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...

Stay safe when using public WiFi – Video Ti...

When traveling during the holidays or any time, it is extremely important to stay safe when using public wifi (Internet) at airports, coffee shops, hotels, etc. I recently came across a tool called Hotspot Shield that allows you to create a secure and private connection for all your browsing and email. It’s the same type of security that companies use for their employees when out of the office. It’s called VPN...

Re-thinking my mobile tech

Right now, I carry an iPhone, an Asus EeePC netbook (running Ubuntu 10.04 NBR) on a daily work day basis. When I travel, I carry the iPhone and usually the EeePC. I also own a 13″ Toshiba laptop that I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7, but I only use the Toshiba only for teaching and presentations. My thought process is: Should I sell both the Toshiba and the netbook and get a thinner, lighter laptop? Just sell the...

7 Tech items I would take to college

I graduated from college almost 10 years before computers started being a main stream college accessory. I would love to be a student again not only because I enjoy learning, but I would love to have access to the technologies today’s students use every day. The most advanced piece of tech I used in college was the HP 41 CV programmable calculator with the magnetic card strip reader attachment. I loved that calculator,...

Computer Help Show Podcast – 05-20-09

I forgot to post the podcast from yesterday, but here it is now! We had yet another fun and informative show. In this month’s episode, we talked about laptops for college students, the upcoming Palm Pre smartphone from Sprint, and of course many other topics. Have a listen! And more importantly, remember to listen next month. The next show will be Wednesday, June 17! Podcast: Play in new window | Download

2 laptop suggestions for college students

Millions of high schoolers will be graduating soon and will be leaving for their respective campuses (campii?) at the end of the summer. These students will more than likely go to college with a computer…probably a laptop. I would like to suggest two possible laptops ideas for these students. Both of my ideas involve good systems that will allow college kids to word process, chat, email, listen to music, watch...

Laptop Battery Life

Since laptops now out-sale desktops, I decided to bring this tip out of the archives. We had a call last weekend, and I get the same question from many laptop users: “Why is the battery life on my laptop so poor?”. The biggest reason is that the battery doesn’t get enough exercise. Most rechargeable batteries today don’t have the memory problem like they did eight and ten years ago. However, unless...

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...

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 0...

Wow, lots of laptop questions ranging from heat problems, to college student recommendations, installing Flash player and much more. A jam packed edition this week with questions brought to you by: Marcia, Brian, Kristina, Theola, Larry, Phil, Gloria, Pat, Charles, Ron, Jonny, Helen, Tom, Steve, David, and Jean! Take a look! ...

Netbooks are NOT made for Windows XP or Vista

One year ago, ASUS started a fire storm of new computers that now go by the name of netbooks with the release of their EeePC.  I wrote about this subject just a few months ago, but with the holidays approaching and netbooks are high on gift giver’s radar screens so I want to explore netbooks a little more in depth. Netbooks make attractive gift giving ideas for a few reasons: They are inexpensive; usually cost...

Microsoft Arc Mouse

My old cordless mouse quit on me this week. It was a simple Logitech 2 button scroll mouse (optical). I’m not a big fan, actually I’m not a fan at all of mice with all the extra buttons and features. I want a simple 2 button mouse with a scroll wheel. As I was shopping, I noticed that the only simple mice were either cheap crap, corded (I wanted cordless), or came bundled with a keyboard. Since I didn’t need...

Lazy computer users

Over the past few days, the tech news sites and blogs have carried a story centered on a quote from a NetBook (tiny laptop) manufacturer stating that the company receives 4X the returns of Linux based systems versus Windows systems. The more often I saw this headline and read the articles, the more irritated I became. Computers are still in their infancy compared to much of the technology we use today. Americans have had...

New Dell Mini laptops

Dell has joined Everex, Acer, HP, Sony, and the ground breaking Asus Eee PC in the arena of the netbook. Netbooks are small laptops with a screen of 9″ or smaller and a weight of less than 2.5 pounds. They all run on either a form of Linux or Windows XP. The Dell Inspiron Mini (click the picture above to buy or read more about them) is Dell’s entry into this increasingly crowded and popular market. Remember that...

Vista can run faster if you…

I just finished my normal Sunday morning routine of breakfast with the Sunday paper. I always peruse the Sunday high tech ads to keep tabs on prices. Computer prices continue to drop (and I still think manufacturers are getting a kick back from Microsoft) to help spur sluggish sales. However, the past few weeks, I picked up on another trend; increased RAM. In this week’s big 4 ads (Office Depot, Office Max, Circuit...

When is high speed cellular Internet access a good...

          Not everyone can get a cable or DSL Internet connection in their home…especially in rural areas. Cellular service, though, reaches pretty far these days. And in the past few years all three major cellular providers in the United States have rolled out broadband Internet via cellular signals. New technology developments allow users to easily use USB mobile broadband adapters...