Posts Tagged: address book

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 1 Comment
3
Nov 09

Changing email addresses – It’s not that difficult

Occupied Time

photo credit: TheeErin

AOL made millions of dollars for years because computer users are afraid to change their email addresses. All week long, I hear, “Oh, it’s too hard to change email addresses now.” Or, “It will take forever to change my email address with everyone.”

Come on folks…we’re using computers! You don’t have to fill out a change of address form and march it down to the postal office. You don’t have to send out a post card to every person you know. You don’t have to fill out a change of address for all your bills and utilities.

Changing email addresses is actually pretty painless and can be cathartic as well. In fact, think of it as going into the digital identity protection program. Here’s how to make it a smooth transition Continue reading →

General Computer Tips — 4 Comments
2
Nov 09

Should I backup?

Five Days' Backup

photo credit: daryl_mitchell

Should you carry health insurance? Should you carry car insurance? Should you save for retirement? Should you eat every day? Does a bear….  Well, hopefully you get the picture. The answer is a resounding YES!!

You should backup, and depending on your computer needs and usage your backups should occur frequently (sometimes daily). Many computer users equate backing up their computers with their mother’s giving them castor oil. It’s no fun, but a necessary evil. What is castor oil any way?

Things you should backup on your computer include Continue reading →

Email Tips / Internet Tips — No Comments
30
Jun 09

Creating an email group in Gmail – Video Tip

I’m thrilled that so many people are heeding my advice and starting to use Gmail. Click here to see three how-to videos about Gmail to see why so many people are jumping to Gmail.

New Gmail users frequently ask me how to setup an address group in Gmail. Groups allow you to send a single email to a group of people in your address book by addressing the message to the group instead of the individuals in the group.

To create the group:

  1. In Gmail, click the contacts link
  2. Click the New Group icon
  3. Type a name for your new group
  4. Click OK
  5. Click All Contacts
  6. Place a check mark in the boxes of the contacts you want to belong to your new group
  7. Click the Groups menu
  8. Click the name of the group you want for them

To send an email to the group, click Continue reading →

Computer User Group / General Computer Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 14 Comments
26
Apr 09

10 Skills EVERY computer user should have (or learn)

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 computer for fifteen years or one, these skills should be second nature:

  1. Cut, Copy, Paste
  2. Print just what you want (word processing, email, web)
  3. Backup your address book
  4. Select (highlight) text or files
  5. Properly uninstall unwanted programs
  6. Burn a CD
  7. Download files from the Internet
  8. Use MSCONFIG ; Another MSCONFIG tip
  9. Search the Internet
  10. Attach Files to an email

If you already know how to do these skills, please pass this article along to someone who doesn’t…help me help other computer users.

Computer User Group / Email Tips / Internet Tips — 5 Comments
8
Apr 09

Gmail guide for beginners – 3 Videos – Video Tip

This week’s video tip is a HelpMeRick.com first…it involves 3 videos to cover the topic of Gmail. Directly above each video below, I give a short synopsis of the videos contents. The more I use it, the more impressed I am with Gmail. If you currently use Gmail, don’t be afraid to watch these videos as you might pick up a tip or two yourself.

Google offers a good Help section covering their email system, and you can find it by clicking here. My short video series here are meant to just get you started quickly and give you the highlights of this email system. Continue reading →

Announcements — 2 Comments
7
Mar 09

Important Newsletter Information!

If you are a weekly newsletter subscriber, please read this information.

After two weeks of soul searching, research, and web browsing, I decided to move the email newsletter subscribers to my FeedBlitz service. Feedblitz picks out my newest articles and delivers them to you in an email. The service works great and I will be moving the address list into it starting on Monday or Tuesday.

As soon as I move the list into the FeedBlitz system (which is secure and the only access to the email addresses is through me), you will receive an email from the FeedBlitz service asking you to confirm that you want to get the email updates/newsletter from me through them. Click the link in the email that confirms your decision and that’s it! You will soon be receiving the email updates from HelpMeRick.com.

The FeedBlitz team advises the following:

As part of your pre-import advisory message to your existing subscribers, please advise them to:

  • Add feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com to their address books or email whitelists immediately.
  • Only unsubscribe using the links we provide in each email, and not their ISP’s spam or abuse buttons.
  • Look out for the message from FeedBlitz advising them that the change has taken place.

Thanks for your patience through this transition from the old newsletter service which went south on me.

Internet Tips — 3 Comments
28
Oct 08

Backup Your Favorites (Bookmarks) – Video Tip

Many years ago, I shared with you how to back up your address book. We have talked about how to back up your favorites, but never written it down. This tip will walk you through saving your favorite places in case of a disaster. Even if you have thousands of favorites, they will easily fit on a floppy disk (if you still have one) or better still, a USB Flash drive.

Internet Explorer

  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Click File from the menus
  3. Click Import/Export
  4. Click Next
  5. Click Export Favorites
  6. Click Next twice
  7. Click the Browse button and choose your flash drive or whatever drive you are saving the favorites to
  8. Click Next
  9. Click Finish

Mozilla Firefox 3.0

  1. Start Firefox
  2. Click Bookmarks –>  Organize Bookmarks from the menus
  3. Click Import and Backup
  4. Click Export HTML
  5. Choose where to save the bookmarks
  6. Click Save

Mozilla Firefox 2.0

  1. Start Firefox
  2. Click Bookmarks –>  Manage Bookmarks from the menus
  3. Click File –> Export from the menus
  4. Choose where to save the bookmarks
  5. Click Save

AOL

  1. Start AOL
  2. Click the Favorites menu, and click Favorite Places
  3. Click the Save/Replace button. The Save and Replace Your Favorite Places screen will appear
  4. Click Save the Favorite Places for your current screen name
  5. Click Ok. The Save As dialog box will appear
  6. Choose where to save the favorite places
  7. Click Save

If you need to restore your favorites for any of these browsers, follow all the same steps as above except use the Import function instead of Export. For a visual tour of this tip, watch the video below:

Email Tips / Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 15 Comments
22
Oct 08

Import Outlook Contacts into Gmail WITH Street Addresses

Old Gmail Link

After running into this issue one to many times lately, I finally found a fast solution. Problem: Outlook users who want to export their address books (contacts) and import them into Gmail can get almost everything imported except street addresses. It’s maddening. Madness be gone, the solution is now just a few steps away.

Exporting your contacts from Outlook:

  1. Open Outlook (note this is NOT Outlook Express)
  2. Click File –> Import/Export
  3. Click Export to a file
  4. Click Next
  5. Click Comma Separated Values (Windows) option
  6. Click Next
  7. Click Contacts from the list of your Outlook items on the next screen
  8. Click Next
  9. Click Browser and choose My Documents or the Desktop as the destination for your file
  10. Type a name for the file (why not Contacts for Gmail)
  11. Click OK
  12. Click Next
  13. Click Finish

Importing your Outlook contacts into Gmail

  1. Log into your Gmail account
  2. At the top right of the screen near the sign out option, click Older version (see image above)
  3. Click Contacts on the left of the screen
  4. Click Import
  5. Click Browse
  6. Find and click the file you exported from Outlook
  7. Click Open
  8. Click Import Contacts

After the import finishes, remember to click back to the Newer Version of Gmail in the upper right of the screen.

Gmail should now have all your contacts from Outlook complete with street addresses. Come on Google, fix the import function on the newer version of Gmail!

Computer User Group / Hardware Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 10 Comments
25
Sep 08

Setting up a new computer

new computer boxPrevention 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 computer setups:

  1. Before setting up the new computer, back up all of your data to CD’s, DVD’s, external hard drives, or flash drives for transfer to the new computer  Make sure you get not only your obvious data like documents, pictures, and financial data, but also your address book, email settings, favorites, etc. Remember, you can backup data, but not programs.
  2. Make note of your email settings and configuration (if you didn’t back them up).
  3. Download a copy of a AVG Antivirus and have them on a CD or flash drive at the ready.
  4. When setting up the new PC, DO NOT connect printers, scanners, cameras, and especially the Internet until later.
  5. Once at the new desktop, the first place to head is the Control Panel and Add/Remove programs (Programs and Features in Vista). Remove all trial software that you don’t plan on purchasing (Quicken, Quickbooks, Office suites, etc). Also remove any <!–break–>Internet provider software that you will not use like AOL, Earthlink, NetZero, etc.
  6. Now go back to Add/Remove programs and uninstall any trial security software that came with the machine.
  7. If you uninstalled the pre-installed security software (recommended), install the AVG antivirus program you have at the ready.
  8. Now, you can hook up your Internet connection. Once you have a connection established, update your anti-virus software immediately.
  9. Setup your email program and accounts.
  10. Install your peripherals (scanners, printers, etc) per your manufacturers instructions.
  11. Install any programs that you want on the new system
  12. Transfer your data from their backup locations.
  13. Strongly consider downloading and using Mozilla Firefox as your primary browser.

  14. Create your Recovery CD set found in your manufacturer’s options or utilities folder (if required).

    Enjoy your properly setup and safe, new computer!

Email Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 3 Comments
18
Aug 08

Create a Permanent Email Address for Yourself

Are you tired of having to change your email address when your Internet provider goes out of business or gets gobbled up by another provider, or you move, or you just want to change Internet providers?

Informing everyone in your address book that you have changed email addresses doesn’t take a great deal of time, but it is annoying nonetheless. In today’s Shotgun article, I explain how you can create an address that is permanently yours regardless of who you use for an Internet provider.

Any time you type in a www address or visit a www address, you visit that company’s, organization’s or person’s domain. In Internet terms, a domain equates to an online trademark. As long as you pay for it, you retain the right to use its name. The main company for handling domain registrations is Network Solutions.

Network Solutions has a service where you can register a unique domain name and get a permanent email address for less than $2 per month. Here’s how:

  1. Visit the Network Solutions web site
  2. Click the email tab
  3. Select how many email addresses you want and click Add to Cart
  4. Fill in the form that asks you what domain name (the part of your email address after teh @ symbol)  you would like to use (ex: myfamilyname.com)
  5. Choose possible alternative extensions ( .tv, .us, .org, etc)
  6. Click the Search button

Network Solutions will go to work searching to see if your chosen domain name is available. If it isn’t, it returns some alternate suggestions. If it is, just follow the rest of the on-screen instructions to pay for and start utilizing your new permanent, personalized address. Additional email addressing using the same domain can also be obtained.

Two other good email hosting and domain registrat sites are NameSecure.com and Register.com that may offer better rates than Network Solutions.

Registering a domain name also gives you the opportunity to start your own web site with the name you registered at any time in the future.One last benefit of having a permanent address is the ease of which you can use almost any email program  made (Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora, etc) and have access to your email via a web mail account.

← Older Entries