HelpMeRick.com - Computer help for beginners - Castellini on Computers » Internet Tips

5 Steps to Using Online Financial Sites Safely

Rick — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:48:29 +0000

Every year computer users using the Internet to check account balances, transactions, and even paying bills grows by nearly 30%. According to one Pew study, more than 50 million Americans use online banking services. 50 million sounds like a large number, but that still reflects less than 50% of online American adults. Bank web sites continue to evolve by becoming easier to use, more secure, and more helpful than ever before. In fact, many banks rather that their customers check their web site for answers rather than call or visit a branch. However, many people shy away from online banking because of security fears. I?m going to outline, for you, five simple steps that you can take to keep yourself and your finances safe on the Internet.

Web surfing 101…again

Rick — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:08:00 +0000

Catching up on my reading, I ran across yet another article outlining how easily unsuspecting web users can be duped into infecting their machines and voluntarily giving up their own hard earned money. You MUST read this article, IF you want to keep yourself, your wallet, and your computer safe. Wired published the article I [...]

How to correct Send Later issue in Thunderbird – Notes

Rick — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:03:56 +0000

A client recently emailed me that he had a problem with his Thunderbird showing the Send Later icon vs. Send icon when composing mail. This is due to Thunderbird being accidentally set to Offline mode. Here’s how to correct it: On the main opening screen of Thunderbird, Click File from the menus Click Offline UNCHECK [...]

How to print stuff from the web the way YOU want it – Notes

Rick — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:15:43 +0000

I created these notes for a client today who visits many sites with text that prints small. She knows how to make the screen text larger, and I referred to the tips (below) about printing from the web, but sometimes good ol’ copy and paste is necessary to truly get the look you want on [...]

Notes from a session with a MacBook user

Rick — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:08:24 +0000

These notes were created while sitting with a customer who uses a MacBook and was learning how to use his Gmail account. You can find all of these tips in my other Gmail tips, but here’s what I left for him. Here is a PDF Version of Gmail Notes pictured. Related posts: Printing from Gmail – [...]

5 Reasons why YOU should be moving to the cloud

Rick — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:38:56 +0000

Over the past two or there years, I have written many articles about Web 2.0 or cloud computing. Cloud computing means that you work with programs and/or data that are not installed or saved on your computer. Instead, the programs and/or data live on an Internet connected computer (server) somewhere else in the world. These computers provide security via the password and user name that you choose. Five reason come immediately to mind on why you should start moving your data and computing power to the cloud.

1. Although more powerful than ever before, computers have become more unreliable than ever.

In particular, Windows computers require more expertise to keep them safe, updated, and problem free than at any time in the short history of home computers. Macintosh and Linux operating systems certainly require less technical expertise from the security standpoint, but still rely on desktop applications to create, save and edit data. Web based (cloud) applications provide plenty of power and flexibility for the vast majority of computer users while also presenting a simpler interface.

2. You already spend 90% of your time in the cloud already.

Non-business computer users spend the majority of their computer time

Four pages of notes for a Yahoo Mail User – Notes

Rick — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:43:01 +0000

One of my client’s today runs a home business and has a need to send links via her Yahoo email account. I set up a Links folder on her Internet Explorer toolbar, then showed her how to use tabs and copy and paste the links. Here’s the notes. [...]

Zoho Creator (database) – Video Tip

Rick — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:16:36 +0000

This my last installment in my Zoho.com tour, but far from the full capabilities of Zoho. So far I've introduced you to Zoho Writer (word processing application) and Zoho Sheet (spreadsheet application). For Part III in my series, I'm giving you a quick tour and demonstration/instruction on how to create a database with Zoho. Zoho has two database applications; one called Creator and the other called Database and Reports. I focused on the Creator application in my video tour.

Database programs offer the most flexibility and ease of use for collecting data on any subject from a book collection, to a club member address list, to tracking expenses for your home or business. Once you learn a few techniques with database design and creation, I'm willing to bet you will leave the lowly spreadsheet behind for gathering this type of data.

Zoho's database application provides, in my opinion, unparalleled ease of use AND power for both the beginner database user and the advanced user. I strongly encourage anyone ever remotely interested in database collection or anyone who hasn't been able to find the perfect data collection program to give Zoho Creator a try after watching my short video below.

Some of Zoho's database features include:

Convert spreadsheet data to database
Online, anywhere access
Easily build powerful database collection forms with drag and drop
Sophisticated form elements including drop down lists, radio buttons, check boxes, date pickers and more
Embed collection forms in your web page or blog
Query data
Export data to multiple formats
Use a powerful scripting language to enhance your database
and much more.

Watch the short video below to see how far online applications from Zoho.com can take you.

How to use multiple signatures in Gmail without add-ons or tweaks – Video Tip

Rick — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:01:59 +0000

This week I helped a client start the transition to Gmail from Microsoft Outlook. Turns out that although he used the same email address, he did have different signatures setup for various uses (personal, business, charity, etc). With Gmail, it is possible to setup a separate signature for different email addresses (which not many people [...]

Disable Gmail Web Clips and Important Markers – Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:24:33 +0000

Frequent visitors to this site know that I’m a huge fan of Gmail and recommend it and its web interface. However, every now and then Google introduces some features that perplex me. Some people may like the features, but it is nice to be able to disable them if you don’t use or like the [...]