Microsoft Word’s AutoComplete and AutoCorrec...

If you use Microsoft Word, you may notice that at the end of a letter, if you start typing ‘Sin’, a little yellow box flashes up with ‘Sincerely’ in it. Likewise, if you start a letter with ‘To whom’, the box flashes at you with ‘To whom it may concern’. These little yellow boxes are part of Word’s Auto-Complete and Auto Format functions. Microsoft Word tries to guess...

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 0...

Questions about converting to Firefox, malfunctioning keyboards, WordPress consulting, Norton 360 problems, video editing, the Magic Jack phone, and more are brought to you by Dixie, Kitty, Jill, Anne, Diane, Elaine, Amber, Norma, Rich and Mike! Have a look!! ...

Change your Bullets – Video Tip

Bullets, in Microsoft Word and other word processors, allow users to bring attention to a list of items as seen here: Bullets are fun Bullets are customizable Bullets make documents easier to read Unlike my boring ‘dot’ bullets above, you can use this week’s tip to customize your Microsoft Word bullets to suit your style and document’s purpose. First, to create a bulleted list follow these...

Netbooks are NOT made for Windows XP or Vista

One year ago, ASUS started a fire storm of new computers that now go by the name of netbooks with the release of their EeePC.  I wrote about this subject just a few months ago, but with the holidays approaching and netbooks are high on gift giver’s radar screens so I want to explore netbooks a little more in depth. Netbooks make attractive gift giving ideas for a few reasons: They are inexpensive; usually cost...

How can I increase traffic to my site?

What a week! For some reason, my scheduling went a little awry this week and made for some long days. In addition to my scheduling problems, however, I could have saved a ton of time (thus the 3 day hiatus of new posts) and my clients could have saved a lot of money if they were more diligent about backing up their data and keeping track of passwords and software. This web site is exactly the same age as my...

Searching within a Web page – Video Tip

This tip falls in the category of “wow, that’s easy to do, I wish I would have known about it long ago!” When you are on a particularly long web page and need to find a term or phrase, click on Edit from your menus, then Find (or Find in page on some browsers). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + F. You will be presented with a small window that allows you to enter a word or phrase and then the computer will...

Treo, what Treo?

After two solid months of using my iPhone 3G, I decided it was time for a short update. As many of you know, I used a Palm device for many years, ending with the Treo from 2003 through this August. When the first iPhone came out, I was intrigued, but thought Apple missed the boat, for me, by not utilizing the fastest cellular data network and not allowing 3rd party applications. When they announced the new iPhone last January...

You can do what I do

I love learning. My goal is to learn something new every single day I open my eyes. Luckily, I learn multiple new ideas, techniques, or facts every single day. When it comes to my job troubleshooting computers, I believe anyone can do it if they follow the formula I use. You need to be able to be able to learn and learn quickly. Computers, software, peripherals and the infinite combinations of them change at a rapid pace....

Special edition of Castellini on Computers Radio P...

This Friday there will be a special edition of the Castellini on Computers Radio program on our local public radio station, KAFM. Anyone can listen from any where by listening to the live web stream at the KAFM web site. Like all public radio stations, they host an annual fund raiser to keep the air waves open. The KAFM management asked if we would be willing to do a special edition of the show during the fund raiser,...

Choose how many recently opened files show in Micr...

In almost any program where you can create, save, and edit documents, clicking the File menu (or the Office orb in Office 2007) shows a list of your most recently used documents for that program. With Microsoft Office, you can control exactly how many recent documents are shown. With Microsoft Office 2003 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) and all versions prior, you control this option by following these steps in...

Can your email be read like Sarah Palin’s?

Not likely. In the Sarah Palin case, her Yahoo email account was not hacked…her password was hacked. That means the hackers guessed Sarah Palin’s password (maybe it was hockeymom). Seriously, it could have been that easy. More likely, however, the hackers used sophisticated programs that were used to crack the password. The number one defense you possess to safeguard your email, bank account, or any other online...

Simple wireless password security

Thankfully, more and more home computer users are securing their wireless networks. Most newer wireless routers offer to automate the whole process which works pretty well. However, if you are wanting a little more control, I recommend the following advice for setting up a wireless router: First, make sure that you change the router configuration password. For example, you can log into any Linksys router by knowing that you...

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 0...

If your name is Mel, Jim, Barbara, Happy, Sandie, Buddy, Larry, or David and a few others…your email answer is here! Their questions ranged from hard drive data retrieval to Macintosh password management to AVG and many other questions as well…tune in by clicking play!! ...

My pick for the best technology currently availabl...

Editors note:  Of course, I’m going to exempt smartphones (my current favorite is the iPhone 3G) because these are necessary to 21st century living. Next to the smartphone, my vote for best technology currently available is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). A DVR replaces the venerable VHS recorder for recording television programming. DVR’s use hard drives to record the programming digitally and require...

Dell goes deeper into Linux

Dell announced that they will release a line of laptop computers this fall with an instant on technology called Latitude On. Early indications are that it will closely mimic the Splashtop technology I wrote about last year and during CES 2008. And like Splashtop, the Dell technology involves using a light version of Linux to produce an extremely fast boot up (30 seconds or less) time and can access the Internet through...