Are you a Windows Vista user? If so, have you run a defrag best price for cialis on your system lately? As you may remember, awhile back, I told you how to run a defrag with the Vista operating system and at that time, I failed to mention anything about the automatic defrag feature. So, I figured today would be as good a time as any to do so. As a Vista user, you may have run into a few of the functions that Microsoft has controlled for you, including the auto-defrag. I don't know about you, but I want my control back. Keep reading to find out how you can get it!

By default, the disk defrag feature in Vista is set up to defrag your system approximately every four times you restart your computer. It just starts on its own, no matter what you're working on or what you're doing on your computer at the time. As you can imagine, that slows your computer down quite a bit, let alone how annoying it becomes! So, if you'd like to speed your system back up by turning the auto-defrag feature off, here's how you can do it.

First, double click on the Computer icon on your desktop. Once there, right click on your C: drive and choose Properties. Next, hit the Tools tab and then select the option that says "Defragment Now." (I know that may sound like the opposite of what you should be doing, but stick with me. It will all work out in the end!) Lastly, uncheck the box that says "Run on a schedule." That will stop all the scheduled defrags from running and from here on out, you can run the defrag whenever it's convenient for you. Just don't forget to do it!

Let's Refresh

Today's quick tip may seem a little basic for some of you, but I think a lot of you out there will appreciate this. I get e-mails and even phone calls all the time about such procedures like copy, paste and cut. Since I receive so many requests about those things, I thought it would be a good idea to take a step back and go over them one more time. So, if you ever have trouble doing those little tasks, listen up, because this tip is dedicated to you! We'll go over the basics of copying, pasting, cutting and maybe even a couple others. Here we go!

Let's begin with copying. There are a couple different ways you can copy something on your computer. Both are pretty easy to do, so you'll just have to decide which one you prefer. But, before you can do anything else, you have to figure out what you want to copy. Once you've done that, click your mouse button, hold it down and drag it over what you'd like to copy. It will then be highlighted. You can then best price cialis either right click and choose Copy or you can hit Ctrl + C on your keyboard. Next up is the paste function. It always comes after the copy, because you have to have something copied so that you can paste it. Go to where you'd like to paste your material (in an e-mail, a Word document, etc.) and click your mouse once. Then you can either right click and choose Paste or hit Ctrl + V on your keyboard. That's all there is to it!

Some of the other commands you all sometimes ask about are cut and undo. I promise both of those functions are rather simple too, so let's go over them right now. If you ever want to cut something out (a portion of text, a picture, etc.) of what you're working on, all you have to do is highlight it and then you can either right click and choose Cut or hit Ctrl + X on your keyboard. That part of your document will then disappear. Now, what if you're working on something and you make a mistake? You probably want to undo it, right? Well, the easiest way to do that is to hit Ctrl + Z on your keyboard. That combination will automatically undo what you just did. Cool, huh? Yep, just a couple mouse clicks or a few taps on your keyboard will take you a long way!

I’ve been using Adobe Photoshop for the better part of 15 years. When I was a beginner, Photoshop was like a beautiful girl who can’t get a date, because everyone is too intimidated to talk to her. I really wanted to try it, but I figured it was just too sophisticated and I’d strike out. Sound familiar?

Well, let’s work on boosting your confidence then! You see, Photoshop has an amazing set of out-of-the-package filters that will perform outstanding graphic conversions without you having to break a sweat. Today, I’m going to introduce you to Photoshop’s High Pass Filter. It's a must for anyone who wants to sharpen the look of any digital photo. Let's give it a try!

Let’s start with a digital photo that wasn’t shot with a high-end camera. When I say “high-end,” what I mean is a camera with a high megapixel rating. Most consumer digital cameras available today run anywhere from three megapixels to eight megapixels. The higher the number, the cleaner the shot. (You can read this tip for more information on that).

I’ll be using this photo of my dog, Pepper:

That photo was shot with my cell phone camera (not known for their clarity), so it’s a perfect example of how to take a “fuzzy” photo and sharpen it up almost instantly. You’re going to love this!

Start by opening your image in Photoshop.

As you may know, Photoshop allows you to work in layers, so you can make all your corrections on a new layer that’s separate from your original photo. How cool is that?!

Across the top of your screen in Photoshop, you’ll see a listing for “Windows.” That tells Photoshop what you want to see in your workspace and what you don’t. Click on the Windows tab and then scroll down through the list to Layers.

Click on Layers and a new window will open that shows you all the layers of your file.

So, now we’ll create a duplicate layer of Pepper by choosing Layer across the top and selecting Duplicate Layer. What you’ll end up with is an exact copy of your photo (see picture below):

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Your duplicate layer will be called Background Copy. That’s the one you’re going to apply the High Pass Filter to.

So, here’s the deal! Along the top of the page, select Filter and then scroll down to Other. Clicking on Other will reveal five more choices. Pick High Pass. At this point, the photo will turn gray, but don’t panic! Remember, we’re working on a new safe layer and your original image is underneath it.

A dialogue box will then appear. You can adjust the effect more or less to your liking when you have time to experiment, but for now, go ahead and click OK.

What the High Pass Filter does, essentially, is pay closer attention to the details of an image and it ignores the rest. It’s almost like throwing a piece of tracing paper over a picture and tracing the outline.

So, where’s your big result? Well, here we go!

In the Layers window, right above the little icons on your photo and its “copy,” you’ll see the word “Normal” with an arrow next to it. Click on the arrow and hold it to reveal a list of layer styles for you to choose from. Scroll down through the list and choose Overlay.

When you let go of your mouse, watch your photo!

The High Pass Filter has pumped up the detail areas, taking Pepper from “fuzzy” to “fantastic!”

Now, if you'd like, you can go to the little “eyeball” located next to your Background Copy image.

Clicking on the eyeball over and over will turn the High Pass Filter on and off so that you can see the before and after!

Pepper never looked so good. Try this with a photo of your best friend today!

As you may know, Winamp has always prided itself on being a free service and because of that, it has a steady, loyal following. And version 5 is no different, so let's check it out!

Winamp version 5.541 looks good with a completely new interface and it comes with comprehensive file support. The audio support also includes CDA, MIDI, MP1/2/3/4, AAC, OGG, WAV, AIF, WMA and more. Support for video was added in version 5.52 and it continues on in version 5.541 with MPG, M2V, AVI and ASF formats.

The new version also packs a good deal into a fairly slim package, with the player incorporating everything you would expect and more, including loop, repeat, ID3 tag support, cross-fading between tracks, 2x CD burning/ripping, Internet TV, radio support and so much more.

Winamp 5 also comes with a media manager, 10-band graphic equalizer, visualizations and a playlist editor. You can even upgrade to the Pro edition to get full support for ripping/encoding audio into the MP3 format and integrated CD burning up to 48x speeds.

Winamp was born as a very basic media player and it has consistently improved for many years. Its main purpose is to be completely customizable and through the years, many people have contributed to a library that now consists of 20,000 skins and 461plug-ins.

When version 5 was released, Nullsoft redeemed themselves in the public eye after producing a much improved player to replace Winamp 3. They didn't need much encouragement, as they justified skipping version 4 by saying it was such a huge improvement, it deserved a higher number!

Luckily, they're justified in their opinion, because Winamp offers everything you could ever want in a media player. By using the skins, you can set it to look like the original or the current default, which looks great and puts you in control of all your media. I personally like the minimized player that consists of a small bar you can place on the edge of your screen. Of course, if neither of those agree with your tastes, you can download and try any of the thousand others available on the Winamp Web site.

So, you may ask, "What’s new in Winamp 5.541?" Well, allow me to tell you!

• Improved: [pmp_ipod] Better auto-detection of newer iPod models.

• Fixed: Filetype icons in Windows Explorer not updating when changed in Preferences.

• Fixed: ML and Vis appear under other overlapping modern skin windows.

• Fixed: No error message when trying to edit metadata for Read Only files.

• Fixed: Potential security vulnerability in NowPlaying.

• Fixed: best cialis [gen_ff] Keyboard shortcuts in modern skin playlist, windowshade mode.

• Fixed: [gen_ml] Scrolling to bottom of AlbumArt pane and other miscellaneous scroll bar issues.

• Fixed: [in_mp3] Broken "307 – Temporary Redirect" URLs.

• Fixed: [ml_local] AlbumArt icon selection glitch.

• Fixed: [ml_playlists] Play and Enqueue actions reversed if Enqueue is set as default.

• Fixed: [ml_rg] ReplayGain analysis of 20bit files.

• Misc: Double click Modern pledit songticker now toggles windowshade mode again.

• Misc: More miscellaneous general tweaks, improvements, fixes and optimizations.

Do you enter a lot of special data into MS Excel, such as zip codes, phone numbers or social security numbers?

Ever find yourself wishing the parenthesis and/or dashes would just fill themselves into the correct locations? I mean, wouldn't it be faster if you could just key 5551234567 in for a phone number and have (555) 123-4567 appear in the cell after you hit the Enter key?

Yeah, I like that idea too. So, let's see what Excel has to offer!

First, you'll need to highlight the cells you're going to work with and then navigate to the Format Cell dialogue window.

For those of you using older versions of Excel, you'll go to the Format menu, Cells choice.

In Excel 2007, you can get there from the Home tab on the ribbon under the Number section. Click on the little down arrow in the bottom right hand corner or choose "More Number Formats" from the bottom of the Number Format drop down list.