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Rick

Ubuntu on the road

I continue to experiment with the Ubuntu operating system. This past weekend, my family and I made a quick trip to the South Dakota Black Hills and I took my Ubuntu laptop along for the ride. My Ubuntu laptop is an older Compaq (almost six years old) that was destined for the trash heap by its previous owner. It no longer performed well for them and required reformatting and upgrading to run Windows XP and other software at any appreciable speed. I rescued it, installed Ubuntu Linux on it, bought the cheapest wireless card I could find, and now I have a completely functional and quick second laptop.

I am no longer a one-handed man

This is the first post I have written since Monday. I have had my wrist in a splint for the past few days. On Sunday I was on a family bike ride and I thought it would be funny to splash through a big mud puddle beside my kids.

As it turns out puddles filled with irrigation water tend to grow scum and scum tends to be as slippery as ice. First thing I knew I was laying on my back under my bike.

On Monday my wrist was so sore that I had to cancel a few appointments so that I could see the doctor and get some x-rays. My wrist isn't broken, but it hurts a lot.

Over the past few days I have had to work on computers with only one good hand. My left hand. I am right handed.

Collectors Celebrate

One of my customers was using some interesting and well laid out software for collectors (she collected books). We are often asked to suggest software for organizing and tracking CD, DVD, Book, Coin and other collections. This company called Collection Database Software produces software for collectors of all types. You can try the software out for free to see if it fits your needs before buying it.

Easily replaced hardware items…

Sometimes I am accused of being too laid back about life and problems. I take that as a compliment and consider my low key approach to life to be an asset not a liability. When it comes to computers, many computer users should also take a low key approach to many hardware problems.

Keyboards and Mice

If you start having a problem with a mouse or keyboard, the first thing to try is shutting the computer off, unplug and re-plug cables, then try again. If they still give you problems, go out and buy a new one. Mice and keyboards can't and shouldn't be repaired…just replace them. Mice and keyboards both can be found for less than $20. If your mouse or keyboard is a cordless one, always check the batteries.

Take a break …. Physical Therapy Advice

Many of you know that I started out as a Physical Therapist, but switched careers almost twelve years ago. I notice that many computer users (including myself) can get absorbed in reading online news, working with pictures, researching, learning a new computer program, or just playing a game. Unfortunately, when we get absorbed, we also lose track of time and thirty minutes can quickly become two hours! We have all been there. 

I like to use a computer timer (but an egg timer or watch alarm will do also) to remind me to stand up and walk away from the computer when I'm working on a long project. Our bodies don't like to sit stationary for too long and our eyes really don't like staring at a fixed distance for long periods of time either.

Easy, safe, fun (and useful) Google Images – Video Tip

Google offers hundreds of features and most of them go unused by the average computer user.

Google Images is one of the coolest features that the monster search site has to offer. Google Images allows you to search the web for graphics or pictures related to any search topic.

It's so easy to use:

1. Visit Images.Google.com

2. Type in a word or phrase that you want to search for

3. Hit ENTER key on your keyboard

4. The website where the image is found will load but you can get directly to the image itself by clicking on the thumbnail at the top of the page.

Actual drop in computer productivity from 1986 to Today

I just "Stumbled Upon" this article from Hubpages.com and article which compared one of the earliest 'personal' computers (an Apple Mac Plus). What it concluded was what Adam and I complain about on the show often and what all computer users feel when they sit down at their keyboards; our computers are not any faster today, than they were 10 or more years ago.

Processors, hard drives, RAM have all increased exponentially in the last 20 years, but unfortunately so has modern operating systems. The article I linked above pointed out the gargantuan disk requirements of Windows Vista, so I decided to put together a little table comparing disk space and RAM requirements for the different flavors of operating systems. It is quite eye opening.

Internet Explorer 7 Zoom

For many computer users, viewing some web sites can be frustrating because
text tends to be too small. Since many of you might be using Internet
Explorer 7, take advantage of the improved zoom functuon in it. To access
the zoom function:

1. Click Page from the menu in the upper right of the screen
2. Click Zoom from the menu
3. Choose a Zoom value from the options (I recommend trying the 125% first
and then move up from there)

Because of the method used to create some web sites, zooming can distort
some features on the site. It isn’t a perfect solution for zooming hard to

Make multiple computers work for you

The last few weeks I have seen many clients who own multiple computers and are learning to use a computer network to take advantage of printers, Internet connections and file sharing. If you own more than one computer and a high speed Internet connection, you need to consider connecting the computers together via a network. Doing so will allow you to own just one printer that all the computers can print to, take advantage of high speed Internet by having all the computers be online at the same time, and move files back and forth via the network.

Home networking isn't too difficult to setup and the benefits far outweigh the little bit of work and cost required to get it started. For a primer on networking your computers, visit our Networking Setup Guide .

Reset your HP Printer

I don't remember where I learned this trick or why it works, but it  does work in many instances with some HP printers. Use this technique to reset your printer if it is hung up for any reason, can't automatically "align cartridges" or is just acting goofy.

  1. Unplug the power cable from the back of the printer
  2. Let the printer sit untouched without the power cable for at least two to three minutes
  3. Push and hold the power button
  4. Plug in the power while still holding the power button in.
  5. Keep holding the power button for at least thirty seconds after you plugged the power cable back in.
  6. Release the power button and try using your printer again.

Good luck!