Best way to learn something

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What’s the magic secret to learning new software as fast as possible? I’ll bet you’re like most people in that you install the software and just start using it, right? The only problem with that approach is that you end up learning the least amount possible to just barely get the job done and then you don’t pursue learning any more. This usually means that you’re not really getting your money’s worth. The best way to learn fast is to still “just do it”, but assume that everything you want to accomplish can be done automatically by the software, and dig through the online help to find out how. Then, most importantly, take the time to learn it well. Although it might seem you are spending lots of effort in the beginning, you’ll save thousands of hours in the long run. Follow this simple advice and you’ll be the office expert in no time.

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Parents: if your kids have their own computer at home here’s a way to make you the family hero by customizing their PC

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Aloha, I’m Peter Kay with your computer minute. Parents if your kids have their own computer at home here’s a way to make you the family hero by customizing their PC, in a really cool way, just for them. You see, Windows has this concept called Themes which allows you to completely tailor just about all aspects of look and feel, including, colors, sounds, cursors, wallpaper and backgrounds. Now what’s cool about these Themes is that there is a lot them on the Net that you can download and install for free. Now when you combine that with specialty mouse pads, mice and stickers you can turn that boring looking PC into a Pokemon PC, or a Barbie computer. Check out the “Websites for kids” links I’ve posted on www.yourcomputerminute.com to get you started. Your kids will love it and you’ll be the hero, at least for a day. I’m

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Interpreting Web Log Reports

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Do you have a Web site? How many people visited last week? What search engine words did they type in to find you? Did they get there from another site’s link? How long did they stay on your Web site? And how does all this compare with last month’s performance? If you were able to answer these questions, congratulations! You’re one of the few companies that is closely monitoring your Web site’s performance. What? You say you don’t know what I’m talking about? “What reports?” you say? Folks, if you care about making sales from your Web site you need to measure its performance. This means you have to review what’s called a Web log report that your ISP can provide for you every week or at least every month. Understanding this very important report is the key to identifying successful marketing strategies. Have you hugged your Web log report today?

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Use Ctrl-Enter with Internet Explorer and save typing

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If you use Internet Explorer to surf the Web, I’ve got a great tip for you. The next time you have to type in a Web site address, just enter the domain name, then do a control-enter by holding down the control key and hit enter. For example, instead of typing http://www.yourcomputerminute.com, just type in “yourcomputerminute” all by itself, nothing else, then do a control enter. Internet Explorer will automagically add the http://www in the beginning and the dotcom at the end. Try it! If you subscribe to my FREE newsletter, I’ll give you a short video to walk you through this, step by step. Just go to www.yourcomputerminute.com and sign up free today.

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Do you go online at home to do office work?

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Do you go online at home to do office work? I’ll bet you just love that high speed access from home that lets you remotely log into your office network, dontcha? What? You mean you don’t have high speed access from home? You’re kidding me, right? You mean to tell me that you have to work from home to begin with, which isn’t exactly my idea of having fun, but you’re using slow speed dialup, which makes you work even longer hours, as well? Come on man, get with the program! Stop wasting your life away working at home when you could be breezing by with a high speed connection. Call your favorite high speed access provider now and get online like the rest of us! I’ll guarantee you’ll thank me forever that you did, and you’ll never want to slowmo dialup your access again.

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How to Change

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Have you ever tried to get people in your company to change from doing things the “old way”? You probably found out that its difficult if not impossible do to unless you know the golden secret. And the golden secret is that people will change immediately if they believe, from their perspective, that the change will help make their life easier. If they feel, for whatever reason, that the change will make their life harder, they won’t change no matter how hard you push and who can blame them. Many of us in the tech world don’t understand this and we ask people to use a new technology which many times does not work properly or is full of bugs. So if you want to implement change in your company, first make sure that the change is in fact better and then make sure that everyone believes it. Get that done and you’ll see change happen over night.

Find Movies Online

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When you want to go out and see a movie, how do you find out when and where it’s going to play? I’ll bet you either dig around the house for the Sunday paper or you’ll make a bunch of phone calls, right? Aw man, I’m disappointed! You mean you don’t reach for your Web browser and call up the movie theaters online and find the right time and place in seconds? After all, why did you buy that cool computer and high-speed, always-on Internet access for anyway, right? Seriously folks, the next time you want to find your movie, try the Web instead. It is way, WAY better and faster. Believe me, I timed it! Now of course this won’t work well if you have dialup because it just takes too long but for you RoadRunner types, you will love this new way once you’ve tried it. Now I’ve already found the best local movie theater links for you and they’re posted on www.yourcomputerminute.com so check it out.

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Embedded comments

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If you send Microsoft Word documents via email, I’ve got an excellent tip for you: Many times, people email Word documents back and forth to get others opinion or advice. The process of drafting up a contract is a great example. The problem is: how do you easily put your comments in the document without messing it up? The answer is to use a little known but powerful feature called embedded comments. Hit F1 when you’re using Word and do a search for “insert comments”. Follow the steps and you’ll be able to mark up documents with your comments better and faster that you ever have before and your colleague on the other side will think you are just too cool. Embedded comments are a must when you’re working with others on the same document.

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Adding email addresses to your contact folder in Outlook

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If you use Microsoft Outlook, I’ve got a great tip for you. The next time you get an email from someone that you want to add to your contacts list, try this. Open up their email and then right-click on their email address. You’ll see a little handydandy menu pop up and one of the choices is to “add to contacts”. Click on that and you’ll see that Outlook creates a new contact item and fills in the name and email address. All you gotta do is save it and you’re done. Very cool. There’s another way to do the same thing and it that works just as well if not better. Simply drag the email from your inbox and drop in over your contacts folder. Outlook handles the rest. Keep this up and you’ll have more contacts than you know what to do with in no time!

Protect yourself against email viruses by using Microsoft Windows Update

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Do you want the best protection against viruses? Sure, you can and should get anti-virus software. But what I think is even more important is to make sure your software is fully up to date. Luckily there is a really easy way for you to check up on this in Windows. Go to start, programs, and then click on Windows Update. You’ll be sent to a Microsoft Web site that will analyze your computer and let you know what free updates have been released. Now if you are not comfortable with installing updates you should get a technical person to help you. Either way using the Windows Update is a great way to make sure your computer has maximum protection against nasty viruses.