Computer questions you'd be embarrassed to ask any where else!

DavyD_83 · 05-04-2019 10:16am

muffler wrote: »

Go to ebay and search for "Microsoft Office" and a copy can be got for a few Euros

Or do the same on adverts.ie

FishOnABike · 05-04-2019 10:18am

theteal wrote: »

If I remember correctly, MS Office is now a monthly subscription of about €7. LibreOffice is €0.

I'd normally plug the open source options. But Microsoft Office 365 Education A1 version has a free option.

Office 365 Education comes in three flavours, the online version (A1 option) is free to staff and students of accredited schools, but you need to be online to use it. A3 option allows you install applications so you can work offline, but this has a monthly subscription of €2.45 + vat per month. A5 option adds advanced security, compliance and analytics for €5.90 + vat per month.

It's all academic (pun intended) until the school clarifies what it needs.

OUTDOORLASS · 05-04-2019 10:18am

Muffler, I went to ebay, saw some deals... Say the likes of endof the line scotland...had the Professional 2019 on sale for 8.50 (I think)
would that be per month, or a once off price. Sorry for silly question, I.v never used ebay.... I.m a bricks and mortar shopper !!

OUTDOORLASS · 05-04-2019 10:19am

Just to add, I.m really thankful for the answers from everybody.....

FishOnABike · 05-04-2019 10:47am

Since LibreOffice is free it might be worth downloading to check if it is suitable. It can track changes and compare documents.

If the teacher is editing a word document using the "Track changes" option Libre Office will show those changes.

You can get LibreOffice from
https://www.libreoffice.org
Just make sure any documents created are saved as Word 2007 - 2019 (.docx) format.

RoamingDoc · 05-04-2019 10:53am

OUTDOORLASS wrote: »

Muffler, I went to ebay, saw some deals... Say the likes of endof the line scotland...had the Professional 2019 on sale for 8.50 (I think) would that be per month, or a once off price.

I'd assume price per month based on how new it is and the fact that it's professional.

Do you want to post or PM the link and we'll check it out and give an answer if we can find it.

Just to say, I'm not entirely convinced that the teacher knows what they're talking about either. This talk of automatic failing is a bit OTT.

OUTDOORLASS · 05-04-2019 10:57am

I.d agree with you RoamingDoc.........def OTT.

muffler · 05-04-2019 1:02pm

OUTDOORLASS wrote: »

Muffler, I went to ebay, saw some deals... Say the likes of endof the line scotland...had the Professional 2019 on sale for 8.50 (I think)
would that be per month, or a once off price. Sorry for silly question, I.v never used ebay.... I.m a bricks and mortar shopper !!

Most likely a one off payment but you would need to read the conditions of sale. As stated there could be a monthly charge given the fact that its a brand new edition of Office but most of the sellers on Ebay work on a life time subscription for a one off payment.

Unfortunately Im not into the technicalities of these things but about 2 years ago I bought a copy of MS Office 2016 which was probably only a year old at that stage and it cost the grand total of €6. Have been using it since and have never had to pay any additional money.

Most of the listings on Ebay appear to be legit as the sellers claim they are merely removing the programmes from old PCs that are being upgraded / recycled. In fact I even get regular software updates from Microsoft for it so I dont think that would happen if it wasnt a legal copy. In any event the ads would be removed if there was anything dodgy about them

spurious · 05-04-2019 9:49pm

I can absolutely guarantee you that the teacher would not be able to tell the difference between a .doc (or .docx) created in Microsoft Word or one created in Libre Office Writer.

RoamingDoc · 05-04-2019 9:52pm

That would always have been my understanding too.

Fair enough for them not to know about it, but they really shouldn't be making things up like this.

New Home · 05-04-2019 10:22pm

I think it might have been just a matter of clicking on "Review" and "Show Markups"/"Reviewing pane", or something like it.

Masala · 05-04-2019 11:40pm

Question..... I have an email thread printed out. And then there is another email added to the thread that I also need printed.. How do I just print the last email without printing out the whole thread again. Is there an Option in Outlook 2010 to print only sections of an email thread.

Or is there a paid add-on I can get that would be recommended??

New Home · 05-04-2019 11:47pm

No*, unless it was sent to you in the first place. However, what you can do is to select the part you want with your mouse, and when you print you can select "Print selected area" (or something like that) instead of "Print full document/Page/etc.). Otherwise, let's say that the part you want is on page 3 and 4, then in print options you can choose to print just page n. 3 and 4.

*Edit: Sorry, I just realised you specifically asked about Outlook, and I wouldn't know for sure.

Esel · 06-04-2019 8:00am

Take a screenshot and print that. Quick and dirty, but still a fix.

Johnboy1951 · 06-04-2019 8:42am

FishOnABike wrote: »

Since LibreOffice is free it might be worth downloading to check if it is suitable. It can track changes and compare documents.

If the teacher is editing a word document using the "Track changes" option Libre Office will show those changes.

You can get LibreOffice from
https://www.libreoffice.org
Just make sure any documents created are saved as Word 2007 - 2019 (.docx) format.

This to me would be the first move before buying anything.

If LibreOffice does all that is required, then keep it installed, and if not remove it and get something else.

################################################################

[rant]
It is a pet hate of mine how general use of office software is tied to MS products (mostly) by those who have little knowledge. (MS of course promotes this)
Heck I remember when the European Computer driving licence was first rolled out ...... a mate did it and apparently got 95% in some tests.
I can tell you he was clueless with computer hardware; he was as clueless with software except for the few things he had learned about MS writer or excel or whatever.
He certainly did not understand what he was doing, and once the interface changed a bit in the next version of the software he was completely lost.

[I am inclined to categorise this teacher's 'laying down the law and issuing threats' in the same category of cluelessness. Unless the course is a course on the use of MS software!]

The ECDL course at the time, IMO, had nothing at all to do with computers, but was a promotional scheme for one brand of office software.
I have no idea what it is like now .....

[/rant]

Digital Solitude · 06-04-2019 11:59am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

This to me would be the first move before buying anything.

If LibreOffice does all that is required, then keep it installed, and if not remove it and get something else.

################################################################

[rant]
It is a pet hate of mine how general use of office software is tied to MS products (mostly) by those who have little knowledge. (MS of course promotes this)
Heck I remember when the European Computer driving licence was first rolled out ...... a mate did it and apparently got 95% in some tests.
I can tell you he was clueless with computer hardware; he was as clueless with software except for the few things he had learned about MS writer or excel or whatever.
He certainly did not understand what he was doing, and once the interface changed a bit in the next version of the software he was completely lost.

[I am inclined to categorise this teacher's 'laying down the law and issuing threats' in the same category of cluelessness. Unless the course is a course on the use of MS software!]

The ECDL course at the time, IMO, had nothing at all to do with computers, but was a promotional scheme for one brand of office software.
I have no idea what it is like now .....

[/rant]

I did ECDL in TY in 2014 I think, same stuff, in fairness for Powerpoint, Excel and Word its pretty fantastic training, its very comprehensive and most of that stuff translates over to Libre and Google Office or whatever its called. The other 5 modules I can't remember a thing of, one of them was on Internet Explorer and was worthless.

As you said it's not actually teaching you anything just "how to do xyz in MS products" and if the ui changes then it's all useless, the non-tech people were lost if they accidentially opened Chrome or FF and didn't grasp there was a difference between them and IE, how its supposed to be a competency course is beyond me

You mightn't pass an ECDL test if you're using Libre but for almost anything else there's no difference

06-04-2019 12:01pm

..........and even Microsoft Office Professional 2019 has bugs, as I encountered using MS Access (okay, not as much as used as Word / Excel / Powerpoint, but still used by some senior citizens I know). For techies, it was when I was trying to create a Query. This worked TWICE, but on my third attempt I got an error message, if I re create it again I will post pic here. I'd expect more for what I paid for this.

Johnboy1951 · 06-04-2019 4:05pm

I have come to the view that all schools should have classes with 'hands on' experience for students during a suitable year.
Basic mechanics ...... strip and rebuild an old banger of a car ..... see if it could be got running.

Strip and rebuild some desktop PCs and see if they run.

Install different operating systems on the PCs and install software in those.

If time permits write some software and run it.
Maybe build an app or two ....

After which the students would have a very basic knowledge of how some things work and might even spark their interest in something they had no considered.

Heck such classes might even promote more 'common sense'

OK, that was a bit OT so I will stop there

.

NIMAN · 06-04-2019 4:07pm

I stream a football match/film etc to a 50" HD television.

I stream the same thing to my mobile phone.

Do they use the same amount of data on my broadband plan?

Johnboy1951 · 06-04-2019 4:15pm

NIMAN wrote: »

I stream a football match/film etc to a 50" HD television.

I stream the same thing to my mobile phone.

Do they use the same amount of data on my broadband plan?

I guess it depends on your understanding of what that means.

If you streamed a 720p stream at the same bit rate and in the same format (="the same thing") then yes regardless what you 'do' with the data you received you will of course have downloaded the same amount of data.

If you streamed a lesser resolution for the phone and maybe a more highly compressed form with lower bit rate, then no, they would not be "the same thing" and thus would not, most likely, cause the same amount of data to be downloaded.

NIMAN · 06-04-2019 4:17pm

Yeah I thought the answer would be yes.

So if I watch a Netflix show on my TV or on my phone, it uses the same amount basically?

Johnboy1951 · 06-04-2019 4:33pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah I thought the answer would be yes.

So if I watch a Netflix show on my TV or on my phone, it uses the same amount basically?

I guess what I am trying to get across is that it is not the 'content' that is involved in your question, but the format that the content is downloaded in.

Regardless to phone, TV or to save on HDD, the same content in a particular format is the same size/amount.

Lots of times the format the data is downloaded in will change, depending on some criteria.

For instance if Netflix reduces its resolution depending on your connection's capabilities, the lower resolution will download lesser data as a consequence.

spurious · 06-04-2019 4:44pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I have come to the view that all schools should have classes with 'hands on' experience for students during a suitable year.
Basic mechanics ...... strip and rebuild an old banger of a car ..... see if it could be got running.

Strip and rebuild some desktop PCs and see if they run.

Install different operating systems on the PCs and install software in those.

If time permits write some software and run it.
Maybe build an app or two ....

After which the students would have a very basic knowledge of how some things work and might even spark their interest in something they had no considered.

Heck such classes might even promote more 'common sense'

OK, that was a bit OT so I will stop there

.

The much maligned Leaving Cert Applied allows for all that, but it's treated as a joke by most schools and the Department.

Johnboy1951 · 06-04-2019 5:01pm

spurious wrote: »

The much maligned Leaving Cert Applied allows for all that, but it's treated as a joke by most schools and the Department.

Yes, but that requires, as I understand it, a student to opt for that LCA course, which means others, who take the LC standard course, could not benefit unfortunately.

I had in mind more the break year that a lot of schools seem to encourage.
If that was extended to all, and such practical courses as mentioned run, then I believe all students would could benefit greatly. (not all will bother with it, but other forms of temporary 'employment' as used now would still be available and most likely beneficial.)

It amazes me how many who consider themselves digitally savvy, are incapable of doing the most basic fault finding of a PC (or car), or even installing an operating system on a PC (or changing a blown bulb in a car

).
They can use 'apps' and that seems to be the limit of their knowledge (for a lot of them).

Jellybaby1 · 16-04-2019 9:34pm

I've bought a new phone and am trying to send photos to my pc and having difficulties. My pc's Bluetooth is switched on and recognises my phone. My phone's Bluetooth is also switched on and recognises my pc. But when I send a photo, the pc Bluetooth says 'receiving' but nothing appears. Any advice appreciated.

New Home · 16-04-2019 9:37pm

I can't help you with bluetooth (unless you can find a button on your pc's bluetooth that says "accept incoming files", much like you'd have to do on a phone - it's the only thing I can think of), but have you tried with a good old USB cable? It's what I'm doing at the moment.

Jellybaby1 · 16-04-2019 9:41pm

New Home wrote: »

I can't help you with bluetooth (unless you can find a button on your pc's bluetooth that says "accept incoming files", much like you'd have to do on a phone - it's the only thing I can think of), but have you tried with a good old USB cable? It's what I'm doing at the moment.

Yes, I've clicked 'receive a file' and when that opens I send the photo from the phone, then the pc says 'receiving' but nothing arrives. Himself just suggested I resort to the cable, the ould fashioned way!!

New Home · 16-04-2019 9:45pm

Try to send the file and THEN click on "receive a file", to see if it makes a difference. Otherwise, try to right-click on the bluetooth icon on the pc and see if there are any "sub-menus" that jump up to you. If not, see if there's an "Options" menu and see what's in there.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 16-04-2019 9:48pm

I just email them to myself from the phone and open the mail on the computer.

Steve · 16-04-2019 11:04pm

Ivanna Moldy Rabbit wrote: »

I just email them to myself from the phone and open the mail on the computer.

This.

Works every time.

Jellybaby1 · 17-04-2019 12:31am

Ivanna Moldy Rabbit wrote: »

I just email them to myself from the phone and open the mail on the computer.

Might end up doing that.

New Home wrote: »

Try to send the file and THEN click on "receive a file", to see if it makes a difference. Otherwise, try to right-click on the bluetooth icon on the pc and see if there are any "sub-menus" that jump up to you. If not, see if there's an "Options" menu and see what's in there.

I'll give it a go.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Masala · 17-04-2019 12:45am

Anybody using SnagIt fir screen capture? Would you recommend it??? Have been using Windows Snip Tool and would like to have more functionality etc.

Cost €58 fir a 2 Pc licence....

Spook_ie · 17-04-2019 1:15am

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Might end up doing that.

I'll give it a go.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Last resort there's a dummies guide online might help

https://www.dummies.com/consumer-electronics/tablets/android-tablets/how-to-use-bluetooth-to-transfer-files-between-a-computer-and-an-android-tablet/

17-04-2019 10:28am

New Home wrote: »

I can't help you with bluetooth (unless you can find a button on your pc's bluetooth that says "accept incoming files", much like you'd have to do on a phone - it's the only thing I can think of), but have you tried with a good old USB cable? It's what I'm doing at the moment.

Go into your local friendly smartphone shop and ask for a USB C cable to connect the PC USB slot (probably type A) to your phone's USB socket (type C)

You likely even got one of these cables packaged with the phone

New Home · 17-04-2019 5:39pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Go into your local friendly smartphone shop and ask for a USB C cable to connect the PC USB slot (probably type A) to your phone's USB socket (type C)

You likely even got one of these cables packaged with the phone

Penneys, Dealz, etc sell them, too.

ShRT · 17-04-2019 5:48pm

Masala wrote: »

Anybody using SnagIt fir screen capture? Would you recommend it??? Have been using Windows Snip Tool and would like to have more functionality etc.

Cost €58 fir a 2 Pc licence....

Use it in work all the time - just the fact that it catalogs the images as you make each capture saves so much time. That allows you to just follow the process you want to capture and then go back and collate all the captures at the end instead of going back to the snip tool each time.
The markup tools to edit the image are great aswell.

You can also do a screenshot from within Word which I find is pretty decent as well so that may be an alternative for you.

theteal · 17-04-2019 5:49pm

Ivanna Moldy Rabbit wrote: »

I just email them to myself from the phone and open the mail on the computer.

Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Just copy to the folder and let them sync.

Actually now that I think of it isn't google photos unlimited storage. . .

New Home · 17-04-2019 6:09pm

IIRC, Google "shrinks" the uploaded files, so you'd lose definition in the pics, which is a complete pain for professional photographers.

riffmongous · 17-04-2019 6:14pm

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I've bought a new phone and am trying to send photos to my pc and having difficulties. My pc's Bluetooth is switched on and recognises my phone. My phone's Bluetooth is also switched on and recognises my pc. But when I send a photo, the pc Bluetooth says 'receiving' but nothing appears. Any advice appreciated.

I've found Bluetooth to be a nightmare for years now, if it's just a few email them but really just use your usb cable to transfer everything (although not every usb cable seems to work, powerbank bundled cables seem to be charging only) , then at least you'll have a backup in case something happens to the phone

Ursus Horribilis · 17-04-2019 6:22pm

New Home wrote: »

IIRC, Google "shrinks" the uploaded files, so you'd lose definition in the pics, which is a complete pain for professional photographers.

There's a setting in there that turns it off. In the app, go to Settings then Backup and Sync. Under Upload Size you can choose Original or High Quality.

New Home · 17-04-2019 6:28pm

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

There's a setting in there that turns it off. In the app, go to Settings then Backup and Sync. Under Upload Size you can choose Original or High Quality.

Good to know, thanks!

New Home · 17-04-2019 6:30pm

riffmongous wrote: »

I've found Bluetooth to be a nightmare for years now, if it's just a few email them but really just use your usb cable to transfer everything (although not every usb cable seems to work, powerbank bundled cables seem to be charging only) , then at least you'll have a backup in case something happens to the phone

I also have a couple of these, they're brilliant 'cause you can use them directly as external memory on your phone and then slide the tab over and attach them directly to your computer.

The only downside is that they're ridiculously easy to lose, if you're as clumsy as I am.

https://www.sandisk.com/home/mobile-device-storage/ultra-dual-usb-drive-3

Deja Boo · 24-04-2019 1:20am

My new smart phone (which replaced my old trusty basic flip phone) is utterly baffling.
...might anyone be able/willing to answer a few techy questions, if you have a moment?

New Home · 24-04-2019 5:06am

Sure, I can give it a shot, DB.

Deja Boo · 24-04-2019 6:44am

Thanks New Home, phone did not come with a manual.

My old flip phone allowed me to add a contact list so when caller ID came up, it showed a name instead of a random phone number. Also it let me call them without remembering all 76 phone numbers. This helped with texting as well.

On the new stupid smart Google phone it requires email accounts, etc to do the simplest things (big UGH)... But adding names to phone numbers for a contact list refuses to work unless I agree to agree to these terms: "You have disabled a requirement, to add a contact you MUST allow contacts access to photos, media, and files on your device."

Is that a normal condition? to allow my dentist, doctor, clergy, therapist, cab company, family, friends, any random acquaintance who calls or to whom I call to be given access to my photos, files and calendar, etc? Seems to me to be a serious privacy issue.

So, I will have to carry around an address book or memorize everyones numbers to know who called or to whom I need to make a call? Unless I allow them all access to my data??? Is there no way to get around this ridiculous requirement?

If this sorta things is what makes a phone smart, I prefer a tech-free flip phone!

wiz569 · 24-04-2019 6:53am

Deja Boo wrote: »

Thanks New Home, phone did not come with a manual.

My old flip phone allowed me to add a contact list so when caller ID came up, it showed a name instead of a random phone number. Also it let me call them without remembering all 76 phone numbers. This helped with texting as well.

On the new stupid smart Google phone it requires email accounts, etc to do the simplest things (big UGH)... But adding names to phone numbers for a contact list won't work, because I do not agree to these terms when I try to add a contact "You have disabled a requirement, to add a contact you MUST allow contacts access to photos, media, and files on your device."

Is that a normal condition? to allow my dentist, doctor, clergy, therapist, cab company, family, friends, any random acquaintance who calls or to whom I call to be given access to my photos, files and calendar, etc? Seems to me to be a serious privacy issue.

So, I will have to carry around an address book or memorize everyones numbers to know who called or to whom I need to make a call? Unless I allow them all access to my data??? Is there no way to get around this ridiculous requirement?

If that is what a phone smart, I prefer a tech-free flip phone!

In that context it means the app/program called "Contacts" not your friends etc so it's quite safe to allow it ðŸ˜€

spurious · 24-04-2019 6:54am

It means will you let the Contacts app/programme on your phone access to your photos files etc., so if you want to send a file or photo to someone, it is allowed to.
Contacts with a big C rather than contacts with a small c, so to speak.

Deja Boo · 24-04-2019 6:59am

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH , I get it now, it's an app not a group of people!!! Thank you spurious and wiz569!

Thank you greatly!

Deja Boo · 24-04-2019 7:01am

Now how do I reduce the size of my fat fingers to be able to text on this blasted thing?! lol

:eek:

Thanks both of you, so it's safe to add contacts, YAY!

I will try to make friends with the phone that is too smart for me.

bonzodog2 · 24-04-2019 7:10am

Deja Boo wrote: »

Now how do I reduce the size of my fat fingers to be able to text on this blasted thing?! lol :eek:

You may find it a bit easier if you hold the phone sideways, ie in landscape orientation. This will allow a bit more room for the keyboard. You may need to check settings for "allow screen rotation"

Computer questions you'd be embarrassed to ask any where else!

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