Archive for Computer Tech Support

15 Jun

Create a Clickable Header in WordPress 3.1.3 Using Artisteer 3.0 Beta 2 for Mac

Clickable Headers are Expected on Websites

WordPress is constantly updated as is Artisteer, which is a great program I use regularly to design WordPress websites. It is also a great program to design Joomla, Drupal and even static websites.

Artisteer - Web Design Generator

Most websites have their logo and/or header clickable to the home page. Unfortunately this is not a default process using Artisteer.

I’ve written about this before. But things change with each new update. So here is a simple code to make your header a clickable link to your home page:

In the sidebar, under Appearance / Editor / Header, look for:

<div class=”art-header”>

Replace this code with:

<div class=”art-header”onclick=”location.href=’http://www.yourdomainname.com/’;” style=”cursor: pointer;”>

And you’re done. Simple and easy.

Keep in mind that if you update or change your theme, this code will disappear and you will have to do it all over again.

Maybe this function will become a part of Artisteer or WordPress in a future update, I hope.

For more information check out:

Make Header Clickable in Latest Artisteer Version

Computer Tech Support Helpful Hints Software
06 Dec

Setting Up Apple TV and MobileMe

MobileMe Account Setup

I was excited to learn that Apple TV includes MobileMe. I clicked on the menu and was asked to “Add a MobileMe Account”. The way to enter text using the Apple TV remote is tedious, at best. You use a click wheel and scan through the letters onscreen. It’s the same way with Verizon Fios TV, which is also a pain.

I attempted to enter my MobileMe account but was given a message saying it did not exist. After some research I learned that maybe if I changed my MobileMe password, Apple TV would recognize my account. I did this and received the same results.

Apple Tech Support to the Rescue

Out of frustration I called MobileMe support and learned that I had to have photos in the MobileMe gallery in order for it to work. I uploaded some photos and indeed it did work. Over the years I have found Apple tech support to be very helpful.

Photos Only for Apple TV and MobileMe

Apparently MobileMe on Apple TV is only for photos. You do not get access to your calendar, e-mails or any other content. This was disappointing. I wish I knew that from the beginning. It would have saved me a lot of trouble setting it up.

Overall I have been very pleased with Apple TV and especially Air Play. I can easily play audio from my iMac, MacBook as well as my iPhone and iPad through my Panasonic TV and speakers. Unfortunately it does not work with Sirius radio yet. I look forward to more functionality in the future.

Apps Computer Tech Support Helpful Hints iPad iPhone Software Technology
28 Sep

Todo is Now in the Clouds

Having just written about Appigo Sync version 1.2.0 I feel I must also talk a bit about today’s update to version 1.2.1.

This new update occurred just a day or so after the previous update. This time I had no problems with duplicate content or the inability to sync. Everything worked fine.

Now that the iPhone update is optimized for iOS4, it remains open unless you close it in the multi-task bar. Because of this, it does not automatically sync after initially opening unless you manually press the sync button.

New Todo Online Service

For $19.99 per year, Appigo is offering Todo Online “Over-the-Air-Cloud-Sync”. What this does is sync your todos, projects, checklists, alerts, etc. with an online cloud service. This means you do not have to sync your Todo app with your computer and Appigo Sync. So you can sync your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iCal with the online service, no matter where you are, and even view your todos on any computer. And it’s always up to date.

Of course, if you have daily access to your “base” computer with your iThings, and you’re the only one using your iStuff, I’m not sure what the benefit is over the free Appigo Sync software, other than having a (hopefully) reliable backup.

What is not clear yet, is if this new Todo Online service will sync up with the new iCal MobileMe when it comes out of beta. This is where iCal content is only stored online and not on your computer. We shall see.

Apps iPad iPhone Software Technology Uncategorized
19 Sep

How to Add a PDF File to a WordPress Page that Doesn’t Open an Extra Page

Adding a pdf link to your WordPress page gives a link. But when you hit the link online sometimes a new page opens, usually with a comments box. You then have to press the link again.

Here’s an easy way to avoid that.

  1. Upload/Insert “Add Media”
  2. Find pdf file and either upload it from your computer or locate the file in your “Media Library”
  3. Click “Show”
  4. Where it says “Link URL” hit the button that says “File URL”
  5. Insert into Post

Hit the "File URL" Button

You will then have a link. Hitting the link will either bring up a dialog box asking to open or download the file or will do either of those depending on your browser’s preferences.

Computer Tech Support Helpful Hints Software Technology Website Design
02 Jul

Dropbox is a great way to sync a file

If you have an iPhone, iMac, iPad or any other iThingy, Dropbox is an incredibly easy way to sync a file from your computer to other computers or devices. It’s only a matter of opening an account with Dropbox online, adding an app to any of your iDevices and dropping a file or two or even more into the “box”. In an instant that file is available for viewing on all linked devices.

Dropbox allows you to view documents, spreadsheets, photos, videos and presentations. A neat feature is that you can snap a photo with your iPhone and save it to your Dropbox direct. You don’t even need a MobileMe account.

And the great thing is a Dropbox account is free and comes with 2 GB of storage space. For most people that’s quite a lot of space. If you have a lot of heavy duty files you can purchase a Pro plan up to 100GB. I am not an affiliate of Dropbox but I do find it worth looking into if you haven’t already installed it on your iStuff. Dropbox is also available for non-Apple-ites, who use Windows or Linux.

Business Practices Helpful Hints iPad iPhone Software Technology
05 May

Is IMAP Better Than POP?

Apple MailYes, yes it is. Especially if you have your own e-mail domain name.

IMAP vs. POP

With IMAP your e-mail is stored on your host’s server while with POP you download your e-mail to your own computer, which is then deleted from the main server (unless you tell it not to). Therefore IMAP is better if you are getting your e-mail from several computers or devices like an iPhone or iPad.

With IMAP your e-mail is in the same condition from wherever you get it. For instance, if you read your e-mail but didn’t delete it, it will still be on the server as already read, no matter where you are viewing it. But if you are using POP and you read your e-mail on your iPhone and then later checked your mail on your iMac, it will show up again as unread. How very annoying. UpperHost has a simple explanation of IMAP vs. POP.

It is best to start out with IMAP.

Switching from POP to IMAP can be quite a challenge. Here’s my tale.

I was using a local hosting company, then switched to GoDaddy. I always used POP because the local company didn’t want me storing e-mails on their server. One of the reasons I switched.

I read an article in MacWorld Magazine on The IMAP Advantage and decided to make the switch. At the time I had over 13,000 e-mails in my main e-mail account. It was suggested I save these in a folder on my computer. Sorting out 13,000 e-mails would take too much time so I tried dragging them to a generic folder and received an error message.

GoDaddy said they it would be okay to make the POP account inactive while activating the IMAP account. And this worked fine. But then something happened and a few days later all 13,000 plus e-mails became blank. They were missing. Yikes, I said to myself.

With frantic calls to Apple Support I managed to restore most of my old e-mail to my computer from my Time Machine backup. How ironic that the main reason I switched from POP to IMAP was to have a safe back up for my e-mails and in the process I lost (temporarily) all my old e-mail.

So always be sure to save your e-mail to your computer if you are switching from POP to IMAP. And have a backup plan. Hard drives do fail and e-mails do disappear.

Business Practices Computer Tech Support Helpful Hints iPad iPhone Technology
21 Dec

Why I switched from QuickBooks Pro 2010 to QuickBooks Mac

And why I spent $300 total to do so. I’ve had the most difficult time. Turns out Intuit does not support QuickBooks Pro for the PC running in a virtual Windows environment on your Mac. Who knew? Much online research did not point this out to me.

I was using an early 2009 iMac 24″, the latest VMfusion 3, Windows 7 Pro and QuickBooks Pro 2010. All new, all up to date, all SLOW. And a frequent problem was that often QuickBooks refused to email or print invoices. It all has something to do with QuickBooks PDF Converter 2.0. Windows seems to insist that this is the default printer when operating in QuickBooks. Deleting it or switching default printers does not help. There are a few fixes that don’t necessarily work. Sometimes downloading and using “Cute PDF Converter” works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I had the same problem using QuickBooks Pro 2009 in Windows XP. Which is why I upgraded to 2010 and Windows 7. That was an expensive lesson.

Out of frustration I tried and have since purchased QuickBooks 2010 for Mac. And what do you know. It works. Every time. It’s too bad I can’t return my copy of QuickBooks Pro to Staples as I’ve already opened and used it. And Intuit won’t take it back since I bought it from Staples. They did offer a 20% discount for the Mac version but, again, Staples was cheaper.

So the lesson of this story is if you run a Mac, use QuickBooks for Mac. It’s a much nicer and more reliable experience. Switching over my merchant account was also easy. Intuit was very helpful with this. Whether it works or not remains to be seen. I’m waiting for my next charge customer. Need a website, logo or business card design? Have any questions on my QuickBooks experience? Just call 310-791-5803.

Business Practices Software
27 Oct

Upgrading from XP to Windows 7 in Fusion 3 and Snow Leopard

Talk about complicated. Luckily I’m only running QuickBooks Pro 2010 on my Windows OS.

Through much trial and error and online research I will tell you what I discovered in a few easy steps.

1. Install VMware Fusion 3 on your Mac OS Snow Leopard. That’s fairly easy.

2. Set up a new Virtual Machine. If you have Windows XP in one Virtual Machine you can leave it there. You don’t have to back up your files or wipe your “virtual disk” clean. I’m not sure if this is approved by Windows but it works.

3. Create a new Virtual Machine and install a clean (new) version of Windows 7, not an “Upgrade”. When asked for your key, do not use your upgrade key because it won’t be accepted. Leave it blank.

4. When Windows 7 is up and running, put the Windows 7 disk back in and this time click “Upgrade”. It will see the existing Windows OS and will accept the upgrade key.

5. When installed you have to get your system activated within 30 days. And then you’re done. It worked for me and I hope it works for you.

You can get greater details by doing a little searching online. It is assumed that you have a legal version of Windows XP on your system or in your possession.

Computer Tech Support Software
15 Oct

Photoshop CS4 and Snow Leopard

Photoshop CS4  is not playing nice with my Snow Leopard. If you’ve been having font issues and quitting issues it may be because your Photoshop is running in Rosetta. A little research showed that running an older Epson scanner caused my copy of Photoshop to run in Rosetta.

Sounds pretty, but suddenly I could no longer double click on a PSD file and have it open in Photoshop. Saving files sometimes caused the program to crash. And Photoshop never quit. Always had to force quit.

So if you go to “Get Info” on your Photoshop icon you will see the Running in Rosetta option checked. Uncheck it and with any luck your Photoshop will be running like it’s supposed to.

Computer Tech Support Software
28 Sep

Two virus protection programs are NOT better than one.

If you’re running Windows XP and want to protect your computer from those nasty viruses, it’s advisable to run a virus protection program. I have a MacBook and I’m running Windows XP in my Parallels desktop. I installed and subscribed to Kaspersky Internet Security. Then I decided to add the free version of AVG for even more security.

Over time I noticed my computer ran slower and slower, especially when using QuickBooks. Suddenly QuickBooks would no longer open. Online research told me nothing. QuickBooks wanted about $60 for help. I opted not to call them. Out of desperation I paid $30 to Parallels only to find out that this was a Windows problem. After an hour of trying many things we discovered that running more than one virus protection program at the same time was not a good idea.

Now I only run Kaspersky and my computer is zippy once again. Lesson learned.

Computer Tech Support

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