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Rick

The long-handled old lady grabber

I have written a number of times about tools that make my job easier. I have discussed my Swiss Army knife with a built-in USB flash drive, ball point pen and flash light. The USB hard drive enclosure is also a favorite of mine, but yesterday I found a new tool that I will be getting soon, the long-handled old lady grabber.

Old Lady GrabberContrary to the name I have given it, it is not a tool that grabs old ladies with its long handle. Althought I suppose it could be used that way.

“I thought you would be much older”

I get this funny comment at many of my new client appointments. Actually, just the new client appointments who figure out that I'm not a rich talk show host who lives in Bermuda during the week. The conversation usually starts with, "We listen to your show all the time and really enjoy it". Then they hit with me, "I sure thought you would be a lot older." I never know quite how to respond to that statement. Earlier this year I turned forty and still think of myself as young (despite the drastically decreased volume of hair on my head).

In the long run, I do take it the comment as a compliment. Adam and I are proud of our web site and the radio show. We work hard to make it as professional as we can while still working full-time. I'm a firm believer that if we continue to work hard we will attract more and more listeners and maybe someday be able to concentrate full time on the show and make it and the web site even more useful and relevant than it is now.

The embarrassing dangers of Picasa

I have learned to be careful when loading Picasa onto a client's computer.

Picasa is one of my favorite digital photography programs. Once you install it, it scans the entire computer for all digital photos. It catalogs them and displays them as thumbnails in order of date created.

The fact that it looks for and catalogs all of the photos on a computer has led to a little bit of embarrassment to a few of my clients.

Yesterday while working with a wonderful client, I installed Picasa to help her manage her digital photos easier. After installing it Picasa displayed a large porn collection. I knew that the photos were not there because of anything she had done so I had her look away while I deleted the photos.

RIGHT Click can save you time

I still get amazed at how many computer users don't understand the RIGHT click or are afraid to use it. The RIGHT click button has one primary function: instantly pop up a relevant menu of options. Don't read any more into its function than that. After you RIGHT click on a file, picture, the desktop, an email or Internet page, in a word processing document or anywhere, you switch directly back to the left mouse button.

When we instruct a caller on the show or if I'm teaching a customer how to RIGHT click, the very next question we always get is, "do I RIGHT click again?" Keep in mind that the RIGHT click has the one basic function of invoking a relevant menu for the task you are currently working with and you interact with that menu and all subsequent steps with your normal left click.

Lots of new computers

The past couple of weeks I have helped many computer users setup new systems they had purchased. I have seen everything from laptops to some pretty pricey desktops. I think the low prices are fueling the new purchases. I think the prices will remain low through the end of the year and into early next year. LCD flat panel monitors are getting ridiculously cheap, memory appears to be plentiful and inexpensive and the upcoming (no one knows for sure when) release of Windows Vista all are contributors to the lower system prices.

One other trend in the PC market is the up-sale. Sales people want to sell you the $100 system upgrade, the most expensive and ineffective security software, and of course extended warranties. Don't fall prey to these taunts…grab the cheap PC's, send in your rebate forms and walk away from the deal…otherwise it will be a deal no longer. Once you get the computer home, read our tip on how to setup a new computer HelpMeRick.com style. You will have a little extra money in your pocket and a great system to pull you through for years to come.

Transferring LP’s and Cassettes to CD

One of my customer's today was using an older Windows 98 machine to try and transfer LP's to her computer so she could then burn CD's. I will have some links at the end of this article for products that help perform this feat, but first I want to put into perspective the time involved:

  1. The average song is 4 minutes long. By the time you adjust levels, start and restart the song and then end the song to get it just right, you will easily spend double the time per song just to get it from the LP or cassette to the computer and saved.
  2. Because you are moving from an analog to a digital format, certain pops, hisses and other noises will enter the equation. Many of the products that I will link up offer software solutions to help 'clean up' the artifacts. On average, it will take approximately 50-70% of the total time of the song to complete this process. 
  3. You will need to convert the file from the .wav format to .mp3 to save space on your hard drive. This takes approximately 25-30% of the total time of the song.
  4. Lastly, you need to finally compile and burn the CD's. Plan on about 25-30% of the time per song to complete this step.

Taking these four factors into consideration, if you have a four minute song, it will take about 16-20 minutes to complete the process. Multiply this by the number of songs you have and the time investment is HUGE. Yes it is possible, but don't be surprised at the time involved. Factors that will decrease (or increase) this time include:

  • Processor speed of your computer
  • Available RAM (the more the better)
  • Free hard drive space
  • Your knowledge of the process and the products. 

All that being said, here are some products to consider when deciding to transfer your old 8-tracks, LP's, and cassettes to CD:

Great online product reviews

You can become an expert in almost anything in a very short time simply by doning a little research on the Internet. Before you buy a car, computer, digital camera, or even a home, you should do as much research as research as possible.

A few of the sites we use for finding product reviews onine are:

 

To research where to buy products and do comparison shopping, try these sites:

Minimum Requirements

When buying new computer hardware or software it is imperative that you read the side of the box at the minimum requirements. Some products will even offer recommended requirements above the minimum requirements. The truth is that a vast majority of products (software and hardware) are designed to run on the latest hardware and operating system (Windows XP).

Minimum requirements that say the newest photo printers or games will run on a Pentium II machine running Windows 98 are put there to simply sell products. Yes, they may run after hours and hours of getting the installation right, but they will slow your computer down to a crawl and cause other programs to have errors as well. If you are using older hardware/software, stay with older versions of printers, scanners and other hardware and software to keep your frustration levels down and your computer running well.