Use keyboard shortcuts to save time editing text &...

Save some time when editing any type of text document (email, word processing document, blog, etc) by learning these keyboard shortcuts: Press Home to get to the beginning of a line Press End to move to the end of a line Press Ctrl + Home to get to the top of a document Press Ctrl + End to get to the end of a document Press Ctrl + Up Arrow to get to the beginning of a paragraph Press Ctrl + Down Arrow to get to the end of a...

Microsoft confirms Windows 7 release by the end of...

Microsoft opened up today and said they plan on releasing Windows 7 in time for the holidays. No firm date was given, but that statement means that manufacturers would need Windows 7 in hand no later than September or early October in order to start selling it in November/December. As I mentioned multiple times before: if you are in the market for a Windows based computer and don’t absolutely need it now…wait for...

Comparison of Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 9.04 install

I had the opportunity today to install both Windows 7  RC 1 and Ubuntu 9.04 on my Toshiba laptop today. The laptop has an Intel Core2Duo processor, 4 GB of RAM and 160 GB hard drive. Here are the results: Windows 7 RC1 Ubuntu 9.04 Install time 21 minutes including 2 reboots 19 minutes no reboots Boot time 54 seconds 36 seconds Shut down time 20 seconds 8 seconds Post install  work required Approximately an hour...

Windows 7 released by August?

Before I left for my work saving and fixing computers, I started the massive download for Windows 7 RC 1. The download is nearly 2.5 GB! This weekend, I will install it on my laptop and give you a full report in the upcoming weeks. This news story indicates that we might see the commercial release of Windows as early as August of this year. I want to see Microsoft release a quality product, but I also think it would be a good...

Does the Operating System matter any more?

I tweeted the question yesterday on whether the computer operating system (OS) really matters any more. The response from the Twitter community was less than overwhelming so I want to pose the same question to you, the HelpMeRick.com community. My contention is that more and more computer functions get done in a web browser. I rarely use any other computer program other than my browser these days. I don’t print much, I...

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...

Windows 7 will run XP programs; virtually

I don’t know whether to put this in the win or lose column for Windows users who need to run XP software on a newer computer. This announcement (see link below) indicates that in order to run a program designed for Windows XP, the user will have to invoke Windows XP Mode. The implementation of XP Mode occurs in a virtual machine (VM). Large companies and research companies use VM software all the time to simulate...

Windows XP Rumors

Supposedly Microsoft was supposed to stop all sales of Windows XP in March ‘o7. They changed that date to June ’07, then December ’07, then July ’08, December ’08, June ’09, and now it appears it might get extended to April ’10 if the following article has any substance to it. Microsoft first released XP in September 2001. When they released Vista in February 2007, they pulled XP from...

Hold off on the Internet Explorer 8 upgrade

Are you really still using Internet Explorer after all these years of me promoting and talking up Firefox? If you are, Microsoft released IE 8 last week, and already people are running away from it because of compatibility and stability problems. Like always, hold off on these types of upgrades for at least 3 months and let others be the guienea pigs for Microsoft. You will get along just fine with IE 7 and better with...

Preparing for a week with Windows 7

Starting tomorrow, I will be embarking on a week long venture of using only Windows 7. I downloaded the beta version of Microsoft’s next Windows release immeadiately after it was made available in January. However, since I installed it on my presentation laptop, I don’t use it very often. That will change tomorrow as I use it exclusively for the next week. Look for daily reports of how my 7 days with Windows 7 is...

Don’t buy a new computer yet!

If you can at all help it, I still recommend waiting to buy a new computer until later this year. Unless you are willing to move to Ubuntu or a Mac. The reason being that more and more evidence is pointing to a fall release of Windows 7…Microsoft’s next Widnows release. Analyst sees Windows 7 done by summer | Beyond Binary – CNET News.

Stop the Microsoft Office Agreement (EULA) from po...

If you are using Microsoft Office 2003 and Windows Vista, you might run into a situation where the End User License Agreement pops up every time you start Outlook, Word, Excel or other Office programs. No matter how many times you click “I agree”, the license keeps appearing. To stop the EULA from appearing, follow these steps: Close ALL Microsoft Office related programs (Outlook, Publisher, Powerpoint, Excel,...

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...