Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 7 comments
12
Oct 09
photo credit: chotda
I setup a new Gmail address for a customer a couple of weeks ago and used POP to allow her to use Outlook Express like she was used to with her old address. In less than 2 days, she called and said that her password was being rejected and she couldn’t send or receive email.
I hurried over and logged into the web interface with her credentials, but was also rejected. On the second attempt, it required me to answer a captcha and her secret question before logging me in to her account. After doing so, I checked the POP settings in Outlook Express and sent a test message to myself and back to her. Test successful and I left.
Two days go by, and she called me again. Perplexed, I made my way back to her house and repeated the same steps as I just described. Gmail normally does not require a user to decode a captcha and answer the secret question, but I chalked it up to something Continue reading: Google discourages multiple email forwards
Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 comments
11
Oct 09
This week, I received the following email from Sue:
Yesterday I tried to subscribe to your newsletter. It was so difficult, so complicated, so convoluted that I gave up. I am sure you need protection from spammers, etc., but do you think that if you made access easier you might have more subscribers?
If Sue is having problems signing up, I’m sure others are too. I pulled her answer out of this week’s Videocast to demonstrate visually how to sign up for my weekly newsletter.
Riding Shotgun with Rick / Videocasts — No comments
11
Oct 09
Chalmers paid to have his question read first this week followed by questions from Radha, Greg, Briel, Violet, Sue, Betty, Donna, Gary, Marty, Howard Kristen, Ariane, Robert, and Don. Chalmer’s question concerned a very old computer, and in order, the other questions were about a programmers application conflict with Vista Aero, Ubuntu users group, changing desktop wallpaper, screen resolution problem, trouble subscribing to my newsletter, saving photos from email, another screen resolution issue, CCleaner problem on a laptop, AVG installation, printing list of music after burning a CD, another wallpaper problem (related to spyware), more spyware problems, and a clarification Continue reading: Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 061
Application Tips / Windows Tips — 2 comments
10
Oct 09
Today, I downloaded, updated, configured and installed Microsoft’s new, free security product: Microsoft Security Essentials. It provides a significant upgrade in protection and usability over their previous offerings. In fact, the setup and administration is extremely straight forward. From the reviews and tests that I’ve read, it appears to protect PCs (Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7) quite well and doesn’t slow the computer down by being bloated like so many other security products on the market.
I will be testing it out over the next month or so and report back my findings, but for now, I continue to recommend AVG and Avast. If you are already using either of those products, stay with them. If you are using almost anything else, you can certainly give your computer a performance boost by Continue reading: Installing Microsoft Security Essentials – Video Tip
Application Tips / General Computer Tips — 2 comments
09
Oct 09
Sometimes the most helpful computer utilities elude us and stay hidden for years. One such utility that I find very helpful (and have taken for granted) is the Print Preview function found in almost any program that allows printing.
Because Windows and Macintosh made the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment available to the masses, what we see on our screens is pretty close to what we see on our print outs. However, if you need to tweak margins, find the extra line that is creating an extra page, or determine whether a document (like a spreadsheet) will look better in Landscape or Portrait mode, there is no substitute for the Continue reading: Print Preview
Hardware Tips / Windows Tips — 2 comments
09
Oct 09
photo credit: nickwheeleroz (on holiday)
Floppy disks have long since departed from the computer landscape. Most comptuer companies have not included floppy drives as standard equipment for at least two years. I say good riddance except for one thing…they were easy to use. Computer users felt comfortable copying and backing up information to these slow, yet convenient drives.
For quick and roomy storage today, I recommend flash memory drives (click here for a tip describing these).
However, almost all computers now come with a CD/DVD burner drive…a CD/DVD drives capable of creating (burning) CD’s. Capable is the operative word in this sentence because many computer users still feel daunted by the task of burning a CD. Windows XP aims to help simplify the process and does a reasonably good job at it. Here’s how to burn a CD with Windows XP: Continue reading: How to burn a CD with Windows XP
Windows Tips — 4 comments
08
Oct 09
photo credit: pokpok313
NOTE: This tip is an off-shoot of our Print Screen tip that you will also want to read and watch.
We all have computer mishaps and end up having to call for help. One of the first questions the helper (tech support) always asks is, “What was the message you received?”
Most of the time, in our frustration, we failed to write down the content of the message. Here is a tip that will bypass the writing altogether and allow you to answer that first question from your digital helper.
When an error occurs follow these steps:
1. Before Clicking on the OK or Cancel button on the error message press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (it’s located above the Delete, and Home keys on the middle of your keyboard)
2. Close the error message
3. Open your favorite Continue reading: Printing Error Messages*
Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — No comments
08
Oct 09
Click picture for a larger view
Ran across this interesting news story today. Scientists are starting to use small, 83 gram digital cameras capable of taking up to 10,000 pictures on animals. In this case, the camera was mounted on an albatross and they found that these albatross were feeding with killer whales…similar to buzzards and lions on the savanna. Following is the full article.
BBC – Earth News – Albatross cam for bird’s eye view.
Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 3 comments
07
Oct 09
Phishing refers to the act of trying to get your personal information in order to use or steal your identity. Phishing can happen with snail mail, email, text messaging, social networking, phone, and more. Today, I learned of a new threat aimed at web based email systems like Gmail, Yahoo email, MSN/HotMail, and others.
You can read the entire article here:
Massive E-Mail Phishing Attack Hits Web – Enterprise Security Today
Remember only 8% know what a browser is.. 
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