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Archive for the 'scanners' Tag

How to add ‘insert photo from scanner’ tool back into Word 2007

June 9th, 2009, 8:12 pm by

Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.

QUESTION: There have been several reader questions about Microsoft’s removal of the “Insert Picture From Scanner or Camera” feature in Office 2007. How can the feature be restored?

PC CLUB: Sometimes I’m amazed at how Microsoft does things. Just as we get used to a great feature, it’s eliminated from the latest version. In this case, however, it can be added back without too much effort. It requires the creation of a simple macro, which is a shortcut to a more complex process. 

In Word 2007, access to the macro dialogs has been changed and as installed, is not available. To make them available, you first have to add the developer shortcuts back into Word’s main menu. Do this by following these steps: Read the rest of this entry »

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Review: Plustek’s book scanner scans pages cleanly

January 27th, 2009, 12:51 am by

I’ve got a special review today from Ed Schwartz, the PC Club member extraordinaire who helps answer tech questions for the Gadgetress’ “Stump the PC Club‘ feature. In a recent answer, he mentioned that he used a Plustek scanner to turn old color slides into digital files. Plustek noticed Ed’s mention and offered up any of its new scanners for review. Ed chose the Plustek OpticBook 3600, a product dedicated to scanning books. Here’s his review:

The Plustek OpticBook 3600 is a member of a family of scanners dedicated to scanning books. With a typical scanner, you must apply pressure to the book’s binding to capture the entire page without distortion. Even then, the results are not great. Below are scans showing the results of a typical flatbed scanner (left) and the OpticBook scanner (right). The difference is obvious:

 

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PC Club: Adding a shortcut key to a keyboard

November 18th, 2008, 2:26 pm by

North Orange County Computer Club Q&AThe North Orange County Computer Club helps The Gadgetress tackle the multitude of readers cries for help. NOCCC group has experts in Windows, Word and all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly on various topics, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. To get this answer delivered to your computer automatically, sign up for the e-mail update HERE.

Question: I have a media keyboard at home and find it easy to press one button to open up Internet Explorer. However, I want to do this at work and the keyboard doesn’t have the same button. I googled to find a keyboard shortcut, but only found every other conceivable shortcut. but not the one I need. Can you help me?  ~ Jimmy Wong

PC Club: It is not quite as slick as pressing one key, but if you can deal with using a three key shortcut, I have an answer for you. Read the rest of this entry »

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PC Club: How to connect two PCs with one cable

November 4th, 2008, 1:00 pm by

North Orange County Computer Club Q&AThe North Orange County Computer Club helps The Gadgetress tackle the multitude of readers’ cries for help. NOCCC group has experts in Windows, Word and all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly on various topics, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. To get this answer delivered to your computer automatically, sign up for the e-mail update HERE. 

Question: I have a laptop and a desk top with XP and I am trying to transfer files from my laptop to my desktop to free up disk space. I purchased a CAT 5e crossover cable for a PC to PC connection, (I was told that then the pc would appear just like being on a network). However I am not able to see the PCs as a network PC. Can you advise me what I have to do in order to transfer these files to my desk top computer? ~ Dan

PC Club: Well Dan, what you were told can be true. When two PCs are hooked together with a Ethernet crossover cable, and successfully configured, they are a network. Granted, it’s just a two-PC network but one that offers all the file transfers and other features of a network.

Using a crossover cable or a router are the two most common ways of networking two PCs. The crossover cable is cheap and it is without question the most “computer geek” way to setup a two-PC network. In the past, I did that. When I make a service call now, however, I carry a small travel router if I need to set up a two-PC network. Using a router (a D-Linnk router is pictured on right) is much easier, even though a number of setup steps are the same. In addition, buying a router to install between your computers and the Internet broadband connection is the smart thing to do.

To manually set up the crossover cable network, you’ll need to make a number of configuration changes to your operating system. Setting up the “Workgroup” name, the IP address, the folder and/or hard disk sharing to name a few. I don’t have the space to list all the steps here. If you really want to do this, EasyLI Done tutorials shows you how to do it over 48 detailed steps. Click HERE to see the steps.

The major router manufacturers have some very good tutorials and/or FAQs on their web sites to help you setup a network. Some include an interactive installation CD with their product that automates the procedure. I would recommend this choice. ~ Jim Sanders, NOCCC President

Past Stump the PC Club questions:

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Four scanners under $100

August 22nd, 2008, 5:04 pm by

Today is our intern Michael Gil’s last day. He’s done a great job helping out the business staff here at the Register. Here is his last post for the Gadgetress:

Michael Gil, OC Register summer intern 2008

Epson, based in Long Beach, just announced a new consumer scanner, the Perfection V300 Photo. This scanner boasts a variety of features and a seemingly low price tag of $99. I wondered just how low that price really is so I did some research and found out.

Among the Perfection V300’s numerous features are 4800 x 9600 dpi, one touch photo restoration, built in transparency unit for 35mm film and slides, and a low energy LED light source which has no warmup time.

But for only $59.99, Canon, which has a research and development office in Irvine, offers the CanoScan LiDE100. This scanner also offers built in photo restoration and low power consumption. While it only has 2400 x 4800 dpi, provided software can enhance images to 19200 x 19200 dpi.

Epson offers an older Perfection scanner for $89.99, the Perfection V200 photo. Save ten dollars and you can still restore photos and scan film and slides. This scanner has only 4800 dpi compared to the 4800 x 9600 dpi of the V300. It is also missing the low energy light source.

Another option consumers may want to pursue is the HP Photosmart C4280 All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner. At $99.99 it costs the same as the V300 but in addition to scanning, it also prints and copies. The trade off is that the All-in-One offers only 1200 dpi (that can be enhanced to 19200 dpi) and it lacks the photo restoration, transparency unit and low energy light source of the new Epson printer.

All these printers are compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Macintosh OS X 10.3.9 or higher so no matter what computer you have, the scanner choice is yours.

Other money-saving tech:

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Stump the PC Club: Monitor resolution error message

October 23rd, 2007, 1:00 am by

North Orange County Computer Club Q&AThe North Orange County Computer Club is helping The Gadgetress tackle the multitude of readers cries for help. NOCCC group has experts in all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly on various topics, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org.

Q: I bought a 19″ ViewSonic monitor and a friend set it up for me. I’m the first to admit my knowledge of computers is pretty much limited to recognizing one when I see it. My new home screen is great except that an annoying message keeps appearing: For best picture quality change resolution to 1440 x 900. Press “1″ to clear message. Press “2″ to disable message.

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