Your computer is a powerful tool to personal productivity. The amount of funtionality for photo, video, music, etc. that is "built in" to computers on the market today is fantastic. Harnassing that power can be a bit intimidating.

Not everyone has an intuitive ability use these features. For example, we run into a lot of customers who like to work with their family photos. They have multiple copies of photos on their computer because the concept of deleting them from the SD disk is a little vague. So they continually download the same photos to a new folder.

Another example, seems kind of basic to some of us, is security and antivirus. There are many options for you and twice as many opinions on what's best. In the end, it is a question of using the programs you need, configuring them correctly, and understanding not to download anything that pops up on the internet!

• Why is my computer so slow?
• Should I use internet storage for my files and photos?
• Do I need a firewall program for internet security?
• Do I need all these toolbars on my internet browser?
• How can I use my address book to make mailing labels?
• Can I convert my home videos to DVD?
• How do I get VHS video into my computer?
• How do I make a photo video slideshow?

These are some of the topics we cover in our instructional courses. We don't assume that everyone is a computer geek. We do presume that everyone has the ability to learn new things. Every time we provide a service call on a customer's computer, we find ourselves "downloading" information to our customer that makes them more confident computer users. We offer courses to groups or individuals on topics relating to Computer Use and Video / Audio Production.

These courses are available for groups and for individual instruction. We believe in ensuring our customers leave our courses feeling confident. Plan to spend 4 hours in each course as we combine group instruction along with individualized problem solving. We can provide these courses around the Tri-County area of Oconee, Pickens, and Anderson Counties. We can make arrangements for groups in NE Georgia and Western North Carolina as well.

There is no age limit to who can benefit from this kind of instruction as long as you are willing to learn.

Here are a few of our topics:

Computer 101/102: Your computer, what you see and what you don't, connecting peripherals, what happens when you turn on the power, the operating system, what is the desktop, keyboard and mouse uses, the file structure, controlling programs, understanding devices, the control panel, associations of files, folder views, what are shorcuts, and customizing for your preference. This includes WinXP, Vista, and Windows 7 Operating Systems!

Internet 101: Security and antivirus, internet and network connections, setting options for auto complete, managing your browser, what are phishing filters, what are popup blockers, what are cookies, temporary files, browsing history, parental controls and ratings, configuring download permissions, internet email accounts, and safe practices.

Microsoft Word & Excel: Understanding settings, default documents, templates, how to modify workbooks, creating a mail merge document, saving settings, using sort and filter parameters, what are macros and more.

Microsoft Outlook: More than email, Outlook is a full contact management system and planner which can not only track everything, it will synchronize with your PDA information.

Microsoft PowerPoint: How to create a presentation by understanding templates, custom content, inserting media like video and audio, hyperlinks, understanding animation within a slide and transitions between slides, using timing, using different views, packaging for a viewer, and displaying on multiple screens.

Pictures, Scanners, & Cameras Oh My! These devices can be configured to operate successfully with a variety of different applications. How they work will depend on the application you have installed. We will discuss these items generically and for each individual's system configuration to make the best use of what you have.

To take advantage of our instructional services, contact us  for more information.

Want to create your own video projects and don't know where to start?
Don't have the right equipment to do the job?
Want to give your video special effects your system doesn't have?

We understand there are a couple of things at work here. You have a computer that will edit your photos and videos. So why should you hire us to do it? You want to be able to beam with pride as your friends and family ask, 'You did this?'. We understand that pride! That's why we have decided to offer instructional services to help you out!

Our expertise is available to get you going. You may not have a clue where to start, or how to accomplish a specific effect or design. Ultimately, we would rather see your memories preserved to digital media before time degrades them any further. If you want to do it yourself, great! What do you need to do it?

The biggest block to customers getting the video off the tape is getting the VHS hooked up to the computer to do it. We do not advise the VCR - DVD units you can buy. They don't offer the edit or menu capability that you really need to make a nice product. See our transfers section of the video page for more on that. Likewise, be very wary of capture devices on the market that do not have drivers compatible with Vista or Windows 7. These will not work unless properly "signed". We have the proper facility and equipment to capture your video. We can either schedule to capture it for you or you can rent our system to do it yourself.

In the same way, we have several special effects programs available to create anything your system can't handle. We use the Adobe CS4 Suite of graphics, video, and audio programs for our productions. Think of us as parts suppliers. Your video needs parts to assemble. We can create the parts and ship them to you for final assembly. You can still beam with pride because you provided the direction and concept. That's what a producer is.

So, now you have no excuses for letting those video memories sit on the shelves. You should contact us to find out we can help today!