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Riding Shotgun with Rick

Automating Word

Almost seven years ago, I created some form templates for a customer of mine who is a salesman. He wanted to automate some forms that he filled out frequently so that he could minimize his time filling out forms and increase his time selling products. He gave me the forms that he currently filled out by hand, and I re-created them in Microsoft Word using Tables and the form features available in Word.

The final form was then saved as a Word Template (so it could be used over and over without affecting the original). All he had to do was double-click on a shortcut that pulled up a blank form for him to fill out and then print, email, and or save. The form even contained calculated fields to total his line items and the entire order. Did you know Word could do that?

I visited my client again today and we tweaked those seven year old documents to match his current needs. I really enjoy helping clients come up with ways to improve their efficiency using tools already on their computer.

If you are interested in how to create fillable forms with Microsoft Word, I found these online tutorials to be a good start:

Overheard at a gas station

While grabbing a quick water bottle at a local gas station, I overheard two ladies talking about computers. The younger one (in her 20’s) stated that she doesn’t understand anything about computers AND doesn’t want to learn.
The other woman (40’s) agreed but wanted to get a laptop for a graduating niece.

I smiled at them (wearing my HelpMeRick.com shirt) as I paid my bill, but didn’t say anything. I didn:t have time to intervene or I would have. First, it is hard for me to understand NOT wanting to learn about anything.

NASCAR has absolutely no appeal to me, but if I run across an article talking about the science and tech involved in the sport (can you really call it a sport?), I devour it. Like NASCAR to me, computers hold no interest those ladies, but for them to not want to learn just surprises me.

DVD Burners

Seeing all the blank DVD’s and CD’s in a store can confuse a computer user. And with most computers shipping with a DVD-ROM over the past four or so years, it is even more confusing. And to make matters even more difficult, many CD/DVD-ROM manufacturers have black fronts with black text! Yikes that’s hard to read.

One of my customer’s today assumed that his laptop had a DVD burner because it could play DVD’s. He is not alone as many people fall into the same category…it is not that clearly written. For many years, we used floppy disks and if a computer had a floppy drive, we knew we could read and write to a floppy. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. CD and DVD players come in two primary flavors (I won’t discuss all the hybrids here); ROM (Read Only Memory) and R/RW (Recordable / Re-writable).

Dual Monitors

Adam has long used dual monitors on his computer. This week I saw two customers who moved to dual monitors and a third who is considering it as well. I’ve been thinking about upgrading to two monitors also.

What’s the big deal about two monitors? Two monitors give you the ability to spread your work out. Think of it in the same way as buying a bigger desk to work on….you get more space to spread out your work, stapler, adding machine and other tools. With your computer and two monitors, you get the opportunity to spread out your digital tools and work.

You have to see it in action to really appreciate the benefit With falling computer prices and cheaper flat screen monitors, this type of computing is becoming more common and realistic economically.

Differential Diagnosis

That’s a term I learned while in Physical Therapy skill. It means asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of tests to come up with the most likely cause for a problem. That skill alone helps me work with computer problems every day. Asking the proper questions and getting the sequence of events in proper order make me hone in on the problem quicker.

Yesterday, I worked on a computer for a customer who wasn’t home and it quickly reinforced my need for getting a thorough history of the problem from the computer’s owner. Without it, I’m probing blind and looking for the most obvious problems, but it makes the process much longer.

Oops…I hate it when I make mistakes

I’m always the first to admit when I make a mistake, but damn I  hate making them! Especially when the mistakes affect a customer I’m working with at the time.

While uninstalling yet another copy of the bloated Norton Internet Security today, I ran into the Norton Password Manager. Unfortunately, some of my work (like anyone else involved in a business) becomes repetitive and robotic and that can lead to potential problems. I was getting "click happy" when I ran into this program (that I honestly had not seen anyone use yet) and before I thought to ask the customer if he used the program, I had already uninstalled the program. Fortunately, I saved the data, but the program was history…even System Restore couldn’t get it back and he didn’t have the CD for re-installation.

Alternative Operating Systems

Not really alternative, but I wanted to get your attention. Today, three of my customers were not using Windows XP. Two were Windows 98 and one was an older Macintosh. It’s always fun for me to keep my hands on some of these older machines to keep my mind agile.

I am always amazed at how functional and quick Windows 98 can be. One of the customers called because their 98 machine was running extremely slow. Within 90 seconds of sitting down at their machine, I knew what was wrong. She had upgraded to the newest and biggest version of McAfee Security possible. We don’t recommend the large security suites from McAfee or Norton for any computer, but for older machines they can mean pure death. It took her computer a full five and one half minutes to boot up with the McAfee installed. When we took out the McAfee and added AVG instead, the computer booted up in less than two minutes. She was amazed and satisfied.

Security is Paramount

I’m posting from the road today as I sit waiting for my last customer. An earlier customer made a neat comment/observation. She said, "Geesh, I didn’t realize there was so much to setting up the security on a computer."

She had an expired version of Norton that we uninstalled. Then I loaded AVG Antivirus, Zone Alarm Firewall, and Windows Defender. Security setup seems time consuming and tedious during setup, but once installed properly it can work autonomously. The little extra time spent up front pays dividends down the road with decreased support calls and repair costs.

I am bragging

I have read some of Adam’s "Shotguns" lately, and he has referred to himself as an expert, but also said he didn’t want to brag. My goal today is to stir things  up a little and try and get our readers to start utilizing the discussion possibilities in our posts.

When I sit down at a malfunctioning computer, I picture Bugs Bunny sitting down in the concert hall when he played Beethoven with Elmer Fudd chasing him around. He fluffed his tail and flipped out his coat tails with the utmost confidence and bravado. I don’t where a tux to help my customers, but I do strongly feel that they would be hard pressed to find a better computer person to sit at their desk. I know Adam is a very strong second and in some areas (like photography), way ahead of me.

Microsoft Word or Office Problems after last week’s Windows Updates

This is a short note to help those folks who are having problems with opening Word documents after a critical update from Windows last week. It appears it is unique to folks with some specific HP software.

After studying it, I would recommend going to Add/Remove Programs and remove the HP Share-to-Web program (unless you are really using that feature…most people don’t). If you do use that feature or want to learn more about the cause and fix for this problem. Visit Microsoft’s Support site and read their article.