Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
August 26, 2007

Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.

Volume 3, Number 11 — Sunday, August 26, 2007

Part 1  | Part 2

Sponsored Advertisement

Optimize and Repair Windows with XP Repair Pro

With XP Repair Pro you can safely clean, repair and optimize
your Windows PC with a few simple mouse clicks! Automated System
Restore Point Creation allows these changes to be restored to
their original condition. Automated Repair Capabilities, too.

http://terryscomputertips.com/XPRepairPro

 

IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
   1.   Google Earth adds Astronomy - Google Sky
   2.   Updates Last Week
   3.   Controlling Microsoft Word's Auto-formatting and Auto-Correction Functions
   4.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   5.   Adware Ties into Internet Explorer
   6.   HOWTO: Boot Into Safe Mode
   7.   Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends

Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

My emailed newsletter is sent weekly to individuals who have subscribed to the newsletter. Click here to subscribe. It's free!

Are you subscribed to my weekly email newsletter? If you are, and are not getting it, check your Bulk Mail and your Spam folders. If you find my newsletter there, please reclassify it to normal email.

Yahoo, in particular, is doing a bad job of classifying my newsletters. Other free, online email systems are also having the problem.

If you find an email in your Spam folder or Bulk Mail folder that you really want to receive -- be sure to click on their button to reclassify the email in their system. It will help you and it will help others.

1.  Google Earth adds Astronomy - Google Sky

This week, Google added a neat new feature to Google Earth. If you haven't been playing with (or working with) Google Earth, you don't know what you've been missing.

Google Earth is fun to use as well as informative and entertaining. As you can see in the image above, Google Earth's interface has five different sections. The most obvious one looks like a partial map of the world.

While this appears to be no more than a static image, it is far more. Using AJAX technology to stream data to you based on the things you do in the map window, you can zoom in, zoom out, drag to move, click to move, use your mouse's scroll button to easily move around.

You can make more dramatic and flowing moves by typing a location into the "Fly to" search box at the top left of the Google Earth window.

The Places section lets you put pushpin markers on the map to mark your favorite spots. Google Earth comes preloaded with a number of spots, like the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower. Of course, you can add your own pushpin markers for other locations important to you. The checkboxes let you optionally show individual markers.

The Layers section adds yet another layer of functionality to Google Earth. Just put a checkmark in a checkbox and you'll get content markers on the map. For example, within Featured Content, there is a NASA heading with three types of data: Astronaut Photography, Satellite Imagery and Earth City Lights. Click on the content marker to see the content.

This week's added function is Google Sky, which is accessed by the button on the menu icon bar at the top of the Earth/Sky section. Alternatively, you can click on View and select the option to change to Sky (or back to Earth).

With Google Sky, you can see the planets, constellations, nebulae and other Messier objects. Just like Google Earth, you can zoom and drag the Sky.

The Layers section now has similar options to that in the Earth option, but now they are focussed on astronomical features. For example, you can uncheck Constellation Lines and lose tthe lines connecting the constellation's stars.

If you already have Google Earth, use its Check for Updates function under the Help menu. If you don't, it is part of the free Google Pack software package.

Sponsored Advertisement

Wipe Your Windows & Internet History

XP Privacy Pro is the latest in personal protection for your PC.
Instantly Clean Traces in Your Web Browser and Windows System.
Supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera & Netscape.

http://terryscomputertips.com/XPPrivacyPro

 

 

2.  Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday. This week did not include Patch Tuesday.

Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
No new version this week. Version 2.0.0.6 was released on August 1, 2007. This was a security update.

Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
No new version this week. Version 9.23 was released on August 15th. This release of a recommended security upgrade, in addition to having several other changes and bug fixes.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
No new version this week. Version 9.0b3 (beta version) was released during the week ending August 18, 2007.

SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): No new version this week. Version 1.1.4 was released on August 3, 2007. This was primarily a security update.

Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. Eudora is now free, with no ads and no "paid mode" option.

Sponsored mode in the earlier versions of Eudora expired on March 31st — and reverted to the less-functional "Lite" mode. Fortunately, Eudora is very nicely designed. Just upgrade to v7.1.0.9 to get back to Sponsored mode.

The current release is the last version for this incarnation of Eudora. Qualcomm has handed the product to the Mozilla Foundatiton. The next time we actually see a new release of Eudora, it is expected to be Eudora features built onto a Thunderbird base.

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
No new version this week. Thunderbird version 2.0.0.6 was released on August 1, 2007. This is primarily a security update.

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free): Version 2.2.1 was released during the week ending June 16th. This is a security fix and bug fix release, with no new features.

3.  Controlling Microsoft Word's Auto-formatting and Auto-Correction Functions

Microsoft built a lot of automatic capabilities into Microsoft Word. By default, it checks your spelling as you type and marks misspellings as it finds them. You can even set Word to auto-correct your spelling for specific typing errors you normally have.

Word also will automatically create bulleted lists. All you have to do is hit the Enter key, type 1), type the words for that entry, and hit the enter key again. Word automatically goes into Bulleted mode, creating a Numbered List automatically.

This particular feature is kind of nice, but sometimes frustrates me. Why? Well, as an example, I write my newsletters as HTML code so that I have control of formatting as I write. When I start a numbered list in Word, I type the original "1)" and the words. Then, I press Enter and almost invariably type the "2)" — and promptly have to erase them because MS Word put them in automatically.

Here, you can see the results of pressing Enter at the end of the first paragraph...

Solving this Auto-correct setting is easy. Just to the left of the first entry, Microsoft Word displays (but doesn't add to the document) a control box where I can turn off the auto-formatting.

I can also use Tools > AutoCorrect Options to open the following dialog box. Notice that it has five tabs to provide various types of fine-tuning:

1. AutoCorrect, to correct spelling problems
2. AutoFormat As You Type (which is the tab shown below)
3. AutoText (AutoComplete)
4. AutoFormat, and
5. Smart Tags

I can uncheck "Automatic numbered lists" and easily prevent the frustration I had been having. Similarly, if I wanted to turn off the automatic creation of bulleted lists, I could uncheck that option, too.