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June 23, 2004

Change the Resolution (Size) of Your Screen

Changing the resolution of your screen can greatly change the way things look on your screen. Text too small? Change your screen resolution.

Changing the size of your desktop is done by changing the resolution of your screen. Here are the steps:


  1. Right Click on your desktop (anywhere except on an icon).
  2. Select [click on] Properties. The Display Properties dialog box will open.
  3. Click on the Settings Tab.
  4. Find the Screen Area Slider.
  5. To make your screen area smaller, drag the slider toward less. To make your screen area larger, drag your slider toward more. [Generally, 800 X 600 or 1024 X 768 are the best settings.]
  6. Once you have adjusted the screen to the desired size, click Apply.
  7. You will get a message saying that Windows will now re size your desktop. Click OK.
  8. Your computer will now re size your screen and then ask you if you want to keep the new setting.
  9. Click Yes or No and then click OK to close the display properties dialog box.

    Posted by gBrad at 08:22 AM |

June 22, 2004

Resize Your Taskbar

With all the icons that can be added to your taskbar, it can get awfully crowded down there. With that in mind, you can make changes that will allow for it. This is a very simple skill (although it can take some time to figure out where exactly to put your pointer).

To increase the size of your taskbar, simply put your mouse pointer over the top edge (provided your taskbar is on the bottom of the screen) of the taskbar. Your pointer should change to double arrows (pointing away from each other). This means that your computer is ready to resize the taskbar. Now, click and drag your taskbar as far up as you would like it. You can make the taskbar up to half the size of the screen. Once you get to a point that is good, let go. That is all there is to it. Decreasing the size is the same (drag down instead of up, of course).

Posted by gBrad at 08:21 AM | | Comments (1)

June 12, 2004

Make Sherlock More Watson-Like

Sherlock was billed as a great way to find anything on your mac and the web. Then, a program called Watson was released that blew the doors off of Sherlock. In this tutorial we'll look at how you can make Sherlock more Watson Like.

There is an amazing piece of software, called Watson (http://www.karelia.com/watson/), that has changed the way many people use the internet. Watson, is dubbed as a Swiss Army Knife for the web. Basically, Watson works with sites like Yahoo, Google, Amazon and others to help you gather information easily. Whether that information is in the form of a search using Google, Movie Listings or Weather reports, Watson allows you to bypass your browser and collect the information that you are looking for quickly and effortlessly.

Here is how Watson and in turn Sherlock works.



  • Watson is essentially a Web Browser, much like Internet Explorer or OmniWeb. But instead of being generic -- capable of viewing any Web page, it's targetted to some of the most useful Web sites. Think of it as a Web Browser with a predefined set of bookmarks.


  • A Web Browser, running on your desktop computer, contacts another computer over the Internet that has made information available to the public. It fetches the data, formatted using a coding called HTML, and then displays them on-screen. Watson's main difference is in how it formats the data on-screen quite differently than a generic Web Browser does. (Watson also connects to "Web Services" -- web sites where the data is coded in XML instead of HTML.) -from the Watson FAQ.

Watson was released in 2001 and then Sherlock was updated to Version 3 with the release of MacOS 10.2 (Jaguar). While these two programs do basically the same thing, Watson is the undisputed champion and has received much press and publicity because of it. This has left Sherlock in the background.


Why is Watson better? Speed. Watson is very fast. I don't know why, I just know that it is. Tools. When you download Watson, there are a number of installed tools (19 in all). Each of which perform very well.


Now that you know what Watson is you may be asking yourself "Why would you want use Sherlock? Especially if it is slower than Watson and has less tools?" $$$ Watson is $29.00 for a single user and $39.00 for a household. Sherlock is FREE (provided you have already shelled out for MacOS 10.2). So, for those who are on a budget but want some of the same functionality...read on.


Preinstalled Sherlock Channels : Sherlock comes with 10 preinstalled tools or channels, as Apple has called them. They are Internet, Stocks, Pictures, Yellow Pages, Flights, eBay, Dictionary, Apple Care, Translation and Movies. Using these channels, you can search the web (Internet), browse eBay listings, look up words (Dictionary), find addresses (Yellow Pages), check filght times and more.


Adding Channels p1 : In order to make Sherlock more Watson like, we have to add channels. How do we add channels to Sherlock? Elementary my dear Watson. (I couldn't resist!) Go to the DMOZ Sherlock Development category. There you will find a number of Sherlock channels that have been developed by individuals. Here are some of the tools that are available:



  • Billboard
  • Mapquest
  • MacUpdate
  • Shop (Amazon.com)
  • Weather
  • iCalshare
  • dotmac.info

In all, there are 33 sherlock channels available in nine categories.


Adding Channels p2 : Adding a channel to Sherlock is quite easy. Go to the web site (sherlockers.com), find the channel that you want to add and then click on the 'Click here to add the channel to Sherlock' link.


Clicking this will open Sherlock and ask you if you want to add this channel to Sherlock. Click on the Add button and you will see then new channel installed in the Sherlock Toolbar. To add other channels, simply repeat the steps above. You can also view the channel prior to adding it (by clicking on the 'Click here to just view the channel' link).


To remove the channel, right click on it in the toolbar and select 'Remove Item' from the pop-up menu. (see image right)


Sherlockers.com is not the only site for finding sherlock channels. Do an internet search for "Sherlock Channels' and you are bound to find more great, free sherlock channels.


Click here to view an image gallery of Sherlock Channels in action.

Posted by gBrad at 07:26 AM |

June 10, 2004

Adjust Your Audio Settings Via the Taskbar

The System Tray in Windows is a handy little area for quick access to many of the computers basic functions. If you don't know where the system tray is, just look for the clock. That area is the system tray.
In this tutorial I will show you how to add (or remove) the volume control slider to the system tray.

The Audio Properties Icon : First, check to see if the audio properties icon is in the system tray. The icon is a little yellow speaker (circled in red - image right).

Add / Remove Icon : To add (or remove) the audio properties icon to the system tray, first, click on Settings in the Start Menu. Next, click on the Control Panels folder. In the Control Panels Folder, you will double click on the Sounds and Multimedia Icon (image 1 below).






In the Sound Properties Control Panel you can then adjust various audio input and output settings. To add the Volume Control to the Taskbar, put a check next to Show Volume Control in the Taskbar (image 2 below). Next, click on Apply and then OK. You will then see the Volume Control on the System Tray (image 3 below).








The process for removing the Volume control is the same except you will uncheck the box next to Show Volume control on the Taskbar.


Adjusting Volume : Now that you have the Volume Control in the system tray, you can click on it to display a volume slider. Move the slider up to increase the volume and down to decrease the volume (image 4 below). You can also mute the volume by checking the Mute button (image 5 below).







You can tell that the volume is muted because the icon will have a red circle around it with a line through the icon.

Posted by gBrad at 08:19 AM |

June 06, 2004

Rip Music Using Windows Media Player

I was recently asked how you could take music that is on a CD and put it on your computer. This is not a herculean task but it is something more and more people are interested in doing.

There are a number of programs available to accomplish this. A quick search for encoders or rippers at download.com will provide a number of alternatives. I chose to use Windows Media Player for two reasons 1) It comes pre-installed on all new computers (if you don't have it you can download it here for free) and 2) It is fairly straightforward.





Windows Media Player will play files in MP3 format but does not rip into mp3 format. It rips into Windows Media format. If you need to encode in MP3 then I suggest you read this tutorial or check out this program (RightClick-MP3).

There is some terminology that you probably need to be aware of before getting started.



  • mp3 - a file format used for compressing audio files to roughly 1/12th their original size.
  • ripping - also known as encoding. Basically taking a file from the CD and converting it to an mp3 file that is saved on your hard drive.
  • media player - an application that is used to play all types of media (music, video radio, etc.). Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, QuickTime are all examples of media players.


The system I am using has Windows ME on it. Don't be alarmed, the steps should not differ greatly if you are using a different version of Windows.




Open Windows Media Player Find Windows Media Player in the start menu or on the task bar and click on it to open the program (see image below).






Playing a CD Click on the CD Audio button. Windows media Player will then tell you to insert an audio CD. If you have an internet connection (I recomend that you connect to the internet before continuing) when you put your music CD into the CD-ROM drive Windows Media Player will automatically look up the album and track information. Your CD should then begin playing. If it does not, click on the play button (grey arrow pointing to the right).


Ripping (Encoding) the CD Now you are ready to begin ripping the CD (or the specific tracks that you want). To select certain tracks, click the check boxes next to the tracks that you want to encode. Of course, if you want all of the tracks encoded, make sure that they all have checks next to them. Now, click the red button next to Copy Music. Windows Media Player will begin to encode your music. The amount of time it takes will vary depending on the length of the song. Copied (encoded, ripped, all the same thing) files are stored on your hard drive. Once you have encoded them, you no longer have to put the CD in to listen to them.


Playing an Encoded Audio File To listen to the files that you have encoded, click on the Media Library button in Windows Media Player. This will show you a list of all the songs you have on your Hard Drive. To play a particular song, simply click on it and then click the play button.

Posted by gBrad at 08:11 AM | | Comments (1)