5 Steps to Using Online Financial Sites Safely

Every year computer users who use 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...

10 Skills EVERY computer user should have (or lear...

I originally posted this list in January 2007. However, through my keen observation skills, I discovered that all computer users have not yet read and digested this information. For this reason, I’m posting it again because I won’t stop working to educate computer users until every computer user knows these 10 skills. Computers have become almost a main stream household appliance. Whether you have been using a...

Setting up a new computer

Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to avoiding illness in ourselves. Prevention in the computer world is no different. And like a newborn baby, a newly purchased computer is subject to many terrible diseases and problems if not properly cared from the moment it is taken from its cardboard box. I follow these steps when setting up a new computer system for my clients, and recommend this methodology for all new...

Web surfing 101…again

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 was reading today in their Ocotober issue. You can read it by clicking here. Executive summary:  Bad...

Creating documents in Apple Pages – Notes

Some notes for a client with a new MacBook Air. She wanted to create a Christmas letter with photos and colored text. She was amazed at what could be done with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks in Pages that she already had installed. I did learn that Pages has a cool reduce file size option to shrink large graphics. Works very well. In addition to helping her learn to create rich documents, I taught her how to export her...

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....

How to print stuff from the web the way YOU want i...

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 paper. Learn how to use the Printer Friendly Option – Video Tip How to Save Time & Money when printing Email – Video...

Scanning and Attaching Documents to Yahoo Email &#...

These notes were generated for a customer using an older HP All-in-one printer. He needed to learn how to scan documents, save them, then attach them to his Yahoo email. For folks learning how to scan or attach items to Yahoo email, these notes will help. ...

5 Reasons why YOU should be moving to the cloud

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. Among other things, these computers/services provide: Security via the password and user name that you choose. Access to the service from any...

Google rolling out new Gmail look and functions &#...

Starting today, Google is rolling out the option for you to try out there new interface (look and function). You will see an option to try out the system in the lower right hand side of your Gmail screen (see picture at left for what it will look like). In a nutshell, don’t be overwhelmed by the new streamlined and minimalist look…all the things you are used to using are there, I promise. Take a just a few moments...

Four pages of notes for a Yahoo Mail User – ...

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...

How to add a previously purchased Kindle Book to y...

This question came to me via email today. Here’ my notes on how to add books you already own from your Kindle reader to your Amazon Kindle iPad app.   ...

How to register for your Avast Free Antivirus Lice...

Adding to my new ongoing series of daily how-tos I write for clients is this one about registering the Free Avast Antivirus I now recommend. Occasionally the registration servers are not working when I install the program for a client, so I created these instructions for her to follow when the servers come back online. This should also help those folks who need to re-register Avast after the first year. Keep in mind that for...

Steps for Scanning with HP Solution Center –...

I inserted a photo of the notes I created for a HP Scanner / All-in-One user today. Anyone using an HP scanning device with the HP Solution Center software will be able to use these notes to get the hang of using the scanner. You can also download the PDF version of these steps:  Scanning a Photo or Document ...

Apple iPad – What, why, how?

Today, we talked about the iPad and what it can do, why you might want to consider an iPad, and how to understand the basics of the iPad, the app store, and connectivity. At the end of this article, you will find a handout of the short PowerPoint style presentation I put together to start the class that I created on the iPad with the amazing Keynote app ($9.99) from Apple. We talked about a lot of the features and how to use...