Mastering Digital Video – Chapter 9

In this chapter we learned all about Windows Live Movie Maker. We discovered that Windows Live Movie Maker is an easy tool to use to create movies. The chapter began with importing a video from a digital camera. It moved into such topics as adding a title, caption, credits, and music to name a few. Another important aspect is editing. With the editing feature you can resize, split, add transition and add an effect all key elements in producing a quality video. The chapter explains how to save a movie to your computer, publish a movie to YouTube, and to a DVD.

Again this chapter was very enlightening on Windows Live Movie Maker. It went into many more items covering Digital Video.         

Mastering Digital Pictures and Music – Chapter 8

Chapter 8 was about using Windows Live Photo Gallery. It explained such tasks as arranging files, editing the files, and compiling them onto CD’s or DVD’s. We learned how to import pictures and videos from a digital camera to our computer. I found the section on editing pictures very informative. It reviewed the techniques of cropping, correcting red-eye, and adjusting exposure to name a few. To help group your photos it described tagging, rating, and placing captions all in an effort to keep the library organized.

The Windows Media Player allows you to play CDs and DVDs along with many other features. The chapter covers ripping a song from a CD, creating a play list, burning a playlist to an audio Cd, and many more features.

This was an excellent chapter on Digital Media. It went into great detail regarding both topics. It will certainly enhance one’s skill level.

Advanced File Searching – Chapter 7

This chapter covers a wide array of advanced searching techniques. It jumps right in with designing a Boolean Search with Boolean operators. It is fairly straight forward in that you can only use one of the seven Boolean Operators at a time. These make it easy for a simply and quick search. 

The lesson then reviews Custom Scope, Using Natural Language, and Using File List Headings. The custom scope lets you select the location you want to search and then apply the current search you have been using. The natural language search when turned on lets you use phrases similar to those that you speak or write. The filter files using file list headings lets you sort by various filters.

An important concept to understand is Indexing. It increases the speed at which searches select folders and files. It takes through creating, adding, and searching for a file using a word or phrase in indexed files. However you do want to keep indexing to manageable size.  It goes on to talk about searching non-indexed locations.

The chapter has you work with the start menu search and expand to the internet. It shows you how to build, save, and delete searches. One must be aware when they delete search results actually deletes the files from your computer. So you need to be very careful!!!!    

Customizing Your Computer Using the Control Panel – Chapter 6

After completing chapter 6 I found it to be the heart and soul of both Windows 7 and your computer. In going through this section you’re focus is on the Control Panel which touches all parts of the operating system. The control panel default window contains eight categories that allow you to change properties of an object and customize the Windows 7 environment. A neat feature with the control panel is that instead of having eight categories you can change them to display icons which makes it easier to navigate the system.

It goes on to talk about the Action Center were you can manage your computer’s security by monitoring several key security features. It walks you through the Windows Firewall settings which are an important part of the overall system security. Along with guiding you through the system security it also covers the Windows Experience Index which evaluates your computers performance and gives you tips on how to improve it.

The chapter goes in depth on the Device Manager, hardware and Sound, Mouse configurations, AutoPlay Settings Programs and The Clock, Language and Region Window. Again all key components in making your system efficient and customized the way you want.

The User Accounts and Family Safety Window is a great feature for parents to use in monitoring and curtailing their children’s activity on the computer. Working through the activity this week regarding the parental controls was very informative.

Once again another good chapter packed with lots of helpful information.

Personalizing Your Work Environment – Chapter 5

Prior to completing chapter 5 I did not realize the endless capabilities one has to enhance the visual appearance of their desktop and customize different features to be more efficient and productive. I found this chapter to be very beneficial and a lot of fun.

As always it has a hand on approach beginning with your Desktop. The book goes into great detail to walk you through the ‘desktop theme’, ‘desktop background’, and ‘window color’. It explains how to set up different desktop themes, save them, and switch to them when needed. It goes on to talk about Screen Savers, setting screen resolution, sound themes and setup. This section provided a wealth of information regarding Windows 7 and personalizing the visual appearance of your desktop.

From a productivity perspective it covers a wide array of topics from changing the mouse pointer to desktop icons. The text describes the process for customizing the taskbar. It also dives into working with toolbars on the taskbar. It simplifies the many different toolbars. The book does not stop there it reviews the process for customizing the Notification Area, Start Menu and changing Folder Options. This chapter provided a great deal of information to help you Personalize Your Work Environment.      

Personal Information Management and Communication - Chapter 4

For me this chapter was all about communications and learning how to be more effective with the tools Windows Live Essentials contains. The communications involved E-mail, Newsgroups, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and Instant Messaging. Other forms of communication discussed were blogging, chat rooms and wiki. Also reviewed were contacts and calendar fundamentals. Each one of the communication categories went into detail with regards to setting up, using and unsubscribing in some situations. This chapter provided good detail on each one of the topics. In doing so it made it more user friendly.                

File and Folder Management - Chapter 3

I found this chapter to be focused on several key elements. They were: Computer Folder, components of Files and Folders, Picture Library, Music Library and USB flash drive. As in previous chapters it walks through various features such as staked folders and cascading folders. It revealed different ways to display properties in the Computer Folder and switching folders using the address bar. It showed you how to establish new folders in both the Music and Picture Libraries. The required activities at the end of the lesson delved deeper into the Music and Picture Library which helped solidify the material. The importance of backing up files and folders was emphasized very strongly with scheduled backups. The chapter concludes with covering the USB flash drive and Optical disc backup process. Chapter 3 was packed with all kinds of information and diagrams which I found to be very helpful.