Advanced Linux Meeting next week

First off, I need to stress that this new group has no affiliation what-so-ever with the Grand Junction Computer Users Group, and also need to stress that it is for advanced hobbyists only. Last week, I met with Joe Mason last week who is very interested in this idea of starting an Advanced Linux Users Group. The conversation and information overwhelmed me, but also inspired me on how much more I want to learn about Linux. He...

I want to be a Linux geek

Microsoft drove me into the world of Linux and its various flavors including Mint, Puppy, PC Linux OS, Dream, Damn Small, gOS and many more. This trek started two years ago (can you correlate that time frame?) and my veracity for learning it hasn’t ebbed one bit. In fact, I find the world of Linux more compelling every time I sit down and learn more about it. I’m writing this article from my Asus EeePC that runs a...

Photoshop Restoration in Elements

Tips and tricks for restoring old photos and removing blemishes digitally Meeting notes from 02-26-08 Tools needed: A good scanner For prints, almost any scanner will do pretty well, but if you are doing small photos, slides or negatives, you will probably want to go with a nicer Epson scanner such as the  Epson Perfection 4490. These scanners offer transparancy scanning for slides and negatives as well as very high...

What is a blog?

I am sure that this isn’t the first article posted on this topic at HelpMeRick.com, but hopefully it will be the most complete. There are three ways to define blogs: As news, as journals and as a ventilation system for people who want to be important. In fact you could easily draw a vin diagram showing how most blogs overlap. Blogs as News: Blogs are websites that allow users to build and post to as easily as they...

Word Processing and Spreadsheet Basics – Nov...

After getting off the “grid” this year with our meetings and covering some very different territories, I decided to go with a mainstream topic today. In today’s meetings, we discussed some word processing and spreadsheet basics. Our site has a plethora of word processing tips (mostly Microsoft Word), and you can find them all by clicking here. For spreadsheets, you can just search for spreadsheets in our...

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scannin...

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scanning* *but weren’t sure who to ask. Every scanner works a little differently, but these terms and tips should help you through the process. TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW Image Editor – This is any program that allows you to manipulate an image. Some titles include Adobe Photoshop and Elements, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft ...

Shutterfly Studio – Online photo services

What good are digital photos if you can’t share them?  Shutterfly.com is a great website for sharing your digital photos online, but where Shutterfly really shines is what you can do with them offline. To get started with Shutterfly, you will need to setup a free account. It’s easy and takes less than five minutes. Once you have setup a free account, you can begin uploading your pictures into online albums....

Expand and share your knowledge with web forums &#...

Web or Internet forums will forever change the way you gather information on the Internet. Individuals, organizations, and large companies setup forums to provide a meeting place for people with common interests and goals. Individual computer users like you and I generate 95% of the content/information in a web forum. The rules are pretty simple; if you have a question and it hasn’t already been answered, post a...

All Q&A Session – July 2007

I don’t do it too often, but this month I decided to hold an all Q&A (2 hours) user group meeting. It truly is amazing how many questions 30 or 40 ravenous computer users can generate. Sometimes one question leads to another, and an entire “topic” can take up a half hour. You have to be at one of the meetings to truly experience the type of knowledge and information that gets shared and explored. Some of...

Castellini on Computers is Morphing…for the ...

As I look back over the past few years, I am very proud of the progress Adam and I have put into the site. My goal from day 1 for our web site and show, and Adam adopted the goal when he joined me nearly 7 years ago, was to provide the easiest to understand and most practical computer advice on the web, radio, or anywhere. I believe that we have succeeded in meeting that goal and continue to improve upon that goal every...

Understanding FIle Management – April 2007

Click here to get the PowerPoint handout for today's meeting.

Getting familiar with your digital camera

Although we recently had a class on getting to know your digital camera, many in the group have brand new cameras this time. Since our meeting this month will focus a lot on the individual cameras that people bring to the meeting most of our notes will be posted after the meeting. Here are a few items I expect to touch on. You have a camera, now what? Once you have the digital camera, you will need a few extras. A 1...

Off to CES

Well, I'm off to CES and for those who are wondering, I did get a hair cut. Watch for videos and photos from CES and you will be able to see my new conservative look. Over the coming days I have interviews and meetings setup with Kensington, SanDisk, and a few companies I have never heard of. I also will be attending press parties sponsored by companies like Monster Cables, Sony, and CNET. It all promises to be a good...

Heading to CES!

We have had a number of our listeners and folks who attend our various seminars ask us about our trip to CES this year. Until recently we were kind of up in the air as to whether we were going. Well, I am happy to say that it's official that I am going. Rick will be staying home to take care of his goats and run the user group meeting in January, but I will be taking Andy, my brother and a writer for the show, with me to...

An 8 hour download…

This afternoon I started downloading the beta version of Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista. I pay for a 1.5mb DSL connection. At that speed, the download is estimated to take about 7 or so hours. Cable users with a 6mb connection would be able to download it in about 2 hours. Dial up users aren't even allowed to try…it would take almost six days on a dial-up connection. I could have ordered the DVD installation...