John Warner wrote to ask why he couldn’t open an e-mailattachment that had a file name with a .PPS extension. I hear thisquestion often, since a lot of PowerPoint Shows (presentations) arebeing sent around the Internet.
A PowerPoint presentation is basically a collection of picturesthat are displayed as a “slide show” -- often complete with text,animations and background music. Someone viewing the show usuallychanges slides with a mouse click, but a presentation can beprogrammed to change automatically every so many seconds. There aresome wonderfully clever presentations being e-mailed from friend tofriend these days.
The program used to create these slide shows is usuallyPowerPoint, which comes with most versions of Microsoft Office.However, PowerPoint-compatible programs are freely available fromOpenOffice.organd Google Docs.For simply watching presentations, a free PowerPoint Viewer isavailable atMicrosoft.com.
With any of the above programs in place, a PPS file shouldautomatically start playing with a mouse’s double-click. However,this doesn’t always happen. I have no idea why.
You can do this instead: Launch PowerPoint (or a PP-compatibleprogram) and click File>Open. Then browse to the target PPS fileand double-click it.
In addition to being played, a PPS file can be made editable bychanging its extension to PPT. When done editing, change it back toPPS. You can NOT edit a presentation with Microsoft’s PowerPointViewer, but can with the other programs mentioned.
Beyond editing, creating your own slide shows is relatively easyand can be lots of fun. Seewww.pcdon.comfor more information.
Everyone needs to be aware of a deadly virus that has recentlyinvaded the Internet. “AntiVirus 2009" is not an anti-virusprogram; it is a vicious trojan that is so destructive most of itsvictims have to reformat their hard drives.
People are tricked into downloading it when a popup claims it tobe a free anti-virus program. It is so insidious that one’slegitimate anti-virus program cannot protect against it once adownload has begun.
Beyond avoiding this particular threat, make it a point not todownload anything from the Internet of which you are not 100percent sure. Anything downloaded from a popup is likely, at itsmost benign, to contain adware or spyware. At its worst, it can bea destructive virus.
Be aware, also, of ads offering a “free scan” of your PC’ssystem registry. You will be told the scan found problems in yourregistry that can be fixed for $40 to $50. If you decline, you’llbe assaulted by “nag” ads that can only be removed by your paying$40 to $50.
Another scam is an alleged “Consumer Reports” type of site thatpurports to review all the various “registry cleaner” programsfound online. However, the site has been secretly created by theauthors of one of those programs -- the one with the highestrating, not surprisingly.
A legitimate and free “registry scan and repair” by Microsoftcan be found atwww.pcdon.com.
Don Edrington is a freelance writer. Contact him at (949)646-8615.