Q, I'm looking for a program that can write and print wallet-size checks. Can you help me find something, Mr. M?

A. Check-printer programs are a dime a dozen, but finding one that prints wallet-size checks was a challenge. Take at look at the cleverly named Check Printer program. Unlike other check-printing applications that require you to purchase blank checks, this program prints checks removed from your checkbook -- ideally, with your permission. It allows you to align your printing with blank checks in a variety of formats, including wallet-size checks. You can try Check Printer for free and it’s only nine dollars to register, if you decide to keep it.

Q. My office is always sending me .PDF documents and I’m never quite sure what to do with them. Can you explain how to read a PDF document?

A. PDF-formatted documents are documents that are created in Adobe Acrobat’s Portable Document Format. Documents are created as .PDF files so they can be viewed as intended by the creator of the document and not edited. The most popular program for viewing .PDF documents is the free Adobe Acrobat Reader at http://tinyurl.com/2dkkgw. You probably won’t need any help installing it, but if you do, you can view my excruciatingly detailed instructions at http://tinyurl.com/6ys9sm.

Once the Acrobat Reader is installed, when you encounter a .PDF file, double-click the file, which will cause the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and display the .PDF-formatted document.

Though the Adobe Reader is arguably the most popular .PDF Reader, it’s also a bit on the portly side, weighing in at a whopping 27.5MB. For a much smaller, equally outstanding and free .PDF Reader, I prefer the free Foxit Reader at http://tinyurl.com/4a4a6, which is a svelte 1.5MB.

Q. What’s the difference between a computer file and a computer folder?

A. Your hard drive contains thousands of files, many of which are contained in folders. Files comprise programs as well as stand-alone bits of saved information. A file can be a letter, a spreadsheet, a scanned image, a photograph or a page you download from the Web.

Folders are used to organize files. Think of them as you would file folders used to organize documents in a file cabinet. Computer folders may contain many different files and may contain other folders, as well. Folders within folders are called sub-folders.

In the primordial days of computing, file names were limited to eight characters with a three-character file extension, such as MYLETTER.DOC. If you were a prolific letter writer, you became very creative when naming files. Unfortunately, the eight-character limitation meant that users frequently had to open a file to see what it was because the file name was too cryptic.

Today, lengthy, descriptive file names make file and folder identification much easier. For example, what might have been LTR2TMNY.DOC in the old days, today might be LETTER TO TOM RE TRIP TO NEW YORK.DOC. Filenames can be up to 255 characters in length. As a point of reference, this paragraph contains 267 characters.

Mr. Modem's Sites of the Week:

ErrorWear
Embrace your personal computer-related crises in style by displaying them on your t-shirt. Categories of error messages include PC and Mac-related errors, http errors, server errors and more. What self-respecting, fashion-conscious geekster wouldn’t want to display his or her favorite error messages? Makes a great gift, too!
www.errorwear.com/errorwear.html

Scrapbooker Online
Do you love scrapbooking? Who doesn’t? If so, you'll want to bookmark this online community created for scrapbook artists and enthusiasts to gather and share their scrapbooking ideas, tips, tricks, and results.
www.scrapbookeronline.com

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