February started at the FMCA SE Area Rally in Brooksville, FL. We had good crowds for our seminars and we ran out of handouts. Copies of all our handouts are downloadable from our website: Picasa, Internet on the Road, Google Earth, Blogger, Photo Story, Vista, and Safe Computing.

The rest of the month was spent at our home park, Paradise Island RV Park, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Not a bad place to be while so many are buried in snow - we complained about sub-60 degree weather! Next month we start our 'Tour' of RV Rallies where we will present our computer seminars:

• FMCA Convention, Albuquerque 3/22/10
• RV-Dreams Rally, Longs SC 4/7/10 also Boot Camp
• RV Lifestyle, Education & Safety, Bowling Green, KY 6/3/10
• The Rally, Louisville, KY 7/22/10
• FMCA Convention, Redmond, OR 8/11
• Gypsy Journal Rally, Elkhart IN 8/30/10 also Boot Camp
• Escapade, Goshen IN, 9/12/10
  

February Articles

So you don't miss anything, here's the other articles we've written this past month.

Cell Tower Overload
Wi-Fi - A Better Antenna will Get You a Better Connection
Re-Energize your Travel Blog
HotSpot in your Pocket
Picasa Tip: Importing and Folders
Picasa Tip: Deleting from Picasa Web Albums
Picasa Tip: People Albums - View Whole Picture
Picasa Tip: Using Albums and Temporary Albums

In this newsletter

• Windows 7
• Import AOL Contacts to Gmail
• Blogger Pages

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Windows 7 after 4 months

I bought a new computer last November. It has Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit operating system. I was worried that my important programs from Adobe (Dreamweaver and Fireworks) were not going to work, but, as it turns out that hasn't been a problem. My screen goes black for a second every time I open or close them, but they work OK. Other than that, it took me a while to find anything to say about Windows 7. That's because it's not remarkable for what it does, but rather for what it doesn't do.

It doesn't crash.

With Windows Vista, XP, Windows 98, and even earlier, I would need to restart my computer at least every couple of days. You see, I use my computers hard. I never have less than 3 applications going, and often 7 or 8 applications in addition to 10 or 12 Websites. That has always resulted in a computer that gets bogged down and needs to be given a clean start before I can work again. It was not unusual to have to restart my computer more than once in a day. Now, with Windows 7, I'll go a week or even 10 days before noticing, 'OMG, I haven't restarted the computer in so long!' Even then, it rarely crashes, but it may alert me that I have so much going on that I'm running low on memory (and that's usually when I have both Dreamweaver and Fireworks running. I'll restart to clear it out. This is a very good thing.

Learning to use Windows 7 is almost the same as learning Vista. For our Members, you can see all our Vista 'Show-Me' videos on the Members' Home Page. If you're not a member, you can view the free videos on our Vista page. We will have some Windows 7-specific videos sometime this summer, meanwhile, Microsoft provides lots of good help and training on Windows 7.

It's not that much different from Vista - but it is quite a bit different from XP. If you're still using XP - we do not recommend upgrading your computer to Windows 7. New operating systems are primarily structured to work on new hardware. There is no reason to upgrade your XP machine to Windows 7 - we adhere to the saying 'If it's not broke, don't fix it!'

But ...

If you're buying a new computer, don't ask to go back to XP! Following the same logic as above - new hardware works best with new operating systems. You wouldn't buy a new car and ask to put an old engine in it would you?

See our past article on '7 Tips for Buying a New Computer' for more thoughts on your purchase decision.

Import AOL Contacts to Gmail

A little while ago I wrote an article called Using Gmail for All your Mail. In it I wrote, "You can import all email and contacts from your other email." It sounds so simple and straightforward you may have missed it. Actually, it's quite a big deal, especially when you think of AOL. We have worked with many people who wanted to switch from AOL to something else but couldn't, because AOL did not give you a way to export your contact list. I think they figure you won't ever leave AOL if they hold on to your contact list. (This has recently changed - but Gmail is still easier.)

With this Gmail feature, it's easy to get your contacts. First you need a Gmail account. It's free, just go to www.gmail.com and sign up. Once you have an account, you can click on Settings, and then Accounts and Import.

If you are leaving AOL, you probably want to import everything. But, you don't have to. This is a great tool just for getting a backup copy of your contact list. After you click on 'Import mail and Contacts' - you will fill in the email address and password for your other account (AOL) - then you have some choices. You could just check 'Import Contacts.'

If you have a lot of contacts, or you choose to import everything, this can take a while. The Gmail Help on Import indicates it may take up to 48 hours! When it is complete, you will see a status message in Settings, Accounts and Import.

Blogger 'Pages'

Blogger is, by far, the easiest system out there for creating a blog. And, it keeps getting better. Make sure to read our recent article: Re-Energize your Travel Blog. It includes a video to show you how to find and use lots of 3d party templates.

Whenever I need to make a complete website, including a blog and other 'static' pages - I turn to Wordpress. We will be teaching a Wordpress seminar at the upcoming FMCA Convention in Albuquerque, and you can download a copy of the class handout if you're interested in learning about blogging with Wordpress.

Now using the super-simple Blogger system, they have added the ability to make Pages. Cool. Simple *and* complete! You have to look close. Go to your Blogger Dashboard and click on 'New Post.' Now, look at your menu options. You should see 'Edit Pages.' Then you can click on 'New Page.'

So, why do you want to do this? What is a page? When you create a page, the process is exactly like creating a normal blog post. You type text, add pictures, and add links just like you're accustomed to. But a page will exist outside the normal flow of dated post entries. It's separate. So, if you use Blogger to create a Travel Journal, most of your content will be dated entries that will be sorted so that you see the most recent one first and they go back in time as you scroll down the page. What if you want to create a separate page for 'About Us?' That's not part of the flow of dated entries, it's separate. Or you want one page with an overall map of your travels? Once again, not something that can be included in the list of dated entries.

You create a page by clicking on that 'New Page' button pictured above. When you click 'Publish', you'll see one more option before you're done:

When you have pages, you need some way for your readers to navigate to those pages. Blogger gives you the choice of creating a menu across the top, or over in the sidebar. Try them both and see what you like. They're not very fancy. If you ever want to change how your menu of pages appears - you'll find that in the Layout section under Add and Arrange Page Elements. Any new pages you create will automatically be added to the menu.

That's all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please email us. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box - it's free. To see the archives of past newsletters, go to www.geeksontour.com/newsletters.

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online classroom for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can watch our free sample videos, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free monthly newsletter, or Picasa weekly tips. A small fee makes you a 'member' and you can then view any of our 160+ video tutorials on these subjects.