Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Create a Personalized Sound Scheme for your computer!

You can create a personalized sound scheme for your computer by having Windows play specific sounds when certain events occur. Assigning new sounds to events can make Windows more entertaining and interesting.

You can assign sounds for up to 40 different events on your computer. Here's how you do it. Click "Start" then click "Control Panel" and when the Control Panel window appears, click "Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices". The Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices window appears. Click "Change the Sound Scheme" (the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box appears). Go to the "Sounds" tab and on the lower portion of the page you will see the "Program events" box that lists the events that you can assign sounds to. A speaker icon appears beside each event that plays a sound. To assign a sound to a particular event, click the event, then click "Browse" to search for the sound you want to use. The "Browse for" dialog box appears. The "Look in" box will allow you to search your entire computer for sound files. If you have downloaded sounds from the internet and saved them to your hard drive, you can also assign them to various computer events. Keep in mind that sound files downloaded from the internet must be in the "Wave" format, that is, they must have the".wav" extension, such as "chimes.wav". Now click the sound you want to play each time the event occurs. Click on the arrow next to "Preview" to test play the sound. Click "OK" to confirm your selection and "OK" again to confirm your changes.

Now you have a computer with a sound scheme unlike any other computer in the world and customized to your specific choices. How cool is that!

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Friday, November 12, 2004

Firefox 1.0 Now Available For Download

Be advised that Firefox Version 1.0 has now been released and Firefox 1.0 P.R. (pre-release) is now obsolete. Version 1.0 can be installed right over the pre-release version and your settings will be retained. However, if you have downloaded and installed the extensions for (a) Windows Update (b) SpellBound (Spell Checker) and (c) Autofill you will find that they have been "grayed-out" and are listed on your "Extensions" list (go to Firefox Tools and then Extensions) as not being compatible with Version 1.0 while, in fact, they have simply not been approved yet but are really compatible. Go to http://www.beggarchooser.com/firefox near the bottom of the page for Windowsupdate 1.0. You may have to give Firefox permission to download this file on a dropdown menu and Windows may ask you for a program to "open this file" so pick Firefox. You will have to re-install the SpellBound spellchecker from the site link shown on the previous SpellBound posting, and Autofill, if you also have it, can be found at http://autofill.mozdev.org/ and downloaded and installed from that site. You will also notice that, if you previously had installed the "Googlebar" extension, it is now missing. It is available for download again and Version 0.9.0.30 is compatible with Firefox 1.0 and can be downloaded from http://googlebar.mozdev.org/installation.html. After each has been successfully downloaded, Firefox will have to be restarted for the installation to be completed. Have fun updating!

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Sunday, November 07, 2004

Add A SpellChecker To Firefox

I have worked my fingers to the bone and found a spellchecker called "Spellbound" which can be added to Firefox. It consists of three separate small downloads, all found at this site and available for both Windows and Mac (http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/install.html#header ) which you download and install into Firefox. After installing, shut down and restart Firefox, then right-click on the toolbar, click "Customize" and you will see the "Spellbound" icon on the dropdown page that appears. You must "drag and drop" the icon from this dropdown page to a blank spot on the toolbar, then click "done" on the dropdown page. Now, whatever you are typing (this is called "having focus") can be checked for spelling by merely clicking on the Spellbound icon. The Spellbound icon will appear "grayed-out" until you have typed something onto a page. This typing then gives the program some text to "have focus" on. Now you have a SpellChecker that will work for any program that you browse to using Firefox! Note that this item is not yet on the official Firefox list of extensions. Neat, huh?

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Monday, November 01, 2004

News About AVG Antivirus Version 6.O FREE Edition

Just a quick note to those of you out there who may be using AVG 6.0 Free Edition. This edition will be discontinued and removed from use at the end of this year (Free Edition ONLY), because AVG is doing a massive update with many changes to their method of antivirus protection and the 6.0 Free Edition cannot be changed to reflect the improved methodology that will be used. However, the good news is that AVG will be issuing AVG 7.0 Free Edition, which does have the new methodology included, and it will be available, according to Grisoft (AVG) in November. I have included a live link (http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/1/) to the AVG page you will need to visit for complete information. I believe that you will have to uninstall AVG 6.0 Free before you will be able to install AVG 7.0 Free Edition when it is released. When the new edition is released, instructions should be posted on the AVG site advising how to obtain and install it. I hope this helps you out! Terry
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Addendum: Thursday, November 11, 2004

Just to let you know that AVG 7.0 Free Edition has now been issued. Installing this version will automatically uninstall any previous version you may have. Terry

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