Brain transplant

If I could impart one aspect of my computer knowledge to everyone who uses a computer, it would be the ability to understand file management. File management, in the computer world, means how information (files) are stored and utilized on a computer system. Understanding file management, means understanding: How to locate files (documents, pictures, spreadsheets, music, etc) on your computer. How to move those files from...

Rick and Adam return to terrestrial radio on Wedne...

We are returning to the Grand Junction, Colorado air waves this Wednesday the 19th on KAFM 88.1 FM. KAFM is our local public radio station and has a fantastic line up of music and public service programs. We have been give the opportunity to appear once per month (third Wednesday of every month) from Noon to 12:30pm Mountain Time. At this moment, we plan on talking mainly about newsy tech items and possibly end with a...

CDBurnerXP free CD burning and DVD burning softwar...

It’s already Wednesday and I just noticed that I haven’t posted anything all week. I better make this one count. I have helped a number of people do basic reformats lately and often they have old copies of Roxio EZ CD Creator. Any version older than 6.0 can cause some serious problems with Windows XP and AVG antivirus. If you would like to create music or data CDs or  data DVDs, CDBurnerXP is a free program...

The Top 10 Free Porn and Poker Web Sites

Let’s all face it. We don’t have to agree with it or even like it, but the porn and gaming (poker) industry push the boundaries of the Internet and sometimes that translates to a better Internet experience for all of us. From experience with my business, I can tell you that computer users who frequent free online gambling sites, porn sites, and free music downloading sites have the worst running computers....

Black Friday Shopping Spoiler

I kind of enjoy shopping. I don’t enjoy watching other people shop, but if I have some money to spend, I kind of enjoy the experience. Black Friday is always fun. Typically my wife stands in one line while I stand in another before the sun comes up with a list of things that we want to rush in and grab for the kids. Digging through the paper with all of the Black Friday ads is as much of a Thanksgiving tradition for us...

Now I remember what I don’t like about Apple...

Apple products are beautiful and functional. Many people brag about their iPod or Mac’s stability, but there is a good reason that Macs are so stable. Apple is very restrictive as to what others are allowed to do with their systems. For example, if you have a iPod, you can only use iTunes if you want to sync music to it. If you have another brand of media player, it will not work with iTunes. Most standard hardware such...

It’s the basics baby…5 of them

A customer of mine commented earlier in the week that he was “amazed” at my knowledge of computers. I thanked him then replied that all of my knowledge could fit in the head of a thimble. And it’s true. Many days I stew over how much more I would like to know and learn about computers, technology, programming (which I know butkus about), web design, and web marketing. One reason I have been successful in...

Why would I pay 99 cents for a song?

That is a direct quote from a Freshman in college that I helped with her computer today. She purchased it just three days ago and already has Lime Wire installed. For those not familiar with Lime Wire, it is a service that many people use (especially college aged kids) to download free music, movies and more. In addition to be legally questionable (or downright illegal by some accounts), downloading free music is the single...

Are you still using floppy disks?

I worked with three customers today who all used floppy disks as their main backup. All three users had Windows XP machines, but felt that floppy disks fit their needs the best. The picture I took here was from a consultant’s desk…there must be 20 floppies in that box. I explained to all these folks how simple, efficient and spacious a USB Flash drive could be for them. Whether they ‘bite’ or not...

Another sony proprietary technology bites the dust

For every Apple device that becomes a standard there is a Sony technology that becomes obsolete. Apple and Sony both got off to a great start in the early 80s. Apple introduced the Mac and Sony gave us the Walkman. From that point on, Apple has had only a handful of market failures and Sony has had nothing but. Sony announced their latest casualty this week by discontinuing their proprietary ATRAC audio compression file...

Internet Outages

A major fiber optic line was cut in Colorado today knocking out Internet to a vast number of customers all around Colorado. I swear that people get more riled by an Internet outage than a TV or water outage (me included). Please remember my number one rule when troubleshooting an Internet problem: If you haven’t changed anything on your system and the Internet was working fine a few hours ago or yesterday, assume that...

Updated gimmick feature list 2007

My list of gimmick features continues to grow. Gimmick features are features that companies add to technology to sell a product but don’t do what they claim to do in the way you expect them to do it. One of of the first gimmick features I began discussing years ago were gimmick buttons on a scanner. These are buttons that say “email” or “scan and save”, etc. All these buttons do is activate the...

The missing iPhone disclaimer

I am throwing this into the newsletter this week. But I will post it here because I spent too much time writing it. The Apple iPhone came out this Friday. We have taken the opportunity to write up the disclaimer that should appear on the device, but does not. The Apple iPhone is operated by touch screen only. There are no hard buttons thus it should not be used while driving. Checking messages and dialing requires constant...

iPhone – cool because it’s marketed th...

I saw an iPhone commercial this weekend. The iPhone is Mac’s newest gadget that is being marketed by people who like to all be different in the same way. I can’t decide which new product is worse, the iPhone or the Palm Foleo. Perhaps they are equally bad for the same reasons. Both devices are marketed as the next step in portable data evolution. Both devices make this claim as they are left in the dust by devices...

Dang! There’s a computer program for everyth...

In the basic computer classes I teach for the local Parks and Rec., I discuss how computers should make our lives easier, not more difficult. I have often written on this site and talked on the show about how your computer should be a tool and you shouldn't feel obligated to learn features and programs that you don't have any interest in. Anyone can use a computer to make their job or project easier. There are...