The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday, October 9, that the H1N1 virus was widespread in 37 states. Fortunately, vaccines are on their way, and seasonal flu shots are currently available (the map on the Flu.gov site helps you find a vaccination center near you).
The best way to avoid bringing the flu bug home with you from the office is to stay out of the office. If you have the flu, do yourself and your coworkers a favor: stay home and rest! Not sure if you have the flu? Check the CDC site for a list and description of the symptoms of both H1N1 and seasonal flu. You'll also find information on the CDC site for taking care of people with the flu, prevention for people at high risk, and travel updates.
One of the best ways to track the flu's spread is via Google Flu Trends, an interactive map that indicates the frequency of flu-related search terms in various countries.
The Google Flu Trends map tracks flu-related searches by country.
(Credit: Google)Additional information on flu trends is available for the U.S. and several other countries. For the U.S., you can compare yearly flu trends and view data for each state.
For several countries, Google provides more annual and regional flu data.
(Credit: Google)
Link to your office PC for free
In many work situations, there's no substitute for being face to face. But every year it gets easier to get your office work done from outside the office. One way to do so is via Windows' Remote Desktop Connection component, which lets you link to a PC that's on an office network, but only if the machine's running XP Professional or Vista/Windows 7 Professional, Business, or Ultimate.
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Recently, a server upgrade caused my office XP system to reset to its defaults. I knew as soon as I heard the Windows startup chime that something was wrong. The first change I make on any new or renewed PC is to set the Windows sound scheme to No Sounds.
As I reset Windows' default sound settings for the umpteenth time, I got to thinking about the many Windows customizations I make on any machine I use on a regular basis. Here are my five favorite Windows interface tweaks. (Note that the last two default-beaters apply only to Vista.)
Tell Windows to shush
As I mentioned above, the Windows startup sound drives me batty. In fact, I do just fine with none of the operating system's sound effects. To shut them off in XP, open the Sound and Audio Devices Control Panel applet, click the Sound tab, and choose No Sounds in the drop-down menu under Sound Scheme. In Vista, right-click the sound icon in the system tray, choose Sounds, and select No Sounds in the Sound Scheme drop-down.
Put a muzzle on Windows' sound effects by choosing No Sounds in the Sound Scheme drop-down menu.
(Credit: Microsoft) Move shortcuts off your desktop and onto your taskbar
Most people load the Windows desktop with shortcut icons pointing to all manner of programs, files, and folders. I prefer to keep my desktop clear, though technically, I drop just about every file I save and program I download there. To access them, I click the Desktop toolbar in my taskbar and scroll through the list that pops up.
To rid your desktop of icons, right-click it and choose Arrange Icons By (XP) or View (Vista). Uncheck (or deselect) Show Desktop Icons. To replace them with the Desktop toolbar, right-click the taskbar, uncheck Lock the Taskbar (if necessary), and choose Toolbars > Desktop.
Save taskbar space by dragging the Desktop toolbar to the right until only the word "Desktop" and the double chevrons show. Then click the chevrons to scroll through and select your shortcuts in a pop-up window.
Press Ctrl to locate a lost mouse pointer
When you think of all the text, icons, and other elements that fill up a standard computer screen, it's no wonder that you sometimes lose track of your mouse pointer. There's a quick and simple way to make it easier to spot. Open the Mouse Control Panel applet, choose the Pointer Options tab, and check "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key."
Make your mouse pointer easier to see by choosing this setting in Pointer Options.
(Credit: Micrsoft) Give your blinking cursor more heft
If your mouse pointer is easy to miss on a crowded screen, finding that skinny blinking cursor in text boxes is the proverbial needle in a haystack. In Vista, you can make the blinking vertical bar more visible by making it thicker. Open the Ease of Access Center in Control Panel, click "Make the computer easier to see," and scroll to and check "Make the focus rectangle thicker." Choose a thickness (any setting greater than "3" might be overkill), and click either Apply or Save.
Show menus in all Vista folder windows
I can appreciate Microsoft's efforts to streamline Windows Explorer and other folder windows in Vista, but getting rid of the standard File-Edit-View-Tools-Help menu was a mistake, in my opinion. You can see them by pressing the Alt key, but the one-time fix is to click Organize > Folder and Search Options > View, and then check "Always show menus" in the "Advanced settings" window.
Show menus in Vista's Explorer and folder windows by checking this option in Advanced settings.
(Credit: Microsoft)
You start typing only to realize 10 seconds later that the focus is on the wrong window. You see a Windows notification pop out of the taskbar only to have it fade away before you can figure out what it means. You get distracted by all of Windows' pointless animations. You miss seeing keyboard-shortcut hints on menu entries and elsewhere in Windows dialog boxes.
You could spend hours hunting for the settings that will do away with these four Windows annoyances. At least Vista collects them all in the Ease of Access Center. These usability settings are spread far and wide in XP.
Mouse over a window to make it the focus
About once or twice a week I find myself happily typing away only to discover after crafting the perfect memo opener or e-mail retort that the focus had switched to another open window. Not only have I lost the data I thought I was entering, I might inadvertently purchase a Winnebago if I press Enter while focused on the wrong page in my browser.
You can set Vista to change the focus to whichever window you mouse over via the Ease of Access Center. Press the Windows key and U to open it.
I described the top four options (all carryovers from XP's Accessibility Control Panel applet) in a previous post. To change focus by hovering, click "Make the mouse easier to use" and check "Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse" near the bottom of the dialog box. Click Save or Apply to activate the change.
The simplest way I know of to change this setting in XP is to use the free Tweak UI utility. After you download and install the program, open it and double-click Mouse in the left pane. Choose X-Mouse among the entries that appear, and check "Activation follows X-Mouse" in the right window.
Bonus tip: To keep programs from stealing the focus, choose Focus under General in the left pane, click "Prevent applications from stealing focus" in the right pane, and choose the number of times you want the window to flash when this happens.
Set Vista notification pop-ups to stay on screen longer
Sometimes the little windows that pop out of the taskbar to notify you of some event, such as a USB device you just plugged in being ready to use, disappear too quickly. To extend the duration of notification windows in Vista, click "Make it easier to focus on tasks" in the Ease of Access Center, scroll to the bottom of the resulting dialog box, and change the setting under "How long should Windows notification boxes stay open?" The default setting is 7 seconds, and the available options let you change this to 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes. When you're done, click Save or Apply.
Extend the time Vista's notification windows stay visible via this setting in the Ease of Access Center.
(Credit: Microsoft)The only way I know of to change the duration of notification windows in XP is to tweak the Registry. This is also how you disable notifications altogether. I'll describe the procedure in a future post.
Knock off the frivolous animations
Save some CPU cycles--and maybe your tired eyeballs--by telling Windows to do without the fancy-schmancy animations. In Vista, click "Make it easier to focus on tasks" in the Ease of Access Center (the same dialog I described above for tweaking notifications), check "Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible)" under "Adjust time limits and flashing visuals," and click Save or Apply.
To tone down the animations in XP, right-click My Computer, choose Properties > Advanced, and click Settings in the Performance section. Under the Visual Effects tab, click "Adjust for best performance," or choose Custom and select the options you do and don't want in the window below. When you're done, click OK twice.
Show shortcut keys on menu items
Microsoft doesn't always make it easy for people who prefer to navigate around Windows and their applications using keyboard shortcuts. To make the key hints visible on menus in Vista, click "Make the keyboard easier to use" in the Ease of Access Center, check "Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys" under "Make it easier to use keyboard shortcuts," and click Save or Apply.
See hints for shortcut keys on Vista menus by choosing this option in the Ease of Access Center.
(Credit: Microsoft)Add the shortcut-key hints to XP by right-clicking the desktop (or pressing Shift-F10 while on the desktop), choosing Properties, clicking Appearance > Effects, unchecking "Hide underlined letters for keyboard navigation until I press the Alt key," and clicking OK twice.
Most of us rarely need to stray from the standard Windows interface. But there are times when it would help to get a close-up view of a graphic or some other file we're working on, or to listen to a long document or Web page rather than having to read it. Those are the times when Windows' built-in accessibility tools come in handy.
The screen reader, magnifier, and on-screen keyboard are designed primarily for people who have difficulty interacting with their computer using a typical display, keyboard, and mouse. Of course, anyone could benefit from time to time by hearing rather than seeing what's on the screen, blowing up their current display view, or controlling their PC via Windows' virtual keyboard.
To open the Utility Manager in Windows XP, press the Windows key and U. With "Magnifier is not running" highlighted in the top window, click Start to open a window at the top of the screen that shows a portion of the display at twice the magnification. You can resize the magnification window, or increase the magnification by choosing a number on the "Magnification level" drop-down menu (the maximum is "9").
Activate Windows XP's Magnifier utility via the Utility Manager.
(Credit: Microsoft)Highlight "Narrator is not running" and click Start to open the Microsoft Narrator dialog box. Like many specialized Windows utilities, Narrator leaves much to be desired. One freeware alternative is ReadPlease 2003, which lets you change the voice speed. Likewise, EzMagnifier is a free replacement for Windows' own magnifier utility that makes it easy to capture a bitmap of the magnified portion of the screen.
Switch to a high-contrast screen
Vista's Ease of Access applet puts a prettier interface on these options and adds one for switching your display to high-contrast mode. This makes the screen easier for some people to see. You can switch to this mode in XP and Vista by pressing the left Alt, left Shift, and Print Screen keys. Change your high-contrast settings in Vista by clicking Set up High Contrast > Choose a High Contrast color scheme and selecting one of the high-contrast options in the drop-down menu under "Color schemes."
Choose one of the high-contrast options under "Color schemes" in Windows' Appearance Settings dialog box.
(Credit: Microsoft)In XP you can access these settings by clicking Settings after pressing the left Alt, left Shift, and Print Screen keys. With the Display tab selected in the Accessibility Options dialog box, check Use High Contrast and click Settings. Then select one of the high-contrast options in the drop-down menu under Color Scheme.
Next time: a closer look at Vista's built-in accessibility options.
There were some important shortcuts left off the list I described a couple of months ago. I wanted to be able to use my PC without requiring a mouse or any input device other than the keyboard. Since I can't remember all the shortcuts I might need, I listed them in a text file I can open in Notepad using just two easy-to-remember keyboard combinations.
Unfortunately, some very useful keyboard shortcuts were omitted from the initial list, including those that let you move and resize windows by pressing Alt-Spacebar-M and Alt-Spacebar-S, respectively. (Note that the Move and Size options are grayed out when the window is maximized. To set it to the "normal" view, press Alt-Spacebar-R.)
Access controls for moving and resizing windows by pressing Alt-Spacebar.
(Credit: Microsoft)The Move command places a four-arrow icon on the screen. Press the arrow keys to reposition the window, and press Enter when it's in place to return to the normal view. The Size option uses the same icon, but the arrow keys move the top, bottom, left, or right side of the window. Once again, press Enter when you have the desired size to return the focus to your application.
If you want to move the top down and the bottom up, or the right side in and the left side out, you have press Enter and repeat the shortcut. Or use the Move command first to place one side where you want it and then the Size command to resize it.
Cursor control by the numbers
There's no substitute for a mouse's ability to move the pointer around the screen in any direction and as fast as your hand can drag it. Your keyboard does offer an alternative way to slide your mouse pointer across the screen. Press the left Shift key, the left Alt key, and the Num Lock key to open the Mouse Keys dialog box. Press Enter to activate the feature. Now move the pointer by pressing the numbers along the outside of your number keypad, and press the 5 key to click. Press the left Alt, left Shift, and Num Lock keys again to turn the feature off.
Activate Windows' Mouse Keys feature to convert your number pad into a mouse-pointer controller.
(Credit: Microsoft)Tomorrow: Take a closer look at Vista's Ease of Access Center.
We get so used to doing things a certain way, we sometimes miss new techniques that could save us time and trouble. My latest "d'oh!" moment was when I realized, after spending a couple of hours moving files from my office PC to an FTP server so I could sync them with my new laptop, that there's a better and faster way that doesn't cost a nickel: remote access.
A couple of years ago I edited a review of a half dozen remote-access services that link to a PC from any other Internet-connected machine. At the time, the services cost between $10 and $20 a month. Since that time, several companies have released free versions of their remote-access services, one of which is from LogMeIn (formerly 3am Labs). In the midst of my home PC-to-FTP server-to laptop two-step, I recalled the company's free file-transfer service, and I'm glad I did.
That's because when I returned to the site, I discovered that its LogMeIn Pro offering is now available in a free version that includes all of the features of that $13-a-month service during the 30-day trial period; when the trial ends you lose the ability to drag-and-drop files between the PCs, stream sound from the remote system, print remotely, and hold mini-conferences by inviting others to access your remote desktop, among other features.
Signing up for and installing the service takes all of about two minutes: you provide your e-mail address and a password (this is the one you'll use to sign into the service, so make it tough to guess), download and install the control file, follow the link in the confirmation e-mail, and log in. If you use Firefox, you'll be prompted to download a separate file that improves the view of the remote desktop in that browser.
Now you're ready to log into the PC from any other Internet-connected machine. Just browse to LogMeIn.com, log in, and select the remote PC from your list of connections to open the page showing all your connection options.
The LogMeIn console shows all your remote-access options.
Logging into a remote PC via the LogMeIn service is as easy as entering your user name and account password.
From here you can begin a remote session by providing your login name and password for the remote machine, or open the Windows Explorer-like file manager for transferring files between the two systems. Other options on this page let you change your settings, or perform other actions. After you log in remotely, you'll see a toolbar at the top of the browser window, which provides easy access to screen settings for color and resolution, as well as connection options, volume adjustments, the magnifier and laser pointer, and other tools.
LogMeIn's browser toolbar provides one-click access to screen, connection, and other adjustments to the remote session.
Even though I don't think I'll need the mini-meeting, chat, and other features of the Pro version when my 30-day trial period expires, the drag-and-drop file transfers may be the feature that gets me to cough up $13 a month (or $70 for a year) for the Pro service. But I have 29 days to think about it.
Tomorrow: handwriting makes a comeback in Office 2007.
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