Complicated To Simple

How to Stop or Force Quit an Unresponsive Program on Your Mac

(Click here to read the Windows version of this article)

No matter how sophisticated our computers get, the problem of programs becoming unresponsive is still with us.

In mild cases, a program will just “hang” for a while. If given enough time, it may become responsive again.

In more serious cases, the program just stops working and you get a perpetual spinning color wheel. In the more serious cases, the entire computer locks up and must be restarted.

While this is usually more of a problem with Windows based computers, MAC programs do occasionally become unresponsive. And while it takes much more to do it to a MAC than a Windows computer, a MAC will occasionally lock up and have to be restarted too.

What does not seem to be common knowledge among Windows or MAC users however, is that the computer does not necessarily have to be restarted if a program becomes unresponsive. I’ve lost count of the number of time I’ve been told by a client that they just hit the power button when a program stopped working. Restarting your computer by simply powering it off during normal operation is NOT recommended.

The computer should never be shut down with the power button when programs are still open. This can cause files on your computer to become stuck in an open state. Normally when a program is shut down, all files are closed and updated in an orderly manner. When not allowed to shut down in an orderly fashion, they can become corrupted and eventually not run at all. Always try to shut your computer down by clicking on the Apple menu and then on Shut Down.

If a program become unresponsive or locks up, there are basically two ways to force it to close without shutting down the computer. This assumes that only the program is unresponsive and not the whole computer. If the whole computer will not respond, your only alternative is a complete shutdown.

The first way, which is the easiest, is to simply right click (two fingers on the track pad) the program in the Dock and select quit. This is really the same as selecting quit inside the program. However, since it’s outside the program, it sometimes works if the program has become unresponsive.

If that doesn’t work, then you can use the Force Quit feature. This can be accessed in two ways. The first is to click on the Apple menu in the corner of your screen and select Force Quit. This will bring up a list of programs that are running on your computer.

Select the one you want to force to quit by clicking on it and then on the Force Quit button at the bottom of the window. In my experience this almost always works and a complete shutdown is usually not necessary.

The other way to access the Force Quit option is by pressing the Command, Option, and Escape keys at the same time. This will bring up the same menu as previously mentioned and you can proceed the same way.

If none of these ways work, your only alternative may be to just power down your computer. As I mentioned earlier this is not recommended. But sometimes it’s the only way.

If this happens more than once with a particular program you may want to investigate a solution before running the program again. Programs that continually lock up can cause corruption in other parts of your system. This is especially true if they cause you to have to power down the computer to restart.

Hopefully this article will keep you from having to restart your computer quite so often. It you have enjoyed it and it’s been helpful, please leave a comment. If you like the site, please click the “Like” button in the “Find us on Facebook” box in the left sidebar.

Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

Robert Seth is a CPA in the Clark County, Washington area who has been serving individual and small business clients for the last 25 years. His business includes a growing number of remotely serviced customers throughout the United States. He’s also a writer and technology expert. He has a passion for improving the lives of others by helping them simplify the complicated stuff in their lives.

How to Add or Remove Plugins From Your WordPress Website

If you’re new to WordPress, or even if you’re not, knowing about plug-ins is a must. WordPress is an amazingly powerful and simple platform. It can make you a web pro in no time even without installing any extra plugins. But to really shine and get your WordPress site performing at its best, you’ll eventually need to know about plugins.

The basic purpose of a plugin is to extend the capabilities of your site. They can also greatly simplify something that would be very difficult to do otherwise. For example, let’s say you want to add a contact page to your WordPress site. With a plugin, it’s as simple as clicking on install and the job is done. If you had to do that with HTML or PHP programming it would take you much, much longer. That’s assuming of course that you even knew how.

Since most of us don’t know how, plugins are a tremendous help. They make it so we can concentrate on writing great content, or doing whatever we do best, rather than learning to be a programmer.

Since the purpose of this article is not to tell you about all the plugins that are available I won’t go into any detail about that. I will say however, that there are thousands of them to choose from. This is very fortunate for anyone that wants to use WordPress as their blogging or web platform.

Not only are there thousands to choose from, but there are many of each type. This is also of great benefit to us. Sometimes one plugin may not play well with everything else we’ve got going on with our WordPress site. A good example of this is the post editor I use on this site.

I began with a plugin called Dean’s FCKEditor. It is a full-featured and very good editor and many people use it without any problem. On my site however, it behaved very erratically. It even caused me to have two of the same input windows right on top of each other. This was definitely not how the software was supposed to work.

So, since I was familiar with another editor plugin called TinyMCE Advanced, I thought I’d give that a try. It worked perfectly. This is not to say that Dean’s FCK is a bad editor at all. I just tell you this to provide an example of why it’s a good thing that we have so many to choose from. It makes it so you can choose your set of plugins that will make your WordPress site hum along beautifully.

Now that you know what plugins are and why you need them, let’s talk about how to install and delete them. Go to your WordPress dashboard and look at the menu items down the left side. Find the Plugins category and click on Add New as shown in the screen shot below.

(Click on screenshots to enlarge and open in new window for better viewing)

The Install Plugins screen will come up next as shown in the next screen shot.

In this window you have several choices. You can either click on one of the choices circled above or you can do a search. Clicking on Popular brought up the following screen for me. What comes up for you will depend on what’s popular at the time you do this. If you want to search, you can either enter a term, or leave the box blank. Leaving it blank will bring up all plugins. Entering a term will narrow your search considerably.

Notice that the page already knows what’s installed. So for me, since Contact form 7 is already installed, it says so.

In this case, NextGEN Gallery is not installed. If you click on Install Now, it will do just that. It will ask if you’re sure and if you click yes, the installation will be instant.

Clicking on details will give you a chance to read about it and make sure it’s what you want as shown in the screen shot below.

Clicking on Install Now will do the same as on the previous screen.

Once you install, you get the following screen. Click on Activate Plugin to activate it and make it usable. This is a good place to mention something else. You do not need to activate plug-ins that are installed on your site. You can also deactivate (which I’ll show you in a moment) a plug-in that you don’t want to use.

There are many reasons for not activating every plugin. You may want to test several plugins to see which one you like. Maybe one stops working but you think the next WordPress update might fix it. Deactivating makes it so you don’t have to download and install again in the event you want to reactivate. I still have Dean’s FCKEditor installed on mine. I’m hoping someday it will work again with my setup. If I delete the plugin rather than just deactivating, I’d need to download and install it again.

Some plugins require you to adjust settings once activation is complete. There are far too many to discuss in this article. I just want you to be aware that it’s normal to have to do this.

Once your plugin is installed and activated, it will look like this in your plugin list. To edit the settings, click Edit. To deactivate, click Deactivate. Delete will only appear for plugins that are not active because they need to be deactivated before deleting.

To finish up let’s show you what deactivating and deleting looks like. Click on Deactivate and now the plugin looks like this.

You may also see the following screen shot at the top of the screen depending on what other plugins you have installed. If you do see it, be sure to follow the instructions.

If you want to delete, click the Delete button that now shows up. The following screen appears. The system gives you plenty of chances to change your mind or to get additional information. If you want to see what exactly will be deleted, click on the Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted option at the bottom of the screenshot.

Click on Yes, Delete these files and data. The plugin will be deleted and you will see any appropriate messages at the top of the screen. As before, be sure to follow any instructions given there.

So there you have it. That’s the basics of installing and deleting plugins on your WordPress Website.

One other thing I should mention here. Some types of WordPress installations do not allow you to change the plugin or they only allow you to select from a few. My first website was like this. I took a course called the Ultimate Internet Boot Camp. During that course, we actually installed and set up our WordPress websites and did our first blog post.

The course was great, but I soon learned some things that I didn’t think were so great. You only had a choice between a few plugins. Most of the ones that were installed were done in such a way that you couldn’t even see what they were and they could not be removed. One of the worst parts to me was that you could not even install a backup plugin so you could back up your site.

I believe the reason they did this was so you couldn’t back it up and install it someplace else. They did not want to lose their rather inflated hosting fee. To get my site off their servers and onto someplace else was quite a job. It required copying and pasting every piece of information on my site to another site. It was really worth it though. Now I have all the freedom WordPress has to offer without any artificial restrictions.

If you are taking a course like that and you want ultimate control over what you do with your site, I would recommend getting off their servers as fast as possible. The longer you wait the more information you will have to move.

If you enjoyed this article and it was useful to you, please leave a comment below. If you like the site, please consider clicking the “like” button in the “Find us on Facebook” box in the left sidebar.

Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

How to Add Videos, Photos, and Images to Your WordPress Website

Blogging with just written content can be very engaging to your readers and a great way to keep the conversation going. There’s nothing like photos or video, though, to really bring the conversation to a new level. Here’s how you put photos and videos on your WordPress Website.

This article will also be applicable to many other types of websites too. Many website interfaces are very similar and use the same methods, or very similar ones to achieve the same tasks. Hopefully, with some slight modifications, you will be able to apply this information to your non-WordPress website too.

Before you can upload a video or photo to your website, it will need to be in an acceptable format. Although this is really the subject of another article, let me take a moment to explain this. Many video and photo cameras use proprietary formats for their videos and photos. The RAW format that many high-end cameras can shoot in is an example of this.

Before these photos or videos can be used, they must be converted to a standard format that your website will understand and will be able to load quickly. The most commonly supported formats for web photos and images are JPG, PNG, and GIFF. You can tell if your image is in one of these formats by looking at the extension, or last three letters, in the file name.

For example, if I have a file named myphoto in JPEG format, it would look like myphoto.jpg. Most modern digital cameras have shooting modes that will create this type of file in the first place. This prevents having to do any conversions.

The standard formats for web video files are WMV, MOV, FLV, MPEG, and MPEG-4. Again, it is best to get your video into one of these formats before attempting to upload it.

After you have your photo or video in an appropriate format, now it’s time to get it online. There are basically two methods for doing this. Which one you use depends on a couple of different factors.

First, let’s look at photos or images. Since these should be of fairly small size, they’re ok to put on your own website. To do this, open up the dashboard for your WordPress website as shown below.

The image uploader is circled in the screen shot above. Click on this and the Media Library will open as shown below.

Click on Browse, find the file on your computer, and click on the file. It will be added to the box next to browse in this screen shot. Next click on Upload.

This screen shot is just the bottom portion of the screen that appears next. Select the alignment and image size and then click on insert into post. The image will be inserted wherever your cursor is on the post entry screen. The size can also be adjusted by dragging the boundaries of the image once inserted into the post.

For inserting videos, there are two choices. You can either put them on your site or host them on a site like YouTube or Vimeo. It is generally not recommended to host videos on your WordPress site. This is because the bandwidth of your site’s host could easily be exceeded if you have lots of visitors viewing your video at the same time.

If you do choose to host them on your site you will be limited to two megabytes. To upload a video, you would use exactly the same process as for images with one exception.

Refer to the circled portion of the screen shot above. That is the video uploader. Simply click on that and proceed in the same way as you did for images.

For hosting videos on Vimeo or YouTube I will not go into how to get them on those sites in this article. That will be the subject of future articles. For now, you can go to either of those sites for instructions on how to use their sites.

For purposes of this article, we will look at how to get a YouTube video onto your site. Most other video hosting sites will use a similar process.

Once you have your video on YouTube, go to the actual video and click on it as if you were going to view it. The panel below the video, as shown in the screen shot above will appear. Actually, only the part above Link to this video will show up at first. Click on Share, and Embed, and the remaining part of the screen will appear.

If you just want to send your viewer to YouTube from your site, copy and paste the link in the Link to this video box. If you want to embed the video in your site so the viewer stays on your site while viewing, copy and paste the code in the box below the Embed button.

Go back to your WordPress post that you’re working on as shown below.

If you just want to link to the video and send your viewers off to YouTube, Type in some text that you want to use as the link. In this case I have used “Example of a link.” Highlight it and click on the link button as shown above. The hyperlink screen will open and you can then paste in the code that you copied off of YouTube from the Link to the video box. It goes in the circled box as shown in the screen shot below

If you want to embed the video, which is recommended so viewers stay on your WordPress site, do the following.

Click on the HTML tab. This will show you the HTML of your post instead of the visual view. Place your cursor where you want the video to show up. I know the HTML looks a little alien but look carefully and you should be able to tell where you want the video to appear. For simplicity, you might just want to insert it in the post before adding any text and leave it at the top of the post. To insert it, paste the embed code you copied from the YouTube embed box.

Be sure to save anything you do in the HTML editor before going back to the visual editor. On many platforms, if you don’t do this, your changes will be lost when you go back to the visual editor. Even if you’re just adding HTML tags to adjust the positioning, be sure to save first before going back to visual. Do this by clicking Save Draft, Publish, or Update.

When you go back to the visual tab, the video will appear as a blank box. This is how it should look. The video will appear normal when the post is viewed by your visitors.

So there you have it. As you can see, it’s pretty easy to add images, photos, and video to your WordPress website. Your viewers will appreciate having some video and pictures to look at instead of just text.

So now it’s your turn. How did you like this article? Are there other subjects you’d like to read about? If so, leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you! Also, feel free to join us on Facebook by clicking the “like” button in the “Find us on Facebook box” in the left sidebar

Thanks for visiting.

About Robert Seth

How to Clean the Dust from the Inside of Your MacBook

Your MacBook laptop needs the dust cleaned out periodically to keep it in top working order. Here’s how to do it yourself and save some time and money!

Your MacBook laptop is much more sensitive to dust accumulation than a desktop. This is because desktops have more room and larger fans to dissipate the heat.

By comparison, your MacBook laptop has very small fans with even smaller heat exchangers that look like tiny car radiators. This is necessary because of the limited space inside of the MacBook.

With the introduction of the sleek and slim design of Apple’s newest MacBooks, getting rid of extra heat became an even bigger challenge. Apple created an engineering marvel, however, that does a great job of getting rid of most of the heat most of the time.

Trouble comes when the machinery that performs this marvel starts getting coated with dust. Dust acts like insulation inside the computer. It does not allow heat to be transferred from internal components to the outside air.

It also clogs up passageways that are designed for heat to escape through. As dust builds up, your MacBook has to work much harder to get rid of extra heat. You will start to notice more noise as the fans run faster and longer.

Your MacBook will also run hotter and may become quite uncomfortable to hold on your lap. You may also notice your battery running down much faster. Excessive fan speed drains battery power very quickly.

Cleaning the dust out is easily performed with a couple simple tools. All that is necessary is a screwdriver and a can of compressed air.

Be sure your MacBook is turned off before you begin. Flip it over so the bottom is facing up. Remove all the screws you see on the backside of the computer.

A number zero Phillips screw driver is the perfect size for this task. It is available at Radio Shack and most hardware stores. You will want to purchase one as this task should be performed on a regular basis.

If your home is on the dusty side because of pets or a wood stove, you’ll probably want to do it more frequently. Perhaps as often as every three months. Otherwise, every six months or longer may be appropriate.

After you remove the back, the fans and small metal fins near them should be clear to see. Watch the video to see what they look like.

Try not to touch any electrical connections with your fingers, tools or anything else while performing this maintenance. Technically, you should never touch electronically sensitive parts of your computer without first grounding yourself.

Since we won’t be touching any of that kind of stuff though, you should not have a problem. Just remember though that every electronic repair carries with it some risk of damage.

Even changing the batteries in a flashlight can cause damage to the bulb. So if you are unwilling to accept any risk, it may be best not to perform this operation. Ok, now that I’ve gotten the legal stuff out of the way, let’s move on.

Again, take a look at the video to see how to do this. You will need a can of compressed air for the next step. I recommend you do this outside. The clouds of dust that can come from a dirty computer can be surprisingly large. You don’t want to spend the rest of your day dusting your house to get rid of the fallout.

Aim the straw on the can into the metal fins that are next to the fan. Use the air in short bursts. If you keep blowing for too long at one time, the can will become too cold causing a pressure drop. You will then need to let it warm up again before continuing.

Next, blow off the fan blades themselves. Try to prevent very much spinning when you do this. You might want to hold the blades gently in one place while cleaning. According to a MAC tech I spoke to recently, the fans are quite delicately balanced and could be damaged by allowing them to spin too much. Continue shooting air into all the nooks and crannies until you no longer see any clouds of dust come out.

When spraying, try to keep the can as close to upright as possible. If it’s tipped too much or turned upside down, the coolant can be expelled as liquid instead of a gas. The coolant inside these cans is usually liquid carbon dioxide.

It is cold enough to cause instant frostbite if it contacts your skin. It can also cause damage to warm computer components due to the instant and extreme temperature change. So do your best to keep just gas coming out of the can and not liquid.

When you’re done, simply reattach the back of the computer in the same manner that you took it off. Be sure to get the right size screws back in the right holes.

When turning the screws back in, don’t tighten them too much. They should be snug but not overly tight. If you turn them too hard, they can strip out the threads in the holes they go into. If this happens, it will be nearly impossible for that hole to ever hold a screw again.

Another thing to be careful of is cross-threading. It’s very easy to get these tiny screws in crooked. If you feel the screw is difficult to turn in right from the beginning, back it out and try again.

Do this as many times as necessary to get the screws in straight. You’ll know it’s straight when it’s easy to turn in the whole way until tight.

That’s about it. This is a very easy repair and one that you can do at home for almost no cost. You’ll be glad you learned how to do this. Especially when the warranty on your MacBook runs out and you have to start paying for service.

By the way, this is an Apple approved user repair. That means you can do it yourself without risk of voiding your warranty.

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We would love to hear from you. If you have something you’d like to share, please leave a comment.

Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

A Step-By-Step Action Plan For Writing an eBook

When writing an eBook, or anything else, it helps to have an actionable checklist to keep you on track.

Recently, after finishing my eBook about how to create an eBook, I received some interesting feedback.

Let me explain. This whole process started a few months ago when I decided to write an eBook to help writers with creating an eBook. It was intended to simplify the often very complicated technical aspects of the process. What I came up with was a tool that literally removed every technical barrier to eBook creation. It was so simple that even a complete computer newbie could do it.

After the eBook was finished, I was curious if there were any other kinds of barriers people experience. So I presented that question to an internet business coaching group of which I’m a member. This was a perfect group to ask for feedback because most were interested in writing eBooks and many had already purchased my eBook.

The feedback I received was quite surprising. When I began this effort to simplify the writing of eBooks for people, I assumed that most of the barriers were technical. After all, those were the types of questions I was usually asked. Nobody ever mentioned any other barriers. Interestingly, it was not until the technical barriers were removed that the other barriers emerged.

It was kind of like peeling back the layers of an onion. Each type of barrier was like one layer of the onion. As one was peeled back, another would emerge. Each layer was independent of the others and it was very difficult to see more than one layer at a time.

In addition to the technical, these writers struggled with two other types of barriers. Emotional barriers such as self-doubt and inadequacy as a writer were one type. Another was not having a plan which caused great difficulty in knowing where to begin.

Let me tell you, after going through all this, it was no longer a mystery to me why so many people fail to realize their dreams of becoming a writer! These people have so much to offer the world. It is very unfortunate that these barriers may be responsible for us never seeing much of the work these talented writers could have produced. It’s equally unfortunate that these writers may never be fulfilled by realizing their dreams.

It seems I had stumbled upon a much bigger problem than I had originally intended to solve. So with all this in mind, I decided to add to the simplification process I had already started.

I began by writing a supplemental report that would help writers get over the emotional barriers. This report is available for free from this website. If you would like to read it, just fill in the box at the top of the right sidebar next to this article. It will be sent to your email immediately.

My next step in the solution is this article you’re reading now. In order to get started, it’s important to have a plan. That way important mental energy is not wasted on constantly trying to figure out what to do next.

So here is your actionable, step-by-step process to get your amazing eBook out to the world!

Decide What You’re Going to Write About

That statement may seem obvious, but let me explain. It is important to determine the purpose and scope of your eBook right from the start.

Without definite boundaries, your subject matter will tend to wander. It will seem to you like your eBook will never end because there will be no end to what you could add. You will also frustrate your readers as they try to follow the aimless wanderings that will naturally result.

At first, define you subject tightly. Decide on your general subject and what sub-categories you will write about. Making a list or an outline can help with this. As you write, refer back to this list. Make sure everything you write fits under the categories of the list.

Be ruthless about this. If something doesn’t fit, strike it! Even if whatever you just wrote was amazing. If you don’t want to lose it, you can always save it to a snippet file. But remove it from the current project.

Do Your Research

There are no hard and fast rules for this. The amount of research to do before you begin is a subjective thing. It depends on your writing style and your brand of barriers.

What’s important is to make sure it does not become a barrier! You need to do enough research to know your subject. It’s also good to know you’ve generally covered your bases and haven’t left out anything important.

It is not necessary to know every tiny little detail before you start.

Check Your Toolbox

Make sure you have the proper tools and they’re in good working order. This is necessary for any craftsman. If a carpenter’s tools are broken, dull, or he doesn’t have the right ones, he will not be successful. The same is true for writers.

Check your software to be sure you have all the programs you need to complete the project. Be sure your software has all the features you need. Make sure all your software works on your computer. Be sure all updates are installed on your computer. This includes hardware driver updates as well as application program updates.

It is very frustrating to begin a writing project and be constantly plagued by technical interruptions. If there are enough of them, it can completely derail your creativity. Be sure your tools are in good working order before you begin.

Remove Environmental Barriers

Just like inadequate tools, environmental barriers can stifle the creative process too. Make sure you have a quiet place to write without interruption or distraction. Turn off your email program and your telephone.

If you have children or other responsibilities, try to pick a time when you are least likely to be interrupted. If necessary, hire a babysitter and go to the library. If you have a favorite place like the beach or a park, these places can contribute greatly to a proper writing mood.

Make sure you are comfortable. Proper clothing, furniture, nutrition, hydration, and sleep will all contribute to success in this area.

Start Writing!

This is another subjective area of writing. Some writers stick closely to an outline while others just start anywhere.

The important thing is that you start! This seems to be a sticking point for lots of writers. It shouldn’t be. It doesn’t matter where you start. Just begin writing and it will become easier as you go.

Just remember that you only need to actually start once. So the sooner you do it, the sooner you can move on.

Wrap It Up

The category has a dual meaning. First, wrap it up as in finish it up. Finish writing and check your spelling and grammar. It’s a good idea to have some help with this as it’s very difficult to edit your own work. Make sure you have included everything you intended. Also make sure you didn’t include anything outside your scope.

Secondly, decide on what kind of wrapping you want. This includes things like page and page number styling as well as cover design. You can do this yourself or outsource the task.

Publish

The steps involved in publishing will depend on how you intend to distribute your eBook. Just emailing your eBook requires very different steps than hosting, distributing and selling it online. If emailing, you will mainly just need to convert your eBook to electronic format and secure it. If distributing online, you will also need to get it to your website, set up a delivery method, and decide on a way for your buyers to pay for it.

Conclusion

Naturally there will be variations on the steps I have outlined here. However, if you stick to these general guidelines your eBook journey should be fairly straightforward and painless.

I have also only included the basics of each step here. That’s because this is just supposed to be a checklist to help you get moving in the right direction. For more detailed help, be sure and pick up a copy of the free report I mentioned earlier in the article.

For complete coverage of this topic, I recommend checking out my eBook as well as picking up the free report. You can go directly to the eBook sales page by clicking here. Just a little hint though. The free report has a special eBook bonus at the end so you might want to read it first!

Was this article helpful to you? Do you have additional suggestions for our other readers? If so, please leave a comment here or on the Complicated to Simple Facebook Page. You can join us on Facebook by clicking the “like” button in the “Find us on Facebook” box in the left sidebar.

Thanks for visiting!

About Robert Seth

How to Fix or Tune up a CD or DVD Drive and Maintain it in Top Condition

CD and DVD drives are high precision devices that need occasional maintenance to stay in top shape. In this article we talk about how they work and what to do to keep yours at its best.

Have you ever slipped a CD or DVD into your computer or DVR drive only to get lots of noise but no action? I’m pretty sure this has happened to most of us. When it does happen it’s easy to assume the drive is broken. This is often not the case though. The problem is usually that the drive is just dirty. It takes a surprisingly small amount of dirt to cripple a CD or DVD drive. Before we look at how to clean one, let’s take a look at why it’s so easy to mess one up in the first place.

The photo on top is of a typical CD/DVD drive reading mechanism. The critical part that we’re concerned about is the little blue object inside the red circle. This is a tiny lens. The penny on the bottom is provided for a size comparison.

A laser beam is used to read the information on the disk. The beam is reflected off the disk and then passes through this lens when the drive is reading information. The lens is supposed to keep the beam in focus at all times by varying the distance between the disk surface and itself.

This laser beam and the information it must read are very small. Let me give you an idea of just how small. The data on a DVD is arranged in a spiral shaped track. The track has approximately 50,000 complete turns and is almost 39,000 feet long!

In order to fit that long of a track on a disk, the width of the track is only .4 microns. A micron is really, really small! A human hair is about 25 microns. That means it would take about 62 tracks to equal the width of a human hair. So you can see (actually you can’t because it’s so small) how small all this stuff is.

With the information on the disk being so tiny, the laser has to be controlled and focused very precisely. That’s where our dust and dirt comes in. It only takes a little bit of dust on the lens, in just the right place, to get in the way of the beam. This causes it to become out of focus making it much more difficult to read the information correctly.

If it becomes too out of focus, it will not be able to read the disk at all. The drive will just spin and make noise as it tries every way it can to read the data. So if your drive is working poorly, or not at all, there’s a good chance that it’s only dirty and not really broken.

Let’s look at a couple of different ways to clean the dust off and bring your drive to practically new condition.

The first method is fairly simple and straightforward. It’s also pleasantly inexpensive. It involves nothing more than a can of compressed air!

The little straw attached to the nozzle of these cans is perfect for getting into tight places. If your drive is a drawer type, make sure it’s open when you clean it. If it’s the kind that sucks the disk in through a slot, just insert the straw a little ways into the slot. Make sure there is no disk in the drive before doing this.

Move the straw back and forth, and in and out, as you press the trigger to blow in the air. Do this fairly quickly as the liquid in the can will soon become quite cold and lose its pressure. If this happens, you will need to let the can warm up again before continuing.

Be very careful to keep the can upright. If you turn it sideways or upside down you can blow pure liquid coolant into the drive or get it on yourself. This is not good for the computer or you. The liquid is usually carbon dioxide and is cold enough to cause instant frostbite. It can also cause electronic parts to malfunction or crack if their temperature goes from warm to freezing in an instant.

I find that this method works very well most of the time. How well it works for you will depend on how dirty the lens has become. Sometimes there’s just too much dirt to blow it all away. After using this method try playing a CD or DVD to see if the problem has been fixed.

If the blower method does not work, you can try the cleaner-disk method. A cleaner disk looks like a regular disk except it has little microfiber brushes on it that stick straight up off the surface of the disk. They look like a bunch of tiny little eyelashes.

Memorex CD/DVD-Player Laser-Lens Cleaner

(For more information, or to purchase this item, click on the image).

As the disk turns in the drive, these little brushes hit the lens surface and clean the dust off. Kind of like when you use a feather duster to dust the stuff in your house. Cleaner disks sometimes come with a little tube of cleaner that helps remove the dust and also neutralizes static so dust does not stick so easily.

To use the disk, simply insert it into the drive and follow the instructions on the screen. Even if your drive won’t read a disk, the brushes will begin to clean the lens as soon as the drive begins to spin. It may take a few minutes, but eventually the instructions should come up on the screen.

There will usually be several different cleaning cycles to choose from. In addition to instructions, it may also have music for you to enjoy while the disk is doing it’s job. The computer will tell you when the cleaning is done. Just remove the disk and hopefully your drive will be good as new.

In all the years I’ve been working on computers, I have rarely seen these two methods fail. Disk drives do wear out occasionally but not very often. It’s usually the ones inside hard-core gaming machines that fail on a regular basis. Regular business and home machines are more likely to fail from dust buildup because of disuse than from wearing out.

I have had many drives that I’ve moved from machine to machine as I’ve rebuilt them every couple of years. Usually if they are retired it’s because more advanced technology becomes available. Not because they break.

If these two methods don’t work, try checking the cables inside the computer. One of them may be loose.

Another thing to try before assuming the drive is dead is rebooting the computer.

Lastly, it’s possible that the disk you’re trying to use might be damaged. Try several different disks before giving up and replacing the drive.

If you do find that one of your disks is scratched, check this article that I wrote on removing scratches for an inexpensive and very easy way to repair it. This repair will only work for scratches though. If the disk is cracked, warped, or otherwise seriously damaged, it will need to be replaced.

There is one other thing I should mention here. There are other high precision parts inside a CD/DVD drive beside the lens. Another place that dust and dirt can cause a problem is in the tracking mechanism which moves the lens across the disk. This tracking mechanism is more robust than the lens so it can take more dirt and abuse before it fails.

The two things that will cause it to fail are a very large buildup of dust, or extreme physical abuse. If too much dust is allowed to build up, it can get packed into various places inside the drive. This can prevent the reading mechanism from being able to move to either the extreme beginning or ending point on the disk.

In cases like this, even though there is nothing really wrong with the drive, it is not usually financially practical to fix. It involves removing the drive, disassembling it, and removing the obstructing dust buildup. If you have a professional do this for you it will probably cost more than a new drive.

If you are a do-it-yourself type though you might want to give it a try. All you have to lose is an already dead drive. It’s also a great learning experience so you can see what’s involved for yourself. Besides, you might actually fix it and not need to spend the money for a new one after all.

The moral of the story is to maintain your equipment. It’s a good idea to get a can of air and a cleaner disk and use them once a week or so. By keeping the dust cleaned out on a regular basis, your drives should last many years and possibly longer than the computer.

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How to Record Sound on Your Computer Without Special Software

Voice recording on your PC or Mac can be done easily and without any additional software. Both platforms come with built in applications that you can use for this purpose.

Of course, as with any software (especially on the Windows side), if you want lots of features and functionality you have to buy something made specifically for the purpose. If you’re just looking for a quick recording though, these programs should do the job nicely.

These programs are also not limited to just recording your voice. They can record any sound. You don’t even need a separate microphone as most computers have one built in. However, if your computer has a microphone jack (which most do) you can plug in an external microphone. This will generally give you much better sound than the built in mic.

Recording Sound In Windows.

The Windows sound recorder is about as basic as it gets. You get sound recording and that’s it. There are no adjustments for anything. You may even have a limit on how long you can record depending on which version of Windows you have. This limit can range from 60 seconds with Windows XP to hours with Windows 7.

To record sound in Windows just click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, and Sound Recorder. A small, rectangular box will pop up with minimal controls. Simply click on Start Recording and recording begins. To stop, click on Stop Recording.

When you click on stop recording a dialogue box will pop up so you can save your file. Select a name for the file and where you want to save it, then click Save. Be sure to make a note of where you saved it so you can find it again.

You can now go to where you saved it and double click on it to listen. A small player box will pop up which allows you to listen, control the volume, pause, or stop.

This file can now be used as you would any other file except it is a Windows audio file which has certain limitations which will be discussed in a moment. It can be added to a web page, emailed, or even burned to a disc. It can also be played on an mp3 player if the player supports Windows audio files. If not, it will have to be converted to an mp3 format first, using a separate converter program.

As I said before, the windows sound recorder is very basic. There is no way to adjust anything while recording. As I look at the Windows 7 version, there isn’t even a way to pause while recording. You either keep going until you’re done, or make several small files and edit them together when finished.

Windows does not come with a sound editor built in. So whether you are editing out sound or stringing files together, you will need separate software to do this.

Recording Sound On Mac.

Macs come with much better built in software for recording sound than Windows. Their application is called Garage Band. It will either be in your Dock at the bottom of the screen, or in your Application Folder, or both.

This program includes a surprisingly extensive studio of sound recording and editing features. This is especially true considering it’s a free program.

Extolling the virtues of Garage Band is not the point of this article. However, it is very tempting to go into rants and raves about it. It’s just one example of the value that is built into Macs that you have to buy separately, or download, with Windows.

So, with my Windows vs Mac blinders on and just staying focused on voice recording, here is how you do it.

After clicking on the Garage Band icon you will see a dialogue box where you can either open a recent project or start a new one. Select New Project.

The next screen will ask you what kind of project you want. Select Voice and then click Choose at the bottom right corner of the screen.

The next screen will ask you for a name for the project and where you want to save it. If the folder you want to save it in does not exist, you can create a new one by clicking New Folder at the bottom left of this screen.

Give the project a name and make a note of where you save it so you can find it later. When finished click Create at the bottom right corner of the screen.

The next screen that comes up will be the actual Garage Band program. Again, I will resist the temptation to tell you all about how wonderful this is.

Select Male or Female Voice, depending on which you are recording. This setting does not make the voice sound like one or the other. It just changes the settings to sound best with each type. When I set it on Female Voice and recorded my guy voice, it still sounded like a male voice but just added some echo as if I was in a cave.

Now just click the red button at the bottom of the screen and recording will begin. In Garage Band, unlike in Windows Sound Recorder, you can pause and start up again without having to make a new recording. You can also replay right in the program instead of having to first save the file and then go find it to play it.

When you’re satisfied with your recording you have several options. You can click File and Save to just save the project. This will just save the Garage Band file but it will not be playable in any other program besides Garage Band.

To save and play in a format that can be used elsewhere click on Share. There are several options under share but to just get a regular file to use anywhere, click on Export Song to Disk.

Pardon me while I digress a bit again. Here is another area where Mac beats out Windows.

As I said before, the Windows Sound Recorder will only save a file in the Windows audio format. That means it will only play on a device that supports that format. To make these files playable by a device that does not support Windows audio files, they will need to be converted using some other program.

Garage band will save your sound file in either the mp3 or AAC formats which are playable on just about any device or computer in the world. Of the two sound recorders, this alone makes Garage Band much more useful than Windows Sound Recorder.

After clicking on Export Song to Disk, the next screen lets you choose which format you’d like to save it in. Select mp3 for a general use file and then click Export.

On next screen select a name for your file and where you want to save it. There is an option there for making a new folder if the one you want does not exist. Make a note of where you save it so you can find it again later. Click Save to save the file.

This file is now completely independent of Garage band and can be sent by email, included in a web page, burned to a disk, uploaded to an mp3 player, or just about anything else you can do with a sound file.

Conclusion.

So there you have it! Voice recording without needing to purchase any additional software. This feature is so handy for all kinds of things. You can record bird calls, your child’s first words, strange sounds one of your appliances is making, or anything else you desire.

Then you can send it to your friends, or the repair man, and they can hear exactly what you were hearing when the recording was made.

With a little imagination, this can save you a lot of money. One time one of my large, floor model power tools was making a strange noise. I recorded it and sent it to the repair facility in the next state. They were able to diagnose it for free without ever setting foot on my place. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, this saved a significant amount of money.

If you decide that these built in tools are not adequate for your needs, you may want to go the route of buying additional software or trying something you can download for free. There are many options available. This may be especially attractive if you have a Windows computer as the Windows Sound Recorder is pretty limited.

I use Adobe Soundbooth for all my sound editing. It is available in both PC and Mac. I’m not making a specific recommendation here. But in case you don’t want to go to all the trouble of searching, you can know that Adobe Soundbooth is a good product.

So now it’s your turn! Did you enjoy this article? Is there something else about this topic you would like to see discussed? Is there some other topic you would like me to write about? If so, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!

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How to Remove a Program Correctly and Completely

While it seems like a perfectly simple thing, removing a program from your computer can get kind of complicated. Especially if it’s not done correctly. So this is one of those things you should try to get comfortable with because it can become necessary more often than you might think.

New computers, especially Windows systems, usually come with lots of junk software. If not removed, this junk software can really slow your system down. It also takes up space on your hard drive which, depending on its size, can also slow your system down. It also makes the drive work harder than necessary.

Most people try out new software at least once in a while. Some of us do it constantly. If you’re like me, you do a lot of 30 day free trials. I probably keep one out of every four programs I try out. All those unneeded programs can really pile up if they’re not removed. Again, they slow down the system and take up valuable hard drive space.

Both Windows and Mac have specific methods for removing programs. They should be followed carefully to avoid leaving fragments of the program hanging around on your system. Sometimes an incorrectly removed program can cause so much trouble that it will actually reduce system performance instead of improving it.

Removing a program in Windows.

When a program is installed in Windows, it writes information to several different parts of your hard drive. It’s important to remove it correctly to make sure all the pieces are removed.

To remove a program in any version of Windows, first check to see if the manufacturer of the program has included an uninstall program. You can check for this by clicking on Start and All Programs and then finding the program in the program list.

Click on the program and see if that brings up a program group. If it does, there will often be a separate uninstall program. You can also look in the actual directory on your hard drive where the program lives. To check, go to Windows Explorer and click on the hard drive where the program is installed. Programs are usually in the Program Files Directory. The uninstall program will typically be in the same directory as the application and will be called uninstall.exe. When you find the file just double click on it and it should start the uninstall process.

If you don’t find either of these then you’ll need to use the uninstall process that comes with Windows. In Windows XP, click on Start, and Control Panel. In the Control Panel click on the item Add Remove Programs.

This will bring up a list of all the programs installed on your computer. If the list takes a while to come up, please be patient. If you have many programs on your computer it could take a minute or so to populate the list.

Once the list comes up you can scroll down it to find the program you want to uninstall. Clicking on the desired program will bring up different options depending on what’s available. Some will only have an uninstall option. Others will have additional options like repair or reinstall. Click on the one you want to do.

Once the program begins to uninstall do not interrupt the process. Even if it seems to stall, let it finish up. If you interrupt this process by restarting or running out of power (with a laptop) you can cause nearly irreparable problems with your computer and it will be extremely difficult to finish removing the program.

In Windows Vista and 7 the process is almost identical but the menu items are different. Once you bring up the Control Panel click on Programs and Features. If you’re using the Classic View in Windows Vista the Control Panel will come up in groups. In the Program group click on Uninstall Programs.

Once the list populates click on the item to be removed. Uninstall will appear as an option above the list. Click on it and follow the instructions.

Something to keep in mind during this process is to not remove too many programs at one time without restarting your computer. In fact it’s best to restart after removing each one. Sometimes Windows will ask if you want to restart to complete the uninstall and sometimes it won’t. Always Restart!

Restarting resets the computer to how it should be without the program installed. It also removes any little bits of the program that may be left in memory. If you wait to restart until many programs have been removed, Windows can get confused and end up with problems you may not be able to fix.

Before we leave the Windows side of things, let me mention a couple other things. First, removing the icon for a program from your desktop does not remove the program. It only removes the shortcut and makes it more difficult to find the program later. Most uninstall programs will remove the desktop icon too. If they don’t, only remove the icon after the program is removed properly.

Secondly, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go onto your hard drive and try to remove the files from their programs directory. This only removes part of the program but does nothing to the Windows Registry which is kind of the brainy control center of Windows.

If you do this, your computer will continue to look for the program when you start Windows. You will get constant error messages that the program cannot be found. There’s also a good chance this will damage the actual uninstall program so it will be unable to remove the rest of the program. Your only recourse will be to purchase a third party program made for fixing this sort of problem or to hire a professional to remove the rest of the program.

Removing a program on Mac.

Removing a program from your Mac is much different from doing so in Windows because the operation systems are vastly different. Special removal programs are not necessary for Mac because Mac programs are not spread all over the computer. There is no such thing as the Registry like in Windows

Mac programs tend to reside more in groups all in one place. This is reminiscent of how DOS used to be. So removing a program from your Mac usually just involves dropping it in the trash. If the application is part of a group, the whole group should be dropped in the trash.

To remove a program, first locate it in the Applications folder or in Finder. Right click (or Control-Click) on the file in Finder and then click on Show Package Contents. Right clicking on the program in the Applications Folder will bring up the same information but as folders instead of a list of files. This will show you if you’re dealing with an individual file or a group.

To remove the program, close the program group if you have it open. Drag the application file, or the program icon (depending on if viewing in Finder or the Application Folder) and hover it over the Trash icon. When trash opens up, let go and drop the program in.

This removes the program but leaves behind some additional things you may, or may not, want to get rid of. The first of these are the program preferences. These are just preferences for how you wanted the program to run or how you had it set up.

Preferences don’t typically take up much space and can be useful if you decide to reinstall the program. You won’t have to set up the whole thing over again. If you’re sure you will never reinstall it, these can be removed.

Go to Finder and click on your hard drive (default is usually Macintosh HD under Devices). Click on Library and then Preferences. The files will be small and probably numerous. You can tell by their names what program they belong to. Be careful not to remove files for programs still installed. This could cause those programs to experience missing information. If in doubt, don’t delete the files!

The other category of remaining information is Application Support. These files can be small or huge. They can be things like video or audio files imported for editing. Again, you may not want to delete these for whatever reason. If you do delete them though, there is a potential for saving lots of hard drive space.

You access Application Support files by going to your hard drive and clicking on Library and Application Support. These files are a little easier to sort out as they’re separated into program directories. For example, if you removed the iWork program, just remove the iWork directory in Application Support and everything for iWork will be gone.

One other thing you should be aware of. Removing an icon from the Doc on your Mac does not remove the program. It’s the same as removing the icon from your desktop in Windows. It only removes the icon but does nothing to the program. If you accidentally remove an icon from the Doc you can open your application folder and drag the program back to the Doc. Hover the icon over the Doc where you want it and let go.

General considerations for both platforms.

Sometimes the manufacturer of a program will include an uninstall program on the original program disk or the disk image used to install the program. This can be the case for both PC and Mac programs. So you might want to check this before uninstalling in cases where there is no specific program for the task.

These uninstall programs tend to be very thorough and will usually remove all the files associated with a program including preferences and Application Support files.

As with all procedures that involve changing things on your computer, there is always potential for problems. This is especially the case if your computer is old and the same version of Windows has been installed for a long time.

So when removing programs, it might be a good idea to make a backup first. You can also set a system restore point (Windows) just in case something goes wrong.

In the event your computer does lock up while removing a program, try pressing Control, Alt, and Delete all at the same time. This will allow you to bring up the task manager and stop the removal of the program. If the computer is completely unresponsive you can hold the power button for five to ten seconds which will power off the computer. Just keep in mind that these methods should only be used as a last resort. They are the same as interrupting the process and can result in partial uninstall that can be difficult to complete.

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How to Do a Screen Capture Without Special Software

Have you ever needed to share exactly what’s on your computer screen but had no idea how to do it?

There are many situations where this is either required or desirable. Sometimes what’s on your screen is just so cool that you can’t wait to share it with someone.

Other times, you need to show the computer repair person something that’s going on with your computer. Of course that’s like bringing your car in for repair. The problem will never show up when the experts are looking!

With a screen capture however, you can capture exactly what’s going on when it’s going on. The little problem-causing gremlins will never be able to hide again!

There are lots of programs out there that you can buy for this purpose. Most of them provide more than just screen capture though. So if you’re wanting to be more creative and add conversation bubbles, circles, arrows, or other enhancements to your screen capture, you might want to check out one of these.

I’ll mention a few of these third party programs at the end of this article.

If all you need is a simple screen capture though, and you don’t want to install additional software, here’s what you can do.

How to capture in Windows.

In Windows there are two main ways to do a screen capture depending on which version of Windows you are using. If you’re using Windows XP you will need to use the PrintScreen method. This is usually done by pressing the alt key and the print screen key at the same time. A different key besides alt may be required (like Fn or Ctrl) for your computer so you might have to experiment and see which combination works for you.

To capture the screen you’re currently viewing, just press both keys at once. This will copy the image to the clipboard of your computer. After capturing open Paint by going to Start, All Programs, Accessories, and Paint. Once Paint opens, go to the Edit menu and click on Paste. This will paste the image from your computer’s clipboard into Paint so you can crop, edit, and save it as you wish.

In Windows Vista or 7 the Snipping Tool is used to make screen captures. You access this by clicking on Start, All Programs, Accessories, and finally, Snipping Tool.

The Snipping Tool Comes up as a small dialogue box. By clicking on the drop down arrow next to New, you can select what kind of Snip you want to do. The choices are Free Form, Rectangle, Window, or Full Screen.

Rectangle is the default option so you can select what you want to capture by simply dragging the cross hairs around on the screen. You can also select the file format you want to save it in. This is pretty handy if you want to edit or enhance the file in another program before sharing it.

By the way, regarding that little dialogue box that appears on your screen when you start the Snipping Tool. It looks like it’s going to stay there and get captured along with the rest of your screen. Don’t worry though. It disappears as soon as you start to make your selection.

How to capture with Mac.

In the Mac environment you have more options for different types of screen capture. There are also several ways to do it depending on if you prefer keyboard shortcuts or menus. If you prefer keyboard shortcuts, here are the different types available. These are for MAC OSX.

Command-Shift-3: Takes a screenshot of the screen, and saves it as a file on the desktop
Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Takes a screenshot of an area and saves it as a file on the desktop
Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Takes a screenshot of a window and saves it as a file on the desktop
Command-Control-Shift-3: Takes a screenshot of the screen, and saves it to the clipboard
Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Takes a screenshot of an area and saves it to the clipboard
Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Takes a screenshot of a window and saves it to the clipboard

This list courtesy of mac rumors at http://guides.macrumors.com/Taking_Screenshots_in_Mac_OS_X

I have never had much luck memorizing the hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for the Mac! If you’re more like me and prefer menus, here’s how you do a screen capture using menus. How you do this can differ slightly depending on what version of Mac OS X you have.

Most methods use the Grab application. To open Grab, go to Applications, Utilities, and Grab. When Grab opens, go to the Capture menu item at the top of the screen and select what type of capture you’d like to do. The options are Selection, Window, Screen, or Timed Screen.

Once you choose the type you want, a dialogue box will appear with instructions. Follow the instructions and your captured image will appear on the screen. Using the Save or Save As menu items at the top of the screen you can save the file as desired.

In later versions of Mac OS X a screen capture can be made from Preview. Click on the Preview application and the File menu. From the File menu select the Grab submenu ( OS X version 10.4) and continue as above.

In the newest versions of Mac OS X the submenu under File in the Preview application is called Take Screen Shot instead of Grab. Whichever yours has, you will achieve the same results.

Third Party Capture Software.

There are a number of choices available from third parties for screen capture. As I said above, most provide more functionality than just capturing. You do pay a price for this though.

In the case of free software, you may have a watermark or small banner that appears in each capture image that advertises the software maker. Usually you have to upgrade to the paid version to get rid of this. With the paid version, the price you pay is…well…the price you pay!

Some of the more popular software titles for screen capture are Jing, Snapz Pro X, SnapnDrag, and Snagit. I have personally used both Snagit and Jing and they both work very well. Jing has a free and a pro, paid version. Snagit has a 30 day free trial and then cost $49.

Of the two I have used, Snagit is my favorite. For your $49 you get both PC and Mac versions so you can use it on both platforms if you like. It also has many annotations like conversation bubbles, arrows, shapes, and just about anything else you would need to enhance your screen capture. You can even do a 60 second video screen capture.

Since I have not used Snapz Pro X or Snapndrag, I can’t tell you how well they work. However, all the links in this article are active so you can check them out for yourself.

Whichever one you decide to use, or if you already use one, I would love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment so we can all learn from your experience.

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Importance of Credibility in Surviving an IRS Audit

It’s an amazing thing how many Americans live in fear of an IRS audit. We battle foes at home and abroad with tremendous bravery and dedication. We go to war to defend ideals and freedom. We are even willing to give our lives to right the injustices of dictators half way around the world. Yet a single letter from the IRS can often reduce us to a quivering, fearful, bundle of nerves!

There is good reason for this as the IRS has tremendous power and wields a very big stick. The unfortunate taxpayer who ends up in their radar, rightly or wrongly, can have a serious battle ahead in getting untangled from their grip.

There are many things you can do to help reduce the likelihood of an IRS audit. Obvious things come to mind like making sure you have no mathematical errors in your return and following the instructions exactly! Making sure that all income you received is included in your return and not taking ridiculous size deductions that draw attention to your return.

While it’s impossible to make a 100% guarantee that you won’t be audited, these steps will greatly reduce the likelihood of your return being individually selected for an audit. To a lesser extent, these steps may reduce the chance of a random audit too. Random audits are much more difficult to prevent, though, because they’re based on things that you don’t have a lot of control over.

That brings us to the point of this article. If you are selected for an audit, what can you do to limit the damages? Damages come in the form of increased taxes as well as increased professional fees required to deal with the audit. The two taken together can be very expensive!

In my 25 years of CPA practice I have come across one secret that is both childishly simple, yet incredibly effective in limiting these damages. That secret is:

Credibility!

Credibility is to an audit what exercise and good nutrition are to a car accident victim. These things might help a little to prevent the accident, but where they really shine is in reducing the damages.

A strong, healthy person will come out of a car accident in better shape than a weak and sickly one. In the same way, a credible person will come out of an audit in better shape than one who’s credibility has been compromised.

It is my professional opinion that credibility is the single most important element in any audit situation. Here’s why.

It’s basic human nature to want to do the minimum amount of work for the maximum gain in any given situation. This is also called return on investment. So when an auditor sits down with you to look at your records, their first order of business is to plan their attack (oh sorry, I meant audit). They want to recover as much money as they can for the least amount of effort.

By first establishing your credibility they can determine what steps they can skip and how much they can trust what you say. They also can make more assumptions of consistency. If you did something right once, you probably did it right all the time.

The difference between an audit where credibility has been established compared to when it’s been compromised can be astounding!

Let’s say the auditor asks you for your mileage log. First of all, the credible person actually has one! The auditor sees they have it, flips through, looks at a few pages, and gives it back. No adjustment!

Where credibility is suspect the auditor looks at every page and checks for completeness on every entry. Then they check to see if it’s written with the same pen all the way through. Does the writing differ sometimes, or does it look like all the entries were written at the same time?

The auditor may actually add it up and make sure everything makes sense intuitively. They may ask you questions designed to catch you in a lie or ask you to prove many of the entries. They may even look at the copyright date of the log itself to see if you just bought it and filled it in the night before.

Now multiply that simple difference by all the areas an auditor could possibly look at! Even if they don’t find anything wrong, you (or your tax advisor) could end up wasting a lot of time!

(Speaking of your tax advisor, NEVER represent yourself in an IRS audit unless you prepared the return yourself. Even then I wouldn’t recommend it. IRS agents are trained to make you incriminate yourself even if you’ve done nothing wrong. Even if you know the tax law, you probably don’t know your rights well enough to know what you are required to say or not say. Hire a CPA and make sure you don’t come to the audit meeting!)

What’s of much greater concern is this. The more they look, the more likely they are to actually find a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. The name of the game though is to keep them to a minimum and then hope no damage is done by them.

In the event mistakes are found the credible person is much more likely to have them overlooked. In fact, I have seen auditors actually find a mistake but let the credible person get away with it. The non-credible person will not enjoy this luxury. They will be nickel and dimed for every little thing the auditor can find.

The credible person will almost always enjoy an assumption of innocence until proven guilty. The non-credible person will find himself constantly trying to prove his own innocence while the auditor assumes guilt.

Finally, there is an element of confidence a taxpayer and a tax advisor enjoy when credibility is established. It can actually be used as a stick against the auditor. I have had initial meetings with auditors where I have put them on notice that if they play hardball, I will make them get a subpoena for every single thing they want to see.

I would never consider saying this without absolute certainty of credibility. The auditor generally does not really need a subpoena for everything. This is more a verbal picture which says I will be as uncooperative as legally possible and make them work for everything they want to see.

The fact is, the only reason I have ever fired a client is because I felt they lost credibility because they lied to me or suggested doing something they knew was absolutely illegal! That’s how important this issue is to me!

Credibility is not something you can suddenly acquire when it’s needed. It is something you build over time. So it’s important to keep it in mind at all times. Here are some actionable steps you can take to establish your credibility as well as maintain it.

Follow the law to the best of your ability. It’s okay to use the law to your maximum advantage, but try never to break it.
Pay attention to the details. If the regulations say you should have a mileage log for example, get one and use it. Make sure you include every detail required.
Watch those personal expenses. One of the most frequent things tax preparers see is personal expense mixed in with business. If you buy a candy bar at the office supply store, either pay for it separately, or make sure you don’t deduct it with the rest of the receipt.
Keep orderly records. Don’t just throw everything in a shoebox. Even sorting them into separate envelopes for each type of expense will help. If you look like you have no idea what you’re doing, it can reflect as much on credibility as intentional misconduct.
Don’t make jokes about illegal deductions or hiding your income to your tax preparer or an auditor. This may sound like obvious advice but it’s amazing how many people make this mistake. They go to great lengths to be credible and then ruin it at the last moment with foolish speech. The more you joke about this stuff, the more people will start to wonder if you really mean it.

If you keep these simple precepts in mind, they will do a great deal to establish and maintain your credibility.

I hope I have helped you to see how important credibility is as well as what you can do to keep yours intact.

Now it’s your turn!

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