Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners » Riding Shotgun with Rick

What did you learn today?

Rick — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:26:05 +0000

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 [...]

Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 066

Rick — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:20:16 +0000

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 [...]

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

Rick — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

RT @FairTweets: http://bit.ly/Y5eRD 1st Video, Why we need a #Fairtax. Very informative video…Please RT! # RT @kylejudkins DiskMax: Recover Disk Space | LostInTechnology http://bit.ly/2nPB3l # Wow, long day…scanning Twitter & watching #Steelers battle Broncos. GO BIG BEN & company! # Hines Freaking Ward!!!! #fb # RT @kettlewell: If you could only choose one tool with online marketing, would you [...]

Holiday Computer Madness

Rick — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:23:36 +0000

Every year for the last 6-7 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.

5 Simple Rules to avoid SCD (Slow Computer Disease)

Rick — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:48:43 +0000

I've written about this before, but it bears repeating on occasion with new visitors to our site and long time visitors who haven't learned yet. The advice is simple: DO NOT DOWNLOAD FREE SCREENSAVERS, EMAIL PROGRAMS (Incredimail, etc), 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. The most common computer ailment (for Windows users) searched on the Internet is "slow computers". 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: 1. Install and keep Internet security software current. Recommendations: AVG Anti-virus, a software or hardware firewall and a good anti-spwyare program or two. Check our Links & Resources section for recommendations. 2. DO NOT DOWNLOAD FREE CRAP FROM THE INTERNET UNLESS YOU KNOW ITS ORIGIN AND SAFETY. 3. Use Mozilla Firefox or Opera as your primary Internet browser instead of Internet Explorer, MSN, or AOL. This tip alone can save your computer. 4. If you have teenagers or young adults who use your computer, forbid the downloading of free music through services like Limewire or any other shady site (refer to #2) 5. If you do suspect SCD, get it looked at immediately. Waiting for it to cure itself will only make SCD worse. BONUS TIP: If your computer suffers from SCD, Defrag will NOT help it. No matter how many times you Defrag your computer, it will NOT help SCD. © *SCD is a copyrighted term of Castellini on Computers, HelpMeRick.com and Rick Castellini. Use of the term SCD is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of Rick Castellini or administrators of HelpMeRick.com

Why tech phone support is so difficult

Rick — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:15:10 +0000

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 [...]

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

Rick — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Reading: 3 Best Tools to Ask a Question from @KyleJudkins http://ow.ly/yngT # How To Lock Folders and Files with My Lockbox – http://su.pr/2laTEp (via @kylejudkins) # Reading: Is #Droid the combantant we’ve been waiting for or marketing hype from @Christopher_S http://ow.ly/ynlh # Broken Link Checker for #wordpress is helping me clean up my nearly 15yo site http://HelpMeRick [...]

Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 065

Rick — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:25:06 +0000

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 [...]

7 Google services you have never tried

Rick — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:36:08 +0000

Google 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. Today, I will tell you about 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 search at Google News instead of

Early thoughts on Windows 7

Rick — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:18:48 +0000

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 [...]