Washington - Vista users will want to download SP2 of the operating system. SP2 offers speed improvements and some blu-ray recording capability. The download is free. Don't be confused by the combination Server 2008 and Vista SP2 page that Microsoft has created. You'll find the SP2 download at the bottom of the page. --------
Washington - Need a good audio editor? For many, there's no reason to pay for one, thanks to Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net), an open source audio editing application that has most of the features anyone needs. You can use Audacity to record voice, music, podcasts, and more.
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Washington - If you play a musical instrument, using your PC as a recording studio is pretty simple. Get yourself an audio recording application, such as the free Audacity, and a digital audio interface - which allows you to connect your instruments to your computer - and you are all set. High-end sound cards can be used as digital audio interfaces, but more convenient are Firewire- or USB-based interfaces that sit outside of your PC and have many more inputs for microphones and instruments.
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Washington - Most LCD monitors are too bright out of the box. Often reducing the brightness to less than 50 per cent will help. But you can get a better idea of how to adjust brightness and contrast by visiting the free ScreenCheck website (http://photographerusa.com/screencheck). The site presents some guidelines and graphs that help you to fine tune your display's brightness and contrast settings.
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Washington - Help keyboard shortcuts speed you through your daily work. Make Ctrl-S (for Save) an instinctive reflex after you enter important information into a program. Ctrl-O (for Open) will help get you to your documents faster. And Ctrl-P will bring up the Print dialogue box when needed.
