Issue #90 August 9, 2005

1. PPT – Save Remote Batteries

When I first got my latest remote presentation device (the Interlink RemotePoint Navigator by the way, and it is still the best in my opinion) I was concerned about battery life. And in the first few months, I had to replace the batteries after what I thought was not a lot of usage. So I started carrying an extra set of batteries and was concerned about how many batteries I would go through. The next set lasted quite a bit longer, so I was perplexed as to why that would be. Now I wasn’t sure how long to expect the batteries to last. Well I think Ed Rigsbee, a fellow professional speaker has revealed the secret at a recent presentation he did. We were setting up his equipment and I saw him take out his remote (the same model I use) and he proceeded to install one of the batteries, but only one. I asked why he was doing that and he explained that if you take one battery out, the remote won’t work in case one of the buttons gets accidentally pushed while it is in your computer case. What a great insight. I think what had been happening to me is that the remote had one of the buttons pressed in my laptop case and it was draining the batteries because it was actually in use. Now I always follow Ed’s routine and remove one battery from the remote when not in use. This is good advice for any small electronic device where you cannot keep it shut off when not in use. Save money on batteries and save the hassle of not knowing when the batteries will be drained by following this routine.

2. Renaming a file

Sometimes when I am opening a file or saving a file, I realize that I want to delete an old file or rename a file that I had previously saved. This happens because the File Open or File Save dialog boxes show you all of the files in the folder you are looking at. I could open File Explorer, navigate to the same folder and do the work on the file, but then I forget what I was doing in the first program. If I wait until I am done opening or saving the file, I forget what I wanted to do on the other file. But there is a better way. The File Open and File Save dialog boxes allow you to rename or delete files while you are working in the dialog box. When you want to delete or rename a file that you see in one of these dialog boxes, just right click on the file name (click the right mouse button) and in the popup menu that appears, select to rename or delete the file. This can save you a lot of time in keeping your folders cleaned up as you use them.

3. Useful Resource – Windows Image Viewer

Windows XP has an application called the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer that is a good, quick way to view images such as digital pictures or scanned images. PC World recently had a good article on how to use this valuable tool. The article is at: http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119993,00.asp