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Riding Shotgun with Rick

Windows Vista…Day 14

Windows Vista Score

I've been using Windows Vista for a couple of weeks now and although I have found some redeeming qualities about the upgrade, I'm still not sold on it by a long shot. One confusing issue for me is the massive amount of computing power that will be required to run the software. And that's not just me and thousands of others saying that, Microsoft will tell you straight up how crappy your computer is with their "Windows Experience Index" score. The score breaks down how your processor, memory, graphics card, and hard drive all handle the massive Vista system by assigning each a score.

Solution for computer that can’t change desktop wallpaper / background

This solution WILL fix your problem, but don’t run away afterwards and forget about us.

HelpMeRick.com contains hundreds of tips (and video tips) that YOU can use as a reference for yourself and
especially as a reference to send links to your friends/family so you don’t have to write out or explain the steps yourself!

Splogs?

Spam. It's not just for email anymore.

I often get the question of why people send spam. Money is the simple answer. As spam fighting software slowly matures and gets better and email users slowly (how dense or desperate can some people be) stop buying stuff from spam, the purveyors of spam look elsewhere. One profitable place they have utilized lately is blog's comments. Many web sites (including ours) encourage readers to leave comments. Spammers figured out a way to program Internet bots to automatically find these types of sites and pummel them with 'comment spam'. They leave links to all kinds of sites from porn to real estate and sell everything from Viagra to cell phone batteries. Again, some crazy people actually click on these links and buy the products or services. Cha-ching!

Even newer than comment spam is a phenomenon known as splogs. These are sites that pose as real sites, but are nothing more than a site full of links to other sites or more splogs. The sole purpose of these types of sites is to generate revenue. You may have run across one of these sites and not even known it. After doing a search, you click a resulting link and end up on a page full of advertising and links to sites with the topic you searched for but no actual information on the topic…that's a splog.

We can all combat spam in any of its forms by never clicking the links and for sure never buying the products or services they sell. It will never disappear, but we can slow it down and make it less profitable for these mud-dwellers.

Always check the cables

I almost gave up on a computer projector of mine that I use to teach classes. Spending $700 or more for a replacement projector made my wallet hurt. Desperate, I made a call to InFocus tech support and the tech suggested I order a new VGA cable. I thought, "Sure, why didn't I think of that." I always suggest that my customers or callers to the show check the simple stuff first…cables, are connections tight, buttons pushed, etc.

One week later I received the new proprietary cable. I hooked everything up and lo and behold the projector worked great. A simple $60 solution saved me the financial agony of replacing the entire device.

Fix the AutoPlay wizard

If you use a memory card reader (internal or external) and Windows does not bring up the AutoPlay wizard (little window that pops up when a card is inserted giving you choices of what you can do), the solution is to download and run this utility from Microsoft . The tool, called AutoFix, will re-enable the AutoPlay function Windows normally displays when a memory card or USB drive is inserted into the computer.

If your AutoPlay works fine now, do NOT download and use this utility. 

HELP!!!!!

I consider myself to be generally a smart guy. I also put my friend Adam in that same category. No one would mistakenly call us geniuses, but overall we can hold our own. However, when it comes to this web site/radio show, we need help. The radio show will be 8 years old next year and have little to show for it except for helping lots of people and having some laughs along the way. We enjoy doing the show and helping people, but we would also like to make a profit (we're capitalists). For some reason, we keep hitting dead ends when we try and grow the show or the site. Our newsletter has amassed a few thousand subscribers, but that's not much in the big scheme of things. 

Windows Vista – Day 1

I installed the Windows Vista Beta edition I downloaded yesterday and so far have no evidence to overturn my initial observations. The install took about 55 minutes and was entirely hands off…an improvement from previous Windows installations. The boot up process is slower than Windows XP and shutdown is really slow. And this is all without adding any software to the computer yet.

Microsoft tells us that Vista will be the safest Windows ever. I hope that is true because computer users will be moving to Apple in droves. The interface seems anything but intuitive, and that's coming from me who some say knows a little about computers. Instead of making the interface easier, much of the functions are hidden under layers of hard to navigate clicks. And so far, once I do get into a program, they all seem like the old programs with just a new layer of gloss and difficulty.

An 8 hour download…

This afternoon I started downloading the beta version of Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista. I pay for a 1.5mb DSL connection. At that speed, the download is estimated to take about 7 or so hours. Cable users with a 6mb connection would be able to download it in about 2 hours. Dial up users aren't even allowed to try…it would take almost six days on a dial-up connection. I could have ordered the DVD installation disk, but why wait three weeks when I can get it today. 

We have bashed the upcoming upgrade to Windows repeatedly here at the site and on the show. I plan on putting the OS (operating system) to the test by installing it on an older computer that I have. For those of you in Grand Junction who attend our monthly User Group, I hope to have the new computer system up and running by the October meeting to demonstrate for the group.

Never assume a problem is on YOUR end

Specifically, I'm talking about the Internet. If you have been working along merrily on the Internet for weeks, months, or years and all of the sudden you aren't able to get email or connect to the Internet, DON'T PANIC. Instead, calmly turn off your computer, shut off your computer and if you have high speed Internet, shut off your high speed modem and router if you have one. Then slowly walk away from the computer and have a nice cool or warm beverage of your choice, take a nap and or a walk.

After about an hour or two, walk back to  your computer, turn on the high speed modem and router (if you have one), wait a few moments, then turn on your computer. If the Internet is working, great. If it isn't working, then repeat the steps above and try again.

Web Site Outage

We apologize for the web site outage today. Our host, Hostgator , has been fabulous since we switched to them a couple of years ago. Great service and response time. Today, however, they had a tough time getting our site back online again because of problems with their servers. We are up and running again, as you can see, so we again apologize for the inconvenience. Even we computer gurus have glitches too!