How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installe...

This article helped me immensely today. He doesn’t link the EasyBCD program in his article that is critical to getting everything going, but I’ve linked it here. He also links to another article of his that explains how to dual boot XP and Vista with XP already installed. Good stuff! How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) — the step-by-step guide with...

Windows XP Rumors

Supposedly Microsoft was supposed to stop all sales of Windows XP in March ‘o7. They changed that date to June ’07, then December ’07, then July ’08, December ’08, June ’09, and now it appears it might get extended to April ’10 if the following article has any substance to it. Microsoft first released XP in September 2001. When they released Vista in February 2007, they pulled XP from...

Portable Ubuntu lets you try out Ubuntu Linux

For a little over two years, I have been yammering on about Linux and Ubuntu. To get started using it, you need to either order a free Linux CD from the distribution of your choice or download a copy then learn how to burn a bootable CD from it. For many, this just isn’t going to happen. However, if you are extremely curious about Ubuntu and would try it if it was easier, Lifehacker just wrote an article about a new...

Preparing for a week with Windows 7

Starting tomorrow, I will be embarking on a week long venture of using only Windows 7. I downloaded the beta version of Microsoft’s next Windows release immeadiately after it was made available in January. However, since I installed it on my presentation laptop, I don’t use it very often. That will change tomorrow as I use it exclusively for the next week. Look for daily reports of how my 7 days with Windows 7 is...

Stop a document from printing – Video Tip

We all run into a problem sooner or later where something we printed didn’t print correctly or we want to stop it from printing. In today’s tip, I explain how to stop the printer from printing and then clean the print job from your computer. Turn off your printer using its power switch Immediately watch for a message by your clock that has anything to do with your printer Click the little bubble message (if you...

Don’t buy a new computer yet!

If you can at all help it, I still recommend waiting to buy a new computer until later this year. Unless you are willing to move to Ubuntu or a Mac. The reason being that more and more evidence is pointing to a fall release of Windows 7…Microsoft’s next Widnows release. Analyst sees Windows 7 done by summer | Beyond Binary – CNET News.

Any ideas on how to teach computer users about fil...

photo credit: redjar Over the 12+ years that I have been traveling to computer users homes and offices, I estimate that at least 70% of them have zero to very little knowledge about file management. File management includes knowing how to use folders and files and the difference between them. Programs DO NOT contain or house files and folders…they create the data and store them in a folder. I’ve used the filing...

Computer boot time survey

I’m experimenting with an online database collection service and thought it would be interesting to put forth a practical question; How fast does your computer boot up? To measure the boot-up time of your computer, time it from the moment you turn the computer on until the desktop and all background applications are fully loaded (i.e. no hourglass present and no hard drive activity present). Click the title of this...

Using the Windows Snipping Tool – Video Tip

One new feature that Windows Vista brought to the table is an easier way to take pictures of your screen…known as screen shots. In previous versions of Windows you had to learn how to use the Print Screen button (click here for my tip on that technique) or find a third party utility to do the same thing.Windows Vista introduced a new tool called the Snipping Tool that makes taking screen shots easier and more flexible...

Windows 7 – First Impressions

I just finished installing the Windows 7 Beta version released by Microsoft on Friday. I installed it on my Toshiba Intel dual-core processor with 4 GB of RAM. It was running Windows Vista which took more than 4 minutes to fully boot (I consider the boot up process to be finished when the hard drive stops spinning and I don’t have to compete with a still booting computer to do what I want to do), and running any...

Don’t buy a new computer yet

2009 is upon us and computer prices are incredibly low, but if you can wait a year to buy a new computer, I would highly recommend it. Why? Microsoft plans on releasing the next version of Windows either late in 2009 or early in 2010. All indications point to the earlier release since Microsoft is anxious to bury Vista. Last week, Microsoft extended the life of Windows XP for a fifth time! This indicates the continued...

Thwarted by online poker

Today marked my second Linux/Ubuntu casualty in almost 2 dozen attempts. As I’ve learned more about Ubuntu the past couple of years, I carefully selected clients who would have little problems dealing with a non-Microsoft operating system. You may have read my take on Ubuntu usage for the average computer user before, but here it is again to setup the rest of the story: I believe that any computer users who uses only...

Running multiple applications

Since Windows 3.1 in the early 90s, we have been able to run multiple programs at the same time with our computers. Probably the easiest way to take advantage of this feature is learning to use the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut. At least four times this week, clients asked me what I was doing to switch between open windows so quickly. When I showed them the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut, the seemed to be both mesmerized and...

Pandora Internet Radio – Video Tip

Pandora.com qualifies for yet another Web 2.0 application. Pandora started as a project to find the similarities in music and why we like certain music and why we don’t. The Pandora folks eventually made all their study of music into an amazingly customizable and accurate music service. To sign up is free although I recommend paying for the service if you use it a lot. Once you sign up, you start by building your own...

Acer Aspire One Netbook

Today, I had my first opportunity to get some hands-on time with Acer’s entry into the netbook craze, the Acer Aspire One. The young lady I helped bought a blue Aspire One on Black Friday for just over $300. Sporting a 120GB hard drive, an extremely nice 8.9″ screen, 1 GB of RAM, and Windows XP, this little unit was very impressive to look at and use. After some discussion with me, she decided that she...