Computer Tips

Holiday Computer Madness

: photo credit: Hometown Invasion Tour

Every year for the last 7-8 years, I bring up a version of this tip to help save you time and money during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years visiting season. Please follow the advice. I can guarantee that it will save you and your computer lots of grief.

With all the traveling done during the holidays, your computer is bound to be taken hostage by friends and family wanting to check their email or play a game or two. Unlike the TV, a computer can be victimized, unintentionally, by all this attention. When everyone returns home, you may not recognize your computer or have problems with the way it runs.

If you like the way your computer is running currently, set a few ground rules for the use of your computer (and please follow the same rules if you are the one doing the borrowing of a loved ones precious PC). In no particular order, here they are: Continue reading →

5 Simple Rules to avoid SCD (Slow Computer Disease)

photo credit: jennconspiracy

I’ve written about this before, but it bares repeating on occasion for new visitors to the site and long time visitors who haven’t learned yet. The advice is simple:

Do not download free screensavers, wallpaper, email programs (Incredimail, etc), or games from the Internet.

Unless you are WELL versed in the origin of these items, they can easily destroy your computer’s ability to compute.

“Slow computer” is the most common computer ailment Windows users search for on the web. Sadly, slow computer disease (SCD*), does not have to be the pandemic it is because it is 100% preventable.

Here are my 5 simple rules to prevent SCD for Windows users: Continue reading →

Application Tips / Computer User Group / General Computer Tips / Macintosh / Ubuntu Tips — 2 Comments
11
Nov 09

How to print labels the EASY way! – Video Tip

I know I’m late for this year’s Christmas season, but you can learn and start using this tip TODAY to make next year’s Christmas card mailings a breeze.

Too many computer users have no idea what a database is, how to use it, and how to merge it with another program to create labels. Since printing mailing labels is only a once per year activity for many of you, learning how to do it again every single year requires too much time and frustration.

In this week’s tip, I take all of the mystery and hysteria out of creating and printing mailing labels. You will thank me every November when you need to print out your mailing labels. The tip centers around creating a word processing document where you can store, edit and print your labels quickly and easily. Watch the video as many times as you need to and you will NEVER be frustrated with printing labels again!!

If you can’t understand and utilize this tip to print your labels, get out your best pen and write them out instead.

Application Tips / Internet Tips — 13 Comments
7
Nov 09

How to download, install & configure AVG Free 9.0 – Video Tip

AVG released version 9 of their free antivirus/antispyware product a couple of weeks ago. You may have started to see notifications from them that you need to update before December 1. Typically, they provide a deadline, but previous versions work for a number of months after the deadline.

After using the new version for awhile, it appears they did make it faster and improve the scanning speeds as well.

If you currently use a previous version of AVG, there is no need to uninstall the old version before proceeding with this one. The installation process will simply upgrade your old version.

If, however, you currently use any other antivirus product, you need to uninstall it before proceeding with this installation.

Here’s how to complete the installation: Continue reading →

Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 12 Comments
6
Nov 09

7 Google services you have never tried

Google Sign Google started as a college project 12 years ago, then as a startup search engine just 10 years ago. Today, Google owns more than 60% of all web search traffic and employs close to 22,000 employees worldwide.

You probably interact with Google via their search engine primarily. However, you are missing out on some truly great services that Google also provides in addition to their fast and accurate search engine.

In this article, I will share 7 of the many other services Google provides.

Google News

When you arrive at google.com, click the link that says News at the top of the page or you can directly visit news.google.com. Google News is an auto-generated news page that refreshes automatically every 5-10 minutes and displays headlines from more than 4500 news sources around the world. To me, it is the ultimate newspaper?unbiased and unfiltered. And even more helpful, starting a Continue reading →

Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 11 Comments
4
Nov 09

Troubleshooting Your High Speed Internet Connection

photo credit: geo462rge

This tip needs to come back to the front page again. I’ve helped many more people the last few weeks with this issue.

Please print it and hang it by your computer…and send it your friends as well.

I posted this tip many moons ago, but wanted to bring it back to the front page because we have so many new high speed Internet users. Click the Printer Friendly option at the bottom of this tip, print it out and post it next to your computer…you will be glad you did.

Routers take high speed Internet signals and then distribute the signal (route) to multiple computers. Sometimes, however, the signal gets lost and an Internet connection cannot be made. This can be due to multiple reasons, but most can be rectified the same way. Before you reach for the phone or grumble under your breath, follow this simple and highly effective procedure to get your system(s) up and running again.

Shut off Continue reading →

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 8 Comments
3
Nov 09

I don’t miss spam

Margaret Shaffhauser with bull terrier dog at the Canine Association Show, 3 Nov 1934 / by Ted Hood

photo credit: State Library of New South Wales collection

I just emptied 536 spam from my email spam folder.

Today, I ran across some clients who had problems with email spam, and I recanted the following story.

Once upon a time, my email inbox was filled to the brim with spam every single day. Then one cool autumn day in Las Vegas, Nevada at the now defunct Comdex show in 2000 or 2001, I met some nice folks from a startup company called Cloudmark. They were discussing and promoting a new way to combat spam that used human eyes and minds to identify spam instead of computer algorithms.

Intrigued, I immediately downloaded and started using it upon my return from Vegas. Cloudmark was nothing short of Continue reading →

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 1 Comment
3
Nov 09

Changing email addresses – It’s not that difficult

photo credit: TheeErin

AOL made millions of dollars for years because computer users are afraid to change their email addresses. All week long, I hear, “Oh, it’s too hard to change email addresses now.” Or, “It will take forever to change my email address with everyone.”

Come on folks…we’re using computers! You don’t have to fill out a change of address form and march it down to the postal office. You don’t have to send out a post card to every person you know. You don’t have to fill out a change of address for all your bills and utilities.

Changing email addresses is actually pretty painless and can be cathartic as well. In fact, think of it as going into the digital identity protection program. Here’s how to make it a smooth transition Continue reading →

General Computer Tips — 4 Comments
2
Nov 09

Should I backup?

photo credit: daryl_mitchell

Should you carry health insurance? Should you carry car insurance? Should you save for retirement? Should you eat every day? Does a bear…. Well, hopefully you get the picture. The answer is a resounding YES!!

You should backup, and depending on your computer needs and usage your backups should occur frequently (sometimes daily). Many computer users equate backing up their computers with their mother’s giving them castor oil. It’s no fun, but a necessary evil. What is castor oil any way?

Things you should backup on your computer include Continue reading →

Internet Tips — 4 Comments
1
Nov 09

How to create a customized Google Map – Video Tip

After I created an interactive, customized map showing all of the wifi hotspots in Grand Junction, CO, many folks asked my how I did it. Since it is such a visual process, I put together this short instructional video to show you how you can create your own customized Google Map.