WordPress is a free and open source publishing application which gives home users the ability to quickly and easily create an online blog using their own domain name.   Blogging, the term used to describe the maintenance of a website used to chronicle information has become incredibly popular in recent years as more users realise that the Internet provides a global platform which can be used to broadcast their ideas or opinions.

For most, the prospect of coding a website from scratch is not just a daunting but potentially impossible task, and so it is down to worthy applications such as WordPress to make blogging accessible to the masses.  Undeniably a small amount of technical knowhow is required however the process of the initial installation couldn’t really have been made any simpler.

Begin by registering your domain name (for example, I chose www.computerarticles.co.uk) and sort out a hosting package.  The hosting of your blog shouldn’t cost more than around £25 a year and you may want to use the same company for this that you used to register the domain.

With this process complete, download the WordPress application from www.wordpress.org and upload it to your web space before running a single installation file which will configure the software to work with your web host and allow you to set up initial settings such as a user name and password.  Someone with a basic knowledge of setting up a website should be able to complete the process in a couple of minutes however even basic users should find they are able to complete the installation in around 20 minutes by following the step by step guide online.

Once installed you can begin adding content by way of a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) text editor which allows you to quickly and easily knock out an article using features such as bullet pointing, text alignment and text effects without having to worry about getting your hands dirty by doing any coding.

So far this is all fairly basic stuff however WordPress comes in to its own when you start to play around with some of the settings relating to the look and feel of your new blog.  The theme selector for example is an incredibly powerful element of the software which allows you to automatically style your site in a set fashion by choosing one of over one thousand themes.  Don’t assume that these are all incredibly similar and that every WordPress site will look the same.  The theme you use will radically change not only how your blog looks but also how it feels; for example, the entire navigational layout of the site can be changed simply by selecting a new theme.

Updating the blog and providing additional functionality for both you and your users is also easily achieved but unfortunately I’ve reached my word limit so this will be continued next week.

Unless you are lucky enough to have a HDMI port on your computer (which carries sound as well as video), you will need a separate cable and as with the video, the method you choose depends on your existing hardware:

Analog RCA (Radio Corporation of America) Connection

This is the most common audio input present on a TV or any other piece of sound equipment. Signals are sent over two cables (stereo) and although the sound quality won’t impress most sound aficionados, it would be sufficient for most home users. Ordinarily when connecting in this fashion you would require a 3.5mm headphone jack to plug in to your PC (usually this is a green coloured port) which would then link to the phono sockets (red and white) on the back of your TV. These usually cost only a couple of pounds and of course, do get in contact if you need one.

Digital Coax Connection

All PC’s have the aforementioned analog output but for true sound quality as well as the potential for surround sound you really should be connecting digitally. A Coaxial Digital Output uses a female RCA connector which is ordinarily either yellow or orange in appearance and usually marked ‘SPDIF Out’ or ‘Digital Out’. If connecting by this method you would be more likely to be connecting to a surround sound system so check for a similar connection and if present then you need to purchase a RCA SPDIF Coaxial cable which usually retail for around a fiver.

Optical (TOSLINK) Connection

Currently considered to be the holy grail of audio connectivity, the unfortunately named ‘TOSLINK’ standard transfers the audio digitally using pulses of light sent down a fibre optic cable. Originally designed by Toshiba (TOShiba-LINK) way back in 1983 the standard has become increasingly popular and you should find the connection on even relatively low end PC sound cards. Identifying whether your equipment can support an optical connection is incredibly easy as the sockets ordinarily have a protective plastic plug covering them which when removed reveals a beam of red light. Asides from the obvious step of confirming your PC is compatible, remember to look for the reciprocating input on your hi-fi or surround sound system rather than your TV as any connection found on the television is likely to be output only. The cables are in most cases incredibly cheap and you should be able to pick one up for around a fiver however do take care of them because the optical fibre can be damaged if bent too tightly.

GIMP is ideal for many home users as it is a small and free application which boasts a large number of features that would probably prove sufficient for who needs something slightly more than Microsoft Paint but less than Photoshop. My only reservation with the application was that the UI (User Interface) was a little bit inconsistent with the overall feel of Windows and as a result it takes a while to get to grips with and often feels alien to the average PC user.

This week I stumbled across another very capable application called Paint.NET which once again is free to download and use. Unfortunately it is not quite as powerful as GIMP but for most users this will be compensated for by the fact the interface will be extremely familiar to the average Windows user, to the point where it is almost intuitive, resulting in a much easier learning curve. The majority of users will find the features of Paint.NET more than enough for day to day photo manipulation however also thrown in to the mix are a number of extremely powerful tools.

First and foremost the application supports layers; unless you’ve ever used layers it’s difficult to explain in words exactly what they are and how they can help you. The simplest analogy would be to think of them as a number of transparency slides, which when all stacked and viewed together form the basis of a whole image. If you change one of the individual slides the overall image will look different, but no changes will be made to the other slides. This means that changes that you make to one layer which are later altered won’t result in a trial of obvious damage to the image caused by previous alterations.

Another nice feature is the way that the application handles multiple images; rather than having a number of windows that can be minimised and reopened as and when necessary, Paint.NET has a clever style of tabbed interface. In order to navigate between open files you simply click a thumbnail of the image from a scrollable selection on the top right hand side of the screen.

Additional features, updates and bug fixes are released on practically a monthly basis and there is an active forum that offers a number of plug-ins, should you require any extra functionality that isn’t provided as standard.

In terms of special effects, the application has a large number built in as standard; ink sketch, oil painting, blurs, distortions, noise control, red eye removal, sharpening, softening and so on. The image can also be manipulated by way of adjustments such as hue, saturation, level, brightness, contrast and sepia controls. The standard drawing and selection tools are provided and of course the intensity, tolerance or size of these tools can all be easily adjusted as necessary.

One selling point of GIMP was that it is cross platform compatible however Paint.NET can only be used in Windows and more specifically in the later versions, either XP or Vista. This is unlikely to be a problem for most my readers so if you found GIMP a little confusing and don’t have the time, patience or money for Photoshop then I would urge you download this tiny 1.6mb application by visiting www.getpaint.net.

I do have a fairly fast connection so such a download wouldn’t have taken a particularly long period of time but despite what anyone may say 190mb is a stupidly large download for a piece of recording software, no matter how good it may be. When you add to the equation the cost of Nero I went off in search of a suitable alternative and found it in the form of the completely free, 3mb piece of software that is Deepburner (www.deepburner.com)

Whenever I recommend a piece of software I always get a handful of insults from readers who head off to the website, see a version of the software you have to pay for and then accuse me of lying – This happens whenever I mention AVG which is available in both paid for and free versions. For this reason I will point out that there is both a free and paid version of Deepburner available on the website given above so please ensure that you download the correct one.

The download and installation of Deepburner couldn’t be simpler and whilst the features that it offers are fairly simplistic they should be sufficient for most home users. In terms of the basic functionality you have the option to burn to create Data CD’s, Bootable CD’s, Audio CD’s and Data DVD’s as well as printing the appropriate labels for your discs.

One of the most important features is the ability to create and burn ISO images which even the most recent version of Windows can’t do as standard. ISO images are typically downloaded off the Internet (off Torrent sites for example) as they are entire discs compressed in to one file which is then downloaded and uncompressed on to a disc making the copying of software particularly straightforward. Of course you need to ensure that you’re not downloading copyrighted software off the Internet but that goes without saying.

Whilst you’re on the Deepburner site do check out Deepripper which is another free piece of software which allows you to quickly and easily rip (copy) audio tracks directly off your audio CD’s on to your PC’s hard disk in MP3, OGG or WAV format. Whilst Windows media player has this functionality I do feel that Deepburner does a cleaner, faster job.

Deepburner is compatible with all versions of Windows so this is particularly good news for people still stuck using an older version of Windows such as 95 or 98 which doesn’t support CD writing without the need for additional software. Whilst the program in no way replaces more sophisticated programs such as Nero it does cover all the basics and once again proves you don’t necessarily need to pay for good quality, capable software.

I personally have use for such a program as there are several computers in the office that all have different e-mail accounts and applications installed on them and it can sometimes be helpful to be able to control any computer from the one machine. Home users who have a couple of PC’s may have the same desire or alternatively it can be used to request from or give support to any of your PC owning, Internet connected friends.

UltraVNC relies on the open source Virtual Network Computing (VNC) system which was developed at the Olivetti & Oracle Research Lab which was then acquired by AT&T in 1999. AT&T closed down the research lab in 2002 but the software is open source so absolutely anyone is now free to develop and distribute it. This has lead to many different versions of the software becoming available as individuals and small companies try to add their own particular tweaks and improvements to the original standard.

Every program is common in that it relies on both a server and a client program. The server program is run on the machine that shares its screen and the client software is run on the machine used as the viewer and controller.

For the basis of this review I will be looking at one of the best versions of this system that I found which goes by the name of UltraVNC which can by found by heading to http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net. As the software is a tiny 1.6mb in size downloading it takes literally seconds on a fast Internet connection and then all you have to do in order to get it running is load the server and client software on to the appropriate machines. On the server machine you will set up an access password and once this has been done hover your mouse above the UltraVNC icon in the taskbar down the bottom right hand side of the screen and make a note of the IP address. Then simply input this IP address and password in to the client machine and you should have a connection – it’s really as easy as that!

As well as viewing the screen of the server machine from the client machine you will also be able to control the mouse and keyboard as well as making use of a number of different features built in to the software. For example, the client machine can shut down and restart the server as well as opening up the task manager or transferring files between the two machines. If you are offering technical support to a friend then the chat function would be helpful as it will allow you to talk them through what you’re doing stage by stage. In terms of speed of use I found UltraVNC to be a great deal faster than my previous favourite, PC Anywhere and additionally like all the best things in life the software is completely free of charge.

For some time I’ve been looking for a free image editing program to recommend because I’ve found that any program worth its salt costs money and I realise this is something my readers don’t appreciate! It looks like finally I may have found the answer in the form of GIMP and so today I have decided to take the time to review the latest incarnation of this program. Although GIMP is best known to Linux users I have tested the Windows version of this product as this is the Operating System that most my readers use.

The latest version, GIMP 2.2 includes many of the features you get in costly applications like Adobe Photoshop and these include layers, channels, paths along with a wide variety of painting tools. It includes many features that to my knowledge are not available in any other free product. Whether you want to use it to retouch photos, render images or convert from one format to another then this should fit the bill perfectly. Additionally it is expandable as new plug-ins can be added to the application should you require a function which is not provided as standard in the software.

The software includes dozens of filters which make it ideal for anyone involved in digital photography and there are additional features such as a scripting interface to allow advanced users to automate image editing tasks but I’m sincerely doubting that most home users will choose to jump in this far.

Downloading and installing the program is relatively painless as long as you’re pointed in the right direction as I was first thrown off by the fact you need to download two files in order to be able to properly install the application. If you head to http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html then you will find two files that are required for the installation. First you should download the ‘GTK + 2 Runtime environment’ and install it before downloading the actual application also located on the same page. The two files together come to around 12mb which will be a pretty painless download on all but the slowest of connections.

It is worthwhile noting that this program is supported entirely by people kind enough to dedicate their time to the coding the project so there is no adverting either in the application or on the authors website.

An alternative website you may also like to visit is www.gimp.org as there are a number of manuals and tutorials available online. The program is pretty advanced and it is unlikely that you would be able to scratch the surface of what is on offer without them.

The interface is at times quite confusing and the entire program isn’t as well polished as alternatives on the market however I think it would be quite unfair to try and compare this free program to the £400 Adobe Photoshop! Basically to summerise if you’re looking for a free alternative to the rather lacklustre Microsoft Photo Editor which is bundled with Windows then you’ve found it.

The main difference in this new incarnation of Office as far as I can tell is the user interface which Microsoft has dubbed the ‘ribbon’ interface. It has been designed to replace the existing system of menus, toolbars and dialog boxes with a less cluttered system that allows you easy access to the more advanced features of the applications. I think the main drawback with the old system was that whilst it was fine for a while, as more advanced features were integrated into the program it became increasingly difficult for Microsoft to provide the user with each access to them.

The traditional menus and toolbars have been replaced with a set of command tabs that graphically present the most relevant features you require access to based on the program you are using. For example the command tabs in Word will be geared around writing and page layout whereas the same commend tab in Excel would encompass features such as chart and table creation. Additionally these command tabs will change based on the context in which they are being used – For example clicking on a chat will cause the command tab to include options predominately focused to chart editing.

Office 2007 will be provided in seven different versions from the Basic (Word, Excel & Outlook) which the majority of home users will probably end up owning right up to the professional Office Enterprise Edition which includes applications such as Publisher, PowerPoint and InfoPath.

The default file standard for Office 2007 will be XML which Microsoft seems quite keen to start promoting as a viable alternative to current binary formats. XML differs from the current Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats in that it is smaller and the file format allows for easier recovery of damaged files. Of course you will still be able to open the older formats such as .doc, .ppt, and .xls in the new version of the software. Interestingly Microsoft has also added support for the popular Adobe PDF format– this is a welcome addition that is long overdue.

At the current stage of development there doesn’t seem to be anything else remarkable to note about this new version of Office but then again the differences between Office XP and Office 2003 were extremely subtle so this doesn’t surprise me too much. The main thing to write home about is defiantly the new User Interface but whilst I’m sure it will be easier once you’ve got used to it, I am expecting it to upset those that have grappled for years to get used to the old interface that up to now has been standard in so many Microsoft applications! As always I’ll keep you informed over the coming year to any new developments as they are announced.

Windows 1.0 was initially announced to the world back in November 1983 with a shipping date of early 1984 with minimum system specs of a floppy drive and 192kb of RAM. Even back then Microsoft were hopeless at keeping to deadlines and technical requirements so over a year later Windows was shipped to the world with minimum of 256kb of RAM with Microsoft suggesting that you should really have double that amount of RAM and a hard drive. Windows 1.0 included a number of applications that would be familiar to modern day Windows users such as Calculator, Clock, Write, Paint and Calendar.

Windows 2.0 was released in December 1987 which introduced overlapping Windows and Icons to the public whereas previous versions of Windows were largely text based and multiple open windows couldn’t be overlapped but rather tiled across the screen. A later version designed for the new 386 processor was also released which included improved multi-tasking abilities.

Windows 3.0 introduced a number of new features such as program manager and file manager along with the ability for programs to use memory beyond 640kb which had previously been a fairly substantial stumbling block of earlier versions. Windows 3.0 was one of the first versions of the program that truly clicked and soon a number of home users, business users and developers began adopting the software. One of the most popular incarnations of the software, Windows 3.1 was released in April 1992 which focused on improving the stability of Windows 3.0 as well as introducing a few new features.

Windows 95 was released back in August 2005 accompanied by a huge advertising campaign and the Operating System became a great success due a number of factors. One such factor was simply timing; the home market was booming and the Internet was starting to make its way into homes. The tools provided by the Operating System to developers made it easy to create applications that could connect to the Internet and hence fantastic new programs such as Netscape Navigator started to appear on the market. Windows 95 was technically superior to previous incarnations being designed for 32-bit applications and in most cases removing the necessity for users to often switch back to the old MS-DOS Operating System that was previously so frequently required.

Windows 98 was another popular Operating System that was later superseded by both Windows 98 SE and then Windows ME but to be honest they were only slightly different to the original.

Although many home users wouldn’t have been aware of it, the majority of the Microsoft product team were at this time working on developing the Windows NT Operating System which had always been the version of Windows that business users relied on due primarily to the superior stability and networking performance of this OS offered. Windows NT 4.0 had shipped in August 2006 and then Windows NT 5.0 which was later renamed Windows 2000 appeared in February 2000.

Windows XP was the next major product that Microsoft released and remains the Operating System that the majority of us use to the current day. It released in October 2001 as a combination of the core of Windows 2000 and the user interface and compatibility of Windows 98 (note that I’m ignoring the lame duck Windows ME Operating System) and has been a fantastic success. Although it is undeniable that the software has experienced a number of problems with early compatibility and ongoing security concerns it is certainly the best that Microsoft has to offer at present.

Looking forward, Microsoft plan to release Windows Vista in the second half of 2006 as a replacement for Windows XP and I will be previewing this new version of Windows in a future Click Article.

One of the key factors to the success of Windows has undoubtedly been creating a standard platform so that all software looks and acts in a similar fashion. If you take someone who has been using Windows 95 for the last 10 years and give them Windows XP they will have absolutely no problems using it as it looks and behaves in a almost identical fashion. Perhaps this has been the biggest stumbling block for programs such as Linux which rely on the user changing the way that they use their machine from what they have been accustomed.

Happy birthday Windows!