OpenOffice: The good, bad, and the great – A...

Special guest post by Bri Castellini When I got my first laptop, for my sixteenth birthday three and a half years ago, I needed a word processor. Because I got a MacBook, Microsoft Word didn’t really make a lot of sense (plus, it’s super expensive!), and so my dad HelpMeRick helped (hah) me make the switch to a free, open source word processor. I started out with a program called AbiWord, but the formatting was...

Why use free security software?

A customer asked me a question that I get asked quite often on the radio show and when I’m making my daily house or office visits. “Why do you use free products versus the larger commercial pay products for keeping a computer secure?” My answer can be summed up in word: effectiveness. Time and time again, the products I recommend prove themselves in the field as being thorough, effective, and unobtrusive...

I need your help, please

I missed last year’s annual newsletter subscriber drive, so I need your help once again to make this year’s drive a success. As you can see from the Email Newsletter subscribership number in the orange box in the right column of my site, we are holding steady at just over 2700 subscribers. My goal is to double this number by the end of the year. All I ask is that you refer just one more friend, relative,...

System Engineer fed up with Windows vulnerabilitie...

Interesting article from a ZDNet author, Christopher Dawson,  who also works full-time as a school district computer engineer. Despite locking down Windows computers with security software, tweaking firewalls, and making sure all Windows updates are up to snuff, threats still sneak into their computers. I understand the frustration he exhibits in the article regarding the time and effort spent fighting these...

Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 053

The summer has kept me busy and I let a few too many question stack up (remember that you can make a small donation when asking your question to get priority). I answered all the questions you asked the last 2 weeks in these two videos. The first video contains questions from Doris, Henry, Andrew, Jean, John, Rae Ann, Craig, Janet, Maurice, Leo, Ryan, Shirley, Jason, Donna, Jeannie, Dave, and Scott. They asked questions about...

Free & Pay WiFi Hot Spots in Grand Junction, ...

I thought it might be a good idea to make a complete list of open WiFi hotspots in Grand Junction, CO. A WiFi Hotspot is a place where anyone can access wireless Internet for free and without setting up an account or through the use of a pay account. I also added a few pay sites as well. I certainly don’t know all the spots in town, so please help me make this list more complete with your additions by leaving a comment...

Free online computer classes

Chalmers said that he enjoys doing free computer classes at HP Learning Center.