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Riding Shotgun with Rick

My business benefits from folks not reading my articles & tips

Since 1996, I made it my mission to share every bit of pertinent digital knowledge that I acquired with anyone willing to visit the site. It astounds me to this day how many computer users refuse to read and refuse to learn. Truly, 40-50% of the house and business calls I make every week would evaporate if the computer user had read my articles and tips on a regular basis and followed their advice. This is especially true regarding security problems computer users encounter.

One comment I receive constantly goes something like this, “I have looked at your site (or listened to you on the radio) and don’t understand any of it.”

One of my other missions was to not only make my information available, but also Read More »My business benefits from folks not reading my articles & tips

Cellular coverage at big events

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take my son to the Sundance Film Festival. We are doing it on a shoestring by standing in line for stand-by and wait-list tickets and camping in our VW van at an RV park. So far, it has been great fun…except for cell coverage.

No matter what carrier folks use, they are complaining about slow network speeds, dropped calls, and inability to send texts. This isn’t unique to Sundance or Park City, Utah. Almost any time a largeRead More »Cellular coverage at big events

Rick Answers His Email – Episode 073

Walt (who paid to be first), Ed, Ryan, Les, Ezzo, Janesse, Richard, Joe, Phyliss, Robert, Amber, Diana, Dave, Randall, Jack and Eve asked about Gmail backup, XP desktop problems, recapturing space on a flash drive, file sharing, missing taskbar, trojan horse problem, freezing Vista Control Panel, generating a password, online backup, drive cloning, problems accessing a certain web site, Comodo… Read More »Rick Answers His Email – Episode 073

Yet another reason why I recommend using anything but IE

Internet Explorer has been the single largest factor in computer security problems over the past 10 years. Consumer education and awareness follows closely behind. Combined, these two factors create a security nightmare. This story outlines yet more evidence to problems stemming from Internet Explorer and its monetary effect on companies like Google. Remember that the AOL and MSN browsers use… Read More »Yet another reason why I recommend using anything but IE

Students and online apps

My high school daughter ran from the house today in a panic because she was running late and didn’t have to time to print something she needed for school. She uses a MacBook and OpenOffice, but had already shut the computer off and was out the door.

Interestingly enough, she uses and is sold on the utility and effectiveness of online apps as well. She uses both Google Docs and Zoho (which she likes better) regularly after I introduced her to them a few years ago. But this time around, she had her info on her hard drive. Had she uploaded or created the document in Zoho or Google Docs, she could have gone to school happily, sat down at any computer, logged into her account and printed the document.

Needless to say, I think she will be uploading more of her documents to Zoho or Google Docs.

I mentioned online appsRead More »Students and online apps

Thanks for my first million!

logo youtube On Sunday (1-10-10), my YouTube channel hit one million views! Sure, I wish it was my first million dollars, but it is my first million of anything.

In one of our sporadically held morning, brainstorming sessions,  Adam (co-host) mentioned that it might be a good idea to try and put some of the video tips I make on YouTube as a way to cross promote HelpMeRick.com and take the video load off of our hosting service. That morning was December 1, 2006. That evening, I created the Castellini on Computers YouTube channel (CastTV) and uploaded the first few tutorials.

Today, just over three years later, the channel now hasRead More »Thanks for my first million!

Rick Answers His Email – Episode 072

Back from a short hiatus, I answer questions today from Doris (who paid a dollar to guarantee that I answer her question and be first), Liz, Patsy, Papan, Len, Emily, and Nick. Topics, in order, were saving pictures from email, enabling javascipt, transferring data to a new laptop, computer freeze, MsMpEng.exe problem, troublesome USB flash drive, configuring AVG to scan Gmail.

Free Airport WiFi

In addition to charge exorbitant prices for checked baggage these days, many aiports have also yanked free terminal wifi. However, this holiday season, Google teamed up with Boingo and offered free wifi for selected airports around the country starting around Thanksgiving and ending in mid-January. Today, I’m flying home from one of the free hotspots in the Austin airport. Unless,… Read More »Free Airport WiFi