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:]]> http://helpmerick.com/netbooks-are-not-made-for-windows-xp-or-vista.htm/feed 18 http://helpmerick.com/no-great-holiday-computer-sales.htm http://helpmerick.com/no-great-holiday-computer-sales.htm#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:59:36 +0000 Rick http://helpmerick.com/wordpr/?p=1839 I was pretty disappointed with the lack of good computer sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Prices for computer have been pretty low since mid-summer, but I was hoping to see some 2GB RAM laptops under $450 and desktops with 2GB of RAM for less than that. Maybe we will see some lower prices before Christmas Eve.

Adam didn't post any outstanding deals on digital cameras either, so I'm assuming that the camera market was equally as flat as PC's.

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 advice:

I really love English Bulldogs.

Recently I became aware of a common pet scam that is based on every other over seas Internet scam.

Someone from Cameroon posts a desired breed up for a ridiculously low price.

He/she asks for money plus shipping. You never get the dog.

Here is my recent correspondence with one such scammer.

I have resorted the posts from oldest to newest so you can enjoy the events as they occurred.

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 still interact with us to get your questions answered.

First off, when you come to our site on Thursday evenings at 9:30pm (and probably earlier), you will see our video chat window on the left side of our page. If you see just a still picture of Adam and I, that means we aren't live yet, but if you see us moving around and hear us talking, then we are live and ready to go. Follow these steps to get in on the live action:

1. You must be using a high speed connection in order for the chat to work right.
2. Click ONE time on the picture of us to open the chat in its own window (so you can continue to surf the Internet while listening/watching the action)
3. Type your name or nickname into the chat box and click "Start Chat"
4. Now sit back, relax, and either type a question to us OR if you want to sign up for an account at Stickam (its free), you can use your own web cam so that we can hear and see you.
5. You can also still email us through the site and we will be answering more questions from email than ever before. 

That's it!

Please know that since this will be a public Internet channel, there may be hoodlums trying to cause some havoc from time-to-time, but we have our hand on the eject button at all times and will dismiss/ban any trouble makers from the room. We hope that we will indeed draw new listerners/visitors to the site and show, but very much want to continue our long tradition of helping the every day computer user. 

Our plan is to post the audio of the chat and possibly even the video of the session after the show so you can listen to it as many times as you want, any time you want.

How can you use the audio ANY time

• Visit the site and click the play button from any computer, any time.
• Download the audio file and save it to your computer so you can listen any time you want.
• Burn that audio file to a CD to take with you in the car or play on your home stereo
• Copy the audio file to an MP3 player.

We can answer more specific questions during the show on Thrusday nights.

Also, you never know when]]> http://helpmerick.com/first-all-internet-program.htm/feed 1 http://helpmerick.com/sometimes-the-internet-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story.htm http://helpmerick.com/sometimes-the-internet-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story.htm#comments Mon, 19 Feb 2007 22:37:40 +0000 Rick http://helpmerick.com/wordpr/?p=1285 My children were out of school today for the President's Day holiday. We had planned to go skiing with another family at our local ski resort. My son and I woke early and were eating breakfast and decided that we should check the weather on the mountain. We checked the resort's web site and the National Weather Service web site. Both indicated that it could be a 'breezy' day with a chance of snow. We finished eating, packed, and made the forty-five minute trek up the mountain. About half way to the resort, I noticed that the clouds were looking pretty dark (rainy not snowy) and the wind had picked up substantially. As we made the final ascent to the ski area, the wind picked up enough to shake the pine trees on the side of the road quite easily and I could feel the van struggling to keep its bearing. When we pulled into the resort, all the flags were flying straight out and not given any chance to relax. 

I am a pack rat, but I am not the kind of person who never throws anything away. I am picky in what I keep. Most of my clutter is job related. Since I spend my days working on computers, I tend to keep computer parts and cables "just in case."

While I kept a lot of cables, I did decide to finally get rid of a lot of stuff I will probably never need again. I collected a total of 5 trash bags full of junk in the cleaning process.