AArgh, new computer!

Well I,m feeling reasonably pleased with myself after a challenging day computer wise!

It has been threatening for awhile that this day would come!

I think I broke my computer this morning and had to get a new one!

I had been overloading the old one with far too much stuff, and since returning from holiday with about 2,000 photos and hours of video I have been playing at making short videos and burning DVD's combining music, photos and videos! Not without a huge learning curve about codecs and converting files and sorting video clips. This morning the screen just went black-nothing, sometimes wouldn't even switch on. I know it wasn't the monitor as the logos and stuff came up, then vanished, and the startup jingle sound was there too. It has been freezing regularly as I overloaded it making a film clips and the Ctrl- Alt= Delete got a hiding!

Short story, went and got a new one!! So now I am feeling rather proud of myself. Got it installed by myself, got it all to work, downloaded the virus protection CD, retrieved all my emails. Now the challenge is to reconnect the external hard drive and see if all my data is still there [:0]

I'm slightly worried that my XP stuff won't covert to Windows 7, oh yes thats a whole new system to learn!! And then there are all my Favourite websites, I wonder how I retrieve them-and I hope my Windows moviemaker films are all there, oh and all my photo files, not to mention all the spread sheets with cow records, all this technology is a bit mind blowing for a Grandma!

The wireless mouse and keyboard is a step up, and a huge screen!

Having just managed to reconnect from mobile broadband to ordinary broadband and install all the modem etc, had to get a new phone/fax and now got the old computer out and the new one up and running I'm feeling rather proud of myself I feel that I am almost keeping up with the younger generation that were actually taught with computers from an early age

Think I'll go to bed and worry about that tomorrow-but so far so good!

I may have to ask for help tomorrow[:0]

You are doing better than The Manager. She got a new second-hand iMac or something, cos we like Macs even though this computer is the oppositions system (and is much more horrible than our 15 year old Mac), but hasn't managed to get it to send out emails even though it can receive them .....

Well done Sue!

To get all that done in a day is great going, and while there will be a bit of a learning curve initially, I think you will really like Windows 7 once you get accustomed to it.

I have a Digital Camera which records HD video in AVC (.MP4) format, and this was very difficult to deal with under Windows XP. Without a special codec, I couldn't play the videos at all. However, with Windows 7, they just play without needing to do anything special. I have been using Adobe Premiere Elements for editing videos, and that works very nicely under Windows 7.

You will probably need to install a new version of Microsoft Office if you want to edit spreadsheets, depending of course on what version you have now. I am still using Office 97 on my XP Desktop, and there's no way that will work on Windows 7.

So I started using Google Docs and was very pleasantly surprised how good it is. Over time, I am importing all my spreadsheets into Google Docs, and using Excel less and less. Everything is online, so I don't need to worry as to whether I have the latest version of the file on whichever computer I happen to be using.

Windows Media Player will play all your Movie Maker videos but Movie Maker itself is not present in Windows 7, so you will need something like Adobe Premiere Elements, Pinnacle Studio or possibly NeroVision in order to edit your videos. Personally, I found Windows Movie Maker pretty much useless anyway, so I don't regard it as any great loss. However, I was miffed to see that Outlook Express has been removed, and you need to download Windows Live Mail instead. Having said that, it is basically the same, just with a fancy new name and stripped-down appearance.

To copy your Favourites across from the old computer, you will need to access the following folder from your old XP computer:

- C:Documents and SettingsSueFavorites (presuming that Sue is your user name)

copy everything in there to this folder on your new computer:

- C:UsersSueFavorites

That should take care of it

Regarding video editing, I was recently looking for something new when I found the Microsoft is working on a new improved one that will be free

www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366352,00.asp

All well and good, except that I'm still running XP. Dang!

Grant, thanks for the advice! Today is a whole new day and I am about to embark on connecting the external hard drive and seeing what happens next! Oooh the lights are flashing so fingers crossed we have lift off, or download or something!

There will probably lots more questions!

I really got the hang of W Movie Maker and was quite enjoying it. I had Nero Express or some such as well and used it to burn the completed videos, will that work with Windows 7 as well? The film from the Canada holiday on the hard drive of the camera came out at over 1700 clips and 11MB of memory, so they have taken quite some time sorting into folders and naming each clip, then converting from an MOD to a Mpv2 file, so that I could both see and hear them. My first effort was nothing due to not the correct codec, and then it was picture only, so each breakthrough has been a Eureka moment! Then to lose the computer was an 'oh darn moment' to say the least.
My emails are still downloading, so far about 300 of the 600 have come in, but none of the sent history-ah well. I haven't tried sending any yet so that will be the next test.

I'll try the Favourites transfer too-standby for more questions!

Yes I've got Windows Live mail as I had done it before when I was looking for Windows Live Movie Maker which my notes then told me was only available on W7 but I will miss Outlook Express ;-(

Sue;334235 wrote: I really got the hang of W Movie Maker and was quite enjoying it.
...
I was looking for Windows Live Movie Maker which my notes then told me was only available on W7.

I must admit, I didn't think to look for it under the Windows Live downloads. If it is there, and you are happy using it, then this sounds like the ideal solution for you, particularly as it is free

Sue;334235 wrote: I had Nero Express or some such as well and used it to burn the completed videos, will that work with Windows 7 as well?

There's a good chance that it will, but I haven't tried it myself. I can't see any harm being done if you install this program and try it. If it doesn't work, then you will need to find an alternative as mentioned earlier. Maybe Microsoft have included the "burning" functionality in Live Movie Maker? It seems curious that you need to use a separate program to do it, as Adobe Premiere Elements or Pinnacle Studio can do it all.

Sue;334235 wrote: The film from the Canada holiday on the hard drive of the camera came out at over 1700 clips and 11MB of memory, so they have taken quite some time sorting into folders and naming each clip...

I sympathise with your predicament as I am still working through the thousands of pictures from our 11-week trip last year. I am about half-way through now, making thumbnails of each picture, and then placing them on web pages in a logical fashion, with captions as appropriate. I also have links to the diary pages I wrote underneath each day's pictures. Basically like a virtual photo album, but with links to the full-sized pictures and movie clips that you can click on.

I presume you mean 11GB of memory (rather than 11MB)?

Sue;334235 wrote: ...then converting from an MOD to a Mpv2 file, so that I could both see and hear them. My first effort was nothing due to not the correct codec, and then it was picture only...

This was similar to what I found on Windows XP, but on Windows 7, the clips just played exactly as they came out of the camera. If you open Windows Media Player and drag one of your video clips from a Windows Explorer window into the Playlist, you may well find that it plays. If so, I can talk you through setting up a "File Type Assocation" so the clips will play directly from Windows Explorer.

Sue;334235 wrote: My emails are still downloading, so far about 300 of the 600 have come in, but none of the sent history-ah well.

I had to "Import" the e-mails from the old Outlook Express files in order to get Inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items across. Even then, it wasn't without hassles because we ended up with some duplicates, and all the Recipient's names got replaced with the Sender's name in the folder window for Sent Items. Given that the sender is always the same, this is not helpful when trying to locate a message sent to a particular recipient... [}]

So I would have to say that importing your sent items will probably be of limited value, and if you can do without them, it will make life easier

This was similar to what I found on Windows XP, but on Windows 7, the clips just played exactly as they came out of the camera

Woo hoo,
Yes they do! So that saves a job, and they show as a thumb nail pic too.

The videos I have already made and saved on the Ext hard drive play beautifully on WMP

I presume you mean 11GB of memory (rather than 11MB)?

Mmm yes, still getting my mbs and gbs mixed up. It took 3 x 4GB DVD's to download them. Which I did on someone elses machine for starters! Until I worked out that you directly download the HD on the camera as folders to the computer HD, not as Capture Video!
I must say the explanations that get written are not partuicularly user friendly for ungeek like folks! But I did google How to down load from my model camera to WMM and seems many folks had just the same problem-so I was wrapt when I solved it in the end!

There seems to be quite a bit of video and graphics stuff on here to explore before I need to find something else-now where are my notes I took about making photo/video clips with Windows Live which I took down at a Microsoft course I went to on the cruise ship!?

tehoro;334227 wrote: Regarding video editing, I was recently looking for something new when I found the Microsoft is working on a new improved one that will be free

www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366352,00.asp

Thanks Tehoro for posting that link. It's a very detailed review; well worth reading, and Sue -- you'll be pleased to know that Microsoft have included the DVD burning function into this new version of Movie Maker

It is only in Standard Definition (SD) though, not HD but keeps things simple as far as playback goes. To burn Blu-Ray discs you need a separate program, but how many people have the players yet anyway? Personally, I would rather watch HD videos on my laptop, which plays them just fine. If you want to see them on a larger screen, just plug your laptop into your TV [8D]

I thought that this comment in the review was particularly interesting:

Windows Live Movie Maker offers just as much (or more) in the way of transitions and text treatments as iMovie. And for ease of use, Microsoft's program can't be beat. For those who have no professional video-editing aspirations, but want to easily create attractive productions, Movie Maker gets two high thumbs ups.

It's not often that Microsoft gets a better "Usability" rating than the equivalent Mac program. They must have really done a great job with this [^]

Goodness, the Microsoft fanbois are out in force today.

ame;334294 wrote: Goodness, the Microsoft fanbois are out in force today.

Go and be grumpy somewhere else Ame :rolleyes:

Grant, I thought needed help again!

Couldn't print anything despite the printer lights being on.

Then the penny dropped, I hadn't plugged the printer to the puter!
Did that, it recognised the USB as a device but nothing! More groans of frustration.
Changed USB ports and then suddenly there was a list of devices, including the printer-and it worked. I was thinking I might have to hunt down the printer install disc if I could find it.
All these Eureka moments give one a little thrill after all the groans of being overtaxed by technology.

You may be interested to know I've also discovered Windows Live Movie Maker and put a 10 minute clip together as well, using all the whizzy bits and pieces.

I haven't burnt a disc yet but that will be the next challenge. I just need to find something like Nero to make a DVD with all the short film clips so they can be played or skipped-not just one continuous movie. Yes I read the article too, thanks tehoro, made me go and download it and try it out.

Got the Favourites bar reinstalled too thanks Grant! I've installed Office Home and student and have been advised to save new documents in Word 97-2003 which seems to be working. W7 is a bit hard to find ones way round but when you remember a lot of stuff is there at a right click of the mouse its much easier!!!

Now just to sort my email provider out-I'm using about 3 at present as somethings are easier on one than the other.I've already sent 20 copies of one email to Pumpkingirl, entitled-"how to kill a rubber chicken"--!

I like Outlook best but the 60 day trial will run out. I might get the hang of Live Messenger soon-once I get the password problem sussed.

your doing great Sue
Just like Clover is with Field Marshall