Aero Shake In Windows 7, when you click on the title bar of any window and shake it every other open window gets minimised [...]]]> I’ve been living with Windows 7 for a good few months now and in that time have discovered a couple of little ‘hidden gems’ which I wanted to share with you:

Aero Shake
In Windows 7, when you click on the title bar of any window and shake it every other open window gets minimised straight back in to your taskbar, reducing clutter on your screen.  This allows you to focus on the one window and then when ready shake it again and the other windows will reappear.

There are additional Aero user interface related features which make a welcome debut.  These include Aero Peek which allows you to immediately see what’s going on in an application just by hovering over the icon in the task bar and Aero Snap which quickly allows you to rearrange your desktop by slamming any open window against the left, right or top side of your screen; try it!

Sticky Notes
Proof, if needed, that some of the simplest applications make the largest differences to the end user experience.  One of the most commonly used applications on my PC used to be the incredibly simple ‘notepad’ as I find that my working life works a lot better if I simplify everything down in to lists.

Rather than jotting notes on random pieces of paper that will almost certainly get lost throughout the day I used to dump everything in notepad and ensure that every line was eventually cleared so I was left with a blank page before I went home.

Sticky notes have a similar application.  To get started click on the start menu and type in ‘sticky’ and begin typing tasks for the day or things to remember in to little post it notes that stick to your screen.  When complete either close or minimise the application to get back to the job in hand, safe in the knowledge that once Sticky Notes are reopened, these tasks will reappear exactly as you left them.  When a task has been completed or the note simply isn’t needed, it can be deleted with one click of the mouse.

Improved Calculator
Windows 7 calculator has improved considerably; now rather than being an arithmetic only affair, it can be operated in four modes – Standard, Scientific, Programmer and Statistical.  It can also perform unit conversion, for example grams to ounces, metres to feet and Celsius to Fahrenheit along with a couple of unexpected features such as the ability to calculate the number of days between two dates or the value of your mortgage repayment.   Surely in the next version of Windows the calculator application will finally gain graphical capabilities.

Windows Disk Image Burner
For some time now the preferred method of copying and storing CD’s and DVD’s has been by using an ISO file; a single image which includes the contents of an entire disk.  Reading these files used to require a specific application (the likes of which I’ve covered previously in Click) but every version of Windows 7 now includes support for these straight out the box; simply double click on the ISO file that you wish to burn, insert a blank CD or DVD and you’re done.

I always know when AVG release a new version of their fantastic free anti-virus software as it usually results in a torrent of abuse being launched towards me by my readership – “you said this software was free and now it’s asking me for money or it’ll stop working.”

Now, I must admit that it is true that whenever a new version of AVG is released and an old version is discontinued, they do try and push users down the route of buying the more advanced package. I don’t blame them for this as everybody needs to make money, however those that actually bother reading the message will see that there is still a free option available. It is this version, AVG 8, which I will be reviewing today.

I have always pitched AVG as being the anti-virus checker that my readers should be using and amazingly the best thing about this application ISN’T the fact that it’s free – In actual fact there are plenty of reasons that you would want to use AVG even if you had to pay for it.

My favourite feature of the application is its non intrusive nature; it silently gets on with it – In my opinion there is nothing worse than a virus checker that gets you too involved and prevents you from getting along with the job in hand. Everything is done in the background so you want have to be involved if you rather understandably don’t want to be; it will update itself and even perform full system scans without you ever realising and then, if it finds a virus it will efficiently dispose of it.

Install and forget is a nice philosophy and beats gigantic boated pieces of software such as Norton Internet Security which prompt you every 15 seconds about problems that you wish it would just work out for itself; I’ve never understood a virus scanner which will actually ask me if I want to remove a virus it has found. In my eyes this is a stupid question – why would I voluntarily keep something that is liable to wipe my hard drive and provide me with months of extra unpaid work?

Version 8 improves on the background scanning of the previous AVG application and provides new and quite possibly overdue Spyware protection, along with a handy LinkScanner feature. The latter is a new component which provides you with a quick graphical evaluation of a sites perceived safety before you visit it whenever you do an Internet search in an engine such as Google. It works by taking the findings of those that use the AVG toolbar by warning you via a small graphical link if a site that appears in your search results is likely to be malicious.

Updates are provided free of charge for the life of the product and of course all the usual features such as e-mail scanning and resident shield are provided and turned on by default.

In terms of installation, the application is a 45.6mb download which can be obtained by visiting http://free.grisoft.com – It is worrying to see such the size has growth significantly from AVG 7.5’s 16mb footprint but this is still much smaller than many other virus checkers on the market. After advice given to me by our resident techie who resides upstairs from Refresh at Switch Computer Support, I would recommend removing AVG 7 before installing version 8 as by all accounts the installation program does sometimes simply ‘forget’ to remove the old version first which can cause problems.

As you can imagine a company such as ours that sells blank media (CD’s, DVD’s etc) does get asked on a daily basis how to go about making a copy of a movie using a home PC. As this is something not yet covered in Click I thought this week I [...]]]>

As you can imagine a company such as ours that sells blank media (CD’s, DVD’s etc) does get asked on a daily basis how to go about making a copy of a movie using a home PC. As this is something not yet covered in Click I thought this week I would write a definitive answer as to hopefully decrease the frequency that this question pops up.

I will of course point out where the law stands on this; you are legally allowed to make a single backup of any copyrighted video that you own for personal purposes only as long as that backup is then kept for your sole use and not rented, lent of given to a third party. To copy a movie for any purpose other than this is very much illegal and something that neither myself nor the Herald Express could condone.

To backup a movie DVD you will need essentially two pieces of software – one to unscramble the movie and then one to actually copy and compress the data on to a blank DVD. The first piece of software removes the encryption that prevents regular utilities from Nero and DVD Creator making the copy and then the second actually does the business of moving the data from disc to disc.

A good application I’ve found for removing the encryption goes by the name of AnyDVD and this can be downloaded by heading to www.slysoft.com. The program is free to try out although if you do like it then you will have to purchase the full version after a period of 21 days. Installation is simple and then the program just sits quietly in the taskbar, removing the copy protection from whatever disk is present in the DVD drive of your machine. AnyDVD also has the additional advantage of being able to remove region protection so that you can watch DVD’s from all around the world on your region locked DVD player.

To actually copy the DVD itself a program such as CloneDVD does the job perfectly. This is available from the same address and like AnyDVD, whilst it is free to download you will have to pay for the full version should you wish to use it outside of the 21 day evaluation period.

Whilst one would assume that once the encryption was removed that copying a DVD is an easy process which any software could accomplish there is one major stumbling block; most pre-recorded DVD’s you buy are Dual Layer and hence twice the capacity of standard Single Layer recordable discs. To get around this CloneDVD is able to strip out any special features of the DVD (such as actor interviews, foreign subtitles and directors’ commentary) and then compress the remaining data so it fits perfectly on to one disc. Like AnyDVD the software is easy to install and since it includes a couple of step by step copying wizards it literally couldn’t be any easier to use.

Whilst I do usually recommend free software in Click I haven’t been able to locate any free utilities that accomplish the above however if anyone out there knows differently then please do let me know. Once again I feel obliged to say that copying a movie for any purpose than making a single backup for your own use is illegal so please don’t even think about it!

One of the reasons which persuaded me to buy my PC four or five years ago was that I wanted in due course to [...]]]> This week I’ll be taking a bit of time to delve into a question recently posted to me by one of my readers:

One of the reasons which persuaded me to buy my PC four or five years ago was that I wanted in due course to transfer some of my large LP record and audio tape collection onto CD.
For various reasons (mainly lack of time, although I have now recently retired), I never got round to doing this, although I have a CD writer and Drive and a programme which enables me to copy to CDs.

Having now retired and (potentially) having more time, I would now like to try and make a start on transferring some of my LP’s and tapes onto CD, but although I have read articles saying how easily it can be done and have seen advertisements for software which “cleans up” vinyl LPs and audio tapes, I do not know what connections I need, still less how to fit them!

I am writing to you therefore to see if you have any experience of this, or whether you know anyone who has and could give me some practical help.

Tony Chidlow.

I will be honest this certainly isn’t my forte although I do understand the basics of what is involved so will at least try to point you in the right direction over the next 400 words.

First off you will need to get the correct equipment for the job – You will obviously first need a record player that then plugs into an amplifier as well as a suitable PC with CD Burner. You’ll also need a lead to connect the two of them together and a company such as Leads Direct (0870 755 7610) should be able to sell you a suitable lead with a 3.5mm jack on one side for the PC then whatever connection your amplifier requires on the other end.

You will also need some recording software so check out Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) for a free and compact sound editor which should do the job perfectly. To be honest this is a very capable piece of sound recording software which many readers will find interesting, not just those looking to transfer their LP’s onto the computer.

Now, it’s time to begin so clean your LP, connect the line out of the amplifier to the line in of the PC install the software given above and then go to the volume control on your PC (down by the clock at the bottom right hand side of the screen) and ensure that the Line In level is turned up sufficiently.

From now on it should simply be a case of going in to the software, start recording from the line in source and then start the LP playing. It may be an idea to record the entire LP in one go and then use Audacity to clean up the one file and then split it up in to the individual tracks which can then be saved in to a suitable high quality .wav file. It is simply now a case of going into your CD burning software, opting to create an audio CD and then drag and drop the tracks you require on to the disc and click the burn button.

This article has of course simply covered the absolute basics and you’ll probably want to look in to the subject in greater detail so do check out www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm for some helpful tips and tricks.

One of my favourite sites on the Internet has to be the online auction page eBay. Over the past year I have seen not only myself but also my friends and family save hundreds of pounds by buying discounted new or used products online and then in turn selling bits [...]]]>

One of my favourite sites on the Internet has to be the online auction page eBay. Over the past year I have seen not only myself but also my friends and family save hundreds of pounds by buying discounted new or used products online and then in turn selling bits and pieces that are no longer need for a reasonable price.

After my article last week on DAB radio I went out and bought a brand new Blaupunkt car stereo off of eBay and saved about £90 or so when compared with the best high street price that I found in Torbay. To my delight the guy had actually accidentally oversold the model that I ordered and as he had ran out of stock he upgraded me to a superior free of charge. This resulted in me obtaining a boxed stereo that would have cost clear of £300 on the high street for £169.99; brilliant!

It was this that got me thinking that it is such a shame there are so many people in Torbay who are terrified to buy off of eBay because of some horror stories that they have read. I do believe that almost everybody could benefit from giving the site a try, whether is it to buy or to sell and fortunately this article just happens to coincide with the fact that eBay are currently offering free sale listings for new users this weekend. Your job for today is to have a think about any items that you want to clear out and once I’ve convinced you to give it a go you should go online and get rid of them!

As far as I am concerned the most important feature of eBay to understand is the feedback system as although anyone should find it easy enough to locate what they are looking for there are unfortunately there are people who will try to rip you off and you need to learn to avoid them.

To take a look at the feedback of a potential supplier simply do a search for a product you are interested in buying and then click on one of the matches to see more information about the item in question. Once you are happy that this is what you were looking for take a look towards the right hand side of this page and you will see the name of the seller and then their feedback rating which is in the form of a numerical value. This value always begins at zero for new users but when two members complete a transaction they have the chance to affect this value; if the other party is happy then they will increase your feedback by one but if they are dissatisfied with the transaction it can be decreased by one and you also return the favour towards them.

As a new user, if you were to go online and agree to buy several products but then didn’t pay for them you are likely to receive several negative feedback reviews which will then deter others from doing business with you or even you being kicked from the system. When you agree to buy something off eBay in an online auction you really should pay! As a seller you can see the feedback of people bidding on your items and you can specify in the item description that you don’t want anybody below a certain feedback rating bidding at all therefore decreasing the chances that they won’t pay.

As stated at the beginning of this article new users are entitled to sell anything on eBay for this weekend and their listings fees will be reimbursed. You may find that as a new user that people may be wary of you so it would be best off starting by advertising several low priced items so that you can build your feedback up a little before you try any bigger sales.

Additional tools such as PayPal will allow auction winners to be able to pay you by Credit or Debit card and of course it will also allow you to pay for goods using your card if you decide to start buying online although you shouldn’t worry as users don’t get to see your card number and they can only take the amount of money that you instruct PayPal to give them.

Plenty of companies have tried to steal their crown but have all ultimately failed since eBay has established itself as the definitive auction site. To be honest there is far too much to cover in this single article but they have a good help section that should teach you everything you need to know to get started – simply visit www.ebay.co.uk and then clicking on the ‘help’ link.

I realise that last month a stated that I would be reviewing sites that would save people money on the run up to Christmas but as one of my readers helpfully pointed out, I had completely neglected to cover the new legislation coming into effect that bans the holding of [...]]]>

I realise that last month a stated that I would be reviewing sites that would save people money on the run up to Christmas but as one of my readers helpfully pointed out, I had completely neglected to cover the new legislation coming into effect that bans the holding of mobile phones whilst driving. Whilst this article is primarily concerned with computing I do like to think that I cover other areas relating to technology in general and of course mobile phones are one of them.

The new law that came into effect at the beginning of the week basically allows the Police to issue on the spot fines of £30 to anybody caught holding a mobile phone and that could rise to £1000 if convicted. This is obviously a fair amount of money and so it makes sense to look at means of complying with this legislation even if not for a financial point of view then of course for a safety point of view.

The main confusion arises from most drivers not knowing exactly what keeps them within the law and what accessories are still legal. Essentially, any piece of equipment that means that you don’t have to physically hold the mobile is legal; so for example, a little earpiece which you could pick up for a couple of quid would be considered legal, a £20 plug and go car kit or of course a £200 fully installed job would all do the trick. If using an earpiece then the mobile does have to be placed in a secure holder and not just placed in your lap!

I did look for a clarification on the Internet as to what exactly happens when the phone rings if you’re not allowed to physically touch it which of course wouldn’t pose a problem in the case of a fully installed car kit but if you had a little in-ear headset then in the majority of instances you’d actually have to touch the phone to answer it. Another point that I don’t understand is that if you had a headset plugged into your phone and it started to ring then you’d have to take your hand of the wheel to fish around trying to find the headset and putting it into your ear. Of course, the alternative would be to keep the headset in your ear throughout the entire journey, whether you are in a conversation or not but I wouldn’t like to drive around all day with the hearing in one ear completely impaired.

There is of course the flip side that suggests that the main risk with using a mobile phone when driving isn’t the physical act of holding it but rather the fact that you’re drawn in to a conversation which distracts you from driving. At first I found this hard to believe as when I’ve had four other people in my car nattering away then I’m not particularly distracted nor am I when listening to the radio but after having tested a fully installed car kit I’ve concluded that this doesn’t seem to be an accurate comparison; I was far more drawn into the conversation I was having on the phone than I would have ever been if the person was in the car with me. Why this is I have no idea but it does seem that conducting a phone conversation took my focus off of driving than having a conversation with someone sat next to me.

Bottom line is that I’m in business and so often need to use my phone in the car and so I’ll be taking the lesser of two evils by getting myself a fully installed car kit next week to keep me legal and I suggest that any of you who often use your phones whilst driving do the same. I don’t believe that any of the other methods are particularly safe, practical or viable so I’d suggest that you either do it properly or pull over to make your calls. With Christmas coming up then what better time to ask for something that could really come in useful; retailers like Carphone Warehouse have full car kits from £60 that you can install yourself.

Whilst I believe that all the details relating to the product pricing and the law are correct I suggest that the information I have given here is for guidance only and should be checked before any action is taken as a result.