Photos | Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners

Posts Tagged: photos

Digital Photography — 2 Comments
15
Jan 10

How to backup photos using Picasa – Video Tip

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 more tips I have produced about Picasa by clicking here.

After you have installed Picasa, it will scan your hard drive for all your photos. If you have many years worth, it could take up to Continue reading →

General Computer Tips — 4 Comments
2
Nov 09

Should I backup?

photo credit: daryl_mitchell

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 giving them castor oil. It’s no fun, but a necessary evil. What is castor oil any way?

Things you should backup on your computer include Continue reading →

Cleaning and removing Antivirus 2009, PAV and others from your computer,

Photo by Jim Grandy

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 extortionware that installs itself on your computer and then poses as Continue reading →

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Videocasts — No Comments
9
Aug 09

Rick Answers his Email Videocast – 053

The summer has kept me busy and I let a few too many question stack up (remember that you can make a small donation when asking your question to get priority). I answered all the questions you asked the last 2 weeks in these two videos.

The first video contains questions from Doris, Henry, Andrew, Jean, John, Rae Ann, Craig, Janet, Maurice, Leo, Ryan, Shirley, Jason, Donna, Jeannie, Dave, and Scott. They asked questions about CCleaner, Picasa, recovering photos from a corrupt flash disk, netbook shopping, recovering the Mac desktop hard drive icon, shutting down the Windows magnifier and more.

The second video (YouTube only allows 10 minute videos for free accounts) has questions from Dot, Tiffany, Kitty, Anne, Barbara, Peter, Len, Anne and Romero. Their questions ranged from Continue reading →

Digital Photography — No Comments
26
Jun 09

Control Photo Size in Email Attachments with Picasa – Video Tip

For you Picasa users, this quick tip shows how to control the size of the photos that you attach and send via email using Picasa. The default settings might not be to your liking, so leanring how to contol the size of your photos can let you get the results you want.

If you aren’t using Picasa to manage your digital photos yet, I recommend reading some of my other tips here at HelpMeRick.com to get up to speed. Google bought Picasa four or five years and you can download it for free.

Digital Photography / Email Tips / Macintosh — 11 Comments
13
Jun 09

How to attach iPhoto images to Gmail & Yahoo Mail – Video Tip

Currently, iPhoto only lets you send photos via email from within iPhoto if you use the Apple Mail program. For web based email users like Gmail, HotMail or Yahoo email, follow the easy steps in this tip.

Start a new email as normal in your Gmail, HotMail, Yahoo mail, etc.
Complete the address, subject, and body of the message as normal as well.
Look for and click the Attach Files option
The Select Files screen will appear
In the lower left hand corner of this screen, click Photos
Now at the top of the screen, you will see iPhoto where you can click your Events or Photos folder
Now all your photos appear at the bottom of the screen where you can select the ones you want to send. (Hold down the Command key as you click to select more than one photo)
When finished selecting your photos, click the Select button
Once they upload to the email, click Send on your email.

All these steps are illustrated and narrated for you in Continue reading →

Hardware Tips / Riding Shotgun with Rick — 16 Comments
2
Jun 09

Digital Readers and E-books

photo credit: pt

Amazon released their version of a digital reader, called the Kindle, in late 2007. It received a lot of attention at the time, but not as much as its new version released this spring. Amazon states that more than 285,000 books are available for download and purchase, 50,000 audio books, and there are many magazine and newspaper articles also available for download (including my blog). A full text book can be downloaded in about 60 seconds and most books cost around $9.99. For newspaper, magazine, and blog subscriptions, the Kindle automatically syncs the content to the Kindle over the air (no cables needed).

Currently, two Kindles are available for purchase; one holds up to 1500 books and the other up to 3500 books. Current Kindle users seem extremely happy with the device and the technology based on online reviews.

Intrigued by the buzz surrounding the Kindle, I downloaded Continue reading →

Digital Photography / Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
13
May 09

Digital Photography School – Digital Photography Tips for You

old photo new tricks - photographer redux

photo credit: Indy Charlie

I stumbled on this fantastic web site the other day and wanted to share it with you. Tons of great tips for digital photographers of all abilities. Check it out!

Digital Photography School – Digital Photography Tips for You.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 Comments
25
Apr 09

2 laptop suggestions for college students

photo credit: jarnott

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 DVD’s, browse the web wirelessly(for school research of course), create presentations, spreadsheets, download and edit photos and much more. Neither involve Windows and thus don’t require a degree in computer security and maintenance. One of the computers costs between $1200-1800 and the other costs less than $700.

My recommendations stem from first hand accounts from parents whose college kids call home frequently with tales of woe about a slow, non-functioning new computer. Students need to have their computers operational, and running around to the campus IT people or dropping the computer at a fix-it shop for expensive repairs. These two recommendations will keep calls home for repair money, tales of woe, and computer down time to a bare minimum. Continue reading →

Digital Photography / Internet Tips — No Comments
18
Apr 09

CleVR – Free and easy panoramic photo stitching

Click the image to see the full size.

Web 2.0 (using the Internet to do work instead of your computer) truly gets more powerful every day. CleVR is a free online application (actually uses the Adobe AIR platform) that lets you upload digital photos and then it automatically stitches them together into a panorama format. And it does it quickly! I did the one shown here in just a few moments.

It also automatically creates an Continue reading →