I ran across this article on the future of portable storage. I remember paying $300 for my first Zip drive because it held over 70 floppies worth of data (100 MB) today you can get 20 times that for under $30.
It appears that we are not far from seeing 1000 gigabytes on a flash drive. Let’s hope that it is ReadyBoost compatible. That’s a joke.
I know I’m missing some awfully good phrases, but I wanted to write some of them down. Leave a comment and tell me some other strange, modern tech phrases that would be so out of place 15 years ago and before.
These are 10 that I came up with, but I would love to hear tech phrases that you come up with that would have sounded ludicrous in the 20th century…so leave a comment!
Has our site ever helped you solve a problem? Did you search all over the web before you found the answer here? If so, you can help us out by visiting some of the other sites that failed to solve your problem and post a link to where you found the answer at HelpMeRick.com.
Only do this if you can post a direct link to the page where we solved the problem. We do not want to be accused of spamming so only post solutions and links from HelpMeRick where they will truly help someone.
How this helps us:
Google ranks sites based on popularity and relevance. Popularity is easy, but you can’t fake relevance. When other sites link back to us, it makes our site more relevant. But it only works if people follow the link and they find our site helpful.
The ability to print out the contents of a folder (directory) on your computer does not exist in Windows.
“Why would I need to print out a list of what is in my folders?”, you ask. A couple of reasons actually; 1) it can serve as a quick glance reference to your computer’s contents and 2) you might want to print a copy of file names that you backed up.
Thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of programmers everywhere, you can print out those folders’ contents. One such program is called Folder Print 3. It is a FREE utility that you can download and install to satisfy this need.
At least once a year, I write a short article about my current computer recommendations. The holiday season is upon us, and I haven’t written an article like this in awhile, so here goes.
In the past six months, I ask more questions than I give when approached with this question.
If I find that the person has a 2-4 year old computer with Windows XP, and just thinks the computer is slow, I go with this advice:
Adobe Photoshop Elements has a built-in program that searches for all of the photos on your computer and catalogs them. It then displays thumbnails of all of the photos it finds so that you can get to photos faster.
This seems great, but Adobe did a pretty terrible job with the program. It is slow and way to difficult to use for a basic program. Picasa is free and it works much better.
The worst part of the Photoshop Elements browser program is that it takes over. After installing Photoshop Elements version 3 on up to the current version 5, the browser program pops up whenever you plug in a digital camera or memory card. This is very annoying since the program is slow to load and difficult to understand, especially when you aren't expecting it.
Here is a quick video tip. That demonstrates how to turn off the browser popup feature.
One of the most common questions I get as I work on other peoples’ home computers is, "Where did you learn all of this stuff?’
Today I setup a large office copier on a business network. It is the first time I have ever set up such a thing.
It seems like at least two or three times per month, I fix a problem that I have never seen before. It is the ultimate in on the job training, however it is not voodoo or a vast supply of knowledge that allows me to do theses miracles.
Over the years I have discovered the string theory of personal computing.
I have been an avid weather watcher since I was a kid. I love looking at weather radar and satellite maps and always enjoyed watching the weather on the news.
Since the advent of the Internet, I exclusively keep track of the weather on the Internet.
This weekend, I was fortunate enough to get a couple of tickets to the Broncos v. Steelers from a friend. My son and I were supposed to leave for the game (a four hour drive over multiple mountain passes) on Sunday morning. However, a look at the weather forecast on Weather Underground prompted us to leave yesterday instead.
Here is an alternative method for removing red eye in Photoshop Elements. It is more complicated than using the red eye tool, but it allows much more versatility in fine tuning the adjustment. The results are also more realistic.
Using Microsoft Word and a little customizing of the Word toolbar, this tip will get you printing envelopes easily.
If you write business letters with the recipient’s address in the body of the message, Word will pick up the address and insert it into your envelope when you use the envelope tool. Click on the Tools menu and then Envelopes and Labels. From there, you can print your envelope and set your default return address. Experiment with your printer a little to get the direction and feed of the envelope correct to make your printing easier.
Now to get the button on your toolbar for one-click access, follow these steps for Microsoft Word versions 2003 and prior (the video shows the methodology for Word 2007 and OpenOffice Writer as well):
1. Click on Tools from the menus
2. Click on Customize
3. Click on the Commands tab
4. Click on Tools in the Categories column
5. Scroll and find the Envelopes and Labels button in the Commands column
6. Click on it and drag it out to your toolbar…you can place it anywhere you want (I put mine next to the printer button)
7. Click on close
Now anytime you need to print an envelope your button is within reach.
The short video tutorial demonstrates these steps for you in pre-Word 2007 steps, Word 2007, and OpenOffice Writer.
Tip within a tip: Use these same steps to add any button you want to the toolbar.