Riding Shotgun with Rick / Videocasts — No comments
31
Jan 10

Rick Answers His Email – Episode 074

Last week, I was in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival with my son, but I’m back at it again this week answering your questions.

Cindy paid $5 this week to be the very first question answered, but she never submitted a question. So the first question this week was from Kelly who paid $1 to have priority treatment as well.  Questions then were answered from Jean, Cypora, Luiza, Keith, Alberta, Elvin, Hasim, and Donna.

Topics today included watching TNT shows online, removing a user from blocked senders, Gmail stalker, runtime errors, McAfee problems, email encoding, new electronic Continue reading: Rick Answers His Email – Episode 074

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 comments
31
Jan 10

What Rick said, read and thought about this week 2010-01-31

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No comments
24
Jan 10

What Rick said, read and thought about this week 2010-01-24

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 4 comments
22
Jan 10

Cellular coverage at big events

Sundance Film Festival 2010

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take my son to the Sundance Film Festival. We are doing it on a shoestring by standing in line for stand-by and wait-list tickets and camping in our VW van at an RV park. So far, it has been great fun…except for cell coverage.

No matter what carrier folks use, they are complaining about slow network speeds, dropped calls, and inability to send texts. This isn’t unique to Sundance or Park City, Utah. Almost any time a large Continue reading: Cellular coverage at big events

Ubuntu Tips — No comments
18
Jan 10

New Ubuntu Software Center – Video Tip

UbuntuTux

photo credit: 4_EveR_YounG

Ubuntu released their newest version this past October. In addition to cleaning up the code and making it boot faster, look better, and run faster, I think one of the nicest additions (particularly for beginners) is the Ubuntu Software Center. This tool allows users to easily search for and install programs and utilities with just a few clicks. Prior to the Software Center, the process was much more laborious.

Here are the steps that I demonstrate in the video:

  1. Start Firefox
  2. Erase any text in the address bar and type: http://tinyurl.com/27vslb
  3. Press Enter on Continue reading: New Ubuntu Software Center – Video Tip
Videocasts — 1 comment
17
Jan 10

Rick Answers His Email – Episode 073

Walt (who paid to be first), Ed, Ryan, Les, Ezzo, Janesse, Richard, Joe, Phyliss, Robert, Amber, Diana, Dave, Randall, Jack and Eve asked about Gmail backup, XP desktop problems, recapturing space on a flash drive, file sharing, missing taskbar, trojan horse problem, freezing Vista Control Panel, generating a password, online backup, drive cloning, problems accessing a certain web site, Comodo Firewall/AV question, using Send To function in Windows 7, accessing email on a netbook with Windows 7, and using an Continue reading: Rick Answers His Email – Episode 073

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No comments
17
Jan 10

What Rick said, read and thought about this week 2010-01-17

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Tech News — 4 comments
16
Jan 10

Yet another reason why I recommend using anything but IE

Internet Explorer has been the single largest factor in computer security problems over the past 10 years. Consumer education and awareness follows closely behind. Combined, these two factors create a security nightmare.

This story outlines yet more evidence to problems stemming from Internet Explorer and its monetary effect on companies like Google. Remember that the AOL and MSN browsers use Internet Explorer as their backend and thus have the same problems.

Instead of Internet Explorer, use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, or Safari.

Network Security – IE Opened Door To Attacks on Google, Other Companies.

Digital Photography — 2 comments
15
Jan 10

How to backup photos using Picasa – Video Tip

Lately, I have showed many people how easy, not to mention vital, it is to backup your digital photos. When a computer crashes, the first thing the computer user does is panic…unless they have a good backup routine.

With photos, there is no easier, safer way to backup than using Picasa. Picasa is a free photo management utility from Google that can be used on any platform; Windows, Mac, or Ubuntu/Linux. You can read more tips I have produced about Picasa by clicking here.

After  you have installed Picasa, it will scan your hard drive for all your photos. If you have many years worth, it could take up to Continue reading: How to backup photos using Picasa – Video Tip

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No comments
14
Jan 10

Students and online apps

Umbrellas Flows.

photo credit: Leodileo

My high school daughter ran from the house today in a panic because she was running late and didn’t have to time to print something she needed for school. She uses a MacBook and OpenOffice, but had already shut the computer off and was out the door.

Interestingly enough, she uses and is sold on the utility and effectiveness of online apps as well. She uses both Google Docs and Zoho (which she likes better) regularly after I introduced her to them a few years ago. But this time around, she had her info on her hard drive. Had she uploaded or created the document in Zoho or Google Docs, she could have gone to school happily, sat down at any computer, logged into her account and printed the document.

Needless to say, I think she will be uploading more of her documents to Zoho or Google Docs.

I mentioned online apps Continue reading: Students and online apps