Skip to content

Rick

Congress to decide whether to tax wizards and warlocks

We live in a day of alternate dimensions and parallel worlds. While some people hold jobs, go to school and raise families in reality, they spend part of their days (some more than others) playing computer games called MMORPGs.

It stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. These are games where essentially every character in the game, and there can be thousands, is controlled by an actual person playing the game.

The longer you play theses games such as World Of Warcraft or Everquest, the more property and items you accumulate. Typically these games feature magic, weapons, and even land that you can accumulate. Once you have an item, you are free to sell it or give it to another player in the game. This has lead to a virtual economy.

Castellini on Computers is Morphing…for the better

As I look back over the past few years, I am very proud of the progress Adam and I have put into the site. My goal from day 1 for our web site and show, and Adam adopted the goal when he joined me nearly 7 years ago, was to provide the easiest to understand and most practical computer advice on the web, radio, or anywhere. I believe that we have succeeded in meeting that goal and continue to improve upon that goal every single day.

After months of consideration, we agreed that we can do even MORE for our web site visitors, show listeners, and computer users yet to visit the site if we focus our energies on further enriching the site's content and offering new ways to interact with us and the site.

How to get around Windows XP user password

A caller recently inherited a computer with a password enabled for getting into Windows. Here are two ways to disable or delete the required password.

1. Turn on the computer.

2. Immediately begin pressing the F8 key over and over in about half second intervals.

3. A menu will come up asking how you want to boot – choose SAFE MODE.

4. Windows will come up with two user accounts, click on the Administrator account.

5. Once Windows starts up (it will look ugly, but work the same) go to Start->Control Panel.

6. Double-click on User Accounts.

This is where you have two choices:

Check Your Email When Away from Home

When we vacation, checking our snail mail is either left up to a house sitter or a neighbor. However, email is something we don't usually delegate to these fine folks who keep track of our snail mail and newspapers. Did you know that you can check your email from almost anywhere in the world?

It's true and this week's tip shows you how to do it. All email is sent not to you, but first to your provider. They don't read it, but it sits on their computers until you retrieve it, thus allowing you to check it remotely. While you are away from your home computer on vacation, the mail sits and accumulates on the provider's computer. You can check in on your email by logging into your provider's web site from any computer that has Internet access and read and write email.

Quick access to useful tools and most used programs in Ubuntu – Video Tip

Two of my favorite tips (tricks) to teach Windows users is the use of the Quick Launch bar. See:

Create a new toolbar in Windows – Video Tip

Create a docked Quick Launch bar in Windows Vista – Video Tip

As I make my way into the Ubuntu world, which I think has the potential to whole heartedly change the computing landscape as we know it, I learn how to duplicate skills with it that I learned and utilized with Windows. As with the navigation tip I posted earlier today, I think Ubuntu came up with a more clever, faster, and more flexible way to access our commonly used computer tools. Watch my new tip below to see how it is done in Ubuntu.

 

Basic Ubuntu Navigation – Video Tip

Ubuntu Navigation

One more day left in our first annual "Ubuntu Week", and I have another great tip for all of us Ubuntu beginners. In Ubuntu, there is no "Start" button like Windows. Instead, I think the Ubuntu creators came up with a more elegant and intuitive format for accessing programs we use, navigating our saved files, networks and operating system options and preferences.

Watch the video below for a video and audio tour of Ubuntu's navigation options.

Automatic Update in Ubuntu Linux – Video Tip

In our ongoing "Ubuntu Week" series of articles, today's tip focuses on computer safety. No matter what operating system you may use, the most important skills you can learn for your computer's safety is updating the operating system. All operating systems, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris, BeOS, etc. offer security and system updates from time-to-time. These updates fix problems found in the software and shore up security holes found through research or hackers.

Ubuntu Linux implementation of Automatic Updates works quite well and is painless to maintain. Today's video tip shows you the steps to take to make sure your Ubuntu system is running the latest in system and security updates.

Ubuntu Week at HelpMeRick.com

This week, I will be posting and using only my Ubuntu laptop. Expect some short how-to videos from the Ubuntu world all week long culminating with our interview on Saturday with David Overcash from the Colorado LoCo Ubuntu team . An Ubuntu LoCo team is a regionally established group of Ubuntu experts who promote and support Ubuntu users in their region. We look forward to talking with David on Saturday, and the how-to videos for this week will give you further insight into the world of Ubuntu Linux.

If you missed my introductory video of Ubuntu Linux, click here to watch the video.

Emailing in Ubuntu Linux – Video Tip

This is a three part video tip showing how to setup and use email in Ubuntu Linux using the included Evolution software. Evolution is a full fledged Personal Information Manager (PIM) that can perform calendaring, tasks, email, contact management and more. Think of it as Outlook for Linux, but easier.

Should you just get a new computer?

I have seen a lot of power supply failures lately. This seems to happen every summer but I don't keep detailed enough statistics to prove it. I am not sure why it happens either. It could be that people turn off their computers for summer vacation and it is the first time the computer has really been turned off in a long time. This might give things a chance to cool down and become brittle. Maybe it is just a coincidence.

In addition to the power supply failures, I have seen a variety of other problems lately that are typically rare such as hard drive failures, power button failures, and dead printers.