How to set up a default email

In surfing the Internet, we sometimes need to click to direct some articles, photos and so on to be sent to our email. However, when you click it, it will go to Outlook which you have not configured and you miss having the material sent to your email.

In this post, I will introduce one freeware that will direct the material sent when 'mailto' command in the highlighted word is clicked. The address to download this freeware is

http://gmaildefault.codeplex.com/releases/view/55413

Download this gmail default maker and install it.

The next time you click on any line that bears 'mailto', it will be directed to gmail, yahoo or hotmail as is preferred when you run the software.

How to create a shortcut on the desktop

Many a time, we need to launch a program quicky. The best place will be to place it on the desktop.
In this post, I will share my knowledge of how to create a shortcut on the desktop. Here are the steps:
1 Right click the desktop.
2 Go to New.
3 Click Shortcut
4 If you know the location of the program, type it in the box provided.
5 If not, click browse and search for it and click it.
6 Click Next
7 Give a name to your shortcut.
8 Click Finish

I hope this tip is useful to readers of this blog.

Thumbs up for Windows backup

I had a busy week retrieving some of my important documents since my Windows crashed because of my 'cleverness' in resizing Drive C, resulting in my Drive G completely wiped out when my earlier Windows back up restored my PC to the Dell fresh environment as bought. Imaging my heartbreak when many of my 'masterpieces' cannot be revived. I have two unformat software to get back the files in Drive G of my hard disk and I had to wait for 4 hours for each of them to prepare the environment because restoration work can be donw. Alas, after that I could still not get back a single file because the preview showed 'rubbish' rather than the text I wanted to see.

From now on, I will stick to the principle of saving any single word document in Drive C, Drive G and my USB in order not to suffer the same fate as I did just a week ago. From my experience, the Windows back up is still the best solution. The rescue disk can boot up your computer and you can have it look for the back up file saved on another external hard disk.

I hope all readers will do the same to safeguard their system by having Windows back up your system, files if needed and have it create your rescue disk too. As for the backup image file, it is better to have two copies in case one should fail you. Likewise, prepare two rescue disks too should it fail to boot up your computer.

How I do ocr in Windows 7 64-bit environment

When I purchased my Dell desktop last, it came with preinstalled Windows 7 64-bit. While 64-bit environment runs faster, it inconveniences me as my FineReader 6 OCR software cannot access my Canon LiDE 20 scanner.

After some searching in the Internet, I downloaded VueScan and it can be run under Windows 7 64-bit environment. Then I thought of an idea to do OCR with the scanned files.

First, I will scan the text using VueScan and save under jpeg file. Then I will start FineReader 6 to read the scan file. It works and that is how I am able to use my old dear FineReader to scan text through the image done by VueScan earlier.

I suppose sometimes we have to do things in a roundbout way to achiever our aim.

How to enable file name extension in Windows 7

Many a time, I wanted to rename a file in Windows 7, only to finding myself having filenames such as happy.tif.jpg just because the file extension of happy.tif , that is tif cannot be seen. In the processing of renaming the jpg extension is appended at its end.

I have learnt of how to enable file extension in Windows 7 and would like to share it with readers. Here it goes:

1 Click the Start button, then click Control Panel.

2 When Appearance and Personalization is seen, click the Folder option

3 Then Click View and under Advanced Settings, clear the Hide file extension by clicking the tick sign to clear it.

4 Click OK.

Happy computing.

How to place the Recycle Bin on Desktop

If you are using Windows 7, you will find that you can't see the icon of the Recycle Bin on the desktop, neither can you use start to access it. This is what you do to bring the Recycle to appear on your desktop.

First, right click your mouse anywhere on the desktop.
Next, click Personalize.
After that click 'Change desktop icons' which is on your left.
Check against Recyle Bin.
Click Ok.

When you go to your desktop, you can find the icon of the Recycle Bin there. Double click to access it.

I hope this tip is useful to readers who want to undo whatever files they have deleted provided that they do not press SHIFT while clicking the 'delete' function. because by doing so you are to permanetly delete the files.

How to keep tab on your hard disk's temperature

Many computer users keep complaining that their hard disks cannot be accessed anymore. One of the reasons might be the temperatures being two high most of the time, that is exceeding 47 degrees Celsius. In order to prevent this from happening, you can install a free program such as Hard Disk Sentinel Pro to keep tab of your hard disk's temperature. If it is too hight, then shut down your computer for an hour before you use it again. Alternatively, you can buy an extra fan and direct the air towards the hard disk to keep its temperature down. In this way you hard disk can last longer.

Here is the url to download hard disk sentinel pro 3.20:

http://www.hdsentinel.com/dl.php

Happy keeping tab on your hard disk's temperature.