gHacks technology news » scanner http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:26:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Document Scanning With Digital Cameras http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/07/document-scanning-with-digital-cameras/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/07/document-scanning-with-digital-cameras/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:26:59 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9719 Document scanning can be done with digital cameras. The process is very similar to scanning documents with a scanner. Instead of using a scanner that is connected to the computer to scan the document a picture of the document is taken and uploaded to the computer. The result is the same: A document in electronic form on the computer. Using a digital camera for document scanning might not result in professional scans that high quality scanners produce but it certainly is enough for every day scanning activities.

Results vary depending on the digital camera used but it can be basically said that most digital cameras should be able to produce a good enough scan. It is a good idea to use enough lighting and place the document on a one colored background. This makes it easier later on to process the scanned document in an image editor.

It really depends on the purpose of the scan. If you just want to scan a document to a friend or family member a simple image might suffice but if you have to send it to authorities, business or other formal contacts you might want to make sure that it looks extra fine.

The one colored background ensures that it is easy to copy and paste the document to create a new document that is using the exact document borders as its resolution. This looks way more professional than a document photographed on a kitchen table.

The scanned document can then be printed or send electronically. It is really an easy and efficient process. Have additional tips? Let us hear them.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/07/document-scanning-with-digital-cameras/feed/ 5 Combine Printer And Scanner Into A Photocopier http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/26/combine-printer-and-scanner-into-a-photocopier/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/26/combine-printer-and-scanner-into-a-photocopier/#comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:42:18 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=6493 Combining a printer and scanner into a photocopier is probably not suited for people who have to photocopy many documents each day but it can be a valid and great way to quickly make some photocopies when you need some and have no photocopier but a scanner and printer at hand.

Photocopier (via Inspect My Gadget) is a name of a free software program that can emulate a photocopier by utilizing a connected printer and scanner. The process itself has been designed to be as uncomplicated as possible. At best the only requirement is to put the paper into the scanner and press the copy button to start the photocopying process.

If everything goes as planned the printer should print out a copy of the document that has been put into the scanner. The Photocopier software program runs on all Windows operating systems starting with Windows 95 including Windows XP and Windows Vista.

photocopier

The only other requirements are a printer that is connected to the system and a scanner that supports Twain. A few other settings are available. The user can pick the number of copies that should be made, the brightness of the scan, the scanning mode and basic scaling.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/08/26/combine-printer-and-scanner-into-a-photocopier/feed/ 4 Automatically Scan, Convert and Burn Multi-Page Papers http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/16/automatically-scan-convert-and-burn-multi-page-papers/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/16/automatically-scan-convert-and-burn-multi-page-papers/#comments Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:13:28 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5349 I once had the pleasure to scan hundreds of papers manually which was a tedious job that took hours to complete. Back then I thought that a automatic solution would have been wonderful, one where I only had to to add the papers that should be scanned into the scanner and press a button in the operating system.

It’s a bit late but the software QQScan2Disc does that. Well, it actually does even more than that because it can convert the scanned papers into pdf format and burn them to DVD.

The requirements are an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) Scanner and a computer with Windows XP or Windows Vista. A list of supported scanners is available on the website of the program, they are: Plustek PS281, PS282/286, PL806/812, PL1200, PL1500, PL3000, PL7000/7500, PL2546, OB4600, D428, D600, A320/360 with an option to request the addition of other devices.

scan and burn documents

The user picks a scanner upon start and configures some of the settings like color mode, resolution, file format and page size. The write settings specify the CD or DVD drive that will be used to store the scanned papers which can be stored in original format, pdf format or both on the disk.

Everything is automatic after that point. The documents will be scanned automatically and burned to the disk in the formats that you have selected.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/16/automatically-scan-convert-and-burn-multi-page-papers/feed/ 0 Use your Printer and Scanner as a Copier http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/09/use-your-printer-and-scanner-as-a-copier/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/09/use-your-printer-and-scanner-as-a-copier/#comments Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:37:29 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/09/use-your-printer-and-scanner-as-a-copier/ A copier machine is basically a scanner and printer in one device. The clever folks that coded iCopy thought that it would be equally nice to use two machines – that is a printer and a scanner – to emulate a copier. You can use iCopy to scan a document with your scanner and print it afterwards on your copier, all in one task and hassle free.

I found this nice tip at the One Tip a Day blog who himself got it from Digital Inspirations. The open source software iCopy does not require installation and can be run from any location including USB devices.

Just place a document on your scanner and press a button in iCopy to start the process that prints the document in the end. It’s possible to set a quality level in iCopy as well as a brightness and contrast level for the scanned image. Several copies can be printed one after another as well.

turn printer and scanner into copier

iCopy works with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Microsoft Server 2003 with the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher installed.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/08/09/use-your-printer-and-scanner-as-a-copier/feed/ 3 Can’t delete virus ? Try Killbox http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/13/cant-delete-virus-try-killbox/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/13/cant-delete-virus-try-killbox/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:06:41 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/13/cant-delete-virus-try-killbox/ You might have come upon this problem during scans for viruses and Trojans on your system. A malicious file was identified by your favorite virus scanner and it prompts for action. You can delete, move, rename or move the file into quarantine. It is however not possible to delete malicious files when you choose to delete them because they are currently in use and can’t be therefor deleted.

One way to cope with the situation would be use the freeware Pocket Killbox which deletes selected files before the next system start. Simply start Pocket Killbox and navigate to the file that was identified as a virus. Select delete on reboot and hit the red X icon on the upper right corner of Pocket Killbox. It will prompt for a reboot, select yes and the virus should be automatically deleted during startup.

Just perform a second scan to make sure the virus was really deleted b Pocket Killbox. Another way would be to use the great free program Unlocker which will kill every process that is keeping the file busy. This would mean that you can delete the file in Windows directly without rebooting your computer. It might however have problems with some special system files that have been infected.

Just try both methods and start with Unlocker. Reference to Pocket Killbox first seen on Technibble.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/03/13/cant-delete-virus-try-killbox/feed/ 3 Clam Win Antivirus http://www.ghacks.net/2005/12/02/clam-win-antivirus/ http://www.ghacks.net/2005/12/02/clam-win-antivirus/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2005 08:36:20 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=194 After a lot of people told me that I forgot one of the best anti-virus freeware products out there I decided to take a look at Clam Win to get a better judgment on the claims made. The good thing besides that its free is that it´s also Open Source which makes it more transparent than the rest of the free antivirus programs.

The program is easy to download and install which is also a plus, just download, double click on the downloaded tool and you are ready to go. You have the option to include different languages, the source and add windows explorer and outlook integration. I´am not using Outlook so I removed this option and left everything else untouched for now.

clam anti virus antivirus 1 clam anti virus antivirus 1

The user interface is a basic one, you don´t have all the nifty graphics most other antivirus programs use. Clam is simply in that way, but its also fast due to this. I don´t care about looks if a program does what I expect it to do, but I know there are lots of people who like a resource eating monster like Symantec Internet Security more than a freeware program without the cool animated effects.

You have lots of configuration options, you can set filters, email alerts, schedule scans and use a proxy for the automatic internet updates if you like. Automatic updates are a great plus for Clam, my current antivirus software that I use (AVG) does not have automatic updates, you have to start the updates manually which is a great hassle. Especially when you don´t know if there has been a update at all.

What I don´t like about Clam is that its only having a plugin for outlook which is the most used email software of course but should not be used by anyone serious about making his pc more secure.

I can recommend Clam Win especially to users of Microsoft Outlook and users who tend to forgot to check for internet updates of their antivirus software. Resources accessed are minimal which is also a good thing for an anti-virus product.

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