Attaining a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification in Word is a two-fold process testing your knowledge of specific skill sets. The levels are SPECIALIST, which covers Creating Content, Organizing Content, Formatting Content, Collaborating, Formatting and Managing Documents; and a higher, EXPERT level, which covers Formatting Content, Organizing Content, Formatting Documents, Collaborating, and Customizing Word skills. Depending on your objective, you could complete just the Expert level to use to towards Master Certification.
To gain your certification, you must take an exam for either Specialist or Expert (or both!). The exam covers the skill sets mentioned above. See “Word Exam Areas” (a) and (b) in Resources below for a detailed list of what you need to know within each skill set.
Step 2
The exam, which is around 60 minutes in duration and will cost at least $75 (depends on testing location), needs to be taken at an Authorized CertiPort Exam Center. See Resources (c) below for a link to find the exam center closest to you.
Step 3
The exam requires you to complete a series of tasks. See Resources, (d) Exam Format, for details of the exam, and Resources (e) for a study guide. TIP: Since the test is timed, you may not have the luxury to rummage around trying to figure out an answer. Be prepared before you schedule the exam. Know Word inside and out: Click on each button of all the toolbars, click each of the resulting menu links, click every button on every dialogue box. You need to know everything there is to know about Word. Do you know how to set Parental Control?
Step 4
There are practice tests you can purchase to install on your computer. The software will provide you on-screen displays that mimic what you will see on the actual exam. There are practice areas in the software as well timed areas where you can truly test your skills. You can search the Internet for self testing software, like at www.indtraining.com or perhaps through ads around this article.
Step 5
On the day of your exam, you should allow around 10 minutes to have the testing area setup for you after you arrive. A technician will start the computer and set it up for the specific exam you need to take. You will probably be in a room with others who are also taking tests. Each computer station has dividers so you can’t see what the person next to you is doing. You will be required to leave your purse, school bag, etc., in a locker outside the testing room (locker with key is provided). Before you click the begin test button, make sure you are physically comfortable: is the chair the right height? The room you are in will have a window to the room the technician is in so he/she can monitor you. When you finish taking the exam, either signal the technician that you are finished, or make your way to the door, which will take you into the technician’s room to exit. Be courteous of others who may still be taking their exam.
Step 6
Results are provided within minutes of completing the exam. The technician will print out your results. The exam report is one page and has a bar chart indicating what the minimum score is to pass and what your score is. There’s an additional breakdown by the skill sets mentioned in the Introduction to let you know where you need improvement and where you excelled. Good luck becoming a Word guru!!
The Photoshop Marquee Tools are indispensable in creating, adding-to and deducting from a selection. The Marquee Tools sit at the top, uppermost left-hand position on the Tools palette because they need to be always close at-hand. If you can master these tools you’re on your way to mastering Photoshop.
Launch Photoshop and open any photograph. If you want to use my photo and need help making a screenshot, please see my article: How to Make a Screen Shot Using a PC, link at end. I chose my photo because it has fairly well defined shapes: circle, rectangle and square. I am working in Photoshop CS4 but I’ve tested these steps back to Photoshop 5.
Step 2
Set-up the work space:
Open the “Tools” and “Layers” palettes; they’re in the scroll down selection menu “Window”–top of your screen. Leave these palettes open throughout this exercise.
Step 3
Duplicate your background layer and work on the new layer.
Click once on your “Background” layer in the “Layers Palette” to select it and go to the Layers MENU; (top of your screen) and select “Duplicate Layer”. Or use your mouse; right click and select “Duplicate Layer”. Type “Level” and click “OK”.
Step 4
Select your “Rectangular Marquee” tool; it looks like a dashed-line-box. If you don’t see it; click and hold on the tool in the upper left-hand corner of your tools palette and you will see the four options underneath. In older versions of Photoshop you will also see the crop tool (looks like a bold box with its lines extended past its edges and a thin line down the middle); but we won’t be examining that tool in this tutorial.
Step 5
Click on the little eyeball next to the word “Background” on your Layers palette to turn that layer off for now. Click anywhere on your photo and on your keyboard click Ctrl + A to Select All.
Step 6
With your mouse move up to the Select menu and scroll down to: “Transform Selection” and click once. You’ll see the little grabber boxes appear. Grab the one in the top middle and drag it down to snug up against the top of the rectangular level, now do the same on each side and bottom grabber. When done hit “Enter” on your keyboard to apply the selection. Out of habit, I use my mouse to click one time on the Tools palette to “set” the selection. Either way, you’ll see a message asking if you want to “Apply Selection?” click on “Apply”. You can use these steps to accomplish any “squared-off” selection on any image. You could now copy, apply filters or adjustments to just that portion of your image. Or take that portion and copy it into another image.
Step 7
On the “Tools” palette select the “Elliptical Marquee” Tool it’s underneath the “Rectangular Marquee” Tool; just click and hold to show it. Use your mouse to select it. Click anywhere on your photo and drag a circle that is confined by the edges of your image. Go again to “Transform Selection” under your “Select” menu and click once. The grabber boxes appear; use them to drag your selection to outline the circular portion of your image. You don’t need to get each boundary exactly right on the first move. Sometimes you can just get close, and go to the next and come back to refine. When done, use your mouse to click one time on your tools palette to set your selection. You can use these steps to make any rounded selection.
Step 8
The Single Row Marquee which is horizontal and the Single Column Marquee which is vertical are the other two choices under the Marquee Tool. Each of these draws a perfect; one pixel, selection across or up/down on an image. Select your Single Row Marquee and click anywhere on your photo. You’ll see the Marching Ants extending from one end of the image to the other. Now, do the same with the Single Column Marquee. Your Marching Ants will now make a perfect “column” one pixel wide. I use these often when manually adding or removing an outer boundary of something within an image.
Step 9
Now it’s time to experiment and learn to use these tools effectively every time. It’s pretty easy once you know how to use the “Transform Selection” utility. You can use these tools in conjunction with “feather” which appears when you choose one of the Marquee Tools to soften your selection edge. Or in older versions of Photoshop the feather is underneath the Marquee Options which appear with a double click in the “Tools” palette on any of the marquee tools. You can use your alt key and shift key to add-to and deduct from a selection with the Marquee Tools or other selection tools available. However, that is beyond the scope of this tutorial. Get busy! Have fun!
Tips & Warnings
These instructions were developed on a PC but will also work on a Mac although the keyboard shortcuts and screen shots may be slightly different.
The screen shots are jpegs with no functionality. It is easy to think that they are “clickable”, but they are not.
ITunes offers a simple and customizable way to create ringtones for your iPhone, but this convenient tool is inconveniently only applicable to the songs and audio files you have purchased in iTunes. There is however a way to make ringtones out of non-iTunes audio files without ever leaving iTunes, and the process takes less than five minutes.
Open iTunes and select “iTunes > Preferences” (“Edit > Preferences” for PC users) from the application menu. Click the “Import Settings” button in the “When you insert a CD” portion of the “General” tab, which is the default tab open in the preferences menu. Select “AAC Encoder” from the “Import Using” drop-down menu and click “OK.”
Step 2
Select the sound file you would like to add to your iPhone from your library by clicking on it and select “File > Get Info” from the application menu. Click the “Options” tab in the resulting dialogue box and enter a portion of your file up to 40 seconds long in the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” fields. This is the part of the file that will be made into your iPhone sound. Click “OK” when you have entered your start and stop times.
Step 3
Select “Advanced > Create AAC Version” from the application menu. This will make a version of the file that consists of only the portion of the file you previously designated and make the first format change necessary for the file to show up as a sound on your iPhone.
Step 4
Ctrl + click (Right-click for PC users) on the converted file, which will already be highlighted in your library, and select “Show in Finder” (“Show in Windows Explorer” for PC users). Single-click on the title of the file and change the extension from “.m4a” to “.m4r”. This adjusts the file so that it is recognized as a ringtone in iTunes and can be added as a sound to your iPhone.
Step 5
Connect your iPhone to your computer and select the “Ringtones” heading of your “Library” in the left-hand column of iTunes. Click and drag the file from the library to the iPhone icon in the left-hand column of iTunes underneath the “Devices” heading. The sound will be displayed for use on your iPhone as soon as iTunes indicates that it is safe for you to disconnect the phone in the display window at the top of the application.
Tips & Warnings
If your file extensions do not show up automatically when you view your files in Finder or Windows Explorer, you can select “Finder > Preferences > Advanced” and check the “Show all filename extensions” on a Mac, or uncheck the “Hide extensions for known file types” box after selecting “Start > Control Panel > Folder Options > View” on a PC.
Apple’s iPhone includes a variety of ways to customize your user experience, including an enormous library of applications and media options. One of the simplest ways to separate your iPhone from the throngs of others is by displaying your own custom desktop image. You can use the iPhone’s own images, Web images or your own photos, and setting or changing your desktop takes only a few screen touches.
Changing the Desktop Image
Step 1
Click the Home button on your iPhone and slide where indicated to unlock.
Step 2
Select the “Settings” icon on your iPhone and select “Wallpaper.”
Step 3
Choose between iPhone’s stock “Wallpaper” menu, which offers a variety of beautiful, high resolution images, or your “Camera Roll,” which includes any photos you have taken with the iPhone or added to the iPhone through iTunes or by copying from the Web.
Step 4
Touch the image you want as your desktop. Touch and drag with one finger to move the portion of the image that appears in the desktop field. Pinch two fingers together on the screen to scale the image down or move two fingers apart on the screen to scale it up. Touch the “Set” button when the image appears as you want it for your desktop.
Rearranging your Applications
Step 1
Press the “Home” button on the iPhone and slide your thumb along the area indicated to unlock it.
Step 2
Touch and keep your finger on any of the applications on your desktop until all your applications appear to be wiggling in place. This indicates that you can rearrange them. You can also delete applications that have a black circle with a white “X” at their center.
Step 3
Touch and drag each application where you want them while they are wiggling. You can move applications to different pages by dragging them to the very edge of the screen. Delete unwanted applications by touching the circle with the “X” in it. Touch “Delete” on the confirmation screen that follows to complete the deletion.
Step 4
Press the “Home” button once more and the applications will stop wiggling. Your desktop changes have been solidified.
Adobe Photoshop is the gold standard of image editing programs. Industry professionals use Photoshop to retouch pictures or alter them beyond recognition. Graphic artists use Photoshop to create whole new worlds out of nothing. Photoshop can be used even by relatively inexperienced editors. Its controls are intuitive, and it works across most flavors of both the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. This beginner’s guide will help you learn the basics of this multi-featured program.
Use the “File” menu to open an image file. Photoshop edits the pixels or dots that make up an image. You can edit as many or as few of these pixels simultaneously as you want.
Step 2
Go to the “Image” menu and alter the color balance, brightness, and contrast of your image. Photoshop offers several automatic adjustments that work well. However, if you wish to learn, you should alter these settings individually and see how they affect your image.
Step 3
Use the “Layer” menu to create a new layer for your image. This allows you to apply different effects over one another without them altering anything else. Each layer is a transparent film on top of the image. You can paint on a layer, apply filters, or edit it accordingly. The layers are arranged by visibility, i.e. the top layer will be stacked on top of the bottom layer, and so on.
Step 4
Learn to use the toolbox on your left. The most important tools are the selection tools. You can select all or part of an image using the quick selection, lasso, or shape selection tools. Once selected, you can use the “Edit” menu to cut, copy and paste them, or you can use the arrow tools to move them about.
Step 5
Paint on your image or create a brand new painting by using the paintbrush and pencil tools. Photoshop has an extensive selection of brushes. Use the eraser tool to remove parts of your paintings.
Step 6
Use the “Filter” menu to add effects to your images. These are often overused by beginners, so use them carefully and with good judgment.
Step 7
Go to the “Window” menu to navigate through Photoshop’s many tools. You can always open a window for a tool that you use frequently. Some of these windows are very important, such as “Layers,” “Navigator” and “History.” Learning how to use these windows will help streamline many of your tasks.
You may know he master of the 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, but how would he fare against a custom puzzle you created? You can create your own jigsaw puzzles using Microsoft Word. You make puzzles by adding an image into a blank document and dividing that image into shapes that will eventually become the pieces to your puzzle. You can make these homemade jigsaw puzzles with images from your favorite movies or pictures of your family and friends.
Choose an image that you want to turn into a jigsaw puzzle. Download this image from online or create a digital copy on your computer.
Step 2
Launch MS Word and start a new blank document.
Step 3
Select “Insert” from the tool bar at the top of the screen. Click on “Picture” and locate the file location of your image. Click “Insert” when you have chosen the image.
Step 4
Click on the boxes located around the perimeter of the image. Drag the boxes to resize the image, making it larger or smaller to fit onto the page.
Step 5
Click on “Insert” from the tool bar and select “Shapes.” Choose the rectangle under “Basic Shapes.”
Step 6
Click and drag your mouse from the top left corner of the image to the bottom right corner. Release the mouse button to place your rectangle.
Step 7
Select “Format” from the tool bar and select “Shape Fill.” Choose the “No Fill” option so that your rectangle acts as a border for your puzzle.
Step 8
Select “Insert” from the tool bar and click on “Shapes.” Select the straight line from under the “Line” heading.
Step 9
Click and hold your mouse button down on any area of the image. Drag the mouse to create a short line.
Step 10
Return to the “Shape” menu and select the straight line again.
Step 11
Add a line connecting to the previously drawn line. This will begin to create pieces for the jigsaw puzzle.
Step 12
Continue adding lines and creating shapes for your puzzle. The more shapes you create, the more pieces your puzzle will have.
Step 13
Save and print your jigsaw puzzle out onto card stock paper.
Step 14
Cut along the lines you drew in MS Word to create your puzzle pieces. Challenge someone to put together your homemade jigsaw puzzle.
Cleaning out the contents of your computer’s hard drive, also known as “formatting” a computer, is typically done from within your operating system, but there is another option. You can execute a drive cleaning from a DOS prompt, allowing you to dispose of the information on your drive before disposing of or selling your computer. This can be done in around 20 to 60 minutes, depending on the speed of your computer.
Insert the DOS startup disk into the computer.
Step 2
Restart the computer. Press any key to boot to a command prompt.
Step 3
Type “format x:”, replacing “x” with the drive letter to be cleaned.
Step 4
Press “Enter.” Press “Y” to confirm and begin the drive cleaning.
When your computer crashes, you can lose important documents and information. At the least, you will lose the time invested in the file creation and cataloging; at the most, you could lose financially sensitive information if you store work-related material on your computer. A popular software application to guard against data loss is Norton Ghost. The software lets you restore all of your files after a system crash as long as you have created a recovery environment on your hard drive.
Launch the Norton Ghost program by double clicking the program icon on your computer’s desktop. When the program loads, you will be presented with default system configuration options that Symantec provides. If you are not a “Power Computer User,” you can accept the default configuration settings of Norton Ghost without adversely affecting your computer or your ability to recover files.
Step 2
Select the “Local” file menu option, then choose “Partition,” followed by “Partition Options.” You will then select the “To Image” menu choice to designate the storage location for the Norton Ghost image.
Step 3
Select your “Local Source Drive” from the list of drives that will appear in the window. It will appear at or near the top of the list and is normally labeled the “C” or “D” drive. This will be the drive that contains the majority of your software programs and data storage. Click the “OK” button.
Step 4
Choose the partition you want as your “Source Partition” from the list that appears. This should be a partition with “Primary” in the “Type” column. Click “OK” when finished. Select from the list of files the one you want to have as your image destination. Name your image file and click the “OK” button.
Step 5
Click the “Fast” button when the program asks to compress the image. Next, click “Yes.” The recovery environment will now be set up on your hard drive with Norton Ghost.
The programmers at Apple have answered the wide criticism that had been leveled at previous versions of Logic and Logic Express. Critics claimed that Logic had a steep learning curve and it wasn’t user intuitive. As a result, a lot of novice recorders looked to Garageband. Logic Express 8 combines the ease-of-use of Garageband with many of the advanced features you’ll find in Logic Pro.
Fire it up. Open an “Empty Project” and save it immediately so you don’t lose any changes.
Step 2
On the main track screen, click the “+” sign. You’ll be prompted to select an Audio Track, Software Instrument, or External Midi. The first two are the most common. To record an audio track, you’ll need a separate audio interface. One example is the M-Audio Firewire Solo. Choose the correct output for the Audio track. For example, in the Firewire solo, the mic input is Output 1.
Step 3
If you choose Software Instrument, you’ll need a Midi controller, such as the M-Audio Keystation. From here, you can change the instrument from a piano to a drum set to anything else in LE 8’s software instrument library. These can be accessed by clicking Media in the upper right hand corner and then Library just below. A list of instruments will emerge.
Step 4
To the immediate left of the Library tab is the Loops library, where you can drag and drop a host of loops to the main editing windows, including drums tracks or keyboard parts. Additional loops can be obtained via Apple Jampacks or free online from different sources. The Browser tab will list your past Logic documents.
Step 5
To run LE 8 you need at least 1 GB of RAM. If you’re running slow or have latency issues (a lag between the time a note is struck and heard), go to the preferences tab and open Audio. Under the Devices tab, choose a different Buffer I/O quantity. Changing the buffer size from 256 to 128, for example, can aid latency.
Step 6
On the left sidebar, you’ll have your list of plug-ins. Double-click on the plug-ins already activated for a particular instrument and you can change its parameters (highlighted in light blue). To add a new plug-in, hold the mouse down on one of the grey boxes, and you can add a new effect (flanger, reverb, etc.) or third-party software package.
Step 7
To mix individual tracks, click the Mixer tab beneath the main track arrange screen. You can set levels and panning for each track, and add or remove plug-ins. Adding additional plug-ins, such a EQ, to the master track is also recommended.
Anti-virus software varies in its effectiveness and ease of use; some anti-virus software is very user friendly, whereas others are complicated and convoluted. Other times, an anti-virus software may interfere with other programs on your computer that you need to use. If you are unhappy with your anti-virus software for any reason, it’s a good idea to remove it and install a different program.
Removing anti-virus software usually is not difficult. Often, ease of removal depends on the program. You can remove most programs from your system the same way you would uninstall any other program.
Click on “Start.” Go to “Control Panel.” Double-click “Programs and Features” if you are using Windows Vista. Windows XP users should double-click “Add/Remove Programs.”
Step 2
Wait for the list of programs to populate (this may take a few minutes), then scroll through the list until you find the name of the anti-virus software you want to remove. Right-click the program and click “Uninstall.” You can double-click the program as well.
Step 3
If you are using Windows Vista, click “Approve” when “User Account Control” pops up. Another message may pop up to verify that you are sure you want to remove the anti-virus program. Click “Yes.”
Step 4
Follow any directions in the uninstall, if necessary. When the uninstallation is complete, a dialogue box should appear telling you that the program was successfully removed. Click “OK.”
Step 5
Remove any remaining traces of the anti-virus program from your computer, if necessary. Use a program like CCleaner to clean the program’s data from the registry.