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Home |
Computer Essentials
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Computer Essentials
The essentials of computer ownership include how to backup your irreplaceable files, prevent virus attacks from destroying your computer, and secure your personal data and identity.
There are articles with screenshots and online videos here showing how to solve the everyday computer problems you face. We also offer a series of CD and DVD based videos called "Computer Skills For Embroidery" in our STORE. (Check out one of our most popular videos... "Computer Skills For Embroidery".)
Articles in this section show how to do all the above and other essentials you need to understand. If you have a question that is NOT answered in one of our articles then please post your question in our Computers & Software Forum.
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Text Too Small To Read On Computer
My eyes are getting worse as I get older and that makes reading the text on the computer screen harder each with each passing year. Maybe you or a family member have the same problem and are loo . . . Continue...
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Part 4: Revive Your Tired Old PC
Toss Out The Old Temps
Almost everything you do online is saved in a folder on your computer. And all that junk is probably bogging down your computer. Here's how to clean up the old temp files... . . . Continue...
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Part 3: Revive Your Tired Old PC
Remove Old Programs & Startup Error Messages
In the first two steps we cleaned off excess clutter on our hard drive and fixed problems with the Windows Registry. Now we are going to clean out unused programs AND those annoying startup "error messages" you often see when rebooting windows. . . . Continue...
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Part 2: Revive Your Tired Old PC
Registry Backup & Cleanup
The first step in the "PC Revival" was to make sure your hard drive has enough free space that there is room for Windows to breathe. We did that in Part 1. The next step shown here is to back up your Windows "Registry" then clean the junk out of it. I show how that's done in this article... . . . Continue...
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Part 1: Revive Your Tired Old PC
Free Up Hard Drive Space
My laptop is almost 3 years old. The hard drive space used was 77-gb of an 80-gb drive and everything was running S-L-O-W. This series of articles will cover what I did to bring it back to FAST again and how you can get YOUR old PC running like new again. . . . Continue...
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Curious About A Laptop?
One of our members said she was "Curious about a laptop". After reading her post and the responses, I realized that it's an excellent article in and of itself on whether a laptop would work well . . . Continue...
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Quick Test For Conflickr Virus
This is a really easy way to see if your computer has the conflickr virus on it or not. It's an "eye test" chart of sorts. Simply click on the link to the page that shows these pictures. If you see all 6 of the pictures then your computer is not infected. If one or more of the pictures are missing then you need to take a look at the interpretation below the main picture to see which problem your computer is likely . . . Continue...
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Conflicker Virus Still Lurking!
There are an estimated 10-million computers worldwide that are already infected with this worm and experts still don't know when it will go off and what it will do. They had "guessed" it would be on April 1st as that has been a traditional April Fool's Day "joke" played by hackers on the rest of the world. But this one didn't happen on April 1st. And that in itself is . . . Continue...
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Zip Files Won't Unzip On My CD?
"Can zip files on CD's be unzipped later when ready to use them?" Yes BUT... I've had people try to unzip a file on a CD without first bringing the zip file to their hard drive. That doesn't work because the unzip program needs to make a new file and if it is left by default to make the new file on the same drive as the zip file then it is trying to write to a CD that has already been written to and closed. First step is to . . . Continue...
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Backup To CD -- It's Free!
No fancy software to buy... No extra programs to install... Just pop in a blank CD-R and copy your embroidery design files to a CD! Here's a video showing how to make backups using your just your computer's CD-ROM drive and the software built into your Windows operating system . . . Continue...
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My Last HP Printer!
I needed a new printer, so I drove down to my local Office-Dump and picked up a new HP, brought it home, and started the install routine. And THAT'S where the story gets a little dicey! Be forewarned, don't be sipping no cup of coffee when you read this one . . . Continue...
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Is "Internet Security" Software Corrupting Your Embroidery Design Downloads?
Downloading embroidery design files can be blocked or corrupted by your "internet security" software. Here's what to do about it! Your computer probably came with some sort of "internet security" software installed. This is normally a combination of anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software all in one package. If you're not sure which program your computer is using, then look for a program called either . . . Continue...
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Your Next Hard Drive
Several months ago I wrote an article introducing your next hard drive or more specifically, the hard drive of the future. The future keeps inching closer! Here's the latest developments on the "SSD" and when you can expect to replace your existing hard drive with a new SSD . . . Continue...
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A Password Log
Here's a way to keep all your passwords in one easy to use place where you can always find those pesky passwords. . . . Continue...
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Software Survey
Please take a minute (literally) to answer our simple 2-question survey about computers. Thank you! . . . Continue...
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What Does "Media Test Failure, Check Cable" Mean?
Here's a problem from one of our members... "I've had a lot of difficulty starting up my lap top for about a month. I keep getting a message that says "Media Test Failure, check cable". That message is caused by one of several things. It could be . . . Continue...
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Backing Up Pre-Loaded Software
"My computer finally died and had to get one with Vista which I will learn to work with. Is there anyway to make a backup disk of some of the preloaded software? From time to time I have had to reload certain programs (not a complete restore) because of . . . Continue...
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S-L-O-W-L-Y Uploading Photos
"I have never had a problem uploading photos, but not when I try to upload, it takes forever, then says the page cannot be found. I am using a new camera. Any help is appreciated." Did you buy a n . . . Continue...
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Vector And Bitmap Images
What's the difference between a vector image and a bitmap image? A "vector" file is a type of graphic file. It is different from a "bitmap" file in the way that it creates a picture. With a bi . . . Continue...
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"Tablet-PC" vs Drawing Tablet
There are two ways to use a "tablet" for drawing or digitizing... One is to buy a "tablet pc" -- it's a notebook/laptop pc with a screen you can write on with the special pen. The other way is . . . Continue...
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Converting Bitmaps To Vectors
Here's a great question from our COMPUTERS forum about graphics used for digitizing... "I was trying to find a program that would import .jpg designs and change them to vestor . . . Continue...
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My Dongle Broke
By Larry Pike
Here's the gist of a post from our Computer Help Forum asking what to do about a broken dongle. If you're not familiar with what a dongle is already, I've included a photo of one in the top- . . . Continue...
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HELP! I'm Missing A DLL File
An email came in this morning from a member that couldn't open a PDF file. The error message said "missing agm.dll -- try reinstalling the application". So she reinstalled Adobe Acrobat . . . Continue...
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Removing MagicAntiSpy Software
"Last week my resident computer expert accidently contaminated our main machine with a nasty piece of spyware software known as "MagicAntiSpy". He thought he got rid of it but it came ba . . . Continue...
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Hard Drives To Crash Forever?
Picture this: You're quietly copying a design from your hard drive to your memory card when suddenly your computer flashes a message like this... span style="font . . . Continue...
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Best Practices for Computer Backups
What's the safe way to backup your embroidery designs? Here's a question from our Discussion Forum and some answers on the subject of backups. Thanks to everyone in this discussion. Members ar . . . Continue...
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Backing Up Embroidery Files
What's the safe way to backup your embroidery designs? Here's a question from our Discussion Forum and some answers on the subject of backups. Thanks to everyone in this discussion. Members are . . . Continue...
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Playing Video & Audio Programs On Your Computer
Members can listen and view audio and video programs on Artistic ThreadWorks, but to do this, your computer must have software for playing these multi-media files. I will discuss AUDIO files first and then VIDEO files and how you can play them on your computer. If you see a message that says something like . . . Continue...
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Which new laptop?
As Of June 2006
One of our members posed this question: "I'm considering a laptop and would like to know what kind you are using; strong points/weak points; reliability of tech support; price; how big a hard drive/me . . . Continue...
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Backing Up To A USB Memory Stick
Maybe you have seen the little memory sticks before but didn't know how to use them. Well, this article is for you! These memory sticks go by several names, they are most comonly called a USB . . . Continue...
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What was my password?
I just got off the phone from helping a customer that had lost her password. It happens every day and we have a "lost password" tool here to automate the process of getting it back again so it's . . . Continue...
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Do You Have A UPS?
Not United Parcel Service... "Un-interruptable Power Supply!" Lot's of electronic stuff in my office wasn't working this morning. Same thing in Holly's studio. I quickly tracked the problems down to two different UPS units - one in her room and one in mine. . . . Continue...
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Changing To A New Computer
Can anybody tell me the easiest way to switch all of my "stuff" from one computer to another? I feel like I'm moving out of my house! I have one of those little removable memory thingies.... I'm so computer savvy, aren't I??? Now if I could just find that memory thingie?! I guess what I really need to know (or the part that is the most confusing for me) is WHICH files to 'take' with me to my new computer. I was trying to put programs on the jump drive (don't I sound better now?) and it didn't work, my jump drive is only 512MB. . . . Continue...
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