Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners » Hardware Tips

How to burn a CD with Windows XP

Rick — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:09:38 +0000

Floppy disks are slowly disappearing from the computer landscape. In fact, more and more companies are not including floppy drives as standard equipment. I say good riddance except for one thing...they were easy to use. Computer users felt comfortable copying and backing up information to these slow, yet convenient drives.

For quick and roomy storage today, I recommend flash memory drives (click here for a tip describing these).

How to Use the “Extra” Keys on Your Keyboard

Rick — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:18:26 +0000

There are roughly 50 keys on your keyboard that you use on a regular basis, but there are at least 104 total keys on your keyboard. So, what are those other keys for? Here is a list of the keys you may not be using that can make your life a lot easier - in no particular order. F1 - The F1 key is located above your number and letter keypad. In almost any program anywhere in Windows, pressing F1 will bring up your help screen. From the help screen you can look up topics and learn more about the program you are using. PRINT SCREEN (PRT SCR, PRNT SCR, etc.) - Located to the right of the F keys, the Print Screen button is handy for capturing the contents of your entire screen onto the clipboard. After hitting Print Screen, you can click on EDIT->PASTE in almost any program and an image of the screen capture will come up on the screen. TIP: Holding ALT while hitting the Print Screen button will capture only the active window.

Adding RAM to increase computer speed – Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:45:49 +0000

RAM is the temporary memory that the computer uses to give us the feeling of programs opening and running with some pep. It's like giving your computer a larger desk to work from so it can spread out and find things more efficiently. RAM also allows us to open multiple computer programs at the same time with less impact on the speed of the computer.

256 megabytes used to be a lot of RAM. Today, I'm recommending users have at least

Customize the mouse to fit your needs – Video Tip

Rick — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:18:03 +0000

Too many people start using a computer and don’t know how to customize its settings to best suit there needs. The mouse is one of the worst offenders…especially for low vision folks or computer users with other disabilities. This short video tutorial will help anyone get the mouse to work the best way possible for [...]

Digital Readers and E-books

Rick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:53:50 +0000

Amazon released their version of a digital reader, called the Kindle, in late 2007. It received a lot of attention at the time, but not as much as its new version released this spring. Amazon states that more than 285,000 books are available for download and purchase, 50,000 audio books, and there are many magazine [...]

Device to Convert LPs to MP3

Rick — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:03:37 +0000

I’ve written about converting LPs to MP3 before, but I just stumbled on this new device from Denon that makes it even easier to convert LP music to digital music. Just plug a USB flash drive into the turntable, play your LP and off you go…mostly. Check out their site for more information. Denon USA | [...]

Save paper & ink – PrintWhatYouLike.com

Rick — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:44:49 +0000

If you haven’t taken advantage of my tip on how to print just what you select from a web site/email or my tip on finding printer friendly versions of articles you want to print (which can be combined with the first tip), then you might want to take a look at the Print what you [...]

DSL Users – The line filters are important

Rick — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:38:37 +0000

I run into this issue a few times every month and don’t know why I haven’t written a tip about it yet. When a computer user signs up for DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), a DSL kit is delivered to their home. Like many of us, the instructions get pushed to the side or are left [...]

Modems and Routers need air too

Rick — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:57:50 +0000

I talk and write a lot about making sure that your computer has plenty of ventilation around it so it won’t over heat. Computers suffer greatly when exposed to too much heat. That same principle, however, also applies to high speed cable and DSL modems and routers we use to share those high speed connections. [...]

Four techniques for erasing your old hard drive

Rick — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:27:52 +0000

When you replace an old computer, you need to take steps to protect the data that was on that computer prior to donating it, selling it or even throwing it out or recycling it. Too many computer degenerates use the data that can be found on old hard drives to try and steal your identity. [...]