Riding Shotgun with Rick

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 16 Comments
16
Nov 09

What did you learn today?

Prince of Wales, Sydney, 1920 / Sam Hood

photo credit: State Library of New South Wales collection

We started the Riding Shotgun series nearly three years ago to give folks a look at what it would be like to ride shotgun as Adam and I made our rounds as roving computer helpers/trainers.

I have used the platform to share anecdotes that happened during the day, post pictures of cool computer setups, climb aboard my soapbox and yack about computer security, passwords, etc, and share tech tips and solutions I learned throughout my day.

Yes, I learn something new every single day. If I can’t think of something that I learned on any given day, I consider that day incomplete.

Today, for example, I visited 6 homes and returned countless calls in addition to answering some email from customers. What did I learn through all this? Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Videocasts — No Comments
15
Nov 09

Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 066

Tons of questions today from Dan, Charline, Jader, Chinmoy, Raymond, Quen, Shirley, Lorraine, Deb, Janat, Walter, Gloria, Bsil, Jim, Kim, Phil, Debbie, Sue, Dave, Harold, and Terry.  They asked about virus removal, router settings, changing the desktop, setting up email in Thunderbird, new tech advice, lost Gmail password, learning how to use a Mac, Adobe Flash woes, another router issue, AVG install problems, a cryptic startup message, HelpMeRick.com poll feedback, another AVG install issue, Windows 7 64 bit question, connecting to wireless on the road, duplicating Internet Explorer windows, safely giving away a computer, and saving images from email.

Here are all those answers: Continue reading →

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15
Nov 09

What Rick said, read and thought about this week 2009-11-15

General Computer Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 Comments
14
Nov 09

Holiday Computer Madness

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 →

General Computer Tips / Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 10 Comments
11
Nov 09

5 Simple Rules to avoid SCD (Slow Computer Disease)

HPIM8136

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 →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 6 Comments
9
Nov 09

Why tech phone support is so difficult

call center

photo credit: vlima.com

It is no secret that computer and software phone support is awful. Finding a concerned and competent phone support person is like hunting for a four leaf clover.

Today, a long time client of mine called me, exasperated over a recent bout with her cable company’s tech support. Following is a modified transcript of the call:

Voicemail from my client: Hello Rick, I have a problem with my Internet. My Internet doesn’t work. I called (cable Internet company) and after talking with them multiple times, they asked me what antivirus product I used. I told them AVG, and they said they couldn’t help me because they had so much trouble with that product.

My thoughts while listening to the voicemail:  Wow, the classic “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, so I’ll blame another product or service” game played by so many undereducated tech support folks.

I called back my client:

Me: Hello Mrs. A. It’s Rick Castellini, I’m returning your call. First, I want to put your mind at ease Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
8
Nov 09

What Rick said, read and thought about this week 2009-11-08

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Videocasts — No Comments
8
Nov 09

Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 065

Great questions this week from Robin, Eileen, Sue, Jewel, Dennis, Gwen, Jack, Monica, Raymond, Jerry, Chris, Len, Barb, Dave, Amin, Sandra, BJ, and Sandra from Phoenix. In order, they asked about an AVG install problem related to a Microsoft download, repeating emails in Outlook, attaching photos to email, upgrading to AVG 9, problem with a web site designed in MS Publisher, Vista computer problem, formatting dates in Excel, retrieving multiple email accounts, installing Outlook Express in Windows 7, constant running hard drive, transferring data from older computer, Avast compatibility, Picasa problem, Windows 7 install question, sending Word documents, upgrading to AVG 9, Ultrasurf on a Mac, and another AVG 9 upgrade question.

Here’s the answers:

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

7 Google services you have never tried

Google SignGoogle 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 →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 13 Comments
6
Nov 09

Early thoughts on Windows 7

Noisy thoughts in Monsterberg

photo credit: Greenmonster

Although I’ve been testing, using and writing about Windows 7 since last year, it has only been on the market 2 weeks. In those two weeks, I have setup 8 or 10 new machines already.

The setup is much faster than Vista, but I’m already getting that same ‘ol, same ‘ol feeling about it as I did with Windows Vista and Office 2007. I don’t doubt that Microsoft went back to the drawing board and tweaked and improved Windows, but overall it really is just Vista, done correctly. Plus the machines it is being released on are monsters: dual and quad core processors, 4, 6, and 8 GB of RAM and fast, capable video processors as well.

I really think the improvements in usability will be completely lost by the majority of average computer users. Pinning programs to the taskbar, jump lists, using the integrated search, file libraries, Home Groups, shaking and pushing Windows to screen edges will Continue reading →

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