What do Rick and Adam do during the week and what ...

A common misconception is that Adam and I spend our week sunning ourselves with our families on some exotic beach before returning to our mansions and counting our stacks of $100 bills. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I own and operate a business called Grand Valley PC Partners in Grand Junction, CO. All my business is onsite home and office calls to help computer users get out of trouble, setup up new systems or...

Free alternatives to Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop,...

I was asked today to make a choice between Adobe Illustrator (high end art illustration program for creating custom graphics) and its competitor Corel Draw. Both are great programs and in the hands of a ‘digital artist’ they produce excellent results for logos, advertising layout, custom clip-art, etc. The problem is that you do need to be quite experienced in the programs to get the most out of them and they cost...

Picasa 2 Revisited

We discussed Picasa 2 late last year, but since then I have discovered many more wonderful things that can be done with the program. In fact, I now use it more often than any other program for my day-to-day digital photography. HOW TO GET PICASA: 1. Either click on this button, or go to www.picasa.com and click on the Free Download button. 2. After downloading, install the program by double-clicking on the Picasa icon...

Sending pictures via email

Computer users are always grateful to learn new tricks of the trade. One ‘trick’ that was implemented with Windows XP more than five years ago continues to escape many computer users…send pictures via email efficiently. Sure you might be sending digital photos as attachments, but can you send more than one at time? Are you resizing your photos before sending them so they don’t require horizontal and...

Who needs directions?

We had our carpets cleaned today and I noticed some tech in the cleaning people’s car. It didn’t hit me until they showed up, but when I made the appointment, they didn’t ask for directions. After they arrived today, I noticed a Mapquest.com map sitting on their dash! I smiled and was pleased to see how much practical benefit we all get from the Internet. Do you remember looking up addresses in the yellow...

Sharing Photos via the Internet

Sharing Photos via the Internet When you have a lot of photos that you would like to share with a lot of people, there are several great sites out there that let you share several photos at once with a simple link. Sharing photos this way prevents you from having to send a large email to a lot of people. It also prevents people from having to download a large email to view your pictures. RESIZE YOUR...

Microsoft PowerToys

Over the years we have mentioned various Microsoft PowerToys. PowerToys are free tools that help you customize or enhance Windows. One of our favorites is the Picture Resizer tool. One of our user group members here in Colorado turned us onto this one and it works amazingly well. Microsoft offers many other fun and useful tools for XP users. The tools are offered free of charge, but Microsoft offers no official support for...

Three Must Have Digital Photo Gadgets

It wasn’t long after I bought my first computer that my wife noticed an unspoken truth about technology – gadgets yield more gadgets. When you buy a computer, you also need a printer, monitor, scanner, power supply, software, digital cameras, etc., etc. While there are a few extras that you need when it comes to digital photography if you get the right accessories right from the start you will likely not need to...

Give Picasa a try!

I just put that picture there to get your attention.  I’m not trying to brag, but I know more about digital photography than the average computer user. This is partly due to the fact that I took Photoshop classes in college for about three years. I love Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, but I can also appreciate that not everyone needs such a powerful program. Google has a free program called Picasa. Even with my...

Some interesting web finds….

After years of reading computer magazines and trying to keep all my info straight, I finally came up with an idea to make my reading more streamlined and my retention a little higher. Actually, it is just like taking notes in school, but I didn’t make the connection for about 15 or more years. Now, I keep a notebook with me when I read the trade magazines, and I jot down web sites or tips that I read, that I want to...

Add folders to Picasa’s index

When you first install Picasa, it asks if you want to scan your entire computer or just your My Documents folder for pictures. If you select one option but change your mind, you can add more folders or subtract folders to the Picasa index by doing the following: 1. Click on FILE 2. Click on Add Folders to Picasa 3. Select a file then click on the "Always Scan" bullet at the side. 4. Click OK and it will scan all the...

Tools of the trade

Every profession has its tools. I have found a number of great tools that help get me through the day. If you or someone you know tinkers with computer, here are some of the essential tools. 1. Swiss Army USB flash drive knife – This is a genuine Swiss Army knife with a built in USB flash drive, flashlight, ball point pen, screwdriver (perfect size for computer screws), scissors and knife. 2. External hard drive...

My hard drive enclosure saves the day again!

There are a variety of inexpensive tools that make my job easier on a daily basis. Some of these tools include the various anti-spyware programs I carry with me, my USB flash drive, and my hard drive enclosure. A hard drive enclosure is a box that you hook a standard hard drive into that allows you to hook it up into the USB port. This turns an ordinary hard drive into an external drive. I use my hard drive enclosure one of...

Be courteous with your attachments

The ability to send attachments via email is great. You can attach an important work form to your employees or just a silly picture to a friend. If you enjoy sending attachments, here are a few things to keep in mind. 1.      Not everyone has the same programs that you do. If you are sending a spreadsheet document from Microsoft Excel or Quattro Pro, save the file as a .csv (comma separated value)...

Computers are not cars

I used to make a lot of Analogies relating computers to cars. I don’t do that much any more because I have realized that computers are not cars. Computers are not like anything we have ever used at any other time in the history of the world. Your car is used to get you from point A to point B. It is not designed to do anything else. Sure it may have a few bells and whistles, but when you stop to think about it, it...