Ubuntu – Day 2

I’m still smarting from not having my great spam filter on my PC, but I’m giving the spam filter in Evolution a chance to work. It turns out that in order to get the spam filter working properly in Ubuntu’s Evolution, you have to do the following: Close Evolution  Click System from your task panel Click Administration Click Synaptic Package manager Find SpamAssasin in the list RIGHT click it and then...

No charge or time limit calls to anywhere in the w...

I stumbled upon this site tonight that allows anyone to call over seas from any phone and talk for as long as you want. The site looks legit and I read many reviews saying it works, but I would love to hear from you if you have used it and how you like it. I would try it out, but I don't know anyone over seas, so I can't test it out. The site is called Yak 4 Ever . It's free and simple to setup an account with...

Mozilla Firefox Revisited

By Rick Castellini 2002. Revised by Adam Cochran 2007 Earlier this summer, my co-host, Adam, decided to do an 'on air' review of a product. The product he chose is Mozilla Firefox, an alternative web browser. Being on the radio and downloading, installing and reviewing software was a new experience for us, but the impression was instant and impressive for both of us. Mozilla loads most web pages much faster...

Photoshop Elements 5

Adobe Photoshop Elements is the standard photo editing software for consumers and many professionals. The latest edition offers many new features, but are those features worth upgrading from previous versions of the program? First, there is no upgrade version but since the program can easily be found online for under $70, it won't hurt too bad if you do want to upgrade. Photoshop Elements has been a solid program since...

Banking online

My family has been Internet banking since early 2000. We moved to an Internet only bank (no physical banks anywhere that we can walk in to) because we were ready to start paying bills online and get our account information online. At the time, our large overhead bank, Wells Fargo, actually charged customers $9.95 per month to have the privilege of online banking. After some research, we settled on an Internet only bank with...

Bocaza Nachos – a fair and balanced VIDEO re...

Every Saturday between the first and second hour of the show we grab an order of barbacoa nachos to go from Bocaza. Bocaza is a Mexican grill. We have tried the nachos to go from almost everywhere else in town, but Bocaza is the best for sloppy spicy nachos. The nachos are made up in several layers beginning with the bottom layer… 1. Jack Cheese 2. Frijoles Negros (beans that are black) 3. Spicy, slow simmered,...

Email Preview Button in Outlook Express – Vi...

This tip evaded me for many years, but now you can benefit from its use. The tip works in any versions of Windows including Windows Vista's Windows Mail. When asked how to delete a message without opening it in Microsoft Outlook Express, I traditionally answered by directing the computer user to the View menu (See Tip #156). This works, but if you want to turn the Preview back on you have to go through the same number of...

Barbaro’s leg x-rays and something related t...

Today I ran across Barbaro's leg x-rays while reading the news. Here's one of the images released by Barbaro's doctors. Is it any wonder that the poor horse was still in pain after surgery? On a more computer related note. I have received three great items for review that I discovered at CES. I will be posting those reviews shortly. The items are a Huey monitor calibrator, ProShow Gold slideshow software and an...

Adam beat me to the punch

I knew I should have written my article yesterday! Actually, it was fun to read Adam's post today about Vista. We were obviously studying the big box store prices on the "new" Vista machines using the same calculator. Since he did a great job explaining the pricing, I just want to echo his final statements; DO NOT buy a Vista machine with less than 1 GB of RAM and you really should consider 2 GB of RAM (or more)...

Send large files through email

Some email providers limit the size or type of files that you can attach to email. YouSendIt is a good service we found with good reviews that lets you get around this problem.

I’m not the only one

Windows Vista is right around the corner and I must have read three dozen articles over the past few months about Vista and its lack of power (don't even try running it on a computer older than a year and with less than 2 GB of RAM) and clunky interface (many functions have changed names, locations or both). I've been using Vista since September and cannot find any feature that excites me enough to want to recommend...

What else has that actress been in?

We have talked about IMDB as a part of our favorite information sites in the past, but I think it deserves its own article and review. IMDB is the Internet Movie Database and it is one of the best sites on the web for answering the nagging questions we have so often such as, "What else has that guy been in?" or "What was that movie with Christopher Walken and Andy Garcia?" IMDB can be used to resolve...

Don’t apologize for being “stupid̶...

Three of my clients today were digital beginners. Each of these three clients apologized for being "stupid." They explained that computers are new to them and they aren't smart enough to learn. As a teacher and computer guy, I kind of get tired of hearing this. Keep in mind that this comes from a guy who had, "potential for higher achievement," on almost every report card he ever received. It...

Reader/Listener Challenge

We work extremely hard at creating tips, reviews, and other content for our web site. However, we often feel like we are the only ones who use the information. I often think, "If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? And if we post an important article or tip, will anyone read it?" My challenge is to the regular readers of our site and listeners to our program who do peruse the site, follow our tips, and...

Solution for computer that can’t change desk...

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...