100 tech tips by Asiaone
Tech tips 1 to 6 - Everyday Shortcuts
Tech tips 7 to 10 - Kindle
Tech tips 11 to 20 - Internet + Search
Tech tips 21 to 28 - Social networking
Tech tips 29 to 37 - Smart phones
Tech tips 38 to 52: PCs & Projectors
Tech tips 53 to 62 - Software: Mac
Tech tips 63 to 73: Software: Windows 7
Tech tips 74 to 78 - Software: Linux & others
Tech tips 80 to 84 - Games
Tech tips 85 to 100: Digital Imaging
1 Spice up desktop icons
Chuck the boring ones from Windows and download snazzy substitutes from hundreds of sites online.
Royalty-free ones at iconshock.com are a good try. Download a pack you want.
After that, simply click on the icon you want changed, for example, the calculator.
Click Properties, click Change Icon, and Browse for the icon, in this case, in the Download folder where you placed them. Click OK and click Apply.
Make sure you check that the site is genuine; you do not want to download a virus instead.
2 Go tabbing
If you do not know this already, go windowless when browsing. Use tabs instead.
Hit Ctrl T for a new tab (in both Firefox and Internet Explorer). This way, you can have as many Web pages as you want without opening separate windows that clutter the taskbar. Press Ctrl W to close a tab. Hit Shift Ctrl T to reopen the closed tab.
Also, give that mouse hand a rest with keyboard shortcuts for frequently used commands. Hit Ctrl L to jump to the address bar, where you can type in the URL and Ctrl K to get into the Search box (for Firefox).
3 Create a personal letterhead
Put your personal stamp on Word documents by creating a template, say, a personal letterhead.
Go to the Template folder (look under Documents and Settings in the Local Disk, usually the C drive). Click on a template icon (it has an orange bar across the top).
In the Word template or master copy that opens, type in all the personal bits you want.
For instance, name, cellphone number and e-mail at the top right corner of a header and an inspirational message in the footer. Add a visual if you like. There is no end to what you can tweak - from inserting page numbers to formatting a watermark.
Under File, select Save As and name the template, for example, seashell-lttrhd. Next, go back to the template in the Template folder and right-click on it to Create Shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut and paste it on the desktop.
Now, every time you double click on the Word icon on the desktop, your personalised letterhead pops up.
4 Never forget a task - use a sticky
Now that we live our lives in front of the computer, stickies have replaced paper to-do lists.
A useful one is Stickies by Zhorn Software. Download it from www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/. The icon sits on the QuickLaunch bar. Click it once and a yellow window pops up. You can create up to 32 stickies.
Right-click the icon to manage the stickies - save them and lock them so you do not accidentally erase an important reminder list. Right-click to personalise too: tweak it not only for fonts and colour but to sound alarms, for example, to take that vitamin pill.
5 Create desktop Shutdown icon
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and click on New, then Shortcut.
A Create Shortcut window pops up.
In the box, type: 'shutdown -s -t 00'.
Click Next. In the box called 'Type a name for this shortcut', type a brief name or leave the default 'shutdown.exe' alone. Click Finish.
You will see an icon that says shutdown.exe.
Right-click on it, click Properties, choose the Shortcut tab. Click Change Icon and browse through the selections that you see.
Usually, it is a red button.
The next time you power down, it is just one double-click instead of the usual three steps from the Start button.
6 Toggle between programmes
Alt+Tab and Shift+Alt+Tab: For laptop users, this is faster than dealing with fingers and a touchpad to scroll though open programmes.
To alternate quickly between open applications, hit Alt and Tab keys at the same time. A list of icons of all open programmes will be shown.
Holding on to Alt, keep tapping the Tab key to cycle through the open applications. When the one you want is highlighted, let go of both buttons and that program will appear on screen.
By holding Shift+Alt and hitting Tab, the cursor moves backwards instead of forward.
7 Picture viewerUse your Kindle to view photos.
Connect the Kindle to your PC. Click on the Kindle icon and create a folder called "photos". Transfer the photos you want into this folder (common formats like JPEG and Tiff are supported).
On the Kindle, the photos folder will appear in the menu just like a book. Clicking on it will display your pictures.
Use the next page button to go through your photos.
8 Fresh kindling
The Kindle does not just let you read e-books and other digital content from amazon.com. It also lets you view documents written in Microsoft Word or in such formats as HTML, RTF, PDF, GIF, JPEG, PNG and BMP.
All you need to do is to e-mail them to yourname@free.kindle.com after you have registered at www. amazon.com/manageyourkindle. In less than a minute, it promises to send you the converted files via e-mail. You can then transfer them to your Kindle using the USB cable.
TXT documents (and PDFs on the Kindle DX) may be stored directly in the Kindle without conversion.
The Kindle can also read digital books from other sources, including Project Gutenberg's mammoth catalogue of 30,000 free books. Download these books in Mobipocket format in order to transfer them to your Kindle without any conversion.
One million e-books are available from the Google Books website. All are in the public domain (read: free), but are in EPUB format. To make them readable on Kindle, first download the software from Calibre (calibre.kovidgoyal.net) to convert them.
9 Refreshing change
Sometimes, after the Kindle has been turned off for several weeks, there can be a residual "burn-in" effect from the last page you read.
To refresh the screen quickly, just press the menu button twice.
10 Mine sweeper
Press G (after Mine Sweeper has started) and it will take you to GoMoKu, a five-in-a-row game similar to tic-tac-toe.
11 Who put the brakes on?
Sure, you can use BitTorrent to download 10 things at a time but everyone else surfing at home will be crawling.
This is because the upload bandwidth of broadband lines is much smaller than the downstream pipe. For example, StarHub's 100Mbps offers 100Mbps downstream but only 10Mbps upstream.
Bottom line: Take it easy with your torrents.
12 Wired versus wireless
Unless you are practically cuddling up to a Wi-Fi router, it is best to have your home PCs wired up.
Wired Ethernet links are not affected by the signal loss that hits wireless links. If the Wi-Fi link is weak, it can make downloads slow. Even routers with the new Wireless N technology, which promises wired speeds, will be affected.
If your router is positioned such that the wireless signal must pass through several walls to reach your PC, your broadband will not be up to speed.
If you are merely surfing, a webpage may take a fraction of a second longer to load. However, if you download many large files or play online games, you should get hooked up via an Ethernet cable.
13 Kiddy curbs
Parents can use broadband routers to control their children's online access .
To control a PC's access to the Net, log in to the router's Web-based administrative panel (refer to router's manual for more details) to set the times your child can go online and for how long.
Blocking out objectionable websites is possible too. Simply key in the Web addresses to create a "banned list" on the router. Use a password to keep IT-savvy kids from unlocking the curbs.
14 Exclusive search
When you are searching for something, it is sometimes just as useful to indicate what you do not want along with what you want.
To do that, include a minus sign '-' in front of words you do not want to appear in your search results.
For example, "ancient pyramids -egypt" or "nuclear -weapon".
15 The right picture
Finding an image to use on your own website or school project can be tricky. You could be breaching copyright laws.
Go to images.google. com.sg. Then go to Advanced Image Search to narrow down the hunt by searching for images that are safe for reuse or for reuse with modifications. Choose your preferred settings under Usage Rights.
16 Gmail shortcuts
Remembering all of Gmail's many keyboard shortcuts can be a chore. In reality, there is only one easy-to-remember shortcut that you need to know.
First, go to Settings, turn keyboard shortcuts on, save the changes and log out of Gmail. Then log in again, hold down Shift, hit the question mark key and the entire menu of shortcuts will appear.
17 Ctrl your browser
When several tabbed pages are open in Firefox, hit Ctrl+Tab to move to the tab on the right.
Hit Shift+Ctrl+Tab to move to the tab on the left.
Pressing Ctrl+Enter will add .com to a Web address and Shift+Enter will add .net.
To bookmark a site, click Ctrl+D.Websites that you visit once in a while can be tucked away with your bookmarks. As for sites that you want fast access to but do not use all the time - like one for currency exchange rates, open the website, then click and drag the tab to the bar above the tabs to create an icon on the bar. This new icon will give you a one-click access to the site.
To get Firefox to launch really quickly, use the app Firefox Preloader.
It keeps parts of the browser in the PC's memory so that it can load faster when Windows starts up. Download it from sourceforge.net/projects/ ffpreloader.
18 Anti-spam filters
Each time you are asked for your e-mail address, you wonder if it will mean more spam.
Try plus-addressing, which is creating a subsidiary ID to your Gmail address. If your address is user@gmail.com, by adding + and a word before the @ sign, for instance, user+newsletter@gmail.com, you can create as many subsidiary e-mail addresses as you need.
This makes it easy to filter your e-mail. If you use user+newsletter@gmail.com to sign up for online newsletters, you can set up a mail filter to store, archive, label or delete messages sent to this address.
Another way is to insert one or more full stops into your address, for example, u.ser@gmail.com or u.s.e.r@gmail.com. The spam will still arrive in your Inbox but they are easy to spot and can be dumped automatically.
19 YouTube favourites
Browse and save interesting videos to watch at a later time with Quicklist.
Click on the '+' in the bottom-left corner of the chosen YouTube video to save it in your personal Quicklist.
The list will appear on top of any YouTube video page you call up. Watch them one at a time, click 'Play Quicklist' to view all in sequence, or 'Save' to save them as a playlist.
20 Browser in the pocket
Carry your Firefox browser with you - complete with your bookmarks, passwords and add-ons that allow your browser to do more.
Download this takeaway version of Firefox, called Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition, from portableapps.com/apps/ internet/firefox_portable.
This free browser can be installed into a USB flash drive, external hard disk drive or even a microSD memory card. Install it and set it up with add-ons and saved passwords, just as you would with the Firefox browser on your PC.
Plug the USB drive or memory card into a PC and double-click the browser to launch it. The best part of this solution is that no personal data gets left behind in the host PC after you pull out the device.
Talk about a tailor-made solution for surfing at cybercafes and airport lounges.
21 Tweeting on regular phones
There are Twitter applications galore but most of them work on only the smartphones. That is, those phones with complex operating systems such as the Android and iPhone.
Where does that leave the other phone users?
If you have a data plan, you can log on to Web-based Twitter applications. There are many out there, but a good one to try is Tweete at m.tweete.net. It does not require a separate sign-on and you can just use your Twitter user ID and password. The application lets you tweet, retweet and send a direct message easily.
It is even integrated with Twitpic, so you can share pictures easily through one site.
Twitter also has its own mobile website, which is customised for the phone's small screen.
Alternatively, StarHub customers can use MobiTweet to tweet and receive updates via SMS. The service is free and treats these text messages as regular SMS, which means they will be offset against your mobile plan's bundled SMS. For more information on how to set up the service, go to www.starhub.com/mobitweet.
22 Holiday tweets
One of the chief uses of Twitter is to provide up-to-the-minute updates while on the move. But when you are travelling, roaming charges can make it expensive to let your followers know you are "awed by the pyramids in Egypt".
Here are some ways to keep tweeting costs down while overseas:
If you are using your existing phone, tweet via SMS. You can send an SMS to Twitter's number at +44-762-4801423 to update your Twitter page. You will not get any updates on what your friends are posting, though.
It will still cost you, as you will be texting a foreign number while roaming, but it should be cheaper than accessing your Twitter applications or logging on to the Web.
If you are travelling to countries where Twitter has shortcode numbers, get a prepaid SIM card from the local mobile operators with the best SMS plan.
Twitter does not charge you for text messages you send to these numbers but regular text messaging costs apply. Also, some of the shortcode numbers are not supported by all local mobile operators. Do check the list on the Twitter site before travelling, in case of changes.
US: 40404
Canada: 21212
UK: 86444 (Vodafone and O2 customers)
India: 53000 (Bharti Airtel customers)
Indonesia: 89887 (Axis customers)
New Zealand: 8987 (Vodafone and Telecom NZ customers)
23 SMS with Twitter
Twitter lets you post 140 character messages and friends who are "following" you on it can read your updates.
You can also send personal messages to these friends and contacts, who can reply. Such messages are private and cannot be read by anyone else.
Install a Twitter app like Tweetie for the iPhone and Ubertwitter for the BlackBerry. These apps will display a notification on your phone whenever a personal message is received. If both parties have a smartphone and the app installed, it can turn into a surrogate SMS service.
Your phone will light up when a message is received and the other party's phone will do the same when you send a reply over.
As all data is sent via normal data traffic, messages can be exchanged without incurring high costs even when texting overseas.
Granted, you have a 140 letter limit versus the 160 in an SMS, but it is free and unlimited.
24 Expand your Twitter network
Hummingbird (hummingbirdtwitter.com) and Bird Feeder (pacesyssoftware.com/ bird-feeder) automatically increase the number of people you follow - and maybe they will follow you in return.
You can load the dice by selecting Twitter accounts whose followers suit your target demographic. This also avoids irrelevant tweets from them to you.
If you have a similar network on other social media sites, try using HelloTxt (hellotxt.com), Ping.fm (ping.fm) or the home-grown MobJet (mobjet.com).
All three are centralised services that propagate your status update to all your social networks at one go.
25 I scratch your back
Social media is new, crowded and chaotic, with everyone rushing to use it for his own ends. It is not just more blessed to give than receive but absolutely necessary to give first.
Use news aggregators like Streamy (streamy.com) and Netvibes (netvibes.com) or take advantage of Twitter news accounts that automatically distribute content (twitter.com/singapore_news) as the basis for useful blog posts, insightful tweets and meaningful Facebook updates. That may prompt others to respond.
You can also reference content from other social media denizens in your own posts, write an insightful comment on someone else's content and add a link back to yourself. Someone will return the favour, sooner rather than later.
26 Establish a Net rep
Know yourself and know what you want to be known for.
Bloggers like mrbrown who is as famous for his political satire as Xiaxue is for her acid wit maintain the same personality across separate social networks.
Keep your online persona consistent by using the same avatar image, name and pitch on every platform you inhabit.
In this way, a quick Google search will reveal all your social networking profiles on the first two pages, reinforcing your own personal brand.
Cross-pollinate your followers by inviting them to your other social networks. If they like your blog, chances are they will follow you on Twitter and Facebook as well.
27 Create your own social networking hub
If your social networking is spinning out of control, get organised so you can manage and respond to multiple incoming streams of data in real-time to your computer and mobile phone.
Timely responses keep people engaged and loyal. Desktop applications such as TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com) or Orsiso (orsiso.com), which converge and sort all your social network accounts and activities in one place, can help.
Orsiso's learning curve is steep but the payoff is a central hub to manage your social network. TweetDeck is available for the iPhone.
Newer phones running the Android OS such as the HTC Hero and the upcoming Motorola Cliq have interfaces that blend your social network with your phone's contact list.
28 Analyse, analyse, analyse
Measuring returns from a social media campaign is tough.
For businesses, it is hard to show how consumer attitude shifts or behavioural changes are directly linked to any particular social media drive.
But for a short-term gauge, such as the viral chain effect of your messaging, it is possible to use a mix of tools like URL shortening service bit.ly.
This tracks links that are part of your messaging and listening tools, such as Technorati (technorati.com), Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) and Twendz (twendz. waggeneredstrom.com) to suss out the chatter about your campaign on blogs, news sites and Twitter.
29 What song is that?
Heard a great song playing on the radio and want to know what the title is and who sang it?
Use music identification software, which are increasingly common in cellphones, with many of them available free. Handsets have in-built microphones, which make them the natural choice of device for such applications.
Midomi (www.midomi.com) is another popular app. Some phone vendors like Sony Ericsson have created their own versions of this software like TrackID.
For PC or Mac users, turn to Tunatic (www.tunatic.com). But you need to install a microphone first for the software to work.
30 Find your BlackBerry PIN
The identification number is found on every BlackBerry and is unique to each device. For most users, it is a quick way to add contacts to BlackBerry Messenger, the internal instant messaging service.
The PIN allows BlackBerry users to send messages and files.
But few users know their PIN offhand and would have to go to Options>Status>PIN. (Options=spanner icon)
It is far easier to start a new e-mail or SMS and type in 'mypin' in the message field. Hit Enter and the PIN comes up and the message is ready to be sent to another BlackBerry user.
31 Using special characters while typing
The irony is, some of us know how to cough up the acute accent on smartphones but not on a regular keyboard.
That is the - in words like fiancé, which the French called the accent aigu. It is used so frequently in the English language, in food (Nestlé), with celebrities (Michael Bublé) and business (résumé), we never think twice about it.
Sometimes, we can even get off not using it when spelling.
But no, it is not passé to use it. Other languages like Spanish and Italian use the accent as well and it can make an overseas business e-mail all the more polished.
On the iPhone, type out the word you want to spell and for the letter with the accent, hold onto the alphabet on the touchscreen and a selection of special characters will pop up, which you can then select from.
For the BlackBerry, type in the letter and, while holding the button on the Qwerty keyboard down, scroll up and down using the scroll wheel until the special character you need shows up.
32 Useful widgets
Customise your widgets on the Home screen by pressing 'Options', then 'Edit Content'.
Choose from the list of installed widgets or head to Ovi Store to download many useful ones like The Straits Times widget for breaking news, or the iGV widget to get the latest movie listings and showtimes.
33 Backup Android contacts
The coolest thing about Android phones is that you now need to maintain only a single database for both your Google Contacts and Android phone.
The phone follows whatever is in your Google Contacts. So if you switch to a new Android phone, just key-in your Gmail address and password and the phone will synch all your contacts over the air.
The danger: If Google's servers crash or you accidentally delete your Google Contacts, they are gone forever. The smart thing to do is to backup your contacts.
Go to Google Contacts in your Gmail and choose 'Export' at the top right hand corner. Select Everyone and export to Google CSV format.
34 Never delete an SMS again
Install an app called SMS Backup on your Android phone and you will never have to worry about running out of space to store all your sent and received SMS messages on your phone.
Whenever you send or receive an SMS, a copy of it is automatically saved to your Gmail account. The SMS messages are grouped as threads and linked to your contact list.
So when I open up a friend's profile in my phone contact list, I see his phone numbers, e-mail addresses as well as all the SMS messages that have been exchanged between us since I bought my Android phone last month.
You can get SMS Backup free from the Android Market service on your phone.
35 Don't get lost
You are waiting for a friend in a park at East Coast with no landmarks that you recognise.
With the Maps app, you can lead your friend to you.
Open the app, tap the circle at the bottom left hand corner and the iPhone will put your location on a map as a pulsing blue dot.
Touch the dot and a dialog box pops up with an address. Tap on the blue arrow in the box and it will direct you to a page that lets you 'Share Location' by e-mail or SMS, then sends your friend a link to Maps so that he can find you.
If he does not have an iPhone, send your location by e-mail. He can locate you using Google Maps. The Google Maps link can be accessed by any ordinary Web browser on a smartphone or laptop.
36 Watch your data usage
So you love using your iPhone to surf the Net, watch Youtube and check your e-mail. But exceed your data plan limits and it will cost you.
To track your usage, download SingTel Data Usage or iBBOM from the App Store. Both apps are free and will tell you what you have used and what is left in the bank.
37 Punctuate quickly
The iPhone's virtual keyboard is tiny, with a four-row Qwerty display that offers no numbers or punctuation marks. To type a number or a semicolon, you have to call up another virtual keyboard by touching the "?123" softkey at the bottom left corner.
Most users then go on to touch the desired punctuation mark in the alternate keyboard, then touch the bottom left softkey again to return to Qwerty.
What a tedious way to add a comma. Here is a trick. When you touch the bottom left key, do not release it but slide your finger over to the comma or semicolon to select. Then as soon as your finger breaks contact, the keyboard reverts immediately to Qwerty.
38 Cool way to rescue a hard drive
When you keep getting an error message that your hard disk drive has failed or has an error reading, you do not necessarily need to break the bank to retrieve lost data.
First, try the deep freeze trick. Strange but true.
Remove the hard disk drive from the system and put it in a Ziploc bag, the kind meant for freezer use. To minimise condensation, chuck in some dessicant - those tiny packets of small beads like the kind often found in bottles of vitamins and other supplements - and wrap the drive in paper towel or something absorbent.
Seal the bag securely and put the hard drive into the freezer for four to five hours.
Set up your system so that it is ready to go as soon as the frozen hard drive is plugged in.
Before you try to reboot, ensure that you have enough backup storage available to quickly copy or back up the data.
This method shakes the system awake and may recover "lost" files.
39 Rate your PC
You may have just bought the coolest looking laptop in the world but it is what is inside that really matters.
Question is: How do you compare the performance of one machine against another when there are so many different components within a PC?
If you are on Windows Vista or Windows 7, use the built-in Windows Experience Index to rate your PC.
The program scans the PC's innards - processor, RAM, graphics card and hard disk - and gives a score to each of these parts. Within these parts, there are five sub-scores: one for each of the parts except for the graphics card, which has two.
The software then tallies the points for the sub-scores and assigns the final number based on the lowest of the five sub-scores.
On Vista, the scores range from 1.0 to 5.9 but on Windows 7, this goes up to 7.9.
Here is how to run the index scan: Go to Start, then Computer. On the row of tabs at the top of the screen, click on System Properties. You will now see a page that details the different parts of your system.
Look for the index score. If there is no score, it means you need to run a scan to get the score. If you want even more granular benchmarks, you can try PC Vantage and 3DMark Vantage (both have free basic versions) at www.futuremark.com.
40 Do away with the bird's nest
Before you start building that computer, think about how you will wire up.
Many first-timers end up with a PC that works but is a bird's nest of wires inside.
The problem goes beyond looks. A cluttered interior restricts airflow, creating a hot zone inside your PC that will resist the fastest fan.
By tidying up your wires, you make your case look good and also allow cool air to flow through it. This means your components run cooler.
Before installing the components, work out where to hide the cables.
Nowadays, casings often come with holes in the motherboard tray for running cables at the back of a chassis instead of over the components. Every case can be tidied up.
Get advice at www.xtremesystems.org, a hub for hardcore builders, or head to www.million-dollar-pc.com for ideas from the best-looking DIY PCs.
41 Clear the clutter
If it has been months since you dumped your temporary files or cleared your Recycle Bin, this clutter can slow your system.
Use Disk Cleanup, a utility included with Windows Vista and Windows 7, to perform some spring cleaning. It can be executed by a command line with pre-configured settings.
Open a Command Line by pressing the Windows + R keys on your keyboard. Type in "CMD", then press OK.
When prompted, type in "cleanmgr /sageset:1" and hit Enter.
When the dialogue box appears, check what needs clearing: Temporary Internet Files; Recycle Bin; Temporary Files.
Then click OK. Windows will set a registry key to remember these settings. To invoke Disk Cleanup, issue the command "cleanmgr /sagerun:1".
42 Condition your laptop battery
If your laptop is always plugged into the power socket, you will need to condition the battery every two to three weeks to maintain its capacity.
To do this, unplug the charger and let the battery drain completely and the machine go into sleep mode before recharging it again.
43 Virtual machines
They are no mirage. They let you run multiple operating systems on your PC.
VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org), an open source virtualisation software, lets you install Linux on Windows, and Windows and Linux on Mac OS X. You can also use it to run Windows XP applications in Windows 7 if XP Mode does not work for you.
44 Say good riddance forever
Hitting delete and emptying your Recycle Bin does not get rid of files completely.
If this is how you cleared the files on your computer before selling it or trading it in, you could be in for a nasty surprise.
The next user can easily access your hard drive and restore all your files, including those containing personal and financial information, identity details and passwords.
There is an underground economy prepared to pay handsomely for such data.
The good news is that there are many products, some of them free, available to make sure your dumped data stays out of criminal hands.
Windows users can look to Eraser at http://eraser.heidi.ie (Mac users already have Secure Empty Trash from OS 10.3 version). If you are private to the point of paranoia, check out Permanent Eraser: http://www.edenwaith.com/products/permanent%20eraser/.
45 Hook them up
You do not need to transfer images from the digital camera to a computer and then use a projector to beam those images onto a big screen.
Pair your digital camera with a projector instead.
Use the cable that has the camera connecter at one end and an RCA video connector at the other end to hook the devices up.
Now, you are set to view your photos on the big screen.
46 Cinema in bed
If you have a pico projector, let the pocket-sized, battery-operated gizmo turn you into a lounge lizard.
Turn on the machine, point it to the ceiling and watch your favourite movies in bed.
Bliss.
47 Beating the blues
That dreaded Blue Screen of Death that causes everything to freeze can be avoided. It just takes planning and patience.
The blue screen usually signals hardware failure. It could also be that you are using incompatible device drivers. Or simply that your system components are overstressed.
Keeping your system clean is one way to avoid the blues.
Here is a rule: Remove any dust or build-up of dirt and grime. They make the fans work too hard to cool your computer. Heat kills hardware, so make sure your system runs as coolly as possible.
If the problem is a faulty or incompatible driver, use System Restore to return to before you installed that driver.
48 Taming the USB
So you plug in a perfectly functional USB device and it does not show up on your PC.
This could be due to a conflict of the drive letters that your PC assigns to USB devices.
Unplug the USB, disconnect any one of your network drives and then re-insert the USB device.
If this solves the problem, you can stop it from happening again by assigning drive letters manually. This will prevent Windows from assigning conflicting drive letters to the device.
Simply click Start, right-click My Computer and select Manage from the drop-down list. A Computer Management window will open. Go to Disk Management under Storage and find the USB device that was assigned the conflicting drive letter, right-click and select Change Drive Letter and Paths, then click the Change button and select a drive letter that does not conflict with other drives.
49 The essential tool
A good strong screwdriver is a must for anyone wanting to build his own PC.
Unless you have an expensive case with fancy bolt-down catches to keep your graphics card or hard disk in place, you will need that low-tech tool to help you secure your components to the chassis.
It should have a stem of decent thickness and a comfortable handle large enough to make it easy to screw down or release a hard drive.
Using a cheap thin tool wastes effort because it provides inadequate leverage.
50 Don't let mother down
Make sure you keep the motherboard from warping.
Over-enthusiastic newbies who build their own PCs often over-tighten the heatsink mounted over the CPU, in an attempt to improve contact between the two, so that heat dissipates faster.
But this may lead to a warped motherboard, especially if you use a heavy aftermarket heatsink instead of the one that comes with your chip.
The heatsink's weight, coupled with extreme pressure applied over it, ends up bearing down on the fragile motherboard and can damage it over time.
Check for warping by inspecting it from the side. If there is a problem, ease up on the mounting.
51 Give it a test run
Want to put together a PC? Test with a barebones setup first. If you have not already done it at the shop, boot up your PC with the bare minimum of components plugged in.
Position your CPU on the motherboard, slot in the RAM and graphics cards (if you are not using an integrated graphics chip on the motherboard) and power up. Do not forget to hook up the power supply unit to the motherboard.
Next, look up the cluster of front panel connectors on your motherboard and locate the two pins used to power on your PC (check your manual).
Touch both pins with a screwdriver. This should jumpstart the PC. Check that the CPU fan is spinning and that the monitor connected to your graphics card is showing the right amount of memory.
If everything checks out, shut down and install the rest of the components.
52 Ready, set, troubleshoot
If your barebones system has trouble booting up, try the usual suspects.
Some motherboards have LED panels that highlight the problem, such as the lack of a memory module. Others beep several times to hint at the problem.
If the PC does power on but quits almost immediately, check that your CPU fan is linked to the correct connector. This precaution ensures the CPU does not overheat.
If the PC lets out a loud sharp shriek, check that the graphics card has been connected to the power supply.
But what if nothing happens?
You will need to make sure nothing is shorting the motherboard, for instance, that the bottom of the board is not in contact with a metal surface on the chassis.
Also, check that your CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) setting on the motherboard is set to normal (instead of "reset" or "clear").
If that does not work, remount the CPU.
53 Windows in OS X
To run Windows XP, Vista or the latest Windows 7 applications on a Mac, simply install the free virtualisation software developed by Sun Microsystems: VirtualBox for OS X hosts (Intel-based Macs only). It can be downloaded from www.virtualbox.org/ wiki/Downloads.
The trick is to also install Guest Additions so that you can navigate seamlessly from the Windows screen to the Mac desktop using a mouse. There is also better support for screen resolutions and folder-sharing.
After installing VirtualBox in a Mac and loading it with your choice of Windows operating system, go to Chapter 4 of the included VirtualBox manual and follow the instructions for installing Guest Additions.
You mount the ISO file so that it appears like another CD/DVD-ROM drive in your Windows OS.
The VirtualBox Guest Additions installation will start automatically.
54 Access BootCamp directly from desktop
BootCamp now comes with Snow Leopard. If you hate powering down Snow Leopard to power up BootCamp to access your Windows XP partition, here is your answer.
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac virtualisation software works much like VirtualBox (see tip 53).
The key difference is that it makes your BootCamp partition accessible from your Snow Leopard desktop.
After using it, I find it well worth its price of $129.
55 Connect to your office VPN
It is easy to set Snow Leopard to connect to your office VPN (virtual private network).
In System Preferences, click the Network icon under Internet & Wireless. Above the padlock icon at the bottom left corner of the dialogue box, click on the '+' button.
In the pop-up menu, select VPN, type in an optional Service Name for this connection and click Create.
To facilitate activation of the connection, enable Show AirPort status in the menu bar.
If you need to access the VPN, simply click Connect VPN on the top menu bar.
56 Copying and pasting
The copy-and-paste function in Mac OS X used to work with only text. You could copy an extract from a document or e-mail and paste it into another document or e-mail.
Now, you can use this function for entire files.
This is really useful when you want to send an attachment without having to navigate a very small window to scour endless folders for the right file.
You just need to locate the file from within the Finder, select it and copy it using the keyboard shortcut. Then, paste the file into Mail using the appropriate keyboard shortcut.
57 Get the picture?
The size of a new passport photo has to be 400 x 514 pixels, with a file size of no more than 60KB. Easy enough to achieve with Photoshop software but the humble Preview app in OS X will also do the job.
Open the image with Preview and crop it to the right dimensions.
For the final adjustment, go to Tools, Adjust Size and specify the size in pixels. Then, go to File, Save As and slide the Quality slider until the file size is correct.
You can also use Preview to annotate or add text to photographs or PDF documents. Just select Annotations in the Tools drop-down menu box.
58 More drive for old Macs
Remember when a 160GB hard disk was standard in a laptop? Well, 250GB is now considered the minimum and 500GB the ideal. Next year, it will be 1TB.
However, you may not need to buy a new MacBook Pro. Just upgrade the hard disk. Specifics, like placement of the hard disk and access to it, vary from model to model but the procedure is the same.
Remove the bottom cover and battery pack to get to the drive.
Disconnect the hard drive cable. Note that there are thermal sensors connected to it. Free the sensors from the body of the drive.
Remove the retaining brackets and disconnect the drive.
Unscrew the mounting bolts, fix these to the new drive and install the new drive.
When installed, you can do a free Mac OS X installation by inserting the original setup disk.
Then mount the old drive in an external drive enclosure, making it an external drive.
Use Migration Assist (found in the Utilities folder under Applications) to migrate your applications, user data and preferences to the new drive.
59 Tricks in System Preferences
With Snow Leopard installed in your old Mac notebook - just make sure it is running on Intel chips - you can use the newer three- and four-finger multi-touch gestures on the trackpads.
Swipe four fingers from left to right on the track pad and it brings up all the apps you have opened. Swipe upwards to close them.
Automatic time zone setting: Even if you are jet lagged, this big kitty will not be. Core Location technology will seek out Wi-Fi hotspots to set the time zone. You may not know it is Tuesday and you are in Belgium, but your Mac will.
Screensaver: Flag your photos in iPhoto, for example, of your latest holiday in Nepal. Call it "Nepal holiday".
Then go to Systems Preferences and click on Desktop and Screensaver. Under photo albums, Nepal holiday will appear. Click on it and you will have a screensaver that is a slideshow of your Nepal trip.
60 Talking pages
Use the Mac's VoiceOver utility to read a Web page even with your eyes closed. Search for VoiceOver Utility under Spotlight and it will begin reading as soon as a page is loaded. You can speed up or slow down, pause or stop and navigate the page yourself.
The trackpad's surface mirrors the active window. So you can skip to any part of the window or desktop by simply touching the pad, guided by voice prompts.
VoiceOver also lets you navigate HTML-based tables with the same commands you use to navigate other elements on the page.
To access the Spotlight search function, click the Spotlight icon in the upper-right corner of your screen (or use Command Space Bar) and type what you are looking for in the resulting field, or type your search criteria in the search field in any Finder, System Preferences or application window.
61 Chinese via trackpad
Mac OS X Snow Leopard lets you use a multi-touch trackpad to write Chinese characters in your documents.
On screen, the characters show up in a new window that suggests characters based on your input, so you can choose the right one. This input window even suggests subsequent characters based on what you choose.
The Pinyin Chinese input method has been redesigned with such features as an enhanced dictionary and a new data processing engine, so it is easier than ever to construct sentences in Chinese.
62 Microsoft Exchange on Mac OS X
You can use Mail, iCal, and Address Book instead of Outlook to access e-mail, calendar invitations and Global Address Lists on Microsoft Exchange. Set it up with Exchange Autodiscovery.
If your IT department has enabled this feature, simply open the Accounts panel in Mail, enter your Exchange user name and password and check the box to set up other applications automatically.
Mail then grabs the information it needs from the server and configures your settings.
Exchange server settings, remote setup and access to Exchange can also be configured through most VPN connections.
Mail lets you access and manage your Exchange e-mail alongside your personal e-mail.
Compose a message and Mail will auto-complete names from the Global Address List. You can create notes and to-do items and receive and deal with event invitations in e-mail. It also lets you search across all your accounts at once using Spotlight.
Create Smart Folders to sort mail messages by customised criteria such as messages from your boss or those with "To Do" in the subject.
Quick Look lets you preview attachments without opening them. Data detectors pick out important bits of information in e-mail messages, such as dates, phone numbers and addresses, so you can act on them in one click.
63 Power saving
The power management settings in Windows 7 not only let you tweak your PC's performance and the brightness of its screen - be it running on the battery or power mains - but also run a report on how efficiently your computer is operating.
Better knowledge of your machine's power consumption allows you to devise ways to extend its battery life.
Click Start and type 'cmd'. Right-click the menu item and click 'Run as Administrator'.
Next, type in 'powercfg 'energy'. A file called energy-report.html will be created with details of your device's power usage.
Software: Windows 7
64 Gadgets galore
In Windows 7, you can enhance your desktop with mini-apps called gadgets.
Simply right-click on the desktop and select Gadgets. In the new pop-up window, click 'Get more gadgets online' at the bottom right-hand side of the window.
As of this month, there are more than 3,600 gadgets available. Popular ones include Full Moon, AccuWeather and Wireless Network Meter, which shows wireless signal strength, download speeds and total usage.
65 Make Windows 7 key work harder
In Windows 7, the Windows key has even more functions.
Pressit together with the left or right arrow key to automatically resize the current window to fully occupy the left or right half of the computer screen.
Or press the Windows key and the down arrow to minimise an open window.
Press the Windows key together with the up arrow to get the window to fill up the whole screen.
66 Make the monitor look better
Windows 7 now comes with a new monitor calibration tool.
This is good news for those who edit many digital photos on screen. There is no need to install screen calibration software such as Calibrize or buy a costly monitor calibrator.
To initiate screen calibration, click on the Start button, Control Panel and then the Display icon. There, you will see the Calibrate Color button. Click on it and follow the instructions to adjust the brightness, contrast and colour balance of your monitor.
Take your time to tweak until you find it comfortable to look at the screen and experience no eye strain.
67 Not lost in translation
Some older Windows XP applications do not work in Windows 7.
To get around this, install the Windows XP Mode software from www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/ download.aspx.
This creates a virtual copy of the older software to make the XP applications work. However, your hardware must be compatible. A link on that page lets you download a tool to check if your computer's processor will allow this.
68 Extend your monitor
If the graphics card in your PC supports two display outputs, you can connect the same PC to two monitors or to a projector and a monitor.
This 'extends' your desktop so that you can now move applications and browser windows between the two screens.
So you can be giving a PowerPoint presentation on, say, the big screen, while checking on the latest soccer results on the second screen - and still use only one PC.
If your PC is running on Windows 7, you can extend your desktop easily too.
Press the Windows key on the keyboard together with the left or right arrow key, depending on which screen you want your visuals to be shown.
69 New system restore
With earlier Windows operating systems, you cannot tell which application or driver was deleted or what unwanted application was put in when you use System Restore, a tool that rolls back the system to a previous state before a glitch or fault occurred.
With Windows 7, all will be revealed. This tool will list all the programs and drivers that are affected at a restore date.
Right-click on Computer and select Properties, System Protection, System Restore and Next.
Then, select the restore point or date. Click Scan and the tool will reveal the programs and drivers that would have been deleted or recovered at a particular restore point.
70 Multiple projections
Have you ever taken a laptop to a business meeting and then spent a long time trying to connect the laptop to a projector?
All the wires are connected but you cannot remember which buttons to push to enable a simultaneous display on the screen and your laptop.
With Windows 7, it is a simple case of hitting the Windows+P button. A pop-up then displays the four options you will need.
The first is the default laptop display. The second mirrors the laptop display on the projector. The third extends the laptop view to the projector while the last one displays the view solely on the projector.
71 Taskbar shortcuts
Keyboard fans can navigate the new Taskbar as easy as 1, 2, 3.
The new Taskbar allows users to lock icons of oft-used programs on it. To open the programs, hit the Windows button and the number denoting the icon's position on the Taskbar.
So, if you have Internet Explorer (IE), Word and iTunes on the Taskbar, hit Windows+1 to get to IE, Windows+2 to get to Word and so on. Hitting Windows+T brings up a thumbnail preview of all the open windows.
72 Web searches from Start
To perform Internet searches in Windows 7, go to the Start Menu and enter 'gpedit.msc' in the Start Menu search box to access the Group Policy Editor.
Then double-click on User Configuration in the right pane and select Administrative Templates, followed by Start Menu and Taskbar.
In the list of settings, double-click and enable 'Add Search Internet link to Start Menu'.
73 Problem recorder
If you have problems installing or uninstalling software or removing a virus, here is an additional tool.
The Problem Steps Recorder documents all the steps performed on the computer and creates a zip file so that every detail can be shared and studied.
You can then send the file to those helping you so that they can investigate every action you took and correct your missteps.
Click Start and type in 'psr.exe', press Record to start the process and end the recording before creating the zip file.
74 Misbehaving apps
Ubuntu Linux is generally stable but, at times, some applications just refuse to budge. Right-click on your desktop panel and choose Add to Panel.
In the list of applications, select Force Quit to add a button to your panel to shut down misbehaving applications.
75 Log in automatically
By default, Ubuntu Linux requires you to log in using a password. If you are the only user of a PC and wish to avoid the hassle, enable auto-login by going to System>Administration> Login Window.
Then go to the Security tab, check Enable Automatic Login and choose a user name.
76 Remove start-up programs
Ubuntu Linux can take a while to start up. To speed things up, remove start-up programs that are not needed.
Launch Sessions under Preferences. Some candidates for removal include Bluetooth manager and Print Queue Applet.
Others
77 Zune-like Omnia
If you own a Samsung Omnia II and cringe at having to wait ages for the screen to load, whether you are checking on the weather or stock updates, do away with its TouchWiz II interface.
Switch to Microsoft's new Zune-like system instead.
Click on the centre Cube button, then click on the Settings icon. Next, click on the Display and Light settings and Items in Today. Scroll up till you see the Samsung WidgetPlus item.
Uncheck this and check the Windows Default item. Click OK (the button at the top right).
Now, on the Today screen, you will see the new interface.
78 Write in a new Gmail window
In Gmail, you can compose an e-mail message without moving away from the e-mail message you are currently reading.
Clicking Compose means you have to leave the current message you are reading.
So to get another window open to write your e-mail message, hold down Shift C while clicking on Compose.
A new window will open and you can start writing a new e-mail.
79 Solve screen tearing with VsyncOnce in a while, you might encounter graphical glitches like screen tearing, where the edges of objects fail to line up in a game.
This happens when a newly rendered frame is overlaid on top of an old frame without synching with the monitor's refresh rate.
Solving this problem is easy as most games allow you to turn on the graphics option, Vsync.
This forces your video card to stop refreshing the screen until the monitor has finished its current refresh cycle. If the option is not available in the game, most graphic cards come with software that allows you to set this option manually.
One typical scenario where screen tearing occurs is when you play old games on a new PC, where your graphic card updates so often it far exceeds the monitor's refresh rate (typically 60Hz).
For new games, which demand graphics card power, turn on Vsync only if you are experiencing screen tearing. Otherwise, do not touch this option because it will slow down the PC, causing the frame rate to drop.
80 Decrease ping time
You do not want to die because of a lag spike while playing an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) or a shooter on the Internet. The frustration alone will kill you.
This is usually a technical problem that has nothing to do with gaming skill. Often, the issue resides in the ISP and its connection to the game servers, which are typically hosted in the United States.
If you are unsure of your home network latency or speed, do a ping (to check if a server is alive) or a traceroute (typically to check the path the PC takes to a particular server, so that you can fix the problem at the source).
One of the best resources for this is DSLreports (www.dslreports.com), a collection of free networking tools that diagnose network problems.
Otherwise, scour Internet forums for a software mod or hack - this will likely be available for popular games - that might help with your latency problems.
Each game-specific mod does this by streamlining the network data that is sent to the game server. Warning: there is less lag but you get fewer updates or the game might crash. So, back up first before you try the mods.
81 Tweak frame rates
Many of today's new games tax the graphics card's power. If you find the frame rate stuttering to a point which irritates you, tweak the graphic options.
These include anti-aliasing, shadow and water effects, as these are options that can gobble up a lot of the graphics card's processing power.
Changing options like resolution and draw distance will often bump up the frame rate quite a bit but visual performance will be noticeably impaired.
Other options like antisotropic filtering - where textures are preserved on angled surfaces - are handled well by modern graphics cards, so changing this option may result in performance rev-ups.
Many of the graphic options are dependent on the particular game, so experiment to see what works. Many games - especially shooters - come with tools that monitor frame rate, so use this to decide how to tweak your graphic options.
82 If you have it, flash it
Bigger may be better when you play Flash-based Web games such as Bejeweled Blitz or Raiden X.
Try installing the plugin Flash Game Maximizer (current version 1.3.6) for the Firefox browser from Mozilla's add-on site at https://addons. mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/ addon/9631.
Then, restart Firefox and look for a blue G icon at the bottom right corner. Click on it to play a Flash game or for content minus ads and other clutter.
83 Get that game shot
When you have achieved something cool in a game, share it using the Print Screen button on your keyboard (usually next to Scroll Lock).
While still in the game, hold down Alt and hit Print Screen to capture your game screen and store it temporarily on Windows' clipboard.
To save it, access Paint in Windows (Start>All Programs>Accessories>Paint) to paste and save the screenshot.
Warning: Print Screen saves one screenshot at a time. So if you hit Print Screen more than once, it saves only the latest screen.
This works only for certain games. Otherwise, try applications such as SnagIt (download at www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp).
84 Install Xbox 360 games on hard drive
Can you hear the game disc spinning noisily on your Xbox 360?
Or does the screen take forever to load especially when you play titles in the role-playing genre?
The problem: there are tons of data like game stages, character models and location details to be read in such games.
The console must constantly spin the game disc to get all that information each time you play.
The solution: Park the data in the hard drive.
First, do a check. Go to the System Settings menu and check the memory available on your hard drive. You may need to delete existing game data if you are out of space - just follow the onscreen instructions to do so.
Next, load the game disc. The game logo will appear in the My Xbox section onscreen. But do not launch the game yet - you want the data installed in the hard drive first before you begin to play.
Instead, press the Y button on your controller to open the Game Details.
A new list of options appear: simply scroll down and highlight the Install To Hard Drive option, then press the A button. Have a cuppa as this step will take a few minutes.
Once the game information is on the hard drive, you will still need to insert the game disc to start playing. But all game data will be read off the hard drive from now on, so say goodbye to the noise.
85 Restricted viewing only
Share your photos on the Internet with friends while keeping strangers out.
Use Picasa, a Google freeware. It organises the photos in your PC and uploads them to the Net.
Once installed, Picasa scans your PC and displays all the photos stored inside. Look in the folder which has the photos you want to share.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the photos to select them.
Next, click the Upload button at the bottom of the Picasa window. Under "Visibility for this album", choose the button for "Sign-in required to view".
Hit the Upload button. An Upload Manager window will show the upload progress.
Once the photos are uploaded, click the View Online button.
The Web album will be launched. Click the Share icon. In the To box, type in the e-mail addresses - separated by commas - of the people you want to share the photos with.
Click the Send E-Mail button.
Your friends will receive an e-mail with a link - View Album. It will take them to your album if they are already logged on to Gmail.
Only the people you invite will be able to view the album.
Friends that you invite without a Google account will receive a link in their e-mail to create an account for themselves.
86 Take it outside
For the best portrait results of your sweetheart, follow these tips especially if yours is a point-and-shoot camera.
Shoot outdoors - there is more light which small cameras need.
Dress plain - tell your subject to wear something in a solid colour, light or dark does not matter. Avoid busy patterns like polka dots as they are distracting.
Pick the right time - the best is when the sun sends out its most gentle rays, say, between 7 and 9am or 4 and 6pm.
Use the portrait or aperture modes - these settings tell the camera to blur everything else but your subject.
Zoom to the max - do this for a 3x optical zoom snapper. For a 5x zoom camera, use at least the middle of the range. Use the full zoom if you can stand far enough from your subject.
The proportion of the face looks more natural when the lens is zoomed. Professionals will usually shoot with a 100mm lens or longer.
Also, people will be more relaxed when the camera is farther away.
Force the flash on - the burst of light will add more sparkle to the subject's eyes and let her stand out from the scenery.
87 Power squeezing
You are down to the last bar of battery life but, oops, you have left the spare battery at home.
Eke out the last bits of life from the dying camera.
First, change the settings.
Crank the LCD down to its dimmest if your camera does not allow the display to be shut off.
Stop the review function, which gets the camera to display the shot after you have snapped it.
Under Settings, look for Auto Review or Image Display. Cut the duration to zero or the shortest available time.
Finally, turn off the flash.
Now, the energy-saving shooting tips.
Power up the camera only when your subjects are seated and ready to smile. Also, zoom sparingly - walk closer to your subject instead.
Do not use the autofocus willy nilly. Press the shutter button halfway down to focus only when you are satisfied with the composition.
Resist showing off your photos and deleting botched shots. Finally, that spare battery - do not leave home without it.
88 Use camera as copier
It is easy peasy.
Place the magazine as flat as you can on the table. To take in the whole page of a newspaper, place it on the floor.
Set the lens at the middle of the zoom range. This will move the lens away from the wide angle which carries some distortion.
Hold the camera above the centre of the page and as flat as possible.
Turn on the macro mode (the flower symbol).
Kill the flash. It will over expose the page, making some parts so bright that the text will be impossible to read.
The fussy will point out that a flatbed scanner will give more detailed results with less distortion. True, but by the time the PC boots up and the scanner is ready, you would have long finished the job with your compact.
Also, most home scanners can only take a maximum size of an A4 page.
But even an old 6-megapixel compact can take in an entire broadsheet double spread - bump the zoom up of your viewer to 100 per cent to read the page.
89 Create a card
Make a family greeting card using PowerPoint.
Open a new presentation. In Page Setup, choose Custom for the size and choose 48cm (width) and 32cm (height). Insert a family photo with an uncluttered background.
Do not panic if the photo is so large that it fills the screen. Right-click on the photo, choose Format Picture, Size and change the height and width to 30 per cent. Click OK.
Click and drag the photo to move it. Now, fine-tune its size by clicking and dragging any corner so that the image fills the slide.
For the greetings, create a text box and type in a message. Change the font and size to your liking.
Click the Slide Show mode to see how your card will look and save it.
Here is an important step: convert your card to a JPEG file to preserve the quality. Under File, choose Save As and choose JPEG.
Load the file into a USB flash drive and take it to the nearest photo lab for printing.
Ask for 4R matte prints which will not smudge as easily as glossies when you write your salutations and personal notes on them.
90 Stop, don't delete
Some pictures may look terrible on that tiny LCD screen, but resist deleting them from your camera, not until you have viewed them on a desktop or laptop and can easily fish them out of the Recycle bin.
Oops. Too late?
Not if you immediately switch off the camera and extract the memory card. If you are quick enough, you can stop the camera from overwriting the space which was occupied by the accidentally deleted image and save the image.
If not, there is still a chance you can get it back. Apart from commercial data recovery services, there are free programs to help you.
Among the most popular freebies are Recuva (www.piriform.com/recuva) and PC Inspector Smart Recovery (www.pcinspector.de).
91 Make the colours pop
To make the colours in a photo more vivid and vibrant, duplicate the image layer first in Photoshop.
If you already have a few image layers from either lightening or darkening the photo, just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to produce a new image layer that is a combination of all the layers.
This keyboard shortcut is one of the useful shortcuts I use.
Set the blending mode of the topmost layer to "Soft Light". This will enhance the contrast and make the colours richer and more vibrant.
Reduce the opacity percentage of the layer to obtain an effect to your liking. If you prefer a harsher effect, set the blending mode of the layer to "Overlay".
92 Expose yourself
The camera's LCD screen is not the best guide to exposure. Enter the histogram, a graph to help you gauge light conditions more accurately.
The left side represents shadows; the right side, highlights. So the graph resembles a series of peaks and valleys and differs with varying scenes.
If the graph appears chopped on the left side, it means that parts of the scene are too dark. Chopped off on the right? Parts of the picture are too bright.
The LCD screen has under- or overexposed your shots. For an accurate reading of the brightness values in a scene, the histogram is invaluable.
93 Flash dance
Sunny days do not necessarily deliver good photos. You need to use your flash outdoors when what you are trying to shoot is backlit - that is, your subjects are silhouettes against the sun or artificial lighting.
Switch your camera to fill flash mode. This will add just enough light to illuminate your subjects but maintain a natural-looking balance between the bright background and flash-lit foreground.
When the sun overhead creates harsh shadows under your subjects' eyes, fill flash softens those shadows and adds sparkle to their eyes.
94 Shoot in the raw
Most cameras shoot in the default JPEG format, and for that, the camera has already tinkered automatically with the input and adjusted such things as white balance, contrast, colour saturation and sharpening.
But shooting in the RAW format gives you more room to adjust your images in the digital darkroom. Look for the format in the camera menu.
Such files hold the original "uncooked" pixel information straight from the camera's sensors.
This lets you tweak the settings endlessly to create the exact look you are after. Even if you are not a perfectionist, you can benefit by being able to correct exposure and white balance easily.
95 Darkening and...
To darken an overexposed photo, first duplicate the image layer in Photoshop. But instead of setting the blending mode of the duplicated upper image layer to "Screen", set it to "Multiply". Too dark? Moderate the opacity level of the upper layer to lighten the photo.
If the result is still too bright, duplicate the upper layer again and repeat the steps.
96 ... Lightening photos
Open the photo in Photoshop. In the Layers palette, there is only one image layer named "Background" containing the photo. Duplicate this layer by pressing Ctrl+J on the keyboard.
You will now see two image layers in the palette. Set the blending mode of the upper layer to "Screen" by clicking the list box at the top left and selecting "Screen" from the dropdown list.
This should immediately brighten the image. If it is brighter than you want, type in a number lower than 100 per cent in the opacity box at the top right corner of the palette.
If the result is still not bright enough even with opacity set at 100 per cent, you can repeat the above steps, that is, duplicate the upper layer again and vary the opacity.
97 Picture this
You are watching HD video clips on Windows Media Player and decide you want a screenshot. You pause the video, press Print Screen and paste the image using Microsoft Paint. All you get is a black screen.
Here is a solution:
Go to Tools/Options and click on the Performance tab.
Click Advanced on the menu that appears.
A new menu appears, with the heading Video Acceleration Settings.
Uncheck the Use overlays box.
You should now be able to get that screenshot.
98 Beam me up, Scotty
Now you can create a clip of your subject (or an object) disappearing without breaking a sweat.
At least in a home movie.
To begin, lock your video camera in place with a tripod before you shoot the two clips needed.
For the first, do a five-second shot of the person (or object) to be "beamed up". Stop, get him out of the scene and resume shooting. Do not move the camera or change the scene in any way. Record at least five seconds of the empty scene.
Next, launch your video editing software and drag both clips, in order, into the timeline.
The trick is to use a standard Fade transition in Windows Movie Maker between both clips. With other software, you may have to set the transition timing to three seconds.
99 Repeat after me
There is something about repetition that can turn something mundane into monstrous fun - unless you are the target. That is why Taiwanese variety shows love to repeat the same clips, such as those of celebrities falling.
When you are shooting, be sure to record such actions as someone sneezing violently or swinging his arms wildly.
Drag this clip (in Windows Movie Maker) to the storyboard. Play it until the beginning of the desired action. Pause. In the menu, go to Clip/Split Clip to slice the video in two: Clip 1 with everything before that action and Clip 2 of the action.
Play the new clip until the action ends, then slice it up so you have an action-only Clip 3 and an "after" Clip4.
Highlight the shortened "action-only" clip, press Ctrl+C to copy it, then press Ctrl+P to paste another copy on the timeline, so that it is sandwiched between the first part of the original and the continuing footage. Repeat as many times as desired.
100 Stop-motion movie
Stop-motion animation a la Wallace and Gromit using toys or action figures is perfect for control freaks and easier than ever now.
Pose and shoot the toys or action figures, moving them a bit for each shot, then stitch the pictures together using Windows Movie Maker. It takes about 80 photos to make a 10-second video clip or about eight frames a second.
After you have saved the photos to a folder on your computer, go to Tools/Options and change the Picture Duration to the lowest setting (0.125 seconds), import the photos, then drag and drop them to the storyboard.
This is your movie assembly line. When you are done, drag and drop a music file for the soundtrack. Finally, go to File>Save As Movie and choose a desired video file format.
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