May 2008 Newsletter
Browsers - Organize Bookmarks In Safari
by Alan Phelps

The Windows version of Safari, Apple’s formerly Mac-only browser, continues to adapt to its new home with bug fixes and tweaks. While it’s no browser revolution, Safari makes an intuitive alternative to Internet Explorer, especially for users familiar with Apple software, such as iTunes.

Like any good browser, Safari keeps track of favorite Web sites in the form of bookmarks. Safari handles bookmarks a bit differently, and you might think better than some other browsers. Try it free at www.apple.com/safari and see for yourself.

Import & Export

Your copy of Safari likely already sports a few folders’ worth of bookmarks. Apple includes some popular sites to get you started, and the program also automatically imports the bookmarks it finds in other browsers installed on your system. These appear as folders with names such as Imported IE Favorites.

If you want to reimport an updated set of bookmarks or import bookmarks from another source, click the File menu and choose Import Bookmarks. Browse to the file that holds the bookmarks. Depending on the program that created the bookmark file, it probably has an .HTM or .HTML extension. If you’re not sure how to export bookmarks from another browser, check that browser’s Help files.

To export bookmarks in Safari, click File and choose Export Bookmarks. Browse to the location where you want to store the bookmark file and click Save. Safari creates a new file with an .HTML extension in the spot you’ve chosen. You can then import that file into another browser. If you open the file directly, you’ll see a Web page with all of your bookmarks visible as hyperlinks.

Organize

To view and arrange your bookmarks, click the button with the open book icon on the far left of the main window’s bookmarks toolbar. A column appears on the left side of the browser window with two parts: Collections and Bookmarks.

If you’re just starting out with Safari, most of the default bookmarks can be found in the Bookmarks Bar collection. These bookmarks show up on the bookmarks toolbar at the top of the browser screen, and it’s the best place to put frequently visited pages.

By default, the Bookmarks Bar collection includes two folders: News and Popular. You can click the arrow next to these folders to see the bookmarks inside. Bookmarks can be dragged from one folder to another. To create a new folder, click the Bookmarks menu and choose Add Bookmark Folder. A new untitled folder appears within whatever folder you’re currently viewing.

Next to each folder that contains items in the Bookmarks Bar collection, you’ll see a checkbox in a column called Auto-Click. This setting determines exactly what happens when you click the folder name as it appears in the Bookmarks Bar in the main Safari window. When Auto-Click is not selected, the folder behaves much like any other folder: Click it and you’ll see a list of the bookmarks inside. You can then click the bookmark corresponding to the page you want to see.

When Auto-Click is selected, clicking that folder on the bookmarks toolbar automatically opens all of the bookmarks within simultaneously. You’ll see a bunch of tabs open, each loading up one of the pages listed inside that folder. This is a good option for a collection of pages you read every day.

Pick & Choose

Safari does not display all bookmarks on the main browser menu bar. Only bookmarks stored in the Bookmarks Menu collection will appear on that menu bar. Bookmarks not stored in a collection, such as Bookmarks Bar or the Bookmarks Menu, can only be found in the bookmarks side panel when you click the Bookmarks button.

The Safari way of doing things is logical enough once you know what’s going on. For quick access to a particular bookmark, move it to the bar or menu. Less-frequently used bookmarks can be left in the main bookmark repository. Either way, your favorite sites remain close at hand. 

Reprinted with permission from PC Today. Visit http://www.smartcomputing.com/groups to learn what Smart Computing can do for you and your user group!

Smart Computing Tips & Fun Facts

Cell Phone Charger: Your cell phone charger will heat up when plugged in even if you aren't charging your phone because it's still drawing electricity from the outlet. It's not really dangerous, but it is a waste of electricity. Some estimates say that as much as 95% of the power drawn by cell phone chargers annually is wasted. It's best to unplug your charger when your phone is not charging.

Adjust For Backlighting: Bright light behind a subject-from a window, a bright blue sky, or car headlights-misleads the camera into exposing for the light source, sacrificing detail in the subject. Your options are: 1) artistically underexpose the subject or overexpose the background (creating a silhouette effect); 2) rearrange where you position your subject so that the subject isn't backlit; or 3) use your flash. If possible, also bounce a removable flash off a ceiling or wall so the fill-in flash doesn't look too garish, and diffuse the light with a diffuser, available at any camera store. You can also diffuse the light with your nylons (really).

Sit Close & Sit Tall:  When using your mouse, one of the worst things you can do is slouch while sitting in your chair. Slouching causes you to sit too far from your PC so you have to extend your arm further and reach up to control your mouse. You'll feel less stress on your back and your arm, wrist, and hand if you sit tall in your chair, close enough to your computer table or desk so the natural curvature of your arm places your hand right on your mouse. You'll likely need to turn your wrist out a bit to operate your mouse, which isn't ideal, so you might want to experiment with positions.

Reprinted with permission from PC Today. Visit http://www.smartcomputing.com/groups to learn what Smart Computing can do for you and your user group!

Help Wanted

CRUG strives to offer the best in computer education. To do this we need dedicated volunteers.

We always are interested in members who can devote some of their time to their computer organization.
VOLUNTEER today
for a job with CRUG

Your participation is IMPERATIVE

Volunteer Positions available:

Board of Director Assistants
Instructors
Class Registration
Refreshment Committee

Presidents Report
by Dean Christianson
president@crug.com

No report at this time.

Protect Microsoft Office 2007 Files
by Lynn Page

If you are concerned with the security of your files Microsoft Office 2007 can help. You can choose to add password protection or encryption. I password and encrypt all of my sensitive files.

Password protection adds a degree of security to documents. If you aren’t worried about files on your computer you may still want to password protect them before sending as an email attachment. Encrypting a file adds additional security.

Since many people use Word more than the other Office applications, I will refer to the Office files as Word documents. But files from the other Office applications can be password protected and encrypted too.

Encrypt a Document

To  encrypt and password protect an open document, click the Office button and point to Prepare. From the Prepare menu click Encrypt Document. In the Encrypt Document dialog box, type a password in the Password box and click OK. In the Confirm the password in the Reenter password box and click OK. Finally save the document to save the password.

Use strong passwords combining uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Your passwords should be 8 or more characters in length. Be sure to remember your password. If you forget it you cannot open your document. I store all of my passwords in a single encrypted and password protected Access database. That way all I have to remember is one password. With that, if I forget another password I can look it up.

Office 2007 uses AES, Advanced Encryption Standard encryption and may cause problems if you email the file. Older versions of Word will not open AES encrypted files. If recipients with an older version have downloaded the Microsoft Compatibility Pack they will be able to open the files.

Protect your Document from Modification

If you want to share a document but don’t want others to make changes you can set a password to modify it. Click the Microsoft Office Button and then click Save As. In the lower right of the Save As dialog box click Tools and then click General Options.

Here you can password protect the document in another manner. If you want reviewers to enter a password before they can view the document, type a password in the Password to open box. If you want reviewers to be able to open the document without a password but require a password before saving changes, type a password in the Password to modify box. This doesn’t use encryption.

 You can assign both passwords, one to access the document and one to let specific reviewers modify it. Be sure each password is different and email the passwords in a separate message. Or better yet provide passwords verbally.

If you don't want to bother with password protection but are concerned reviewers might accidentally modify the file, select the Read-only recommended check box. When they open the file, they are asked if they want to open the file as read-only.

Once you have set all options click OK. Retype the passwords when prompted to confirm them, and click OK. Finally in the Save As dialog box, click Save.

Change a Password

To change the password of a document, open it using the current password. Click the Microsoft Office Button and then click Save As. In the lower right of the Save As dialog box click Tools and then click General Options. Select the existing password, and then type a new password and click OK. When prompted, retype the new password to confirm it, and then click OK. Finally click Save.

Delete a Password

To remove password protection or delete the password of a document, open it using the current password. Click the Microsoft Office Button and then click Save As. In the lower right of the Save As dialog box click Tools and then click General Options. Select the existing password, and then hit the Delete key on the keyboard and click OK. Finally click Save.

Security when Opening a File

Microsoft Office 2007 also helps protect you when opening documents. This is important when you receive a file as an email attachment. It also applies to files you receive any other way.

Documents automatically open with potential security risks disabled. You see the gist of the document and can decide whether to enable any macros or other features or not. The Message Bar appears when a file with a potential security risk in it is opened and the potential security risk is disabled. The message in the bar displays the security shield icon and explains what has been disabled. The most common messages are about macros being disabled, but you might see some about active content.

Clicking the Options button on the Message Bar provides additional information about the potential security risk.

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NovaPDF Professional V 5.4 Review
by Lynn Page

Introduction

novaPDF by Softland allows you to create documents in PDF file format, by simply selecting the Print command from nearly all applications. The novaPDF Printer is a virtual print driver for Windows that creates PDF files instead of printing on paper. This lets you share documents easily, independent of the application in which they were created. The documents can be opened and read in any PDF viewer.

novaPDF is available in three editions for desktop and server uses:

  • novaPDF Lite Desktop provides the functionality of a printer driver, for creation of searchable PDF files. It provides predefined or customize page settings and a resolution between 72 dpi to 2400 dpi.  
  • novaPDF Standard Desktop adds options to compress graphics to reduce PDF file size, define and add watermarks, set page margins, zoom, embed fonts and create private profiles.
  • novaPDF Professional Desktop adds encryption and the ability to control what viewers can do with the PDF file. It also allows you to create PDF links and add bookmarks based on headings in the printed document. novaPdf can automatically send the PDF file via email.
  • The novaPDF Server editions add networking capabilities.

The novaPDF editions range from $19.95 to $39.95 and are available by download from the novapdf.com web site. Prior to licensing a "created with" notice is printed at the bottom of the PDF file.

Overview

novaPDF is one of the available PDF converters. I have used Adobe Acrobat 7, Microsoft Office 2007 publish to PDF and two other PDF applications, one of which is a PDF printer.

I have novaPDF Professional Version 5.4 and found it is a straightforward, reliable and economical way to produce PDF files. Downloading and installation are simple and quick. Figuring out how to enter my licensing data took longer.  After purchasing novaPDF you receive a license key. To register the license you need to go to Control Panel and then Printers or directly to Printers in Vista. Right click on the novaPDF printer and select Properties. In the novaPDF Properties dialog box select the About tab and click the Register button.  Then input your Registration name and key and click OK.

After installation you’re ready to print/convert to PDF. Almost any program that can print through the Windows printer interface can print to PDF. This is how novaPDF converts your files to PDF.  I printed from Microsoft Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Publisher, and Internet Explorer. I printed reports in Access, a selection from an Excel spreadsheet, mail messages and the list of contacts from Outlook and complete files from PowerPoint, Word and Publisher as PDF files without any problems. It truly was as simple as using the Print command and selecting the novaPDF printer. Creating PDF files from Internet Explorer took a little time. The difficulty was not with novaPDF but with my security settings on Internet Explorer 7. To print with novaPDF, I had to turn protected Mode Off.   I had no difficulty printing PDF files from Safari web browser. I also printed photos to a PDF file directly from Windows Explorer with Vista’s print pictures function.

You will need a PDF viewer like Adobe’s Reader to view your PDF files after conversion. novaPDF, as a printer, creates the files but does not display or read them.

Features

I looked at several of the features that make novaPDF more than a simple print/conversion tool. It really lets you take advantage of many features offered with PDF files. You can choose a default folder in which you save all of your PDFs or do as I do and specify a location for each individual file. After the PDF is created and saved, it opens in the default PDF viewer. novaPDF offers options for creating the PDF file, including predefined and custom paper size, resolution from 72 to 2400 dpi, portrait and landscape orientation, scale, image compression, font embedding and PDF security.

Searchable

Your PDF files are fully searchable. You can search and extract text from the files with Adobe Reader or another PDF viewer.

Bookmarks

novaPDF can detect headings in the document and add bookmarks in the PDF file. You have to define the text attributes for the document headings. This means that you need to define the font, size, style, and color. This might not seem difficult but with all of the neat themes in Office 2007 it was time consuming. With my older documents which used various sizes of Arial with bold and italic as headings it was easy to set bookmarks.

You select and set novaPDF’s options/features in printer properties. To set bookmarks on the bookmarks tab check the Enable bookmark detection check box. Checking allow multiline bookmarks allows detection of bookmarks on consecutive lines. The list view shows predefined bookmarks. The Add button lets you define and add a new bookmark at the end of the list. This is where you need to define and add the text properties of your document headings. Modify an existing bookmark with the Edit button, the Copy button puts a copy of the selected definition at the end of the list and the Delete button removes the selected definition from the list.

Security

You can secure your PDF documents using 40-bit or 128-bit encryption and control access with passwords for opening, printing, copying text and graphics or editing the PDF files.

Embed Fonts

To ensure portability novaPDF can embed fonts in the PDF file. You can choose to embed only font subsets and reduce PDF file size. If you use characters not in the standard character set, this is an important step. That way special characters are included in the PDF file.

Compression

novaPDF can compress the generated PDF files with zip compression. Images can be compressed using JPEG compression, down sampled or converted to grayscale. You choose a compression level for all of the compression methods.

Print Preferences

The Printing Preferences dialog box is where you specify novaPDF settings. All of the options you need to control the features I have mentioned and all other novaPDF features are grouped on tabs.

On the Page tab you select a page size and orientation, set the resolution and scale. The Graphics tab lets you to compress, down sample or convert text and images to reduce the PDF file size. Use the Fonts tab to embed fonts in the PDF file. The Document tab controls settings for PDF document information and how the PDF document will be opened by the PDF viewer. On the Security tab you set a level of encryption protected by a password restricting document permissions. Set automatic detection of visible links and customize their appearance in the PDF file on the Links tab. The Bookmarks tab is where you enable and specify how to detection bookmarks in the original document. You can add image watermarks on the PDF pages on the Watermarks tab. The Save tab is where you define options for saving the PDF file. Choose where to save the PDF file and if all PDF files will be automatically saved to the location or if you will select a save location each time.

To send the PDF file via email when it is generated enable the option, select delivery method and configure the email on the Email tab. Specify if the PDF file will be first compressed and the zip file attached to the email. You can use your default email program or specify one to use to email the file and configure the email.

Conclusions

If you don’t have a PDF creation application novaPDF is a good choice. You don't need to learn a complicated program. All you have to do is to click Print from an application and choose novaPDF to create PDF files. But if you need to use some of the features available for PDF files novaPDF can do that too. Add watermarks, set bookmarks, control file size with compression and set security parameters all within the print properties. You have options letting you modify paper size, print resolution, and page orientation. novaPDF’s ability to automatically detect links in a document and include them as clickable links in the PDF file is a useful feature.

So for the price you can’t beat novaPDF. Whether you just want to simply print/convert files to PDF or need more advanced features there is a version of novaPDF that should suit your needs. If you don’t have a PDF creation application you really need to consider the benefits.

Adobe PDF is a universal file format that preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of your document, regardless of the application, hardware and operating system. You don’t have to worry about losing all of the work you have put into formatting a document when you share it with friends or family. Your PDF files can be shared, viewed, and printed by anyone with a PDF viewer. Another benefit is that PDF files are compact. I looked at the size of the Word document that I generated for my novaPDF review and the resulting PDF file. The PDF version is less that 20% of the size of the word document.

Corel User Group Program
Discount for CRUG members

CRUG is registered with the Corel User Group Program. This provides our members a 40% discount on all full and upgrade software.

Visit www.corel.com to see the wide range of software.
For the discount code contact me at newsletter@crug.com .

O'Reilly User Group Program
Discount for CRUG members

CRUG is registered with the O’Reilly User Group Program. This provides our members a 30% discount on books from O'Reilly and their publishing partners, No Starch, Paraglyph, Pragmatic Bookshelf, SitePoint, and Syngress books.

Visit www.oreilly.com for a look at what they offer.
For the discount code contact me at newsletter@crug.com .

This and That or Things that May Interest You
by Lynn Page

Windows ReadyBoost with Vista

Adding system memory (RAM) is a good way to improve your computer’s performance. More memory lets applications run without needing to access the hard drive. Windows Vista introduced a new concept in adding memory. Windows ReadyBoost lets you use a removable flash memory device, like a USB thumb drive, to improve system performance without physically adding RAM to the computer.

So the Windows ReadyBoost feature in Vista uses storage space on a removable media devices to speed up your computer. Connecting a ReadyBoost capable device opens the AutoPlay dialog offering the option to speed up your system using Windows ReadyBoost.

To take advantage of Windows ReadyBoost on your Vista computer plug the flash drive or other media device into your computer. This should automatically open AutoPlay. Then under General Options, click Speed up my system to display the Properties dialog box for the flash drive or device. Click the ReadyBoost tab, and click Use this device, and move the slider to choose how much available space on the drive to reserve for boosting system speed. Click OK.

You can remove the memory device without any loss of data or impact to the system, but performance returns to the level without the ReadyBoost device.

Gadgets in Windows Vista

Windows Sidebar is a vertical bar displayed on the side of the desktop. It contains mini-programs called gadgets, which offer information at a glance or provide easy access to frequently used tools.  I personally use a clock, slide show, and weather forecast.  Vista has built in gadgets or you can download additional gadgets.

To use gadgets the Windows Sidebar must be open. It should be on by default but can be found in the Accessories folder in All Programs. Clicking the plus “+” at the top of the Sidebar opens a window listing all available gadgets. Double click a gadget to add it to the Sidebar. If you don’t see a gadget for what you would like click Get more gadgets online in the lower right of the window. This opens the gadgets web site where you can browse and download popular gadgets. To remove a gadget, mouse over it and click the X in the menu that appears.

Many gadgets are customizable. Mouse over a gadget and click the small wrench symbol in the menu. This opens a window with customization options. You can even move a gadget from the Sidebar to the desktop. Just drag and drop it where you want.

Some Web Sites I have seen Recommended
by Lynn Page

This is a list of sites that I have seen recommended. Some I have visited and the others have been recommended by people I trust.

Photo Notes

The Photo Notes web site can create photo ecards resembling Polaroid. Select a photo to upload or pick one from the assorted list available on the site. Select a frame, a font and font color to use. Enter a message to appear at the bottom of the photo. Click Preview to view your card and then follow the instructions to email the card.
www.photo-notes.net

Tired of Sales Calls

This site lets you place your phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. So if you haven’t already registered and are tired of unwanted calls register now.
www.donotcall.gov

Junk your Junk Mail

This site is a postal mail equivalent of the do not call list. So to protect yourself from someone stealing all of those pre-approved credit card offers take a look. ProQuo lets you to opt out of unwanted mail. It requires registration but then lets you opt out of a number of mailing lists and have your name removed from online databases.
www.proquo.com
Don't forget to pay your dues if your membership expires this month.

A Note from the Editor
by Lynn Page

Save Your Old Inkjet Cartridges and Cell Phones for CRUG

We have signed up with a inkjet cartridge recycler. This has the benefit of saving cartridges from going to the landfill and also generating funds for CRUG. So please save your old cartridges and bring them to any meeting. We will collect the cartridges and cell phones. When we fill the box that was provided we return it and receive a check. If possible place the cartridges in the bag or container that your new ones came in. That way the contacts will not be damaged.

Newsletter Info

Each new newsletter will be available on the web site for a minimum of one month. After that time they will be available in abbreviated form in pdf format by request from the editor. So please read and print or copy any information you want from the newsletters in a timely fashion.

Don't forget that I would appreciate articles for the newsletter. Write something up and send it to me for inclusion in a futre newsletter.

Meeting Minutes

General meeting minutes are available online for review prior to the next meeting. They are available here or through the Minutes link on the home page.