Geeky Moms » Computer Help

Switch to the New Gmail Look

Nicole — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:16:10 +0000

Google announced an upgrade to its current Gmail interface. Users may preview the new interface by selecting “Switch to the new look” from their Gmail homepage. The design is a stripped down version of Gmail, as Google is famous for their simple GUIs. The new design doesn’t offer any new features, just a new layout.

Before

After

New Customizations

You can customize how the email fits to your screen. Choose cozy, comfortable or compact options.

New Themes

The new Gmail look also comes with new themes. You can access the new color options by clicking on the Gears icon, then Themes.

Chat Window

You can now modify the size of your chat window.

Better Search

The search box has been enhanced to include more filters. You can now search throughout your email and conversations with more granular options.

Revert Back

If you aren’t ready to use the new look, you can revert back to your old Gmail look temporarily. Click on the Gears icon, then choose Revert to old look temporarily. Eventually, Gmail will make the switch for you.

Shake Your Desktop

Nicole — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:16:15 +0000

Do you run multiple programs simultaneously on Windows 7? If so, you’ve probably noticed how cluttered your desktop can get. In Windows XP, to minimize every window on the screen, the quick launch menu had a nice little button called “Show Desktop.” This instantly minimized every window. With Windows 7, this is much more fun!

Windows 7’s Aero Shake feature allows you to minimize every window except the one in which you’re currently working in a single step.

Here’s how to “shake your desktop:”

1. Click and hold the title bar of the window you want to keep on the desktop.

The title bar is the area at the top of the window which states what program or file you are in:

2. While still holding the title bar, shake it quickly back and forth until all of the other windows minimize to the taskbar.

3. Let your mouse go. If you want all the windows to return, shake the title bar again.

Check out the Windows 7 Shake in action!

Windows 7 Aero Shake Feature

How to Add Email Accounts to Your Gmail Email

Nicole — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:36:15 +0000

Google’s email service, Gmail, offers chat, calendar sharing, and a hefty inbox. All of this is free! Another great feature of Gmail is the ability to manage multiple email addresses under one account. You can add all of your email addresses to your Gmail account and reduce the number of places you log into down to one. It even gives you he ability to respond to an email from one designated account, or make it dependent upon which email address the email was sent to.

Here’s how:

1. From within your Gmail account, click on the Gears icon up on the top right of the page. Click on Mail Settings.

2. Next, choose Accounts and Import from the top menu.

3. Click on Send mail from another address.

4. Enter in the name that you want to use for the account and the email address. Then click Next Step.

5. Leave the default to send through Gmail rather than using an SMTP service. Click Next Step.

6. Next, an email will be sent to your separate email account to verify it is owned by you. Log into your separate email account and find the confirmation email.

Copy and paste the code into the field next to Verify. Click Verify.

7. You’re done! Now all the email from that address will come into your mailbox.

Ask a Geeky Mom

Nicole — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:47:30 +0000

How is your computer running these days? Are you wondering what kind of laptop to buy? Is your husband filling the computer with viruses again? Click here to send Geeky Moms your question and we’ll give you some free tech advice.

CleanUp!

Nicole — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:21:12 +0000

One of the best ways to keep your computer system running efficiently is to clear temporary files and delete Internet browsing cache. In the past, this was a manual process. With Windows CleanUp!, you can do this in a flash!

My geeky friends and I have been using this program for years. A lot of programs on the Internet promise to help your system and never deliver. CleanUp! actually does what it says it will do.

Here’s How To Get It

1. Go to Steven Gould’s Windows Cleanup! download page by clicking here.

2. Click on CleanUp452.exe to download the install file.

3. Choose Save File.

After it has downloaded, double-click on the file you saved. Alternately, your browser will let you run the file immediately after its finished downloading.

4. The setup will guide you through the installation. Click Next until it is finished installing, then click Finish. The installation is super quick and easy. It will ask if you want to run it after it is installed – keep that box checked so CleanUp! opens.

5. Next, click on CleanUp!. CleanUp! recommends you run in demo mode for the first time. You can try this if you want to see how it effects your system. If you don’t change any of the settings, I wouldn’t worry about using it in demo mode.

If you still have your browser open, the following box may appear:

6. Click Ok. Get ready to hear the fabulous flushing noise as it removes all the clutter on your hard drive!

7. When finished, it gives you a small summary of how much space CleanUp! saved you.

Windows CleanUp! should be ran once a week to help improve your computer performance. It is a must have application on every Windows system.

Internet and Email Safety

Sarah — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:00:12 +0000

With the use of computers and the internet comes certain threats. If you are going to be active on the internet or in email or even if you will be only somewhat active when accessing email and the internet you should take steps to protect yourself. Two of the biggest threats right now are Virus’s and Identity/Account Theft. Below are a few simple steps you can take to protect yourself.

Email Safety

1. Never give out personal information via email.

2. Be extremely cautious when being asked to click on any links sent to you in email. Even if it is sent from someone you know.

3. Your bank will not send you an email asking for your bank account information or your social security number. They already have this information. If you get this type of email delete it. If you are unsure and think the email might be valid, double check by contacting your bank by phone.

4. If you get an email asking for money from someone you do not know—delete the email. No matter what the horrible story is that they are telling you, these predators use the sympathy card and try to pull at your heart strings.

5. Keep your computer antivirus software up to date. I can’t stress this one enough. It is not good enough in this day and age to only have the software on your pc. Hundreds of new viruses, if not thousands, come out weekly and even daily. Your antivirus software is continuously being updated to catch all of the new virus’s that are out there. If your software is behind, you are opening the door to trouble.

Social Networking Site Safety

1. If you are on social networking sites—be careful the “surveys” you take asking you to fill out harmless questions for fun. A lot of times these answers are used to gather information that could possibly be things you use for passwords or challenge questions on different websites. If you give this information out "they" can reset your password for online banking or various credit cards. One of the common surveys being sent around— 20 things you don’t know about me is a perfect example — a lot of the answers are—birthday, where you were born, favorite color, first car you’ve ever owned. All of these questions are used as security questions on a lot of sites in order to change your password or verify you are the "account" holder.

2. Never post when you will be leaving town or will be gone from your house for any extended period. There are people who take advantage of the Social sites looking for vacant homes so they can break into the house. Even posting that your husband or wife is gone for the night is a safety risk.

3. Try not to list your entire birthdate on the site with the month, day, and year. You want to cherish your personal information. Specific information such as your entire birthdate, address, full name, spouses name, etc … are all things that can be used to steal your identity.

4. Do not accept people you do not know at all or even those you do not know very well. My rule of thumb is if I don’t know the person well enough to communicated often with them, then I don’t add them to my friends list.

5. Protect your childrens information. I am guilty of this one. You are a proud parent and you want to post a list of your children on the site. Their ages, birthdates, activities etc … This is especially dangerous if you do not carefully watch which friends you accept to your account. Kid Identity Theft is out there now as well as adult identity theft. As parents we need to protect their identities as we would our own.

There are many more ways to protect yourself and still enjoy the technology at hand, the items above will give you a good foundation and the most important way I have found is to use common sense and keep your eyes open.

Exposed – Purpose of a Recycle Bin

Sarah — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:58:16 +0000

Recycle Bin = Trash can

Let’s say you have a banana peel and you take your banana peel and walk it over to your garbage can and drop it in. In 15 days are you going to walk back over to the garbage can and pick up your banana peel? I’m guessing the answer is NO. Okay, so I’m truly HOPING the answer is no, because that would be really disturbing. Many, many, many, computer users do those same steps with their recycle bin. Granted not with banana peels but you get the point.

The Recycle Bin on your computer is in essence a trash can. This is where you put your files that you no longer need, pr those pictures that you took, downloaded and decided you didn’t need another picture of your sons thumb covering the lens of the camera. The idea behind it is, you would throw it away in the bin and never pull it back out. You would “empty” the bin after so long, giving yourself a little leeway so if you accidentally throw away your Thesis you have been working on for 2 years, you can retrieve it before you suffer a massive stroke.

Here’s what happened at the hospital I work for. It was decided that the IT Department was automatically going to delete people’s Recycle Bin’s after so long. I have never seen so many calls come flooding in with people wanting to move their files to a different location. They were storing their files in their Recycle Bins instead of creating a separate folder to store them in.

All Recycle Bins whether they are on your desktop on your computer or in your email (listed as Deleted Items) should never be used to store files. They should only be used to literally throw away unwanted material.

And here is why:

1. There are settings that can be set to automatically empty the deleted items or recycle bins based on certain criteria. Or the Recycle Bin itself can be set NOT to move anything into it but to automatically delete it.

2. Various “clean up” programs that are used to clean up your system when it is running slow will delete items in your Recycle Bins.

3. Items like the Recycle Bin should be used in uniform with other users so if someone uses your computer or borrows your computer or works on your computer and they empty the recycle bin for some reason, they are not deleting hours of hard work for you in retyping documents that you MUST have.

To avoid the heartache and hurt create folders in your My Documents folder or in your email Inbox to store the files in that you just might want in 15 days or 2 years down the road. Use the recycle bin to literally take out the trash.

Desktop Fun: General Desktop Icon Packs

rss — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:00:45 +0000

Sometimes you need something a little more general in nature for your desktop and dock icons. If this sounds like you then have a look through our General Desktop Icon Packs collection.

Note: To customize the icon setup on your Windows 7 & Vista systems see our article here. Using Windows XP? We have you covered here

Sneak Preview

For our example both the wallpaper and icons shown here come together in the “Summer, Love + Cicadas” icon set shown below.

A close-up look at the matching wallpaper and icons.

Betta Fish Folder Set

*.ico, .png, and .icns format

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