This is a quicktip to show you how to work out your current Internet Explorer version. It also works for most other Microsoft software, as well as software from other companies.

This tip is written for Windows operating systems.

1. Open up the software program such as Internet Explorer.

2. Find the Help option in the menu bar (usually at the top of the window for most programs), then click on About Internet Explorer (or About other program name)

You will then see a window similar to the one shown on the right, and toward the top you can see the current version number of your software install.

If your system shows a version older than Internet Explorer 8 then you should strongly consider Microsoft Internet Explorer updates to get the full advantages of more secure and faster web browsing.

Internet Explorer is the browser of choice for many people as it is pre-installed on computers which have Windows Operating Systems on them when purchased. However, many people are unaware that they may be using an older version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer tool, and therefore not getting the best out of their web browsing experience.

Unfortunately hackers never seem to sleep and Windows Internet Explorer seems to be a prime target for their exploits. Recent media coverage has highlighted the Australian Federal Government warnings about Microsoft’s web browser being easy to infiltrate by hackers. Now is a great time to check for available Microsoft Internet Explorer updates and install them to your computer.

The information provided below is intended for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 users who do not have Windows Automatic Updates turned on. If you are unsure whether this applies to you, the quickest way to tell if you are up to date is to check your current version of internet explorer.

Below, is a simple step by step guide on the easiest way to update your computer to the latest version of Internet Explorer, however we would also recommend you look at alternative web browsers such as Firefox, Chrome or Opera as potentially more secure, faster free web browser alternatives. You may find it easier to print this information off, or look at it on another computer while performing the upgrade.

1. Go to the Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer home page at http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/internet-explorer/ and click on the large orange Download now button

2. On the next page, select your country and Operating System (if you are unsure about your operating system, this Quick Tip will show you how to find out what version of Windows you are using), you will then be taken to the page to download Internet Explorer update 8

3. On the next page, click on the Download button to begin the Download of the file to your computer, then select Save and choose the location where you would like the file saved. You must remember this location you choose as you will require it again.

Once the file has completed downloading, close any Internet Explorer browser windows you may have open, then double click on the file you just downloaded from Microsoft to install your new version of Internet Explorer. It will ask if you would like to transfer your bookmarks, passwords and other settings, reply Yes to this question so that these are transferred across to your new software.

We hope you have found this information of assistance while you perfor Windows Internet Explorer updates. If you have any questions please leave a comment in the box below or contact us directly by email.

Did you know the broadband plan you signed up for, and pay for may be different to the service level you are receiving? Technical factors beyond your control, and your Internet Service Provider’s control may be reducing your speed, and you may be paying for a faster internet plan for no reason.

Broadband internet speed test results

Running a broadband speed test is free and easy, and you can ensure your are getting what you pay for.  High Speed Broadband Access is much faster than dial up access, however it is also more expensive.  Here is a way to check your Broadband internet speed within Australia to get the best value for your money. This guide uses the website Oz Broadband Speed Test which is best for Australian broadband users. If you are outside of Australia, point your favourite web browser to Google search, and look for a broadband speed test suitable for your location.

Instructions for internet broadband speed test within Australia are below:

1. Go to  http://www.ozspeedtest.com/bandwidth-test/ to be taken to the Oz Broadband Speed Test website.

2.  In the section under “Mirror List”, click on the name of your internet provider

3 . Choose a test to run which corresponds to the type of internet connection you have, if you have brooadband, but are unsure what kind of broadband, select ADSL, ADSL2+, Wireless, Satellite, Cable Test (3MB) which covers almost all options.

4. The test will then start running, which can take a few seconds to a few minutes on slower connections.

5. The results include the time that the test was run. You are also given a line speed and download speed.

The Broadband internet speed in the pictured example is just over 1,500KBPs, so if you are paying for a plan at 20,000KBPs you can consider contacting your internet provider and revising your plan

We hope you found this free computer help tip on running a free broadband speed test in Australia helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact us directly.

Email signatures enhance business, social and personal networking. Knowing how to contact you is important for potential clients. An email signature can be shared with others whenever your email is forwarded.

1. When you open Outlook, click on Tools and then choose Options.

2. The tabs are in alphabetical order; you will want to click Signatures.

3. The dialogue box that opens has three sections. The first section gives you the choice of adding your signature to all of your Outgoing email. This option is the default and it is highly recommended that you use it.

You can also choose to add your signature to Replies and Forwards, this is recommended if you are aiming to increase exposure of your business and to develop networks.

The second section of Signatures allows you to add as many as you like. Sometimes your business may wish to tweak its marketing to suit the season, current social issues or specials and campaigns of yours. At these times an optional email signature can be made and Saved, Renamed or Removed.

The third section, Edit Signature requires that you click on the radio button to type in your text. There is also an Advanced button you can click on which will let you assign a signature file to each email account you use in Outlook Express.

A link to a promotional or newsy webpage can also be included, such as the location of a free PDF whitepaper with tips and resource links or your latest e-newsletter edition, or your latest family photo uploads. Again, a very useful tool for marketing to potential clients, or to keep your personal contacts updates with minimal effort as part of your Email Signature will be your link to your latest news.

4. Now click OK.  Give it a whirl, test it out by sending an email to yourself and check the result is as you anticipated.

Now you should  have a working idea of how to use Outlook express to create your email signature to enhance your business exposure and to keep your personal contacts updated with minimal effort.  We hope this free computer help has been useful, if you require assistance with this task or other computer help please feel free to contact us directly or leave a comment below.

If you wish to make a backup copy, or use these contacts in a different program such as Microsoft Excel, or import into a Social Media site such as LinkedIn you will need to export the Address Book from Outlook Express, usually into CSV format. (CSV stands for comma separated values, it is a widely used format for moving information between different programs).

Tip: Having a backup of your information held within Outlook Express is invaluable should you ever need to repair Microsoft Outlook Express.

This is a quicktip intended to offer Outlook Express Help in a Windows environment.

An extract from the Microsoft Support Article “How to back up and restore Outlook Express data” at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270670 (First make sure you have created a place to store your data such as a folder called Mail Backup or something meaningful to you. In Step 7 below, select all fields to be on the safe side)

To export the Address Book to a .csv file, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Export, and then click Address Book.
2. Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.
3. Click Browse.
4. Select the Mail Backup folder that you created.
5. In the File Name box, type address book backup, and then click Save.
6. Click Next.
7. Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click Finish.
8. Click OK, and then click Close.

You now have a copy of your Outlook Express Email address book for safe keeping. We hope you have found this free Outlook Express tip useful, feel free to request more information by leaving a comment or contacting us directly.

This is a quick Skype software tip to personalise your Skype contact profile as your callers see it. The information is based on the latest version of Skype using Windows operating system, however it is similar for other versions of Skype and computer operating systems.

You will need an image in jpg, bmp or png format already saved to your computer.

1. Open the Skype software, then click on File, Edit your Profile.
2. Locate the default image in your profile and click on the Change button.
3. On the next screen click on Browse, then select your image and click on the Open button.
4. You will see the picture with a blue outline, click on OK, then click on Update on the next screen.

That’s it, all done! You have successfully updated your Skype VOIP Profile picture.

If you would like further assistance, please leave a comment or contact Cairns Computer Help directly.

Below is a step by step guide on how to update this on a Windows computer. You do not have to pay for the upgrade, or upgrade to a paid version. The link from the popup will take you to pages with paid upgrade options. So close those pages and the popup notification and follow along to upgrade to the latest version of AVG Free.

1. Open your favourite web browser and head to http://www.avg.com
2. Click on Downloads in the navigation menu toward the top of the page.
   

   Step 2 - Click on Image for Larger View

3. On the next page, scroll down past all of the excellent AVG Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware paid products, towards the bottom of the page, you will see AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition click on the button labelled Find Out More
   
   

   Step 3 - Click on Image for Larger View

4. This page shows a comparison of the features of AVG Free versus the paid version of the AVG products, scroll right to the bottom until you see the red download button under the Free product
   

   Step 4 - Click on Image for Larger View

5. Click on the red download button and fill out the form presented, then click on Continue
   

   Step 5 - Click on Image for Larger View

6. Click on the tab labelled Installation File, then click on the red Download AVG button.
   

   Step 6 - Click on Image for Larger View

   You will see these instructions

   from http://www.avgfree.com.au/thankyou.cfm?type=free#tba2

   Installation Notes:

   • When you are prompted, please do not open this file directly from the Internet, but click the “Save” button and choose a location where the installation file should be stored. We recommend saving the file to the Desktop or your My Documents folder.
   • If you are moving from another anti-virus software product other than AVG you MUST UNINSTALL the old product BEFORE installing your new AVG 8.0 software. In most cases, you will be able to do this by using the “Add/Remove Programs” (in Windows XP) or “Programs & Features” (in Windows Vista) in the Windows “Control Panel”. Then reboot your computer.
   • Locate the downloaded AVG installation file (it has a four color square icon and its name starts with AVG…) and launch the installation by double-clicking on it.
   • Follow the installation wizard.

7. Below are instructions for the Installation Wizard

• select language and click next
  

  Install Wizard Step 1 - Click on Image for Larger View

• click on the box to place a tick next to “have read the licence agreement” and click accept
  

  Install Wizard Step 2 - Click on Image for Larger View

• choose standard installation if you do not have any special requirements, then click next
  

  Install Wizard Step 3 - Click on Image for Larger View

• TIP: More experienced users can choose custom installation to change the install location & specify the components they would like to install
• the next screen asks if you would like to install the AVG toolbar to your web browser & make yahoo your default search engine. Make sure to untick these boxes if you do not want these changes made to your system
  

  Install Wizard Step 4 - Click on Image for Larger View

• the next screen will show you a list of running programs AVG will shut down as soon as you click next, make sure you have saved any information in this programs or it will be lost when you click on the Next button
  

  Install Wizard Step 5 - Click on Image for Larger View

• AVG will now install, this will take a few minutes depending on the speed of your PC.

Once installation is complete, be sure to reboot your PC.

If you have further questions, please leave a comment or contact us directly. Hopefully this tutorial makes your upgrade to AVG Free 9.0 easier, if you would like further assistance on this or any other topic please feel free to request a tutorial.

AVG are currently offering 2 years for the price of 1 with their popular paid Anti-Virus Software, click this link to find out more. AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 – 2 years for the price of 1!

If you follow a few websites regularly, such as friends’ blogs, specific newspapers, certain people on twitter, Youtube channels, eBay product searches or anywhere you see an icon similar to the one on the right, you can stop visiting those sites regularly, and bring the information to you. The information is only bought to your “inbox” when the main website is updated, so you can save time visiting websites to check if they have been updated.

There are many different free News Reader software available, you may already have one but not use it. At least since Microsoft Outlook 2002, and the same generation of Microsoft’s Outlook Express have had News Reader’s built in. Here are some instructions from Microsoft on how to set Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express Newsreader up.

Some of the other popular free online Feed Readers are Google Reader at http://www.google.com/reader/ and Bloglines at http://www.bloglines.com

There are many more free RSS reading software if you would like to look for yourself at Lifehacker Australia’s Best RSS Newsreaders roundup at http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2008/05/best_rss_newsreaders-2/

Once you have chosen your RSS Reader, and installed it to your computer or registered for its online service, you can start adding subscriptions to information from the internet. When you see the RSS icon similar to the above or some wording which says “Subscribe to RSS feed” or similar, click on the icon and follow the instructions. The website current feed will be added to your feed reader, and all future updates, so make sure to check your Feed Reader regularly.

Internet: Useful Tips: RSS In Plain English

If you would like some further information on using RSS Readers, then please drop a comment below, or contact Cairns Computer Help directly.

While the pic won’t be anywhere near the professional photographer quality, with the correct lighting and a bit of practice you can come up with something suitable for the internet or emailing to your contacts.

The instructions below are for computers running Windows XP with a webcam already plugged in. Not sure what Windows XP means? Click here for a very simple way to work it out!

1. Open the Camera within your computer’s control panel by doing the following

• Click on Start, then Control Panel
• Look for Scanners and Cameras and double-click on it
• You will see a selection of your scanners and cameras, select the webcam (look for something like USB Video Device or the brandname of your external camera)
• Double-click on your webcam from within the list, the Scanner and Camera Wizard should start up

2. Take a picture using the Scanner and Camera Wizard

• You should now see a screen with a Preview of what the webcam sees in the left half, and any pictures you took in the right half.
• Play around with the lighting, your hair, wardrobe changes until you are happy with what you see in the left part of the screen, then click on the words “Take Picture” under the preview Window.
• Your picture will move to the right side with a tick box in the right corner, you can repeat these steps (in section 2 here) as many times as you want to try different angles, hairstyles etc
• Click on Next and we will save the pictures.

3.  Saving the picture(s) for later use

• In box 1. type a name for the group of pics, or you can type in All Pics or similar
• In box 2 click on browse and choose the place on your computer where you would like to store the pics. (Make sure to remember this location for later use)
• Click on the box to delete the pictures after copying them so you don’t end up with the same pictures in multiple places
• Then click on Next, and click on Nothing and Next in the next screen.
• You will then see a screen with the final location of your pics, you can click on the link within that screen, come back later and click on Finish.

Restart or shutdown and turn on your computer in the usual manner, taking careful notice as it starts up. If you have a fairly standard version, there will be a boot screen looking similar to one of the images below. The boot screen will have the wording of Windows XP or Windows Vista on it.

Windows XP

Windows Vista

Yes, sometimes it can be just that easy!