https://onedrive.live.com/download?redir?resid=95B48242EC6D8E6A%211229

January 13th.....update.   I am re-creating all the slide shows....up to Day 50 so have a ways to go.

I used Photo Slideshow Premium in 2011 to create the slide shows that can be viewed full screen.  A few days ago, I viewed a few sites as I do on occasion.  I notided the  pages were blank where the slideshows are supposed to be.  Upon contacting  Avsoft customer support, I was informed they no longer support their own go2album site which hosts all the uploaded photos.  So basically, the links don't work. 

So give me some time and check back. 

Importing photos from Camera to Computer

For this project, we will use the Picasa (free) software from  Google to import (copy) the photos FROM the camera TO your computer.   They will NOT be in Picasa, you will just be using the software to view them as they will be in your My Pictures folder/sub-folder.

Your camera will be connected to your computer either with a USB cord or inserting the flash card into your computer or card reader and Picasa will be open.  At the top of the screen (2nd line)  will be  “import”.  Click on it and you will get the following screen:

If the example screen is too small, click on it for a larger view.

Import from: will be your camera or flash card….you may need to click the down arrow to locate it. Choose it and it will read your photos from your card.  At the lower left of the screen in the most left box, the default choice will be My Pictures.  If you click on the little down arrow, you will se a list.  You want to click on the “choose" and you will get this screen.  See My Pictures highlighted?  I have clicked on it to open and see all my different photo folders.  If you want a new folder, there is a choice at the bottom of the pop up box.  It will be created in whatever folder you have highlighted so choose carefully.  Each little sideways triangle to the left of a folder means there are sub-folders.  You may want your new folder to be a subfolder – such as year 2012, Month, event within  a month.

After you have chosen where you want them, you can choose to leave them on the card, delete JUST the ones you copy this time or delete all own the card.  To the lower fight of the example screen, you can choose to import all, or just the ones you have selected.

If you go through these few extra steps with the initial download, you will have one copy of each photo  exactly where you want it, and will be able to find it later…….win-win.

A nice feature of Picasa is it will put a red circle on photos you have already downloaded using this software.

Can’t find a file?

Is there a  file you know you have, but just can’t find it?  Try this:

Left click on the windows icon in the lower left of your screen (black arrow).  A vertical menu will appear of (some of) your most often used programs.  In the box at the bottom will be a blinking cursor. In this box type a word that that is part of the file name.  It if it s photo that just has the camera assigned number it may be more difficult, but not impossible.

I typed Mikki and all files with her name in the title appeared. You do NOT have to press enter after typing in your search word or phrase.  I chose to highlight the top one, and then right clicked.  Another menu appears and second from the bottom is “open file location”.   Left click on it and at the top of the screen you will see the “path”.  You may want to write it down as it will go away easily.

As  you can see that file is  in my Pictures/01 Personal/2012/03-Mar folder

One you locate your file, you can use My Computer to click and drag it to where ever you want it..

 

To find a photo, you can search for *.jpg, but it will find every one on your machine.  If it is just the image icon as shown as in the above  screen print, remember from another post how to  change that icon to a thumbnail.

Windows Live Photo Gallery (Vista and Windows 7) is good about sorting  by date, if you know approximately when the photo was taken AND the date was correctly set in your camera.

Firefox

I have been  using  Firefox  for a while now.  It does take a little getting used to.  The main thing I noticed is that when running C Cleaner (several times a day, with Explorer and Chrome, there were several hundred MB  deleted after just a few hours of browsing. With Firefox, less than 20, hmmmmm.     To reach the options, click on the orange (Firefox) tab in the very top upper left, then choose options, then options again.  These are the options I have chosen.  Seems the Firefox private browsing works better (for me) than IE.

I may uncheck the accept cookies boxes and see how that goes……In IE, have in the past chosen (as a test) to “prompt” for 3rd party cookies.  It is amazing the numbers of strange website cookies that want to save themselves to my machine before ever getting to the one site I want!

Sometimes when I want to download a file or something, I may go back to IE because I am more familiar with it.

Explorer Security

I am researching more secure browsers  and found this Microsoft article useful

 

How to use Tracking Protection andActiveX Filtering in Internet Explorer 9

You can turn on Tracking Protection in Windows Internet Explorer 9 to help prevent websites from gathering information about your web browsing. You can also turn on ActiveX filtering to help prevent programs from accessing your computer without your consent.

Once you turn on either feature, you can turn it off for specific sites.

Use Tracking Protection to block content from unknown websites

When you visit a website, some content might be provided by a different website. That content could be used to gather information about which pages you visit on the Internet.

Tracking Protection blocks this content from websites that appear on Tracking Protection Lists. There's a Personalized Tracking Protection List included with Internet Explorer that's generated automatically based on sites you visit. You can also download Tracking Protection Lists, and then Internet Explorer will periodically check for updates to the lists.

To turn on Tracking Protection

1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Internet Explorer, and then, in the list of results, click Internet Explorer.

2. Click the Tools button , point to Safety, and then clickTracking protection.

3. In the Manage Add-on dialog box, click a Tracking Protection list, and then click Enable.

Top of page

Use ActiveX Filtering to block ActiveX controls

ActiveX controls and web browser add-ons are small programs that allow websites to provide content such as videos. They can also be used to collect information from your computer, damage information on your computer, install software on your computer without your consent, or allow someone else to control your computer remotely.

ActiveX Filtering prevents websites from installing and using these programs.

To turn on ActiveX Filtering

1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Internet Explorer, and then, in the list of results, click Internet Explorer.

2. Click the Tools button , point to Safety, and then clickActiveX Filtering.

Top of page

Make exceptions for trusted websites

You can turn off Tracking Protection or ActiveX Filtering to show content on specific websites that you trust.

To change Tracking Protection or ActiveX Filtering options for specific websites

1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Internet Explorer, and then, in the list of results, click Internet Explorer.

2. Navigate to a website.

3. Click the filter button in the Address bar, and then turn off or turn on available filtering options for the website.

Top of page

For more information about Tracking Protection and ActiveX Filtering, read to the Internet Explorer 9 privacy statement online.

Deleting Unwanted Files

Ever wonder what happens when you empty your recycle bin?   Keep reading…………………

I have been reading up on wiping the free space ( check the last box in the Advanced section) vs defragging the free space (using the program help info)

On the Options Tab/Settings you can choose how secure you want the deletion to be – the more secure the slower it is. This does nothing to improve performance, it just improves security.

Wipe free space will overwrite free space so that the data is unrecoverable since shift-del or deleting via the Recycle Bin only removes the reference to the data but the data will still persist until overwritten. Defrag free space just tries to rearrange the hard drive so you just have one big block of free space. Since you're not changing any performance parameters the two should not have any bearing on each other.

Does using CCleaner 's "wipe free space" have any cause/effect on later running Defraggler to optimize your drive ? Any relationship between Defraggler Advanced 'Defrag Free Space' and/or 'Defrag Free Space/Allow fragmentation' and CCleaner Wipe Free Space option ?
Docs:
"By defragmenting the free space on your hard drive, you will improve Windows' performance when writing new files. You'll also help prevent new files from being fragmented. To defragment the free space on your hard drive:

• In the Drive section at the top of the Defraggler window, right-click the drive to defragment, and then click Advanced.
• Click Defrag Freespace or Defrag Freespace (Allow fragmentation).

If you select Defrag Free Space, Defraggler will fill up freespace chunks with whole files only. If you select Defrag Free Space (Allow fragmentation), Defraggler will use file fragments to fill up freespace. You can also tell Defraggler not to move large files around while it's defragmenting free space. For more details, see this topic. Which option should you use? If you want your freespace to be as defragmented as possible, choose Defrag Free Space (Allow fragmentation). If you want to reduce the amount of fragmentation in your current files, choose Defrag Free Space."

I use a free program Eraser to erase confidential files. I choose the government standard of overwriting Guttmann 35 times. The file is still there after emptying the recycle bin, but overwritten many times. http://download.cnet.com/Eraser/3000-2092_4-10231813.html    When you right click to delete one or several files, Eraser will be a choice.  Many files are not worth this extra trouble.

There is a lot if info in the web……this link has some good info

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2002/Erasing_Deleted_Files.asp

Back Up

I hope you have a back up plan and are using it.  As they say….it’s not if, but when.  I have had a hard drive crash on a new computer only 3 months old.  Computers come with a mirror of the original  setup, so if you ever need to reformat, you may (check your own machine info) be able to restore it to the original with just a few key strokes.  When the new hard drive was installed, it did not have that original set up info. I was on my own to call tech support to get help with downloading and installing the drivers needed to operate, and of course reloading  all the programs,  and any info I had backed up ( which was hardly any).

There are many programs available.  Windows comes with one.  It (and many others) put all the files into one file, and you need the same program to restore them.  Karen Replicator ( a free program)  www.karenware.com  is a little  different as it copies the files so they look just like on your computer.  I like that.

Other choices are an annual subscription to an online service such as Mozy or Carbonite.  It is a backup program, and not an archive.  If you remove them from your hard drive, after a designated period of time, they will be removed from the online server.  For an extra fee, Carbonite will backup an external drive.

The most important thing is to at least back up your photos and documents.  Don’t bother with programs.  If you just copy a program, it will not work, because part of the install process it to write files to your registry which allows it to function.

Be SURE to keep up with all your original program disks  as well as the ones that came with your computer so you will not have to look  for them if needed.   Now would be a good time to do that.

Picasa has a backup feature from the Tools menu for your photos.

Woulda,Coulda, Shoulda  is a really sick and desperate feeling for something so simple that could be prevented.

Disk Defragmenter

This is another utility programs that is part of Windows.  The easiest way to find it is to click the start icon and type in Defrag and it will come up to click on.  You want to confirm it is scheduled to run weekly..  You can also run it manually.  Even put a shortcut on your desktop if you want.  New machines seem to come with it already scheduled.  Since machines differ, look for the scheduler by typing it in the search box or find it in the list of all programs, Accessories, System Tools, look tor Task Scheduler.  It is just one more small thing you can do to keep your machine running smoothly.  Windows doesn’t save files  in any particular place or order.  I have used Defragged in my XP and like it.  

I did finally download and install Defraggler ( from www.filehippo.com).  It is written by the same company that does C Cleaner. I was shocked to find my drive 31% fragmented when Windows runs weekly.  I will be running it over & over until  only the files that cannot be unfragmented  remain.  The program does not have a setting for scheduling.  I went to their site for info. It can be scheduled to run using Windows Task Scheduler (search fro it from the start icon).  I did then go to the Windows disk defragmenter  and unchecked the box so they don’t both run.

I had to run it 3 times plus defragging just the ones in the files tab to it to 0%.  So now my drive looks like this: no red squares and only 1 in the file list

Windows also said it was 0% defragged………………..

 

I guess my next project is to defrag the free space – now that it is all together

Windows Defender

Defender comes with Windows for Vista and Win7.  It can be downloaded separately for XP.  It is a virus, malware, etc program from Windows.  It downloads virus updates daily and scans (quick or full)  as you select.  It is blue castle icon.  If you can’t find it, click on start and look in the list.  You may need to click the “more programs” choice to find it.  OR you can type Defender in the search box (click Start icon)

Click on the photo for a larger view.  Notice the tabs, the scan options on the right, and when it is scheduled (if it already is)

You can exclude some files to save a little time.  In the advanced tab, you can choose the % of computer resources.   The higher the number, the faster the scan.

If you leave your machine on 24/7, just make sure the power options are set to not turn off the hard drive  after a set period of time.  These power options can be found in the Control Panel.

The quick scan is good, but run the full scan sometimes in case something comes in the the quick one misses.

I use only  this one with the Windows Firewall and have not had the problems of something not working as I have with Norton, AVG, McAfee, etc.