This week I'll show you how to solve your Vista SP1 sound problems, enhance your Office experience, and improve your typing. Now you can listen to some music while you work on getting that beautifully formatted report out faster!

Can you hear me now?

Some people have a problem with their computer's sound after installing Vista SP1. The problem is, there isn't any sound!

Like my mother always told me, the best way to solve that problem is before it happens. In this case, what you should have done is install the newest drivers for your sound card before installing Service Pack 1. Since that didn't happen, we'll just have to go straight to the fix. Just follow the procedures here until you find the one that works for you.

Fix for sound problem

Microsoft Office 2007 more compatible than ever

If you don't use Microsoft Office 2007 and you have begun receiving Word documents that your older version of Office won't open, you will want to get hold of the free Office Compatibility Pack, available here:

Office Compatibility Pack

Please make sure you install any updates for your version of Office before you install the pack. You might want to have a look at this overview:

Office version overview

Users of the free MS Office alternative called OpenOffice have come to appreciate the ability to save a document, spreadsheet, or presentation as a PDF file right from within the application. MS Office was not able to offer that until now. A newly released add-in will allow you to save your MS Office documents as PDFs. You can grab it here:

MS Office as PDFS

(Genuine Office validation required.)

As well, there is an add-in for MS Office which will allow you to open and read documents created in OpenOffice format. The add-in is available on SourceForge.net, here:

SourceForge

Please be aware that this is not a Microsoft site, and the add-in is still somewhat experimental. Read the documentation.

Learn to type or improve your typing

I have set up more brand new computers for clients in the last two months than I did in the six months preceding. Prices have really come down.

It's always exciting to set up a computer for a first-time user. Many of my new clients want to know where they can learn to type. I have some suggestions, but first let me say that there is nothing wrong with the "hunt and peck" method. If that works for you, stay with it! If you want to learn a more formal typing method, or you want to type faster, and you want to have a little fun, check out Typeracer, here:

Typeracer

As you type, you race a car against other typists. It's fun.

I found Keybr.com (http://www.keybr.com/) less entertaining, but certainly effective. Typeracer involves typing phrases Keybr.com involves typing random words. I like my foolishness better with race cars, but maybe that's just me.

If you want to download a program rather than use one on the web, Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard comes highly recommended. You can download it here:

Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard

And, if you feel the need for speed, try the TypeFaster Typing Tutor, available here:

TypeFaster Typing Tutor

Thank you everyone who wrote with questions, comments, and words of encouragement. Please send yours to cate@rlis.com. Remember, you can look back at any past column in the archives. Browse to:

Cate's archives