If you would like to learn how to use Windows DVD Maker to burn your movies to DVD, go to the following vista4beginners website:
http://www.vista4beginners.com/How-to-burn-a-video-DVD-using-Windows-DVD-Maker

Many Windows users are familiar with Remote Desktop, which allows you to access your work computer, say, from your home or elsewhere. Depending on the robustness of your internet connection, however, you may find that Remote Desktop sometimes lags or provides a slow screen refresh, so that moving your mouse results in action on-screen several seconds later.  In this post, I’ll cover how to change a few settings in order to improve the performance of Remote Desktop so that you can be just as efficient in your jammies as you are when actually at school or work.

Four Steps to a Faster Remote Desktop Experience

For the purposes of this discussion, I’ll use the term “parent computer” to refer to the computer that’s initiating the Remote Desktop call into another computer. The computer being remoted into will be referred to as “child computer”.

• Cut Down On The Multi-Tasking  – Child Computer
  Remember that Remote Desktop has to transmit all the visual data from the child computer back to the parent computer. Anything you can do to reduce movement, scrolling, or needed screen refreshes on the child computer will probably help Remote Desktop’s performance.
• Change Your Connection Settings - Parent Computer
  You may not have noticed this before, but in the Remote Desktop’s dialog box, there’s a button called Options:
  
  Let’s see how to change the options in Remote Desktop Connection to provide a better remoting experience.
1. Click Options >>.
   The Options Dialog box appears with the General tab selected:
   
   We’re going to change settings in other tabs.
2. Click on the Display tab
   In this tab, we can change the size of the Remote Desktop window and the number of colors the child computer will display. Personally, I prefer to work in as large of a window as possible, so I don’t usually change the Remote Desktop size setting.What I will do, however, is change the colors from Highest Quality (32 bit)  to High Color (15 bit), as seen here:
   
   Choosing 15 bit color will diminish the graphic quality you see on the child computer, but unless you’re using Photoshop or other graphic intensive programs on the child computer, the difference won’t matter. And, the less visual data that has to be streamed back to the parent computer means a snappier remoting experience!
3. Next, click the Local Resources tab:
   
   Here, in the Remote computer Sound dialog box, select Do not play. This will prevent the child computer from sending back sound to the parent computer. Under Local Devices and resources,  check the Clipboard checkbox.  When remoting into another computer, I don’t want to print or anything else like that. Occassionally, however, I will want to copy/paste from the child computer to the parent computer and vice-versa.
4. Next, click the Experience tab:
   
   My recommendation here is to set the connection drop-down list to Modem (28.8 Kbps). This de-selects the Themes checkbox below the drop-down list. Windows Themes are used to style the buttons, menu bars, taskbar, and other user interface elements on the child computer. By removing Themes from our Remote Desktop connection, the child computer’s interface will look uglier, but we’ll improve performance.

That’s it! From here, click the Connect button and you’re on your way to a smooth Remote Desktop experience.

Here’s what a Remote Desktop connection looks like with the default connection settings:

Here’s what a Remote Desktop connection looks like with the connection settings as described in this post:

Not that different, eh? (The most obvious difference is in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.) But the changed connection settings will provide a smoother, more efficient Remote Desktop experience.

PowerPoint 2007 allows users to import the following video file formats: .asf, .avi, .mpg or .mpeg, and .wmv. Since the Flip camera produces an uncompressed .avi file, we should be able to import it. Right?

Wrong. The fact is that even if your video file has the correct file extension, it may not play correctly if the correct version of the codec is not installed on your computer, or if the file is not encoded in a format that is recognized by your version of Windows.

The Flip camera captures video in MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile format and saves the video as an .avi file. So, then, perhaps we just need to download a codec and then it will work in PowerPoint?

No, wrong again. The Flip camera video uses the 3iVX codec. It can be downloaded free from a number of different sites on the Internet, and it is also included when you download and install the Flip camera software. But, even after installing the 3iVX codec, it isn’t possible to insert Flip camera clips into a PowerPoint 2007 presentation.

Why is this? Well, even though it has the right filename extension now, and the needed codec has been installed, it is still not compatible with PowerPoint 2007. Most people don’t realize that PowerPoint uses its own proprietary player called the MCI Player (which is not the same as Windows Media Player). So even if you have the correct codec that is needed for playback of the video file on Windows Media Player, this codec must also be compatible with the MCI player that is used in PowerPoint, and currently the 3iVX codec is not. (I find that integrating video into a multimedia project is a lot like playing with a Rubic’s Cube; you’ve got to hold your tongue just right and get every square lined up!)

So now we understand why the Flip Camera videos are not compatible with PowerPoint 2007, so the next logical question is “What can we do to make them compatible?” The easiest way to use Flip Camera clips in a PowerPoint presentation is to convert them to Windows Media Video (.wmv) and then insert them into a presentation.

While there are a number of different video converters available on the Internet, I like the software called Prism Video Converter. It is free and there is a version available for both the Mac and Windows Operating System. It has an easy-to-use interface, and it will support most popular file formats, including DVD files. In addition, it includes a batch converter, so you can convert multiple files with one click of a button. NCH provides this software for free in hopes that people will upgrade to Prism Plus, their higher-end, full-featured conversion application. To download this free application, go to the Prism Video Converter website and scroll to the bottom of the screen. Click on the appropriate link to download the Video Converter for either Windows or Mac. Once the download is complete, run the file “prismsetup.exe” to install. After the application has been installed, follow these directions to convert your Flip video file(s) into a format that is compatible with PowerPoint:

1. Open the Prism Video Converter.
   
2. Press and drag the file(s) you want to convert into the List of Files to Convert section of the dialog box.
3. Set the Output folder, so that you will know where the converted file(s) will be placed. (Use the Browse button to navigate to the desired location.)
4. Click the drop-down arrow on the far right side of the Output Format field and click on .wmv.
5. You may change other output settings by clicking on the Encoder Options button or the Edit Output button, but the default settings will work fine for most PowerPoint projects.
6. Click on the Convert button in the bottom right corner of the window.
7. The Saving Video File dialog box will appear and the green bar will indicate the progress of the conversion. When it is finished, the dialog box closes and the new converted video will be ready to insert into PowerPoint.

Now you are ready to insert the video into the PowerPoint presentation.

1. Open your PowerPoint presentation, and select the slide where you want the video clip to be located.
2. Click on the Insert tab on the Ribbon.
3. In the Media Clips group, click on the Movie button. The Insert Movie dialog box will open.
4. Navigate to the converted video clip and double-click. A new dialog box will appear asking if you want to play the video automatically or when clicked. Choose whichever option you prefer. The dialog box will close and you will see the first screen of the video clip on the slide.
5. Resize and reposition the video clip just as you would any other image. (Use the rounded corner handles to resize, so that you don’t distort the video clip. Also, it is possible to crop the video clip without affecting the way it plays.)
   
6. To view the video, click on the Slide Show tab on the Ribbon, and then click on From Current Slide. The video will start playing automatically if you chose that option.
7. If the video does not start playing automatically, click anywhere on the video and it should begin playing.

Since the new Flip cameras are becoming so popular, Microsoft may someday create a patch that will make it possible for users to use the raw footage without converting it first, but until then, this conversion method should work without a hitch!

Every time I connect to my office computer from another computer, however, it messes up the icons on my desktop. Then, when I return to work, I have to spend several minutes rearranging the icons so that I will know where to find my shortcuts. Last week my boss came in to my office and asked me a question about a document I had been working on. Since I had made a remote connection the previous day, my desktop icons were still jumbled. I fumbled around for a couple of minutes before going to the Start menu and looking in Recent Items. While this may not seem like a big deal to you, I like my desktop organized! I decided right then and there that I would find a solution to this problem.

Luckily, I didn’t have to look very far to find a viable solution. There are actually several free applications available on the Web that allow you to memorize the location of your desktop icons and then to reset their position after the arrangement has been scrambled (usually due to a change in resolution or from making a remote desktop connection).

After exploring the different applications available, I decided to go with Iconoid, a free app that allows you to save and restore icon positions, automatically hide icons when you don’t need them, select the best color for icon text and backgrounds, and more. It has an easy to use interface and it is free (although they do encourage you to make a $10 donation if you like the app).

To use this application, you simply install it from the Iconoid website, and then click on the desktop icon to open it. The Iconoid dialog box appears, and there are several tabs at the top of the window.

To save your current desktop arrangement, you simply click on the Positions tab, and then click the Save Icon Positions (Relative) button at the top of the dialog box. If you want to save different arrangements for different resolutions, click on the Use separate positioning for each screen resolution radio button.

Now, any time that your icons are scrambled, you simply open Iconoid and click on the Restore Icon Positions Now button under the Positions tab, and your icons immediately move back to their assigned positions.

Windows Vista comes with the Remote Desktop Connection installed, so you don’t have to buy or install any special software.

To make a connection, you must first enable Remote Desktop Connection on the remote computer (the one you want to connect to.)

If the computer you are connecting to is running Windows Vista, follow these steps:

1. Log on as administrator.
2. Click the Start Orb, Control Panel, System and Maintenance, and then System.
3. From the Tasks panel on the left, click Remote settings. The System Properties dialog box appears.
   
4. Make sure that there is a check in the Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer checkbox at the top of the dialog box.

5. Click the Select Users… button. A Remote Desktop Users dialog box opens.

   

6. To specify which user account(s) will be given access, click the Add button. The Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.

   

7. The cursor is blinking in the Enter the object names to select field. Type in the domain name, a back slash, and your user name. For example, you might type domain_name\example_name.
8. Click the OK button. The Windows Security dialog box opens.



9. Type in your User name and Password and click the OK button. The new name appears in the box at the top that lists the users who have permission to connect.
10. Click on the OK button at the bottom of the Remote Desktop Users dialog box. You will see the System Properties dialog box once more. While we are here, let’s take a look at the full name of the remote computer.
11. To see the full name of the computer, click on the Computer Name tab. Underneath the Computer description field at the top of the dialog box, you will see the text “Full computer name”. Write down the full name of the computer, so that you can remember it later.

    

12. Close the dialog box.

Now you should be ready to make the remote connection. To do so, follow these steps from the client computer (the one you are connecting from) that is running Windows Vista:

1. Click on the Start Orb, All Programs, Accessories, and then Remote Desktop Connection. The Remote Desktop Connection dialog box appears.
   .
   
2. Type in the full name of the remote computer (the one that you wrote down earlier). For example, the full name might look something like this: name_of_computer.domain_name.iu.edu.
3. Click the Options >> button. The dialog box will expand, and you will see more options.

   

4. Type your  User name in the User name field and click the Connect button at the bottom of the dialog box. A Windows Security dialog box will appear.
5. Type in your password and then click the OK button.

A connection will be made, and you will be able to work on the remote computer just as if you were sitting in front of it.

NOTE: You cannot use the Remote Desktop Connection feature to connect to remote computers running Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, or computers running Windows XP (but any edition of Windows Vista can be running on your client computer).

In addition, the remote computer must have an always-on Internet connection for this process to work, and you cannot connect to a computer that is sleeping or hibernating, so settings will have to be adjusted accordingly.

Furthermore, if your remote computer is on a network, your settings may be locked so that you cannot change them. If so, you may have to ask your system administrator for assistance.

When you are done working remotely, make sure that you log off completely, so the connection will be shut down. To do so:

1. Click on the Start Orb at the bottom of the screen.
2. Click on the small white arrow to the right of the Instant Search box
   ().
3. Click Log Off.