Gmail guide for beginners – 3 Videos –...

This week’s video tip is a HelpMeRick.com first…it involves 3 videos to cover the topic of Gmail. Directly above each video below, I give a short synopsis of the videos contents. The more I use it, the more impressed I am with Gmail. If you currently use Gmail, don’t be afraid to watch these videos as you might pick up a tip or two yourself. Google offers a good Help section covering their email system, and...

How to use Google Maps & Street View – ...

You asked for it, and I deliver. Watch the short video below to see how to use Google Maps and the Google Maps Street View feature. Be sure to pass the article and the video on to your friends and family!

DSL Users – The line filters are important

I run into this issue a few times every month and don’t know why I haven’t written a tip about it yet. When a computer user signs up for DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), a DSL kit is delivered to their home. Like many of us, the instructions get pushed to the side or are left in the box, and the user starts plugging everything in to get online as quickly as possible. Or, they may call the neighborhood tech guru and...

Conficker Worm April 1 Virus – Do NOT Panic

I wish I had about 1/100th the pull of a sensationalized TV news spot. News must be slow this past couple of weeks (or the news folks don’t want to report on real news) therefore many news stories, including 60 Minutes, have reported on the Conficker Worm slated to become active on April 1. The real story here is that this threat was discovered last Fall and if you keep your antivirus and antispyware up-to-date and you...

It pays to scrutinize search results – Taint...

Computer degenerates looking to turn a quick buck always take advantage of hot topics. This month, the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament is the target. The shady folks possess skills that let them take advantage of how search engines see web pages and can lead unsuspecting web browsers into a trap. Once sprung, the trap is designed to take your money, infect your computer or both. How do you fight it? Always keep your...

Computer Help Show Podcast – 03-18-09

A very busy day on the phones from callers asking some great questions. Plus, we had our first question through Twitter today as well. We waxed a little philosophical about politics and technology, but tried to stay on our designated topic this month: How to save money with technology. Great fun, great information, have a listen! Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Add photos to Facebook quickly and easily – ...

I helped a retired aged computer user today who was cajoled into using Facebook by his family. His Facebook friends hammered him daily about posting some pictures to his online profile. But like many computer users, he juggled time between three different photo management programs. One of them, luckily, was Google’s Picasa and I configured Picasa to locate all his pictures. A quick web search led me to the Picasa...

Computer Help Show Podcast – 02-18-09

This month’s show centered on social networking. We had a special in-studio guest, Annie Payne (click here to reach her web site). Annie runs an extremely busy blog and writes for our local paper, The Daily Sentinel. Thanks for helping us talk about and answer questions about Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites Annie! In addition to the social networking chatter, we also answered a record amount of...

The spell checker in Firefox works everywhere!

  If you are a Mozilla Firefox user, and you should be, you may be overlooking one of its greatest features…the built-in spell checker. It works on any web page, in any text box you need to enter text. Look for any words that have a red, squiggly line underneath them for misspelled words. To correct the word, RIGHT click one time on the underlined word, then click the proper spelling from the list of suggestions....

Will you be too scared to use the Internet?

Spyware infections, on Windows based computers, continues to sky rocket. The average computer user suffers from this plague far more than a more technically savvy user. As more and more people get connected to the Internet, the ratio of technically savvy users drops and thus the increase in spyware infections. Many people equate younger computer users with techno knowledge, but the opposite seems to hold true. Young computer...

Windows 7 – First Impressions

I just finished installing the Windows 7 Beta version released by Microsoft on Friday. I installed it on my Toshiba Intel dual-core processor with 4 GB of RAM. It was running Windows Vista which took more than 4 minutes to fully boot (I consider the boot up process to be finished when the hard drive stops spinning and I don’t have to compete with a still booting computer to do what I want to do), and running any...

Don’t buy a new computer yet

2009 is upon us and computer prices are incredibly low, but if you can wait a year to buy a new computer, I would highly recommend it. Why? Microsoft plans on releasing the next version of Windows either late in 2009 or early in 2010. All indications point to the earlier release since Microsoft is anxious to bury Vista. Last week, Microsoft extended the life of Windows XP for a fifth time! This indicates the continued...

Thwarted by online poker

Today marked my second Linux/Ubuntu casualty in almost 2 dozen attempts. As I’ve learned more about Ubuntu the past couple of years, I carefully selected clients who would have little problems dealing with a non-Microsoft operating system. You may have read my take on Ubuntu usage for the average computer user before, but here it is again to setup the rest of the story: I believe that any computer users who uses only...

Correcting some spyware infections with an often o...

Some of the nastiest spyware infections can be dealt with easier than previously thought if you try the following steps immediately after becoming infected: Shut off your high speed modem OR simply unplug the Ethernet cable connecting your computer to the modem or router Restart the computer in Safe Mode and attempt to run a disk cleanup from the Accessories –> System Tools menu or use the CCleaner or Cleanup...

Switch TODAY!

On my way out the door today, I came across this article outlining one of the largest security breaches yet with Internet Explorer. I have been recommending for years that you switch to Mozilla Firefox. Today, I’m taking a harder line and recommending that you should never use Internet Explorer except in the extremely rare instance where a site truly requires Internet Explorer (IE) to run properly. For your safety and...