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Windows

What version do I have?

One of the first questions tech support people will ask you if you have problems that need solved is what version of Windows you are using and what version of the program you have a question about you are using. Fortunately, finding out the answer takes just a few steps:

Locating your Windows version

  1. Click Start
  2. RIGHT Click the My Computer icon (or Computer icon)
  3. Click Properties
  4. The System Properties screen appears telling you not only what version of Windows you are using, but also how much RAM (temporary memory) you have and how fast your computer’s processor is. 

or, you can push the Windows key + the Pause/Break key on your keyboard to get the same screen  

Locating the name and version of any program

  1. Start any program
  2. Click Help from the menus in that program
  3. Click About
  4. The program’s information screen will appear telling you the official name of the program, its version number, and sometimes the programs support web site address and/or phone number.

Use this handy tip to gather important information about your computer before calling for help to save yourself and your computer helper time.

 

Yet another feature yanked from the NEW Microsoft Office 2007

While working with a small business client today, they asked how to insert a picture into a Word document from their scanner. “Oh, that’s an easy one”, I said to myself. Then I realized they were using the new Office 2007.

In all previous versions of Microsoft Word and other word processor worth their weight, you follow these steps to insert a picture from

AVG Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade Advice

The past few days calls and emails started filtering in about the new AVG 8.0 version folks have seen appear on their free versions of AVG Antivirus. The common query is, “Should I upgrade?” No, home users of AVG Antvirus do not need to upgrade at all. The current free version of AVG will continue to be updated and as… Read More »AVG Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade Advice

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.

Your hard drive is meant to hold stuff

Every week I’m out making my rounds, I hear this expression; “My computer is really slow it must have too much stuff in it and needs to be cleaned out.”

Your computer can never have have too much “stuff.” Your hard drive is designed to hold tens of thousands of documents, pictures, music and more. The number of files you store on your computer has next to nothing to do with your perceived speed of the computer.

Computer speed directly relates to how much RAM (temporary memory, not storage/hard drive memory) it has, how fast the processor is, and most importantly how clean your computer is. By clean, I’m referring to physically clean and what types of files are stored on the system.

Dude! Where’s my icons? What to do when all your desktop icons disappear

All your icons are gone off of your desktop and you can’t bring them back.

It’s an easy fix:

1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Click Arrange Icons By (or something similar depending on your version of Windows)
3. Click Show Desktop Icons

Wait a few seconds and all of your icons will come back. If they don’t you should get a Mac or Ubuntu computer.

Zonbu – Part III


This will be the fourth article I have posted about the Zonbu computer company (read previous Zonbu articles here). Since my last report, I helped setup a second Zonbu laptop and visited with my first Zonbu customer today. The second Zonbu owner bought his for his wife who enjoys mainly email and Internet and had no need for an expensive machine. He and his wife found the computer easy to operate and extremely capable for their needs.

In visiting with my original Zonbu client today, all we did was talk about basic computer learning issues…no computer or security issues. The laptop is working well and fitting her needs perfectly. She had the occasion to talk with Zonbu support on a few occasions and found them to be extremely helpful and patient.

One of the things we did today was setup an Epson printer with her laptop that she received from a friend. As many of you are painfully aware, setting up a printer in Windows can take up to 20 minutes in some cases because of the gargantuan installs the manufacturers throw at us these days. Here’s how the Zonbu printer setup went (and all Linux printer setups for that matter):

  1. Plug Printer into power outlet
  2. Turn Printer on
  3. Plug USB cable into back of printer
  4. Plug USB cable into Zonbu laptop
  5. Immediately, a screen appears asking if the printer shown was indeed the printer plugged in (and it was)
  6. Click Next
  7. Waited exactly 17 seconds for the

Slow computer? Viruses? Malware? I can help!

After almost 13 years of battling security problems on Windows machines, I’m finally seeing the light of day and recommending Mac’s and Linux for many computer users. It will be a long journey convincing people that there is life beyond Microsoft.

For those who bang away with Microsoft Windows computers,and have problems with Slow Computer Disease (SCD), pop-ups, viruses and other problems, I present the following sage advice:

I’ve learned that when it comes to spyware/adware (THE major cause of SCD), if it takes more than an hour to troubleshoot and solve, you will be WAY AHEAD of the game to:

1. Backup your data
2. Reformat the system, and resinstall Windows

I use a Mac, therefore I am

Ya, don’t ask me to elaborate too much on the title of this post, I didn’t mean anything too deep by it.

I picked up my new/old Mac that a reader gave me. It is an older system, but It does a great job. It’s a dual 867mhz G4 with a gig of RAM, 10GB hard drive and Leopard OS. While it may seem a little dated by Mac standards, it is every bit as fast as my dual core Pentium that I typically run XP on.

I haven’t used it for any digital photography stuff, but I didn’t want it for that. I wanted a mac so I could use it exclusively for a few weeks and learn how to help my Mac clients adapt to “the switch” from Windows.