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Do your parents a favor, follow through with your favors

Most of my clients are over 50 and a good portion of them are over 65. I have learned that age has nothing to with computer aptitude. Computer aptitude is determined 99 percent by computer attitude. Those who are not afraid or intimidated by their computer are the ones who learn the fastest, no matter their age, gender or religious background.

One of my primary goals with my business, with the show and with the newsletter is to convey the message that you don’t have to be a computer wiz to use a computer.

I have many clients who do nothing but email on their computers and I don’t in any way feel that they are under utilizing their computer. If your life is made easier in any way because of your computer, then you are using it for its intended purpose.

Resolving problems with PayPal

Once in a great while a person on eBay will take your money but never send you the item. This is one of the advantages to using PayPal. If the seller has a PayPal account you can file a complaint with PayPal.

To start the complaint process go to www.PayPal.com, log into your account and click on the Resolution Center.

If the person does not work with PayPal to resolve the problem then PayPal will remove the funds from the seller’s account and refund it to you. 

Don’t assume it is your problem….

If you use a high speed Internet connection, don’t assume that if you have problem accessing the Internet that it is your computer’s problem. I encountered a situation today where a customer, in an effort to save money, had problems with their DSL connection. Before calling me she:

  1. Attempted to troubleshoot the problem herself for two days by playing with the settings of her email and network
  2. Her husband intervened and did the same thing
  3. Called Qwest and spent nearly 2 hours on the phone with them
  4. Called Dell and spent another 2+ hours on the phone with them

Result? Still no Internet connection.

10 Things you can do with Broadband Internet

Thanks to lower prices and increased availability, broadband (high speed) Internet is starting to over take dial-up services in the United States. Dial-up Internet served us well for the first 10 years of the Internet, but to really take advantage of the Internet today, a broadband connection is a must.

Here are 10 things that you can do with a high speed connection today that you can’t do (as easily) with a dial-up service:

  1. Keep up to date with Windows and Internet security updates automatically
  2. Google Earth
  3. Download music (legally) at sites like Napster, iTunes, and Rhapsody
  4. Receive and make phone calls while on the Internet…without an extra line!
  5. Watch online news or information videos or listen to online music or news casts without waiting and without the choppiness and stuttering of a dial-up connection
  6. I know many people don’t think that speed matters…but with broadband, the Internet becomes much more of a resource tool than a novelty.
  7. Upload pictures to printing services to either be picked up or mailed to you.
  8. Watch movie trailers
  9. Save time…you can do four times as much research or work with a broadband connection in half the time.
  10. Make free or extremely inexpensive phone calls and video phone calls.

Admittedly, many of these functions can be carried out with a dial-up connection, but studies and my experience have shown that people don’t do these things. The reason? Time. For example, a broadband user can download a song in under 3 minutes. The same song takes nearly 25 minutes with a dial-up connection. Services like Google Earth can take up to 10 or more minutes to start with dial-up.

You have a virus, it is called Norton

I had one client today who had setup an appointment for me to get rid of a virus. Every time they turned on their computer and/or logged into their email, an error would pop up.

The error in their email was so bad that they couldn’t even read their messages.

I noticed that all of the errors were related to Symantec – the company that makes Norton.

I removed Norton and installed AVG. All of a sudden the "virus" was gone. The computer was faster and all errors were completely gone.

They said that they were going to take the money that they were saving by not upgrading Norton and apply it to a new DSL connection. I love to see people make smart decisions with their computer.

Blood relation does not equal computer expertise

A few years ago, I added two items to my list of common advice that I give.

1. Don’t let your kids fix your computer, no matter how old they are or who they work for.

2. Blood relation does not equal computer expertise.

I know that this makes me sound arrogant at times, but my first appointment this morning was a case in point.

It was a simple enough job, I was to setup a laptop and get it online. My client didn’t need any information transferred or any special tutoring, she just needed someone to tackle the initial setup with confidence.

Since this was my client’s first laptop she had consulted me a number of times about what to get and what to spend. Since Christmas, I had told her about a few good deals that were in the paper.

Know where to find your vital computer information

One of the reasons I share so much information on this web site and on our show is because I like to help people learn to save time and money. Usually if a person isn’t saving time or money, they become disgruntled and agitated.

Today, two of my clients could have saved some money and time if they had had some basic computer information available. In order to help others be more efficient and frugal, here is a list of items you want to have at the ready when you need technical help:

How to Get Better Printing Results

Better Printing Results

 

One of the only disadvantages to digital photography compared to film is the fact that you don’t automatically get a print.

If you want to share your photos with someone, hang a picture on the wall or carry one in your wallet, you must print your photos out.

There are a variety of factors to consider when printing out your photos.

How Should You Print Them?

Are these prints going to be keepsakes or are they going to be used for a homework project?

What should I back up?

Recently, you have heard me talk a great deal about flash memory drives and there usefulness for backup. One of our listeners/newsletter readers, recently asked what files are important to backup.

So, tip number one in backup is to backup only those files that you create. These include but are not limited to:

  • Financial program data (Quicken, Money, etc) 
  • Email and other address books 
  • Saved email messages
  • Important word processing documents, spreadsheets and/or databases you have created 
  • Calendar/appointment information 
  • Digital pictures (from digital cameras AND scanners) 
  • Internet favorites or bookmarks 
  • Genealogy research 
  • Downloaded programs or utilities (backup the original installation file) 

You get the picture. Anything important to you that you have created and don’t want to lose, should be backed up.

Programs (with the exception of downloaded programs as noted above), do not need to be backed up because you can rebuild them with original installation CD’s and disks.

For even more information about backup use our site search engine to search for backup for even more specifics about backing up your important data.

Simple Advice to Protect Your Computer and Your Sanity

This tip, if followed, could substantially limit the number of phone calls we get on the radio show and put a dent in my computer troubleshooting and training business. I can sum up the entire tip in one phrase you have heard me utter many times on the radio show:

"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."

 

I know ain’t isn’t a word, but if AOL can say "You’ve got mail", please allow me a little latitude.

Computers present the largest potential money and time pit ever created. Because the computer age is still very much in its infancy, the myriad of new upgrades and gadgets make it difficult too leave our machines alone. My advice to computer users every where is to take a step back and look at what you do with your computer, what you would like to do and how does it all fit.