Windows 7
A soon as Windows 7 arrived the other day we installed it on one of our Vista PCs. The result was a "good news – bad news" situation.
The good news is that about 95% of the files and programs that previously existed on the computer were maintained during the upgrade. We had dutifully copied all our important files to an external hard drive, and we had all our original productivity CDs standing by for reinstallation – but we didn't need to use any of them. Windows 7 even kept three different "office" suites perfectly intact for us (Microsoft Office, Works Office Suite, and OpenOffice). And they all run flawlessly. We can't guarantee that overwriting Vista with Windows 7 will work this well for others, but it did a very neat and clean job for us.
The bad news is that some of our most-used features from previous versions of Windows no longer exist: Windows Mail, Outlook Express, and the Quick Launch toolbar.
We'll talk more about Win7 soon, but for now we'll answer some recent questions from readers.
Lost Folder Settings
Bernie Worby called to ask if there is a way to keep from losing the various settings he applies to his Desktop folders. Well, these settings, such as a folder's "View" options (List, Details, Sort By, etc.) are supposed to remain intact until you voluntarily change them. If they don't you can fix the problem by clicking on Start>Control Panel>Folder Options>Restore Defaults.
The "Windows Clipboard"
Ralph Anderson wrote to ask, "What and where is the Windows Clipboard?"
Well, this could be called Computers 101 – the Clipboard is an invisible location in memory where something that has been "cut" or "copied" is held, waiting to be "pasted" into another location. For instance, if a paragraph has been selected and copied with Edit>Copy (or Ctrl+C) it can then be pasted somewhere else with Edit>Paste (or Ctrl+V). The copied paragraph will remain on the Clipboard until something else has been cut or copied to replace it – or until the computer is turned off. If the item copied happens to be a very large selection, such as a full page of text, you may get a message asking if you want to keep it on the Clipboard when you exit whatever program you are using. Click NO if you are done pasting it.
A simple example of Copy and Paste is the procedure we use to insert recipients' email addresses into this newsletter's BCC (blind carbon copy) field. In fact, we recommend keeping all email addresses in a spreadsheet, rather than in an email program's Contact List or Address Book. (More on this later.)
Sending Out Bulk Mail (a newsletter, church bulletin, wedding announcement, whatever)
Speaking of distributing a newsletter, if you would like to send one to a few hundred people it will likely be rejected by your email service provider for fear that you're sending out SPAM.
Well, you can contact your provider and explain that you're sending legitimate messages and, with luck, you may get an exemption. However, many email services, such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail, will ask you to create a "group" and invite your intended recipients to join it before letting you do a bulk mailing.
Gmail, however, is a little more liberal and will let you send up to 300 messages without any problem. Furthermore, if you have a mailing list of, say, 1200 recipients, Google will let you create four separate Gmail accounts, from which you could send four sets of 300 each.
This is the system we use to send out this newsletter – we have several Gmail accounts from which we send 300 emails each to several different groups of readers.
Again, using the example of 1200 recipients, you could put their email addresses into a spreadsheet, in which 300 contacts would be listed in Column A, 300 in Column B, 300 under C, and 300 in the D column.
However, using multiple "return-addresses" brings up another issue: do you now have to constantly monitor all these different accounts to see the responses recipients might send you?
Nope. Gmail allows you to have incoming mail to any or all your various accounts forwarded to any email address you choose. Well, previously we had all replies forwarded to a Windows Mail account. But Microsoft took Windows Mail away from us (in Windows 7) – and suggested we download Windows Live Mail. Well, we aren't fond of any Microsoft "Live" products, so we now have everything funneled into yet another Gmail account. No problem – this works just fine.
We'll be writing more about Windows 7 and Gmail options soon.
© Donald Ray Edrington – All Rights Reserved
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Senior Computer Tutor Don Edrington
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