After a long incubation my book entitled “Computing for the Older and Wiser – Get up and running on your Home PC” is nearing publication. The official date for the launch is October 17 th but it is available for pre-order on many of the booksellers websites – even the Amazon French site! You can see a preview of the book at http://tinyurl.com/6rrk77 .

This is obviously a very exciting time for me and the publishers, John Wiley & Sons, who are encouraged by the early interest shown by booksellers across the country. There will also be a website, www.pcwisdom.co.uk ,designed to run in conjunction with the book which will offer short tutorials, an instant messaging service, a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs for the uninitiated), hints and tips and a selection of useful web links. I hope the site will be up and running by the end of November.

This will mean that this particular site will no longer be devoted to computing matters but concentrate of digital photography

If you would like to see any particular features incorporated in the website please email me at bu33kin@tiscali.co.uk

Those of you who have been taught by me will recognise the format as the book is based on my teaching notes which you have helped to refine over the past 10 years for which I am very grateful. I would also be very grateful if any of you buying the book would add a review of what you think on the various bookseller websites.

Printing web pages:

 There will be times when you want a printed copy of part of a web page – such as a recipe or a route map for instance. Some pages offer you the option of a printable form of the document but all too often you have to print out the whole page to obtain the piece you need.

There is a simple way to overcome this problem by selecting that section of the page you wish to print by dragging the mouse pointer across the text which will select it and then go to the File menu and choose Print. Instead of opting to print the whole document, click on the selection button and you will restrict the printing to the highlighted area.

This is fine in many cases but increasingly I am finding that the resultant print is so small that you need a magnifying glass to read it. There is a way around this as well. Having selected the text use Ctrl+C to copy the selection – open your word processor to a blank page then use Ctrl+V to paste the text into the document. This print will still be in a small print size but it is now easy to maintain the selection - or renew it by using Ctrl+A – then alter the font size to something that is easily read and print out the new document.

Setting up Outlook Express to receive your HotMail:

 You may find it useful to use Outlook Express or Vista’s Mail to receive your HotMail messages and store them on your own computer for future reference instead of having to access the Web every time you want to read them again.

There is a very good tutorial on this subject at http://tinyurl.com/2xdx3a . Just click on the link and your browser will take you straight to the page.

Video Tutorials:

If you want to learn a skill but would rather be shown rather than taught then try using YouTube at www.youtube.com and enter the skill you want to acquire. There is everything there from salsa dancing to tying a Windsor knot.

Accidental file copying:

A number of my pupils have been having problems when selecting files or folders for deletion or moving. Instead of simply selecting them they are finding that they have accidentally copied the selected files. This usually happens when you are selecting random files by using Ctrl+left click when selecting the files when suddenly the selection gets copied to the list of files. This happens because, on Ctrl+ left clicking, you have imperceptibly dragged the mouse while clicking. The computer interprets this action as a command to copy the files. To rectify the mistakes simply press Ctrl+Z to undo the action. So take care not to move the mouse when clicking on files to select them.

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