Software tips

How to convert Word document to PDF?

2008-09-26T09:05:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> How to convert Word document to PDF? Download free PDF Writer

What is a PDF?

PDF (Portable Document File) is a often used file in computers. After creating a file you may like to bring this document to show someone. Or you may want to print the document. But there are many problems and issues while doing so.

The other computer maynot have the same application program that you used to create the file. For example you may have created the file using Page Maker. If Page Maker is not installed in the computer where you want to view the file then you cannot open this file in that computer.
Or the FONT that you used in your computer maynot be available in the other computer and therefore not viewable.
If you had sent the file via email to your friend and your friend does not have the application program to open the file then he cannot view it.

To solve all these problems PDF (Portable Document File) is used. When you create a PDF, the file is created exactly the same way it will appear on the print out. PDF can contain images, tables and graphs. In order to view this file Adobe Acrobat application is required. Adobe provides this software free at www.adobe.com .

But the problem with the PDF files is how to create these PDF files? The PDF writer that Adobe provides is not free. However many other companies have developed PDF writer software and provides it free. There are many types of PDF writers. Some of them inserts the company's advertisements in the created PDF documents. Some give evaluation copies that are free for use for a limited period of time only. Some may have spyware embedded inside. But there is a free PDF writer available in the internet that is totally free. The name of the application is PDF Redirect v2.1.1. You can download and install this software within few seconds. Here are some tips on how to use this PDF ReDirect software.

If you have created a file in MS Word document and you want to convert this word document to PDF then open MS Word and open the file that you want to convert to PDF. Then From MS Word goto 'File->Print' option. This will open the Printer dialog box. In the printer list select the 'PDF Redirect' and print it. Now PDF Redirect will convert the word document to PDF and then open the 'File dialog box' to choose the folder where you want to save the converted PDF file. Once the file is created you can open it using Adobe acrobat reader.

You can download this software from http://www.download.com/PDF-ReDirect/3000-6675_4-10255233.html?tag=nl.e415

Netscape Vs Internet Explorer - Netscape Navigator features

2008-09-26T09:03:00.003-07:00

Software tips -> Netscape Vs Internet Explorer - Netscape Navigator features

Netscape is the company which developed the famous Netscape Browser. Before Microsoft's Internet Explorer was introduced, Netscape's browser was the most popular browser in the market. The Software is called 'Netscape Communicator' and it contains, Netscape Navigator (browser), Netscape Mail (Email client), Netscape Composer (Webpage editor), AOL (instant messenger) and Radio netscape (Radio station software).

Even today Netscape navigator browser is widely used. However, it lost to Microsoft on the browser software war, and not it gives Mozilla browser engine free.

Netscape Navigator has many features that are not in Internet Explorer. So you can download Netscape Navigator form www.netscape.com and try it on your computer. Here we will discuss the features in Netscape Navigator version 7.0 and higher.

Netscape Vs Internet Explorer

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, if you are viewing a website then the window's button will be visible in the task bar. If you press Ctrl + N or File->New Window you can open a new window of internet explorer and you can view some other website in this new window. Now the button for this window will also be visible in the task bar below. Likewise if you open 10 windows you will see 10 buttons in the task bar. This is very troublesome. To switch between different websites is very difficult.

But in Netscape Navigator, no matter how many websites you open you will only see one window in the task bar. Each website will be opened in a new tab, within the same window. So switching between websites is very easy in Netscape navigator.

If you open a new window in Internet Explorer, the same website will be opened in the new window. This may make the loading slower. In Netscape if you open a new window a 'blank website' will be open making the loading time faster.

In Netscape Navigator, you can create a single bookmark for many websites. For example you are viewing mails in one Tab, and reading news in another tab while hearing to radio in another tab, you can create a single bookmark that is connected to all these three websites. So the next time you click on this bookmark all these three websites will be opened.

To make download faster

Netscape navigator has a 'Download Manager'. A single file if it is too big can be downloaded from many websites and consolidated by download manager to make the downloading faster.

If the download stops or disconnects in between then you can resume the download from the place where it was stopped instead of starting the download from the beginning.

Other features in Netscape Navigator

Like other browsers, Netscape also has the 'search' feature. An added search feature is to find related websites. For example you are viewing a website. On this website you can select a word or words and then right click and choose 'Web search'. This will result in finding other web pages with the selected words.
Netscape Navigator also has cookie manager, password manager and form manager.
You can also compress a webpage in to a A4 size paper and print it.
The 'Mail Alert' feature in Netscape Navigator alerts you when you receive a new email.
Netscape composer, has the 'Publish' button. You can use this feature to publish all the webpages you have created all at once.
You can use the AOL instant messenger to chat, share files etc.

Use 'Table in MS Word' effectively

2008-09-26T09:03:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> Use 'Table in MS Word' effectively
Those who MS Word are sure to use the 'Tables' in their documents. But when using these tables in MS Word, we usually come across many problems. In this tutorial we will see these common issues and problems faced while using tables in MS Word and how to use Tables effectively. To create a Table in MS Word: In Word 97 select 'Table->Insert Table'. In Word 2000 /2002 select 'Table->Insert->Table' or use the 'Insert Table' button in the Tool bar. You can also draw a table yourself. Choose 'Table -> draw Table' option from the menu. The cursor will now turn into a pencil shape. You can use this pencil cursor to draw the table. If you make a mistake while drawing you can use the 'Eraser' tool to erase. Once you have finished drawing the table press the 'Escape' key to bring the arrow cursor back. There is another method of creating a table. Just copy the lines below and paste it into your word document and press enter. +– – – – – – – – – +– – – – – – – –+– – – – – – – – – –+– – – – – –+ You will get one row with four columns. So you can use the '+' sign wherever a column starts or ends. To bring the Table lower from the top of the document: When you create a new document and then insert the table, you will realise that you have to type some text above the table (at the top of the document) but you will find it difficult to bring the table below. Just bring the cursor to the first cell in the table (Top left corner cell) and press 'Enter' key. Now the table will automatically move down to the next line. To show the Headings of a Table on all pages. If you create a table that is very long and expands to more than one page, the headings of the table is shown only on the first page. The consecutive pages will not show the heading of the table. If you can show the table headings on all pages it will be nicer. To show the headings on all pages, In Word 97 -> Select the row or rows that are the headings of the table and then choose 'Table->Headings' option from the menu. In Word 2000/2002 -> Select the row or rows that are the headings of the table and then select 'Table-Table Properties' from the menu. In the new dialog box, select the 'Row' tab and then select 'Repeat as header row at top of each page' and click 'OK'. In Word 2000 -> For Word 2000 users there is another method to achieve the same. Select the row or rows that are the headings of the table and then select 'Table->Heading Rows Repeat'. To show text vertically Generally the text inside the cells are shown horizontally. If you want the text to appear vertically then select that cell and select 'Text Direction' command choose the degree. To give caption to the tables on top or bottom If you have many tables in your document then instead of manually typing 'Table 1', 'Table 2' as captions of these tables you can automate this process and instruct Word to insert captions. You may wonder whether there is any use of doing this. Definitely there is advantage. If you delete a table, or insert a new table then the table numbers will be automatically adjusted. To make text appear around the table: At times you may want to bring the table in the center of text. To see text, on top,bottom,left and right side of the table will sure appear attractive. This is possible in Word 2000 or later but not available in Word 97. From the drawing tool bar click the text box and draw a square in the center of the text where you want the table to be inserted. Now insert the table inside the square. Then right click on the text box and select 'Format Text Box' option. In the 'Colours and Lines' tab click the 'Line' dropdown box and select 'No Line' from the list. Now select 'Layout' tab and in the 'Wrapping style' section select 'Square' or 'Tight' then click on 'OK'.

What is Koffice ? Koffice vs MS Office

2008-09-26T09:02:00.003-07:00

Software tips -> What is Koffice ? Koffice vs MS Office

Those who use Windows Operating System, use Microsoft's Office suite of applications which comprises of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint etc. The Microsoft Office software is very useful but not available free. For those who wonder if there is any free office software then you can try switching to Linux from Windows. In Linux, KOffice is a free and wonderful office software suite. Not only KOffice, you can also try the free OpenOffice in linux.

KDE is a linux desktop environment and KOffice is the short form of KDE Office which runs in this environment. You can get details about the KOffice at www.koffice.org

Here are the applications that constitute KOffice.

KWord

KWord is similar to MS Word and is a word processor. You can use KWord to create documents.

KSpread

KSpread is similar to MS Excel and is a spreadsheet application. You can use KSpread to do mathematical calculations and create charts.

KPresenter

KPresenter is similar to MS PowerPoint and is a Presentation software. You can use KPreseter to create slide shows.

In addition to the three applications mentioned above, KOffice also contains KChart, KPlato, Krita, Kontour, Kformula, Kugar, Kivio.

Right from the old RedHat to the latest linux distros such as SuSe, Mandrake, Debian etc, you will find KOffice. KOffice is available in both RPM format as well as tar.bz2 format. You can download KOffice at www.koffice.org and install it in your linux computer.

It is important to note that you can use your existing documents created in MS Word or Excel in KOffice. You can open MS Word documents in KWord. Similarly you can open Workbooks created in MS Excel in KSpread.

KWord features

If you are familiar with MS Word then it is easy for you to change and adapt to KWord. Most of the menus and tool bars are similar in both MS Word and KWord. Even functionalities are almost the same.

You can format letters, paragraphs, pages just like in MS Word. In short all that you can do in MS Word, you can also do in KWord.

You can insert Footnote, Endnote, Hyperlink and others in KWord. Similarly header, footer, page numbers also can be inserted.

Spelling correction and 'Auto Correction' features are available in KWord.

Just like the MS Word, KWord also has the 'Multi columns' feature which enables showing the document in many sections or vertically.

KSpread features

Like Excel, KSpread also has many worksheets in a workbook. You can do your calculations in each of these worksheets. You can use formula and functions in cells.

You can create charts based on data in selected cells. You can create many types of charts. You can convert one type of chart to another type.

You can use the data in a spreadsheet as a small database. You can sort the data based on acending or descending order of numbers or text.

What is Star Office? MS Office Vs Star Office

2008-09-26T09:02:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> What is Star Office?
MS Office Vs Star Office

The competitors of Microsoft always celebrate when there is any case against Microsoft or if a free Software is launched similar to Microsoft's Products. But those who are unbiased should always weigh the pros and cons of any software before judging the winner.

Sun Micro system's Star Office is the direct competitor of Microsoft's MS Office. Star Office software was free until its 5th version. Therefore Star Office was well received by computer users. Better still the features in Star Office was more or less similar to MS Office.

But from Star Office Version 6, it was not free. However it is still far cheaper than MS Office. Here we will see the features available in Star Office and see its Pros and Cons.

Components in Star Office

Star Office Version 7 consists of Writer (a word processor), calc (a spreadsheet), adabas (a database), draw (a drawing program) and Impress (a presentation software).

You can use Star Office in Windows 98/NT/2000/XP, with Pentium processor, 64MB RAM and 256 MB free hard disk space.

Writer

If you have ever worked in MS Word, it is very easy for you to use Writer. You can even save the file you create in Writer as a 'Word 97/2000/2002/6.0' document. Similarly you can open a .Doc file using Writer.
You can also save your document in Writer as RTF, Text or HTML format.
You can insert tables, images and charts in Writer. Similar to MS Word, Writer also has Auto text and Auto Correct features. Auto Complete facility is also available. Which means when you type the first two or three letters of a word, Writer will prompt you with the full word. This reduces typing time.
Spelling checker and grammer checker are also available in Writer. You can also send the document created in Writer through email.
Writer can also convert the document you create into a PDF file.

calc

Similar to MS Excel, calc is a spreadsheet application. If the text you typed in a cell cannot fit inside the cell then 'calc' will display a small red arrow at the end of the cell.
You can save the file you created in calc as MS Excel file or to a dbase database. You can also open Excel files in Calc.
You can use the data in calc file to mail merge in writer document. You can also generate many beautiful charts.

Adabas

Comparing to MS Access database, adabas is a very simple database. Very less features are available. However adabas can open ODBC, JDBC and MySQL databases. An adabas database cannot exceed 100MB storage size. Another restriction is that only three users can access the adabas database over the network. Due to all these difficulties not many people like adabas. Adabas doesn't have distributed database facility

Impress

Impress is a presentation software like MS PowerPoint. Animation and Transition effects are some of the features available in Impress. Plenty of templates are available in Impress. Therefore anybody can create a presentation using Impress very easily. You can also convert an Impress presentation into a HTML format and publish it in your website.

Draw

Compared to MS Paint, Star Office Draw is more powerful and has many additional features. It is sure that everybody will like the Draw application. You can use Star Office draw to create Vector graphics, Animated GIF and even 3D graphics.
Draw is also capable of handling many different image formats. You can create buttons and images in GIF, JPG or PNG format and use it in your website. You can also convert the graphics that you create in Draw into PDF, HTML or even shockwave flash format.

Pros of Star Office

Very cheap.
Star Office Draw software is very powerful.
Conversion to PDF is also a plus

Cons of Star Office

Star Office adabas database is very inferior

What is DivX? How to compress Video files

2008-09-26T09:01:00.002-07:00

Software tips -> What is DivX? How to compress Video files

MP3 format has revolutionized the audio industry. MP3 was able to produce
the same quality of audio as in the audio CDs. However the size of MP3 files were just one tenth of the actual audio file size. That is the reason why MP3 is very popular and many download MP3 songs from the internet. With MP3, the size of the audio can be reduced to one tenth of the original size without compromising the quality. Many wondered, If only video can be compressed without compromising the quality, how wonderful it would be. DivX is the answer for video lovers.

Why should video be compressed?

AVI is the most popular video format. A 3 hours movie with the clarity of 640x480 size, if saved in AVI format will occupy 20GB to 30GB. The reason is that AVI is a non compressed video format.

If just one movie requires 30GB then imagine how many video files you can store in your hard disk. That is why video needs to be compressed. Motion Picture Group released MPEG1 format which is a compressed video format. MPEG1 even after compression gave the same quality as the VCR format.

Motion Picture Expert Group then released the MPEG2 format which was even more advanced. With MPEG2, the same 3 hours movie can be compressed to 1.8GB. The latest release from Motion Picture Expert Group is the MPEG4 format. Using MPEG4 the same 3 hours movie can be compressed to a mere 650MB. Which makes it possible to store the movie in a single CD.

What is DivX?

DivX is also a video compression format. DivX compresses the video using MPEG4 format and compresses the audio using MP3 format. Therefore both audio and video is compressed in the 10:1 ratio. Therefore a file which is initially stored in a DVD can be now stored in a single VCD.

How to play DivX files?

You need to have a DivX player software to play a DivX format file. You can download this free DivX player from www.divx.com . To play DivX files you need a computer with atleast Pentium II 300 MHz, 128 MB RAM and 4MB video.

Where to download DivX files?

DivX movies are available at many websites. Most of them are illegal ones. Therefore do not just download anything that is available and get into legal issues. You will not have any problems if you download those files that are declared as free or 'No copy rights'.

If you have video files in VCDs then you can convert them to DivX format using the software 'Virtual Dub'.

You can convert your DVDs to DivX format using software such as Smartripper, Virtual Dub, XvidBit Calculator and Xvid Codec.

What software you need?

To convert AVI to DivX, MPEG to DivX, VCD to DivX or DVD to DivX you can use the following software.
Virtual Dub. You can download Virtual Dub at www.virtualdub.org and use Virtual Dub to convert video from one format to another format.
DivX Codec. You can download Divx Codec from www.divx.com
To convert audio to MP3 format you need MP3 encoder. Win LAME or Lame MP3 encoder software are used to convert to MP3 audio files. You can download Lame MP3 encoder from http://miti.ok.free.fr
You can calculate Bitrate using xvidBit Calculator, Dvt001. You can download Dvt001 software from www.musclesoft.de

Problems in changing the Operating System

2008-09-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> Problems in changing the Operating System

There are many versions of windows operating systems. There are many linux
distributions provided by many companies.

Based on friend's advice and IT magazines recommendations, many change
their operating systems. Change is always good. But change doesn't always
necessarily mean good.

This is an experience shared by allpctips visitor. He was using Windows 98. One day his friend asked him why he was still using the operating system released in 1998 and suggested that he change to Windows XP. So this visitor upgraded his OS from windows 98 to Windows XP. The look and feel of XP compared to 98 was too good and he was very happy with his decision.

Only when he tried to play songs from his CD, he noticed that there was no sound. His sound card was not working. The service engineer was called and the engineer found that the driver for the sound card was suitable for XP. Therefore they searched for the suitable driver for the sound card in the manufacturer's website, but the model of sound card in question was no longer supported and there was no driver for XP.

Therefore he had to either switch back to 98 or buy a new sound card. He decided to buy a new card.

The second visitor's experience is even more bitter. Having read a lot about linux operating system, he changed his windows 98 OS to Mandrake's linux distribution. Since the interface of the Mandrake linux OS looked familiar to windows environment, he didn't have much problem using the computer.

The problem started only when he tried to connect to the Internet. The modem that he was using did not have a driver for Linux. But since he did not want to buy a new modem, this visitor is still not able to connect to the Internet.

The only common reason for these two visitor's problems was their decision to change to a new Operating System from their existing ones.

I am not saying that you should not change your Operating Systems. When you change to a newer version of the Operating System, there is no doubt that you get more features. For example when you change to XP you get Windows Firewall, USB 2.0 etc. If you need additional facilities then you should change to a new Operating System. But at the same time be ready to discard your very old hardware and upgrade your hardware too.

Or instead of removing the existing OS and replacing it with the new OS, you can try the dual booting method and use both OS in the same computer. You can read the how to use multiple OS in the same computer article.

How to uninstall a program that refuses to uninstall normally?

2008-09-26T09:00:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> How to uninstall a program that refuses to uninstall normally?

You may have installed many software applications in your computer. You may feel that a particular software is no longer required and may decide to uninstall that program. If that program gets uninstalled successfully then there are no problems. But some software cannot be uninstalled. No matter what you do that software will stay in your computer. If you are facing a similar situation then here is your solution.

Generally there are two ways in which you can uninstall a program.

Use the control panel's 'Add/Remove programs' and select the software that you want to uninstall and click the 'Remove' button to uninstall.
The software group itself will have a 'Uninstall' icon to uninstall the software.

If using the above two methods you cannot uninstall the software then you have another option to remove that software. By deleting the registry keys related to that software. Here are the steps to remove an application that refuses to uninstall.

To totally uninstall the software

It is always a good practice to backup the hard disk before you try the steps to uninstall the program totally. Using the software's name or the company that developed the software you can search your computer and locate the folders in your computer and delete them.
Now click on 'Start->Run' and type 'regedit' and click enter key. Now the registry editor will open. In registry editor search the company name or the software and delete all the keys that has the software name.
Then press 'F3' button to search the next occurrence of the software key and delete. Likewise delete all occurrences.
Now reboot the computer. Check if there are any errors while rebooting. If there are no errors then deleting registry keys did not cause any problems. If there are any errors that means there was a problem due to editing the registry. Therefore restore the backup.

To check the Registry

It is very important to check whether there was any harm due to editing the registry. There are many 'Registry Checker' software. For example Windoctor, jv16 are some of the registry checker software. You can use these software to check your registry.

To remove the software name from the registry

Sometimes when you uninstall a program, even after installing you may still find the software listed under the 'Add/Remove programs' list. To remove the listing from the add remove programs list you can use the registry.
Open the registry editor by typing 'regedit' in the 'start->run' box. Now click on the + icon in the 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'. Now scroll down and select 'Microsoft', 'Windows', 'current version' and then 'uninstall'. In the right hand side watch the 'display name' and 'uninstall string'. The software name displayed in 'Display name' is what is listed in the 'Add/remove programs'.
Choose the software name that you want to delete and then click the delete button. Now in the confirmation dialog box click 'Yes'.
In the 'Uninstall string' key the windows folder in which the software is installed will be shown. Now in the internet explorer, go to this folder and deleted all contents.

What is document scrap?

2008-09-26T08:59:00.002-07:00

Software tips -> What is document scrap?

Assume that you are creating a text document. In that document you may want to use a block of text repeatedly in various places in the document. Or you may want to put a logo or a small image in multiple places in the document. For doing this, you need not copy and paste every time from the place where the text is present in the document. Document scrap feature is just for this purpose.

Just copy the text or the image or anything in the document which you want to paste in multiple places and bring it (drag and drop) to the desktop. That will become a text page icon on the desktop. Below the icon, you will see the title as the 'document scrap' followed by the first few letters in the block of text. This enables easy identification of the icon for future use.

Now whenever you need this block of text just drag and drop it to wherever you want to copy it. Or you can copy and paste it in any windows applications. This type of document scrap facility is available in applications such as Word, Paint, Word pad, Coral, Word perfect etc.

You can create any number of document scraps and paste it in your desktop. And then you can just drag and drop them wherever you want in your applications.

How to create cover page in MS Access?

2008-09-26T08:59:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> How to create cover page in MS Access?

Many generate reports using Access 97, Access 2000, Access 2002 and Access 2003 software. Then they take print outs of these reports. But only then will they realize that it would be nice if there was a 'cover page'. Generally, a cover page will have details such as the Objective of the report, Abstract, Recipients details, Report Title and any other information about the author.

Usually, many create 'cover pages' for reports generated in MS Access in MS Word. Then they distribute the report generated in MS Access together with the cover page created in Word. If you distribute the printed copy then you can combine these two documents and then distribute together. But if you need to send an email to others then you will have to attach two files as attachment and the recipient will have to open two files one in Word and the other in Access.

Instead of attaching two files if you could just send one file (.MDB) won't it be better. This is possible only if you can create a cover page using MS Access.

Steps to create cover page in MS Access

In a report, there are many sections such as 'Report Header', 'Page Header', Details' and 'Page Footer'. The Report Header will only appear in the beginning of the report. Similarly the Report Footer will only appear at the end of the report. Page Header and Page Footer will appear at the top and bottom of each page respectively. The 'Details' section will appear in each line.

To create a cover page in MS Access you will have to carry out the following four activities.

You have to open the Access Report in 'Design View'
Increase the height of the 'Report Header' to occupy the whole page
The contents of the coverpage has to be typed in this 'Report Header' section
Insert a 'Page break' at the end so that the report starts from the next page.

Free Linux Applications

2008-09-26T08:57:00.002-07:00

Software tips -> Free Linux Applications

Linux Operating System is widely in use in many places either because it is free or because it comes with the source code. Windows and Windows based applications are not free. But Linux and applications that run on Linux are also free.

SuSe and Mandrake are some of the Linux distributions. In this article we shall see the many different free applications that can be used in Linux.

Office Software in Linux

openoffice.org provides a free Office software that can be used in Linux. The Open Office software has Write (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentation) and Draw (Image editor).
Similarly Kword, Karbon are other free Word processors available for Linux
Gnumeric and Kspread are other Spreadsheet softwares available for Linux
KOffice is the Office suite that compares well with the MS Office.

Image editor / Viewer for Linux

In Openoffice.org, Draw image editor is available. In addition to this another very popular Linux image editor is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). GIMP is as powerful as Adobe Photoshop but it is free.
KPaint is another free image editor for Linux. This is available in KDE enviroment. GNOME Icon Editor, Kicon Editor, KView, KcolorEdit are other image editors for Linux.
To handle images from a digital camera in Linux, GPhoto or GIMP can be used. Elphoto is a free photo album software for Linux that can be used to create digital photo albums with these images in Linux.
To scan images using scanner in Linux, Kooka is a free software. Kooka has the OCR feature. gtkam and Xsane are other scanner software for Linux.

Text Editors for linux

Notepad is a popular text editor in Windows. VI is another text editor available in Linux. Vim is another text editor in linux. Other than these, gedit, Emacs, Kate, KEdit and Kwrite are also freely available text editors for linux.

Audio and Audio Players for linux

Audio and Video software are available plenty for linux freely.
Kaboodle, Kmix, Noatun, Kmid, Kmidi, amarok are some of the popular audio players for linux. Kscd is a popular CD player software for linux. Xmms is another good CD player.
Grip is a software used to create Audio CDs in Linux.
Kaudiocreator software can be used to create audio files. You can record your voice and create audio files using KRec. Gnome Sound is another audio record software.
To mix Audio you can use Aumix or KDE Sound Mixer. Kaffeine is another popular video player in Linux.

Free Software to Burn CDs in Linux

There are plenty of free software for creating audio CDs, video CDs and Data CDs in linux. XcdRoast is a software that can be used to create data CDs. You can also copy CDs using this software.
K3b is another free CD / DVD burning software to create data CDs.
CD Creator, CD Record, KonCD, Gcombust, GnomeToaster are other free CD burning software in Linux

Other free applications for Linux

To compress files you can use Art, Gunzip, FileRoller and Karchiver programs
To read PDF files in linux you can use XPDF, KGhostView, GhostView, KPDF and Acrobat Reader
To use FAX in linux you can use KFAX or KdePrint Fax software.
Gnome Dictionary, Kdict are some of the dictionaries for linux.
Mr. Project, Ktimer, Korganizer and Kontact are some of the task schedulers for linux.
Mozialla, Galeon, Konqueror are some popular browsers in linux
Evolution, Kmail, Mozilla Mail are some email clients in linux.
GAIM, Xchat, Chatzilla and Kopete are some free Instant Messaging IM software in Linux.
Kivio flow chart software, Kcalc scientific calculator, Kformula formula editor are some other free software applications available for linux.
There are so many linux applications freely available. You can download all these free applications by searching their names in your favourite search engines.

A tutorial on MS Outlook - your trusted personal manager

2008-09-26T08:57:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> A tutorial on MS Outlook - your trusted personal manager

In Microsoft Office suite of applications, MS Outlook has many great features that makes it your trusted personal manager. It does all the job of a personal assistant and more. But many do not use MS Outlook effectively. Many people think that it is just an Email Client. MS Outlook is not just an Email client but it is a Personal Information Manager (PIM). In this article let us see the main features in MS Outlook so that you can start using MS Outlook effectively.

Features in MS Outlook

Of course the main feature of MS Outlook is to send and receive emails.
You can use the Outlook 'calendar' to record all your appointments and set reminders.
You can use Outlook 'Contacts' to store your contacts addresses, phone numbers emails etc.
You can list your tasks and monitor them so that you don't forget your 'to do' lists.
Outlook Journal is used to integrate your emails and other documents.
Outlook Notes, is used to note down your short notes and short news.

These basic features such as Email, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Journal and Notes are the core of MS Outlook application.

Tips for Effective Use of Outlook

To assign a task to someone using MS Outlook

If you think that a particular person can handle a particular task well then you can assign the job to him and Outlook will automatically email this task to that person.

You can also ask Outlook to monitor the status of the task. And Outlook will inform you of this status.

If the task is completed, Outlook will alert you of the status.

To conduct polls using Outlook

If you have a doubt about something why don't you hold a poll and ask people to vote to find a popular answer.

In outlook there is a Polling feature. Instead of polling machine, emails will be used thats all. Select 'Use Voting buttons' in the email and give your message and an agree and disagree button or an 'Yes' and 'No' button. Then send this email to everybody. When they reply with the answer, outlook will consolidate this answers from everybody and will tell you the final result.
To confirm meetings using MS Outlook

Outlook has a wonderful, 'Meeting Requests' feature. Let us assume that someone wants to meet you. To check whether you are available on that specific day and specific time he can check your calendar and see your appointments. If you are free then he can send you a 'Meeting request'.

If you agree to his request then you can accept his meeting request. Then Outlook will update both your calendars and show as 'Busy' on that day and time. And Outlook will inform the sender that you have accepted his meeting request. Even if you reject his meeting request outlook will inform him.

Outlook will also arrange for both of you to meet using 'Net Meeting'. Outlook will remind you of this appointment so that you don't forget.
To send automatic reply using Outlook

Assume that you are going on a long leave. If someone sends email to you during this time you will not read these emails. The senders may misunderstand that you have not replied.

You can use 'Auto Respond' feature to solve this problem. Just inform outlook the starting date and ending date of your leave and the message that you want to send as a reply. Now Outlook will automatically respond to all emails with this message.

What is Firefox? A tutorial on Firefox

2008-09-26T08:56:00.004-07:00

Software tips -> What is Firefox? A tutorial on Firefox

Majority of the Internet users use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the web. Internet Explorer (IE) is the entry point to most of the security problems in Windows. There are many security holes in IE, therefore Microsoft releases security patches evey now and then to fix these security holes.

Consider you are entering any website using IE. Even without clicking on any link or image on that webpage it is possible that your computer is infected by a spyware. Hackers can use these security holes to install vspyware in the computer without you doing anything on the webpage.

Not only spyware, Pop up Adware, Home Page Hijacking are some of the other common problems in Internet Explorer. It is true that if you update your windows frequently, you can fix these holes and keep your computer safe.

To escape from all the problems identified above, you can start using the free Firefox browser. Another reason for using Firefox is that Microsoft has announced it will not release any security patches for Internet explorer for Windows 95, 98, 98 SE and ME users. Security patches for Internet explorer will be released only for the Windows XP users.

Firefox is a free internet browser provided by Mozilla, which can be downloaded from here.

How to install Firefox browser?

As mentioned above, download the installation file. Close all the windows applications especially the Internet Explorer windows. Now locate the downloaded firefox executable file and double click. The Firefox installation wizard will run. Just follow the steps and install the Firefox browser.

You can also import all your preferences and favourites from your Internet explorer settings to your Firefox browser. The 'favourites' in IE is called as 'Bookmarks' in Firefox.

Not only favourites, you can also bring History, Passwords etc from your Internet explorer to your firefox. For this, during the installation of Firefox, the 'Import Wizard' will ask you whether you want to import all your IE settings to firefox, if you choose 'Yes' then just follow what the wizard shows.

How to use Firefox?

Just like Internet Explorer, Firfox is a web browser. Hence you can use it very easily. However there are some differences between internet explorer and firefox. To read more about firefox you can access this page www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/index.html .

To download IE View software in Firefox

With firefox you can enter any website in the Internet. However some websites are specifically created for IE and support only Internet Explorer. Especially, Microsoft's 'Windows Update' or 'Encarta' sites support Internet Explorer browser only. You cannot do windows update using Firefox browser unless you download IE View software.

There is a way to cheat websites that need Internet Explorer browser. We can make firefox show itself as IE to these websites and access them successfully. IE View software developed by Paul Roub can do this. You can download IE View freely at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/35/

Now to use IE View, just view the webpage normally in firefox. Right click on that page and select 'View this page in IE' option for IE targeted sites.

Shortcut for Auto Text in MS Word

2008-09-26T08:56:00.003-07:00

Software tips -> Shortcut for Auto Text in MS Word

A feature in web browser and software that let’s you fill in the blanks faster when entering the same names and address you routinely use. Auto text entry saves your text entries, and compares them with new entries. As soon as you type a few letters, it presents you with a list of possible candidates to choose. Auto complete is very useful for typing in long name such as web address (url’s). For example such a sentence office of the director of collegiate education Chennai. To do this goes for insert  auto text and specify the sentence, which you want. Now you get a window containing more option. Then make a assurance that whether a tick mark is presented on the opposite of “Show auto complete Suggestions”

Easy way to make Auto entry: -

Just select and highlight the sentence and press Alt + F3. Now u get a Create Auto Text Window here the highlighted word would be displayed then give OK. Now you get the Auto Text entry option in your word.

Rotating pictures in MS Word

2008-09-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

Software Tips -> Rotating pictures in MS Word

While working on word have you need to make pictures should be get rotated in between text. To do this, have you spending more time? If you want that the picture should be get rotate as slowly means you have to follow the actions as below.

Select the green color, which is specified at the corner of the pictures, and press the Shift key. This key is used to make rotate the picture on full speed and for each rotation it rotate for 15 degree.

Merging the cells in excel

2008-09-26T08:55:00.003-07:00

Software Tips -> Merging the cells in excel

Merge cell wizard is used in MS-Excel, used for, merge or join the cell two or three cells in the spreadsheet. Use the merge cell wizard every time you need to place data into several cells or when you need to merge cells retaining their value. With merge cell wizard you can merge data from several Microsoft Excel cells into one cell using spacebar you like. For this the following process at first select the cells which would be want to merge and highlight them, then press Ctrl + Shift + s. Now the cells would be selected then press Shift + _ key. Now you found all borders between the cells would be erased. We can also done it by pressing shift + arrow marks.

Tutorial on MS Paint

2008-09-26T08:55:00.001-07:00

Software tips -> Tutorial on MS Paint

You can become a great artist by using computer. The computer provides paint, brush, and canvas to create an image based on your imagination. It makes not only pictures and also makes map, logo wallpaper, and letterhead as you like. For this, you use Photoshop, Corel draw painting software’s. You will buy these software’s or to use equaling share ware programs like paint shop pro etc. For compare to this the free painting programs have less facilities. You can download these free painting programs from Internet.

If you enter Crayola websites you can draw the pictures and enjoy it. Windows operating system have free painting program. That is MS Paint. You can use this to draw the pictures. To open the MS Paint click Start => Programs => Accessories => Paint. Now we have a paint program. The Canvas placed center in this. You are drawing in this canvas. The Toolbox is left side in this canvas. Toolbox has more tools for drawing. Below in the canvas have more colors part. That is a Color Palette. The Menu Bar is above in the canvas.

To Change Canvas Size:

You decide that can you draw the picture in displaying canvas. If you cannot draw that, change the canvas size for any unit like inches, centimeter, and pixel. To change the canvas size click Image Attribute. Type length and width then click OK.

We can use two colors at a time in MS painting program. One is background color another one color is to use drawing in foreground. These two colors are in color palette starting. To change the foreground colors to left click any color in color palette. Now you can see color changed in color palette starting. To change background color to right clicks any color in color palette. If you draw to pressing left click the drawing have background color. If you draw to pressing right click the drawing have background.

Now the canvas and colors are ready then we start to draw the picture. For using in this, the MS Paint gives more tools. If you place mouse in any tool that give a tool name. The MS Paint gives more tools to use drawing. These are Pencil, Brush, Air Brush, Line Curve, Rectangle, Polygon, Ellipse and Rounded Rectangle. If you click one tool more sub tools display below in that tool. It denotes that tools size. For example if you clock Line tool, we have different lines depends upon width to use drawing. We can change the tool that tool size at any time. If you draw wrongly, you can erase that to use Eraser tool. It’s had some different sizes. If you want to type Text in picture to click Text tool and make a rectangle in canvas. Then you can type letter in that rectangle. You can change letter font, size and style.

If you use Rectangle and Ellipse tools, to press these tools with shift key we get square, rectangle respectively. Same as that to press shift key with Rounded Rectangle tool we get rounded square. We want to fill the color in closed object to use Fill with Color tool.

If you want only one part to maximize for painting, you click Magnifier tool then click that part. Now that part is to maximized. If you want to change part size to normal to click Magnifier tool than click that part. The MS Paint gives Free Form Select and Rectangle Select tools to select one part in picture. The Rectangle Select tool used to select square/Rectangle, the Free Form Select to use select other shapes. Then give Edit Copy command, now that part is copy to clipboard. After that you can paste this in any place. If you want to change foreground color to a particular color then click Pick Color tool and then click particular part. This tool is also called as Eye Dropper.

To save the Picture:

We can save the picture to BMP format in MS Paint. BMP means Bitmap. The windows 98-second edition and other edition released after that have BMP, GIF, and JPEG Formats.

To give special effects:

If you click Image menu you got a more commands. We can rotate the pictures, invert the picture, and enlarge the picture like rubber, to slope the picture. You can use this facility for your drawing and became a great artist.

How to remove drawing canvas from MS Word?

2008-09-26T08:54:00.002-07:00

Software tips -> How to remove drawing canvas from MS Word?

You would have come across a Drawing canvas while trying to paste a picture in a word file. This will be available even before you ask. On that only your picture will be pasted. After that only you move that picture from these to the destination you desire. Do you feel it so difficult and irritating? Do you feel why this canvas is there unnecessarily? Follow the steps below to fulfill your wish.

First go to Tools menu in that select Options, in the following list of tabs you click the General tab. In the various features tack the tick near ”Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting Auto shapes” then click ok and exit. After this action canvas will not function while you paste a picture in word document? If you feel you need the canvas, follow the same steps and select table from the same option.

Facilities of Clipboard in MS Office

2008-09-26T08:54:00.001-07:00

Facilities of Clipboard in MS Office

MS-Office clipboard is used to copy and past the text, pictures and graphics. The copy of the text or picture is getting stored in clipboard. We can past that in any windows application. When coping any text it will overwrite that previous text. What can we do for copy more than on text in MS-Office? Answer this please.

It’s totally different from clipboard in windows operating system.

In MS-Office all the application software contains office clipboard. We will see the facility in this. If work based on cut, copy, paste command. We can store 24 items in this clipboard. While trying to copy the 25th item in the clipboard it will replace the first item from the clipboard.

Due to the following option the menu will automatically open.

1. When you cut or copy more than 2 items in a program
2. In a same program copy one text and past after that copy a text.
3. When you past the same item twice.

When office clipboard started the icon is displayed in the left side of status bar. To show the number of text you can go to edit menu and active it. In that it shows more facilities. To get that facility put tick mark in the facility.

1. To display the clipboard automatically. (No need to go edit menu)
2. When we press the Ctrl + c twice, it shows clipboard.
3. To get the facility even though it does not display.
4. To display the icon in the task bar.
5. To show the copy clipboard it display the status of copied item.

When we active Office clipboard in on office program it does not show other office program. The items are in office clipboard until the entire office programs are closed. Or we can delete it by clicking delete in the menu. We can delete the item selected from text. We can paste or delete the file by left click the item. If we press delete it will delete the item. If we select the past it will paste the item where the cursor is placed. If we paste all, it will paste all the items to the document.

Now a question arises in your mind. What is the difference between both the clipboards? Lets see the answer. While you pasting the items continuously in office clipboard the last item will store in operating system clipboard. When we delete all files in office clipboard the item in OS clipboard also get erased. When you are using (CTRL + V) and paste command it will paste content from operating system clipboard.

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