Successful eBay Buying – Video Tip

eBay has been around for more than 10 years. However, many computer users still find eBay either dangerous or hard to figure out. In this week’s tip, I set forth some simple steps to help make your eBay experience, a good experience. In the video, I demonstrate my four steps to finding a reputable eBay buyer: Never consider an auction that has exorbitant shipping costs Study the eBay sellers profile. Positive...

Zoho Spreadsheet Update

My favorite online application suite, Zoho, just got a little more powerful today for spreadsheet users. The Zoho spreadsheet, known as Zoho Sheet, added two huge features today; Macros and Pivot Tables. Power spreadsheet users use these two features often and will appreciate Zoho Sheet’s new found power. For an overview, watch this video from Zoho: ...

CNET Web 2.0 Awards

Get used to me writing more articles about Web 2.0 applications…applications that run in your web browser. I’ve written many already, but today I’m writing about the  CNET people’s choice awards for best Web 2.0 applications in ten categories ranging from productivity to entertainment. This is CNET’s second year compiling the awards. This year almost 2 million votes were cast for over 300...

PayPal Agrees

Last week I wrote a tip called 7 Habits of highly inefficient Internet Users.   The very first habit I wrote about was the use of old browsers. Literally, the next day PayPal (the leading online payment source for eBay and person-to-person payments) announced that it would stop supporting old browsers and users who did not upgrade to more modern and safer browsers would not be able to use the service. This will not...

2 fantastic alternatives to Mapquest maps

Mapquest.com used to be synonymous with online maps. They offered online maps when few others did and did a good job. Unfortunately, Mapquest hasn’t changed much since the late 90′s except get more and more advertisements hovering around their slow and out-dated system. Their innovation and improvements seemed to stop around the same time AOL bought them. For faster, easier, and better online mapping, I like two...

Avery website offers great way to make labels easi...

There are certain tasks that you would expect to be done simply on a computer. At the top of this list is making labels. In my opinion the number of label making programs on the market should rival the number of digital photography or antivirus programs on the market. For some mysterious reason, there are hardly any good label programs out there. They are either too simple and limited in features or they are too complex and...

How to add the print and other buttons to Firefox ...

We love the Mozilla Firefox browser, but out-of-the-box it doesn’t show the print button. Also, some people like to have the Bookmark and History buttons available as well. This tip shows you how to add any or all of these buttons as well as others you might want. In Firefox, RIGHT click on a blank part of the toolbar (or Click View –> Toolbars –> Customize from the menus) Click and drag the buttons...

Password Tips

Creating a Better Password: Mix it up – use number and letters in both upper and lower case Spell words that you are familiar with such as p455w0rD (see how it kind of spells “password”) Never use the word “password” as your password. Creating that Secret Question: Many services ask you to create a secret question incase you forget your password. This allows them to ask you for the answer to...

Zoho Sheet – Video Tip

Last week, I gave you a short video tour of Zoho.com’s Writer word processing application. This week the tour continues with the Sheet program (spreadsheet) from Zoho. Like the word processor program, Sheet offers all of the features that 90% of spreadsheet users need or use, including: Mulitple sheets (workbooks) Charting Advanced calculations Auto formatting Link external data Online collaboration and much...

How to download AVG Free edition

True, you can just go to HelpMeRick.com/links and download AVG free edition, here is how to find it on Grisoft’s site.

Are you connected to your wi-fi signal?

One of my client’s today had a problem with slow and frequent disconnects with her wireless Internet (wi-fi) in her home. Upon my investigation, I discovered that her computer had hooked onto a neighbor’s weak, unsecured signal and was ignoring hers. After connecting to her signal, the wireless was strong and didn’t disconnect. To make sure that you are connected to the wireless signal you think you...

Zoho Writer – Video Tip

We have written quite a bit about Web 2.0 here at HelpMeRick.com and this week I decided to start a mini-series featuring my favorite Web 2.0 web site, Zoho. Zoho offers an online set of productivity tools unequaled anywhere else on the web. Many of the tools are offered at no cost and cover everything from word processing to project management. In this first installment, I take you on a short tour of the Zoho word processor...

3 Important Features of HelpMeRick.com – Vid...

We launched this new version of HelpMeRick.com almost two years ago. In addition to the more consistent design, easier management for us, awesome search capabilities and a host of other features that work great, there are three features that we hope you all use and use often. Feature 1 – Read More   Remember to click the “Read more” link at the bottom of many of our front page stories. If you...

Print just what you want…

I am resurrecting this great tip from my archives. This tip first appeared about four years ago on the show and then the web site. I wanted to share it again because of our new listeners and the extreme usefulness of the tip. Printing information from the web can sometimes be frustrating. A long web page yields reams of paper when you only wanted a couple of pages. Read on to learn how to print only the pages you...

How to make a desktop Web Site Shortcut – Vi...

I had this question come up during a phone call today, and although I described it the best I could, this is truly a visual tip. Watch the short video tip below to learn how to create a desktop icon that goes directly to a web site. Hint: It’s easy to follow and do. ...