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Rick

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Every day I go out and make my rounds, I’m surprised at how many people have never visited our web site. We believe that we are building the best computer help web site on the planet. We cover all the basic and most frequently asked questions that computer users have and in the last two months have added many new features and made the site easier to navigate and search.

Adam and I had lunch with a colleague today who told us that "everyone knows about you guys". We do our best to promote the show and our businesses, but in the long run, the more people we can refer to our web site, the more people we can help and the greater the content of the site can grow. So, we challenged our colleague to ask the people who say the know us if they have ever visited our web site.

Tools of the trade

Every profession has its tools. I have found a number of great tools that help get me through the day.

If you or someone you know tinkers with computer, here are some of the essential tools.

1. Swiss Army USB flash drive knife – This is a genuine Swiss Army knife with a built in USB flash drive, flashlight, ball point pen, screwdriver (perfect size for computer screws), scissors and knife.

2. External hard drive enclosure – this is a cool device that lets you place any hard drive into it to convert it into an external USB drive. These are perfect for transfering data from one computer to another.

Learning is fun

By far the most satisfying part of my job is teaching someone something new about their computer that will enable them either to do more or do something more efficiently. However, when I learn something new (and I do every day), nothing exceeds that satisfaction.

Today, as I was helping a client learn to use their new computer and Palm handheld organizers, they informed me about some of the great features available in the ACT! program. ACT! is a contact manager software and has bounced around between a few different companies and is now owned by Sage Software. ACT! markets itself directly to businesses, large and small. Home users would find the program to be too large to be useful.

You have a virus, it is called Norton

I had one client today who had setup an appointment for me to get rid of a virus. Every time they turned on their computer and/or logged into their email, an error would pop up.

The error in their email was so bad that they couldn’t even read their messages.

I noticed that all of the errors were related to Symantec – the company that makes Norton.

I removed Norton and installed AVG. All of a sudden the "virus" was gone. The computer was faster and all errors were completely gone.

They said that they were going to take the money that they were saving by not upgrading Norton and apply it to a new DSL connection. I love to see people make smart decisions with their computer.

For our Western Colorado Listeners….

COMPUTER LITERATE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR A SHORT TERM PROJECT

The Benevolent Community Partnership Seniors Committee (in Grand Junction, CO) is looking for volunteers to help Medicare D eligible seniors enroll in the Medicare D Program.

Training will be provided in a two day session March 13 & March 14 from 9:00am-3:00pm at the Department of Human Services; 510 –
29 Road ½ Road, Room 1060 on the first floor.

To enroll in this free two day class, call 248-2717. If you get the answering machine, please leave your name and phone number.

I’m not perfect….

I have never claimed to be the most knowledgeable computer tech on the planet…and I never will. However, what I will promise is that I give my customers the best advice that I can for the topics that I know about and will refer them to the best possible resources for topics outside my scope.

Today, I saw a client who traded some services with another computer tech here in Grand Junction, CO. The other tech reformatted my client’s computer and proceeded to install a copy of Microsoft Office 2000. The copy was not a legal one. My client never paid for Microsoft Office and never received a CD and certificate of authenticity for the software. She was appalled that a "business person" would do such a thing. Unfortunately, this is the second time I ran into a situation like this in less than two weeks. I also happened to talk to a client of mine, recently, who took a class and was "sold" a pirated copy of some software for a substantially reduced price over the retail price of the product.

Be careful using multiple accounts

Windows XP has a unique ability to act like multiple computers on a single machine. This feature was created so that the computer could be used in a business environment allowing each user to have his or her own programs, desktop, passwords and My Documents.

Although setting up multiple user accounts allows for a lot of customization, it has some pretty screwy side effects.

If you have more than one user account set up in Windows XP, many programs allow you to install programs into only one account. This is a nice feature if you only want to install a program into one account, but it can be a real pain when it comes to spyware and viruses.

Red X’s in Email Messages

I’m resetting this tip from two or so years ago because we have had so many phone calls and email messages about this topic. 

Have you ever received an email with "red x’s" in a box or just an empty box in the middle of the email? There are three possible explanations for this phenomenon; either you are reading the message offline, your email program is blocking images from appearing in your email, OR more likely the pictures or graphics that were supposed to be in that message didn’t get sent with the message.

First, a quick background on how pictures work in email messages. Email originated as a text only medium, but in the late 90’s it evolved to the point that it was possible to send embedded pictures, colored text and more with email. This is called Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) email. In English, that means special computer code to display those pictures and formatted text. Essentially, email has become like mini-web pages. One problem with HTML email is that not all email programs or users can read this type of email…they simply see the plain text devoid of pictures and formatted text.

Upgrade or repair?

If I had a dime for every time this question comes up….

I actually had this happen with two of my cutomers today. My answer, the last couple of years, is a definite ‘it depends’. Wishy, washy, I know, but it really does have to be thought out. First, the proper diagnosis has to be made. What is the estimate of the repair parts and labor and how does the user use the computer factor in together. Next, a comparison of that number to what is available in the market for new computers. Last week, as an example, Office Depot had a decent little system on sale for $198 after rebates!!

Unfortunately, the market is making so much of the technology we buy disposable…economically speaking. When looking at individual situations, however, the repair costs usually are a little under a new system. And with the exception of the hard drive that died, or the spyware and viruses that must be removed, the system is still very usable. So it comes down to how the computer is used.