Missing Control Panel icons

Kathy has some missing icons in her Control Panel of Windows Me. I would suggest downloading Microsoft's Tweak UI and then under the Control Panel section, check the "Rebuild Icons" and Repair button. Here is the link for the Tweak UI program for Windows Me: Download TweakUI ...

The powerful and easy to use msconfig – Vide...

Msconfig (a.k.a. Microsoft Configuration Utility) allows us to tweak a little extra speed from our boot ups and increase the available memory to our systems. You can find this utility by clicking on Start –> Programs –> Accessories –> System Tooks –> System Information. Once there, click Tools from the menus and then Configuration Utility. However, the fastest way to get to it is to: 1. Click on Start...

My confession

One of my client's this week caught me in the act…of searching my own web site. They then responded by saying, "Oh, you just found that on your web site?, I didn't know you could do that?" I said, "Sure. Our web site is a gold mine of information for most everyday computer questions or problems." More and more, we respond to questions on our radio show by referring the caller to our web...

DSL Reports

DSL Reports is a great web site for testing your Internet speed and tweaking Windows settings to take better advantage of your high speed connection.

Delete only one entry from Internet Explorer Addre...

The address bar in Internet Explorer (or any web browser) allows you to type in known web sites and visit them quickly. Sometimes you might want to clean out individual entries from the address bar or history, but this isn't possible in Internet Explorer unless you edit the registry. Watch the video below to learn how to perform this delicate Windows tweak. The video has a surprise ending to make this process a whole lot...

Links don’t work in Outlook Express

If the links don't work in your Outlook Express – try this tweak

Options and Preferences

I had a brief epiphany today as I helped two of my customers. When I'm setting up a computer or troubleshooting one, I am constantly in an out of the Options or Preferences of many programs. Almost all programs, from Quicken to Word to image editing software and of course Internet and email software, contain a section that allows you to customize the experience. For example, in Internet Explorer, I always click Tools...

Firewalls Redux

Firewalls became a hot topic in the latter part of this week at HMR (a web site visitor abbreviated our name that way and it works pretty well). I decided to bring up this tip and updated it for 2006. As recently as 2003, I recommended against dial-up users using firewalls. My reasoning for this advice included the substantially decreased time most dial-up users spend online in one stretch, ISP's provide firewall...

sTRanGe Occurence

A client’s adult daughter had a problem where the ONLY site that she couldn’t pull up on the Internet was her bank. After thoroughly checking her computer for viruses and spyware, making sure firewalls were set properly, checking Internet settings and trying the site with multiple browsers, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She is a cable Internet user and was sharing the connection via a Linksys...

Windows Accessibility Options

Microsoft has built in a few features into Windows to make the operation of the computer a little less annoying. As the word Accessibility suggests, they were designed to aid computer users who have a hearing, visual or physical disability. However, many of the features can help any computer user. To access the Accessibility Options, Click Start –> Control Panel, then double-click the "Accessibility...

I have my own website

I have felt like a kid with a new toy all day. Last night Rick and I stayed up late (until a little after midnight) experimenting with my website. Since we don’t like to experiment with the show site, we often use my site to play around with ideas. All day I have been wanting to come home and play with the new features we setup on my site. I must say that I am giddy. While we can’t say how soom HelpMeRick.com will...

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...

Alternative Operating Systems

Not really alternative, but I wanted to get your attention. Today, three of my customers were not using Windows XP. Two were Windows 98 and one was an older Macintosh. It’s always fun for me to keep my hands on some of these older machines to keep my mind agile. I am always amazed at how functional and quick Windows 98 can be. One of the customers called because their 98 machine was running extremely slow. Within 90...

I always have my tools with me

Most computer problems have nothing to do with the mechanics of the computer. It is rare that I see a motherboard die, RAM go bad, a video card burn out or a power supply fail. Almost all computer problems are software related. Among the hundreds of millions of lines of programming code, a few 1s and 0s crash together and things go screwy. Whether it is a programming glitch or the problem is caused by an intentionally...

Dude, where’s my shotgun?

Rick pointed out to me tonight that I haven’t put up any shotgun articles for a few days. It was at that exact moment that I realized that I hadn’t written any shotgun articles for a few days. I have some catching up to do so consider this article one of the most important articles I have written for several days. When I fix a computer I try to always approach the computer and the situation as if it were my own. I...