By Sherry, on January 15th, 2013 I got a message from Microsoft with the subject “ Important Information about Your Messenger Account”
 I would guess that many of you weren’t even aware that you had a Microsoft Messenger account (also known as MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger and Windows Live Messenger). You would automatically be assigned an account if you have a Windows Live address, a hotmail.com address, an MSN.com address, or an outlook.com address.
If you don’t use Messenger, you can ignore this email.
But if you have been using Messenger, you will need to use Skype (also a Microsoft product) to continue any chatting you are doing with Messenger. When you go to sign into Skype, you will indicate that you are signing in with your Messenger ID and password. You will be asked if you want to combine this with an existing Skype account. If you already have a Skype account, you have the option of combining the two or keeping them separate.
The email included an “Update Now” link which takes you to a special link that tells you how to proceed. And help is available at support.skype.com.
For those of you who have never used Skype, you now have the opportunity to converse via webcam as well as by text message.
Enjoy the new functions.
By Sherry, on August 23rd, 2012 Email accounts can be divided into two types – paid and free. Paid email accounts include those provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), those provided as part of your website hosting, and those which are made available for an annual or monthly charge. Free email services include Gmail and Hotmail; and some services provide both free and paid accounts, for example, AOL and ATT.
When everyone needed a lot of help with their email, paid providers made a lot of sense. You would contact your email provider and they would help you set up your account, reset your password, and deal with any other difficulties. As email use has become more and more of a commodity, many people started using the free email services. A major reason for having a free account was that they web-based and could be accessed from any computer, not just your own.
But there is a downside to using a free account. There is very little support for a free account. This fact was brought to my attention again as I tried to get assistance for a client who couldn’t remember her password. After spending almost 2 hours on the phone with support (OK, about half the time was on hold as we were switched between support personnel), I realized we weren’t getting anywhere. Luckily, the problem was that Internet Explorer knew the password, but my client preferred using an email client. For some reason, the email program had lost the password.
Fortunately, we were able to use a specialized tool to recover the password. But if this were not the case, my client would have had to get a new email address and notify all of her contacts of the change.
The Bottom Line: Treat your passwords with care and make sure that you have them in a secure place. You never know when you might need to look them up. You don’t want to lose access to your email.
By Sherry, on February 17th, 2012 
I was planning on writing a post on how important it is to use a surge protector (or Uninterruptable Power Supply) but my friend Patrick Seeber beat me to the punch. I’m just going to have you go over to his blog and see what he has to say. And don’t forget that you can use surge protectors for more than just protecting computers. I had a friend who stopped replacing answering machines (remember them) when she started using a surge protector.
When was the last time you checked your surge protector?
Picture from www.flickr.com/photos/squiffy
© 2012 by Sherry Goncharsky
By Sherry, on February 9th, 2012 Living in Tucson, Arizona, I’m used to seeing signs in Spanish. And I want to be sure that I enter Spanish words into the computer with proper accents. I still remember when I first moved to Tucson, the first story on the 10 o’clock news was that the new signs made for La Cañada read La Canada and many were unhappy. These characters can be entered by using the following method:
- Hold down the left-hand ALT key;
- On the numeric keypad, type the code corresponding to the character you want to type;
- Let go of the ALT key.
And here is a table with some common Spanish codes:
| Alt + 0193 |
Á |
Alt + 0225 |
á |
| Alt + 0201 |
É |
Alt + 0233 |
é |
| Alt + 0205 |
Í |
Alt + 0237 |
í |
| Alt + 0211 |
Ó |
Alt + 0243 |
ó |
| Alt + 0218 |
Ú |
Alt + 0250 |
ú |
| Alt + 0209 |
Ñ |
Alt + 0241 |
ñ |
| Alt + 0191 |
¿ |
Alt + 0161 |
¡ |
Similar codes exist for accented and special characters in other languages as well as for symbols like © and ¼. Have fun exploring how you can say anything you want.
© 2012 by Sherry Goncharsky
By Sherry, on February 7th, 2012 I got an email from one of my clients asking what she could do to fix the situation. Her documents were now being listed in reverse alphabetical order and she didn’t know how to fix that. This is a case of “Big Problem – Easy Fix”.
Your view is different depending on what version of Windows you are running. I’m showing pictures for Windows XP and for Windows 7. Windows Vista users should look at the Windows 7 examples. So you know which pictures to look at, I’m drawing a blue border around Windows 7 images and a red border around Windows XP images.
Windows 7
Windows XP
Step 1: Can you fix the problem with your current view?
If you don’t have the right view of your documents, you don’t have the option to change the sort. If your view doesn’t look like the ones below, you will need to follow the instructions to change the view. Otherwise go to Step 3.
Step 2: Changing to the needed view
If your display doesn’t look like the one above, you will need to change the view. The directions are different for Windows 7 and Windows XP.
Windows 7
Look at the image below and click where I have the red circle. Then move the selector to Details. You will now see the data formatted as above.
Windows XP
Click on the box with all of the icons. Then you will have the option to select Details. The new format will look like the picture in Step 1.
Step 3: Fixing the problem
Now that you have the right view, click on the Name field. This will reverse the alphabetical order. Click again and it switches back. See red circle below.
Windows 7
Windows XP
Now you should have what you want!
Related Help
- You can click on the other titles to sort by that field as well. These fields include Size, Type, and Date Modified. Again, you can sort in ascending or descending order.
- Similar fields exist in most email programs. People usually want to see their email sorted by date. But occasionally it helps to find all emails from a specific user or all emails with a specific subject.
Just remember to return your setting to the one you’re used to after you have changed your sorting so you aren’t surprised.
I’ll be posting more tips like this so please follow my blog. Leave me a comment on how I can help you.
© 2012 by Sherry Goncharsky
By Sherry, on February 5th, 2012  Don't wait too long to upgrade your computer or software.
There are less than 800 days left before Microsoft stops supporting Windows XP. It’s time to think about what you are going to do.
The official end of support for both Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 is April 8, 2014. I know it seems like a long way off but it’s time to make plans so you are prepared. You have two choices: upgrading to a new operating system or buying a new computer.
Things to consider
- Can you upgrade your existing computer?
- What new software will you need?
- How long can you wait?
Check Out Windows 7 Compatibility
Microsoft has created a lot of information about migrating to Windows 7, currently the latest version for the PC. Click here to find the latest information and find answers to more questions.
I have found the most important thing to do is to download and run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. This can help you to decide what you are going to do. It answers the following questions:
- Can you run Windows 7 on your existing hardware?
- Do you need to upgrade software for compatibility with Windows 7?
- Is your printer or other external hardware incompatible with Windows 7?
Getting Help
You can post your questions in the comments and I’ll try to point you in the right direction. If you are in Tucson, consider giving me a call. I can help identify the best path for you.
© 2012 by Sherry Goncharsky
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