Dragon Naturally Speaking Cheat Sheet & Dragon Naturally Speaking Tips
| Summary: Dragon Naturally Speaking Cheat Sheet and Dragon Naturally Speaking Quick Start Guide. Learn how to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking dictation software with these Dragon NaturallySpeakingdictation tips. |
Question: I don’t type very well, or very fast, and I’ve heard that there are now some pretty good voice-to-text dictation programs out there, but I’m worried it will take me too long to figure out how to use them. Have you tried any voice to text dictation programs? What is your experience with voice-to-text dictation software?
Virus Removal Using an Antivirus Virus Scanner
| Summary: When your regular anti-virus virus removal or virus scanner won’t work, here’s how you can still remove the virus. |
My computer has a nasty virus. This virus is so bad that I can’t even get access to the Internet! I’m using a firewall, and I have an antivirus program running, but somehow I still got a virus and I can’t get rid of it no matter what antivirus program I try to run. How can I get rid of this bad computer virus?
Chuck’s answer: no single virus program can remove every single virus. I use a couple of different antivirus programs and it seems that even if I run them all back to back, each program finds a virus that another antivirus program doesn’t. So I can understand your frustration when you run antivirus programs to make your computer safe, but you still get a virus.
As you’ve noticed some viruses attach themselves to your Windows registry and to Windows start-up programs and are very, very difficult to remove. Below are the steps that I use to remove a tough virus when my standard antivirus programs such as Norton can’t find and remove a virus.
Virus Removal StepsTip: Your goal in this exercise is to remove a single difficult virus that may be preventing access to your regular virus scanner or antivirus program. |
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| Step 1 | Look for clues on the screen that will reveal the name of the virus. For example, one extremely difficult virus is Windows Police Pro. It is a misleading security application that reports false system security threats and displays false alerts that make you try to believe that your computer is infected with spyware. Windows Police Pro appears on your screen and its name appears in the title bar of the window. Once you know the name of the virus, you can use Google or your favorite Internet search site to search for the term “remove Windows Police Pro” or “remove” followed by the name of the virus are trying to remove. In the search results, look for solutions that may provide explicit steps for moving the virus instead of finding search results that suggest to you to download an installable general antivirus program — unless the search result is recommending that you download a specific small tool to remove the specific virus you’re trying to eliminate. |
| Step 2 |
(Optional) Kill a virus process: Review running processes in your Windows Task Manager. Sometimes when you get explicit instructions for removing a virus, the instructions will require you to stop an active virus by using the Windows Task Manager to “kill a process.” to activate the Windows task manager., simultaneously press the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys, then click the processes tab to display running processes. You can then scroll through the processes list to click on each known virus name and click “end process” button to stop them from running. |
| Step 3 |
Manually remove the single toughest virus. With a specific software tool or specific steps available, you can now try to manually remove the files that enable the single toughest virus. You should restart your Windows computer in safe mode so that the virus does not have the ability to start when your regular computer files start. To start your Windows computer in safe mode, start with the power off, then switch on the power and tap the “F5″ function key a few times when Windows logo first appears. Once your computer is started in safe mode and you’ll search for specific virus executable or.DLL files on your hard drive or the Windows registry and delete them. Even if you don’t get all the virus executable or.dll files, as long as you remove the most important ones the virus can’t restart the next time you reboot your computer. |
| Step 4 |
Empty your recycle bin, so that the virus can’t find deleted virus program files and reinstall them. |
| Step 5 |
While still in safe mode, run your favorite antivirus programs. With the nastiest virus program out of the way, your favorite antivirus program may now run successfully and can be used to remove any remaining associated virus files. By the way, if you have an especially difficult virus that is preventing your antivirus program from running, it is always a good idea to restart your Windows computer in safe mode and try running your antivirus program with your computer in “safe mode.” Keep in mind that your computer will likely not be connected to the Internet while in safe mode, so you may be running your antivirus with an outdated data dictionary when your computer is in Windows “Safe Mode.” Still, your outdated virus dictionary may be enough to remove the virus once you’ve manually stopped the toughest one. |
| Step 6 |
Reboot, Update Anti-Virus Dictionaries, Run Antivirus again. Reboot your computer and hopefully you’ll be able to update your favorite antivirus program via the Internet, again. With your antivirus program’s dictionaries updated, once again run your antivirus program to remove any outstanding viruses defined in the updated dictionary. |
Resources (Search for these on the Internet)
- (free trial) Grisoft AVG Anti-virus
- (free trial) Avast Anti-virus
- (free) Lavasoft Ad-Aware (anti-spyware)
- (free) Spybot Search and Destroy (anti-spyware)
- (free) Smitfraud Fix
- (free) SD Fix
Convert a Toyota Prius to a plug-in electric car for less than $1000
I heard that I can convert my Toyota Prius to a plug-in electric car for less than $1000. Is this true?
Chuck’s answer: Many of you know that our family now. has a third-generation Toyota Prius, we still own a second-generation Preius, and we owned one of the first first-generation Prius cars. We installed an aftermarket kit and our second-generation Prius that allows us to press a button to use the EV electric vehicle mode that Toyota disabled in generation one and generation two models.
A company called Enginer.us sells a do-it-yourself kit that will allow you to upgrade your first-generation Prius or second-generation Prius to a plug-in electric car. The kit does not yet work for the third-generation Prius.
If you own a Toyota Prius, you may have noticed that there is a somewhat hidden luggage compartment that is easily accessible under the floor under the hatchback. This Prius plug-in PHEV conversion kit effectively convert your car into a plug-in Prius, that you can plug into a standard 110 V electrical outlet to charge. The PHEV conversion kit is designed for hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers, and according to the website a do-it-yourselfer can install this Prius plug-in PGD conversion kit in about two hours. We have a local mechanic who installed our electric vehicle hack in an hour for about $100. I’m considering printing the conversion kit manual to ask them how much you charge to install the plug-in PHEV conversion kit.
This kit doesn’t convert your Toyota Prius to completely electric car. Instead, it extends the capability of the existing Toyota synergy drive hybrid system. The enginer.US is a combination of lithium batteries stored in the Toyota Prius hidden luggage compartment under the hatchback (above the spare tire) and electronics that trick the hybrid system into using more of the battery than the internal combustion engine.
The company sells three different battery capacities:
# 2kWh (for 10 miles up to 40 miles per hour): $1995
# 4kWh (for 20 miles up to 40 miles per hour): $2995
# Do it yourself: No Batteries $995
Note:$1000 is added for California buyers due to CARB compliant cost (5 Year Warranty and certification cost).
Depending on the size of battery that you purchase, the charge time can be from 2 to 4 hours with a standard 110 V household plug. And the return on investment for your electric vehicle conversion can be in 2 to 3 years.
The manufacturer’s website claims that you can radically improve their Prius fuel efficiency to 100 miles per gallon. Some of the owners who have installed this electrical conversion kit claim that they have increased their gas mileage by 40% to 100%. By default, all generations of the Toyota Prius only operate on electricity at speeds less than about 30 mph. This electric vehicle conversion kit tricks the Prius computer to allow it to operate on electricity up to about 40 mph. So, if your daily commute involves driving at at more than 40 mph, then the Prius internal combustion engine will be consuming gasoline instead of using the electric power. However, if your commute is mostly less than 40 mph and is less than 10 or 20 miles, you can conceivably drive to and from work without ever consuming a drop of gasoline.
Since we own two Toyota Prius automobiles, we are considering buying one of these conversion sets to install on our older Prius. You can read more about it at the manufacturer’s website and you can buy electric vehicle conversion kit on eBay.
Manufacturer: http://www.enginer.us/
Click here to see the Prius Electric Vehicle ConversionKit on eBay
Adobe PDF on Amazon Kindle?
Filed under: Books & Reading, Computer and Internet Basics
Read why Adobe PDF files don’t display correctly on the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader.
Chuck, I’d love to get a new Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle but I have a large collection of books that are PDF file format and I’ve heard that the electronic readers screens don’t display PDF files very well. Can you tell me if this is true?
Chuck’s answer: The Amazon Kindle DX, which is the large screen version of the Amazon Kindle, can display native PDF files precisely how they were formatted by the author and publisher. For other versions of the Amazon Kindle, you can e-mail PDF files to the device, and Amazon will attempt to disassemble the PDF document and reformat it for the Kindle’s smaller screen. The problem with PDF files on smaller electronic rear screens is that the text does not “Reflow” and instead each entire PDF page is shown in its original format, but is too small to read.
The Adobe PDF file format was created specifically to allow author and publisher to firmly and precisely control the appearance, placement, images, dimensions and layout of every single page. That means the PDF file specifies *specific* fonts and *specific* page dimensions and *specific* image sizes and so on – in hard, dictated places. So, PDF files were designed to *NOT* to not allow the reader the flexiblity to change to six different font sizes and to not re-flow the text depending on the users’s font choices and image sizes.
Similarly, some (hacker) software tools can “disassemble” PDF files and convert them to other formats that are better suited for small screens, however, many PDF’s are secured by the author / publishers and can’t be reformatted. The PDF files that can be reformatted usually aren’t appealing because of how the PDF pages were designed. Think of the “Dummies” books, HUGE white margins with blocks of text taking up only the center few inches of the page. That page design looks okay on the printed page of a large book, but looks terrible on the Kindle (or Sony’s) trade-paperback sized screen.
For the past 20 years, the dictatorship required by the Adobe PDF file format was fine if the reader was viewing it on a 12″ laptop screen or a 21″ monitor, but the PDF file doesn’t work well if you’re viewing it the smaller screen of a Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle or on ANY screen smaller than 10″
So, if you want to view an Adobe PDF file of electronic reader such as the Amazon Kindle or Sony reader, your best bet is to buy a large screen Amazon Kindle DX. Otherwise, you’ll have to try to use a program to “disassemble” the PDF so that it will display correctly on the electronic reader.
Free Open Office Download replaces Microsoft Word / Microsoft Office
Summary: Find out how an absolutely free program called Open Office can replace Microsoft Office.
Our son is returning to college this fall and one of the professors has required that students have Microsoft Word installed on their computers. I have a couple of questions about this. Can I buy only Microsoft Word, or do I also have to buy the entire Microsoft office program? Where is the cheapest place to buy Microsoft Word or Microsoft office?
Chuck’s Answer: I would first check with the professor to see if the requirement is simply to have the ability to create Microsoft Word files to hand in for homework. If this is the case, your son or daughter may not need Microsoft office or Microsoft Word, but instead can use a wonderful free program called “OpenOffice” that is available for download on the Internet. Open office is a free program that is available for different computer operated systems, and it is compatible with all other major office suites including Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office. To find open office, perform an Internet search for “openoffice.org”
The most recent versions of free OpenOffice look quite like the Microsoft Office program. So, if you know how to use Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word you’ll be right at home using OpenOffice. More importantly, for your application, the OpenOffice program can create files that are compatible with Microsoft word. So your student can use the free OpenOffice program to create Word files that can be submitted for homework.
If the professor absolutely requires Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word, you have a couple of choices of where to buy Microsoft Office for word at a lower than retail price. Probably the most expensive place to buy Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word is your local office supply store. Microsoft sells student versions of Microsoft software at most university and college bookstores. You can also find current and older versions of Microsoft software on eBay. Just make sure that the seller from whom you buy has a good positive feedback score (generally greater than 100) and that the seller is selling copies of Microsoft Office that include a Microsoft “Certificate of Authenticity.” When I checked eBay’s closed auctions, there were a few thousand completed auctions with an authentic version of Microsoft Word selling for as little as $36, and full current versions of Microsoft Office selling for $73. Older authentic versions of Microsoft Office were selling for as little as $40.
Be sure that the version of Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word is compatible with your computers operating system. For example make sure that you buy a Mac version if you have a Mac and buy a Windows version if you have a PC.
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