Windows

The longer Certified Legal Nurse Consultants work in a Windows^® world, the more problems they’ll run into. One of my least favorite Windows-related problems is trying to delete a file, only to have Windows tell you that it won’t because it’s in use by another program. Let’s say you finish a report for your legal nurse consulting business and decide to do a Save As and file it under a different name. Then you go back to delete the original draft report. You know you’ve closed that particular Word document and you’re darn sure ready to delete it. You select the file, hit the delete button or right-click on the file name and select delete from the pop-up menu. Windows thinks for a minute and suddenly this box appears.

Now what? For no reason whatsoever, Windows has a deathgrip on your file and won’t let go of it. You have three choices. You can forget about deleting it and just leave it forever. You can close Word (or whatever program you were using to access that document or file), get a mug of healthy green tea, wait about 10 minutes for the program to completely shut down and let go of that document, and then try and delete it again (this may or may not work). Or, the best but most cumbersome solution, reboot your system and then go back, locate and delete the document. Rebooting will usually force Windows to let go of any files because the program that thought it was accessing the file is forced to let go by the reboot.

Now my CLNC^® amigos you have a solution for deleting the undeletable.

Keep on techin’ (safely),

Tom

All Certified Legal Nurse Consultants know I’m a fan of dual monitors. I can’t live without them and when I’m saddled with my laptop’s single monitor, say when I’m traveling or sitting in the back pew in church, I feel the pain. It’s funny. Once you go to dual monitors you never want a single monitor again. Just ask any of the staff members here at Vickie Milazzo Institute.

That being said, the more monitors you have, the more programs you open. The more programs you open, the more difficulty you have keeping track of what’s open. The more difficulty you have, well, you get the idea.

I’ve often wished for a way to install the handy Microsoft^® Windows^® Taskbar at the bottom or side (yes, you can move it to the side) on both my monitors. Recently I learned that the kind people at MediaChance heard my wish and made it come true! If you follow this link to MediaChance’s MultiMon download page, you too can get a free copy of their simple MultiMon, multiple taskbar program. Once downloaded and installed on all the dual-monitor-enabled computers you use in your legal nurse consulting business, it will imbed itself in your Windows start-up menu so every time you start your computer, MultiMon will start automatically with no fuss and no muss!

Once running, it will keep track of the files you have open on each monitor and display them just like the Windows taskbar. If you want to spring for $28, you can get the “Pro” version which is customizeable and does some neat tricks, but I think the free version is more than enough for most legal nurse consultants. In fact, this is one of the best freeware programs I’ve run across. MultiMon will reduce your Windows-related headaches and save you all that time you spend fishing around those cool dual monitors. Now my CLNC^® amigos, as Vickie says, you can get some real work done.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

As all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants know, I’ve written myriad tech tips that will save you valuable time for your legal nurse consulting business. Now I’m letting you in on more timesavers I regularly put to good use. For instance, if you want a little more screen depth when you’re researching medical literature for your legal nurse consulting business, you can get an extra 1/4” or so of visible screen (or just as much screen as you can get) with only a few clicks. Just right click the Windows^® XP Start button, then left click Properties. You’ll see a variety of options for the taskbar. Click in the box beside “Auto-hide the taskbar” to make the taskbar disappear until you mouse over it. Now you have the maximum amount of visible screen.

While you’re there uncheck the “Lock the Taskbar” button and click Apply. Then add a check in the “Show Quick Launch” box. It will give you a place to put shortcuts for the programs you use the most. Using Quick Launch, you don’t have to minimize your desktop or navigate through your Start menu to find a program you use on a regular basis. Instead, you simply right click the shortcut you want to place onto the Quick Launch bar and drag and drop it there (select “Create shortcut here”). This only works if your taskbar is unlocked, so once you load the taskbar with shortcuts, you should then re-lock it.

Once you’ve loaded your taskbar with shortcuts for the programs you use the most in your legal nurse consulting business, all you have to do is mouse over the taskbar and left click on the appropriate shortcut to start a program. This sure beats minimizing all your programs or sorting through your Start menu. Remember, seconds wasted build up into minutes and then into hours lost, so the more time you save, the more billable hours you’ll have as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant running a variation of Windows^® probably has at least one program that, instead of opening up to a full-screen view, pops up in a smaller window, a portion of a window or is just a quarter of its normal size. You then click it to full size, do your work and when you’re done, close the program. Next time you open it that same day, it comes up full size, or not. The next time you open it after a restart of your computer, it opens full-size, or not. Therein lies the rub, it’s not consistent, at least not as consistent as your other Windows programs.

So what’s a savvy CLNC^® consultant to do? If you’re running Windows XP and you use a shortcut to open your program, the solution is easy. First, navigate to the shortcut you use to open the program. This could be in one of three places:

1. Your Windows “Desktop” (that’s those icons on your screen).
2. Your “Quick Launch” toolbar in your Task Bar (that’s in the blue bar at the bottom left of your screen).
3. The “Start Menu” that you use to select your programs (it pops open when you click the Start button).

Mouse over the icon/shortcut for the program that’s giving you size trouble and right click it. When the menu pops up, left click Properties at the bottom and you’ll see the “Properties” box with the “Shortcut” tab open.

In the Run category, left click the Normal window selection and select Maximized. Then click Apply and Okay. Next time you run that program from that particular shortcut, it should open in the maximized, full-screen mode you selected and you’re back where you want to be!

Keep on techin’,

Tom

I’m a keyboard guy. Mice are great but every time you take your hands off your keyboard to reach for your mouse, you lose precious seconds (and those build up into billable hours over the course of a year). I’d much rather make use of keyboard shortcuts than roll that mouse to delete something. The less time I spend with my hand on the mouse, the more time I have to spend typing tech tips, if you know what I mean.

But, everyone, even me, walks away from their computer at least once a day. It may be to make that annual nursing restroom run, to go to the vending machine for a cold can of healthy green tea or just to make a phone call to one of your CLNC^® colleagues. When you do, you leave your computer’s display open to any villain who happens to be nearby. This could be a colleague, spouse, child or some nosey medical librarian at the medical library where you’re doing research for your legal nurse consulting cases. So, before you go, remember to press and hold the Windows key (the one with the little flag on it) and then hit the “L” key to blank your screen and lock your computer. This way only someone with your unique and hardened password can open your computer and see how high your “Mafia Games” score is or what legal nurse consulting case report you’re working on.

Along the same lines, there will be the rare occasion when someone pops into your office or workstation unexpectedly. Rather than scrolling your mouse up to the top right corner and closing all your Windows windows or trying to find the “Show Desktop” button in your task bar, you can simply hold down that Windows key and hit the “D” key. This will show your desktop but won’t close any windows – it’ll simply minimize them. Repeating the process will bring up all your windows so you can get back to work once the miscreant leaves the vicinity.

There are a lot of Windows shortcuts like Control-c to copy material you’ve highlighted with Control-Shift-Arrow (in any direction) and Control-v (go figure) to paste (or Control-x to cut) what you’ve highlighted.

Take a moment and share your favorite Windows keyboard shortcut with your Certified Legal Nurse Consulting peers. We’ll be sure to thank you for it!

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Those of you who know me well know that my supposed antipathy to Apple^® computers is an act. I think they’re some of the best computers on the market and some of the easiest to use. In the old days of steam-driven hard drives, there wasn’t much interoperability between Mac OS^® and Windows^® operating systems. Well, as time has rolled on my CLNC^® amigos – things have changed.

Today with Microsoft^® Office: Mac, any Mac user can enjoy the fun of Microsoft Office without the pain of the Windows operating system. You can have your cake and eat it too! Or should I say have your Apple? So, I fully recommend Macs to those Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who want one for their business. You just need to be sure that any other software you may want to use is Mac-compatible before you invest your life-savings in an Apple computer.

Now to the real purpose of today’s blog. I’ve heard that some Apple computer users out there aren’t on AT&T and haven’t adopted the iPhone^® as their smartphone of choice. Some of you are still slaved to BlackBerry phones. If you’re one of those Certified Legal Nurse Consultant BlackBerry users who wants to sync their BlackBerry to their Apple computer, just visit the BlackBerry website and download the BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac. This will give you the ability to sync your contacts, calendars, notes and tasks with certain Mac applications. Now you can stay with the mobile provider of your choice and keep your smartphone up-to-date.

There you have it – you can have an Apple and a BlackBerry at the same time and we can all get along!

Keep on techin’,

Tom

I just stumbled over what I think has to be the handiest, free, desktop shortcut ever. It’s called “Close All Windows” and that’s exactly what it does! If, at the end of a long day of slaving over a hot keyboard, you hear your spouse shout, “Honey, wine’s open!” What do you need to do? That’s right, close every open window on your computer by shutting down every program one at a time. That can be a tedious task if you’re a busy, multitasking, CLNC^® consultant.

To avoid this hassle, simply visit this page, download the CloseAll.zip file to your desktop or downloads folder and then unzip it. Next, locate the CloseAll.exe program (you’ll see a red “X“). Right click on that x and drag it to your Windows^® Quick Launch toolbar or your Desktop, then let go and left click on “Create Shortcut Here.” That’s it!

Now, at the end of your day, if you’ve stored “Close All Windows” on your desktop, simply click on Window’s cool “Show Desktop” icon (located in your Quick Launch toolbar) to clear your screen, then double-click on the red “X” icon (or skip “Show Desktop” and double-click it on your Quick Launch toolbar). Close All Windows will instantly shut down all open programs, and if you have one running with unsaved data, you’ll get the option to save that data.

This is a handy little program and it’s free. I highly recommend it.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Have you ever tried to figure out how to disprove or validate those rumors that go around the Internet? These are the ones about computer viruses in messages from political figures, whether the IRS really wants to share unclaimed income tax refunds with you or absolutely anything that comes in an email from your parents. If you’re like me, sometimes you need to find out what’s true and what’s not – especially if you’re a legal nurse consultant trying to construct security rules for your office network. Well, look no farther than Snopes.com. This is an advertising-supported site that researches and debunks just about every urban legend out there.

For accurate computer virus information nothing beats Symantec’s Security Response Website. There you’ll find all sorts of information on viruses, spam, malware and other threats to your computer’s well-being. Believe me, between the Symantec.com website and Snopes.com, Certified Legal Nurse Consultants will find everything they need to know about computer viruses (and emergency celebrity gerbilectomies).

Keep on Techin’,

Tom

Certified Legal Nurse Consultants using Windows XP have long envied that cool rotating menu the Mac OS X Dock has, that floats around the bottom or top of the Mac screen and fans out your icons. It’s a much better looking menu than that darn Windows menu that pops up when you click the Start Button. It also beats stashing short-cuts all over your Windows Desktop.

Now there’s a cure for Mac Envy – visit RocketDock.com and you can download a customizable version of the Dock made especially for Windows! This is not an official Windows or Mac product so you use it at your own risk. Remember to be careful, always back-up your computer as well as any files before you place them on the RocketDock. I’ve had mine for about two weeks and I love it! I’m sure you’ll love it too (it freaked out my Mac-user buddy).

Keep on Techin’,

Tom

From the beginning – let me disclose a conflict of interest, I’m a Firefox user. I’ve flirted with Apple’s Safari but find it is too slow to render its pages, and it’s got the worst search function ever designed for looking for text on a web page (although it does tell you how many matches there are on a page). I’ve customized my Firefox browser to include my favorite blogs, news and RSS feeds and, even though it’s a little slow to open the first time you fire it up each day, I love the fact that I’m tuned in to the world every time I jump on the Net. It’s great the way I can do tabbed browsing, with a simple right-click opening pages from my Yahoo! searches in a new tab so I’m not clicking forward and back to get to my search results after a page pans out. It’s also cool to be able to look up forgotten passwords for websites that deleted my “cookies.”

With my built-in bias, I downloaded and installed Internet Explorer (IE) 8. I’ve had IE7 installed for some time and have always found it a little clumsy. In fact, the only reason I have used it is to access the Windows^® Update website and keep my Windows XP OS and Office programs patched up. I didn’t like IE for general web surfing and had a latent fear of all its vulnerabilities I’m always reading about. Firefox seemed like the best way to practice “safe surfing.”

Now that Microsoft^® has released IE8, a number of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants have asked me whether or not they should upgrade. My answer is an unqualified “yes.” IE8 is probably the best version of the IE browser that Microsoft has released. It’s supposedly safer than ever and when you open a new tab, instead of seeing a blank page, you can choose to open previously closed tabs as well as other options. It offers a so-called smart address bar feature (that I’ve turned off in Firefox and dislike in Safari) that offers sites from your browser’s history as you type in an address. It also has better options within the “delete browsing history” function that gives you better control over what data (even website-specific data) you want to keep or delete.

When you click on the “x” to close an individual page, it asks you if you want to close all tabs or just one. There’s a new filtering service you can select which will display a warning page prior to visiting any site that is deemed to contain malware or that might be a phishing site (security risks). Something really cool is that IE8 highlights the core domain name of the website you’re visiting to help you avoid sound-a-like or typosquatting sites. To help make this a safer browser than previous versions of IE some other security improvements have been added. On the negative side, IE8 may not display all websites the way they’ve been designed to be viewed – not everyone will catch this – but it offers a “compatibility mode” that will allow you to see a website to view the “broken” site correctly and it will remember those sites for you, switching in and out of compatibility mode automatically.

In short, any legal nurse consultant that uses IE on a regular basis should upgrade to IE8 and then keep an eye out for upcoming patches. I also recommend that you make sure you have all the current high-priority Windows updates installed prior to moving to IE8. The upgrade process is easy to download and install. It kept almost all the customizations to my iGoogle homepage (including my cool theme), RSS feeds, etc. This is a definite upgrade that I’m sure I’ll come to appreciate the more I use it and so will you.

Keep on techin’,

Tom