Computers and hardware posts - How To- Page 55

How to e-mail images directly from iPhoto '11

Perhaps you shun social media and photo-sharing sites. For you, e-mail is the simplest and most direct way of sharing photos. That's fine. I'm sure you have your reasons. I'm not here to sell you on Facebook or Flickr. If you are on a Mac and use iPhoto, however, I have a suggestion. Link your preferred e-mail account with iPhoto, which lets you e-mail photos directly from iPhoto. No more will you need to fire up your e-mail client and hunt for the attachment (hopefully, one that you've already resized) and wait for it to be attached.

Upon first glance, you may think you need a MobileMe account to e-mail directly from iPhoto. Not true. You can add any e-mail account to iPhoto. It's easy. Here's how:… Read more

How to flag photos in iPhoto '11

Flagging photos in iPhoto is a convenient way to mark photos you want to upload, print, or return to later to edit. Flagging is quicker and easier than creating an album and dragging photos into it to upload or edit. If you recently upgraded from iPhoto '09 to iPhoto '11, however, you may have noticed a slight change to the way photo flagging works. In iPhoto '09, you could simply click on the gray flag in the upper-left corner of a photo you were viewing to flag it. (The gray flag turns orange to confirm your command.) Now, in iPhoto '11, those gray flags are visible only when viewing the top-level, thumbnail view of photos (which doesn't make any sense, since it's usually difficult to ascertain whether a photo is flag-worthy until you see a larger shot of it).… Read more

How to save customized themes in Windows 7

Windows theme packs are a fun way to customize your Windows desktop. Theme packs save your wallpaper, window color, default system sounds and screensaver in a single file. Here's how to save your customizations so you can save them for later use or to share them with others.

Save customized theme

Step 1: Go to Start-->Control Panel-->Appearance and Personalization-->Personalization to view and customize your themes.

Step 2: After you've customized your theme by selecting your wallpaper, window color, default sounds and screensaver, locate your "Unsaved Theme" in the "My … Read more

3 apps that uninstall apps on OS X the right way

As a new Mac user, you are taught to uninstall an app by dragging it to the trash. While this method does uninstall an app for your computer, often associated files are left behind. These files can add up and hog space on your Mac.

There are much more efficient ways to uninstall an app on your Mac. Here we round up three apps that help you uninstall software on your Mac. … Read more

How to install App Store purchases on multiple Macs

The Mac App Store has changed the way most OS X users discover and buy apps for their Macs. One of the best features of the Mac App Store is that it follows the same rules of the iOS App Store, allowing users to install a any downloaded app on up to five different devices.

Follow along as we show you how to install purchases on multiple machines, as well as reinstall apps you have uninstalled.

How to automatically defragment new disks in Windows 7

Windows 7 automatically defragments your primary hard drive in a process that runs quietly in the background. However, if you'd like to have all new drives you plug in be defragmented as well, it's going to require a little input from you.

Step 1: Open the Disk Defragmenter from the Start menu by typing "disk defrag" in the Run box (shown below). You can always navigate to the actual program from Start by selecting All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.

Step 2: Click the "Configure Schedule" button to open up … Read more

How to remove personal data from image files

It turns out that in the Age of Sharing, a picture is worth a thousand data points--but you can strip out some or all of those identifying bits before posting or otherwise sharing your pics online. Maybe you don't want strangers to know the GPS coordinates of your home pics, or maybe you'd rather the boss not know that you used that sick day to prepare for (or recover from) a big pub crawl. In any case, it's almost absurdly easy to remove that info using Windows Explorer. Here's how:

Gather the pics you want … Read more

Maximize your screen real estate

Computer screens come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing they all have in common is clutter. Around the edges of any program window--even the Windows desktop itself--you'll see toolbars, sidebars, and other controls that take space away from the area reserved for your actual work.

The simplest way to remove the various information and shortcut bars from view is to press F11, which expands the currently open window to all four screen edges. Return to the standard view by pressing F11 again.

Likewise, the fastest way to enlarge content on the screen is by using Windows' built-in … Read more

Storage talk: Understanding your solid-state drive

Editor's note: This post was updated on February 20, 2013 to reflect the current state of SSDs on the market.

If your computer still runs on a hard drive, it's time to move to a solid-state drive (SSD). (Check out this How To, if you need help). It will be the single biggest upgrade that will hugely improve the system's performance, even better than getting a new computer that also runs on a hard drive.

But is there any place that SSDs' performance falls short in comparison with hard drives? Now that SSDs' prices have been getting … Read more

How to control computers remotely with your Android phone

Are you tired of providing on-site tech support for your friends and family? Providing support remotely is an easy way to help them while maintaining your sanity. If you don't have a computer nearby, but have your Android phone, you can still help. Here's how:

Computer setup Step 1: On the computer you want to remote control, download "TeamViewer QuickSupport" from TeamViewer. The downloaded file is named TeamViewerQS_en.exe. The program is self-contained so it does not need to be installed.

Step 2: Double-click on the TeamViewerQS_en.exe file to launch TeamViewer on the computer you … Read more