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Troubleshoot Hardware Problems Using the Device Manager – Video Tip

Starting with Windows 95 all the way through today’s Windows Vista, Microsoft supplied computer users with a great tool listing the different hardware devices attached to and residing in our computers. This tool is called the Device Manager.

Today’s tip focuses on how to use the Device Manager to troubleshoot a video card, sound card or other internal hardware problem. If you suddenly lose sound or your monitor’s picture lacks the quality it had before, or you can’t connect your high speed modem to your computer, this tip will solve the problem a high percentage of the time.

1. RIGHT Click on My Computer from your desktop or Start menu (XP & Vista)

2. Click Properties (or use the Windows key + Pause/Break key to replace these two steps)

3. Click Device Manager (Windows 95-Me, Vista). or in WindowsVista Click the Hardware tab –> then click Device Manager (XP)

4. Click the “+” sign next to the device having the problem

5. RIGHT Click the device itself

6. Click Remove (Windows 95-Me) or Uninstall (XP & Vista)

7. Close any open screens and shut down your computer (don’t just restart, shut it all the way off)

8. When Windows restarts, it should re-recognize your hardware and function properly again.

 If these steps don’t work, then you get some extra computer help.

Watch the short (2 minutes) video below to see these steps in action!

 

Save pictures from email – Video Tip

It’s been almost one year since I first posted this tip. We have many new visitors this year, and not enough of you are heading my advice yet on this subject, so I’m posting it again. Please believe me when I tell you that this tip alone can save you countless dollars, time, and tears!

Through my travels, I have noticed that many computer users save emails with pictures because they are unsure of how to save those pictures. Saving lots of pictures in your email program can drastically slow down the performance of the email program over time. Email programs typically can handle thousands of messages, but if something happens to the email database, and you haven't backed up those databases, the pictures will be gone for good. Your best insurance for saving pictures is to save them to a folder on your computer (like My Pictures or a subfolder of My Pictures) then back them up on a regular basis.

To save pictures from your email to a folder on your hard drive, do the following:

Outlook Express

1. Click the paper clip icon in the preview pane*
2. Click Save Attachments
3. In the "Save To" box at the bottom of the dialog box that pops up, click Browse and choose where YOU want to save the pictures and click OK
4. Click Save

* If you read your Outlook Express email in its own window, then RIGHT Click on the

Where to buy a book manual for your computer

“Why didn’t my computer come with a manual?”

One of the most common complaints we hear is about how new computers don’t come with manuals. I am here to explain why this is the case.

The sad answer is that if the computer company came with a manual, it would weigh more than the computer.

“But my old computers used to come with manuals…,” Is the next comment.

Back in the old days of computers there weren’t many uses. You would use computers for word processing, finances, Internet and email. In each case there were only a handful of options.

Always check the cables

Two customer visits this week took less than 10 minutes after I arrived on the scene. When printers, speakers, keyboards, mice, etc stop working and I get a call, the first thing I ask is whether the cables/cords are all plugged in correctly or at all. About 50% of the time, I’m told either “yes they are” or “I don’t know how to check them and want you to do it.” I show up and check the cables, attach them securely to their correct spots and then everything works.

The next time you lose sound, can’t print, lose your keyboard or mouse function follow these steps to save you lots of time, frustration, and money:

Brain transplant

If I could impart one aspect of my computer knowledge to everyone who uses a computer, it would be the ability to understand file management.

File management, in the computer world, means how information (files) are stored and utilized on a computer system. Understanding file management, means understanding:

Is anyone out there?

There is no doubt in my mind that our site has the most relevant and easy to understand computer information for the average and beginner computer user. Unfortunately, the average computer user doesn’t know how to browse the web well and has trouble finding the information they need to know.

Search engines are confusing. Searching a web site is even more baffling. These computer users do well when they have a recipe of what to do in front of them or can watch someone else perform the steps.

Enter the above average computer user…YOU!

We desperately need your help in spreading the word about HelpMeRick.com Your neighbors look to you for help and computer advice. Your co-workers look to you when they need to find a lost file. And of course your family knows that you know the answer to their latest computer dilemma.

Unofficially, YOU provide tech support for a multitude of computer users. Those computer users you help need to be visiting HelpMeRick.com to help get answers to their questions and to improve their computer knowlege. You can help them get the computer education they need by using the thousands of answers we provide here at the site.

Send your tech support charges links via email to the exact answer to their question at HelpMeRick.com. No reason for you to have reinvent the wheel.

  • Grandma needs to know how to send an email attachment. Send her here.
  • Dan across the hall from you at the office would like to know how to organize his photos easier and then email them. Send him here and here.
  • Your neighbor, McElroy, is supplying free Internet to the neighborhood, unintentionally of course, but can’t get his kid’s computers to print to his printer. Send him here.
  • Your sister-in-law called and said that there computer is so slow that the household is almost at full mutiny. Print out the tips found here and mail them to her because her computer is so hosed that the Internet connection is unusable.

Get the picture? Help us, help you. Help us, help your friends.

Then tell your friends to visit HelpMeRick.com often so they don’t get in these messes to begin with or can learn new skills that make them more productive computer users.

And finally, let them know that they also should send their friends, family, and co-workers to HelpMeRick.com for education and computer help. Knowledge is power, and powerful computer knowledge can be found right here.

Wacom Bamboo – an excellent artist’s tool



A Wacom tablet is a tool used by artists to design work on the computer using a natural pen and paper motion.

The tablet is hard and flat and the stylus that you draw with looks like a pen. The Wacom tablet is pressure sensitive providing the ability to draw thicker or heavier lines depending on the amount of pressure that you apply while drawing.

The stylus has a pen tip end and an “eraser” end. As you draw and design you can erase your mistakes by turning the stylus over and erasing with the other end as you would with a pencil.

Wacom has recently released the Bamboo. Although cheaper than previous models, the Bamboo is everything that most artists want in a tablet.

Fun with Cameroon Pet Scams

I really love English Bulldogs. Recently I became aware of a common pet scam that is based on every other over seas Internet scam. Someone from Cameroon posts a desired breed up for a ridiculously low price. He/she asks for money plus shipping. You never get the dog. Here is my recent correspondence with one such scammer. I have resorted… Read More »Fun with Cameroon Pet Scams

Do you remember your password for…?

If you do any online shopping and/or banking, user name and passwords have infiltrated your life. Many of my customers can easily knock one-half hour or more off their bill if they kept track of their passwords. I get many blank stares when I'm troubleshooting a machine and need to log into an Internet service or web site and I ask the customer for their password. Often times I receive the classic, "I don't have a password."

Everyone has a password for email, their bank, any other online service you might sign up for be it banking or a community forum.