Firefox | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: Firefox

5 Simple Rules to avoid SCD (Slow Computer Disease)

photo credit: jennconspiracy

I’ve written about this before, but it bares repeating on occasion for new visitors to the site and long time visitors who haven’t learned yet. The advice is simple:

Do not download free screensavers, wallpaper, email programs (Incredimail, etc), or games from the Internet.

Unless you are WELL versed in the origin of these items, they can easily destroy your computer’s ability to compute.

“Slow computer” is the most common computer ailment Windows users search for on the web. Sadly, slow computer disease (SCD*), does not have to be the pandemic it is because it is 100% preventable.

Here are my 5 simple rules to prevent SCD for Windows users: Continue reading →

Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 11 Comments
4
Nov 09

Troubleshooting Your High Speed Internet Connection

photo credit: geo462rge

This tip needs to come back to the front page again. I’ve helped many more people the last few weeks with this issue.

Please print it and hang it by your computer…and send it your friends as well.

I posted this tip many moons ago, but wanted to bring it back to the front page because we have so many new high speed Internet users. Click the Printer Friendly option at the bottom of this tip, print it out and post it next to your computer…you will be glad you did.

Routers take high speed Internet signals and then distribute the signal (route) to multiple computers. Sometimes, however, the signal gets lost and an Internet connection cannot be made. This can be due to multiple reasons, but most can be rectified the same way. Before you reach for the phone or grumble under your breath, follow this simple and highly effective procedure to get your system(s) up and running again.

Shut off Continue reading →

Email Tips / Macintosh / Ubuntu Tips — No Comments
21
Sep 09

Set Firefox to recognize web mail for mailto links – Video Tip

If you use a web based email system like Gmail, HotMail, or Yahoo email or any derivative of these, you more than likely run into occasions where you want to email someone from a web site. However, when you click the link (known as a mailto link), you get presented with an email system you never heard of or used asking you to enter your email particulars to send the email. Most folks usually just snarl and forget about it.

You could copy and paste the email address into your web mail. OR, if you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, you can set it to Continue reading →

Email of the week — No Comments
1
Sep 09

Email of the Week – 016

QUESTION

Name: Cathy

From: Walworth, WI.

OS: Windows XP

———————-
I use Firefox and lately whether I have one or twenty tabs open all of a sudden it crashes and I have to re-open and restore tabs. This happens 3-4 times a night.
I have CA Security and Spy Bot.

Thank you,
Cathy

ANSWER

Thanks for writing and great question. Two ways to troubleshoot your problem. First, Continue reading →

Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 1 Comment
18
Aug 09

Beware of fake security software

photo credit: elmada

I write a similar article every few weeks not because I’m not creative, but because too many people aren’t listening yet. These past few weeks have been awful for folks getting fake security software on their computers. It often times gets on a computer as a result of other things you are trying to download or access including, but not limited to:

Free screensavers
Free wallpaper
Free games
Free security software (there are great products available, but make sure you know what you are getting and where you are getting it from).
Online credit checks
Online gambling
Online porn
Free music downloads
Free movie downloads

What happens is the bad guys have figured out how to take advantage of what is popular at any given time. As you install the programs listed above or access the services listed, you agree to put the junk on your system and it then stealthy slips by any existing security software you do have. If you follow a few simple rules, Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
31
Jul 09

Firefox reaches 1 billion downloads

1billionfirefox After the great Internet Explorer (IE) vs. Netscape browser wars of the 90s, it didn’t appear that Internet Explorer would ever be challenged again…thus Microsoft’s complacency with updating IE. Then just 4+ years ago, Mozilla Firefox burst onto the scene with a small, fast, and safe browser that caught fire quickly. As spyware and other malware all but crippled IE users, Firefox became stronger and stronger and with the release of Firefox 2.0 in 2006, Firefox was here to stay.

This week, Firefox officially hit more than 1 billion download since its firs release. A huge accomplishment demonstrated by its nearly 25% market share (IE owned nearly 92% of the browser market just five years ago). Site statistics for HelpMeRick.com show that more than 61% of my visitors use Firefox! I knew Continue reading →

Computer User Group / Internet Tips — 7 Comments
7
Jul 09

The Castellini Approach to Internet Security

photo credit: The Joy Of The Mundane

This past week I saw way too many people who are not taking advantage of the free information we give out on the show and the web site. Their computers were suffocating from a preventable disease…viruses and spyware. Yes, preventable, almost 100%. And fighting the war on our home computer security front does not have to be costly or time consuming.

We talk about this subject quite a bit on the program and the web site because of its rapid growth worldwide. In today’s tip, I am providing you with links to information that we have on this site that have been up for months to years that contain the essential information about protecting your computer.

Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 9 Comments
6
Jul 09

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 released – Get it!

Mozilla released version 3.5 of their browser, Firefox, less than two weeks ago. I jumped on the update the day it came out and have had zero problems. You already know that I recommend everyone use an alternative to Internet Explorer for daily browsing. If you aren’t using an alternative browser yet, then now is the time to jump in and start using something other than Internet Explorer.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 shored up a lot of speed and memory problems that seemed to hamper some with their 3.0 release. I noticed an immeadiate improvement with Continue reading →

Email of the week — No Comments
4
Jun 09

Email of the Week – 006

photo credit: glindsay65

QUESTION

Name: Kathy

From: Grand Junction

OS: Windows XP

———————-
When I go into different web sites I get this message:
ERROR
A runtime error
has occurred?
Line 30
ERROR: Object required
Yes No

This occurs quite frequently can you tell me why and what I can do about it?

ANSWER

This error is usually due to Continue reading →

Internet Tips / Macintosh / Riding Shotgun with Rick / Ubuntu Tips / Windows Tips — 5 Comments
28
Apr 09

Make reading the web easier than ever – Video Tip

photo credit: dsevilla

Although we now have 19″ and larger monitors on most new desktop computers, the text seems to shrink. Why is that? It has to do with screen resolution (how much information can be displayed). Screen resolutions on today’s monitors are up to 3X that of monitors we used just 6-8 years ago. We can see a lot more information, but often the text is too small to view for some computer users.

Never fear. Using this week’s tip, you can easily and quickly enlarge the text of any web page using only your keyboard and mouse. This tip will work with any web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc) and any operating system (Windows, Ubuntu, Mac OS X).

All you need is a mouse with a scroll wheel and your keyboard. This tip can be performed without the mouse as well, but I’ll touch on that later.

First, when you are reading a web site, particularly news web sites and blog type sites like mine, look for an indication of a printer friendly page. Often designated as Printer Friendly, Print this article, or simply Print, clicking this link brings Continue reading →