Announcements

See Your Digital Photos On TV!

We have an awesome product for you today! It's Microsoft's TV Photo Viewer and it's just fantastic. It lets you put up to 40 of your digital images on a 3.5 floppy disk, then view them on your TV with the included player! I've already made several disks with 40 different photos on each! It's tons of fun!

The best part? It's incredibly easy to work with - it's designed so that everyone in the family can use it - no tech skills required! It has to be one of the most user friendly devices I've ever worked with. Heck, even if you can't get your VCR to stop flashing 12:00, you can still master this one!

Look at this simple 3 step process:

1. First, you run the included (very easy to use) software and select the pictures you want on the disk.

2. Next, with the press of a button, the software resizes the images for TV use and copies them to your 3.5 floppy (don't worry, it doesn't mess up the originals).

3. Finally, just pop the 3.5 floppy into the player and watch a slide show right on your TV!

What about image quality? Well, this was the part I was a bit skeptical about. After all, 40 images on a disk? Well, no need to worry - we tried this on a variety of different size TVs and the pictures looked great on all of them!

Look what else this can do:

	Includes a remote control that allows you to go back, forward, rotate the photo, and more!
	Automatic Mode allows you to sit back and watch an automated slide show (you can even set the time interval between shots)
	Add captions to photos to make them more personal
	Enhance your photos with the included PictureIt Express Software
	Share digital photos in front of the TV instead of the computer screen
	The PhotoViewer device is small enough to take along when you visit friends and relatives

Isn't this thing cool?

Your price? Just $29.97 and US shipping is FREE! The retail for this is a whopping $79.95, which is actually down from an original MSRP of $150! At $29.97, this is a fantastic deal and one that's sure to go quick. Check out all the details at:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/microsoft-tv-photo.htm

WARNING - This is another limited quantity item and I strongly (very strongly) suggest you get to the site right away if you want in on this deal. It's almost sure to be a sellout.

Computers 101

Q:
I am finally going to cancel AOL but I have some very valuable emails in my filing cabinet on AOL. Is there a way to save them?

A:
Finally, an AOL tip! Ironically though, it is a reply to someone escaping from AOL island.

One way to save those precious emails would be to go through each email and forward the ones you want to keep over to your new address before you exorcise AOL from your system.

Another method is to open each email then "Save As" an HTML file in a folder on your computer where it can later be transferred to a disk. If it is just a text email, you could just copy the text (Ctrl+C) then paste (Ctrl+V) it into Wordpad then save as a text document. That can get pretty tedious if you have alot of mail though.

Another option is to save the contents of the Personal Filing Cabinet to disk or a back-up folder on the hard-drive. For those of you who remain with AOL, saving a backup of your PFC can save you hard drive space (your system can get sluggish if you have too much stuff in your PFC). Here's what to do:

Open AOL, click "Email" on the toolbar, then select "Personal Filing Cabinet". You can also access your PFC off-line by selecting "Customise" on the toolbar and then "Personal Filing Cabinet". On the list of folders, right-click on the very top folder (normally called Email) and select "Save Folder As..." from the pop-up menu.

Browse to find the required location where you want to save the file and select a name for it that you'll remember. Don't use your screen-name as the file name—this could really mess things up. Click Save. Follow this same procedure for any sub-folders in your PFC. This should also work with your "Favorite Places" folder.

When you switch ISPs, just leave your computer infected with AOL so you can still access the files. The PFC is accessable offline, so you should be able to open it even if you no longer subscribe.

~ David

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http://www.worldstart.com/submitquestion.htm

Tip of the Day

Just Shut Down, Will ya??

Have you ever found yourself wishing that Windows wouldn't ask you if you really want to shut down after you've gone to all the trouble of hitting the Start button, then Shut Down? Sure, if you're a wild mouse clicker, maybe that extra little confirmation occasionally saves the day, but what if you just want a quick way to turn the thing off?

Well, as luck would have it, I happen to have a way to make that dream a reality. Using the tips below, you can put icons on your desktop that will shut your computer down, restart it, and more—no questions asked.

In order to keep things inconsistent and confusing, Microsoft decided to change the scripting on this for XP (big surprise there ;-). So, Win 95/98/ME appears directly below and XP is after that.

Windows 95/98/ME

1. Right click the Desktop and select New / Shortcut

2. A screen will appear asking you for a Command Line. Here's what you put in that box:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx N

Wait—before you click NEXT, replace the "N" at the end of the command line with one of the following numbers:

0 - Log Off: Shuts down all running processes and logs the user off.
1 - Shutdown: shuts system down to the point where you can turn off the computer.
2 - Re-boot: shuts the system down and re-boots the computer.
4 - Force: Shuts the system down without notifying any running programs (that really surprises 'em). Information can be lost with this one, so be careful. Probably best not to use it unless you have a real need to (like a program that refuses to let go during shutdown)
8 - Poweroff: Shuts the computer down and turns the power off (on systems that support it).

You can use combinations of the above by adding them together. For example, use 6 to re-start (2) the computer forcefully (4).

After you've decided which of the above numbers to use, click the Next button and give the shortcut an appropriate name. Be forewarned, if you mess with some of the "forced" shut downs it will cause your active desktop to be disabled.

If you're not using XP you can skip this next section, but make sure you check out the "Final Notes" section below.

XP Users:

1. Right click the Desktop and select New /Shortcut

2. A screen will appear asking you for a Command Line. Here's what you put in that box:

For Shutdown:
Shutdown -s -t 0

For Restart:
Shutdown -r -t 0

For Log Off:
Shutdown –l -t 0

After you’ve decided which of the above options to use, click the Next button and give the shortcut an appropriate name.

Final Notes:

1. Now that you have the nifty little shutdown shortcut on your desktop, you may want to drag it to your taskbar for easier access (and less chance of accidental clickage).

2. I didn’t like the nasty looking icon that XP gave my shortcut (it was too Win3.1 for my taste), so I changed it.

If you want to learn how to change an icon, refer to our 6-21-03 issue:

http://www.worldstart.com/archives/computer-tips/2002/06-21-2002.htm

Whew, that’s it. Now watch those wild mouse clicks!

~ Steve

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http://www.worldstart.com/writers-guidelines/index.htm

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Where is the International Space Station?

The International Space Station got a lot of media attention when it first was tossed around as an idea, and when the world started to make that idea be realized. But where the heck is the blasted thing now?

Well you can find out with this site. Find out the current Latitude, Longitude and Altitude of the International Space Station daily. Check out their daily picture taken from the Space Station, and tons of information on whatever happens to be their picture of the day. This part of the site is well done and witty.

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com