Tax Time Again!!!

Oh My! It’s that time again! TAX TIME! The thought sends shivers down most people’s spines. Either in the form of “Oh no not again” or maybe “Oh boy I sure can use that return right now”. Either way, in these tight economic times we are experiencing it is prudent to get your tax forms in to the IRS as soon as possible.

 

For many people the best and easiest way is to go to an accountant or bookkeeping firm. Simply make an appointment and take all your past years tax info including any W-2 forms, etc. in and let the experts do the work for you. In the Lansing area there are many such places to go to. Look in the yellow pages or Google “Lansing MI Tax Services”.

 

Others may choose to wade through the forms and documents themselves and prepare them by hand, sending the forms in via mail, and begin to wait anxiously each day for the mail to see if their check has arrived. This of course, only if a refund is in order.

 

But if you have computer access, either at home or the CADL, you can do your Federal and State taxes on line using many of the services available. First, you can purchase one of the 2008 tax preparation programs on a CD either online or in your local software store. Or many simply choose to sign on as a registered user with your own password and prepare the forms on line. The great part of doing so is that you can log on and off at will and save all the information from one session to another as your tax info, W-2’s etc arrive and continue where you left off. The online service asks questions and prompts you to give the correct answer or information for the form. Not only that, if you decide to use the same provider each year, they will import all your pertinent information from the past year which helps you complete the forms with ease. The fees are nominal using a credit card and you can opt to have your return deposited directly into your bank bypassing the need for snail mail and a paper check thus speeding up the entire process! Below are just a few of the many online services. More can be found using a search engine such as google or ask.com and typing “taxes online”.

 

http://turbotax.intuit.com/  

 http://www.taxactonline.com/

 http://www.hrblock.com/

http://www.taxbrain.com/

http://www.express1040.com/

 

Happy Tax Time!

 

CADLCompass

Windows Vista Tip

Booting into Safe Mode in Vista

When troubleshooting your PC or if a normal boot fails or hangs up, a booting into safe mode may be required. A fix in “safe mode” may be required for a driver problem or spyware infection before you can use Windows Vista as normal.

Using Safe Mode will only load the minimum set of drivers and components, while allowing many tasks to restore problems, however with reduced functionality. Performing a system restore is often the best course of action.

You can boot in to safe mode by press F8 just before the Vista loading screen appears, this is after the BIOS screen has disappeared. A black screen with white writing will be present. From this screen you can select one of the safe mode options (using the arrow keys and then press enter):

 

Safe Mode – Unless you need internet access, use this version. It will launch the most basic version of safe mode, with only the minimum of services loaded.
Safe Mode with Networking – If you need internet/network access use this version. Other then internet functionality, it is the same as above.

Safe Mode with Command Prompt – Command prompt access is added to safe mode. You will likely never need this mode.

Making and Taking Photos

CADL has added new equipment and software that can be used for digitizing and editing photos. We now have scanners that can be checked out to patrons that can be used to scan in old home photos. We also sell CDs and Flash drives that can store a whole albums worth of photos.

We have also added Photoshop Elements 6 to the computers and offer classes in their use. Patrons might want to get a photo program for use on their home computer. Photoshop can be expensive though, often costing hundreds of dollars. I’ve come up with a list of three free programs that can be downloaded and used on your home computer.

GIMP for Windows.
GIMP is a very popular program originally developed for Unix/Linux. It’s open source which means there is a whole community of programmers who provide updates to it regularly. GIMP is capable of doing practically anything that Photoshop can do and more, but it can be difficult to learn for new users.

Photoscape.
Photoscape is more user friendly than GIMP and provides plenty of content for both photo editing and photo organizing.

Picnik.
Picnik is a web based photo editing program which means you don’t have to download it. You can access it from any computer and upload your pictures to the website. It can also be used on most social networking sites like myspace and Facebook

meebo chat

Meebo chat, a web based chat service is offline. Many of our patrons use the resource to access different chat programs like aol, yahoo or google. Our patrons can try ebuddy.com

Streaming Video Broadcasts

Using your computer as a television!?! It’s not as strange as it sounds. I’m sure most of you have played DVDs on your computer, or watched video clips on Youtube. This is simply the next step. 

As a tennis fan, I often use streaming videos, referred to as live streams to see matches played all over the world when they are not available on regular cable television. But don’t fret. The websites I’m about to introduce you to offer a wide variety of programming choices. Like soccer? No problem. Cricket anyone? Pull up a chair. Or maybe you fancy touch downs and free-throws? It’s all there. 

By the same token, if you find yourself away from the tube during primetime hours, find a computer and grab a seat. You’re not out of luck if televisionless.

The best of them all: 

channelsurfing.net

This website updates everyday, so you will have different viewing options available 24/7.  There will is always a mix of sports, sitcom, and drama entertainment. Once you have found the broadcast you would like to watch, click on the link. Depending upon your connection speed and the speed of transmission, it may take a few seconds, to a couple minutes for the video to start streaming. Be patient. It’s well worth the wait in the end.

You’ll find with streaming video, that your video will suddenly and often stop, and you will see a some visual depiction of your video loading (like a moving circle or it will say “buffering”). This phenomenon is called “buffering”. It’s both normal and expected in streaming video. All it means is there was a hiccup in the stream, and your computer must now download the stream again.  This could take a a few seconds or a couple of minutes. You can also click “reload” or the link again to restart the stream.   

A good alternative:

www.channelchooser.com

Although channelchooser.com offers a wider variety of programming options, the programming is far less specialized as it is for channelsurfing. Another downside is the channel you choose today, may not be there tomorrow. So don’t count on being able to tune into the same channel for weeks on end. But if you want a large number of programs to choose from, channelchooser.com is a good choice.

To select a program, click on a programming cateogy (located in the black bar with white script), then click on any channel that appears in the box below that. 

That’s it for now.  Try these two sites out, and leave a comment detailing how it went.

mlive

Looking for a good website that focuses on Michigan, containing  news, travel, business, entertainment and job searching sections? Check out mlive.  At mlive you can find local travel destinations to save money for that summer vacation.  The “Living” section lists many blogs on Michigan topics like: Red Wings, Michigan Travel, and Michigan Business Innovation. Hear about an event or festival you want to attend? You can search mlive’s arts and entertainment listings for the time, date and place.

Consumer Health Resources

As mentioned in a previous post titled, Some Developments, we will be having a guest blog posting. Well, here it is….

 

For those of you who have made New Year’s resolutions to improve your health and well-being in 2009, CADL is here to help.  The resources we offer extend beyond just books.  Magazines, local links, free handouts, databases, and reference books are all available.  You can search our online catalog to find titles that interest you.  Magazines are located on the 2^nd floor and all but the most current issue can be checked out for 3 weeks.  The local links section on our homepage provides links to local online resources for specific diseases and conditions and other concerns.  On the 2^nd floor, we have a 3-sided health resources kiosk on the east side of the floor near the magazines.  It is stocked with health alerts issued by the FDA, free pamphlets, and health/medical books.  We subscribe to high quality databases which you can search for journal and newspaper articles.  For further details or assistance, get in touch with the Reference Department at 517-367-6346, by email at http://www.cadl.org/answers/Ask-a-Librarian/,or in person during regular library hours.