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Author Topic: help needed beyond the on/off button  (Read 4181 times)

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ella

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help needed beyond the on/off button
« on: March 04, 2008, 09:40:31 PM »


Can anyone tell me how to print either a spreadsheet or a pdf file?

I've tried both, (same information) and all I get are lines so light they are barely there, and the print is nonexistant.

Any ideas?

Other print jobs are okay.

My computer is Dell, the printer is Officejet 500, the software is Excel 2000.

Oh, also I need to back up my computer.
How do I do that?

thanks,

Ella
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Elena

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Re: help needed beyond the on/off button
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2008, 12:28:37 PM »

Hi Ella,

A bunch of great questions.  The easy one - I have no idea how to print a PDF file - I've tried and tried. Which is not to say it can't be done, I just don't know how.

That said - your Excel manual has information on printing.  MY guess is that if you are able to print Excel files that you have created - then the file you created from the PDF file carried with it the "no-print" tags.    PDF files can only be read by the Adobe reader which comes in a free version, and a more sophisticated version for which you have to pay.  The creator of the PDF file has the option of 'securing' it by not allowing printing or changing of the original document.  In general most files read by the free version of Adobe, which many of us use cannot be altered in anyway, including printing.

If you create a PDF file by clicking on PDF format on your pull down command list, then it will automatically be protected.  You have to create the file with the purchased version of Adobe to make it printable for the reader.

I was reminded of this recently when I came across a dog rescue site that offered to let you fill out their application and apply on-line.  Unfortunately, they had set it up as a PDF file which means it cannot be written on or printed.  I considered this counter-productive.

Now - your next question;
You want to back up your computer. 

How much of what is in there do you want to back up?  If you want to start backing up at the level of the operating system, include everything in your application folders (software, etc), and then all of your documents - I'd recommend you get help from someone familiar with the procedure. (such as what is fondly called a 'computer geek') Backing up with certainty that you can reinstall requires a bit of work and experience.

However, if you really mean that you want to back up your documents (i.e. W-I-P), it is a good idea to do that on a regular basis.  Now you have options - some email programs allow you to back up data on line in their secured system.  Some free, some not.

Also if you Google "online backup" you will find businesses that provide this service, including Dell.  I suggest looking at them since they are quite easy to use.

Other ways all involve physical media such as a disc, CD, zip device, and the darling tiny key chain gizmos that probably can stash away a novel of several volumes.  And, there may be others, I haven't kept up.

Anyway, the next question is exactly why do you want to back up what ever it is you want to back up?  What problem are you trying to avoid, or usefulness are you trying to create?

Hope I didn't confuse you  :D
Elena
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Lance Charnes

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Re: help needed beyond the on/off button
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2008, 01:02:35 PM »

As Elena said, PDF files that don't print correctly have generally been futzed with by the creator (small C) to prevent printing. This is an act of commission rather than omission, so if none of your PDFs will print, there's something wrong with your Acrobat Reader. If only this one won't print, thank the file's author -- perhaps with a slap upside the head.

Did you create the spreadsheet from the PDF? If so, you probably thought of this already, but the spreadsheet text colors may have been set to something odd. Try highlighting the entire print area, setting the text to black, redefining the borders through "format cell," then printing. I've seen sillier things work.

There's only one reason to back up everything on your computer -- you want to be able to exactly recreate your computer, on your computer or on an identical computer. Technicians doing a hard drive transplant will make a disk image like this. There's little other reason to do it. If your computer is destroyed, you'll never be able to buy the identical one again. Windows has become so tightly bound to the machine it's on that trying to run your disk image on a dissimilar computer likely won't work.

If you own Windows and all your software, you don't need to back up your program files, you just reinstall. If you're heavily into pirated or borrowed software, well...

What you really need to do is back up data you can't recreate -- your own work. There is dedicated backup and archival software out there. For 95% of normal users, this is overkill. You simply don't have the multiple terabytes of data that require multi-volume backup jobs, and you're not going to have the patience to deal with incremental backups (copying only what's changed since last backup), something else a data archival program can do. The file compression that backup programs can bring to the table doesn't buy you much until you get to the multiple-gigabyte stage.

The #1 thing you can do to prepare to protect your data is consolidate it. Keep everything in "My Documents." This includes your local email dump (if you use Outlook or Outlook Express, for instance). Set your default file location in non-Microsoft programs to "My Documents." If you can't set a default, be disciplined and always save your data there rather than where the program thinks you should. Make of note of programs that don't give you a choice (Palm Desktop for me, for instance) and where they store your data.

These days, the quickest, easiest and cheapest backup solution is a thumb drive, AKA memory stick. You can get an 8GB one for maybe $50-60, and you sometimes can get 1GB sticks for free or almost if you watch for special deals. Get one and regularly copy your "My Documents" folder to it. It's easy -- your computer thinks it's just another drive. I do this every couple of days for my most active file folders. The one drawback to this is it's not permanent; you'll be overwriting the old stuff with the new. For most applications, this is fine.

Never let this memory stick out of your house unless the house is on fire. I keep mine next to my scanner, which is next to my computer. You want your memory stick visible and easily accessible to you; if it's visible, you'll use it, and if it's accessible, you can grab it in the five minutes you have to escape the fire or landslide. Remember, you're guarding against computer failure, not the Apocalypse; if you seriously need to ensure your data survives a catastrophic earthquake or nuclear laydown, start investigating data-vaulting services connected with salt mines. If you need a memory stick to cart files around, get one of the cheapo 1GB ones and carry only those files you absolutely need,

If you have a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM burner in your computer, you can make permanent backups. You should do this on a regular but less-frequent basis, mostly to guard against losing your memory stick or having it die. Burn copies of all or part of "My Documents" using the CD/DVD-making software that came with the drive. Write the backup date on the disc and store it in a safe place. The first time you do this, it's not a bad idea to put the resulting CD or DVD in another drive to make sure it's readable on a computer other than yours.

Hope some of this is useful. Sorry to go on so long. Good luck.
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Elena

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Re: help needed beyond the on/off button
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2008, 09:53:10 AM »

Thanks Lance for tugging me into current backup possibilities.  Amazing how technology changes on after one retires :D

Ella, I had a couple of other thoughts  - since I tend to work on more than one writing project at a time, I back each one up on a CD individually.   And, since I work on a Mac, I change them to RTF before I back them up.  I've had some problems with blanket downloads, such as you describe with bits of documents overlaying other docs, or pointers getting messed up, so two files will become one.  Probably, my ancient history with computers has something to do with it too, but I find it safer and cleaner to devote a CD per project.

And, while I'm sure Earthlink is taking good care of my address book, I do put all the e-mail addresses that are important to me in my address book.  The hand written snail mail one. 

I also occasionally download my bookmarks onto a CD.  It was handy when I retired and was able to return to using a Mac.  The Mac couldn't read the CD, but I printed it out before I gave my Microsoft based computer away, and was able to save some time by searching my printout and typing in the URL I wanted.

Lot's of stuff around backing up -
Elena
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Elena

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Re: help needed beyond the on/off button
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2008, 12:08:05 PM »

Ella,
I forgot one thing - if you want to go with an on-line back-up service be sure to read all the fine print.  Someone wanted me to open a Google e-mail account, and I found buried in the small print that they "assume" all rights to anything that passes through their e-mail system.  Letters, documents, photos, they spell it all out.  Their belief is that by using their software, you relinquish all your rights to your work!

I'm not certain this would hold up in court - but who wants to take on Google?

So, be cautious.  With the low costs of backup media that Lance mentioned, I would certainly go that route.

Elena
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Lance Charnes

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Re: help needed beyond the on/off button
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2008, 02:09:01 PM »

Something to watch out for with the online data backup services: they're online. This means you have no physical access to your data -- you're dependent on being able to get to their servers.

While it's unlikely Google will go belly-up anytime soon, a smaller company gives you no such assurance. Having lost some clothes to a dry cleaners that went bust overnight, I can only imagine how much it would suck to lose my data the same way.

As an old-line IT guy, I put a lot of stock in having physical control over my backup media.

Remember also that any data on their servers is potentially exposed to any data-trawling by federal agencies bearing warrants.
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