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Computer User Group

The Castellini Approach to Internet Security – Updated 2020

The Castellini Approach to Internet Security

This past week I saw way too many people who aren’t taking advantage of the free information we give out on the show and the web site. Their computers were suffocating from a preventable disease…viruses and spyware. Yes, preventable, almost 100%. And fighting the war on our home computer security front does not have to be costly or time consuming.

We talk about this subject quite a bit on the program and the web site because of its rapid growth worldwide. In today’s tip, I am providing you with links to information that we have on this site that has been up for months to years that contain the essential information about protecting your computer.

How to fix a slow computer

Any article on fixing a slow computer would be incomplete if it didn’t talk about prevention. Learning about your computer is paramount to preventing problems. Following are articles I recommend that all computer users familiarize themselves with to prevent problems: Backing up your important information Recommended approach to security Using Microsoft Security software Learn how to search the web and… Read More »How to fix a slow computer

Create Your OWN Personalized Newspaper Online – Video Tip

In this month’s group, we talked about and demonstrated how to set up a web page that can be personalized. I like to use a customized web page (portal) as my home page (first page that shows up when I start my browser). We looked at the Yahoo portal (My Yahoo) and the newer Google customized home page.

Both services require that you register and setup a user name and password. Once you register, you can customize your page to include weather information, stock portfolios, sports news and scores, news from industries or topics that you choose, comics, and even content from other web pages. Both services are free and give you the flexibility to add, subtract and edit any type of data that you choose.

  • After you sign in, first look for the

Getting the most of searching the web and using Browser tabs – Video Tip

We had a great class today and talked about many aspects of searching the web safely and efficiently. The videos below cover the material we discussed in class including some answers to questions we talked about during the class as well relating to changing your home page, working with title bar, the new Gmail compose screen and more. How to… Read More »Getting the most of searching the web and using Browser tabs – Video Tip

Create Labels Online – Video Tip

Avery’s Design & Print labels is a fantastic resource to create labels from your computer with nothing to buy except the labels!  Avery developed this free service so that you can create quick, clean and flexible labels. The service is free and works inside your browser. Since it is a Web 2.0 application (works in your web browser), any computer… Read More »Create Labels Online – Video Tip

Google Earth & Internet Maps

Google acquired a CIA funded mapping and satellite company in 2004 and released Google Earth less than a year later. Most images that make up Google Earth are 1-3 years old and taken from a variety of public and private satellite imaging systems. Google Earth imagery is not live and has never been live. Google offers Google Earth for free… Read More »Google Earth & Internet Maps

All 50+ of my Gmail tips

You know that I’m a huge Gmail fan and have written and recorded many tips for the email service here for you at HelpMeRick.com. This short post simply gives you a quick and easy way to access ALL those Gmail tips by clicking here ! Enjoy and leave any Gmail related questions you have in the comments! Thanks.

1-click access to your favorite websites – Video Tip

Please DO NOT use the address bar as a repository to return to sites you use all the time…eventually they will get lost. The address bar history maintains a small amount of your recently visited site and can easily be wiped out via an update or disk cleaning and maintenance tools.

Instead, use the Favorites (Internet Explorer) or Bookmarks (Firefox and every other browser). Favorites/Bookmarks are designed to save and give you quick access to your most used sites and sites you just want to keep track of for later use. Also, you can back them up easily.

If you are like me, you visit a handful of web sites every single day and sometimes multiple times per day. Having bookmarks to these sites works fine, but that requires a minimum of three clicks to reach your favorite sites.

In this video, I describe how to get 1-click access to your favorites using the extremely underutilized Links toolbar (Internet Explorer) and the Bookmarks toolbar (Mozilla Firefox).

This tip requires no downloading and no installation of extra software. Everything is built-in to the browser and available to you right now. So watch the video and learn how to take charge of these extremely useful tools you never knew how to use!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwE__e7oYq4&hl=en]