This Week's Edition
To print this edition or read or print past editions, click here
Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, July 11, 2010
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Just Say No to Sales Calls
Tips & Tricks: Windows Vista and 7 Color Schemes
Featured Computer Term: The Top 30 Internet Terms for Beginners: 11. Download
This Week's Topic: Text Message from your Computer
Question: Printing Web Pages
Websites of Interest: What's In the Foods You Eat; Brad's Deals; A Biography of America; Inside Hoops
**********************************
Special Feature: Just Say No to Sales Calls
The following article is by Ron Burley of aarp.org
Imagine going shopping for a new appliance and being held captive by a salesperson. Your only means of escape: Make a purchase or somehow force your captor to leave the showroom first! It sounds improbable, yet that is pretty much what can happen when you invite a salesperson into your home.
All this came to mind when I received an e-mail from Howard Kletter of Ocala, Fla. He wrote about elderly friends who were, in his words, “fleeced by a Kirby Vacuum salesman for $2,000.” Kletter contends that the couple, who both have Alzheimer’s disease, fell victim to a Kirby rep who gave them an in-home demonstration. At length, the couple agreed to buy a Kirby Sentria “home care system” that included a floor shampooer, canister vacuum and floor buffer — more than they needed or could ever use.
Days later the couple realized they were in over their heads and tried to return the items to the distributor — Kirby products are sold by a network of independent distributors — but no one returned their calls. At that point, Good Samaritan Kletter stepped in and contacted On Your Side. When I told Kirby the facts, the company pressed its distributor to provide a full refund.
I am grateful to Kirby for its compassionate stance, but the lesson here is not about the aged and frail. All of us need to learn that in-home sales are a dicey way to shop. Your home may be your castle, but it is never high ground in a sales call because you cannot walk away — your best defense against high-pressure tactics. Twenty years of counseling consumers has taught me that many of us have a difficult time turning down a pitch when the showroom is our living room. It’s human nature. We don’t like disappointing people. (If this weren’t true, I’m not sure anyone anywhere would ever buy a timeshare.)
Sales professionals call it the exchange principle: “If I do something for you, then you are obliged to do something for me.” In this case, the rep has taken the time to come to your house, carrying along whatever samples and supplies are needed for the “no obligation” demonstration, so we feel obligated. And they know that. It’s why sales reps value appointments almost as much as orders — they know that if they can get through your front door, they have an excellent chance of closing the sale.
So the next time you get that call for a “free in-home demonstration,” flash back to Nancy Reagan in the 1980s and Just Say No.
**********************************
Tips & Tricks: Windows Color Schemes
Windows Vista and Windows 7 come with eight prebuilt designer color schemes. You can change to a different designer scheme or create one of your own. To change color schemes, follow these steps:
Windows Vista
Right click a blank part of the desktop. A menu will open; left click Personalize.
The Personalize Appearance and Sounds dialog box opens. Click the Window Color and Appearance icon. The Window Color and Appearance dialog box will open.
If you want to speed up the display on your computer, you can deselect the Enable Transparency check box. (If you have Vista Basic Home Edition, the Enable Transparency check box will be grayed out.)
Click the Show Color Mixer down arrow, and then in the Pick a Color box, click to pick whichever color scheme appeals to you. The Hue, Saturation, Brightness, and Transparency sliders move when you click new color schemes.
Choose one of the prebuilt color schemes, or mix and match your own by moving the Transparency, Hue, Saturation, and Brightness sliders. When you are done, click the OK button.
Windows 7
Right click a blank part of the desktop. A menu will open; left click Personalize.
The Personalization dialog box opens. Click the Window Color button. The Window Color and Appearance dialog box will open.
If you want to speed up the display on your computer, you can deselect the Enable Transparency check box. (If you have 7 Basic Home Edition, the Enable Transparency check box will be grayed out.)
Click the Show Color Mixer down arrow, and then in the Pick a Color box, click to pick whichever color scheme appeals to you. The Hue, Saturation, Brightness, and Color intensity sliders move when you click new color schemes.
Choose one of the prebuilt color schemes, or mix and match your own by moving the Color intensity, Hue, Saturation, and Brightness sliders. When you are done, click the OK button.
To learn how to change the desktop background color on Windows XP, visit our newsletter archives:
Change Desktop Background Color
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/021107.html
**********************************
Featured Computer Term: The Top 30 Internet Terms for Beginners: 11. Download
Whether you are brand new to using the Internet, or you've been using it for years, there are thirty important terms that are absolutely worth learning. Join us for our ongoing series on Internet terminology, where, with the help of Paul Gil from about.com, we provide definitions and information on the Top Internet Terms for Beginners.
This Week: 11. Download
Downloading is a broad term that describes when you make a personal copy of something you find on the Internet or World Wide Web or that someone sends you by email. Commonly, downloading is associated with pictures, songs, music, and software files. The larger the file you are copying, the longer the download will take to transfer to your computer.
When you download a file, you are taking it from a remote computer and saving it onto the hard drive of your computer. Because of this, you must be careful what you download: If a file contains a virus, by saving it onto your computer, you will get that virus, too. Never download anything from someone you do not know!
Visit our newsletter archives for more information on downloading:
Download a File
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/040305.html
Downloading Email Attachments
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/070603.html
How to Download on America Online
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/120300.html
Finding Downloaded Files
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/112804.html
Download Warnings
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/111404.html
Scan Downloaded Files
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/031206.html
Downloading: Run vs. Save
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/031906.html
Downloading vs. Uploading
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/052205.html
In our next edition: Malware
Please visit our Newsletter Archives to review the terms we’ve already covered:
http://computerkindergarten.com/30internetterms.html
Is there a computer term or phrase that you'd like to see an explanation of? Email it to info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll put the term and its definition in an upcoming newsletter.
**********************************
Today's Topic: Text Message from your Computer
Question: My granddaughter says I can send her text messages from my computer, and then I would not have to pay for this service on my cell phone. Do you have any information on this?
Answer:
Yes, there are several instant messaging programs that will allow you to do this. The free text message feature requires an additional setup but here are links for some online tutorials that will easily guide you through the process.
While you can use any of these programs, if you use the one where you already have an email address, you will not have the additional steps of signing up for a new account.
AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
http://im.about.com/od/advancedimfeatures/ss/aimsms.htm
Yahoo Instant Messenger
http://im.about.com/od/yahoomesseng2/ss/yahoofreetext.htm
Gtalk (Gmail)
http://im.about.com/od/gmail/ss/googlefreetext.htm
Windows Live (Hotmail)
http://im.about.com/od/advancedimfeatures/ss/windowsfreetext.htm
**********************************
Question: Printing Web Pages
Sometimes I find Web pages that I would like to print out, but when I do, the whole right side is cut off. Is there a resolution for this?
Answer:
In some cases there is. First, always print preview a page before you print it; that is a good way to save paper and printer ink. To do so, click File on the menu (if you cannot see the menu, press the ALT key on the keyboard). Click Print Preview, where you can check what your printout will look like and if it will print correctly.
If it is cutting off part of the page, click File on the menu and then click Page Setup. Change the orientation from Portrait to Landscape. Click OK and then Print Preview again. This should allow the whole page, from left to right, to print.
In the case of very poorly designed web pages, you can change to legal size paper and use the landscape orientation. This setting can be found in the Page Setup window.
**********************************
Websites of Interest:
What's In the Foods You Eat
From the U.S. Department of Agriculture, what is in the food you eat? Visit this site to take a look at the nutrient profiles for thousands of foods.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=17032
Brad's Deals
Coupons and Deals for online stores. If you like to shop online, take a look at this website.
http://www.bradsdeals.com/
A Biography of America
This site presents American history in an interesting format with video, interactive features, maps and much more.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series123.html
Inside Hoops
News, views, and rumors and everything about basketball.
http://insidehoops.com/