My GPS

GPS is a marvelous thing..when it works.

Yesterday I went to a family reunion. I had never been to the way out in the country place where it was held, so relied on my GPS to get me there.

Except it didn’t get me there. it telling me to turn right, but there was no road to turn right. I kept driving and then it told me to turn left on some road, but all these roads had no name, I went round and round in circles, up and down roads, and some of them were little more that gravel trails.

I knew that place had to be somewhere in the area, but I just couldn’t find it. I called one of my family members that I knew was there, but the call went to voice mail as her service didn’t work out here in the boonies. Finally I used another marvelous thing, my cell phone (It isn’t a real smart phone, but my service worked, thank goodness!) and called home to get my son to check on a map to see where I needed to go.

He managed to find it on a map and told me how to get there.  I finally reached my destination and had a great visit with family members, some I hadn’t seen in 40 years.

If the GPS hadn’t messed with me I could have had almost two more hours to visit!

Today I decided to try to find out why that GPS almost got thrown out the window.  Turns out the road I needed to be on has two names. I first turned on the road with the first name (an FM road) and evidently when it was telling me to turn right, this is where the second name of the road takes over from the first name (FM road). I still don't understand why it was telling me to turn when I was already on the road, but

So I am not sure who is at fault for the snafu with the GPS, but I learned I will just depend on a real map the next time I need to go out into the country!

Installing Windows 8 Again..Part 2

I have set up Windows 8 as though it is my main computer and installed all of my must have programs.

When Windows 8 was ‘setting up’, for some reason the time zone didn’t keep the correct settings, but I didn’t notice that until I tried to install the Nook app from Barnes and Noble. It installed ok, but my eBooks didn’t download. I uninstalled the app re-installed the app, rebooted, nope those books didn’t download. Finally I entered into a chat with a customer service rep on B and N.

He had me download Nook Study and install it, and then the fun started. My computer time was incorrect and it wouldn’t work.  OK, checked the time and it was set for Pacific time. Hmm, how did that happen? I know I set right to begin with, Central time. I changed it and the app still wouldn’t work, time is 120 minutes wrong. So I checked again and it was Pacific time. I changed it again and this time clicked the tab for Internet Time and clicked Update now.



The correct time finally saved and now the Nook Study app opened. Apparently this app is for college students and now it wanted my school name. Since I left college eons ago, I closed the app and opened the Nook app. It connected and all my books downloaded.

Now I am wondering about two things. Why didn’t Windows 8 keep my correct time zone and why did Nook need the correct time zone?  If I moved to Alaska, could I still use my Nook app? What if I was there on vacation and bought a book, would it download? I suppose the time on Barnes and Noble’s website is linked to my billing address and in a way that makes sense, but the whole idea of being able to take your Nook/laptop/iPad with you and read anywhere is one of the things that makes these readers so great.

Still wondering!

Setting Up Windows 8..Again!

I installed Windows 8 on a Compaq computer the same day it was released in October 2012. I tweaked and tweaked and finally had it running pretty much the way I wanted, or as much as possible as it was to do.

When the Windows 8.1 preview was released, I got it through the App store and away it went. But I did a major booboo, I didn’t backup Windows 8 first. So now I am setting it all up again.

I pretty much have it back the way I want it, but am making a few changes from the first install. To begin with, I am installing Macrium Reflect and as soon as I have it the way I want it, I will make my backup.

Why I didn’t make that backup is beyond me.  I have backups of three other computers, but not this one!

Oh well, I am documenting everything and will have a much more complete install record, so maybe it isn’t all bad. I made so many screenshots I probably will never need, but they will come in handy! And along the way, I have learned a bit more about Windows 8.

I Don't Like Windows 8

I don’t like  Window 8 and I don't like Windows 8.1 much better, based on the preview for Windows 8.1. My computer is NOT a tablet, and it’s pretty obvious Windows 8 was made for a tablet.

It is the ugly, in your face made for a tablet Start screen that I just can’t learn to love.

I’ve tried. I’ve tweaked and tweaked, setting Windows 8 and now Windows 8.1, to by pass that ugly Start screen, even learned to use that pitiful Start menu, but…I still hate it.

I want to keep my computers totally separate from a tablet. On my computer I don’t want to connect to an ‘App Store’, I don’t want to play a game with Xbox and I don’t want to store all my stuff in SkyDrive. so I don’t need all of these items. But I can’t even be sure it isn’t happening, at least the SkyDrive thing.

A trivial thing, it doesn’t come with my favorite game, Spider Solitaire. There is a free one in the app store, but it isn’t the same.

I told someone recently that change happens and we have to adjust. I guess I should take my own advice, but as long as I can get Windows 7 I will use it.  After that I may have to use a more recent version of Windows. Maybe some third party program will enable me to totally block that horrible Start page with all of those in your face tiles. I can only hope!

And just a note, that email program totally sucks!

As for Spider Solitaire, I waste too much time with it, so maybe that isn’t so bad after all.

Windows Live Mail 2012

Some folks want to read their email on their computers using Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail (hence forth known as WLM) can be configured in many ways like the old Outlook Express. The settings are very similar in lots of ways, but the location where WLM folders and mail is quite different.

On my Windows 7 computer with WLM the location is as follows:

C:\Users\Martha\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail
You do have to be able to to view AppData. Then find the location in AppData for your Windows Live Mail. (Of course, you have to use your name instead of mine in the path.)

A much easier way to find your WLM folders is to just change the location. While in WLM, click that tiny down arrow in the upper left corner, click Options and then click Mail.



The old almost like Outlook Express Options will open. Select Advanced:





Click Store folder , click Change and select a folder (Make a new one for this) and then select where you want to save your mail.



Once you click OK,  you will see a box with a message showing the new location.

You must shut down for change to happen



While I only use WLM for mostly throw-a-way accounts, it is handy to be able to view the messages in WLM’s folders.  You can click on a message in a folder and it will open in the default email program.

RSS Feeds in Browsers

I like RSS.  I use the Reader that is in Outlook and I frequently add and remove sites using the remove  in Outlook’s  Account Settings.

Some sites have a RSS feed button , but more and more I see sites that don’t have an obvious feed subscribe.

Not to fear, you can still subscribe using your browser! Firefox makes it easy. Just click ‘BookMarks’ and then  ‘Subscribe to this page’.



Then you get to choose which RSS Reader you want to use.



It’s pretty easy in Internet Explorer as well. Click Tools on Internet Explorer’s Menu and the click ‘Feed Discovery’ and click the Feed name.



Chrome for now isn’t quite as easy, but they may change later.  Since they have shut down their really great Reader, maybe they just haven’t yet figured out some folks just might want to use a Reader for RSS.

If you are using Chrome, you can get an add-on to let you subscribe to a RSS Feed. Open Chrome and  click ‘Settings’ and then click ‘Extensions’  Search for RSS and find one to install. Foxish live RSS will show in your toolbar if a feed is available.



Not everyone likes RSS, but it lets you know every time a new post is made and you can read it in your Reader of choice. Some available RSS Readers are listed by LifeHacker, a really cool site and it has an RSS feed!

A Follow Up to 'Download Your Yahoo Mail'

There are some really good reasons to keep your mail and other important stuff for Yahoo on your computer, besides a hacker compromising your account.

What if for some reason Yahoo just ‘suspends’ your email account?

Think it couldn’t happen to you? Maybe you should read this article, Yahoo Shuts Down Decade-Old-Email Account, Shrugs. Everything this guy had is lost forever, because Yahoo just doesn’t provide any way to get it back. Nightmare for users.

If this user had hosted his business sites on a regular host that he could actually contact, he probably wouldn’t have lost them.

Or what if Yahoo decides for any reason your account is ‘not active’ and just removes it!

They are going to close inactive accounts, but are these accounts really inactive?

I hope that Yahoo doesn’t close my seldom used account, even though I use my Yahoo Groups everyday.

Download Your Yahoo Mail

For years I have been told you can’t download Yahoo Mail for a free account. I know Yahoo wants users to view the ads and they want/need the revenue the ads provide. I don’t have a problem with sites receiving revenue, without that money coming in, a lot of sites would disappear.

But since hackers are getting more access to email accounts and sometimes taking them over, what can users do to prevent loss of their stuff stored in their email? For some folks, losing their accounts could be devastating.

For starters, changing the email mail account password for something almost impossible to guess would be a really good move. But with the advent of encryption breakers, even that might not protect that email account. (Use LastPass to keep that password.)

There are nearly always work-a-rounds with Windows and more than one way to do stuff. You can download all of your Yahoo mail to your computer using MailStore. This program is so simple to use and it is free for home users.

But a lot of folks want to download their Yahoo mail to their computers so they can read, send, reply and save attachments to files, etc. This has required a paid email account for as long as I can remember.

Today I downloaded the contents of my free Yahoo email account.  How did I do it? I did not use  YPOPS although a lot of folks have used this very successfully. I downloaded my Yahoo email to Thunderbird using IMAP.  It was so easy!  I don’t know if this is new or if it has been around awhile, but I just found out about it today.

It works in Windows Live Mail 2012 as well, and I have no doubt it will work with Outlook and any other email program that supports IMAP. In Windows Live Mail 2012, I had to enter the server settings manually. but Thunderbird did it for me.

One thing of note though, you still need to save your contacts.

That Almost Useless Start Button

Windows 8 did come with an almost Start (not a button), but it was all but impossible for most users to find. After lots of whining, bitching and screaming about the missing Start buttom, in Windows 8.1 they put it back.

Actually they didn't. Most folks wanted a real Start button.  One like the one in Windows 7.

The Start button looks like its there, but clicking on it, just takes you back to the ugly screen and clicking on it again takes you back to the Desktop. Of course this is a beta, so guess they figured we would find out for ourselves you have to right click on that so-called Start Button to get anything that halfway looks like a Start menu!

Why oh why, Microsoft? Why did you think a dual system is going to work for everyone? Why did you think Desktop users would actually like that ugly tile interface? Why did you think millions of users are going to use a touch screen? I can tell you right now, Microsoft, "Touch screens are not for everyone!"

After about twenty minutes of reaching up to touch a screen on a monitor attached to a desktop tower, my shoulders will start to hurt. I will have to go back to the mouse and probably will never touch that screen again.  Without using the touch screen, those tiles are just a pain in the you know what.

We all know that Windows 8 was designed for tablets and phones.  So why did Microsoft inflict it on PC users? Only they know and now I will have to figure out how to disable those tiles once and for all.  Maybe on a Ubunto system or possibly a Mac.

Hopefully a third party developer will make it all okay.

The Easy Way To Back Up Email

As an email pack rat, I totally understand the overwhelming need to back up all that email you have been saving for umpteen years, whether it's in your email program on your computer, or resting somewhere on the web in a web mail server.

The folks still using Windows XP's email program, Outlook Express, are starting to panic (with good reason) about all of the stored email in Outlook Express that they just can't bear or afford to lose. OE as it has come to be known is rapidly failing on a lot of computers. It is no longer supported and is easily corrupted. Microsoft never explained easily to users how to maintain OE.

Enough about Outlook Express, except to tell folks how to back it all up to move easily to another computer.  Use Mail Store, free for Home users.

I originally put Mail Store on a Desktop PC with Windows 7. I mainly just wanted to see how it worked so I backed up mail from Outlook,  Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail.

This was so easy!

When my Desktop died, I copied the Mail Store folder to my laptop. I really forgot about it until I looked for my Windows 8 Product Key and couldn't find it in Outlook. Needless to say I sort of panicked and when I remembered I had a backup of my Desktop Outlook's pst, I set up a new user profile on my laptop and created a new Outlook account. The missing Product key was found so I breathed easy.

Then sometime later I remembered Mail Store. I fired it up and guess what, there was an archive for my Desktop Outlook and there it was in the archive, my Windows 8 Product Key. I made this harder than needed, I should have checked Mail store first!

Now I am really ready to test this wonderful email backup some more.  So I told it to back up my web mail accounts and now all of my online emails are safely stored in Mail Store!

For anyone that has ever had their online email account hacked and lost it all, if only they had used Mail Store!