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Rick

Why I like small cars

I spend my day driving from house to house or office to office as the case may be. I can’t imagine doing my job with a large SUV or even a full size car.

I drive an older Honda Civic and I love it for several reasons.

1. It’s a Honda so it is designed for dependability rather than power – I don’t need a lot of power to drive the streets of Grand Junction.

2. It makes tight U turns. I imagine I pass the house or business that I am supposed to be going to about 10 times per week. I love being able to turn completely around on the average street.

3. I can reach almost any point in my car while driving. I can reach a disk in the back seat, a drink in the cup holder and the stereo all without looking away from the road.

Printing Internet Explorer Favorites

Many people have asked me how to print their Internet Favorites. If you are like me and have hundreds of bookmarks or favorites, you might go through a ream of paper printing them. It is more efficient to back them up as I describe in this tip.

If you really want to print them, here are the steps:

1. From Internet Explorer, choose "File" – "Import and Export".
2. Click Next
3. Select Export Favorites and click Next.
4. Make sure the Favorites folder is selected, and click Next.
5. Select Export to a File or Address.
6. Click the Browse button and choose the Desktop
7. Click Finish
8. Click OK
9. Close all windows and double-click on the bookmarks file that is on your desktop.
10. Click File –> Print
11. When the Print box appears, click the Options tab.
12. Check Print table of links box (important step).
13. Click the General tab
14. Click Print (and have plenty of paper)

New Computer Specs

Computer prices continue to drop and get more powerful. I answer the question, "What should I buy?", many times every week. The answer seems to change about every six months. Today, I’m going to list my advice that should hold for at least six months:

Primary use is Internet, email, small games, and word processing:

  • Any processor 512MB of RAM
  • Any size hard drive
  • Mimimum CDRW Drive

Primary use is as above + digital photography:

  • Pentium IV (NOT Celeron) or AMD equivalant
  • 1 GB of RAM Built-in card reader 100 GB Hard Drive DVD burner
  • Separate video card (not built-in) or ability to add one

Uses are as above + video editing and/or high end games or other processor intensive program:

Dell Onsite Support?

I’m curious how other folks are getting along with Dell support lately. Many of my clients are becoming increasingly disillusioned with Dell’s support. Not only do they not like trying to communicate with the nice, but difficult to understand phone tech support, but they also are not impressed with the onsite service.

Today, one of my long time customers had to have a hard drive replaced. The tech who showed up was in his house less than 15 minutes. He screwed in the new drive, started the machine and said good luck. This doesn’t seem like good service to me. Do you have any stories about tech support from Dell or any other manufacturer?

Recent spyware surge

Last week Rick and I made a fast trip to Denver and back in a single day (about 7 hours on the road).

During that time we talked about the various computer problems we have seen lately. He noted that spyware seemed to be on the decrease. It is only Wednesday and I have reason to believe that Rick set a jinx upon computer users everywhere.

On Monday night my sister called with a computer problem. I drove to her house and her computer was loaded with spyware and viruses. Earlier that day, I received a call from another client with a computer that wouldn’t even boot up because it has so many viruses (over 1600 infections).

Google News Alerts

We talk frequently of the new and useful tools that Google offers. One of the best is the Google News service. Google uses their powerful search technology to bring you news stories from many angles. If you really are a news junkie, you can use Google Alerts and RSS to get those news stories routed to your email or customized portal page like My Yahoo or even Google’s cutomizable home page.

To use the Google Alerts or RSS feeds, simply search for a topic at Google News, then click on the "News Alert" link on the left side of the page or the the RSS feed button. Take some time to really look around Google News…you won’t be disappointed. 

Save some text editing keystrokes

Use these hints that I notice that computer users forget about when editing text in emails, file names, word processing etc:

  • When text is highlighted in blue, simply start typing the text that you want to replace it with…NO NEED to hit the backspace or delete key.
  • If you need to delete just a few characters of text and the blinking cursor is in front of the text, use the delete key. If the cursor is behind the text, then use the backspace key. No need to reposition the cursor, just use the delete and backspace key interchangeably.
  • If you need to delete a large block of text, use your mouse to highlight it, OR click ONE time at the beginning of the text you want to delete, then scroll to the end of the text, hold down your shift key and click ONE time again. All the text between the two clicks will be highlighted.
  • To select all text on a page or email to delete, use the Edit –> Select All function or Ctrl + A
  • When filling out web forms, remember that you can push the TAB key on your keyboard to move between information fields (boxes you type in) instead of having to reach for the mouse and click on each box.

How to use the XP Start Menu

I saw two clients today who had their XP Start Menus set to the "classic mode." 

In classic mode your Start Menu looks the same as it used to in Windows 98-Me, but the new XP menu is much more functional and easy to use once you understand it.

The XP menu is divided into two sides. The right side lists all of the utility type of programs and features such as My Computer, My Network Places, My Documents, etc.

The left side changes. As you use programs often they appear and move up or down the left side accoding to how often you use these programs.
 

Fix those LSP problems with Winsock repair tool

I searched all over our site for this tool and I couldn’t find it, so I decided to do a Shotgun on it so that it would show up in a search on our page.

Some spyware is nastier than others. Some of my least favorite spyware goes in and corrupts the way your computer connects to the Internet. Essentially it routes your Internect connection through a special path so that the creator of the spyware can watch what you are doing online.

It does then by changing a feature of Windows called Winsock. Winsock is the method that your computer uses to talk to other computers on the Internet and elsewhere. If Winsock gets corrupted, you lose your Internet connection.

Amazing Jams and a quick Microsoft Tip

We never promote products on the site unless we test them first. Today, I helped a new customer with their computer security and backup needs. This gentleman also owns and operates a fruit jam operation. After working on his computer, we talked about his business and his products…jams. He grows most of his own fruits and only picks them at their peak ripeness. When he offered to give me a taste test, I said "sure". The first spoonful was his strawberry jam…WOW!! Is this what jam really tastes like? My mouth exploded with sweet, rich flavor of strawberries….not sugar and corn syrup. I was literally blown away by the depth of the taste and its affect on my palate. Then he continued to impress me with his pear, apricot and wine jams. All I can say is unbelievable. Where can you get this culinary delight? Look to his web site for phone numbers and ordering information; Colorado’s Mountain Fine Jams and Jellies. You will not be disappointed.