If you have seen the Facebook url to your business page, you know it can be really (really) long - this is mine - http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Johnstown-CO/Radical-Designs-Computer-and-Web-Design-Services/120218557989457?ref=sgm&ajaxpipe=1&__a=5

If you want to share that it looks a little formidable to most people.

But there is a way to make it much shorter - like this:   http://www.tinyurl.com/RadicalDesigns4u - which looks much nicer to share.

How? This is really easy…

1. Go to your Facebook page (or any other page you want to make a short url for) and select/copy the url (web address that shows up at the top of your browser)

1. Go to TinyURL.com

1. Paste in your long url in the first box you see, like I did, and click the "Make TinyURL" button. But wait! You can make a Custom Alias, just like I did.

See the "Custom alias (optional) " text? Enter your preferred site name or blog name or page name in that box and then click the "Make TinyURL" button. You will then get your desired link!

Is that easy or what! And fun! You can make shorter links for facebook and twitter and your blogs - whatever.

Just so you know, TinyURL is not the only site that does this. Search for "make short urls" and you will get a long list of similar sites. However, I do know TinyURL has been doing this for a long time - since 2002 - which is several generations in technology time. You can use short url's from TinyURL.com with confidence.

Let others know how you use TinyURL. Comment on this article.

Every once in a while when Microsoft sends out updates, it can cause an issue with previous versions. Like an update for Office 2007 causes and issue with Office 2003.

One of these happened to a client the other day - all of a sudden they start seeing this message on every click to open a Word doc in Office 2003 - "Cannot open converter msword632".

If you search for this error, you should end up on this page - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904

About half way down the page there is a Fix It emblem (this is a screenshot) :

Click on the Fix It icon and select to "Run" the file. It doesn't take but a few seconds.

Not all of the Fix It's I have used work, but this one did on a WinXP Pro system, running Office 2003.

Techgal

A Kindle by any other name is a Nook

I haven't seen a whole lot of press around this yet, but I have to pass this on. I love to read, but I don't get much time to do so. I have been eying the Amazon Kindle, but thinking that I just couldn't part with the bucks for it. (Seeing as I have other toys I would like to have first). Then I had a question from one of my clients about whether the Kindle could do audio, because she would rather have her hands free and listen than hold the book? And, after a little research we found, yes, it does. I made a off-hand remark that I was surprised they had not come out with a color version yet.

I had no sooner got back to my office that I received an email announcement from Barnes and Noble with their new product, the Nook. It is the same price as the smaller Kindle, currently $259.00. The hook for why you should buy theirs? It has a COLOR touch screen, not just the gray scale of the Kindle. Near as I could compare, pretty much the same technical specs - over 1 million titles at B&N to choose from, wireless, 2Gb memory. And the ability to insert a microSD card for more memory capacity. These devices are very thin. Like the thickness of a pencil. Easy to carry around.

My curiosity has been piqued and I am going to go look at one. I'm thinking that as these come down in price a little more that they will be great gifts. I see them as the future of how education will  finally transition from hardbacks to electronics. If you can carry all your study books in one thin frame, you will have more room in your back pack for more important stuff, right? And think how many trees will be saved!

If you want to know more about the Nook, you can see specs here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/techspecs/

I will have to say I noticed the Sony Reader at a BestBuy, but did not have time to do much more than a cursory glance. I did note in the Nook specs that it does not support the Amazon format (.amz)  or the Sony format (.lrz/.lrx). Which means that none of them are going to support each others formats. However, since they do support PDF, that should not be a big deal on getting widely read content. If it is proprietary to one, though, you won't be able to share between.

They might even some day replace the magazines in the doctor's reception area.

So what do you think of the Kindle, Reader or Nook? Do you have one, want one or don't ever think you will need one?

Hi,

Welcome to the Radical Designs myBlog. This blog is intended to be informative with tips and tricks and possibly solutions for your IT issues, whether they be computer hardware or software. I'm sorry if you have a Mac, I won't be able to help much. I have 20 + years experience with the PC environment and can't speak to recent experience with a Mac. My consulting expertise runs to solving PC problems for small businesses, generally 1 to 10 computer users, and small office/home office with 1 to 5 computer users. I repair hardware, build systems, install software, do maintenance and updates for a wide variety of operating systems and software, networking and wireless setups, and building custom Joomla content management system websites.
I get asked a wide variety of questions from the very basic to the very complex. Do I have all the answers all the time? No. But I do my best to find out what I don't know and solve annoying issues as quickly as possible.

I have often thought as I make my daily journey, that others might benefit from what I find out on any given day, so I am going to put my educational curve online to benefit whom it may.

If you have questions or comments about things IT, please ask. I don't guarantee to have the answer, but it might start a good discussion.

Hoping you enjoy the flow.
Carolyn Breninger - Techgal