I have been looking around the internet to find some basic publishing software for home use to make cards, etc. plus some basic photo editing software. There seems to be plenty of free software available, but when I download and double-click to install the packages a message appears saying that I should not install the software unless I trust the source. Of course I have no idea whether the software is safe or not, so could you advise how to tell whether the software is legitimate or potentially malicious? Also, can you recommend any free software for my needs? (more…)

When working in Excel 2007, I often find the need to freeze the top row of the spreadsheet which contains the table headings. This allows the spreadsheet to be freely scrolled while keeping the top row frozen at the top of the table so that you can easily reference the headings. This is very easy to achieve in Excel 2007. Go to the “View” tab on the ribbon and select “Freeze Panes” > “Freeze Top Row”. In addition, you can also freeze the first column and also particular panes within the worksheet.

There are a few problems which I have encountered when using Internet Explorer 8. First, it occasionally locks-up for no apparent reason. Sometimes this requires me to restart the computer, but other times it will come good with the message “Your computer has lost the lease to its IP Address 10.0.0.1”. Internet Explorer also locks-up when I am viewing certain websites and a prompt appears asking me to download and install Adobe Flash Player. When I activate the download either the computer locks-up immediately or when the Adobe download web page appears. In any case, I am unsure why I need Adobe Flash Player anyway. Another problem is that I am unable to clear the in the Google Toolbar. The “Clear History” button at the bottom of the list has disappeared so I am unsure whether this can be done. Finally, an unrelated question regarding a strange keyboard problem. When I press the SHIFT key for double-quotation marks the @ sign appears instead, and vice-versa. I have tried a different keyboard but the same problem happens. The computer is running Windows XP Service Pack 3 with McAfee Antivirus. (more…)

A very neat feature of Word 2010 is the ability to take screenshots from within Word. This is particularly useful for those who are writing articles and need the ability to take and insert a screenshot of another program into a Word document. This function is available in the Word Ribbon by going to the “Insert” tab and then clicking the “Screenshot” button.

My keyboard no longer types the letters shown on the keyboard and other letters appear in response to keystrokes. This suddenly happened when typing an email so I am unsure how this was caused. The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)