Extracting a Picture from a PowerPoint Presentation

Ron Rand has asked how to extract a picture from a PowerPoint presentation. Well, first you must convert the presentation to its editable mode. Change the file's "PPS" extension to "PPT" by right-clicking the file name and choosing Rename. Then all pictures will be displayed as thumbnails.

Double-click a thumbnail and it will appear full size. Right-click the larger image and choose "Save as Picture," whereupon a copy will go into your Pictures folder with the the original image's name.

Make a Screen Saver Slideshow

Speaking of PowerPoint, Don Sheffler sent us a wonderful slideshow of old time farm life, featuring lots of kids and animals. I was so enchanted with the paintings that I turned them into a screen saver for my PC. Make Screen Saver Using Your Favorite Photos or Other Images

How? Start by right-clicking your Desktop.

WinXP users will then choose "Properties" - Vista/Win7 users choose "Personalize." Then click on "Screen Saver." WinXP users will click the down arrow to display the options under Screen Saver and choose "My Pictures Slideshow." Vista/Win7 users will choose "Windows Live Photo Gallery."

Finally, click on "Settings" and choose how long to display each image.

RAR Files

John Belvitch wrote to ask if there is a free program for opening RAR files. Yes, "jZip" is available from jZip.com. It's similar to "WinZip" for opening ZIP, RAR, and other compressed files, but it's totally free.

Spreadsheet Questions (See illustration below with ficticious email addresses.)

Regarding my recent suggestion about putting email contacts into a spreadsheet, Bobbin Beam asked for more spreadsheet details.

Excel Name List

OK, a spreadsheet is a grid of rows and columns whose intersections are called cells, into which data is placed. The rows are named numerically (1, 2, 3, etc.) while the columns are designated alphabetically (A, B, C, etc.). Cells are named by the intersection of a row and column, such as, A1, B5, or H34.

If you have, say, 100 contacts you could put their email addresses in Column A, with the first one listed in Cell A1 and the last in A100. Then you could list the contacts' names in B1 through B100. In fact you could use B1:B100 for first names and C1:C100 for last names.

Then you could use D, E, and F, for their addresses, phone, and FAX numbers, as an example.

Sorting Your Data

You would probably want to sort (alphabetize) the contacts either by their email addresses or by their last names.

In Excel you would sort the last names by clicking on the C above the names, whereupon the C column will change color, indicating that it's been selected. Now, on the toolbar, click on Data>Sort and choose the option for having all the other columns follow the sorting of Column C.

When you're ready to put an email address in the To: field of a new message, click on its cell and copy it with Ctrl+C. (Or right-click the cell and choose Copy.) Then paste it into the To: field.

To select multiple addresses for the BCC: field, mouse-select them all before doing Ctrl+C.

PCs with Floppy Drives Are Hard to Find

Lynn Scott wrote that she became the trustee of an estate, many of whose financial documents had been saved on 3.5-inch floppy disks in years past. Lynn says now, however, she can't find a computer with a floppy disk drive.

Well, USB-connectible floppy drives can be bought for less than $20 and plugged into any modern-day PC. We buy devices like this at Amazon.com.

Best Way to Store Important Documents?

This highlights a interesting point that all PC users should be thinking about: how to save important data so that it can be recovered in the future.

Since buying my first computer in 1977, I've saved data on audio cassette tapes, 5.25" and 3.5" floppies, Zip disks, Jaz disks, CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, flash memory sticks, and on various Internet sites. Beyond all that, tons of photos and home movies taken with various film cameras have been digitized for computer viewing.

Currently, I'm saving data to external hard and flash drives, along with storing lots of it online in Gmail and Google Docs (for free). I figure that keeping up with technological changes is going to be easier for Internet giants like Google than trying to do it on my own.

No matter what digital means you choose for storing records, some thought should be given to one of the world's oldest forms of maintaining data:
Paper.
Despite the fast-changing world of computerized data creation and maintenance, there are paper documents that have been around for centuries.

© Donald Ray Edrington – All Rights Reserved

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Don Edrington - Computer Columnist for The Californian and San Diego's North County Times

Senior Computer Tutor
Don Edrington

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