Announcements

This One's Gonna Be HUGE!

Wait till you see the deal we have on this!

We have an AWESOME new utility program available called Check It! Suite. This set of programs does it all. Take a look at just a few of its features:

- Find hardware problems quickly and easily with the strongest diagnostic tests available.
- Optimize and speed up your internet connection (see our results below).
- Benchmarks let you see how your computer stacks up to similar machines.
- Tests hardware to see if it can handle heavy multi-tasking.
- Backs up internet connection settings.
- Speeds up system performance.
- Tune up your system.
- Speed up program launches and Windows load time.
- Protects against crashes.
- Helps you find problems when you can't get Windows to run.
- Helps you transfer and synchronize files - quickly, and easily.
- Includes automatic synchronization between computers
- Removes old, unused leftover files
- Can compress infrequently used files
- Compress and password protect sensitive files

And that's just a taste! The description page for this program is one of the biggest on the site due to all the features listed! (So, give it a minute to load when you take a look).

We tried this out and were VERY IMPRESSED with it. It has all kind of useful features and can help just about anyone get more out of their computer. It even has tons of stuff Norton doesn't offer (and ya know I like them)!

Just to give you an idea of what this may be able to do for you, we tried the Net Optimizer on our cranky Win 98 machine. Using a dial-up connection, it tried 3 different sets of settings that gave us increases of 67%, 102 %, and 16% to pick from (we took the 102% choice of course). Your results may vary, but it did take care of that computer's chronically slow connections. And that's only one of the dozens of components included!

The price? The retail on this is $69.95, most web stores are a little lower (PC Mall has it for $55.99 and Buy MIcro has it for $45.51, but that doesn't include shipping).

Our price for the same exact product? Only $24.97 with FREE US Shipping! This is the current version of the program and does come in the retail box. It's one of the best deals we've ever been able to offer. Note that this runs on all versions of Windows EXCEPT XP.

Get to the site ASAP for this one. Here's the link:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/checkitsuite.htm

Quantities are limited, so don't miss out!

MS Office 101

Landscaping in October?

Ever have a file that you wanted to print on the paper sideways or "landscape"? Not sure how to set landscape printing? Would you like to know? (Not a bad idea to to find out because even if you don't need it now, it could come in handy in the future.)

If you're in an MS Office Suite program, then you're going to need to go to the File menu, Page Setup choice.

When the Page Setup window opens your looking for the section that lets you choose the Orientation of the paper.

In MS Word, I found this on the Paper Size tab.

In MS Excel, I found this on the Page tab.

In MS PowerPoint, it was on the right-hand side of the Page Setup window.

Whatever the program, in the Orientation box click on the Landscape option and then OK.

So now you can landscape in October, November, December… I'm sure you get it.

Office Tip of the Day

Stop the Open/Close Madness

You're working in, oh, let's say, MS Word and you need to switch to a new document.

Tell me. Do you close MS Word, saving the current file, and then open Word all over again? Are you one of the many people I see everyday who spends an unbelievable amount of time opening and closing the same files and programs over and over again?

Hopefully that's not you, but what if it is? Is there a better way?

Yep! You bet, and it's so simple it'll be one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" things.

First of all, I'd like to start with the difference between closing a file and closing a program.

When you click the X in the uppermost right hand corner (or use the File menu, Exit choice), you are closing both the file and the program.

With this method, in order to work on another file in that program you'll need to start the program all over again.

To close just the file, leaving the program running and thereby avoiding the extra time of restarting it, go to the File menu, Close choice. Or you could click on the X in the upper right hand corner of the file window (not the X on the title bar of the program - the X on the same line as the menu names).

So, for those of you who are program-closers, using this method will save you all kinds of times.

Now let's talk about those of you who have several files (such as several Word documents or several different Excel workbooks) you access multiple times a day. Do you keep opening and closing them, constantly looking through folders to find them and waiting for the program to bring them up?

What a time-waster that is! There is a better solution...

In the MS Office Suite, and in many other programs as well, you are allowed to keep more than one file open at a time. It's OK to open another file without closing the first. (You do have to be careful of overloading your system - so close files when you're actually finished with them, but if it's something you use multiple times a day then you may want to consider leaving it open.)

Now that you have your many files open, how do you switch from one to another?

Take a look at your menu bar across the top of the program.

See the Window menu down at the right end of the list?

When you click on Window, you'll get a short list of options. We're interested in the bottom half of the list.

The bottom is a list of all files currently open in that program. By clicking on a file name, you'll be switched to the file.

This is a handy piece of knowledge when you're trying to copy and paste documents together. It allows you to switch between any of the documents you need for the copy and paste without all of the open and close hassles.

I do have a word of caution though: You will want to save files frequently in case of an accidental computer shut down, power failure or computer crash! It's better to be safe than sorry.

Give this "switcheroo" trick a try. It's an awesome feature of most programs. I work with lots of people and have noticed that it's not used to maximize efficiency like it should be. If you're using the constant open and close method, this can save you tons of time!

Have fun,
April