows 7 looks much the same as Vista and expands on the good points of Vista. You will have to change the old (XP) way you find and run programs. Use Search. It makes computing so much easier. We will have a series of Windows 7 ‘Show-Me-How’ videos for our members by the end of the year. For now, the Vista ‘Show-Me-How’ videos have helped many people get friendlier with the new interface.

If you have older peripherals like printers or scanners, you may need to upgrade those. Make sure they have drivers for Vista. So far, I’ve found everything that works with Vista will work with Windows 7.

Pay attention to 32 bit or 64 bit

It’s in the small print – Vista and Windows 7 both come in 2 distinct flavors – 32 bit and 64 bit. Make sure you know which one you’re getting. 32 Bit is what works for most existing programs, but doesn’t take advantage of the speed and performance of newer technology. 64 Bit is the way things are going, but some programs don’t like it. If you choose the 64 bit OS, make sure your programs will work with it, or that you can upgrade to a 64 bit version. You can check your software at this compatibility chart. And, here is more information about understanding 64 bit PCs.

Computers in stores today all come with fast processors, big hard drives and 2 or more gigs of RAM. I recommend 4 Gigs for the 32 bit version and 8 Gigs for the 64 bit version for both Vista and Windows 7.

Recommendation

My recommendation is if you are using XP, don’t upgrade that machine to Windows 7. Wait until you need a new computer and get it with 7 installed.
If you are running Vista, go ahead and upgrade. You might want to add memory at the same time for best performance and speed.

Should you Upgrade to Windows 7?

chris — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:18:00 +0000

by Jim Guld:

Windows 7 has recently moved from testing to the RTM phase. That means that Microsoft says it is ready to go, or Released To Manufacturing. What does that mean to you? Windows 7 is the computer operating system that will succeed Windows Vista. It will be in stores October 22.