Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners » meeting

Advanced Linux Meeting next week

Rick — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:23:33 +0000

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. [...]

I want to be a Linux geek

Rick — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:15:59 +0000

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 Linux derivative and its performance impresses me every time I use it.

Photoshop Restoration in Elements

Rick — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:06:57 +0000

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 4800 dpi resolution for well under $200.

What is a blog?

Rick — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:47:08 +0000

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 send an email. This means that factors like web design, and computer literacy are of little importance.

Word Processing and Spreadsheet Basics – November 2007

Rick — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:32:27 +0000

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 search engine.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scanning

Rick — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:55:57 +0000

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

Shutterfly Studio – Online photo services

Rick — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 23:16:25 +0000

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. These albums will not only help you manage your photos, but you can also share them with anyone you wish.

Expand and share your knowledge with web forums – Video Tip

Rick — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 23:54:08 +0000

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 question to the forum, readers see it and respond if they have the answer. Of course, if you see a question that you know the answer to, by all means jump on board and answer it!

Depending on the topic and the reputation of the forum you visit, questions can get answered in as little as five minutes but rarely go more than 24 hours without an answer.

In today's video tip, I explain how to:

Search for forums that interest you
Search for information in a forum
How-to post questions in a forum

The collective knowledge of Internet users is overwhelming and invigorating. Watch the video below to see how helpful using web forums can be...and again, you may have invaluable help for someone else as well.

All Q&A Session – July 2007

Rick — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:00:27 +0000

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 today's topics included:

Castellini on Computers is Morphing…for the better

Rick — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:08:28 +0000

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 single day.

After months of consideration, we agreed that we can do even MORE for our web site visitors, show listeners, and computer users yet to visit the site if we focus our energies on further enriching the site's content and offering new ways to interact with us and the site.