Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners » upgrade

PC World columnist says don’t upgrade from XP

Rick — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:44:12 +0000

PC World columnist, David Coursey, writes this week that the hassle of upgrading a Windows XP computer to Windows 7 isn’t worth the time and price. It pretty much mimics the exact advice I gave to Windows XP users when Vista came out 2 1/2 years ago. Software developers build software for the future, so older [...]

Should you pay for AVG?

Rick — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:06:04 +0000

Over the past few weeks, AVG has been a little more agressive in their attempt to get folks to convert to their paid product by showing advertising screens every 2-4 days that ask to upgrade your security. It is completely your perogative to upgrade if you like, but I still use the free version and [...]

Adding RAM to increase computer speed – Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:45:49 +0000

RAM is the temporary memory that the computer uses to give us the feeling of programs opening and running with some pep. It's like giving your computer a larger desk to work from so it can spread out and find things more efficiently. RAM also allows us to open multiple computer programs at the same time with less impact on the speed of the computer.

256 megabytes used to be a lot of RAM. Today, I'm recommending users have at least

How to upgrade to AVG 8.5 Free – Video Tip

Rick — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:19:41 +0000

AVG released the new version of their security software about two weeks ago. Many of you have asked, should you upgrade and if so, how. Follow these steps and watch this video on how to get through process quickly and correctly. It is imperative that you both read these instructions and watch the video. Visit my [...]

No rush to get AVG 8.5

Rick — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:26:01 +0000

AVG 8.5 is still free (for home users), it is being offered now, but it isn’t at all critical to get yet. If you still haven’t upgraded from 7.5 to 8.0, then go the whole nine yards and get 8.5. But if you are using 8.0, don’t rush over to 8.5 yet. It doesn’t seem [...]

Internet Explorer 7 – Tabbed Browsing – Video Tip

Rick — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:03:14 +0000

I posted this article nearly 2 years ago, but with the release of Google's Chrome browser yesterday, I thought it was appropriate to bring this important tip back to the forefront again. Also, read my tip on the new Firefox 3 browser released earlier this summer.

I have downloaded and tried out the new Google Chrome browser and look for a video and more comment about it coming up soon.

AVG stumbles again

Rick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:26:21 +0000

Admittedly, Grisoft has not had a great summer with the roll out of their newest product, AVG 8. They tried to force the upgrade on users a little too quickly with quick deadlines. However, almost five months after the release of the new version, I still find users who haven't upgraded yet, but Grisoft is still updating the older version. The installation of the new version included some new features that are designed to scan links for bad web sites in your searches. This feature caused some problems for Windows Vista users and even caused some problems for email users. Earlier this summer, AVG's upgrade servers downloaded a bad update to many computers that caused an error that confused and dazed many users.

Solution for computer users who can’t print from Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7)

Rick — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:00:21 +0000

Since I use Firefox exclusively for my browsing, I haven't seen this problem yet, but today I ran into a computer that could print from anywhere but Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). Turns out that, in her case, the upgrade to AVG 8.0 caused the problem. A standard installation of AVG 8 installs a security toolbar in Firefox, if you use it, or Internet Explorer 7. The toolbar is meant to help users from clicking on potentially harmful web links. However, the toolbar, like most toolbars, slows down browsing speeds and in the case of Internet Explorer 7 with Windows Vista, it also disables the ability to print!

Adobe Reader 9 update – DON’T DO IT!

Rick — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:42:54 +0000

Adobe released version 9 of their PDF (Portable Document Format) Reader program. Once the king and almost sole PDF reader on the market, it, like so many other mainstream programs, has become bloated beyond recognition. This software bloat slows down the performance of even the fastest computers, and for this reason, I firmly stand against software bloat.