Most digital cameras come with software that needs to be installed so you can connect the camera (usually via USB) to the computer to download photos. Some users may find this software handy, whereas other users may wish to use alternative software and would prefer not to install the bundled software. If you don’t want to install the software there is an easier way to download photos from the camera, provided the camera uses a memory card (which is a given for most modern cameras). Purchase a memory card reader which connects to the computer via USB. You can then take the memory card out of the camera and insert into the memory card reader and it will appear as another drive on your computer allowing you to copy the photos just like it was a USB flash drive, CD or any other type of drive. However, be aware that there are many types of memory cards available so ensure that you get a reader which is compatible with the type of card you are trying to read.

As discussed in the response to the first question in the column this week it is possible to customise the appearance of folders in Windows XP. If you right-click on a folder and select “Properties” the properties window for that folder will appear. Select the “Customize” tab which gives you various options for customizing the appearance of that folder, such as changing the picture which appears on a folder (when viewed in Thumbnail view) or changing the folder icon for other views (apart from Thumbnail view). Just remember that certain customisations will only display when you view the icons in certain display modes. For example, the picture on the folder will only display in Thumbnail view. Conversely, customised folder icons will display in all modes except Thumbnail view. The display mode can be changed by going to the “View” menu and selecting one of the options: Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List or Details.

If you would like a quick, easy and free way to take Windows screenshots then MWSnap (www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html) could be a good utility to meet your needs. MWSnap can take screen captures of the full screen or portions of the screen, and is very efficient and easy to use.

Regular users of Notepad and Wordpad on Windows are probably aware of the limitations of these fairly basic text editing applications. There is an excellent free, open-source program called Notepad++ (notepad-plus-plus.org) which includes some really useful additions such as a tab based-interface (to easily open and switch between multiple files) along with syntax highlighting and autocompletion when working with particular programming languages (such as HTML or PHP).

If you are using Windows 7 on a laptop then you may think that switching between the laptop display and an external display is an onerous task, given the fairly complex procedures present in previous Windows versions to accomplish this fairly simple task. Fortunately Windows 7 has vastly improved upon this shortcoming. Simply pressing the Windows key + P will show the Presentation Display Mode menu allowing you to select the display mode, such as computer only, duplicate/mirror, extended desktop or projector only.