…watch this space

Think of it like trying to have a conversation with some form China who doesn’t speak English. Just for one moment, let’s assume that you don’t speak Chinese (even if you do!). You won’t get too far. What you need is get a translator to converts the conversation backwards and forwards. And this is what you can do with Outlook and Entourage.

In this case the file formats are talking different languages and are therefore not compatible. The solution is to get another piece of email software involved which can work with both formats and use it to translate. The one we are going t use is Mozilla Sea Monkey. Mozilla created Firefox which you may have heard of. Sea-Monkey is their all-in-one application. It is not only a browser (the software for surfing the web) but it also has an email function and that’s what we are going to use. We can dump it all later once it has translated everything for us.

With the right procedure, it is very easy to get your mail from Outlook to Entourage (i.e. from the PC to a Mac), and keep all the attachments intact. The directions below apply to Windows 2000 on the PC and OSX 10.3 (Panther) and above on the Mac.

1. On the PC, install Mozilla Sea-Monkey and make sure the email option is installed as well (i.e. not browser only).

2. In its Mail application, select Tools, Import, and then select the Mail radio button. Select Outlook from the next dialog box and your Outlook email will be imported (email will remain within the correct folders).

3. In Windows 2000, your mail folders will be created as files located in Documents and Settings/username/Application Data/Mozilla/Profiles folder somewhere (there may be a few more levels under this). The files we want have no extension. Add a .mbox extension to these.

4. Copy the .mbox files to the desktop of your Mac (using a network is easier, although burning them on to a CD will work too). For easier management, add them to a desktop folder called ‘Imported mail’ or something similar. Files with a .mbox extension will be shown with a mailbox icon.

5. On the Mac, drag each .mbox icon (i.e. each folder you used in Outlook) from the desktop to Entourage or its icon in the Dock, and click Import on the dialog box that appears.

6. Repeat step 5 for each .mbox file you want to import into Entourage.

This procedure will successfully move your email from Outlook to Entourage on the Mac. To move calendars, tasks and contacts you can use a PDA —I have no experience with doing this, but I’m sure a method would exist somewhere.

Good luck!

It tends to happen on OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) machines – that is those that have been produced by some anonymous factory somewhere, with Vista and all settings pre-installed. It is then badged with any one of dozens of global brands and sold to you by your local dealer.

Why it happens

Most pre-installed OEM Vista Computers have certain tasks set to repeat themselves, at a pre-set time interval. While most are really useful, the temptation for the original equipment manufacturer is always to squeeze a bit of commission out of you by getting you to buy other stuff from ‘commercial partners’ of theirs, through affiliate deals.  You can try all the obvious stuff, but they don’t want you to get rid of it, so they hide it away..

What sort of pop-ups are usual?

It could be the annoying Easy Internet Sign-Up pop-up which pops up every half an hour, when you are connected to the internet, or the pop up for extended warranty programs or virus protection some such thing!

How to get rid of it

You may not find anything in the add remove programs. And even if you delete the program folder, you may still find it annoying you !

The place to look for is under HIDDEN SCHEDULED TASKS !

Log in as an Administrator > Start Menu > Control Panel > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler.

On RHS, Under Actions > View > Select Show Hidden Task.

Search for the task under Active Tasks and double click on it. A new window will open.

On the RHS you will see the option to Disable the Task ! For example, if its the Easy Internet Sign-Up pop up which is irritating you, you will want to disable “InternetServiceOffers” ! You can disable any unwanted or annoying task this way.

…You have to wire it up, install the software, connect it to the printer, get it connected to the web, make the email work, sort out connection to wi-fi, make sure the virus protection is both the right sort and that it works. 

After you have plugged all the wires in the right holes, you probably want to eradicate all those stupid pop-up screens that have been put there to frighten you into buying all sorts of things you don’t need and generally put it into a condition where you can, forever after, switch it on and just use it without any undue frustration.

Call me. I  will do all this for you. I have put together a special set-up package for new computers which will sort all these things out, leaving you to switch on and use your new computer without feeling like you wish you’d never bought it in the first place!

You might as well sign up for every free course going – ask at your local library. You will learn a lot, but some of it will be lessons in ‘not quite what you want’ on a machine that is not quite like your own  - and the teacher is never there when something goes wrong at home.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could call someone up who would just talk you through the problem, solve it and set you on your way? Maybe they could pop over and sort it out personally and show you on your own machine. 

This is what I would call a ‘Computer Buddy’. For a small fee I will be available on the end of the phone and/or to occasionally visit to handle any problems you may encounter.

Just call to sort out problems over the phone

I have been test-driving this concept on my father ever since he bought a computer about fifteen years ago. He lives about a hundred miles away and so most of it is done on the phone.

He probably calls me once or twice a month and from time to time I go over there and take him through one thing or another. Typically the phone will go and he will start the conversation with “This bloody computer…” Then we will talk through and solve things like:

• Internet connections
• Is his ISP ripping him off
• Extracting his address book onto stickers for Christmas Cards
• Getting his iPhone to work on holiday but not cost him a fortune in roaming charges
• Problems with his router
• Getting his email to work
• Stopping Spam
• Getting online services to work
• Digital photography
• Putting pictures on the web
• Editing video
• Lots of other things

Call me on 07017 343434 and I can talk you through how I might be able to help you as a computer buddy.

I would ask for a £25 per month retainer for providing a seven days per week, 52 weeks per year service. The service allows for as many as one home visits per month and five calls per week. You can arrange payment for this through a credit or debit card by using the button below (not the one on the right hand side of the screen)

Computer courses tend to be a bit general. You usually take a course in a specific bit of software, split into beginner, intermediate and advanced sub-courses. But what if you just need to know how to e.g set up a letterhead in Word, sort out your auto signature, create an expenses sheets and put a small website together quickly without having to learn how to write code. It might be a pick ‘n’ mix of all sorts of things across all sorts of software.

Well there is no reason why you should not be able to cut a swathe across all these things. In fact it a good idea. There is an 80:20 dynamic to all this. 80% of what you need from any bit of software is available from 20% of its total functionality. It is a better  idea to decide what you need to get from a range of programs, draw a line round them all and learn how to those things.

You could set up your stationery in Word, create a gallery online for your relatives to look at the family snaps, set up some calendar  birthday reminders, to jog you into getting presents on time, whatever you want. You can tell me what you are trying to achieve, I can help you understand what is possible, then we can put a collection of things together and I will teach you how to do them. Whatever you want, you name it. 

In fact that just about covers it “You name it” and I will teach you how to do it and provide materials and backup in case you forget anything.

With thanks to my cousin Ali for this great idea. Ali is a teacher and, by all accounts, a very good one. So good, that she stopped being a teacher and now advises education authorities all over the country about implementing healthy food standards, not least in Yorkshire where she is based. 

By graphic design I am really referring to the arrangement of pictures and text into a format for printing. ‘How to Do: Graphic Design’ focuses on the software and button pushing skills needed to produce cards, flyers, brochures, posters and all the things I get to do for my children’s school fayre and the village fete and so on. There are interpretive skills you can bring to bear here, giving your creativity a platform to express itself. I can certainly give you a few pointers here, having taught graphic design to university undergraduates and having designed graphics for some of the biggest companies in the world.

In the professional world we use a range of tools, predominantly PhotoShop, Illustrator, Quark Xpress, InDesign and a few others. These tools have set the standard and pretty much all other graphic design tools are based on these, meaning that if you can use one, you can pretty much use them all. This makes it very easy for me to teach you how to use any set of graphic tools. In fact most computer’s come with some, if not all, of what you need to produce these sorts of things. If not, they are readily available as cheap or free options. The sort of progams you might have on your machine are MicroSoft Publisher, Apple iWork, Paint, PaintShop, PhotoShop (and PhotoShop Essentials), Aperture and many others.

After a few pointers and a bit of practice you will be able to produce your own newsletters, personal business cards, flyers, posters, menus, letterheads …in fact just about anything that gets produced as printed material. All you have to do is either print it from your own printer or take it along to anyone of  thousands of high street, or online professional printing companies to become a ‘published’ designer.

…and there you have it!

Call me on 07017 343434 to learn How to Do: Graphic Design.

Audio editing on a computer is where you use software to edit, record, mix, apply effects and convert audio between different formats. You can produce a CD to listen to on your hi-fi, you can make files for use on an MP3 layer or to use as sound tracks on videos. Once made, you can place the files anywhere from CDs and DVDs to the internet.

Some computers already have audio editing software installed. On the Mac, Garage Band is a particularly good tool for music creation and editing. However, if not, then you might want to consider the following digital audio editor software packages:

Audacity Free Digital Audio Editor. This is the most common and one of the best bits of the free audio software around. It will work on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux.

Sound Forge Range Of Digital Audio Editors Sound Forge are a well respected name in the world of digital audio editing and offer 3 digital audio editor software packages which are Sound Forge Audio Studio, CD Architect 5 and Sound Forge 8. Possibly a bit advanced for the beginner, but very good.

The affordable price of digital video camcorders and the ever increasing power of the home PC have made high quality digital video editing readily accessible. Indeed, the last few years have seen an explosion in the field of digital video. However, unlike many hobbies, the world of digital video can seem confusing and technically complex. The good news is, that digital video is really quite straightforward, if you know how.

There’s a wealth of information available on the internet and plenty of books on the subject. But for the novice, a steadily paced introduction with a tutor personally showing you how to work it out while you remain free to ask questions as we go. I can provide the novice with a comprehensive introduction to the world of digital video and the associated jargon. More importantly, it may just save you making a very expensive and time-consuming mistake (or two).

It’s easy to see how first time digital video users become frustrated by the technical jargon frequently used in video editing. I believe it is best to take intuitive steps through the digital video process. From buying the right camera and PC equipment, through to shooting techniques, editing and final production. At no stage should you feel frustrated by overly complex explanations.

With this course under your belt you should be well on your way to mastering the techniques and you’ll soon be creating digital video and making your home movies enjoyable and watchable for everyone!

Websites can do many things. You can do your banking, buy your books (and anything else), pay your bills, read the paper and find out about almost anything you want. It all sounds like science fiction – lots of science and bit of a horror story! But, like a lot of computery things, a lot of what seems complex is actually the techno-babble that computer people seem intent on using. The truth is that most websites, do not have much complexity. These days you don’t need to go near code and all most sites are there to do is present images and words, ideally, in a stylish fashion.

If you want to learn how to any of these things I can show you. I have built online banks, online shops, bill paying sites and many, many information sites. Some of the complicated ones would probably take years to teach, but a straightforward website can be designed and built with less confusion than you might imagine.

For a bit of fun, call me on 07017 343434 and for free, I will tell you how to create a ‘Five Minute Web Page’*

*It won’t win any awards, but it will be a web page!