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Riding Shotgun with Rick

Noises that houses make

We all have a spot in our house that creeks a little when we walk on it. It might be the front porch, the fifth stair on the way to the basement, or the floorboards next to the refrigerator, but we all have them. These little creeks and moans let me know if someone is coming to the door when I ring a doorbell. Sometimes the absence of the sounds lets me know that I'm at the wrong house.

This happened to me today at my first appointment. I made a quick check on the address in my trusty Treo, and my mind registered that the address was 2226. I cheerfully walked up to the door, rang the door bell and waited about two minutes. No answer. No noises. I waited another thirty seconds or so and rang the door bell again (I could hear it chiming through the door). Still no answer. Still no house noise. I waited another few moments, and decided to check the address one more time on my Treo. "Darn it!!", I muttered out loud. The address was not 2226, it was 2226 1/2!!

Time heals many wounds

Especially computer wounds.

I don't have a three ring binder full of policies for my business, but one policy I do have is that I don't answer my phone when I'm working with a customer. The companion to that policy is that I ALWAYS return my calls. Because I book a pretty tight day, I check my messages and return calls while in transit between clients which usually amounts to no more than 15 or so minutes of phone calls.

I return calls in the order I receive them which leads to some calls getting returned up to four or five hours after they were left. A significant (maybe 30-40%) of those calls have their problems resolved by the time I call. Why? Two reasons by my estimation and query: the user relaxes a little and finds the button, menu, or misssing file or they restart the computer.

These are two methods we teach in our Computer Troubleshooting class…which we will be teaching again soon so keep an eye on the site. I love when these problems get solved this way because I feel like my mission of giving computer users fishing poles instead of fish is working.

“I thought you would be much older”

I get this funny comment at many of my new client appointments. Actually, just the new client appointments who figure out that I'm not a rich talk show host who lives in Bermuda during the week. The conversation usually starts with, "We listen to your show all the time and really enjoy it". Then they hit with me, "I sure thought you would be a lot older." I never know quite how to respond to that statement. Earlier this year I turned forty and still think of myself as young (despite the drastically decreased volume of hair on my head).

In the long run, I do take it the comment as a compliment. Adam and I are proud of our web site and the radio show. We work hard to make it as professional as we can while still working full-time. I'm a firm believer that if we continue to work hard we will attract more and more listeners and maybe someday be able to concentrate full time on the show and make it and the web site even more useful and relevant than it is now.

RIGHT Click can save you time

I still get amazed at how many computer users don't understand the RIGHT click or are afraid to use it. The RIGHT click button has one primary function: instantly pop up a relevant menu of options. Don't read any more into its function than that. After you RIGHT click on a file, picture, the desktop, an email or Internet page, in a word processing document or anywhere, you switch directly back to the left mouse button.

When we instruct a caller on the show or if I'm teaching a customer how to RIGHT click, the very next question we always get is, "do I RIGHT click again?" Keep in mind that the RIGHT click has the one basic function of invoking a relevant menu for the task you are currently working with and you interact with that menu and all subsequent steps with your normal left click.

Lots of new computers

The past couple of weeks I have helped many computer users setup new systems they had purchased. I have seen everything from laptops to some pretty pricey desktops. I think the low prices are fueling the new purchases. I think the prices will remain low through the end of the year and into early next year. LCD flat panel monitors are getting ridiculously cheap, memory appears to be plentiful and inexpensive and the upcoming (no one knows for sure when) release of Windows Vista all are contributors to the lower system prices.

One other trend in the PC market is the up-sale. Sales people want to sell you the $100 system upgrade, the most expensive and ineffective security software, and of course extended warranties. Don't fall prey to these taunts…grab the cheap PC's, send in your rebate forms and walk away from the deal…otherwise it will be a deal no longer. Once you get the computer home, read our tip on how to setup a new computer HelpMeRick.com style. You will have a little extra money in your pocket and a great system to pull you through for years to come.

Transferring LP’s and Cassettes to CD

One of my customer's today was using an older Windows 98 machine to try and transfer LP's to her computer so she could then burn CD's. I will have some links at the end of this article for products that help perform this feat, but first I want to put into perspective the time involved:

  1. The average song is 4 minutes long. By the time you adjust levels, start and restart the song and then end the song to get it just right, you will easily spend double the time per song just to get it from the LP or cassette to the computer and saved.
  2. Because you are moving from an analog to a digital format, certain pops, hisses and other noises will enter the equation. Many of the products that I will link up offer software solutions to help 'clean up' the artifacts. On average, it will take approximately 50-70% of the total time of the song to complete this process. 
  3. You will need to convert the file from the .wav format to .mp3 to save space on your hard drive. This takes approximately 25-30% of the total time of the song.
  4. Lastly, you need to finally compile and burn the CD's. Plan on about 25-30% of the time per song to complete this step.

Taking these four factors into consideration, if you have a four minute song, it will take about 16-20 minutes to complete the process. Multiply this by the number of songs you have and the time investment is HUGE. Yes it is possible, but don't be surprised at the time involved. Factors that will decrease (or increase) this time include:

  • Processor speed of your computer
  • Available RAM (the more the better)
  • Free hard drive space
  • Your knowledge of the process and the products. 

All that being said, here are some products to consider when deciding to transfer your old 8-tracks, LP's, and cassettes to CD:

Minimum Requirements

When buying new computer hardware or software it is imperative that you read the side of the box at the minimum requirements. Some products will even offer recommended requirements above the minimum requirements. The truth is that a vast majority of products (software and hardware) are designed to run on the latest hardware and operating system (Windows XP).

Minimum requirements that say the newest photo printers or games will run on a Pentium II machine running Windows 98 are put there to simply sell products. Yes, they may run after hours and hours of getting the installation right, but they will slow your computer down to a crawl and cause other programs to have errors as well. If you are using older hardware/software, stay with older versions of printers, scanners and other hardware and software to keep your frustration levels down and your computer running well.

DON’T WAIT!!

A few times this past couple of weeks I have been approached about whether to wait and buy a computer next year with Windows Vista or get one now. I'm firmly in the camp that Vista is not so special that if you are in need of a new computer, go ahead and get it. Worse case scenario is that if Widows Vista turns out to be a blockbuster must have (which I doubt), any new computer will be capable of running it. I'm even hearing rumblings that some of the Vista upgrades my be downloadable…which furthers my case of how uninteresting this release of Windows may be.

IF, however, you are getting along just fine and can wait until summer or winter 2007 or even spring '08 for a new computer, sit tight and see where the chips fall then.  

Starting online accounts

Sometimes what I think might be an intuitive function turns out to be not as obvious to many computer users. One customer I worked with today hoped to create an online portfolio to track stocks. After arriving at the site, no matter what username and password combination she tried, it wouldn't work. When I asked if she had registered or signed up with the site, she responded "no". 

After looking around at many financial and other other sites, the username and password boxes are prominent and the sign up or register links aren't nearly as obvious. A user is easily lured into thinking that by simply thinking of a username or password and clicking sign in. However, you always need to sign up or register with the site first. Think of a unique username (some sites require you to use your email address as your username) and a password (try not to use the same password on all sites). Then click the register or sign up link and fill out the required form. Some sites require an additional verification step where the site will send you an email with a link that you click to verify your registration.