ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers
The Online Web-azine for Computer Enthusiasts
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Tips and Fun Stuff
~ with a little help from my friends

My buddy and ABC subscriber, John Mon often sends me announcements of new Office stuff.  The most recent one he sent me is a very cool free add-in for Outlook that is called bxAutoZip.  Once installed, it automatically zips files you send as attachments, if they are over a certain size.  You customize it to decide the size, then just forget about it.  From now on, when you send a large file, you don't need to zip it first. Just send it and bxAutoZip zips it for you, without you having to do anything. It also lets you encrypt files while zipping. I just love it!

Learn more and download it here.

This is one that was posted to Vic Ferri's WinTips&Tricks group. I'm not sure of the name of the person who posted it cuz he/she identifies him/herself as =^;^=.  But, thanks to them, here's another very funny spoof on Windows.  This one kept me busy for a while:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/windowsxp.php

This is a tip sent to me by Irving S. He's a member of the Fleet now, and hopefully we'll be hearing more from him.  Thanks, Irving!

DirectX Diagnostics

DirectX is a Microsoft technology used for multimedia and gaming. If you have a computer with Windows 95 or higher on it, you almost certainly have DirectX. Sometimes you may experience problems playing games or with multimedia playback. If you do, do a search for a file called dxdiag.exe on your system. This is the DirectX Diagnostic Tool and it shows you all sorts of system information, and allows you to test certain systems.

And a tip from Linda:  Click on Irving's name above and visit his website where he has LOTS of good tips, info, and links.  While you're there, drop him an email and ask him to add ABC to his Cool LInks pages LOL

For those of you who are new to ABC or to my website, I just wanted to let you know that I used to write tips for the Newbie Club.  Tho I don't do it anymore, they've left the archives of my Office Tips on their site, so you can go there and read them if you haven't yet.

Linda's Office Tips

And, last but not least....

Have you ever wanted to share a large file with someone but it's just too big to email?  Well, you should check out dropload.com.  Sign up for free and you can upload any file you want, up to 100mb, and have an email sent to anyone telling them the file is there waiting for them. When they receive the email, they click the link to download the file.  It's a wonderful free service that many are still not aware of.  I use it all the time and highly recommend it.  Check it out;
http://www.dropload.com