Fun With Windows 7

A couple of Windows 7 tips.

By default the Shut Down button is set (not unsurprisingly) to Shut Down. If you want to access Restart or Log Off for example, you have to choose it from the dropdown menu. Now this may be OK if you generally only use the button to shut down your computer at the end of the day, but if you regularly log out or restart it then it may make sense to have those functions as the default action. Simple. Right-click the Start button, then select Properties. Under the 'Start Menu' tab you will find Power Button Options. Click on the dropdown menu and choose the function you wish to have assigned to the button instead of Shut Down.

One great feature of Windows 7 is the way you can arrange your windows simply by dragging them around; dragging one off the top of the screen for example will expand it to full size. However this feature may not be for everyone and can become annoying, so wouldn't it be great if you could turn it off? You can. Click on the Start Menu and type 'regedit'. Allow it to run if required, then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Change the value of WindowArrangementActive to 0 and then restart your computer. The features will now be disabled. You can re-enable them by returning WindowArrangementActive to its original value.

Skydive!

A few months ago Alan won a parachute jump with Skydive The Beach in a Facebook competition.

Today he did it; a tandem freefall from 14,000 feet.

See the pictures here:

Alan Skydives The Beach

The Moral: It's amazing what you can win if you get involved with social media.

Facebook Places

Less of a post, and more of a question.

Has anyone else experienced problems with Facebook locating businesses when creating a page? We've had two issues recently where a business couldn't be properly located. In the first case Facebook recognised the address, but then located it nearly a kilometre away from where it actually is. In the second case it refused to accept that the address even existed, despite it being a simple Number plus Street. Indeed in that second case both Google Maps and Bing Maps (which Facebook themselves use) both recognised it.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? Is it just an issue with shoddy map coverage in Australia, or a more deeply-rooted problem?

Repairing Windows

When you buy your shiny new PC or laptop it comes with Windows already installed on it. This is great, but what if something goes wrong and Windows won't start? How to you repair or recover it?

Once upon a time a computer would come with the Windows disk, which you could use to reload the operating system if necessary, and which also allowed you to boot from something other than the computer's hard disk. Some PCs and laptops come with a recovery partition - part of the disk is put aside for a few emergency files. They won't allow you to completely reinstall Windows, but you can reboot from that if there is a problem.

However for most users your solution is a repair disk. Often when you start up a new computer it will prompt you to do this, but a lot of people skip the option, intending to do it later. And they don't. Or, in some cases, can't.

Windows 7 Disk Creation

In Windows 7 you can generate a repair disk very easily. You just need a blank CD or DVD, and a drive with a writer/rewriter. Just click Start, type repair, and then click Create a System Repair Disc. Put a blank CD or DVD into your drive, then click Create disc. Windows will then create your disk. Once it's done, file it away somewhere safe.

Things are a little trickier for Vista. Some versions do include a tool for creating a recovery disk. To find out if you have it click Start then All Programs then Maintenance then Create a Recovery Disc. Follow the instructions.

Vista's Panel For Creating A Repair Disk

If you don't have that option then you will have to get the recovery files from elsewhere. We use Neosmart; the files will cost you about $10, but it's a worthwhile investment. They do them for both Windows 7 and Vista, in 32-bit and 64-bit versions (and if you're not sure which version you have then the rule of thumb is that you probably have 32-bit).


You will need to download the files, and follow the instructions they give you. Essentially you will get one file with a '.iso' extension. You need to burn this to a CD or DVD as an image file. You may or may not have software that can do this; if you don't then you can download ImgBurn for free, and there are instructions for doing that, then burning the disk at that link.

In all cases you must create the disk before there is a problem; once your computer is failing to boot, it's too late. You can create one on another machine if you have access, of course. If you use Windows to do it then obviously it has to be the same version as yours. If you download the Vista files, though, you can do that on any machine; we created a disk on a Windows 7 PC in order to repair a Vista machine.

Using your repair disk is simple. If your computer won't start because it says there is a problem with Windows due to possible damage, changes or corruption of files, then stick the repair CD/DVD in your drive. Restart your computer, but hit the 'Esc' key, or whichever key will get you to the boot menu; it should say at the bottom of the screen as the computer powers up. A window will appear displaying possible boot devices; normally there will be two, the HDD (Hard Disk Drive), which should be highlighted, and the CD/DVD drive. Use the arrow keys to select the CD/DVD drive, then press 'Enter'. The computer will then try to boot from your repair CD/DVD rather than the main disk. Follow any on-screen instructions. You may be prompted to repair damaged files; just let the computer do its job and all should be well.

Whilst this all seems to be a bit of a fiddle, it's a job worth doing in order to give you peace of mind and make sure that your computer always starts when you need it.

Prezi - Presentations With Zoom

I think most of us are familiar with Powerpoint, or Powerpoint-style presentations. But there is an interesting alternative if you want your presentation to look just that little bit different.

It's called Prezi

The idea of Prezi is to make the presentation of information more interesting. Powerpoint is very linear in its approach; you move across the screen from one slide to the next, with only the odd reveal effect to liven things up. Prezi, however, allows you to design your presentation like a large whiteboard or canvas. You place the objects in your presentation - pictures, videos, text and so on - on the board in a suitable arrangement, then create a path between them. This path doesn't have to be a straight line; you can move from one part of your canvas to any other part. Rather than slides you have 'frames' which surround parts of the canvas and define the limits of what is currently being shown on the screen. You can also zoom in and out of the canvas, which allows you to, say, embed the context of one frame inside another. For example a frame may show the title of a talk. The next frame zooms out of this and shows the title as being on the cover of a book being read by a person. The view could then zoom out showing the person sitting on a train opposite another person reading a book. And you then zoom in on the title of the book they are reading.

Rather than try and describe it any more, watch the official Prezi video, which shows you what a presentation can look like - towards the end you get to see how many of the key components are arranged on the canvas:



Prezi is a web-based application. That is, to run it you don't download any software to your computer but you design and create your work on their site. It is free to use, however in this case all presentations created are publicly viewable on the Prezi website. You can pay for an account, and this allows private storage. A premium account allows offline editing.

When you have finished your presentation you can download it to your computer. You don't need an internet connection to run it, but any computer you run it on must have Adobe Flash. The vast majority do, of course.

Of course, as with Powerpoint it is possible to create bad presentations. It's easy to overuse the zoom and rotate functions and, if done really badly, you can even induce nausea in members of your audience. Prezi has a more limited palate of fonts and colours compared to other presentation tools. In addition the different approach to creating presentations means that there is a small learning-curve to be overcome, as you switch from a linear slide-based approach to a more flexible layout. This can be partially overcome by pre-planning your presentation before even going to the Prezi website.

The Prezi style of doing things is probably not suitable for all kinds of talk, but it is a great tool to add to your  presentation arsenal.

IWIB Awards - 2012

We are pleased to announce that on Friday Catherine received a Highly Commended in this year's Illawarra Women In Business awards, in the Best Home-Based Business category.

Here she is getting her certificate:

And you can link to the rest of the photos HERE

Congratulations to Catherine, and to all of the finalists and winners. It was a great event, and a true celebration of the marvellous women who work in our local businesses.

(Pictures by Shimmer Images)

DNSChanger - Are You Affected?

These organisations
are co-ordinating
efforts in Oz

Are you affected by the DNSChanger malware?

An estimated 4 million users worldwide are.

DNSChanger is a piece of malware which redirected people's internet connection through certain servers, directing them to fraudulent websites and opening them up to various nefarious activities. Last year the FBI tracked down the cyber-criminals responsible, and shut down their operation.

However many users were still having their internet connections directed through the servers. The FBI maintained the servers to prevent these users being cut off, but on July 9th they will be shut down. After that date any user still being routed through them will find that they can probably no longer connect to the internet.

Users need to check that their machines are not affected.

The Australian Government has set up a website so that you can check the statues of your machine:

http://dns-ok.gov.au/If your machine is affected you should follow any instructions given. The site also has a number of useful links giving more background on the DNSChanger. Removal of the malware is quite tricky and you should contact your preferred computer maintenance people to deal with it.

(Note: Some computers may show clean, but actually be affected. This is because some ISPs have taken steps to reroute their users away from the malicious servers. At this stage I am not sure what the long-term effect of this is.)