Thank you in advance. Susan

Hi Susan,

Are you sure that is something that Windows Movie Maker can do?

I have looked at the website, and don’t see any mention of being able to extract a frame to a still picture.

Unfortunately, if it is not a feature built into the program, then you can’t do it with that program.

I did find a free program online called, Image Grab at: http://paul.glagla.free.fr/imagegrab_en.htm

I have not used this program, but there are a couple of really positive reviews online.

Elizabeth

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Help!!!! Pam

Dear Pam,

Thank you for your question! I have recieved variations of this question from time to time, but not been able to figure out what was going on. Thankfully, you have given me enough information to figure it out.

The key part of your question for me is the fact that you are using the ctrl key when moving multiple files, and when you only move them one at a time (thus not using the ctrl key) you don’t have the problem. Here is what I think is happening to you and many others.

When you use the Ctrl key to select more than one file, you need to release the Ctrl key before you drag them to your new destination.

Why is this important? Because even if you are moving only one file, holding down the Ctrl key while dragging the file causes you to make a copy of the file instead of moving it. Go ahead and give it a try with just one file and you will see what I mean.

In the future, when you want to move several files at once, follow these steps.

1. Click once on the first file you want to move.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the additional files you want to move.
3. Release the Ctrl key and drag the selected files to their new location.

Elizabeth

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Thank you very much, Sue

Dear Sue,

The first step in getting your pictures onto a CD is to save the email pictures in the same folder as all the other pictures you want to put on the CD.

I can’t tell you exactly how to save the pictures from your email messages because I don’t know what email program you have them stored in, but you can probably click either on the picture itself or on the link to the attachment and save the pictures.

Once you have all your pictures in one folder on your computer, you should be able to open that folder in Windows Photo Gallery, click on one picture, then on your keyboard hold down the “Ctrl” key and tap the letter A (this will select all your photos).

With all your photos selected, click the “Burn” button at the top of the window, and click on “Data Disc…”.

Insert a blank CD or DVD and follow the prompts to finish creating your disc.

Elizabeth

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Thanks in advance, Carolyn

Dear Carolyn,

Congratulations on keeping your computer running for over 10 years! In my experience, the average computer only lasts about 5 years before it either needs repairs that are just too expensive or is just too slow to run current software programs.

I also want to congratulate you on having the forsight to start backing up your files. A 10 year old hard drive could die at any time, leaving all your files lost forever.

When and if you get a new computer, you will be able to access your pictures and documents that you have saved on the thumb drives. If your pictures are in .jpg format, they can be easily read by any program, and if your documents are in .doc, .rtf or .txt format they will also be easily read by any computer running any version of Windows.

Where you might run into a little bit of trouble is with the Adobe programs. I don’t really know what versions of PhotoShop and Illustrator run on Windows 7, but there is a good chance that any 10 year old program will need to be updated

Fortunately, you can purchase upgrade versions of Illustrator and PhotoShop instead of having the purchase the full versions again.

I would try the programs that you have on the new computer, and if you can’t get them to work, go ahead and purchase the upgrades.

Elizabeth

Thanks, William

Dear William,

If you are using an email program on your computer, then the directions would be very similar to the way you send them using XP.

From your description, I”m guessing that you are not using an email program, but are using the web interface at Bell South. In that case, your have to use the web interface to attach and send pictures. An alternative method would be to download Windows Live Mail if you don’t already have it installed on your computer (this is the free email program that Microsoft created to replace Outlook Express) and set it up to use with your Bell South email address. Bell South should either have directions on their website, or their tech support would be able to walk you through the process.

The speed at which your computer attaches and sends pictures might not be due to the speed of your DSL internet connection, it could be that your pictures have a very large file size. Modern digital cameras are capable of taking pictures with so much detail that the files are HUGE. If you are going to print 8X10 pictures, that is a good thing, but if you are going to email or upload them to facebook, it might not be such a good idea.

I would suggest that you make a copy of the pictures you want to send and use the “resample” function in your image program. I have directions for this on my website at: http://wp.me/pwwRq-eD

I hope this helps you when sending pictures, Elizabeth

Thanks, John

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Dear John,

I am so glad to hear that you are backing up your photographs to DVDs on a regular basis! Too many people lose their precious memories to a hard drive crash because they didn’t take the time to do a backup.

I think that the jpg format is great for archiving. I don’t think that there is any way that any of us can predict what file format photos will be saved in 20 years from now (that is a long time in computer years), but since jpg is so prevalent right now, there will be ways to view this type of file in the future even if a new file format has evolved.

Another reason to save your photos in the original jpg format is quality. When you import your photos from your camera to your computer, the files are at the highest quality. Every time you make changes to the photos and save them, a little bit of that quality is lost. For this reason, I usually save the originals in a safe place, and save copies of the photos if I have made changes to them.

DVDs are a great medium to save your photos on. While some types of storage like flash drives, hard drives (both internal and external) and the older floppy disks use magnetic patterns to store your data, and can be corrupted when exposed to magnetic fields, DVDs use a reflective surface to store your photos and are much more stable, with a much longer shelf life.

Have fun taking your pictures!
Elizabeth

Arlene

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Dear Arlene,

It sounds like you have recently installed on of my favorite programs, Irfanview. Not that irfanview caused your problem, but that is what their icon looks like. I have always like Irfanview because it opens my pictures quickly, and I can use the space-bar to quickly look through all the pictures in any folder.

Irfanview is a free image viewing program that can be downloaded at: www.irfanview.com

Your problem is that the view in the folder your pictures are in has been changed from thumbnails to icons. Here is how to change it back again.

1. Open the folder where you pictures are stored.
2. Look for the menu bar at the top of the window. If you are using Vista or Windows 7, just tap the “Alt” key on your keyboard to display the menu bar.
3. Click on “View” in the menu bar and click on “large Icons” or “Extra Large Icons”.

Your icons should now be a small thumbnail of the picture.

In some older versions of Windows, you might have the option to click on “Thumbnails” instead of large or extra large icons.

Elizabeth

Thank you, Connie

Dear Connie,

Thank you for your question. I see this type of question all the time, from many of my readers and clients.

The reason you can’t figure out how to take photos out of your programs is because they are not actually stored in the program. This is true both with photos, and documents.

When you put photos on your computer, they go into a folder somewhere. Most of the time, they go into your “My Pictures” or just “Pictures” folder, but some programs will put them in a different location.

An example of a program putting your pictures in a different location wild be Kodac Easy Share. It usually creates a “Kodac” folder in the “Public Photos” folder and then stores your photos in that location.

As long as you know where your photos are stored, you can view them in any image viewing and editing program.

I am not familiar with the zoom browser, or the adobe photo album program, so I don’t know where they tend to store photos. I can tell you how to find the photos.

Open one of the photo programs, and find one of the pictures. Write down the file name of the picture…. it might be something like, “DSCN1488.jpg” or some other name and numbering system that your camera uses.

Now, search for that file using your windows search function. You didn’t specify which version of Windows you are using, so I can’t give you exact directions.

If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, just click on “Start” and type the file name in the search box at the bottom of the Start menu.

If you are using an older version of Windows, click on “Start” and then click on “Search”.

Once you have located your photos, you can move them into the same folder as all your other pictures by dragging them. You will be doing this in Windows Explorer, not in your photo programs.

I hope this helped answer your question. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Elizabeth

Thanks, Frances

Dear Frances,

I did not have Picasa installed on my computer when I read your question, so, I went ahead and installed a copy. Here is what I learned.

First, I’m guessing that when you resize the photo in your program, all you are really changing is the view, not the actual file.

Picasa allows you to do some limited resizing using the, “Export picture to a folder” option under the File menu.

When you have your picture displayed, you click on, “FIle” then click on “Export Picture to Folder…”

A dialog box will open with several options.

Export Location: Make sure you save the smaller photo in a different folder from the original. You don’t want to replace your full size picture with the smaller one.

Image size: This gives you a slider you can drag to make your image smaller. The smallest size is not quite as small as you want, but it is close.

Watermark: If you want to add your name, your website or a copyright notice to your photo, you can select this option and then type the text in the box below.

Once you have made your selections, you just click the “Export” button to save the smaller version of your photo.

This should work for most photo resizing needs, but if you need more control over the size of your photo, try Irfanview at www.irfanview.com

Elizabeth

Hoping you can help me. Thanks Elaine.

Dear Elaine,

When you scan your photos, you have to give them a name, or if you don’t give them a name, they get named something like, “scanimage001″

If you are viewing your photos in Windows Explorer (in your pictures folder for example) the photos are arranged by file name. What I do to keep them in order by date is to put the pictures in folders that are named by date with the year first, then the month and day. You can also name the individual pictures the same way. If I have a picture of my wedding in 1981, I would name the whole folder, “1981_01_31″ and then give the pictures inside the folder numbers based on the order I want them to display. You can combine the numbers and a descriptive name as long as the numbers come first. Here is an example: 015_coming_down_the_isle.jpg If that file was in my wedding pictures folder, it would be the 15th picture listed, and also have a nice description.

Since you have already scanned many of your photos, you can easily change the filename. Here are the directions.

1. Open your pictures folder by clicking on the Start Orb, then click on “Pictures” 2. Locate the picture you want to rename, and right click on it. 3. Click on “Rename” in the context menu that appears. The picture name will be highlighted in blue. 4. You can just replace the old picture name by typing a new one, or click at the beginning of the name and type your number. 5. Press the “enter” key on your keyboard, or click a blank spot in the pictures folder to save your new picture name.

Be sure to start your numbers with leading zeros. The reason for this is that if you name your pictures 1, 2, 3, etc, when you get to 10, it will line up between 1 and 2. If you name them 01, 02, 03, etc., 10 will be after 09. If you will have more than 99 pictures, name them with two leading zeros like this: 001, 002, 003, etc.

Elizabeth