Try Google Earth

I think one of the most amazing tools available on the internet today is the Google Earth program. I have been using it for quite a while and I still get a kick out of it. You can pick almost any place in the world and get an overhead picture of it. Here's an example of one - this is a neighborhood right here in Clearwater, Florida:



Of course, the actual picture would appear much larger in the program. You can plug in just about any address, and the program will zoom right to that spot. Or you can just "browse the world" and check out your choice of locations. Or look at some famous world landmarks.

Here are a couple of great things about Google Earth:

1. It's free! You can download it at http://earth.google.com

2. For you people in Maine that have had crummy, low-resolution satellite images in the past - check out the new Google Earth version 4. You can see your house now, even in Waldoboro, Maine!

This week's video: The "skunk prank" at the park bench

Clearing Google search history

Got this question from my friend Ken in Maine:

The question id like to ask Scott as i use firefox and it is great. Also Google for searches. Only thing i find with google is my searches are still in there. I highlighted then and click delete but i still see they are there. Could you please explain the steps to get rid of those searches.

Good question, Ken - a lot of people ask about that. Here is how you do it:

If you use Firefox, the quick and easy way to delete a specific search term from the Google home page search history list is to just use your "Down" arrow key on the keyboard to highlight the particular search word or phrase. Then, hold down the Shift key and hit the Delete key. This removes that one from the drop-down list.

The more general way to clear the list is to click on Tools - Options and select the Privacy tab. In the area titled "Saved Forms", click the "Clear Saved Form Data Now" button. Remember, however, that this will clear information that is saved from other websites also.

If you use Internet Explorer, click on Tools - Internet Options and choose the tab titled "Content". In the area called "Personal Information", choose Autocomplete. Then click on Clear Forms. As with Firefox, this will clear the data saved from other website forms as well, so be sure this is what you want to do.

Open files with a different program

We all have our favorite programs to use. However, sometimes when we install a new program, it makes itself the default program for a particular type of file. For example, you might currently open all of your sound files with Windows Media Player. But if you decide to download and install RealPlayer, you will probably discover that your sound files all open with RealPlayer. Kind of annoying. So today, we will learn how to associate a certain type of file with a specific program.

As an example, we will use image files. Let's say that currently, whenever you click on an image file, the picture automatically opens in Windows Image Viewer. You just got a new program such as Photoshop Elements, so you want all of your pictures to open in that program. Here's how you make that switch.

First, find a picture file. There are probably some located in My Pictures, which is a subfolder of My Documents. Right-click on the file name, and move the cursor to "Open with...". Then in the new menu that opens up, you will see a list of programs. You might even see the program that you want to use. Do not click on it. Instead, move your cursor down and click on "Choose Program". Then click the "Browse" button.

Now you will see a Windows dialogue box. You have to find the program. Don't worry, it's not that difficult. If you already have an icon for the program on your desktop, just click on "Desktop" and choose that program from there. If you don't have that on your desktop, go and make the desktop shortcut first and then come back to this procedure.

Once you have chosen your program, there is one more vital step. You will see a little checkbox that says "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file". Check that box and click OK.

The first thing that you will see happen is that the file will open immediately in the program you chose (in this case, Photoshop Elements). Now, close all programs and windows. Go back to your list of picture files and just double-click on one of them. It should automatically open in Photoshop Elements.

You have just changed a file association. Congratulations!

Make a greeting card using MS Word

I received this email last week:

Hi Scott, If you’re still answering people’s queries….

I’d like to figure out how to make a greeting card all-on-one-sheet-of-paper on a Word document. Please don’t tell me I’ll have to get Publisher or something. Well, I guess you can tell me that if that’s my only choice.

That is, on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and divide it into 4 sections I could make a greeting card by placing the text and photo in the rectangles IF I could make the text of one of them upside down. I am able to change the text direction from normal, to reading “up” the left side or down the right side but find no way to make it upside down (so that, when folded like a greeting card, the front and message are right-side up.

If you are going to be making your own cards on a regular basis, I would suggest a program designed for that purpose - it makes it a lot easier. Not necessarily Publisher (it does this and a lot more, but is also more expensive), but there are several good ones that don't cost that much. These include Print Shop, Hallmark Card Studio, PrintMaster and others.

However, our project today is to create one with MS Word, so here goes.

First, take a blank sheet of paper, fold it into quarters, and hand-draw the basics of your card. You don't have to actually draw pictures; you can just write "clip art of heart here" for example. It might help to write "front", "inside left", "inside right" and so on so that you can quickly tell what goes where.

Next, unfold the paper so that you can see how the text is oriented. You will notice that half of the content is now upside down - don't worry about that just yet.

Now, the steps to actually creating the card:

1. Open Word. Set the margins to what you prefer (that is in File - Page Setup - don't use the sliding margin bars at the top of the page). Also, click on Format - Columns and divide the document into two columns (no line between).

2. Create the content for the bottom left quadrant (back cover of card) and the bottom right quadrant (front page of card). Since you are working in columns, it will be easier to do the back cover first, then the front.

Note: a big part of this process is trial and error. Create the basics, then print the page to see how the various elements are positioned. Re-position and print again. You will go through several sheets of paper in this little project.

3. When you have those two quadrants done, it is time to do the other two. Take your hand-drawn paper that you first created, and turn it upside down. What you are going to do now is create the inside left and inside right parts of the card. In your Word document, click File - Save As and save a second document with a different name (such as greetingcard2.doc). In this document, the lower left quadrant is the inside left of the card, and the lower right quadrant is the inside right of the card.

Note: the reason we have to do this in two separate Word documents is because Word does not have a feature of printing text upside down. Don't worry, the final product will all be on one card.

4. Create your content for these two quadrants as you did the other two. You can copy and paste clip art, set your font and font size, etc - just format it however you would like. Again, this will involve printing a sheet, readjusting the content, and printing again until it looks right to you. Hint: put your text into Word's "Text Box" feature - this makes it much easier to move the entire line of text around to different areas of the page.

5. Now for the final step - printing the final product. First, print the first document you created (the front and back cover). Then, take that sheet and put it back into the paper tray of the printer. Now, open the second document (the inside left and inside right of the card) and print that. It is actually going to print on the sheet that you just printed, so that all of your content ends up on one sheet of paper.

Note: I cannot tell you exactly how to do this, because printers are all different - you might have to put the paper in face down or face up, and you might have to orient it so that the top feeds first or the bottom feeds first. Again, trial and error will enable you to figure this out.

So now you have your final product! After all that, you might agree that it is worth spending $30 (maybe less on eBay) and getting a program that is specifically designed for printing greeting cards.

This week's video - Waking People Up: