Incredible Customer Service from SFBags.com

Disclosure: I am in no way being paid or have been paid to write this article from Waterfield Bags, SFBags.com or any other entity. This article simply outlines my dealings with this extraordinary company. I love gadgets…no surprise. My budget for gadgets is quite low, so I treat every gadget I purchase with the utmost care. Part of that care involves housing the gadget in an appropriate container…usually a bag of...

How to fix Microsoft Outlook email address lookup ...

Microsoft Outlook’s time is up…actually it has been up for many years. The interface gets worse and worse. The fact that very few of us work solely on one device makes it more irrelevant. And the fact that transferring of data gets more and more complex is absolutely unconscionable in this day and age of technology. Case in point: Today, I worked with a client who uses Outlook 2007 or 2010 on 4 different computers...

5 Quick and Easy Steps to Spring Clean your PC

Spring has sprung and along with your other spring cleaning chores add these five computer cleaning techniques to keep your computer clean, cool, and happy. Desktops: Unplug all of your cables (label them if necessary) and take the tower outside. Open up the side (usually thumb screws or a latch on the back of the computer) and blow the dust out of the system with a can of compressed air. I recommend starting from the top...

Burning CDs with Picasa for Linux

Unfortunately, Google has not updated Picasa for Linux in almost 18 months. However, it remains a solid product for Linux users who want to easily manage their photos. I’ve tried F-Spot, but it just doesn’t seem intuitive or robust enough for everyday use. Anyway, I was helping one of my many clients using Linux Mint as their only operating system, and he needed to know how to burn CDs from Picasa. Here’s...

How to install, customize, & delete Windows 7...

Last week I was showing a client how to use Windows 7 gadgets to give him updated weather information for cities where friends and family lived. He was extremely appreciative and it reminded me that I don’t always post fun things to do with our computers and gadgets would be a fun how-to to post. So here it is! Windows Vista also had gadget capability, but as with almost everything else it had, it was not well...

Major browser updates from Microsoft & Mozill...

In the past month, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9 (Vista and Windows 7 only) and Mozilla released Firefox 4. Both browsers ratcheted up the speed and rendering of web pages, but both still contain some bugs that you don’t want to deal with yet. As with all major upgrades to any program, I always recommend sitting out on the hoopla for a couple of months or so. This seems to be very applicable to these two...

9 Tweaks I perform for a new client’s comput...

When I meet a client’s computer for the first time, I go through a little routine to check for problems, improve performance, and speed up boot times. You can do it to your own computer too. Use Task Manager to see how many processes are running and determine how much tweaking I have to do to startup. Use msconfig to streamline the startup process Install CCleaner to cleanup temporary files Check on the amount of RAM...

World Backup Day!! Today! Do it! Now!

I just heard about this a few hours ago, and very few people push backup as hard as I do, so I thought I would participate. Today is officially dubbed World Backup Day. It is billed as an independent initiative by a small team. Read about it, and then come back here and read all about backup and all the tips I have compiled for you over the years here. Ok, now go get backuping! ...

Cut, Copy and Paste! – Video Tip

These techniques should be standard tools for any computer user. However, many computer users find these techniques elusive. The ability to move (cut) or copy information from one computer program to another sets you free to do so much more with your computer. Cut, Copy and Paste function by temporarily storing the information, cut or copied, into a temporary holding spot of memory known as the clipboard (Click here for the...

Selecting Text and Files – Video Tip

Here are some techniques for making the selection of files and text easier and more efficient for you as you work with your computer. This tip also includes a narrated video to further demonstrate these important skills. Double click on a word to select it Click and drag in the margin of your word processor to select entire line(s) of text Push the Ctrl+A key on your keyboard to select all text in a ...

Yes, I’m still out here

It’s interesting to me that many of my calls for onsite computer help start with:  ”Are you sill making home/office visits for computer help?” My answer is always, yes, making onsite computer help and training calls is and has been my only source of income since 1998. For today’s post, I decided to give a little more information about me, my web site, and my computer business here in Grand Junction,...

How to use Malwarebytes – Video Tip

I am installing Malwarebytes more and more often these days to take care of spyware and adware problems. It isn’t 100% effective and you really should practice preventative measures (see article links at the end of this tip), but it is certainly worthwhile to add it to your security tool belt if you use any version of Microsoft Windows. Click here to download Malwarebytes Click the green button to start download Wait...

Practice smarter browsing to avoid malware –...

It seems that spyware, adware and other malware that doesn’t quite fall in the category of a virus grows by the day. Unfortunately, even the best protected computers and computer users can get hit by these sneaky destruction machines by tricking us (social engineering) to thinking we are either using, viewing or downloading something other than it is. In order to fight back, we need to be smarter Internet citizens in...

Stay safe when using public WiFi – Video Ti...

When traveling during the holidays or any time, it is extremely important to stay safe when using public wifi (Internet) at airports, coffee shops, hotels, etc. I recently came across a tool called Hotspot Shield that allows you to create a secure and private connection for all your browsing and email. It’s the same type of security that companies use for their employees when out of the office. It’s called VPN...

How good are your passwords?

And you have more than one password right? If you don’t, you should…seriously…good security starts with good passwords that you change regularly. Today, I came across a site that will demonstrate how weak or strong your password based on the average time it would take to crack your password. It will either scare the heck out of you or it will make you feel good about your choice of passwords. The site is:...