Merry Christmas

This is the first Christmas since 1992 that we have been able to be with our family here in Florida. We are enjoying that. We also have Johanna with us (Jo is from Ecuador and lived with us in Maine for a year). She brought Paul with her, who is also visiting from Ecuador. We are looking forward to a wonderful time with family and friends, and hope you do the same.

No computer tip today, but I do have a video to share with you. Six year old Heather Martin sings about her big brother Shaun, who is overseas fighting for our country in Iraq. The lyrics to her song are below. Thanks to my son David for telling me about this video.

Microsoft to the rescue

Are you stuck at work just before the holidays? Do you have a lot of small gifts to wrap?

Do you have MSWORD on your computer? Got a printer?

That's all you need to make cool graphic wrapping paper!!!

Website shortcuts on the desktop

I know some people who don't use the "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" feature of their web browser. For example, if they want to go to this blog page, they would actually click in the address bar at the top of the window, and type out "http://www.computertutorflorida.com/blog". What a waste of time!

A faster way is to store often-visited websites in your Favorites (if you use Internet Explorer), or Bookmarks (if you use Firefox). When you are at the website you want to remember, do a right-click in an open area. In the menu that pops up, choose "Add to Favorites" or "Bookmark this page". Then, whenever you want to get back to that page, just click on it in your list.

However, if you commonly want to visit one particular website, and you want to get their as quickly as possible when the only thing showing on your computer is your desktop, there is a faster way.

First, go to the website you want to visit frequently. Then, drag the web browser window down so that you can see part of your desktop also. Now, find the icon in the address bar (this will be the little icon just to the left of the "http". Drag that icon to the desktop and drop it there.

Now, whenever you are looking at your desktop, you can just double click that icon. Your default web browser (either IE or Firefox) will open immediately to that website.

This weeks's video: Fake lifeguard takes a bathroom break

How to safely trash your computer

Hi Scott,

I love getting your newsletter. I wonder if you answer questions in the newsletter. If so, here's one from me: I'd like to send my old computer to the recycle bin but first I want to take personal information off the machine. Can I simply remove the hard drive? What does the hard drive look like? How do I destroy it?

Excellent question. With new computers being so inexpensive now, lots of older computers are being replaced. Too many of these old machines still have working parts - and they contain all of your data. This could be data that doesn't really matter, such as your Spider Solitaire high score. Or, it could be your passwords or private financial information. The safest procedure is to make sure that none of that data is available to someone who might somehow come across your old computer after you have discarded it.

How to do that? First, make sure that the data you want to save is secure on a flash drive, CD or some other form of backup (how to do that is a separate lesson). Once you are sure that you have saved the data that needs to be saved, unplug the computer and open up the case. Locate the hard drive - it is approximately the shape of a small paperback book, but smaller. It will have two cables connected to it: one cable is quite wide, with about 40 pins being plugged into it. The other cable is about an inch wide, with 4 pins. Unplug both of the cables from the drive, and remove the drive itself from the computer (it is probably held in place by 2 or 4 screws).

Once the drive is removed from the computer, take it and store it in a safe place. The reason I recommend this is that you may have forgotten some data that you really need, and someday you might want to retrieve it from this hard drive. Just stick it on a shelf in a closet somewhere - it won't take up much space. You could even take a sharpie marker and write on it "old Dell computer" or something else descriptive.

Now your computer computer can be safely discarded (or recycled) and you don't have to worry about your data falling into the wrong hands.

This week's video clip: A simple left turn - in Moscow

Protect your private data

Do you have personal data stored on your computer that you want to keep private? Perhaps you have a folder that stores all of your tax returns, or a folder that holds a record of all of your passwords to the various websites you visit. Maybe you have a list of Christmas presents to be purchased, and you don't want your kids to see it. Whatever the reason, you have a folder that you don't want anyone else to access. Here is how to protect it in Windows XP.

Find the folder (but don't open it). Right-click on the folder and choose Properties. In the new window that opens, click on the "Sharing" tab. You will see a check box that says "Make this folder private". Check that box, and click "Apply".

If you don't already use a password to log on to Windows XP, you will have to create one in order to privatize this folder. Choose a password that is not easily guessed - a random mix of numbers and letters is best, and the longer the better. Of course, you want to make sure that YOU can remember it. You will also now need to log on to Windows with this password.

This week's video clip: bloopers from a fishing show

Picture frames from CD jewel cases

Here's a clever idea - take those old CD jewel cases that you aren't using, and make something worthwhile from them. Complete tutorial, with video - see it here.