Thank You, Sam from Berwick Me

Dear Sam,

There is a trick to getting the correct spelling when you see the red underline under a word.

Just right-click on any word that has that red, squigly underline and a context menu will appear that will include one or more suggestions for the correct spelling of that word.

I hope this reduces your time in the dictionary!

Elizabeth

1. Move your mouse to the beginning of your text, near the number 1 hold down the left mouse button and slowly move the mouse to the end of the text, indicated by the number 2. When the text you want to use is highlighted, release the mouse button.

2. With your mouse, click once at the beginning of your text. Hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard, and click once at the end of the text. Everything between the first click and the second will be highlighted.

3. See how this text is blue? That means it is highlighted. To do that here, I used the arrow keys move the cursor to the beginning of my text, I held down the shift key while using the arrow keys to move to the end of your text. This method works well for web pages where the text you want to copy is larger than the screen.

4. Now we will copy what we highlighted. When you copy something, you place it in a part of Windows memory called the clipboard.

5. To do this, you first highlight your text, and then click on “Edit” and “Copy”. Even though you can’t see any changes, you will now have your text on the clipboard.

6. To paste, you simply click where you want the text to go and click “Edit” and “Paste”.

Lets say that you want to send just this article in an e-mail to your mother. First, you would highlight the article, then click “Edit” and “Copy”.

Next, you open a new e-mail and address it to your mom. Be sure to click in the body of the e-mail where you want the article to go, then click “Edit” and “Paste”.

Your article is now in the new e-mail

An even easier way to do this, is to first highlight your text, and then using your keyboard, press the “Ctrl” key and continue to hold it down while you press and release the “C” key.

This is the same as “Edit” and “Copy” and you will now have your text on the clipboard.

To paste, you simply click where you want the text to go and press the “Ctrl” key and continue to hold it down while you tap the V key.

Not only is it faster and easier to use the keyboard shortcuts, but it works in places where there is no “Edit” menu available. If you can highlight the text, you can usually copy it.

Elizabeth

I am grateful for you articles. Betsy

__–__

Dear Betsy,

There are a couple of ways you can access the things I have covered over the years.

Everything that I have written for the past two years is available online at:

www.askthecomputerlady.com/questions

The older articles are advertiser supported, so be sure to visit their sites while you are there.

Articles older than two years can be purchased on my website at:

http://store2.esellerate.net/store/catalog.aspx?s=STR703984008&pc=

I don’t have all of them up there, I am trying to get most of them online.

Have a great day, Elizabeth

Thanks so much, Theresa

Dear Theresa,

No, the clipboard and Notepad are not the same thing.

Notepad is a very basic text viewing and editing program. Notepad does not store formatting information about text like bold or underlined, only unformatted text can be viewed or edited in Notepad.

The clipboard is a temporary storage area for information that you have copied from one location on your computer and plan to use in another location on your computer. Any time that you select text or graphics and then use the “Copy” or “Cut” commands, you move that text or graphics to the clipboard where they will be stored until you use the “Paste” command, or you cut or copy another selection.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

__–__

Dear Eddie,

I often find that it is difficult to copy text and pictures at the same time. E-mail messages and websites seem to be the biggest problems.

Here is how I work my way around that problem.

First, I highlight the entire article, then copy it.

Next, I paste it into the program I am going to use the information in. It could be Word, or often a program that I like to use called, ClipMate.

At this point, I check and see if the pictures came along with the text, most of the time, it does not, so I find the place where the first picture goes, and then go back to my original email or web page.

To copy the picture, right click right on the picture, and then click “Copy” from the drop down menu.

Now, go to your destination, right click in the spot where the picture belongs, and click “Paste”.

Repeat the copy and paste for each picture that you want to include in your document.

When you have finished, save your document and you will have a copy to keep.

Elizabeth

Thanks, Hugh B.

__–__

Dear Hugh,

You have asked a question that I get fairly often. Many people want to know how to print just part of the newsletter, or part of a web page. Since I find it quick and easy to copy and paste (especially with my clipmate program) I have not looked for an easier way.

Because of this, I am going to ask for help from your fellow readers.

If you have a suggestion for Hugh, and others who have asked this question, please leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

You can also click here to Download a 30 trial of ClipMate and see if it works as well for you as it does for me.

Elizabeth

Thanks, Peter

Dear Peter,

Most versions of Windows do not allow you to password protect individual folders.

There are, however, software program that you can install on your computer that will allow you to password protect individual files and folders. I have not tried any of them, but I have read good things about this free program:

AxCrypt File Encryption for Windows
AxCrypt is the leading open source file encryption software for Windows. It integrates seamlessly with Windows to compress, encrypt, decrypt, store, send and work with individual files.

http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt

Elizabeth

Thanks, Bob

Dear Bob,

The quick answer to your question is, “No”.

Let me explain why.

There are a couple of reasons why your computer might be slowing down.

1. You don’t have enough RAM. Ram is Random Access Memory. It is the amount of space your computer has to actually work on items at one time. If your computer were a person, the amount of RAM would be like the number of hands the person can use to pick up items and work on them at one time. Your computer might have had enough RAM when it was new, but as time goes on, new programs (like the latest web browser) require more and more RAM to run smoothly. Since RAM is a physical part of your computer, the only way to fix this problem is to purchase and install additional RAM sticks.

2. You have too many programs running all the time. As you install programs on your computer, many of them are programmed to start automatically when windows starts. For example, when you install Adobe Acrobat Reader, a small program automatically starts every time you start your computer that checks for updates. These updates might only be available once every few months, but still your computer will check every day. Other programs that do this are, Microsoft Office, Google Toolbar, many printer programs and more.

Some of those websites that claim to make your computer run faster, might actually help you turn off these programs that are automatically starting, but you can easily do the same thing using the windows system configuration dialog box, or a windows optimizing program.

3. Software Rot. The software on your computer can deteriorate in performance over time as it runs and accumulates errors. If you use your computer every day, like to play games or try out new software, or install and uninstall programs regularly, you will most likely start to notice your computer slowing down along with small errors here and there. As time progress these errors will become more serious and more frequent. I use my computer every day (sometimes I don’t touch it on a busy Sunday) and I love to try out new programs, so my computer tends to become slow and unstable every 18 to 24 months. The way to fix software rot, is to backup your files, format your hard drive and re-install your operating system and programs.

To get back to your original question, most of the programs that claim to make your computer faster are not addressing the three problems outlined above, and they are probably adding additional software to the programs that you are already running all the time, which in reality slows your computer down even more.

Elizabeth

Robbie

Dear Robbie,

Yes, there is an easier way, just use a keyboard shortcut for “Paste Special”.

You can do many common tasks in Power Point, and many other programs using keyboard shortcuts. This makes your work faster and easier.

Once you highlight your text in Word, you can copy the text using the Ctrl + C keyboard combination (hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and press the letter C)

In your Power Point presentation, click where you want the text to go, and use the keyboard combination for paste special which is, Ctrl+Alt+V

While holding down the Ctrl and ALT keys, tap the letter V.

I hope this helps your work go more smoothly.

Elizabeth

Merle

Dear Merle,

I am not aware of any programs that would change MP3 files to text, and I am guessing that there is probably not any direct or easy way to make this conversion. Here is why…

An MP3 file is a type of audio file. It takes sound waves and converts them into a digital file. When the file is read, it is converted back into sound waves and played on your speakers or headphones. If there are words in the sound waves, they are never recorded in the file as actual text, only the sound of the words is recorded.

A text file is a file that has digital codes for each keystroke you type on your computer. The text file does not know what the text sounds like, and it can only display it on your screen as text.

There is software that will take a text file and “read” it to you. This software has been programmed to know what each letter and word sounds like and with modern technology it does a pretty good job of reading text. Microsoft Narrator does a good job of reading text on your computer. YOu can find it in your program files under “Accessories” and then “Ease of Access”.

There is also speech recognition software that will take the words that you speak into a microphone and type what it “hears”. This type of software usually takes some training, and is prone to make mistakes.

At this point, the only sure way to make the conversion you are looking for is to hire a real human to transcribe the MP3 files.

Elizabeth