Thank you so much. Jan

Dear Jan,

Unless you have a compelling reason to install Internet Explorer 8 or 9, I would not upgrade.

The reason is fairly simple, your computer was built with less RAM and processing speed than today’s computers have. Current versions of software like Internet Explorer are written for the computer of today that has dual and quad core processors and 4 to 8 Gigs of RAM.

Often what happens when you upgrade an older computer, is that the computer will run slower as it struggles to keep up with the demand of software written for more powerful machines.

My best advice is that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Elizabeth

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

Thanks, Joyce

Dear Joyce,

If you are anything like me, you probably have a bookshelf of recipe books that have a few favorite recipes in each book, and a drawer full of papers with recipes on them. I even have a photo album that I store recipes that I cut out of magazines!

Cook’n is a great program for storing all those favorite recipes. Not only can you store them, but you can also organize them, and quickly make shoppinng lists, and calculate the nutritional value of each recipe.

Let me help you get started.

First, open Cook’n.

On the Welcome screen, click on the words, “Cookbook Library” or click on the “Library” link at the top of the window.

The left side of the Cook’n window will show you your library with the cookbooks you currently have, any categories that you have created, any menus you have created and a search tool.

Right click on the words, “Cookbook Library” and click on “New Cookbook”. The right side of your Cook’n window will change so that you can set up the details of your new cookbook.

Type a name for your cookbook in the “Book Name” section. I simply put my name in that section. Below the “Book Name” section there is a place to type a description of your cookbook.

Once you have named and described your cookbook, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the window. Don’t skip this step since you can’t create chapters or recipes unless you have saved the cookbook first.

Find the first recipe that you want to enter and decide what chapter you want it to go in. Create a new chapter for your cookbook by clicking the “New Chapter” button, type a name and description, then click the “Save” button.

Now, you are ready to enter your first recipe.

Click the “New Recipe” button.

Type a name and description for your recipe.

Type your ingredients in the “Ingredient Listing” section of the window. This is very easy because Cook’n fills in the word for you once you type just a few letters.

Type or paste the recipe directions in the “Directions” section of the window, and click the “Save” button.

Now, if you look at the left side of your Cook’n window, you will see your new cookbook, with the first chapter and recipe.

Repeat to add more chapters and recipes.

For those of you who don’t yet have Cook’n, you can still use the special coupon code for readers of “Ask The Comptuer Lady”. Just go to: http://www.dvo.com/recipe-organizer.php and use the coupon code:

computerlady

and you will automatically get 20% off. The coupon is only good
for a limited time, so be sure to head over to their website today!

Elizabeth

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

I use my computer for work, and I love it when I find a tool that
helps me be more productive! Say The Time is a very helpful program
that I use on my computer every day!

For starters, Say The Time does just what the name says, it tells me
what time it is. I have it set to chime and speak the time every hour
between the hours of 7am and 7pm. I could have chozen any time for it
to chime, but these are the hours when I am usually working. I don’t
really need reminders of how much the time is passing in the evening.

The second most useful aspect of Say The Time is the timer feature. I
have to be honest, if it wasn’t for timers in my house, I wouldn’t get
anything done, my tea would always be oversteeped and the bread would
always be burned. I also use timers when I am writing. I will often
set a timer for 15 minutes and just type that entire time. It is a good
way to get past writers block, and a great way to not feel overwhelmed
when working on a big project.

Say The Time has a great timer that I can set, and it runs while I work.
I can pause the timer if I am interrupted. It also has a stopwatch feature
that I can use when doing hourly work for a customer like designing websites.

Say The Time has many other features like stick notes, a calendar, reminders,
a world time clock and internet time synchronization.

For More information, and a free trial version of Say The Time, just use
this link:

Get Say the Time 11

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

Thanks for any help you can give on this! Ann C.

Dear Ann,

Thank you for your question! I am always glad when people carefully investigate what a program will do for them before they depend on it to keep their computer safe.

AVG Internet Security does include an email scanner. Here is the description from their website:

“AVG Email Scanner
AVG E-mail Scanner checks attachments and links sent in emails for threats so that they don’t arrive in your inbox and cause damage. AVG E-mail scanner works as a plug-in for email applications – including Microsoft Outlook 2010 – or as a personal e-mail scanner on accounts that use POP3 and SMTP.”

I hope this helps you make your decision, and if you do decide to purchase AVG, I would really appreciate it if you used the link on my website. The small commission helps to pay my bills.

http://askthecomputerlady.com/questions/

Elizabeth

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

Thank You, Peace

Dear Peace,

First, PPS files are files that were created in Microsoft Power Point. Since your computer is unable to open them, it means that you don’t have Power Point installed on your computer.

Power Point is included in some versions of Microsoft Office, but if you don’t want or need to purchase an expensive Office suite, you can just download the free Power Point Viewer from Microsoft’s website.

Just head over to www.microsoft.com and in the search box, type PowerPoint Viewer.

In the search results, click on the link for PowerPoint Viewer 2007, then click the orange “Download” button.

Your file will start to download, and the web page will give you directions for saving and then installing the program.

I hope this helps you enjoy your newly rebuilt computer.

Elizabeth

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

Thanks so much, Carol

Dear Carol,

The only Mac product that I own and use is my iPad (which I love) and it took me over a year to save up for that.

So, while I can answer questions about the iPad, unfortunately, a Macbook is not something that I can afford right now, so I am unable to answer any questions about it.

Elizabeth

thanks so much, Barbara in Arkansas.

Dear Barbara,

From your description, it sounds like the monitor settings are off a bit. (I am assuming you are using a desktop computer attached to a monitor, and not a laptop)

What you need to do, is find the adjustment buttons on the monitor itself. Most monitors have an “Auto” or “Auto Adjust” button. Press that and the monitor will sense the signal coming in and adjust itself so that the picture is centered on the screen and straight.

If that doesn’t work, use the other buttons on the monitor to manually adjust the position of the image on your screen. I can’t tell you exactly how to do this since it is different for each model of monitor, but look for the button that brings up a menu on the screen, and then use the adjustment buttons to navigate through that menu, select the settings you want to change, and then make the adjustments.

If you get stuck, try to find the manual that came with the monitor, or look up the model of the monitor online, and you can usually find a PDF version of the manual on the manufacturers website.

I hope this helps, Elizabeth

Thanks for your help, Guy

Dear Guy,

It appears that 30 seconds is the longest you can set the desktop alert to display on your desktop.

You can change your settings and see for yourself with these directions:

1. Open Microsoft Outlook 2010 and click on the “File” tab in the upper-left corner of the window.

2. Click on “Options” under the File tab.

3. Click on “Mail” in the left column of the Outlook Options window.

4. Scroll down to the “Message arrival” section, and make sure there is a check mark in front of, “Display a desktop Alert”.

5. Click on the “Desktop Alert Settings” button.

6. Move the sliders to adjust how long the desktop alert is displayed, and how transparent it should be.

7. Click the “OK” button to close the dialog box and save your changes.

8. Click “OK” in the Outlook Options window as well.

Elizabeth

Thank you so very much, Gladys

Dear Gladys,

I would be happy to ship you a CD with Spyware Blaster and Spybot Search & Destroy on it.

Just send me your address (US Residents only) and a check for $12.50 ($10 for the CD and the rest for postage and packaging materials) and I will get it right out to you.

My address is:

Elizabeth Boston
50 Governor Goodwin Rd.
North Berwick, Maine 03906

I also make CDs with Open Office on them for the same price.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn, what do you think?

Do you have a program that you would like to purchase on a disk? Share your wish list in the comments box below.

Joan from Massachusetts

Dear Joan,

It is possible to password protect your wireless.

How you set it up is different for each type of router, but the best way to get started is to insert the CD that came with the router and run the setup again. This will probably prompt you to choose if you want an unprotected wireless signal or a secure signal.

If running the disk doesn’t work, you can use the reset button to set the router back to the factor settings, then use the CD to set it up again just like it is brand new. (often this is the only option when you have forgotten the passwords)

You might also be able to give Netgear tech support a call, and they will help you set up a secure wireless signal.

Elizabeth