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WindowWalk Computer Education offers on-site courses and hourly training ranging from the basics to advanced "power user" features. We pride ourselves in making your computer education a fully personalized, comfortable, and convenient experience.

Visit on the web, send an email , or call 830-9336 to learn more about our effective software training or to give us your comments and suggestions.

Small Business Owners: WindowWalk Computer Education specializes in QuickBooks and Simply Accounting training to help make your and your tax preparer's task easier. Take advantage of our instructor's 20+ years of small business and personal accounting experience.

Accountants: Do you have any clients whose computer files are not in the best shape? We can help. Our training is customized for each client's needs and we work directly with you to make sure the books are maintained to your requirements.

Beginners: Our Windows Foundation course gives you all the basics you need to use your computer. Learn about the internet and email with us and raise your comfort level quickly to get you out exploring cyberspace on your own.

We want everyone to have a more comfortable experience with their computer. Call us today for a free assessment or consultation.

WindowWalk Computer Education is proud to serve you as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and a is member of:

Serving Seniors - A Resource of Dedicated Professionals
Metro Business Association
Centre for Women in Business

SURFIN' SAFARI

Some Useful and Interesting Web Sites

WHAT DOES IT DO?

IrfanView 3.98

This image viewer and editor is a longtime favorite and with good reason. IrfanView is simple, fast, and free for individual use. Upon installation, the program attempts to install two Google programs, but if you don't want them, you can choose to opt out. The program lets you open and edit images, as well as multiple media formats. You can cut and crop images, apply batch conversions, add, sharpen, or blur effects, create panoramas, and change color modes easily. The program continues to add support for an array of file formats and has plug-in support for most image, video, and sound formats, including MP3, AVI, audio CD, and WMA. The interface is far from fancy but should be easy enough for most users to figure out. An IrfanView Thumbnails shortcut on the desktop offers an Explorer-like file tree that quickly displays all images in a particular folder. Though IrfanView does what it does well, it's not going to replace a major paint program. IrfanView wraps a nice set of features in an image viewer in a free, compact download.

Free download

SAY WHAT!?

Sound Like a Computer Wizard

HARDWARE HELPER

Top 5 Web Cams

The Logitech QuickCam Fusion's sleek design and impressive software bundle make it one of the best Webcams we've seen.

Specs: 1,300,000 pixels, Logitech Video Effects, Drivers & Utilities, QuickCapture

This Webcam provides plenty of settings options for users while providing solid video, photo, and instant-messaging performance.

Specs: Logitech QuickCam

Creative Live Cam Voice

With beefed-up audio features, the Creative Live Cam Voice is one of the best overall cameras for IM and Internet-based voiceconferencing.

Specs: 1,300,000 pixels, Muvee autoProducer, Orb with OrbSecure, Yahoo! Messenger, Creative Photo Manager, Creative Photo Calendar, Creative WebCam Center, Creative Advanced Video FX, SightSpeed, Gray

This Webcam provides great software and good video and picture quality for amateurs, but more-advanced users may crave additional settings and editing options.

Specs: ArcSoft Multimedia Email, ArcSoft PhotoImpression, Drivers & Utilities, ArcSoft Collage Creator, ArcSoft VideoImpression, Yahoo! Messenger

CNET Rating: 7.0 Very Good

The Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 is a well-rounded Webcam with ample adjustability and a solid software package, making it a good option for users at all levels of expertise.

Specs: Drivers & Utilities, Logitech QuickCam

SOFTWARE SEARCH

Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2007

For more than two centuries, Encyclopedia Britannica has been a trusted reference source for scholars. The $49 Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2007 packs volumes of trustworthy information into one application that's friendly to use, especially for text articles. Since last year Britannica has fixed most of the aspects of the 2006 Britannica suite that irritated us. Once you open the program, Encyclopedia Britannica 2007 makes you choose content for either adults, tweens up to age 14, or elementary school kids. The Change Library button lets you switch at any time. Britannica 2007 opens to a browser-like page with back and forward arrows and an alphabetical list of topics on the left.

Each age-appropriate version of Britannica 2007 organizes data similarly. Enter a query into the search field, and Britannica attempts to guess what you're typing. As you look up subjects, their related articles, images, and videos stack up along the left, and Britannica arranges results within central tabs so that you can interrupt lookups, then revisit them later. We like that you can add bookmarks and jot and save notes within encyclopedia entries. Also helpful is the BrainStormer, which maps topics in spiderweb-like forms to display the subjects connected to your query.

The expertise of Encyclopedia Britannica, whose authors include Nobel laureates, is apparent in the depth of articles about history, mathematics, science, and the arts. The DVD packs in everything from the print volumes in addition to some 8,000 extra articles and another 8,000 Book of the Year articles. Unlike with Wikipedia, you shouldn't need to second-guess the truth of Britannica's words; however, given the 24/7 nature of the wired world of information, Britannica's resources for current events can be lacking.

Britannica puts text immediately at your fingertips, while Encarta emphasizes images and videos. Encyclopedia Britannica 2007 may be less flashy than Encarta, but it feels more scholarly, and you can trust that its articles are well vetted. Despite Britannica's monthly updates, however, you may need to search through online news or consult the Web-based open-source Wikipedia to explore today's events. Still, we find Britannica 2007 to be a great reference tool for curious readers, especially for mature school children who are serious about homework.

CNET Rating: 7.0 Very Good

Read the full review, click here.

WEB WARY

Viruses, Hoaxes, and Scams

Email Chain Letters

Chain letters generally involve getting "luck" or money by sending out the letters and "bad luck" if you do not. They are easily recognizable as the same letters that 50 years ago traveled the paper mails and now have moved to the more modern medium of electronic mail. They claim all manner of warnings and dire notices of doom and gloom for your computer systems or for some poor soul somewhere, all of which will be saved if you just send this message on to all of your friends. Enter the world of the Internet chain letter. In the years before computers, chain letters were common and were sent by U.S. mail and required a stamp. This limited the extent to which chain letters were passed on, because sending them involved a real, up front cost in time to type the letters and money for stamps. The fact that most chain letters asked you to send a dollar to the top ten people in the chain caused most people to ignore them.

Today, with the click of a button, a message can be forwarded to hundreds of people at no apparent cost to the sender. If each of the so-called good Samaritans sends the letter on to only ten other people (most send to huge mailing lists), the ninth resending results in a billion e-mail messages, thereby, clogging the network and interfering with the receiving of legitimate e-mail messages. Factor in the time lost reading and deleting all these messages and you see a real cost to organizations and individuals from these seemingly innocuous messages.

Science Fair Project Chain (or Geography Project or Sociology Project)

This is for a science fair project. If you could do this I would
appreciate it! DON'T ASK, JUST PLAY...it's for kids!
Copy and paste this letter into a new email (PLEASE do NOT hit
"Forward"), then read the list of names. If your name is on the list,
put a star * next to it. If not, then add your name (in alphabetical
order, put no star.) Send it to ten people and send it back to the
person who sent it to you. Put your name in the subject box! You'll see
what happens - it's kind of cool! Please keep this going. Don't MESS it
up, please!

Aaron*, Alan, Amanda, Andrew, Ann, Annettee, Brad, Carmella, Carol, Cheryl, Cindy, Daron, Dave, Deanna, Debi, Dianna*, Donna, Frank, Hank, Helen*, Irene*, Jacob, Joe, John, Judy, Julia, Julie, Kandy, Kathie, Kay, Kina, Laura*, Linda***, Liz, Lynn, Mary*, Mary Jo, Martha, Maureen, Melissa, Micheal, Nancy, Nita, Pat, Patty*, Paula, Phil, Rickey, Rusty, Sandy, Stacie, Stephanie, Susan, Susie, Tamara, Tammy, Tina, Tirrell*, Tracie, Verlann, Von, Yolanda, Val

Cheryl Xxxxxx
Special Education Administrative Secretary
Mahomet-Seymour CUSD #3
586-4947

If this were truly a Science Fair project, there would be a way to send information back to the student doing the project and some kind of an ending date so it is not forwarded forever. This is just another chain that you are expected to send to everyone you know. There are several variations of this email (we receive one every couple of months) and they have been circulating since the mid-90's.

Read more about email chain letters - click here.

To read more about viruses and scams, click here.

ASK TIZZIE

From the Email Files of our Resident Computer Monster

Question:

I have recently been getting messages from my AVG Anti-Virus program that it will expire in January. It seems that it will not be a free program any more. Is this true? Do I now have to pay for AVG?

Tizzie's Answer:

I am happy to tell you that it is not true. AVG Anti-Virus will still be available free for private (non-commercial) use in the new version. They have made some major changes to the program and will not be supporting or issuing updates for earlier versions as of January 15, 2007. You need to upgrade to the AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 version before that date. If you have registered your program with Grisoft, you will receive a notification through your program that you need to upgrade. Options available include one to continue using the free edition. However, they are in business to sell internet security software, so the free edition may not be "front and center" for you. Read carefully and make sure you make the right choice.

If you have not been able to find the free edition option or did not receive a notice from AVG regarding the upgrade, you can download the new program yourself. Follow the instructions below to get the new program and continue using one of the best internet security programs you can get.

Click this link or copy and paste it into your browser's address bar:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Once on AVG's free edition web page, click the AVG Anti-Virus Free link at the top of the page. (You can also try the free AVG Anti-Spyware program for additional protection). Scroll down a little on the new web page and click the orange Download Free Version button. Yet another new web page opens, scroll down a little again and click the first file under Windows: avg75free_430a848.exe . Follow the download instructions. Make sure you know where you saved the file so you can install it.

When the download is finished, close your web browser and navigate to the AVG file. Double-click the file and follow the installation instructions. The program should pretty much install itself but if you have any problems with it, feel free to call us at WindowWalk and we can "walk" you through it.

To read more about the new AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, click here.

TIPS AND TRICKS

Create an Animated Holiday Card in PowerPoint

We'd like to give you a fun gift for the season - a free lesson we found at one of our favorite web sites - InformIT.com. The directions are clear and easy-to-follow and PowerPoint is easy enough to use, even without experience, that we hope this will be a fun and educational project for you.

Show off to your family and friends this year with a really cool animated email card.

Click the link below or copy and paste it into your browswer:

http://www.informit.com/guides/content.asp?g=msoffice&seqNum=115&rl=1

Have a very Happy Holiday season everyone!