The web and email were not meant to be printed. However, many computer users love to print many things we receive via email or the web. In this tip, I’m going to teach you how to use less paper and ink when printing AND get better looking printouts for things you do want to print. If you combine this new… Read More »How to save time & money when printing from the web – Video Tip
Give this quick, little tip a try on your iPhone or iPad and watch the enjoyment of reading on the devices soar! The function is called “Reader View” and is used in the Safari app on your device. Reader View doesn’t work for every web site, but it does for many. In a nutshell, Reader View strips away all the… Read More »How to use Reader View on your iPad or iPhone – Video Tip
Please DO NOT use the address bar as a repository to return to sites you use all the time…eventually they will get lost. The address bar history maintains a small amount of your recently visited site and can easily be wiped out via an update or disk cleaning and maintenance tools.
Instead, use the Favorites (Internet Explorer) or Bookmarks (Firefox and every other browser). Favorites/Bookmarks are designed to save and give you quick access to your most used sites and sites you just want to keep track of for later use. Also, you can back them up easily.
If you are like me, you visit a handful of web sites every single day and sometimes multiple times per day. Having bookmarks to these sites works fine, but that requires a minimum of three clicks to reach your favorite sites.
In this video, I describe how to get 1-click access to your favorites using the extremely underutilized Links toolbar (Internet Explorer) and the Bookmarks toolbar (Mozilla Firefox).
This tip requires no downloading and no installation of extra software. Everything is built-in to the browser and available to you right now. So watch the video and learn how to take charge of these extremely useful tools you never knew how to use!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwE__e7oYq4&hl=en]
One common problem I help solve every day is the recovery of passwords. For some reason, tracking passwords and usernames becomes a daunting task for most computer users. The advice I dispense most often when asked how to track all of the usernames and passwords we accumulate these days is to simply write it down. Not just anywhere, however, but… Read More »Start your password tracking system today!
One of the most useful search tweaks you can employ to limit results is time. Google offers a quick way to access this option in the Search tools menu. Watch and learn how to do this in the short video below!
This tip falls in the category of “wow, that’s easy to do, I wish I would have known about it long ago!”
When you are on a particularly long web page and need to find a term or phrase, click on Edit from your menus, then Find (or Find in page on some browsers). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + F. You will be presented with a small window that allows you to enter a word or phrase and then the computer will look for that word on the page and bring you right to it.
As with many other features, Mozilla Firefox’s implementation of this feature is superior to all other browsers, as it gives you helpful extras like find the next or previous occurrence of the word or phrase you are looking for and even has an option to highlight all the occurrences on the page. (See the accompanying picture).
This tip is especially helpful for genealogy researchers. Sometimes your eyes can become crossed looking for a surname in a sea of text. Use the find function instead and cut your work and eye strain in half!
If you need to look for the same term again on the same page, you will notice that the function gives you the option to find again without retyping.
This type of search works best with single words, but you can experiment with phrases as well.
You can also use the Find function in Word Processing documents, email, spreadsheets, and PDF files as well.
Watch the short video below to see this tip in action in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
One of my main goals here at HelpMeRick.com is to help make computers and technology a usable, productive tool for ALL computer/tech users. The information contained within these digital walls does just that…providing you read and practice the tips. I often stand on my backup soap box here on the web site as well as with my clients and on… Read More »This does not have to happen to you
I recently came across a handy and well done infographic describing common technology or user interface (UI) symbols from the Edudemic.com web site. It is quite a large infographic so I broke down the original, which is the first image pictured below, and made individual items of the symbols. Also, I created 3 new symbols I thought were important at… Read More »Technology Symbols
A lot has been written and talked about this week regarding the computer chip vulnerabilities. In a nutshell, this problem allows some programs to access parts of the computer’s memory that normally is walled off and private. This could potentially lead to private information being exposed. The key word being potentially. Although, the problem is real, no hacks or problems… Read More »Intel Meltdown and Spectre Security Problem
Printing labels can save you a lot of time and energy IF you approach the job correctly. Since Microsoft Word is still the leading word processor, I will discuss how to print labels with it. Today's tip will not discuss Mail Merge, as that is another can of worms for another day. For printing mail merge style labels, refer to this tip .
This tip will help you print a single label or a full sheet of labels with the same address or text.
When finished printing, you can close and save the document if it is a sheet that you will use again in the future. Otherwise, just close and don't save the document.