PC Doctor November 4, 2009
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Dear PC Doctor,
I have several pictures saved on my digital camera. I'm interested in transferring them to a CD, so I can share them with friends. How do I go about doing this? Thanks!
Zach
Dear Zach,
First you should transfer the pictures to a computer. There are some cameras that can write it directly to a CD, but it depends on the camera and the computer that's writing the files to the CD. Either way, in practice it is a good idea to play it safe by backing the pictures to your computer. It's even better to also have another backup on a CD which we will address.
To transfer the pictures, you will need the digital camera's USB cord. Plug the cord into your computer, as well as your camera. If the camera has an on/off switch, turn it on. If not, wait for the computer to read the signal from the camera. The computer should bring up a window of options; choose the "Import pictures" option. The computer will then ask on where to save the photos, save them to "My Pictures" if you have no preference. Also make sure that you don’t check the option that says ‘delete pictures from camera upon import’ unless you really want to do this. Once the camera has finished importing the pictures, go ahead and unplug the camera from your computer. (Don't unplug the camera while it's still importing, you could lose pictures).
Now to save the pictures to a CD. First go to the folder under which the photos are saved, which will probably be "My Pictures." You can find this right off the Start menu. Select or highlight the picture you would like to save to the CD. If you have multiple pictures, hold down the "Ctrl" button on your keyboard, while clicking each individual picture you desire to save. At this point each picture should now be highlighted in blue. Next, look to the upper-left hand in the "My Pictures" window; you will see a pane of options. Click on the "Burn to a CD" option. A bubble will then pop up from the bottom letting you know that the pictures are ready to be written to the CD. In order to commence the command to write the pictures to the CD, you need to access your disk drive (the drive that can read or write CDs). This is found under "My Computer." Click Start > click "My Computer" from the Start up menu. Look for your disk drive; it should have a little CD as an icon, and is usually named "E.” Open the disk drive by double-clicking the icon. A window will open showing you the files ready to be written. Your pictures should be there waiting to be “burned.” Insert a blank CD into your CD-ROM, make sure it says either: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW on the front of the CD. Click "Write files to a CD." This will start the writing or "burning" procedure. A status bar window will appear to show you the status of the "burning." Upon the finish of the "burning" the CD is now ready to go. You can test it by accessing the CD via the disk drive found under "My Computer." Safe computing!
PC Doctor
Now to save the pictures to a CD. First go to the folder under which the photos are saved, which will probably be "My Pictures." You can find this right off the Start menu. Select or highlight the picture you would like to save to the CD. If you have multiple pictures, hold down the "Ctrl" button on your keyboard, while clicking each individual picture you desire to save. At this point each picture should now be highlighted in blue. Next, look to the upper-left hand in the "My Pictures" window; you will see a pane of options. Click on the "Burn to a CD" option. A bubble will then pop up from the bottom letting you know that the pictures are ready to be written to the CD. In order to commence the command to write the pictures to the CD, you need to access your disk drive (the drive that can read or write CDs). This is found under "My Computer." Click Start > click "My Computer" from the Start up menu. Look for your disk drive; it should have a little CD as an icon, and is usually named "E.” Open the disk drive by double-clicking the icon. A window will open showing you the files ready to be written. Your pictures should be there waiting to be “burned.” Insert a blank CD into your CD-ROM, make sure it says either: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW on the front of the CD. Click "Write files to a CD." This will start the writing or "burning" procedure. A status bar window will appear to show you the status of the "burning." Upon the finish of the "burning" the CD is now ready to go. You can test it by accessing the CD via the disk drive found under "My Computer." Safe computing!
PC Doctor
PC Doctor's Tip of the Week: I lost my mouse!
The mouse cursor is that white arrow that it is so important to navigating your PC. Unfortunately it’s small, and it's white of all things! I'm always losing that arrow. It blends right in with my desktop wallpaper, disappearing into that intricate pattern of clouds. Now, I could change my wallpaper to a nice, dark solid color, but that's totally boring. Plus it won't be of much help if the cursor happens to be off screen, to the side. Fortunately there's a quick fix for this, right under your computer's Mouse Properties. Click Start > Control Panel > Mouse (icon is a mouse). Once Mouse Properties is open, click on the "Pointer's Option" tab. There will be several options displayed. All of which, I should say, can be quite helpful. However, the option in question is titled "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key." Go ahead, and check the check-box next to this option. Hit the OK button to close and to apply the setting change. To test it, hit one of your keyboard's "Ctrl" keys. Both buttons are in the bottom row of your keyboard; one being the first key from the left. Upon hitting the "Ctrl" key, a circle will flash around the location of your cursor. Alerting you of the cursor's exact location, even if it happens to be off screen. Enjoy!
The mouse cursor is that white arrow that it is so important to navigating your PC. Unfortunately it’s small, and it's white of all things! I'm always losing that arrow. It blends right in with my desktop wallpaper, disappearing into that intricate pattern of clouds. Now, I could change my wallpaper to a nice, dark solid color, but that's totally boring. Plus it won't be of much help if the cursor happens to be off screen, to the side. Fortunately there's a quick fix for this, right under your computer's Mouse Properties. Click Start > Control Panel > Mouse (icon is a mouse). Once Mouse Properties is open, click on the "Pointer's Option" tab. There will be several options displayed. All of which, I should say, can be quite helpful. However, the option in question is titled "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key." Go ahead, and check the check-box next to this option. Hit the OK button to close and to apply the setting change. To test it, hit one of your keyboard's "Ctrl" keys. Both buttons are in the bottom row of your keyboard; one being the first key from the left. Upon hitting the "Ctrl" key, a circle will flash around the location of your cursor. Alerting you of the cursor's exact location, even if it happens to be off screen. Enjoy!
Until next time… happy computing!
