Department store fix it people

I encountered another department store computer fix-it horror story today. The client called me because they had the proverbial slow computer. I show up and the owner proceeds to tell me that they just got it returned from a big box electronic store with the initials CC whose computer experts work under the initials of FD. Incidentally, I could tell similar stories of woe with another store whose initials are BB and their...

CDBurnerXP free CD burning and DVD burning softwar...

It’s already Wednesday and I just noticed that I haven’t posted anything all week. I better make this one count. I have helped a number of people do basic reformats lately and often they have old copies of Roxio EZ CD Creator. Any version older than 6.0 can cause some serious problems with Windows XP and AVG antivirus. If you would like to create music or data CDs or  data DVDs, CDBurnerXP is a free program...

McAfee Removal Tool

If you work on computers, or you have an old copy of McAfee on your computer, you will definitely want to download the McAfee Consumer Removal Tool and run it.

New computer recommendations

At least once a year, I write a short article about my current computer recommendations. The holiday season is upon us, and I haven’t written an article like this in awhile, so here goes. In the past six months, I ask more questions than I give when approached with this question. Scenario 1 If I find that the person has a 2-4 year old computer with Windows XP, and just thinks the computer is slow, I go with this...

5 Easy Wireless Security Hints

Thankfully, broadband (high speed) Internet is spreading further and further. I don’t walk into many homes anymore than don’t have high speed access, and I can’t remember the last time I helped a business customer who had dial-up access. With high speed Internet access, many computer users install a wireless router to the modem to allow multiple computer access to the Internet. Wireless routers are easier...

Desktop Shortcuts Make Computing Easier – Vi...

Learning to make Windows work for you instead of you working for it can yield many more happy and productive hours using your computer. One highly under utilized feature of Windows is the shortcut icon. Learning to use and manage shortcuts will give you a huge advantage with your computer. A shortcut is simply a ‘pointer’ to a location on your computer. Every entry in your programs menu of the start button is a...

Quad Core Processors

I setup my first Quad Core processor computer today. It wasn’t for me, unfortunately, but I was impressed with the machine. My client ordered a Dell XPS Intel Quad Core machine with 4 GB of RAM and Windows XP. It was easily the fastest computer I have seen to date. With all that RAM, a 256mb video card, and the new Intel Quad Core processor everthing literally flew on this machine. One example is Adobe Photoshop...

How to Remove the Greeting Card Virus

Adam and I first mentioned this nasty little virus earlier this spring on our radio show. The email that spreads it poses as an electronic greeting card from your friend or relative. Because the email is so poorly constructed, is never from a known address, and the link it displays in the body of the message is a number (NEVER, EVER Click a link that is constructed of a number, ex: http://91.188.176.15/) we didn’t put...

11 years with my wife – 10.5 with my compute...

Every August 6th my wife and I celebrate our anniversary. Marriage certainly has its benefits. We have four wonderful kids. We each have great jobs that allow us to spend time together as a family. But, I have to admit that I got the better end of the deal. Every skill I have that makes me worth anything is a skill I have because of her. That is a total of one skill. I make no secret of the fact that I am not a carpenter,...

First ALL Internet Program

Starting tomorrow night (Thursday, August 2, 2007), Adam and I will be broadcasting our show for one commercial free hour right here at HelpMeRick.com from 9:30-10:30pm. We plan to do the show at that time every Thursday night barring holiday’s  No radio stations, no middle-men, no commercials, just you and us. In today’s article, I’m going to try and lay out how this will work and how YOU can...

First iPhone setup

I helped setup an iPhone for the first time today. Here is a quick summary of my findings: Pros Amazingly easy setup on the Windows XP machine we installed it on. No disks or CD’s ship with the iPhone at all. The only requirement is that you have the latest version of iTunes installed. The activation and installation were SIMPLE…the way all installations should be. Nice form factor. Felt like a large candy...

Learning a new computer

I have spent more than 10 years helping computer users get the most out of their computers. Without hesitation, I can say that the biggest obstacle any computer user encounters is change (which is precisely why I can’t figure out what Microsoft was thinking with Vista and Office 2007). One of the most common services I provide computer users is setting up new systems. No matter how much I try and duplicate the old...

Should you just get a new computer?

I have seen a lot of power supply failures lately. This seems to happen every summer but I don't keep detailed enough statistics to prove it. I am not sure why it happens either. It could be that people turn off their computers for summer vacation and it is the first time the computer has really been turned off in a long time. This might give things a chance to cool down and become brittle. Maybe it is just a...

Easy, safe, fun (and useful) Google Images –...

Google offers hundreds of features and most of them go unused by the average computer user. Google Images is one of the coolest features that the monster search site has to offer. Google Images allows you to search the web for graphics or pictures related to any search topic. It's so easy to use: 1. Visit Images.Google.com 2. Type in a word or phrase that you want to search for 3. Hit ENTER key on your keyboard 4. The...

Are they doing it for the kids?

Is Microsoft producing software for the 10-19 year olds? I helped a client setup a new Vista computer today, and she mentioned that her daughter thought it was really cool and nice…looking. I asked the mom what she thought. Her response was typical of most business computer users, "It's alright, but the messages asking me to confirm everything get annoying real fast. And it doesn't seem any faster than my...