Posts Tagged ‘VAIO Quick Tips’

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Quick Tip #103: Simple Tweaks to Fix a Touchy Touchpad

By: | Posted: 6/17/2011

 

Editor’s Note: Premium Services Technicians are here to help and in this ongoing series, they’ll offer me their favorite tips and provide answers to some of the most common service related questions they hear at both the call center and in Sony Stores.


I actually sat down to write on another tip for this post when a few accidental bumps of my touchpad changed my mind about today’s topic. There’s nothing more annoying than a temperamental touchpad.  Accidentally tapping your touchpad while typing can scatter your thoughts all over the word doc or comment box you’re working in – leaving you with the ominous task of putting all the pieces back together as you had originally intended.

So in today’s quick tip, I’ve compiled a simple change to your touchpad’s settings that can go a long way in making your life a lot less frustrating – and your touchpad a lot less touchy.

UPDATE 1: (Step-by-step instructions for VAIO models using the Synaptics Touchpad Driver)

  1. In Windows 7 click Start then Control Panel
  2. Within the Control Panel click Hardware and Sound
  3. In the window that appears, under the “Devices and Printers” catagory, select Mouse
  4. In the setting window that appears, click the Device Settings tab
  5. From the Device Settings tab, click the Settings button that appears halfway down
  6. In the new window that appears, examine the index of settings that appears in the left panel and expand the option labeled Pointing
  7. Click Touch Sensitivity (A)
  8. Reduce the touch sensitivity setting by moving the slide to the right, towards the Heavy Touch label.
    • Experiment with different levels of sensitivity until you find one suited for to your needs and how you type
  9. You can also reduce touch sensitivity by adjusting the Palm Check (A) setting towards Maximum (B)
    • This feature guards against operating the touch pad with your palm, as you might do while typing
    • This option will increase or decrease this feature’s ability to detect when you palm is touching the touch pad (vs. your finger)

*If the Device Settings tab is missing from your mouse settings window, you’ll need to re-install the touch pad driver from eSupport here.

Have a better tip?  Be sure to share yours in the comment section below.

UPDATE 2: After reading many of your comments, I realized I forgot to include step-by-step instructions for the alternate touchpad driver used on many other VAIO models.  You can find instructions below.  I hope this helps!  Please be sure to leave any additional feedback or follow up questions below.

(Step-by-step instructions for VAIO models using the Alps Pointing Device Driver)

  1. In Windows 7 click Start then Control Panel
  2. Within the Control Panel click Hardware and Sound
  3. In the window that appears, under the “Devices and Printers” catagory, select Mouse
  4. In the setting window that appears, click the Tapping tab
  5. From the Tapping tab, select Tap off when typing (A) and move the Delay after last key is hit sliderall the way to the right towards Long (B)
    • Note: if you prefer, you could also turn off the tapping feature of the touchpad; relegating the “click” function of the touchpad to just the left and right buttons hardware buttons found directly below the touchpad.
    • To do this, simply “deselect” the Tapping option (C) found at the top left-hand corner of the Tapping Tab then click Apply
  6. You can also reduce touch sensitivity by enabling the Palm Detection feature (similar to the Palm Check setting describe above)
    • This feature guards against operating the touch pad with your palm, as you might do while typing
    • To toggle on or off, navigate to the Palm and Typing tab within the same Mouse Properties window
    • Select or deselect the Enable palm rejection setting (A)
  7. You can also experiment with Invalidating Multi-touch Gestures While Typing and Invalidating Mouse Cursor Movement While Typing settings (B).
    • These settings can be found within the same tab outlined in Line 6

 

 

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Backstage Quick Tip #92: Microsoft Office 2010 Hints

By: | Posted: 4/22/2011

Editor’s Note: Backstage Technicians are here to help and in this ongoing series, they’ll offer me their favorite tips and provide answers to some of the most common service related questions they hear at both the call center and in Sony Stores.

Whether it’s to send e-mails to friends and teammates, presenting slide decks and tracking finances, most of use Microsoft Office on a daily basis. Taking a peak at my taskbar as I write this post, I can tell you that I have at least one instance of each app open. Sound familiar?

But what inspired me to write this post was the realization that I may not be using the full potential of this powerful software. So I set out to learn just what I might be missing out on and what I discovered is that there are tons of cool plug-ins and simple shortcuts that when used together, can be a huge time saver.

Here’s a look at some of my favorite tips and shortcuts I recently uncovered:

Tweet & update Facebook from Outlook 2010

For some this might be overkill but for me, these two simple social networking plugins have transformed Outlook into a one-stop shop for communication, news and networking. I can update my Facebook status, view news feeds or send out tweets right from Outlook while I crank out e-mails without needing to switch back and forth between sites or separate applications. Having everything in one place has made it simple for me to stay in touch and respond faster.

Checkout the Facebook plugin here and the Twitter plugin here for complete details and installation instructions.

*Social networking Outlook plug-in runner-up: Xobni (that’s inbox spelled backwards).

 

12 Must-Know Shortcuts

There are countless hotkeys and shortcuts programmed into Windows® 7 and Microsoft Office aimed at helping you move as quickly and efficiently through your workflow as possible. Though there are too many to list in this post, the following 10 are my absolute favorite and by learning them over the past few days, I’ve dramatically increased the speed in which I move through various tasks.

Have a favorite that’s not listed here? Be sure to share it with everyone in the comments section below. You can also check out Windows® 7 OS hotkeys in a previous post I wrote here .

 

Embed YouTube Videos in your PowerPoint Presentations

I build a lot of slide decks that leverage video and in the past I’ve always had to awkwardly toggle between a website/player and my slides mid-presentation – it always threw my rhythm off. That’s why one of my favorite new features is the ability in PowerPoint 2010 to simply and quickly embed online videos from YouTube and other providers right into your slide deck. Here’s how:

  1. Find the online video you wish to use and copy its embed code into your clipboard
  2. Within PowerPoint 2010, click Insert then Video
  3. Select Video from Web Site then paste the embed code into the dialog box that appears.
  4. Once you save your selection and the video has been embedded, you can perform minor edits or select from a number of playback, style and key art options.

 

Use OneNote 2010 to take custom screen shots

If you’re not using OneNote 2010 – do it now! It’s my absolute favorite Microsoft Office app. Why? Because it makes easy work of capturing and organizing notes from every random thought, ad hoc conversation, lecture and meeting I encounter. Plus it’s fully integrated into the rest of the Office 2010 suite: mark a bullet from your meeting notes as a to-do and it syncs with Outlook. It will even automatically sync specific notes to individual slides, docs, etc. for future reference.

That said, my favorite feature is how easy OneNote makes it to grab custom screen shots.  There’s a number of different ways to do this via Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Word or even Windows® 7 but the following – I’ve found – is by far the fastest and easiest.

With OneNote running in your system tray, simply hit  Start+S. A dialog box will appear asking where to save your clipping – to the clipboard or a specific note. I select the clipboard and select “do not show this message again” so it becomes the default.

Once complete, I can hit Start+S at any time to grab a custom screen shot, then hit CTRL+V to add/paste the image into the specific application I’m working in. It’s quick, easy and saves me the step of having to use an editing tool to crop out what I don’t need from a full screen shot.

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Backstage Quick Tip #83: Using Intel Wireless Display

By: | Posted: 9/14/2010

Editor’s Note: Backstage Technicians are here to help and in this ongoing series, they’ll offer me their favorite tips and provide answers to some of the most common service related questions they hear at both the call center and in Sony Style Stores.


I often find myself with something on my laptop that just has to be shared with whoever is in the room with me.  Be it photos from the weekend or a recent vacation, a hilarious video clip or an online show to a favorite song or playlist for a party – sometimes huddling around my laptop just won’t due.  But digging behind my HDTV every time I want to connect my laptop to a TV or home theater system can be time consuming and frustrating.  Because of that we recently started offering a simple solution on select VAIO PCs  - Intel Wireless Display.

Intel Wireless Display is extremely easy to setup and use and  allows you to wirelessly stream content from your laptop (both audio and video) to any display in your home or office.

What do you need?  A compatible VAIO PC and an Intel Wireless Display Adapter for your TV*.  That’s it!

Check out Sukhjit’s how-to video below for setup details and to see the technology in action.  And if you’re curious to know if you’re VAIO includes Intel Wireless Display technology, simply select Start and type “Intel Wireless Display”.  If the Intel program appears in the search results you’re in luck!  If you need more help uncovering whether your PC is compatible or how to set up the feature, don’t hesitate to drop us a line below.  If you have Intel Wireless Display let us know how  you use it.  What do you like most about it or what would you change?

P.S. Thanks to Conner VanderBeek and Zack Iscoff for the background music played in this video!  You can find more from them here.

*Intel Wireless Display requires the NETGEAR® PTV1000 Push2TV Wireless TV Adapter (sold separately) and TV with HDMI™ or Composite AV input.  Content requiring output protection (Blu-ray Disc and DVD movie playback) is not supported.  720p (max.) output.  Image quality may vary.

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Backstage Quick Tip #7: Troubleshooting PC Audio Issues

By: | Posted: 8/23/2010

Editor’s Note: Backstage Technicians are here to help and in this ongoing series, they’ll offer me their favorite tips and provide answers to some of the most common service related questions they hear at both the call center and in Sony Style Stores.

Experiencing PC audio playback issues and need help getting sound to play again from your computer?  More often than not, problems with audio playback often stem from a user inadvertently disabling a drive or changing a setting.

In this quick tip, we’ll review the top three most common fixes our Backstage℠ Technicians have found to help solve the case.

  • Check the jack your headphones are plugged into. They may be plugged into the wrong spot (such as the Line Out or Microphone port). Note too that most computers will cut the sound to its internal or external speakers as soon as headphones are plugged in.
  • Be sure your speakers are plugged into a working power source, turned on and that your system volume is up appropriately and not muted.  To check your system volume open Volume Control.

a)    To do this, click the Start button, and select Control Panel, then Hardware and Sound.

b)    Under Audio Devices and Sound, select Adjust System Volume.

c)    Under the Main Volume, move the slider up or down to raise or lower the volume.

  • Be sure your computer has a properly functioning sound card – a small piece of hardware within your PC that translates code into sound.  You can check the status of your sound card within the Device Manager.

a)    To do this, click the Start menu, type Device Manager and hit enter.  Enter your PC’s administrator password if prompted (Vista & Windows 7 only).

b)    Expand the Sound, video and game controllers category – you can do this by double clicking the category.

c)    If there is an audio device listed (for example it may say, Intel High Definition Audio Device), then your PC has a sound card. If no sound card appears in the list, you will need to install one – for most users, especially laptop owners, leave this installation to the experts.

d)    If a yellow question mark appears next to the name, it indicates there might be a problem with the sound card. Right-click the name of the sound card and select Properties.

e)    Click the General tab, and look in the Device Status box to view any problems.

f)    In most cases, you may need to update the sound card’s driver.  To do this click the Driver tab, then select Update Driver.

g)    It’s possible you may have also updated the sound card with a driver that’s incompatible with the OS or PC’s BIOS.  To revert to the previously working driver, simply click the Driver tab again then select Roll Back Driver. If this option is greyed out it means you have the original driver installed and that no previous version is available.

Again, our Backstage Technicians have found these three simple tips to solve most issues with PC audio playback.  However, if you’re still experiencing problems with playback, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local Backstage Technician for more advanced troubleshooting or jump over to our Forums to get additional tips and technical advice from other users.

For a list of SonyStyle stores near you that offer Backstage services, check out the store locator page here.  And as always, be sure to share your tips below – you just might have the perfect solution no one else has thought of.

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Backstage Quick Tip #12: Transfer Files and Settings

By: | Posted: 7/07/2010

Editors Note: Backstage Technicians are here to help and in this ongoing series, they’ll offer me their favorite tips and provide answers to some of the most common service related questions they hear at both the call center and in Sony Style Stores.

Have you just purchased a new VAIO® PC?  Have an old PC that still has a lot of meticulously crafted personal settings, internet bookmarks, photos, music, etc. that you’d like to have on your new primary VAIO PC?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you may like to know there’s any easy way to capture all your favorite files and settings on your old PC running Windows® 7, Windows Vista® or even XP and transfer them to your primary or new VAIO running Windows 7.  This quick tip will review just how you do it and walk you through the simple process, step-by-step.

Before you get started, here’s a couple things to keep in mind.

  • What can you transfer?
    • User accounts and settings
    • Documents
    • Music
    • Photos
    • E-mail messages
    • Internet Favorites / Bookmarks
    • Videos

*Note:  You can transfer just about anything except other applications.

  • Make sure your logged into both computers as an administrator.
  • Install Windows Easy Transfer on your old PC
    • You can download it here.
  • Decide how you want to transfer your information.  You can do it one of three ways:
    • External hard drive
    • Easy transfer cable
    • Network

*For more information, check out the video from Microsoft below.

Once you’ve considered and completed the above, simply open Windows Easy Transfer on both computers.  Here’s how:

  1. Click the Picture of the Start button Start button
  2. In the search box, type Easy Transfer and in the list of results, click Windows Easy Transfer.
    1. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Once Windows Easy Transfer starts, simply follow the on-screen instructions and answer a few questions.  That’s all there is to it!

The process will take some time depending on how much you have to transfer.  And remember, you don’t have to copy everything.  If you’re only interested in migrating your home videos and a handful of documents, Windows Easy Transfer lets you to drill down to specific files, allowing you to capture only the items you need.  Also remember that you’re not deleting anything from your old computer – you’re simply making copies and transferring them to your new VAIO.

For more details, check out this helpful video on Windows Easy Transfer from Microsoft below.

Be sure to leave any questions you may have below and I’ll be sure to hunt down the answers for you.  If this process still seems a bit intimidating, remember your local Backstage Technician can take care of the whole process for you.  Visit Sony.com/Backstage for more information.

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