Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners » customize

7 Google services you have never tried

Rick — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:36:08 +0000

Google started as a college project 12 years ago, then as a startup search engine just 10 years ago. Today, Google owns more than 60% of all web search traffic and employs close to 22,000 employees worldwide. You probably interact with Google via their search engine primarily. However, you are missing out on some truly great services that Google also provides in addition to their fast and accurate search engine. Today, I will tell you about 7 of the many other services Google provides.

Google News

When you arrive at google.com, click the link that says News at the top of the page or you can directly visit news.google.com. Google News is an auto-generated news page that refreshes automatically every 5-10 minutes and displays headlines from more than 4500 news sources around the world. To me, it is the ultimate newspaper?unbiased and unfiltered. And even more helpful, starting a search at Google News instead of

9 Tweaks I perform for a new client’s computer

Rick — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:32:31 +0000

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 [...]

Customize the mouse to fit your needs – Video Tip

Rick — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:18:03 +0000

Too many people start using a computer and don’t know how to customize its settings to best suit there needs. The mouse is one of the worst offenders…especially for low vision folks or computer users with other disabilities. This short video tutorial will help anyone get the mouse to work the best way possible for [...]

Customizing your iPhone home screen – Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:23:46 +0000

This is a pretty specific tip for a relatively new device, but with WalMart now carrying iPhones more and more people will want and need to learn how to take advantage of their investment. The iPhone is a wonderful little tool...IF you learn how to use it and make it work for you.

One of the first things you can do with any piece of technology is customize it to fit your needs. With the iPhone, learning to customize the interface makes the unit more usable for you. This week, I show iPhone users how to customize the location of their icons on the iPhone launch screen or home screen.

Touch and hold your finger on any icon
When the icons start to jiggle, take your finger off the icon.
Now you can drag any icon to any position by touching and dragging it to a new location or even a new screen by dragging it to the left or right edge of the screen.
You can also drag the default icons off the toolbar at the bottom and drag the ones you use most often to the toolbar
When you are finished moving your icons to positions that work best for you, push the button at the bottom of your iPhone.

As always, these tips make more sense by watching the video! And even if you aren't an iPhone user, I think you will find it interesting to see the kind of tech that can be found in a phone today.

Change your Bullets – Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:24:11 +0000

Bullets, in Microsoft Word and other word processors, allow users to bring attention to a list of items as seen here:

Bullets are fun
Bullets are customizable
Bullets make documents easier to read

Unlike my boring 'dot' bullets above, you can use this week's tip to customize your Microsoft Word bullets to suit your style and document's purpose.

First, to create a bulleted list follow these steps:

Netbooks are NOT made for Windows XP or Vista

Rick — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:50:18 +0000

One year ago, ASUS started a fire storm of new computers that now go by the name of netbooks with the release of their EeePC. I wrote about this subject just a few months ago, but with the holidays approaching and netbooks are high on gift giver's radar screens so I want to explore netbooks a little more in depth.

Netbooks make attractive gift giving ideas for a few reasons:

They are inexpensive; usually cost less than $400.
They are extremely portable (2-3 pounds).
They are cute.

Here are some facts you need to know about netbooks:

Customizing the Ubuntu Login screen – Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:11:01 +0000

I personally don't mind the orange and black themes of Ubuntu. If you do, however, you can quickly change the look of the Ubuntu login them by downloading new ones from the Internet or using some of the extra options in Ubuntu.

To download new themes, I suggest starting at Gnome Look. Gnome Look offers hundreds of new themes you can use at no cost to customize Ubuntu to look the way you want it. Once at the Gnome Look web site, follow these steps to get your new login theme(s) installed.:

Click GDM Themes from the options on the left of the screen
Browse around and find a theme you like. I like to start by looking in the highest rated or most downloads tab.
You can click any thumbnail (small picture) to see a larger view of a potential candidate.
Once you decide on a theme, look for the download option and click it.
Save the theme to a known location on your computer.
Close your browser and download windows.
Click System ---> Administration --> Login Window from the menus
Enter your password
Click the Local tab
Click the Add button on the right
Navigate to and click the theme you downloaded.
Click the Install button.
Your new login theme should appear (in alphabetical order).
Repeat steps 10-13 for any other themes you downloaded and need to add.
Now click the radio button next to the theme you want to use for your login screen
Click OK

The next time you login into your computer, your new theme will be used. See all these steps in action by watching the video below!

7 ways to become a more efficient web user – Video Tip

Rick — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:30:22 +0000

This is a reintroduction and retitling of a previous video/tip because of a copyright infringement complaint from Franklin Covey. Hopefully, the new title and verbiage will satisfy their legal staff.

All week long I help computer users of all ages and experience levels. Too often, I see that many computer users (beginners and experienced alike) do not utilize or know about some basic web browsing skills that will speed their work and give them less problems when using the Internet.

In this week's tip, I will highlight the inefficient habits computer users use and replace them with tips that will make YOU a quicker and more profecient web user.

1. Using an old browser

No matter how old your computer is or what operating system you are using, DO NOT USE INTERNET EXPLORER 6 (IE 6). IE 6 is late 20th century technology and is not compatible with much of the web today and it also poses the greatest security risks.

Instead, use

Google News Alerts

Rick — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:37:33 +0000

Would you like to get targeted news/web searches delivered to your email? Google Alerts can do that for you. Google Alerts allow you to get automated, customized news and web searches delivered to your email daily, weekly, or as breaking news alerts based on the criteria you provide. The service can be used without a Google account, but if you start using the service more, and you will, having an account will allow you to manage and tweak your alerts easier. If you already use Google for a customized home page, email, Picasa account, Blogger account, or any of the other Google services, you can use that same account information to use and manage Google Alerts.

In order to really grasp how beneficial Google Alerts can be, you need to try it out for yourself. There are no limits to how many alerts you can create. Here's how:

Click here to visit the Google Alerts page
Type a search term or terms in the first box. Remember to spell your terms correctly and describe your search completely so your alerts are more accurate
In the Type box, click and choose whether you want to get alert items from news stories only, blogs, videos, web in general (non-news), discussion groups, or comprehensive (which covers it all).
Choose how often you want the emails in the third box. Your choices are daily, weekly, or as the news happens.
Lastly, fill in your email and click the Create Alert button

Within a few hours, you will start to receive your email alerts. The email will be from Google Alerts with the subject Google Alert - Your Search Terms. The email will contain a list of the matches it found with the link to the story and where it is from and the first two lines of the story itself. You can delete or edit an alert at any time by going back to the Google Alerts web page and clicking the Manage your alerts link.

More Firefox 3.0 Features – Video Tip

Rick — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:01:16 +0000

I've posted some tips already demonstrating some of the power of Firefox 3.0. In today's tip, I demonstrate how Mozilla has improved Firefox's tabbed browsing, improved the ability to find and manage 3rd party add-ons, customize your address and search bar box lengths and more.

Take a look at the video and learn why Firefox 3.0 remains at the top of the Internet browsing mountain.