Clean your inbox

Update:  Following on the heels of Gmail’s update, I thought I would re-share this article as well that I posted nearly 4 years ago. To this day, I still follow these recommendations and email is no longer a thorn in my digital side. Give it a try! Email truly revolutionized communication. The ability to retrieve a message from anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds is mind boggling. However, judging by the size...

Adding Photos to an iPad or iPhone using Picasa &#...

This week I worked with a gentleman ironing out how to use Picasa to add photos to his iPad. These are the notes (download PDF version here) I took for him and left with him. The only steps not shown in the notes below are how to create a folder called iPad (or iPhone) then configure that folder in iTunes to sync to your iPad or iPhone. Here’s how to do that (click the screen shot below the steps to see a larger...

How to create a photo book using Shutterfly.com &#...

Digital photography allows us to take thousands of photos, but they don’t do much good if they stay on your computer and you never get to share or enjoy them. For sharing, nothing beats printing. And I highly suggest you do NOT print your own photos at home unless you have two things: 1) an enormous amount of time, 2) it’s your love and hobby and you have take some of that time to properly learn how to print at...

How to transfer photos to a Windows 7 computer and...

Pictured below are two sets of instructions I put together today for a new Windows 7 user who uses the MSN browser and email. He was frustrated at the learning curve and asked for help…here are the results. I hope these instructions help others as well because the steps can be generalized for AOL browser users, Windows Live Mail users, and Microsoft Outlook users as well.   ...

Creating documents in Apple Pages – Notes

Some notes for a client with a new MacBook Air. She wanted to create a Christmas letter with photos and colored text. She was amazed at what could be done with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks in Pages that she already had installed. I did learn that Pages has a cool reduce file size option to shrink large graphics. Works very well. In addition to helping her learn to create rich documents, I taught her how to export her...

How to attach photos to Bresnan web based email &#...

Here are the notes that I created for a client who uses Bresnan’s web based email system and wanted to attach photos. Although the notes are for photos specifically, one can use the methodology to just as easily attach documents as well. ...

5 Reasons why YOU should be moving to the cloud

I have written many articles about Web 2.0 or cloud computing. Cloud computing means that you work with programs and/or data that are not installed or saved on your computer. Instead, the programs and/or data live on an Internet connected computer (server) somewhere else in the world. Among other things, these computers/services provide: Security via the password and user name that you choose. Access to the service from any...

Burning CDs with Picasa for Linux

Unfortunately, Google has not updated Picasa for Linux in almost 18 months. However, it remains a solid product for Linux users who want to easily manage their photos. I’ve tried F-Spot, but it just doesn’t seem intuitive or robust enough for everyday use. Anyway, I was helping one of my many clients using Linux Mint as their only operating system, and he needed to know how to burn CDs from Picasa. Here’s...

How to use Picasa to backup ALL your photos to an ...

One of my long time customers called me the other day with a question about not being able to backup his photos using Picasa without errors. Upon some research, I discovered that he was simply hitting the burn button to quick. To avoid repeating his problem, wait for Picasa to finish calculating the backup job before hitting the burn button. While doing this research, I also discovered how to use Picasa to backup all your...

How to locate where your photos are saved – ...

Many of us use photo management software (Picasa, Photoshop Elements, Corel, Kodak Easy Share, Canon Zoom Browser, etc) to manipulate, organize, and share our photos. Unfortunately, too many computer users think their photos exist in these programs. They don’t. Our digital photos are like any other piece of information on our computer…they exist in a folder somewhere on our hard drives. Most of these photo...

Picasa – Still the best

I get to see tons of software in my weekly travels, and that includes photo management software. Picasa, from Google, remains my favorite photo management and downloading system for Windows, Macintosh, AND Linux (Ubuntu). It offers: Great flexibility in organizing and tagging photos Easy to use download function Good integration with online photo ordering services Wonderful way to share photos via online albums, Facebook...

Import photos using Picasa 3.5 – Video Tip

Picasa made some nice changes last year with the upgrade to 3.0, then 3.5. My favorite has to be the new streamlined import feature. Admittedly, the previous import wizard was a little clunky and took a few times to become comfortable. Not so with this newest version. To import photos using the newest version of Picasa, follow these steps: Click Import button in the upper left corner of Picasa Make sure the Import from box...

How to backup photos using Picasa – Video Ti...

Lately, I have showed many people how easy, not to mention vital, it is to backup your digital photos. When a computer crashes, the first thing the computer user does is panic…unless they have a good backup routine. With photos, there is no easier, safer way to backup than using Picasa. Picasa is a free photo management utility from Google that can be used on any platform; Windows, Mac, or Ubuntu/Linux. You can read...

Should I backup?

Should you carry health insurance? Should you carry car insurance? Should you save for retirement? Should you eat every day? Does a bear….  Well, hopefully you get the picture. The answer is a resounding YES!! You should backup, and depending on your computer needs and usage your backups should occur frequently (sometimes daily). Many computer users equate backing up their computers with their mother’s...

Cleaning and removing Antivirus 2009, PAV and othe...

Preventing your computer from becoming infected is infinitely easier and less stressful than cleaning up after an infection. Search my site for tons of information on setting up your computer for security and techniques to avoid scams. However, if you are already bit by one of the most recent nasty forms of software, Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, Personal Antivirus, Internet Security 2009 among others (software I call...