USB Media Card Reader

During The PC Clique held last week, we discussed methods for transferring your photos from digital camera to your computer.  The PC Clique is a technology support group held every 3rd Thursday of the month in Ramsey, NJ.   For more info: http://www.thepcteacher.com/

Below is a link describing the media card reader we were discussing.  This type of reader is great for transferring photos from your digital camera to your computer.  The type below is compatible with the Secure Digital (SD) card as well as the MultiMediaCard (MMC) type.  This type of card reader is small and fits in your pocket..



Another option is a card reader that fits all types of media cards.   These types usually come with a cable and are slightly bigger than the one above.

How to Rent a Movie with iTunes

How to rent a movie from the iTunes Store on your computer

iTunes can be downloaded to a PC and is compatible with Windows.

You can use iTunes even if you don't own an iPod or iPad.

1.In iTunes on your computer, click iTunes Store.Some of the newer computers out there, usually the smaller ones, are starting to appear on the market without CD or DVD drives.  This is a convenient way to watch a movie on-the-go if you don't have a DVD drive to play a movie from disk. 

 

2.In the iTunes Store, search for a movie that you want to rent.

 

3.Click Rent. Your movie will begin to download immediately.

 

Once the movie is downloaded, you can watch it on your computer.  If you own an iPod, iPad or Apple TV, you can transfer the rental and take it with you commuting or on vacation.

To transfer the rental:

 

1.Connect the device and select it in iTunes.

 

2.Click the Movies tab (for iPod), or the Videos tab (iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV)

 

3.Select the movie, and then click Move.

 

4.After all movies have been moved, click Apply in the lower right corner of iTunes.

 

You must be connected to the Internet to transfer a rented movie.

1. After you transfer a rental, it is removed from your iTunes library.
2. You can move the movie between devices as many times as you wish during the rental period, but the movie can only be played on one device at a time.
4. You have 30 days to watch your movie and 24 hours after you've started viewing to finish.
5. Once you start watching your movie, you can watch it as many times as you want during the 24-hour period.
6. iTunes version 9.0 is needed in order for you to rent movies.
7. If you don't watch your rented movie, it will expire in 30 days and disappear from your iTunes library.

Do You Have Backup ?

You should perform regular backups of your system and keep multiple backups of important, irreplaceable files. Without multiple backup copies of your files, your files do not exist anywhere except on your computer.

Tip: You should also keep at least one backup copy of your important files in a different physical location (that is, an "offsite" location). An easy backup method is to copy important files to an external hard drive or USB flash drive and store these disks in a fire box or safe deposit box.

  

How to Use a USB Flash Drive to Backup a copy of your files

(Windows computer)

1. NEVER work on documents directly from your flash drive. It is best practice to first copy the document to your computer, make changes to the document from the local computer, when finished copy the file back to the USB flash drive.
2. Instructions on how to do this can be found below.

If the flash drive is removed improperly or files are worked on directly from the flash drive, flash drive corruption can occur. If flash drive corruption occurs, some or all files on the flash drive could be lost. This is why it is important to follow all instructions carefully.

 

How to copy files to a USB Flash drive from your Computer:

1. Insert USB flash drive into any available USB port on your computer
2. Locate the file or folder on your computer that you would like to copy to the flash drive.
3. Right-click the file
4. Highlight “Send to”
5. Select “Removable Disk (“Drive letter:)”
6. After following the Steps above, Please DO NOT do not immediately remove the flash drive from the USB port. Follow the instructions under “Properly Removing Flash Drive from Computer:”

Checking to Make Sure File was Copied to Flash Drive:

1. Double-click My Computer
2. Double-Click “Removable Disk (“Drive letter:)”

The copied file or folder should appear on the removable disk. From here, it can be placed into a specific folder on the removable disk if desired. If the file is not here, please retry the steps under “How to copy files to a USB Flash drive from your Computer:”

 How to Copy files from a USB Flash Drive to your Computer:

1. Insert USB flash drive into any available USB port on your computer
2. *Note: If the USB flash drive is being used for the first time, Windows may need extra time to install the hardware necessary for the USB drive to function properly. You will know your flash drive is ready for use when you see a message by the clock stating: “Your new hardware has been installed and is ready for use.”
3. Double-click My Computer
4. Double-Click “Removable Disk (“Drive letter:)”
5. Locate the file or folder on your flash drive that you would like to copy to your computer.
6. Right-click the file
7. Highlight “Send to”
8. Select “My Documents”

The copied file or folder should now appear on your computer under the “My Documents” folder. From here, it can be moved to any desired location on your machine. If the file or folder does not appear in the “My Documents” folder, retry the steps under “How to copy files from a USB Flash drive to your Computer:”

After following the Steps above, Please DO NOT do not immediately remove the flash drive from the USB port. Follow the instructions under “Properly Removing Flash Drive from Computer:”

Properly Removing Flash Drive from Computer:

1. Double-click the Remove hardware icon by the clock

2. In the safely Remove Hardware window, Double-click on the “USB Mass storage Device”

3. In the Stop a Hardware device window, click on your USB flash drive (most likely indicated by the title “Generic volume – (Drive letter:)”)

4. Click OK
   
   
5. After seeing the “Safe” statement, you can remove the flash drive from your machine.

Burn a CD or DVD

If your computer includes a CD or DVD recorder, you can copy files to a writeable disc. This process is called burning a disc.

1. 
   
   
   Insert a CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R or DVD-RW into your computer's CD or DVD recorder.
2. 
   
   
   In the dialog box that appears, click Burn files to data disc.
3. 
   
   
   In the Burn a Disc dialog box, type a name for this disc, and then click Next.
   It might take several minutes for the disc to be formatted in the default Live File System format. When the formatting is complete, an empty disc folder opens.
4. 
   
   
   Open the folder that contains the files you want to burn, and then drag the files into the empty disc folder.
   

Set the Backup on your Windows computer

You may end up wanting an automatic backup of either everything on your computer or the same set of folders.  To set up a backup in Windows open up Computer (My Computer in Windows XP) and right-click on your local drive and select Properties.  Then click on the Tools tab and click the Back up now button.

Follow the on-screen prompts to select what you are going to backup and where you are going to back it up to.

Backing up using an Online backup service such as Carbonite

Carbonite is an affordable online data backup service for your Mac or PC.  Your computer is filled with irreplaceable files and Carbonite allows automatic, secure backups of an unlimited amount data.  You get a small management program for your computer to set up the backups once and then they run automatically after that.  Recovering you data is a process of a few clicks to get it back.

(check out the PC Teacher website for classes on how to backup in Windows)

As always, happy clicking!

Betsy Sabatini Coyne

The PC Teacher

bcoyne@thepcteacher.com

www.thepcteacher.com