Tech Tutor Mark

Where Are Those Big Files Hiding? Clean Up Your Hard Drive http://windirstat.info That question pretty much says it all. Where are those space hogs on your computer? There has to be a chunk of space that is being used by something, something which can probably be deleted...but where is it and what is it? Here is a utility that will tell you. WinDirStat is short for Windows Directory Statistics. Amazingly, it runs on Windows 95 all the way up through Vista. There isn't much of anything in the computer world that can make that claim anymore. On the Web site above, you will find several screenshots that show you what WinDirStat looks like. I have two of them presented here. But what does it do exactly? First, it reads the whole directory tree once and then presents it in three useful views: The Directory List , which resembles the tree view of Windows Explorer but is sorted by file/subtree size, t he TreeMap , which shows the whole contents of the directory tree straight away, and th...

All About Google Notebook In my April 1st post about the best advanced Google search features, I mentioned Google Notebook . But today I would like to emphasize the importance of this underrated tool. In the words of the Internet giant themselves, here are all of the things it can do: Clip useful information . You can add clippings of text, images and links from web pages to your Google Notebook without ever leaving your browser window. Organize your notes . You can create multiple notebooks, divide them into sections, and drag-and-drop your notes to stay organized. Get access from anywhere . You can access your Google Notebooks from any computer by using your Google Accounts login. Publish your notebook . You can share your Google Notebook with the world by making it public. Now you can also get access from your phone . You can now access Google Notebook from your mobile phone by going to http://www.google.com/notebook/m . For a Google Notebook Tour , take a look at this: http://www....

91 Utilities to Supercharge Windows http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2279207,00.asp If you are a Windows Utilities collector like I am, or if you just like to experiment with different free software, this article is for you . PC Magazine rolled out this great collection in March 2008 and it is one that I have wanted to feature ever since then. About once a month I do a post that features a collection of great utilities, and this is a very large one indeed. Beginning with the Hall of Fame , and one of my favorite photo utilities (IrfanView) and including many pay utilities as well as freebies, this is one of the more comprehensive collections of software for your computer. Since not everything in this article is free, you should pay close attention to the price listed in very small text next to the Web site link - at the top of each featured program. These utilities are carefully organized into categories, as they should be, such as Appearance (which includes such things as Taskbar...

Dial-a-Fix: Knocks out Serious Windows Problems Dial-a-fix is a collection of "known fixes" that have been compiled over the past year that really knock out some serious Windows problems, all with one or two clicks. It tackles issues with SSL/Cryptography, Windows Update, Microsoft Installer, and many miscellaneous shell problems. Most of the fixes it uses are found in various Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, and articles written by Microsoft MVPs. When you see a list of DLLs that need to be registered using REGSVR32.EXE, chances are they are already listed in Dial-a-fix. Mouse-over a checkbox or button to obtain more information about what will be executed, or what DLLs will be registered. A word of caution (disclaimer) here. This collection of fixes could also be thought of as an oxymoron in the hands of a non-geek. Or, let's just say that it could do more harm than good if you don't like to tamper with your computer's settings, and don't find tweaking c...

Wayport Prepaid High-Speed Internet Cards Today's tip is just a heads-up. People are surprised to find out that many McDonalds are now Wireless HotSpots, providing high-speed Internet access while you are enjoying your fast food fix. However, what those people don't know is that most of the McDonalds require you to PAY for that high-speed access. In fact, they provide Wayport service, so you need to become a Wayport member or, more easily, buy a prepaid Wayport card, just in case. It might be worth the money if you happen to be at a hotel, McDonalds, Hertz, airport or other retailer that uses Wayport wi-fi service. Here are the prepaid card options and prices: http://www.wayport.net/prepaid.aspx . Here are the Wayport locations , and there are many. In my state (Michigan), McDonalds is the biggest user of Wayport access, although more airports and hotels have jumped on board in other states. A $25 card buys you 3 connections of up to 2 hours at a time, or from purchase time...

9 Great Tips for Troubleshooting Word Tables and Solving Your Headaches My policy has always been this. If you're having software problems, it is always best to get help directly from the source...whenever possible. So, today we have some excellent tips that should help solve your worst head-scratching issues with Microsoft Word tables . Visit this site for 9 excellent, specific Word table tips: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP052567341033.aspx These tips deal with such common questions as "How do I stop my table column from resizing as I type?" or "How can I get my table to change size with my window?" or "My table snaps to the right or left when I try to move it. How can I make it stop?" These and six other dilemmas are answered directly by the Pros at Microsoft. This Troubleshoot Tables Web link is a definite keeper for anyone who has ever created a table in Word. Then, after you visit this site and solve your table problems, also direct ...

Keep Yourself Safe from Unreliable Online Vendors, Spam, Adware and Viruses The Website Reputation Rating Community - WOT Web of Trust - has a Web site found at www.mywot.com . It is a fabulous resource for free Internet security. It will warns you and save your computer from risky Web sites that try to scam visitors, deliver malware, or send spam e-mail. Here is a link to the demo page for the program. The idea here is that WOT (Web of Trust) uses the power of all of its collective users to help identify bad sites. In this Demo page, you can click on the video link at the right to see a great instructional movie on how it works. If you didn't already know, most viruses and malicious Trojans are picked up by innocent users who accidentally click on a bad link or who visit a bad Web site. The problem is that the question of "Which sites are bad?" is often debatable. WOT helps to detect that for you. Keep yourself safe from unreliable online vendors, spam, spyware, adwar...

How is this for a great idea? Carry your favorite computer applications, along with all of your bookmarks, settings, E-mail and more, with you wherever you go. Use them on any Windows computer. All of this without leaving any personal data behind. For example, maybe you want to stay at one of the finer hotels that features public Wi-Fi, but you are forced to use a "public" computer. Maybe you're on a cruise and didn't want to carry your laptop or, worse yet, you forgot it. Many of us are forced to use a public computer. The fact is, this can be dangerous if you really need to access your bank account or buy something online. BYOB=Bring Your Own Browser. That's my motto, and it's a good idea. All of this is available now through PortableApps.com . PortableApps.com provides a truly open platform that works with any hardware you like (USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive, etc). It's open source built around an open format that any hardware vendor or sof...

Learn The GIMP Online I have looked high and low over the years for an exceptional set of video tutorials for The GIMP. If you've ever tried to learn how to use The GIMP, you know it has a steep learning curve to say the least. It is like Photoshop in that it is a very powerful professional-level photo manipulation tool. However, if you don't have a way to learn it in a hurry, you may be sitting at your computer struggling with it for quite a while, not getting anything done. Finally, I have found two different sets of tutorials to help us learn this wonderful but complicated open-source application. The first one is from AtomicLearning.com and requires the standard $99.99-per-year subscription to the AtomicLearning online video tutorial library. Other free or open-source software included among Atomic's tutorial collection are Audacity (which I did), NVU (the HTML editor) and the entire OpenOffice suite. Again, this requires a $100 subscription per year. The total number o...

5 GB of Free Online Storage This weekend I was looking for a way to post some video tutorials to the Web that could be shared with others. Each video tutorial ranged in size from 420 kb all the way up to 100 mb. I wanted to store these videos in separate folders and give access to other users, as well as to myself. This way I would be able to download them from wherever I (or we) may be. I thought I would try out the new SkyDrive from Microsoft's Windows Live site. I found it quite useful. First, the site does require a Microsoft login, which is easy enough if you already have a Hotmail account. By the way, Hotmail is now known as Windows Live Mail. Once you get into the site, you will see that a typical Live account now has several features. These include access to your e-mail (Hotmail), OneCare (a pay security suite of services that Microsoft will sell you); Spaces, which is a free way to store photos, share events/invitations and create your own Blog. One very importan...