Of course, you never know where a journey to create a penguin template will take [...]]]> This week we’ve been making paper penguins.  Our reasoning isn’t quite as tenuous as you would imagine; our company mascot is a penguin, we had an hour to kill, and we needed something to put on the Refresh Cartridges blog.

Of course, you never know where a journey to create a penguin template will take you and while looking for a free vector image editing program, Matt fortunately stumbled across the website www.aviary.com.  Aviary is essentially a free online design suite which consists of many powerful tools ranging from a simple audio editor to a variety of fairly sophisticated image/vector editing software.

The applications are all used online rather than being downloaded and installed on to your hard drive.  This offers a number of advantages, most notably the ability to ‘dip in’ quickly and easily, without having to install, and the fact that everything is stored on a central server means you will always be using the most up to date version of the software.

The list of applications currently includes:

Phoenix – A free image editor that handles pretty much anything from basic image retouching to complex effects.  Features include a wide selection of tools, support of layers and 72 helpful tutorials to get you up and running.

Toucan – A colour editor which is ideally used in conjunction with other creations tools in the suite.  Toucan can be used to pick and analyse colour by either colour association rules or by grabbing colours from within existing images.

Peacock – Described by its creators as a ‘visual laboratory’, Peacock is used to generate a whole host of effects and image manipulation tools to make some quite stunning and abstract artwork.

Raven – This tool is used for generating vector artwork, which is used by artists to create images that are fully scalable and suitable for applications such as logos and t-shirt designs.  The intricacies of vector artwork are too deep to explain in one sentence but the bottom line is that rather than every pixel of an image being assigned a colour value, a vector image is saved using descriptions of the lines, curves and shapes making up the image.  This means that if the image has to be radically resized the descriptions of those shapes are just changed proportionally resulting in no loss of image quality.  Due to the restrictions of creating drawings using just shapes and lines, vector images are typically quite simple.

Falcon – This utility is used to capture images and web pages quickly and easily in order to crop, resize and ultimately save them for use in another package.  A similar utility ‘Talon’ on the site allows you to do the same with an complete computer screenshot.

Myna – Use Myna to edit and remix music tracks and audio clips.  The application can be used to trim, loop, stretch and reverse audio clips along with adding fade ins, fade outs and other effects such as pitch change, delay and reverb.
Each of these tools is free to use and comes with at least one tutorial to help newcomers get to grips with how to use the software and what to use each program for.  Each program is free to use and advertising is nonexistent, however users do have the option for upgrading for just over £15 a year.  By paying for a subscription you are given a number of additional features such as unlimited storage of your creations online, the ability to add personalised watermarks to your creations and access to the advanced premium tutorials and forums.

To recap, WordPress (www.wordpress.org) is an open source application which gives home users the ability to quickly and easily create [...]]]> Last week we were looking in to the powerful WordPress editor.  Those that missed my last article can view a copy either at the Herald Express’s website (www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk) or on my own online blog (www.computerarticles.co.uk).

To recap, WordPress (www.wordpress.org) is an open source application which gives home users the ability to quickly and easily create an online blog, a term used to describe a website which provides an ongoing chronicle of information.  After covering the basics last week we’ll now start to uncover the more advanced features that really make WordPress stand out from the crowd.

The term ‘plug-in’ is used to describe a small piece of software written by either the WordPress authors or a third party which provide additional features not found on a standard installation.  If a blogger finds that WordPress doesn’t cater for a particular requirement of his then in many cases a plug-in can be used to extend the functionality of the software quickly and easily.

To give you an idea, I’ve listed a couple of plug-ins that I find particularly useful:

Akismet – You will soon find that your blog gets a lot of spam comments, usually by automated systems trying to advertise male medical products.  Akismet checks comments in your blog against an online database in order to automatically remove any that it deems as looking like spam.

All in One SEO Pack – This provides a number of Search Engine Optimisations in order to make your blog more appealing to search engines such as Google.  Although Search Engine Optimisation is an entire science in itself, this simple plug-in will hopefully help to push you further up the results table.

Google XML Sitemaps – Creates a single file detailing every page on your site.  You can then request that Google download and analyse this file on a regular basis thereby helping them to improve the freshness and visibility of your pages in their search engine.

Sociable – Allows users to automatically add a link to a specific post on their favourite social bookmarking site, for example Facebook, Digg or Twitter.

Statpress – Analyses visitors to your site and allows you to see a number of reports including daily views, pages most visited and search terms used to find your site.  You can even use it to find out more detailed information about your readers such as the Operating Systems they use and their geographic location.

The ability to keep the software up to date it one of the things I admire most about WordPress; once you have performed the initial installation you will be informed whenever you log in to the control panel if a particular plug-in or indeed the entire installation needs updating.  Should you find that any component is out of date then it only takes one click for the appropriate files to be downloaded and installed on your web server automatically.

Such ease of use means that it doesn’t take a lot to ensure that you always have the most up to date version of the software installed as well as providing protection by allowing you to easily install any security patches as and when they are released.

The main thing to remember about energy saving is that [...]]]> After receiving a fairly shocking electricity and gas bill, I have all of a sudden become interested in energy saving; it’s funny how often the most efficient way of making a man listen is through his wallet.

The main thing to remember about energy saving is that it isn’t actually difficult; the challenge comes in identifying how you can best achieve savings and then working out how to implement them. Pretty much all the advice you’ll ever receive when it comes to energy saving is common sense but that said there are some things that you simply wouldn’t usually think of unless they’re suggested.

The rather amusingly entitled report ‘The Ampere Strikes Back’. was recently released by the Energy Saving Trust fund which suggested that by the year 2020, home entertainment and computer technology will account for a massive 45% of all household electricity used. To put it another way, this means that 14 power stations will be required in the UK alone to meet the power demands of ‘gadgets’. This statistic is doubly shocking when it is made apparent that a large proportion of the usage is completely unnecessary. As an example, I’m looking around my living room now and literally everything is on ‘standby’ mode as most modern appliances don’t include an off button. Forgetting to turn appliances off at the wall socket is an easy mistake to make and most people don’t realise that this still uses a relatively large amount of power – some freeview boxes for example use just as much energy in standby mode as when they’re fully powered up.

Fortunately the Energy Saving Trust website (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk) can help you cut back on your energy bills whilst reducing your carbon footprint. The website is split in to the following categories which between them cover pretty much all the straightforward stuff you should know about climate change and how to prevent it:

– Your impact on climate change – This section explains what climate change is, the part humanity is playing and what’s currently being done to help reverse the trend.

– What can I do today – Covers the basics of what you can do right now in order to reduce the amount of energy you use. You are invited to answer a short questionnaire which will establish the most effective ways for your household to save money.

– Energy Saving Products – From checking out the energy rating of your washing machine to choosing a new lightbulb, you’ll find details here on buying an appliance which will minimise your energy use here.

– Home Improvements – The way that your home has been constructed makes a huge difference to its energy efficiency. This section will help you identify what modifications you could make to your house, the potential savings and will give details of any grants you may be eligible for.

– Generate your own energy – This section discusses possibilities such as solar panelling, heat pumps and small wind turbines which could all help you make big savings on your energy bills. This is the most interesting area for me as for a while I’ve been looking in to the possibility of making our house self sufficient when it comes to our electricity.

I’ve always been a big advocate of recycling; pretty much 100% of the waste that we produce at work gets recycled and these two shocking bills have made me think maybe I should be doing more when it comes to conserving power. No one reading this article has an excuse not to visit the Energy Trust website; even if you don’t worry about the environmental impact of your energy usage then change your perspective by considering the money that could be saved by reducing it.

I read your article in Herald Express every week and thought you may be interested to know of the existence of our Computer Club in Marldon, a [...]]]> This week I’ll be publishing a selection of letters that have arrived in my mailbox over the last few days.

I read your article in Herald Express every week and thought you may be interested to know of the existence of our Computer Club in Marldon, a village situated just off the Torbay ring road. We presently have 41 members which we think is excellent since we have only been going for just over 12 months. Our members are mostly elderly who prefer informal, local guidance, rather than attending professional teaching establishments.

We, in fact, provide a service to the community and meet every month in our village hall, and our club is available to people from all areas. Demos are carried out, usually by me, and shown on a large screen using a digital projector. Do have a peep at our website (www.computer-club.org.uk) where you will see our programme.

During our last meeting we had a guest speaker from a local computer manufacturer who spoke for half an hour on wireless communications. Perhaps you would like to come along one evening and talk to us for a few minutes?

Our Committee would be grateful if you could include news of our activities in your column, giving us a small write-up as we welcome new members. We charge £5 annual subscription (31st March – 1st April) and also £1 for each meeting attendance. Queries contact me, Lionel Leek telephone 01803 552868 e-mail lionel@carriagehouse.me.uk

Lionel Leek, Vice Chairman

Marldon Computer Club

This is a great idea that would be suitable for a great many of my readers. It is often commented to me that there are few resources entirely suitable for those who are relatively new to computing – Private lessons cost too much and most college courses usually focus on one particular area rather than covering a broad spectrum. Checking their website I see that their next meeting is 14^th June at 7pm and priced at £1 per attendance I think for many of you it may be worthwhile considering especially for those of you relatively new who wish to network with like minded users. If you decide to attend then you might even be lucky enough to have me as a guest speaker there one evening!

A few weeks ago you wrote an article on how to speed up the windows XP start up; would it be possible for you to email me the relevant information as I have mislaid the article? Thanks for writing such an informative column.

Danny Howell, via E-mail

Unfortunately I am not really able to forward individual articles on to readers due to time restraints however if you check out www.computerarticles.co.uk you will find all of my previous articles available to download online. The site is a little out of date at present but I should be uploading all of my recent articles soon so do keep the site bookmarked!

I have tried to download the FREE things your article specified as they sounded good.

Not free – they want $19.99 for the pop up blocker [...]]]> This week I think I will once again take the time to answer a few readers’ questions:

I have tried to download the FREE things your article specified as they sounded good.

Not free – they want $19.99 for the pop up blocker alone????

Have removed all from computer now, but thought you aught to know, as what you stated was wrong

John, via e-mail

I thought I’d publish this letter exactly as it was received in order to illustrate some of the tactful, well constructed and grammatically correct e-mails that I receive from time to time. Sarcasm aside, I’m assuming this reader is talking about the free Firefox browser I recommended a few weeks back as a viable alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Contrary to what John states above this browser is indeed completely free of charge and available from www.firefox.com so I would suggest that he has a piece of spyware or adware on his computer which is popping up advertising adverts randomly on his computer. When he visited the Firefox site to download the browser this adware exposed him to a pop-up advert which was advertising pop-up stopping software; quite ironic.

I remember around a year ago a customer of my website www.refreshcartridges.co.uk complained to me saying that I was exposing them to hardcore pornographic pop-up adverts whilst they were shopping for cartridges is of course something that I wouldn’t consider doing. It did turn out that they had some rogue software running on their computer in the background exposing them to these images randomly and as you would expect, nothing to do with me.

For those who haven’t already done so (including John), download either Microsoft Anti-Spyware (www.microsoft.com) or SpyBot Search and Destroy (www.security.kolla.de), run it through your computer to remove these rogue programs and then stop asking me the same question over and over again!

I enjoy your helpful articles in the Herald Express and wonder if you can help me with a problem.

I have a friend in London and we both have recently been the victims of hate mail via email to our Hotmail accounts. I have been in touch with the police and have a crime number as well as also trying to contact Hotmail and Microsoft to report the abuse but am ignored. Is there any other way of getting Microsoft to take this problem seriously and close down these accounts?

Wendy, via e-mail.

This is a difficult one to deal with as although one of the greatest things about the Internet is that it is anonymous, this is also the cause of many problems. It would be virtually impossible for the police to track down a physical address for the people sending these e-mails and so unfortunately there is not much that they are able to do. I am quite surprised that Microsoft haven’t taken your problem more seriously however shutting down the offending accounts probably wouldn’t achieve much as they could simply set up another free account and increase their efforts from this new address.

You would probably be better off focusing your efforts on protecting your existing account from these intrusive e-mails than trying to stop the senders themselves and there are several things that can be done to achieve this goal.

The most effective way would be to just change your e-mail address entirely and then to e-mail your friends to notify them of the change – The mail you are receiving is probably indiscriminate and so it is unlikely that the sender would try discovering your new address.

Alternatively if you don’t wish to change your address then there is a junk mail filter in Hotmail that should really be activated as a matter of habit along with more importantly blocking the senders address from your Hotmail account. By doing the latter you will ensure that any messages from the offending address will be instantly deleted and not transferred to your inbox.

I wish you the best of luck dealing with this, Wendy. Do just remember that as I mentioned above this is almost certainly indiscriminate so don’t take it personally but instead just feel sorry for the offender as he clearly has no social life to speak of and instead just a little too much time on his hands.