Phil Bradley trawls the internet to find the answers to this month’s readers’ queries.
Q: I am a keen user of talking books and I would like to find a cheap website from which I can download adult and children’s books to my iPod or computer. Do you know of any good sites?
A: A quick search for ‘free audio books iPod’ came up with a number of good results and I just scanned the first 10 or so and chose:
www.audiobooksforfree.com/
www.freeclassicaudiobooks.com/
http://audio-book-swicki.eurekster.com/
free+audio+Books+for+iPOD/
They should keep you browsing happily!
Q: I’m leading some research which involves people in other organisations. We want somewhere where we can share and update files, where any of us can update them, but other people can’t get access.
A: There are a lot of the new ‘Web 2.0’ utilities that should do what you want – I would suggest Writely, but unfortunately that’s just been bought by Google and they’ve closed off new registrations until they’ve ported it across.
However, there are a bunch of other utilities that you might want to consider, and I’ve got a few listed at www.philb.com/iwantto/collaborate.htm (2nd category); there’s another nine applications there that might do the job.
Q: I have a user who has come to me wanting to learn how to use a computer. He has had several strokes and his hands are almost numb. When he uses the mouse, he has a tendency to press the right click (even though I try to keep his finger off it). Is there any way to disable the right click entirely?
A: There are a couple of different ways you can do this.
The first is to make changes to the Windows Registry. This is not to be undertaken lightly as you can really cause problems to your system, so I would advise getting a technician involved if you’re not comfortable doing this. It’s fairly straightforward, but since I don’t have a lot of space I’ll simply direct you to http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-42444.html which explains it in more detail.
Alternatively, there is a product called ‘Mousecage’ (www.mousecage.org/) which is software designed for people who have hand tremor problems. It’s commercial software though, at about £20. However, its advantage is that it’s much easier to turn on/off than making a Registry change.
Site of the month
I thought it was about time for a couple of silly ones again. These have no practical benefit at all, other than making you smile, but that’s a good thing in itself.
The first of these is www.davidbessler.com/pulldown/pipecleaner_dance.html it’s amazingly silly – just a sound track and little pipecleaner man that you can make dance to the music. It will however keep you occupied for hours, but don’t turn up the sound too much on your system! Secondly, if you want to really go dizzy take a look at www.newportharbor.us/computerworks.htm to see what really goes on behind your computer screen.
Phil Bradley is an internet consultant, trainer, web designer and author. Visit www.philb.com for free information on internet introductions, search engine articles, web design tips and a host of other free information. New: 3rd edn of The Advanced Internet Searcher’s Handbook is now available! If you have any questions about the internet send an email to philb@philb.com with the subject header ‘column query’.
Updated: 19 April 2006