ALERT!

My blog is now on my own website.
You can view it here:
www.ComputerTutorFlorida.com/blog

Bookmark the new address, because that is where ALL future information will be posted (the archive of previous posts is there also).

See you there!

Type a special character in any document

Windows has all kinds of special characters built in - characters that you don't see on your keyboard. Here's how you access them.

First, make sure your NUM LOCK is on. Then, hold down the Alt key and type a number, such as 164, on the number pad of your keyboard. See the character that just appeared? If you typed 164, you saw the letter "n" with the squiggly line over it (used when writing in Spanish). There are all kinds of different characters available to you - you just have to know the codes.

And for your reading pleasure, here is a chart with all of the codes.

This week's video profiles a new invention. Click below to see the running-powered bike in action. Somehow I don't think it's going to be a big hit.

The Invisible Shelf

Here's a neat idea - create a bookshelf that you can't see. Full instructions are here.

Yahoo's spam filters grow even more incompetent

I hadn't checked my old Yahoo email account in a while, and I recently logged in just to see what was there. What you see here is just a partial listing of what Yahoo's spam filters determined were legitimate, non-spam emails that had a rightful place in my Inbox. With Gmail having such a smart spam filter, I can't imagine any reason to use Yahoo for email.

(Click on the image to see it full size)

How to create a good password

Here's a rule that just about everyone knows, but almost no one follows: whenever you create a new password, use a random mixture of letters and numbers, don't use regular words, and make sure it is a password you have never used before. No one does this because the password would be too difficult to remember.

Here's an easy way to create a good password that you WILL remember. Instead of thinking of a password, think of a sentence. For example:

I got my driver's license when I was 16.

That's easy to remember, right? Then take the first letter of each word of the sentence, and here's your password:

igmdlwiw16

There we have random letters and numbers that don't spell a dictionary word. If you wanted to get tricky, you could use the last letter of each word in the sentence. But don't get so tricky that you can't remember the method that you used!

This week's video is a really freaky robot, created by a team of engineers in Boston:

I love Florida!

Today was a great example of why I love living on the gulf coast of Florida. First, the weather today was fantastic:


I took one of our dogs up to the Safety Harbor Marina/Pier for a walk. There was a wedding that had just taken place:


Then over at the boat ramp, there was a couple launching their kayak -


And right after that, a pontoon boat full of people came in to the dock after spending the afternoon out on Tampa Bay:


It was a great day!

Tip on making a fake ID

Need a fake ID? No problem, there are places all over the internet where you can order one. Here's a tip - choose carefully which photo you will use. An authentic state identification card generally pictures just one person.