Tech Q & A

Q. I have Windows XP home edition on a Dell machine. What is the easiest way to shrink a jpg photo for e-mailing once I get it downloaded into the computer?

A. Microsoft offers an image resizer “powertoy” that makes quick work out of the kind of shoot from the hip picture shrinkage you envision for those bulky jpg images. Go to www.Microsoft.com/downloads and use “powertoys” as a search term to find a list of utilities, including Image Resizer. Download and install it and all you’ll need to do is right-click on an image to call up a resize command in the menu that pops up. You can make a copy of a huge jpg as small as 640 x 480 pixels —about 21 kilobytes — which is perfect for e-mail.