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

Thank You, Sam from Berwick Me

Dear Sam,

There are actually a couple of ways that you can backup your Google Chrome Bookmarks.

If you have a Google account, you can set them up to automatically sync to your Google account. The advantage to doing it this way, is that you can use Chrome on more than one computer and have access to all your bookmarks. Here is how to set this up:

1. Open Google Chrome and click on the “Wrench” icon in the upper-right corner of the window.

2. Click on “Options” in the drop down menu.

3. A “Settings” window will appear in the main Chrome window. Click on “Personal Stuff” in the left column.

4. In the “Sign In” section, click the “Sign In” button and enter your Google account email address and password.

5. Click the button that says, “OK, sync everything”.

Repeat the steps above on each computer that you want to sync your bookmarks to.

The other way to backup your bookmarks in Google Chrome is to export them to someplace like the external drive you mentioned. Here is how to do that:

1. Open Google Chrome and click on the “Wrench” icon in the upper-right corner of the window.

2. Point to “Bookmarks” in the drop down menu, then click on “Bookmark Manager” in the sub-menu.

3. In the Bookmark Manager page, click the “Organize” menu, then click “Export Bookmarks to HTML File…”

4. A “Save As” dialog box will open. Just select the location you want to save the backup file, then click on the “Save” button.

Elizabeth

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Thanks for all you do for us iPad newbies.

Judy

Dear Judy,

I also have both a Kindle, and the Kindle app on my iPad. I love being able to read and study on both devices and have them sync with each other. Even my highlights and notes are synched.

After reading your question, I am guessing one of two things is happening. Either you have the Kindle app on your iPad set to view all the books archived on Amazon, or you don’t know how to remove a book from the iPad.

Let’s start with the two different views available to you on the iPad.

The Kindle app on your iPad will either show you only the books that you have downloaded to the iPad, or it will show you your entire library archived on the Amazon web site.

When you are viewing your list of books, you will notice several buttons across the bottom. In the middle of the bottom is one that says either, “Archive (all Items)” or “Home”. If the button says, “Home” tap on it to view only the books that are currently on your iPad. If the button says, “Archive (All Items)” you can tap on it to view all the books on your Amazon account.

To remove a book that is on your iPad, just follow these directions:

1. Make sure you are looking at the “Home” screen on your Kindle app. (the button at the bottom will say, “Archive (All Items)”)

2. Tap and hold your finger on any book for a few seconds. A column of red circles will appear to the left of each book shown.

3. Tap on the red circle next to the book you want to remove. A red icon will appear to the right of the book that says, “Archive”.

4. Click on the “Archive” button to remove the book from your iPad.

I hope this helps you keep your books organized!

Elizabeth

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I read your column all the time. Thanks for all you help, Jayne

Dear Jayne,

Microsoft does have directions for setting up the default file for new documents, however, they are very technical, and a little hard to follow. You can read those directions here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822107

If you are looking for a solution that is a little simpler, I would suggest setting up a blank document in Excel with the header and footer they way you want it, then saving that file as a template. Once you have the template saved, you would be able to start a new spreadsheet based on that template. Here are the directions.

1. Open Excel, and set up the spreadsheet with the header and footer that you want to have in your new documents.

2. Click on the “File” tab, then click “Save As”.

3. In the Save As dialog box, find the line that says, “Save as type:” and click the drop down list in that line.

4. Click on, “Excel Template”, and type a name for the file.

5. Click the “Save” button.

Now that you have your template saved, all you have to do is open a new document based on that template…

1. Open Excel.

2. Click on the “File” tab, then click “New”.

3. Under “Available Templates” click on “My Templates”.

4. A small dialog box will open with a list of all the files you have saved as templates. Click on the template you just created, and click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box.

I hope this helps you to quickly create just the type of document you are looking for.

Elizabeth

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Thanks, Mike

Dear Mike,

I think it is a great idea to back up your files and do a clean install of Windows. HP makes this fairly easy to do, especially if you created the recovery disks when the computer was new.

Saving your favorites is easy, and saving the email is not much harder. Lets start with the favorites.

1. Insert your flash drive into a USB port, and click on “Open folder to view files” in the menu that appears.

2. Click on Start, then click on your username at the top of the right column in the start menu.

3. Arrange the two folders so that you can see both of them at the same time.

4. Drag the “Favorites” folder from your user folder, to the flash drive folder.

Once you have reformated the computer, just repeat the steps above, only drag the favorites folder from the flash drive to your user folder.

Now for the Live Mail messages.

1. Again, insert the flash drive into a USB port and click “Open Folder to View Files” in the menu that appears. Drag that window to one side of your desktop.

2. To figure out where Windows Live Mail stores the messages, open the program, and click on the tab to the left of the “Home” tab.

3. Point to “Options” in the drop down menu, then click on “Mail” in the sub menu.

4. Click on the “Advanced” tab in the Options window, then click on the “Maintenance…” button, and finally the “Store Folder…” button.

5. Highlight and copy the location of your mail files in the “Store Location” dialog box, and click the “Cancel” button to close the window. Close all of the Windows Live Mail windows.

6. Click on the “start” button and paste the location in the search box and tap the “enter” key. A window will open with all your mail files.

7. Drag the mail files and folders into the flash drive window.

Elizabeth

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Charlie

Dear Charlie,

What you need to do, is set up a signature file in Windows Live Mail.

Here is how to do that:

1. Open Windows Live Mail.

2. Click on the tab to the left of the “Home” tab.

3. Point to “Options” in the drop down menu, and click on “Mail” in the sub-menu.

4. Click on the “Signatures” tab.

5. Click on the “New” button in the Signatures section.

6. In the “Edit Signature” section, type your contact and any other information you want to include at the end of all your outgoing messages.

7. At the very top of the dialog box, click to put a check mark in front of, “Add signatures to all outgoing messages”.

8. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box to save your changes and close the window.

Elizabeth

Is there a way to set this preference? Amy

Dear Amy,

Yes, there is a way to set the default view to “Details” or any of the other viewing options. Here is how to do that in Windows 7.

1. Open any folder on your computer, and make sure the view is set the way you want it. In this case, we are using “Details”, which is my favorite view as well.

2. Click on the “Organize” tab in the command bar, and click on “Folder and Search Options” in the drop down menu.

3. Click on the “View” tab in the folder options dialog box.

4. Click on the “Apply to Folders” button in the “Folder views” section.

5. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box to save your changes and close the window.

The same directions should work for Windows Vista.
Windows XP is similar, just click on “Tools” in the menu bar, then click on “Folder Options”.

Elizabeth

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Thank you! Chris

Dear Chris,

Safari is the web browsing program on your iPad, so what you want to do, is empty the cache in Safari. Here is how:

1. Tap on the “Settings” icon on your home screen.

2. In the left column of the settings page, tap on “Safari”.

3. In the right side of the settings screen, tap on “Clear Cookies and Data”

4. In the dialog box that appears, tap the “Clear” button.

Elizabeth

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Thank you.  Sue

Dear Sue,

This is a rather common problem, one that I experience sometimes when I am using my laptop.

Most of the time when your cursor jumps around during typing, it is because you are accidentally brushing your hand against the touchpad.

The easiest way to prevent this problem is to turn off the touchpad during typing. How you turn off the touchpad can vary from one laptop model to another. Here are some common methods.

Most HP laptops have a small switch near the edge of the touchpad. Press it once to turn it off, then press it again to turn it back on.

If your laptop has a small light on one of the corners of the touchpad, try tapping the light twice, if it changes color, you have turned off the touchpad. Double tap on the light agaon to turn it back on.

Many laptops have a keyboard combination that turns off the touchpad. Look closely at the keyboard to determine if you have this option.

Some Dell laptops require that you use the control panel to turn off the touchpad.

Sometimes, plugging in a USB mouse automatically disables the touchpad.

If all else fails, tape a small piece of cardboard or plastic over the touchpad.

Elizabeth

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Thank you!!!!! Kathy

Dear Kathy,

Adobe flash player is free to download and install from Adobe’s web site. Here is how:

1. Open Internet Explorer and go to www.adobe.com

2. In the “Download” column on the right, click on “Adobe Flash Player”

3. Click on the yellow button that says, “Download Now”.

4. Click on “Run” in the dialog box that appears.

5. When the installer window says, “Installation Complete”, just click on the “Finish” button.

If you are using Google Chrome as your browser, you don’t need to install Flash Player because it is already part of the program.

Elizabeth

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