Category Archives: Microsoft

Post specific to Microsoft / Windows O/S.

Recording Internet Radio – Podcasts – Media Players

Aside

Just some quick information:

Last night I was at a dinner for Boca Raton Computer Society, Inc. (BRCS) and a couple of us started talking about recording internet radio broadcasts from Argentina, also during the discussion the idea of podcasts of the same shows, as well as media players, came up. Below is what I could find with some real quick searches on Google and Ask.com, for some free and or inexpensive solutions:

Recording internet radio links: (found at ask.com by searching for “how do i record internet radio broadcasts?”

http://radio.about.com/od/recordstreamingaudio/a/blrecordinghub.htm

http://www.cnet.com/1990-7899_1-6306524-1.html

Podcasts from Argentina:

I do not speak the language so I do not know how much this link to a search on ask.com will do, but give it a try:

https://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2106&o=ffx&l=dir&q=how+do+i+find+podcasts+from+Argentina+radio+stations%3F&adt=0

Free Media Players:

VLC Media Player

Link to it’s site: http://www.videolan.org/

Gizmo’s Freeware Review (Media Players):

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-windows-media-player-replacement.htm

These should get you started. Check them out and enjoy yourself.

A Free PDF Writer Tool

Posted on by

I needed a PDF virtual print driver for my Vista Home Premium personal laptop, so rather than just downloading the new version of PDF Creator, the tool I have used for years on my xp machines, I decided to see what else might be available.
During my research I came across the Best Free PDF Writer post at http://www.techsupportalert.com. After reading this post, I decided to try Bullzip PDF Printer, see http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php for more information.
Some of the key features, according to the post, Last Update: Mon, 04/13/2009 – 15:24 — dave007, are quoted below:

Key features of Bullzip PDF Printer include:
The ability to password protect your pdf files (only PrimoPDF and PDFCreator also had this ability)
The ability use either 40 or 128 bit encryption on the file (only PDFCreator also had this ability)
The ability to add a watermark (PDF Creator had a limited ability to add watermarks)
The ability to append or prepend files (PrimoPDF and PDFCreator also had this ability)
The ability to choose different levels of output quality (All but CutePDF and TinyPDF had this ability)
The ability to add/change metadata (PrimoPDF and PDFCreator also had this ability)

So far I really like this, though I have not had time to really check out all the features.
If you are looking for a good free PDF writing tool, I suggest you check this one out.

Let me know what you think of it, should you decide to try it.

MS Word – Adjusting a Form Template

Posted on by

Just got back to having computer access and received a call from my wife. A form I had made up for her, using Microsoft Word 2003, needed adjusting for some new product and she had ten orders to type up and run on the dot matrix printer with the new information.

The problem was that she knows very little about how to use Microsoft Word and needed it done right away to keep from having to do everything by hand.

Luckily, I was able to walk her through sending me a copy of the DOT (Word Document Template (Microsoft)) file, via email. Once I saved that DOT file to my hard drive, I was able to open it, adjust it and email it back to her.

To make the adjustments in MS Word 2003, I did the following:

  • Right clicked on the DOT file.
  • Selected Open from the drop down menu. (If you just double-click a DOT file to open it, you will get a new blank document instead of opening the DOT itself.)
  • Made the Forms Toolbar visible:
  • View on the MS Word menu bar
  • Select Toolbars
  • Click on Forms
  • Clicked on the Protect Forms icon, it looks like a little padlock, to unlock the form.
  • Replaced three text items with Text Form Fields, with the same formatting as the replaced text; also changed text in another area, but straight text not a Text Form Field.
  • Clicked on the Protect Forms icon again to lock the form again.
  • Hid the Forms Toolbar again.
  • View on the MS Word menu bar
  • Select Toolbars
  • Click on Forms
  • Saved the DOT file with a new name, reflecting today’s date and the new function.

Once the form was adjusted, I emailed her the new DOT file and walked her through how to save it in a folder in My Documents containing forms of the same type and then walked her through creating a shortcut for this one to the desktop.

The whole process took about a half hour and saved a lot of work on her part. Now she just needs to double-click on the shortcut item, fill in the information that changes, print the multi-part form on the dot matrix printer, sign it and move on to the next order of business.

She has some other forms, that are not multi-part, but those I have done for her in PDF (Acrobat Portable Document Format) and have to do those differently as you must have the complete Acrobat application to create or adjust them.

If you have special forms or interested in forms, leave a comment and let me know how you handle problems.

As Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, there will be no posting. I will be spending time with my family, as we all should, and will post Friday this week instead.

Have a great Thanksgiving!!