5 Steps to Using Online Financial Sites Safely

Every year computer users who use the Internet to check account balances, transactions, and even paying bills grows by nearly 30%. According to one Pew study, more than 50 million Americans use online banking services. 50 million sounds like a large number, but that still reflects less than 50% of online American adults. Bank web sites continue to evolve by becoming easier to use, more secure, and more helpful than ever...

Setting up a new computer

Prevention 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...

How to correct Send Later issue in Thunderbird ...

A client recently emailed me that he had a problem with his Thunderbird showing the Send Later icon vs. Send icon when composing mail. This is due to Thunderbird being accidentally set to Offline mode. Here’s how to correct it: On the main opening screen of Thunderbird, Click File from the menus Click Offline UNCHECK the box next to Work Offline ...

Holiday Computer Madness

Every year for the last 7-8 years, I bring up a version of this tip to help save you time and money during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years visiting season. Please follow the advice. I can guarantee that it will save you and your computer lots of grief. With all the traveling done during the holidays, your computer is bound to be taken hostage by friends and family wanting to check their email or play a game or two....

How to attach photos to Bresnan web based email &#...

Here are the notes that I created for a client who uses Bresnan’s web based email system and wanted to attach photos. Although the notes are for photos specifically, one can use the methodology to just as easily attach documents as well. ...

Scanning and Attaching Documents to Yahoo Email &#...

These notes were generated for a customer using an older HP All-in-one printer. He needed to learn how to scan documents, save them, then attach them to his Yahoo email. For folks learning how to scan or attach items to Yahoo email, these notes will help. ...

Notes from a session with a MacBook user

These notes were created while sitting with a customer who uses a MacBook and was learning how to use his Gmail account. You can find all of these tips in my other Gmail tips, but here’s what I left for him. Here is a PDF Version of Gmail Notes pictured. ...

5 Reasons why YOU should be moving to the cloud

I have written many articles about Web 2.0 or cloud computing. Cloud computing means that you work with programs and/or data that are not installed or saved on your computer. Instead, the programs and/or data live on an Internet connected computer (server) somewhere else in the world. Among other things, these computers/services provide: Security via the password and user name that you choose. Access to the service from any...

Google rolling out new Gmail look and functions &#...

Starting today, Google is rolling out the option for you to try out there new interface (look and function). You will see an option to try out the system in the lower right hand side of your Gmail screen (see picture at left for what it will look like). In a nutshell, don’t be overwhelmed by the new streamlined and minimalist look…all the things you are used to using are there, I promise. Take a just a few moments...

Four pages of notes for a Yahoo Mail User – ...

One of my client’s today runs a home business and has a need to send links via her Yahoo email account. I set up a Links folder on her Internet Explorer toolbar, then showed her how to use tabs and copy and paste the links. Here’s the...

Apple iPad – What, why, how?

Today, we talked about the iPad and what it can do, why you might want to consider an iPad, and how to understand the basics of the iPad, the app store, and connectivity. At the end of this article, you will find a handout of the short PowerPoint style presentation I put together to start the class that I created on the iPad with the amazing Keynote app ($9.99) from Apple. We talked about a lot of the features and how to use...

Printing from Gmail – Notes

Starting today, I have the capability to digitize notes and how-tos that I write up for my clients each and every day. My goal is to use this option extensively and build a large library of specific how-to’s that are much more focused than my general tips and how-tos here at HelpMeRick.com. I hope you enjoy and benefit from them. My first note to add to this new archive is how to get a proper print from Gmail. Hitting...

How to use multiple signatures in Gmail without ad...

This week I helped a client start the transition to Gmail from Microsoft Outlook. Turns out that although he used the same email address, he did have different signatures setup for various uses (personal, business, charity, etc). With Gmail, it is possible to setup a separate signature for different email addresses (which not many people do with Gmail), but not choose from different signatures. As I thought about his problem,...

Disable Gmail Web Clips and Important Markers R...

Frequent visitors to this site know that I’m a huge fan of Gmail and recommend it and its web interface. However, every now and then Google introduces some features that perplex me. Some people may like the features, but it is nice to be able to disable them if you don’t use or like the feature. In today’s tip, I explain how to disable the web clips advertising bar at the top of the list of messages and also...

How to fix Microsoft Outlook email address lookup ...

Microsoft Outlook’s time is up…actually it has been up for many years. The interface gets worse and worse. The fact that very few of us work solely on one device makes it more irrelevant. And the fact that transferring of data gets more and more complex is absolutely unconscionable in this day and age of technology. Case in point: Today, I worked with a client who uses Outlook 2007 or 2010 on 4 different computers...