Did You Know?
by Cate Eales
Appeared June 18, 2012 on castanet.net
As XP users we installed programs to do things Windows
XP couldn’t do. Did you know that Windows 7 does a lot of those things
on its own? This week: Take a screen shot, convert units and calculate.
Snipping Tool is actually pretty useful
Sometimes you need a picture of something on your computer screen. Maybe
you want to send an error message to a tech and you don’t want to type
it out. I’ve been using a program called Gadwin PrintScreen (Free
version available at the bottom of
this page.)
since the old days of Windows 98. But it’s easy to capture an area of
your screen and save it as a picture if you are using Windows 7 or even
Vista, the forgotten operating system.
The “Snipping Tool” that will let you do the basic things without having
to install anything. To access the tool, click on Start | All Programs |
Accessories | Snipping Tool, or click on the Start button, type snip
into the Search box and select Snipping Tool from the results.
Either method opens up a small window that is the Snipping Tool. Click
on New to define the area you want to capture, drag the cursor around
the area you want to capture and then let go of the mouse button.
This will open a simple graphics editor. You can use the tools there to
draw lines, add highlighting, email the picture, and save it to your
hard drive. Click on Options, to change the shape of the area you want
to capture, the ink colour, and so on. Give it a try and see how you
like it. If you need something more, Gadwin PrintScreen works great on
Windows 7 and Vista, too!
One calculator rules them all
I’ll be honest with you. It’s hard for me to get really excited about a
calculator. But maybe that’s just me. People who do get really excited
about calculators are really excited about the calculator built into
Windows 7.
In addition to Standard mode, which is just like every calculator you’re
ever seen, this one has Programmer, Statistics, and Scientific modes. I
can’t make any sense of those, but if you are a programmer, statistician
or scientist, apparently these come in very handy.
What is kind of cool is history feature. In Standard and Scientific
modes, the calculator keeps track of what you do in a session. It’s like
running a tape on a real calculator, except you don’t have to stop and
look for more paper just before you solve the problem. Unlike a real
tape, though, you can edit the history in the calculator, altering the
outcome. And who wouldn’t want the chance to do that?
Calculator for Windows 7 also calculates the difference between two
dates, converts units of measurements, and figures out mortgage payments
and gas mileage.
(click to enlarge graphic)
Windows 7 Calculator
Not running Windows 7? I’ve always liked
Convert by Josh Madison and
MoffSoft FreeCalc
for converting and calculating. If you are running Vista, you can
download the Windows 7 Calculator from
this link. Be sure to click on the blue “Dowload” arrow, and on any
of the ads for other products.
You can learn more about Windows 7 Calculator
here.
30K Club Bikeathon
One last thank you --- I hope --- to all the readers who sponsored me
for the 30K Club Bikeathon June 16 (Here's my sponsorship page:
http://bit.ly/catebike). My column
deadline is before the event, so as I write this my fingers are crossed
that the weather holds and the event goes as planned. I am so grateful
to you all for supporting this worthy cause. Many thanks!
--
I welcome your comments and
questions. I can also visit your home or office to help you and your
computer get along. Call me at 250-764-7043, email
help@computercarekelowna.com or visit
Computer Care Kelowna on
the web.
You can read previous columns here:
http://rlis.com/column.htm. If you'd like to subscribe to this
column by email, please visit this link:
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618. It's easy, and free. If
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Links
Microsoft Security Essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/mse.aspx
Download Microsoft Security Essentials
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials
Download Avast! Free
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
SuperAntiSpyware
http://superantispyware.com
Malwarebytes
http://malwarebytes.org
Download Firefox
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
About Firefox 13
http://youtu.be/HRp4a_24cp8
Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4+
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-3-theme-for-firefox/
Firefox Aero theme for Firefox 4+
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-3-aero-theme-for-fi/
Cate’s Bikeathon Sponsorship page:
http://bit.ly/catebike
Computer Care Kelowna
http://computercarekelowna.com/
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives
http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email
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©
Cate Eales 2012 – All Rights Reserved
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