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7 Days with Windows 7 – Day 3

IE-on-acid Logo - designed by Harel Williams
photo credit: ieteam

I went against my instincts today for your benefit and delved into Internet Explorer 8. IE 8 will be the default browser in Windows 7, although their are rumors that it will be possible to disable or even uninstall it. IE 8 is a step up from IE 7, albeit a very small step. It still loads pages slower than Google Chrome and Firefox. The features that allow you to customize IE 8 are sparse and implemented by very few vendors. And with IE over market share dropping weekly, IE becomes less and less relevant. Nevertheless, I put together a short video giving you a quick tour of IE 8.

Incidentally, IE 8 will be released for Vista starting tomorrow. It isn’t a mandatory upgrade, and overall, I stillRead More »7 Days with Windows 7 – Day 3

Is Google the next big target in technology?

The duckies invade Google
photo credit: Yodel Anecdotal

Like Microsoft in the 90’s, it appears that this decade and into next Google has the biggest target on their back. They are big, successful and seemingly everywhere. The article below reports that a Washington DC group concerned with privacy wants the FTC to investigate Google’s privacy practices. The incident I talked about last week regarding the small and very specific situation where a Google Document users saved files might be viewed by another user also under very specific circumstances spurred the  Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) to as the FTC to investigate Google.

Common sense tells me thatRead More »Is Google the next big target in technology?

Computer Help Show Podcast – 03-18-09

A very busy day on the phones from callers asking some great questions. Plus, we had our first question through Twitter today as well. We waxed a little philosophical about politics and technology, but tried to stay on our designated topic this month: How to save money with technology. Great fun, great information, have a listen!

7 Days with Windows 7 – Day 2

Windows 7 offers some great performance improvements over Vista and some usability improvements over XP, but hey it’s Microsoft there is a lot of fluff and huh? moments in it too. In today’s installment of my ongoing week long affair with Windows 7, I explore some of the usability improvements and some of the Read More »7 Days with Windows 7 – Day 2

The Internet is truly becoming mobile

Incredible news story outlining the incredible growth of Internet use on mobile telephones and smartphones. Incredible phones like the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold make the Internet and its limitless information truly accessible while on the go. From January 2008 to January 2009, the number of handheld users accessing the Internet daily, doubled. Read the whole article below. NewsFactor Network… Read More »The Internet is truly becoming mobile

7 Days with Windows 7 – Day 1

I worked late today, but did start and am only using my laptop installed with the beta version of Windows 7. Windows 7 will be released later this year or early next year and take the place of Windows Vista. I wanted to test it a little more thoroughly, so I’m dedicating the next 7 days to use only Windows 7.

In today’s installment, I highlighted some of the changes in the new operating system on the desktop, the programs menu, and the taskbar. You will see a different taskbar and quick launch toolbar, an updated and improved Start menu, faster searching and Control Panel navigation. I point these out it in theRead More »7 Days with Windows 7 – Day 1

Rick Answers his email Videocast – 035

Sort of a Part II to this week’s Videocast 034 since I had so much email to catch up on this week. Again, great questions, this edition includes questions from Beverly, Sandra, Aaron, Margie, Karen, Bill, Douglas, Jose, Nilesh, Diane, Michael, Ralph, Kari, Martha, Neil, and Leo.

Four techniques for erasing your old hard drive

a disk
photo credit: Jason Schlachet

When you replace an old computer, you need to take steps to protect the data that was on that computer prior to donating it, selling it or even throwing it out or recycling it. Too many computer degenerates use the data that can be found on old hard drives to try and steal your identity. You can avoid this by using one of the following four options:

  1. One free program that will completely cleanse a hard drive is called Autoclave. You can download and read the instructions here.
  2. Darik’s Book and Nuke also provides a way of thoroughly cleaning the data from an old hard drive.
  3. A third option to cleaning your old data form a hard drive is Active KillDisk. They offer a free and a pro version of this software.
  4. My last, and probably easiest, fastest, and safest method of guaranteeing your old data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to to open the computer and Read More »Four techniques for erasing your old hard drive

Interesting data in my site stats

I use Google Analytics to monitor my site data. I check the statistics about once per month, but after checking yesterday, I noticed a few interesting trends:

  • Less than 3% of visitors coming to HelpMeRick.com use a dial-up connection. I thought this would still be up around 10% or higher.
  • Firefox visitors trail Internet Explorer visitors by less than 14%
  • Google Chrome (which has been out less than a year) visitors nearly out numberRead More »Interesting data in my site stats