Riding Shotgun with Rick + Riding Shotgun with Adam + Tech Pets

This week I answer some questions about faxing in Vista, email problems, security software, removing spyware and much more...brought to you by the questions from Guido, Shirley, Tina, Cindy, Ticia, James, Jo, Mariane, Margie, Sandra, Jackie, Nellie, DJ and John.

You may have heard that Microsoft teamed up with Jerry Seinfeld (reportedly to the tune of $10 million dollars) to come out with an ad or two to counter Apple's popular TV spots dissing Windows Vista. Overall, they are spending $300 MILLION dollars on the campaign.

Watch the video to see what Microsoft's ad agency came up with for the opening salvo. After you watch, let me know what you thought of the ad by leaving a comment below.

Dell has joined Everex, Acer, HP, Sony, and the ground breaking Asus Eee PC in the arena of the netbook. Netbooks are small laptops with a screen of 9" or smaller and a weight of less than 2.5 pounds. They all run on either a form of Linux or Windows XP. The Dell Inspiron Mini (click the picture above to buy or read more about them) is Dell's entry into this increasingly crowded and popular market. Remember that these netbooks are not for everyone, but they fill a niche for frequent travelers, train or bus commuters, and computer users who want an inexpensive yet capable second computer.

How can you not get with Google? Here is a company that makes strategic acquisitions, encourages their employees to reach for the stars and challenge themselves and the status quo, and never rests on their considerable laurels.

Today, they have done it again. This time with the release of the beta version Picasa 3. PIcasa 3 offers some great new features that help you share your photos easier, organize them easier, fix some of their flaws easier, and create fun collages and movies from them easier. Look for a review coming soon. In the mean time, try it out for yourself by clicking here to learn more.

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. 

Windows XP users will all have to deal the upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. ..eventually. Microsoft released the upgrade three weeks ago and has started to roll it out as an automatic Windows Update. Since this is the first new release of Internet Explorer in more than five years, a lot has changed. Microsoft promises that it is safer, easier to use, and more flexible than ever. We will see about the first claim in weeks to come, but with a little help, it will be easier to use and more flexible. Overall, we still highly recommend using the Mozilla Firefox browser which also released a new version last month, but if you want to stick with Internet Explorer, moving to version 7 is worth the work.

One of the biggest additions to the new Internet Explorer is 'tabbed browsing'. An unbelievable feature that you will wonder how you did without once you start using it. Tabbed browsing was first introduced by the lesser known Opera browser, and brought fully to life with Firefox. Tabbed browsing allows you to open multiple Internet windows without cluttering your taskbar and makes them easy to find with easy to read tabs in your window.

Explaining tabs is difficult, so instead, watch the short video tutorial (click Read More if the video isn't visible) that I have put together for you explaining what tabs are and how to use them in Internet Explorer 7.

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!!

I just finished my normal Sunday morning routine of breakfast with the Sunday paper. I always peruse the Sunday high tech ads to keep tabs on prices. Computer prices continue to drop (and I still think manufacturers are getting a kick back from Microsoft) to help spur sluggish sales.

However, the past few weeks, I picked up on another trend; increased RAM.

In this week's big 4 ads (Office Depot, Office Max, Circuit City, and Best Buy), there were 43 desktop and laptop ads. Out of these 43 systems, only one of them had

I originally posted this list in January 2007. However, through my keen observation skills, I discovered that all computer users have not yet read and digested this information. For this reason, I'm posting it again because I won't stop working to educate computer users until every computer user knows these 10 skills.

Computers have become almost a main stream household appliance. Whether you have been using a computer for fifteen years or one, these skills should be second nature:

1. Cut, Copy, Paste
2. Print just what you want (word processing, email, web)
3. Backup your address book
4. Select (highlight) text or files
5. Properly uninstall unwanted programs
6. Burn a CD
7. Download files from the Internet
8. Use MSCONFIG ; Another MSCONFIG tip
9. Search the Internet
10. Attach Files to an email
    

#11: Learn how to best utilize HelpMeRick.com

If you already know how to do these skills, please pass this article along to someone who doesn't...help me help other computer users.

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.

In this edition of my videocast, I answer questions about wireless problems with Ubuntu, sending faxes via the Internet, WinAntivirus 2009, and many others. Take a look and listen...I'm starting to integrate more video with the answers so the answers have even more meaning.