… create a PDF.

I forget at times just how easy it is to do things and it’s usually when my wife asks “how do you…” that I realise I’ve been glib or dismissive in trying to pass on knowledge.

So today I bring you 4 ways to create a PDF.

1. Buy an application. Honest, this is probably the expected way and there are many, many options here. From the original Adobe PDF (not the reader) to CutePDF to Foxit … well, google’s your friend.
2. My preferred method is to use Adobe’s InDesign and it’s built-in export to PDF
3. For a free method create it in wordpad (it’s a free cutdown version of word included with every Windows PC) and print to it using a PDF printer driver such as the one from PrimoPDF. Once installed you treat it like any printer except it outputs to a physical file on your computer.
4. Finally, another way is to use an online convertor such as the one at FreePDFConvert.

There are pro’s and cons to each of the above methods with the first two having the major con of cost, whereas the later two have issues of security or restriction in what you can convert or create in the first place.

Why you’d want to create a PDF is an entire new set of reasons that I’ll leave to your imaginations.

I’ve long been a fan of solarwinds and love using their free tools.

I just wish I could afford to play with some of their paid for tools as they look ultra cool and ultra geeky. That suits me just fine.

The latest free tool to their stable is the “Network Config Generator“.

It looks like it could be a really useful tool to anyone who has a dislike of configuring network devices. There appears to be little restriction on what type of network devices that can be configured by it from firewalls to routers to switches so long as they have a CLI style access.

You can create your own configurations or you can utilise a template. The tool comes with a few templates already built in and more accessible via Thwack (solarwinds forum / resource site) and they are likely wanting to rely on the massed ranks of network engineers to supply more – and I’m certain that will happen.

I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet myself as it requires a live connection to a device and I don’t have any to hand.

Anyway, check it out if you need it and let me know how you get on.

On facebook, the majority of my friends are non-technical folks so in a recent status update I asked them what they most want to know about IT and I said I’ll try my best to answer them.

An old friend was second to the plate as I chose to ignore my son’s initial attempt at inciting my disdain. She asked:

If I want to get a full-time IT person for the company…what technical questions should I ask to make sure he knows his stuff

Well my first answer is don’t restrict yourself to just a him! I’ve worked with some excellent female techs down the years and wish there were many more in the industry, but enough of the aside … (more…)

Those of you that have been reading this blog awhile may have noticed that my suggestions tab disappeared.

Two main reasons – it never saw any action and I forgot to re-apply the code when I changed my theme. However, I was reminded today by an email from the founder of Skribit that I’d lost my connection.

But who & what is skribit? Well if like me you tend to hide under a rock and pop up occasionally you may have missed the launch of this some 18 months back. However since then it has effectively been in active development and although their about page still claims this is the case the email also reminded me that they are now ready for ’showtime’.

In short they’re coming out of their beta phase and are ready for more. Anyway, they are a group of bloggers and internet entrepreneurs who, like me, want to blog more but get stuck for ideas.So along comes a way to utilise your audience to provide insights, ideas, etc for you to blog about.

So skribit, essentially “cures writer’s block by tapping your blog’s readership for post suggestions“.

This is done by clicking on the skribit “Suggestion” tab that appears (hopefully) on every page you visit – so whether you land on my home page or on a sub-page you should be able to click it and add your suggestions. As a suggestee you can even create your own skirbit account to track your suggestions and receive notification when it has been blogged about.

I think it’s a great tool for bloggers like myself who struggle with ideas and getting input from readers is always the aim of any blog. If this is one way for the reader to get an idea blogged about then great. If it encourages folks to read or use the site more, then even better.

However, I feel it’s one major drawback will be the reader themselves. I don’t know why and certainly don’t understand but some blogs just get more commenter’s than others and those that do will find skribit used whereas those that don’t will find that it is likely that their skribit button doesn’t get touched.

C’est la vie I guess – but anyway, it is back and here’s to seeing your ideas and suggestions as to topics you’d like to see covered.

I got this email yesterday:

Over the past couple of days I’ve been thinking about Wi-Fi being provided free (secure and filtered) by churches and Christians. The idea came to me when I noticed a guy outside of my house in the cold, winter weather accessing my wireless with some kind of hand held device. I was thinking that it would be cool if people were able to access a connection for free BUT there would always be one pop-up at the beginning of the access…sort of a “provided by” message along with some other message. like info about a church or group or the gospel message for that matter, or maybe a link with info on donating to specific charities or disaster relief. I would think that would be only a minor inconvenience if one was able to access the internet for free. What are you’re thoughts on that?

I confess my first thought would not have been a charitable one if I’d seen someone outside my house trying to access my wifi. First I’d think best of luck and then I’d instantly change my pre-shared key . Me, paranoid?

But to answer the question the answer I gave was “I love the idea” … (more…)