Navigate | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: navigate

AOL and Vista

Two of my favorite whipping horses, but today I want to provide some information to help AOL users who might be moving to Windows Vista. I discovered today that a standard AOL disk will NOT work in Windows Vista. Most disks available at your local retailers or that you may have received via US Mail were minted in 2005 or earlier. That was the last time a major revision of AOL was released. Unfortunately, this version is not compatible with Windows Vista.

If you are planning to upgrade to AOL and want to continue to use the AOL software, you will need to download the AOL version called AOL 9.0 VR . It can be found at this link , but you MUST download it on a computer with a high speed connection then copy it to a CD or flash drive and take it back to your new computer.

One other snafu…when you use the link above, it copies only a download starter that is less than one megabyte. This won't help you on your new computer. You need to double-click on that little file it downloaded and start the next step of the download, a screen will show up that indicates that the download is starting and its progress. The download is nearly 60 megabytes and will take up to 20 minutes on some high speed connections…an impossible download using dial up.

Once the download finishes, AOL will attempt to install the product. Simply click cancel and then navigate to this location on your computer: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL Downloads\waol and copy that entire folder to a CD or flash drive. When you open the disk on your new computer, look for the file named "waol-0.4327.165.1" and double-click on it to install the new version on your PC.

A lot of work, but it will at least get your AOL working on Vista. Is it worth all this effort to use an inferior and out-dated Internet service?

Windows Tips — 1 Comment
16
Feb 07

Make your desktop pretty – Video Tip

shortuct icon The common theme being written about the new Windows Vista is that it is pretty. And yes, it is pretty. If you are like me, you may not care how your computer looks, but how it performs. But even I get tired of looking at the same old folder and program icons day after day. If you would like to spruce up your desktop a little, you can trade out some of the icons with new ones. To do this, follow these steps on any shortcut (icon with a little arrow on it…see picture):

RIGHT Click the shortcut
Click Properties
Click Change icon
Some programs will have multiple icons from which to choose. Otherwise, click the Browse button and navigate to the Windows\System 32 folder for more choices.
Double-click on the new icon you want to use
Click OK
Click OK again.

If you want more choices or newer icons, look to the web for new inspiration. Here are a handful of sites that you download icons from for free and pay. The last site listed is a free program that lets you create your own icons from your pictures or other art.

Search for even more icons at reputable sites like Download.com

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 3 Comments
15
Feb 07

Dummie’s Books and Idiot’s Books

Dummies I don't hate many things (except lima beans), but I despise the Dummie's and Idiot's line of books. Why? At least three reasons:

1. Philosophically, I believe that buying any of these books plants a seed in your head that you are not intelligent enough to figure out a subject (you can now get this abomination of a series on everything from marriage to cooking, and computers to stamp collecting). I believe that NO human being is incapable of learning and learning does NOT start with admitting that you are dumb. Dumb (in the sense of these books) is defined as "not having the capability to process data". By that very definition, it is a waste of money to buy the books in the first place. The entire premise is counter productive to learning.

2. Take a look at some of these books, and you will notice that there is way too much prose. The books try to make the subject humorous and light and often are written in a story fashion that is counter to how adult learners learn.

3. Because they are written more as stories than learning text books, folks who purchase these books often either shelve them because they aren't conducive to learning or they feel that they can't understand them. If I had a nickel for every time I hear someone exclaim, "I bought the Dummie's book and it was so hard to read that I felt even dumber and more frustrated", I would be in Forbe's Top 100 richest Amercians.

My blood pressure rises just thinking about the subject.

Many other good books are available for learning any subject. In the computer arena, I strongly encourage you to learn to navigate the help provided in every program (some are better than others), but they can answer many of your questions. Or, I like to recommend the "Visual Learning Series or Guides" of books. This series provides many well document screen shots of the program you want to learn about and makes finding what you are looking for easier. One other series I recommend is the "Step-by-Step" series from Microsoft Press.

You will get so much further with these books and online help than messing with Dummie's and Idiot's books.

Riding Shotgun with Adam — No Comments
8
Dec 06

My Christmas shopping has started

I started doing a little Christmas shopping this year and discovered that there are so many great gift possibilities. My wife and I have already done all of the shopping for the kids, so all I have left is my wife.

Here are some of the items that caught my eye as I was shopping for my eye.

I think that she may need a Micro Mosquito remote controlled indoor helicopter. This has to be one of the coolest gift ideas in years. It goes up, down, side-to-side, backwards and forwards. It even hovers. I think she needs it to transport the kids socks that are left in the living room into their bedrooms upstairs.

Along the same lines, she may also find good use for the Air Hogs remote control airplane . It will help her get toys off the roof.

If I only had $4000, she could really use the new rough terrain Segway so she wouldn't have to keep jogging all the time.

Sometimes my son comes home after dark from playing at a friend's house. She will wait outside in the cold to see if he is coming. That is why I think I might get her a night vision scope .

Some night's after I play video games she gets upset about how I roughed up the couch cushions and made a mess of the living room. What better way to show her that I care and want to do better than to get a video gaming chair for the living room.

Sometimes the cat gets up on her desk while she is trying to work. I may get her a USB powered rocket launcher to scare the cat away.

There are so many possibilities. Whatever I choose, I am sure she will be happy. And say what she says every year… "Thaaaannnnk youuuuu, you shouldn't have."

Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 1 Comment
13
Nov 06

Quick access to your favorite web sites

No matter what web browser you use, you can create quick access to your favorite web sites by creating a desktop icon. Here's how:

Open your web browser
Navigate to the web site you want to access quickly (like this site)
Click the little icon next to the address in the address bar and drag it to your desktop

That's it! Now you can double-click on the icon you just made to reach your the web sites you visit the most faster.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Windows Tips — 357 Comments
6
Oct 06

Solution for computer that can’t change desktop wallpaper / background

This solution WILL fix your problem, but don’t run away afterwards and forget about us.

HelpMeRick.com contains hundreds of tips (and video tips) that YOU can use as a reference for yourself and
especially as a reference to send links to your friends/family so you don’t have to write out or explain the steps yourself!

I ran into this problem earlier this week and found the solution. The customer could not change his desktop background to any of the stock photos in Windows or his own photos…something that any Windows user should be able to do. Turns out that the root cause of the problem is spyware. Even after removing the spyware a registry (skeleton of Windows) entry gets left behind disabling the users ability to change the background. Deleting this entry restores the ability for the user to again have a normal functioning desktop.

WARNING: THIS SOLUTION IS ONLY FOR COMPUTERS THAT HAVE THIS SPECIFIC PROBLEM. AND IT IS INTENDED TO ONLY BE CARRIED OUT BY AN EXPERIENCED TECHNICIAN OR COMPUTER USER WITH REGISTRY EXPERIENCE.

Click Start
Click Run
Type: regedit
Navigate to the following registry entry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
“Wallpaper”=SZ:C:\WINDOWS\desktop.html (yours might be slightly different)
Click one time on the entry
Push Delete on the keyboard
Click Yes
Close the Registry editor

HOW TO MAKE YOUR ICON TEXT TRANSPARENT:

1. Open the Control Panel

2. Click System

3. Click the Advanced tab

4. Click Settings in the Performance section

5. Check the “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” check box

6. Click OK until you close the windows

Please consider donating any amount to our cause by clicking the donate link on the right. Thanks.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 2 Comments
28
Sep 06

Windows Vista – Day 1

I installed the Windows Vista Beta edition I downloaded yesterday and so far have no evidence to overturn my initial observations. The install took about 55 minutes and was entirely hands off…an improvement from previous Windows installations. The boot up process is slower than Windows XP and shutdown is really slow. And this is all without adding any software to the computer yet.

Microsoft tells us that Vista will be the safest Windows ever. I hope that is true because computer users will be moving to Apple in droves. The interface seems anything but intuitive, and that's coming from me who some say knows a little about computers. Instead of making the interface easier, much of the functions are hidden under layers of hard to navigate clicks. And so far, once I do get into a program, they all seem like the old programs with just a new layer of gloss and difficulty.

If I was Microsoft, I would be worried…very worried. On the other hand, they upgraded Solitaire and added Mahjong to their game repertoire. I can hear Apple's knees knocking and teeth chattering from here.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
7
Sep 06

Chatting can help you

Over the last couple of years, we have mentioned the benefit of chatting with customer support personnel. Chatting used to be reserved for AOL customers and teens. Recently, however, many companies of all types have found that they can reduce costs and give better service with the power of Internet chat.

Chat is a simple technology that allows two (or more) computer users to write messages back and forth to each other. It differs from email in that each computer user sees the other's messages show up immediately on a screen that lets you follow the entire conversation.

For you, it means not having to call an 800 number and navigate through an endless set of menus of push this number and than number, then be put on hold, and eventually talk to a person who has a very thick accent. Instead, logging into a support web site for the product you need help with and starting a chat session requires far less time (often you are connected immediately). The other advantages of getting support through a chat session include being able to "talk" to the support person at your own pace and also be able to receive instructions that you can read, study and print to help you thoroughly understand what you need to do.

Next time you need to get some tech support from any kind of company from soft drinks to software, log into their web site and look for a "chat" option. It will save you time and frustration.

Internet Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
27
Jul 06

Removing one of the built-in search engines in Firefox

We love the Mozilla Firefox web browser because of its safety, speed, and customizability. One of my favorite customizations is the ability to add sites to the built in search engine that let me quickly search web sites I visit most often…weather, recipes, downloads, movies, etc. Occasionally, it is nice to be able to remove one that I'm not using any further or maybe isn't working at all. Here's how to do that:

Close Mozilla Firefox
Navigate to your Firefox Profiles directory (usually C:\Documents and Settings\<YOUR USERNAME>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\)
There should be a folder that ends in ".default"; inside it you should open the searchplugins folder (if there are multiple ".default" folders, you may have to look in more than one. These represent different user profiles you have created in Firefox)
In the 'searchplugins' folder, you'll see two files for each Firefox Search Engine you've added. (an image and a .src file). Be sure to get rid of both of them for each of the Search Engines you want to remove

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
25
Jul 06

“I can’t find stuff on your web site”

We get this comment more often than we would like. I'm going to split the responsibility between our web site design and web surfing experience of the folks who tell us they have trouble navigating our site.

Our site has gone immense changes in the past year…for the better. If you might be in the camp who thinks that our current site is tough to navigate, you may have never returned to our old site after an initial visit. Our old site didn't have consistent menu navigation and had a horrible search engine. Our new site has the same menus on every single page that let you navigate to the main parts of our web site. You will find these menus at top right of every single page on our site.

The most exciting change to our site is the new search engine. In the top left corner of the site (near the navigation menus), we have a search box. Use it like you would Google. If you have an email question, type the word email and click search. You will be rewarded with all our tips and information relating to email. Looking for backup tips? Type the word backup and search again. Our new search is powerful, accurate and easy to use.

At any web site, it is important to give yourself a few minutes to look over the site from side-to-side and top-to-bottom to learn where the main parts of the site are located. All sites are different, and it takes just a moment to orient yourself to the site. Above all, if you know the site is valuable (like ours), it behooves you to spend a lot of time at the site to learn its nuances and allow you to take advantage of the information on the site.

Lastly, if you have any questions about navigating our site, please call us on Saturdays during the radio show!