Question:

Jean asks: Can i open a power point with open office??

Answer:

Thanks for your question, Jean. Sure you can, it’s pretty easy. At OpenOffice make a File>>Open, then select Powerpoint as the type of file you would want to open. Once opened you will be able to keep your file as an Impress or Powerpoint file. That’s pretty much it. Similarly, you can open doc (Word) and xls (xcel) files.

Dorothy sent me the following question:

I use Google Docs,Spreadsheets and Presentations. From time to time i delete documents from my documents list. Is there a way to recover those documents i have deleted?

Thanks for asking Dorothy. Like in GMail, documents (including spreadsheets, presentations and forms) you delete in Google Docs are actually kept in a specific bin named Trash.

In order to recover those to your Google Docs home, you’ll need to navigate to the Trash folder, check the box at the left side of your document name and click on Undelete. Recovered documents are automatically transferred to your Google docs list. Be aware that you can multi select several documents and recover them all at once.

Question:

Here’s a question from Willie, a reader from the Philippines : My workplace block access to different social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo, AIM, Orkut and so forth. So i guess my question to you is how to unblock websites?

Answer:

Thanks for your good question. We are all aware that workplaces block access to social networking websites in order to keep their staff on task. The way to unblock those websites is to use a legitimate free proxy. The question is where to find one that isn’t blocked.I suggest that you look into my post on how to unblock Facebook from school. That same procedure will allow you to unblock all web sites that you mentioned in your list.

Question:
Dan (and many others readers) asks: I just accidentally deleted a few files and directories on my PC. Those are not recoverable from my Windows XP operating system Recycle Bin. Any idea on how to recover erased files?

Answer:
Thanks Dan for your question. I am sure that almost everyone has experienced such an accidental loss of valuable data (either Office files, photos, video etc’). Luckily, an easy-to-use (and free) application, named Recuva, is there to help help us.

It is important that you use Recuva (or any file recovery tool) immediately after you notice the file or directory deletion. The reason for that is simple: when you erase a file or directory , the disk area previously occupied by the deleted stuff is flagged as free and it is therefore ready to accept new data. Therefore, if any new data wasn’t saved to that disk area, you will still be able to recover the file/directories that previously occupied that area.

After you download and install this lightweight application, all you’ll need to do is to scan your PC and easily recover your accidentally erased files or directories.

Recuva runs on Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000 and 98 and weighs 0.61 MB.

Enjoy!

Download Recuva

Question:

I use Internet Explorer as my web browser. When i click on an email link from a website it pops up an Outlook Express window. The thing is that i use Hotmail and not Outlook Express! How can make Hotmail my deafult email?

Answer:

If you are using Windows Live Hotmail as your default email program, you’ll be able to set your email program quite easily:

• Open Internet Explorer
• Hit Tools then Internet Options
• Navigate to the Programs tab
• In the E-mail box select Windows Live Hotmail (or just Hotmail in previous versions).
• Click Apply and then OK
• Close your browser and open it again. You should be all set now.