How Do I Make a Picture Smaller?

It's probably happened to you. Someone you know sends you a photo in an email, it takes forever to load, and then WHOA! That's why it took so long! When you look at the photo you realize you're just seeing the top corner of someone's head. This photo is huge! Why is it so big? Can you shrink it?

When this happens, it's because the photo has a high resolution and no limit on the physical size of the photo. The resolution of a photo is measured in megapixels, which is a measurement of how many pixels are in a square inch of the photo. Check out this article for a quick lesson on megapixels and cameras: What's the Difference Between JPEG and RAW? Generally, when you send a photo in an email, or open it in an editing program, the program will shrink the photo down to a more manageable viewing size. Sometimes though, when someone has a photo with a high megapixel count, they choose to send it in its actual size which is great when viewed on large screens, but quite overwhelming on anything else.

So how do you adjust this? The easiest way is to save it to your device. If, for example, you viewed the photo in the email of your smartphone, saving the photo and opening it in the phone's photo viewer will resize it to the proper level. The same is true if you save it to your computer. While some photo viewing programs won't automatically resize, most will. If you're look for recommendations, Apple's iPhoto for the Mac or Google's Picasa for the PC are both good, free programs that allow editing, resizing, organizing and even sharing of photos.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Not sure what size photo to send to someone? Here's a good rule of thumb: How will they be viewing the photo? If they'll be viewing it on a smartphone, send a smaller version; this will minimize how much of their data plan is used loading it while giving them good enough quality for their screen. If, on the other hand, they'll be saving it on their home computer to later edit or print, send as close to actual resolution as you can. Computer can handle larger files more easily, and a higher quality photo is easier to edit and saves more of details.

What is Email Forwarding?

Have an old email address that you still rely on but hate to give out to people anymore? Maybe it has a precious name, is from an old provider or is just downright embarrassing. Thankfully, most email providers nowadays offer email forwarding.

Email forwarding works a lot like actual mail forwarding. If you move to a new house or apartment, you can have the post office forward your mail to your new address while you change your address over with everyone who sends you mail. That way, when they receive a letter addressed to your previous address, they send it to your new one instead. 

Email forwarding is like that. When you tell an email account to forward, it'll automatically send a copy of any emails you receive to another email address you specify. That way, you can see all of those emails in another inbox and needn't access that old account anymore.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Unlike postal mail forwarding, email forwarding doesn't expire so you can set it up and forget about it.

What Kind of Computer Do I Have?

If you have ever had a problem with your computer, you've probably spoken to a technician who has asked you what kind of computer you have. With a scared deer-in-the-headlights look, you shrug your shoulders and simply hand them the computer. How does one find out what kind of computer you have? Do people really memorize their processor and RAM? How you find out your computer's specifications depends on the kind of computer you have, obviously, but it is generally a very straightforward process.

If you have a Mac, click on the Apple logo in the top left-hand corner of your screen. "About this Mac" will be the first option on the drop-down menu that you get. Simply click on that and a small window will pop up telling you your processor, RAM, and what version of the operating system you have. If you click on the "More Info" button, then you will get all of your computers specifications. This can come in handy if someone needs to figure out when your computer was made.

If you have a PC, click on the Windows button in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. You will see the word "Computer" on the right-hand side of the pop-up menu. Right click on that and select "Properties." This will pop up a screen that will give you similar information to what the Mac version shows you as well.

Practical Tip of the Day:
On the Mac, if you click on the words "version 10.[x.x]" you will notice that the words change to "Build [XXXXXXX]", and if you click again it will change to your computers serial number. This is the easiest way to find this information out. If you ever seek warranty work on your Mac, you will need to know this information.