This week: In the News (this week in technology) learn about the new Apple iPad, and latest Skype version; The difference between Windows XP Home and XP Pro; Tips on MS Office; learn more about cell ranges in Excel formulas; Learn how to Auto-Forward Emails to Multiple Email Addresses; and how do Restrict Unwanted Web Sites...

Google Logo Museum

Have you ever noticed that on holidays and during special events Google puts up a unique logo on their main page? Since 2000, the Google logo has undergone various design changes for Christmas, the Olympics Halloween and more. The only problem is that after the holiday is over, so is the logo.

So, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to take a gander into the archives? Maybe check out some Google logos from years gone by?

Thought so, and thankfully there is!

Browse over to Google.com, and in the Search Box, type “ Google Logos” - the first result that pops up should look like this:



Click on it, and you will be taken to the archives where every logo from 2000 to the present day are there for the viewing! Personally, I love looking at the Halloween ones.



Have fun with this one!



Judith from MA asks:

Is there any way for me to check to see if an e-mail I've sent had been opened / read?

Judith, each mail provider uses different protocols and procedures for everything, so I can’t be certain whether this advice will answer your question. But, we’ll give it a try.

What you're talking about is a so-called "read receipt". This is kind of like a return receipt from the post office. It tells you that the e-mail has been received by the recipient's servers. The providers who do not have a read receipt option frequently cite privacy concerns as their reason.

Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail, probably the three most popular web-based e-mail programs do not offer return receipts. AOL once offered this service when you sent a mail to another AOL mail client, but apparently disabled it.

Incredimail has a read receipt option in their new mail window.



The Windows Mail server (formerly Outlook) also offers this service in their new mail window from the tools menu.



One caution is that, in order for the read receipt to work, the receiver's e-mail server has to support it as well.

Probably the easiest and most reliable way to discover if a recipient has read an e-mail is to include a short note in your outgoing e-mail requesting that they send a brief reply to let you know that they've received and read it.

Any important information that you send, information that you need concrete evidence of having sent, is still best sent through the U. S. mail with a return receipt request.

For more on read receipts, take a look at this Worldstart tip.

Ruthanne from Florida asks:

How do you make the fonts bigger when you want to print something?

Increasing the font size on something you wish to print can be achieved in several different ways. However, the method used to make fonts larger will vary from program to program. Unfortunately, there is no one way to set the actual printer to a certain font size - though a feature such as this would definitely make printing much easier.

Keep in mind that the size of font you see on the computer screen and the size of lettering used for printed items won't necessarily be the same. It is simple to increase the font size on your screen display for easier viewing, but this does not enable the printer to print documents in fonts at the same scale. For instance, holding down the CTRL key and then scrolling up and down with the wheel on your mouse increases and decreases the font size in many programs. So, your printer is going to keep receiving the signal that all documents need to be printed in a font that is a specific size already determined by programming.

Emails are a prime example of something that many people need to print in a larger text. For instance, if you're using Firefox and need to print off emails from Gmail in a larger font, then the following steps may be taken.

Step 1 - Open the email you wish to print

Step 2 - Click on the Print all button at the right of the email.

Step 3 - Hit Cancel on the print box that pops open automatically

Step 4 - Go to File at the top of your screen and click on it

Step 5 - Scroll down and click on Print Preview. This will then display a view of what your email will look like when it's printed.



Step 6 - Next to the word Scale at the top of the page, there is a drop down box. Choose anything more than 100 percent, in order to increase the font size in your email. The print preview will automatically change to display the new font size chosen.



Step 7 - Click on the Print button when you have selected the appropriate scale percentage.

Step 8 - Choose which pages you wish to print and the number of copies, then click on the OK button at the bottom of the Print box.

If you only want a particular email to be printed in the larger font, then be sure to reduce the scale size back to 100 percent before exiting the print preview page. Neglecting to make this change back to 100 percent will cause other material to be printed off in the larger font as well. Increasing the percentage listed in the drop down box next to Scale on the print preview page works for any email account, as well as any other web page you come across.

If you're using Firefox as your browser, and you'd like to print a web page, you can increase font print size by following the few steps listed below:

Step 1 - Click on File at the top of the internet page you have opened

Step 2 - Scroll down and click on Page Setup



Step 3 - Type in a number greater than 100 in the box next to the word Scale



Step 4 - Click on the OK button to initiate this change in font scale size. This will increase the size of font and any other aspect of all web pages printed from your computer.

The only time font will be printed as large as it appears on your monitor will be when you are using a typing program, such as Word or Excel. Font size can be changed before any typing takes place or you can highlight a certain section and increase the size of font in this selection only. The change in font size will only apply to the document you are typing. Once a new page in that particular program is opened, the font size goes back to whatever the default settings are. This means increasing font size must take place for every new file opened in one of these typing programs.

Since, as mentioned at the beginning, printing options are program specific, you might consider this method for all your printing needs. If you use a word processor like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer, copying your text and pasting it into a document, and then following the directions in the paragraph above may ultimately be the easiest way to guarantee the results you want.

I hope these various steps help you to print off anything you wish in a comfortable size of font.

~H. A. Bryan

Google Patents

Are you a tinkerer? An inventor? Maybe deep down inside there's a mad scientist, just screaming to get out! Well, whatever the case, Google is here to make sure that an idea you've come up with hasn't already been patented.

Yes, I said Google. The master of search engines doesn't just search the web anymore. Now it also searches patents!

Here's how to get to it:

Browse to Google.com, and in the upper left-hand corner you'll see a list of filters (Web, Images, Videos, etc.) – click more. A drop-down list with more options will appear. Go to the bottom and click the even more>> option.



The next page that appears is chock-full of Google goodies, but the option we're looking for is on the left side about a third of the way down the list. It's called Patent Search.



Click on it, and you'll be brought to this screen.



Now, simply type the name or description of your invention into the search box and Google will look through over 7 million patents to see if anyone has beaten you to the punch!

You can also click the Advanced Patent Search link to the right of the search box and input other criteria like patent number, inventor and more!

How useful!

Claire from Ottawa, Canada writes:

I am almost ashamed to admit it, but I don't know how to cut and paste or even what it means. I do know how to copy and paste, though, if that helps.

A long time ago, I got to talking to a representative from my local phone company about computers and copy and paste came up. I had no idea what it was, and she was speechless, dumbfounded, flabbergasted... well, she was surprised, anyway. "What do you mean? That's the very first thing I did when I began to learn about computers!" Well, I apologize, ma'am, maybe it is. I thought the very first thing you did was take it out of the box...I digress. The point, is, Claire, there are many (sometimes it feels like too many!) things to learn about a computer; don't ever be ashamed because you don't know something, because I guarantee that there is something you know that a neighbor doesn't, and vice-versa. You know what I mean?

Let's start with concept. In fact, let's integrate Copy and Paste and Cut and Paste and call all of it Cut, Copy, and Paste. That will help me not to have to type paste nine thousand times in a paragraph, and besides, they are basically the same thing, with only one difference between them.

It's all about moving data, or pictures, or anything you want from one place to another.

Let's say that you are typing a letter to your Aunt Abigail in Nottingham, England. (Aunt Abigail is 73 and set in her ways and will not have one of those "new-fangled computers" in her house, thus you write her by snail-mail.) A friend of yours has sent you an e-mail with a picture of his puppies in it (there are ten of them!) that you think that she would love, and you want her to have a copy of it. Thus, you copy the picture from the e-mail and paste the picture into your letter. Since you only copied it, you still have the picture in your e-mail, and Aunt Abigail is going to have a copy of it, too.

Now let's say you are typing a letter to your Aunt Abigail (in Nottingham, England, blah blah blah) and you want to send her that same picture, only this time you don't need to keep the picture and would just as soon cut it out of the e-mail; the e-mail (text) itself was the most important thing. You do the same thing as before; you go to the picture and copy it, and then paste it into your letter. This time, however, you cut the original picture out of your e-mail. Now you don't have the picture any more, but Aunt Abigail is still going to get it because you copied the picture and pasted it before you cut it out of your e-mail.

Does this make sense? Let me make a point here: In the example above, when you copied and pasted the picture, you simply made a copy of it. You can always go get the picture again because you didn't cut it out.

Claire, I'll tell you something that I was ashamed to admit for a long time: I didn't know that you copied something when you were cutting and pasting. I mean, why wouldn't you put the word copy in there somewhere? This is why it is also called Cut, Copy, and Paste.

To Cut and Paste

Let's take the picture that Aunt Abigail is going to be enjoying 2 months from now when she finally gets your letter.



Click anywhere in the picture and then go up to the top of your screen where it says File, Edit, View, etc. and click on Edit, and then click on Copy.



Now go to the place where you want to put the picture, put your cursor where you want it to go, and click on Paste.



Your picture will appear where you put your cursor.

You will follow this same process to Cut and Paste. This time, instead of clicking on Copy in the Edit menu, click on Cut.



Your first picture has disappeared because you have cut it, but it can now be pasted wherever you'd like it to be placed.

Let's sum it up:

Copy and Paste: Take something from somewhere, make a copy of it and put it somewhere else.

Cut and Paste: Take something from somewhere, and a copy will be created that can be pasted somewhere else. But, what you take will also be removed from its original source.

That's it!

I hope this answered your question. If you would like to learn more about copy and paste, on Worldstart's website there is a page that clearly explains copy and paste . Click here for some keyboard shortcuts that you can use to copy and paste, too.

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