Wi-Fi Hotspot

A lot of people ask us what a Wi-Fi Hotspot is.

All this means is a place where you can log onto the Internet either free or for a small charge.

Many of the large chain of coffee shops and fast food restaurants have Wi-Fi hotspots for you to log onto, all you need is a laptop or other Internet device to log on.

Recommended Downloads - Foxit Reader

Staying on the PDF theme this week, we have a download for you from a company called Foxit.

There are a few different ways of reading PDF files but some of them, Adobe's Acrobat reader for instance is quite a large download and can take more space than needed to do the job.

The answer for us is Foxit Reader, its a small download and very fast to load when opening a PDF file, and like always this download is free.

To get Foxit Reader please click here.

Handy QuickTip - Saving a document as a PDF

If you have the lastest version of Microsoft Word you can save you document as a PDF easily by using the save as command and selecting .PDF from the drop down menu underneath the box where you name you file.

What is a PDF?

PDF files or to give them there long name portable document files are a way of displaying a document on any computer while still retaining the format of the document.

Created by Adobe the format can be used on all computers providing they have a piece of software known as a PDF reader installed. On such reader is Adobe Acrobat Reader which usually comes pre-installed on many computers.

Recommended Downloads - Dropbox

With most of our lives going digital nowadays, its always nice to be able to backup some information to the Internet so you can retrieve it from any computer, anywhere.

This is where Dropbox comes in.
Dropbox is an online storage website that allows you to upload 2GB of your data for free, there are various options for more storage which costs more.

All you do is sign up for a free account and you can upload your data immediately, you can then sign in anywhere and retrieve your information on any computer, you can even upload files from any other computer too.

You can download DropBox from Dropbox.com

Handy QuickTip - Undo

You may have just typed something into a document and want to undo the action quickly, press CTRL and Z for a shortcut to this action.

CAPTCHA

You may have signed up for a service on the Internet such as a web mail service and at the end of the form you fill in you will see some strange characters for you to type in - this technique is known as CAPTCHA

Basically what this does is it makes sure that the person typing in the details is a "real person" and not a computer filling in the form. This cuts down on junk emails and false account setups on web sites.

You may also see these symbols on web sites where you can make comments.

Bookmarking

Adding bookmarks in a browser is a great way to save your favourite sites, in Internet Explorer this feature is called Favourites.

To quickly add a boomark when visiting a web site press CTRL and D.

Handy QuickTip - F3

Pressing F3 will open a search box allowing you to search the files on your computer, this option works only whilst viewing the desktop.

Creating a new folder

If you would like to create a folder to place documents or photographs in just right click where you want the folder to be created and select NEW then Folder, the folder will created and will allow you to rename it.

Recommended Downloads - Picassa

Windows already has a built in system for organising your photographs, especially the new versions, but you may like to try another piece of software.

If you like to edit you photographs before you store them, Picasa has tools to do this as well, you can also add tags to them so you know where they where taken.

Picasa is a great piece of software to edit and show off you treasured photographs, to download Picasa, click here.

Handy QuickTip - Quicker Startup

If you are using a laptop, instead of turning the computer off when you have finished using it, just close the lid, the computer will go into sleep mode and when you re-open the lid the computer will start where you left off.

Recommended Web Sites - Vevo.com

If you like listening to music and also like watching music videos, then this weeks recommended web site is suited to you.
This week we are recommending www.vevo.com

Vevo is very much like YouTube.com but is based around music videos, the videos are high quality both in sound and video quality.

To visit Vevo click here.

Handy QuickTip - Print

If you would like to print a web page or document press CTRL and P

Apps

You may have heard the term "apps" being used recently. Basically and "app" is a term used for an application for instance you could say that the word processor you use is an "app".
Apps are mainly very small pieces of software that are set to do a basic task.
The term "app" is not a new term and is an abbreviation now used by mainly mobile phone manufacturers to describe small items of software that can be installed on the phone.
Apps are also now starting to become more popular on computers.