This is my site for links to Genuine Free Stuff as well as some useful advice. I use most of these programs regularly. It's good gear. It's all worth having.

** April 2014. Major revamp and update for relevance happening, especially now that support for Windows XP has ended, and now that we all are addicted to our Android phones. A lot of old stuff is going.

This post in particular started this whole website...

I have been building and using computers since about the Ice Age, from DOS 3 through to Windows 7.
I have been mucking about with mobile phones for quite some time, using Symbian S60 and then Android.

Press F8 at boot to start in safe mode - Windows XP and 7
To see the details of you computer, download, install and run 'Speccy' - shows Operating System, Firewall, Anti-virus and hardware.
If you think you have a virus, start here 'Free Online Virus Scan'. Try any or all, and be patient.

April 12, 2014

How to make a PDF - Windows XP and Windows 7. April 2014

I had to create a PDF the other day for the first time in a long time. I had forgotten how.
Now we all have Adobe Acrobat for reading PDFs, but do you know how to make one ?


I had some info in a Word document, and I wanted to present it to a manager and protect it from being changed, so I went and fired up CutePDF.

Here's the link to CutePDF
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

Also try PDFCreator
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

Also take a look at FileHippo's list on PDF creators.
http://www.filehippo.com/search?q=pdf

Note that you also have to download and install a Ghostscript interpreter.
"GNU Ghostscript is an open-source interpreter for the PostScript language and the PDF file format. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License. You may obtain the source code for GPL Ghostscript 8.15 here."

I just downloaded CutePDF and installed it, and CutePDF went and found that Ghostscript program anyway, and installed it as well.

Here's what it does.
I have opened up my Word document and clocked on PRINT.
I then change my printer to 'CutePDF'.



Here's the next pop-up.
Choose what to call it and where to store it.



Here's the results. My PDF.



This can now be opened with Adobe Reader.
Now it is secure information and can't be tampered with .



Easy enough.
File that one away. It's a useful little program. Free too.

** Note that you can choose multiple images and 'print' them all into one PDF. I use this a fair bit.
** Always send your resume and cover letter for that new job as a PDF, never as a Word Document.


Cheers. Si.
Checked links and relevance to Windows XP and 7. April 2014

No comments: