Application Tips

Choose how many recently opened files show in Microsoft Office

Rick — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:10:49 -0500

In almost any program where you can create, save, and edit documents, clicking the File menu (or the Office orb in Office 2007) shows a list of your most recently used documents for that program. With Microsoft Office, you can control exactly how many recent documents are shown.

With Microsoft Office 2003 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) and all versions prior, you control this option by following these steps in any of the applications:

Click Tools --> Options
Click the General tab
Under the Recently used file list option, enter a number between 0-9
Click OK

With Microsoft Office 2007 options, follow these steps to control how many recently used files show:

Click the Office orb icon in the upper left of your screen
Click Word (or Excel or PowerPoint) options at the bottom of the menu
Click Advanced
Scroll down under the Display category and enter a number between 0-50 in the Show this number of recent documents box
Click OK

Google Earth - The Dime Tour - Video Tip - September 2008

Rick — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:57:59 -0500

If you have high speed Internet and haven't tried Google Earth, give it a try. Even if you aren't a geography buff, you will find Google Earth to be a fascinating resource to try out. Google Earth is another free product from Google that combines their excellent searching skills with a fully interactive globe. You can search for street addresses, points of interest, historical locations and then layer on other geographic information to your liking. You must have a high speed Internet connection because the application relies on that connection to pull in the information you want from Google's servers.

The newest version of Google Earth also adds Google Sky which lets you look into the heavens from your desk and learn and enjoy the starts, planets, and whatever other gassy objects are up in the sky.

Watch my short introductory video about this great product, then go try it for yourself. If you already use Google Earth, leave a comment below and tell me what you like and what you do with Google Earth.

Google Sightseeing
Map of Strange on Google Earth
Google Map Pedometer

Create photo slide shows online in minutes! - Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:11:55 -0500

Some may say I drank the Web 2.0 cool-aid, but I say bring me another glass! This week I bring you yet another astounding piece of online technology that gives you the power to create a professional photo slide show complete with music and transitions in minutes!

I frequently get asked to make suggestions for creating a photo slide show, but I know that most programs require too much time and expertise to be useful. Enter Roxio's Photoshow.com. This online application creates great looking photo slide shows in literally just a

Solution to strange folders synchronizing error in Outlook 2007

Rick — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:22:07 -0500

I ran into a problem with Microsoft Outlook 2007 that I never seen. When Outlook was running, a small icon in the system tray was working like crazy on synchronizing folders. Synchronizing folders in Outlook 2007 is usually reserved for large office environments where users share calendars, contacts, etc. This particular computer user was on a standalone system.

The little icon itself wasn't the problem, but the fact that it was trying to synchronize folders to nowhere ate up large chunks of computer power slowing down the system to almost unusable. After some web searching and poking around some of the tech web forums (nothing was found on Microsoft's support site), I found that many other people were having the same problem, but no real solution was found.

Remove .NET Framework and solve Quickbooks startup problem

Rick — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:58:35 -0500

Microsoft Framework .NET consists of a set of tools that allow programmers to tap into some web related technologies for creating rich, interactive applications for our computers and web sites. Unfortunately, it sometimes causes problems as well. This week alone, I helped 3 Quickbooks users overcome problems with their programs hanging or failing to start by uninstalling and reinstalling the .NET Framework.

Zoho Spreadsheet Update

Rick — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:22:22 -0500

My favorite online application suite, Zoho, just got a little more powerful today for spreadsheet users. The Zoho spreadsheet, known as Zoho Sheet, added two huge features today; Macros and Pivot Tables.

Power spreadsheet users use these two features often and will appreciate Zoho Sheet's new found power. For an overview, watch this video from Zoho:

Take control of the AVG Scans - Video Tips

Rick — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:20:40 -0500

As you know, we whole heartedly recommend and use AVG Antivirus. It is unobtrusive, fast, and most importantly effective. However, one irritating function it has is the default full system scan at 8:00am. Many people are working on their computers at 8:00am and full system scan slows down the system enough to be highly annoying if not unusable in some cases.

You don't have to wait for the scan to finish. Just RIGHT click on the AVG scanning icon in your system tray (by the clock). It looks just like the AVG icon, but has a little white triangle in the middle of it. After you right click, click "Cancel or Stop Scan". You will get a confirmation box asking if you are sure, Click Yes, then OK.

One other tidbit to remember about AVG is that it is OK to click the OK button after it completes the daily update. Many computer users wait politely for

How to add the print and other buttons to Firefox toolbar - Video Tip

Adam — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:53:41 -0500

We love the Mozilla Firefox browser, but out-of-the-box it doesn't show the print button. Also, some people like to have the Bookmark and History buttons available as well. This tip shows you how to add any or all of these buttons as well as others you might want.

In Firefox, RIGHT click on a blank part of the toolbar (or Click View --> Toolbars --> Customize from the menus)
Click and drag the buttons you want to the toolbar (you can also drag buttons you don't need back into the customize box to delete them)
Click Done

To see this tip in action, watch the short demo below!

Yet another feature yanked from the NEW Microsoft Office 2007

Rick — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:05:07 -0500

While working with a small business client today, they asked how to insert a picture into a Word document from their scanner. "Oh, that's an easy one", I said to myself. Then I realized they were using the new Office 2007.

In all previous versions of Microsoft Word and other word processor worth their weight, you follow these steps to insert a picture from

Zoho Creator (database) - Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:16:36 -0500

This my last installment in my Zoho.com tour, but far from the full capabilities of Zoho. So far I've introduced you to Zoho Writer (word processing application) and Zoho Sheet (spreadsheet application). For Part III in my series, I'm giving you a quick tour and demonstration/instruction on how to create a database with Zoho. Zoho has two database applications; one called Creator and the other called Database and Reports. I focused on the Creator application in my video tour.

Database programs offer the most flexibility and ease of use for collecting data on any subject from a book collection, to a club member address list, to tracking expenses for your home or business. Once you learn a few techniques with database design and creation, I'm willing to bet you will leave the lowly spreadsheet behind for gathering this type of data.

Zoho's database application provides, in my opinion, unparalleled ease of use AND power for both the beginner database user and the advanced user. I strongly encourage anyone ever remotely interested in database collection or anyone who hasn't been able to find the perfect data collection program to give Zoho Creator a try after watching my short video below.

Some of Zoho's database features include:

Convert spreadsheet data to database
Online, anywhere access
Easily build powerful database collection forms with drag and drop
Sophisticated form elements including drop down lists, radio buttons, check boxes, date pickers and more
Embed collection forms in your web page or blog
Query data
Export data to multiple formats
Use a powerful scripting language to enhance your database
and much more.

Watch the short video below to see how far online applications from Zoho.com can take you.