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Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 022

Questions about converting to Firefox, malfunctioning keyboards, Wordpress consulting, Norton 360 problems, video editing, the Magic Jack phone, and more are brought to you by Dixie, Kitty, Jill, Anne, Diane, Elaine, Amber, Norma, Rich and Mike! Have a look!!

Change your Bullets – Video Tip

Bullets, in Microsoft Word and other word processors, allow users to bring attention to a list of items as seen here:

  • Bullets are fun
  • Bullets are customizable
  • Bullets make documents easier to read

Unlike my boring ‘dot’ bullets above, you can use this week’s tip to customize your Microsoft Word bullets to suit your style and document’s purpose.

First, to create a bulleted list follow these steps:

How can I increase traffic to my site?

You can lead a horse to waterWhat a week! For some reason, my scheduling went a little awry this week and made for some long days. In addition to my scheduling problems, however, I could have saved a ton of time (thus the 3 day hiatus of new posts) and my clients could have saved a lot of money if they were more diligent about backing up their data and keeping track of passwords and software.

This web site is exactly the same age as my business…almost 13 years old. In those thirteen years, I can emphatically claim that customers who read my site daily and follow the advice and tips have far less problems and trouble with their computers than those who never visit. And when regular readers of HelpMeRick.com do need an on site consultation from me, they rarely last longer than an hour and usually involve more instruction that troubleshooting. After building this site for 13 years and adding to it almost daily, I can answer at least eighty percent of the most common computer questions with articles found right here at HelpMeRick.com.

I pose the question to you, the faithful HelpMeRick.com visitor: What can

Treo, what Treo?

iPhone 3G Screen ShotAfter two solid months of using my iPhone 3G, I decided it was time for a short update. As many of you know, I used a Palm device for many years, ending with the Treo from 2003 through this August. When the first iPhone came out, I was intrigued, but thought Apple missed the boat, for me, by not utilizing the fastest cellular data network and not allowing 3rd party applications. When they announced the new iPhone last January and finally released it this summer, they had added the fast cellular network service and opened the system for third party development. It caught my attention in a big way this as it has 7 million other new iPhone 3G owners since its release in July.

Overall, the iPhone has performed wonderfully and with the exception of no cut, copy and paste (when Apple?  when?) it has performed admirably. I have been able to duplicate all the functions I used the Treo for, and added many new capabilities. I use the phone the most…after all, it is a cell phone. The visual voice mail system that lets you pick which message to listen to first or have the ability to visually pause, rewind or fast forward voice mail is stunningly implemented and makes managing voice mail much easier.

For extra applications, I settled on SplashID to manage my passwords, Grocery Zen to create shopping lists (I get through the store in at least 25% less time now), Now Playing to look up movie times, Pandora for listening to music (don’t have much time to do this, but it works well), Woot On! to check the daily Woot, but especially helpful when there is a Woot Off, WeDict for a dictionary, Wikipanion for great mobile access to Wikipedia, SportsTap keeps me up to date on sports I follow, Units application for converting volume, length, weight, etc. I also downloaded and occasionally use Word Warp, Sudoku, Tris (tetris clone), reMovem, and Blocks Classic for quick games. For future travel, I downloaded the mobile versions of Yelp and Hotels.com.

The built-in email application works well, and I use it daily in addition to browsing the web. The iPhone truly has exceeded

You can do what I do

Smart RabbitI love learning. My goal is to learn something new every single day I open my eyes. Luckily, I learn multiple new ideas, techniques, or facts every single day. When it comes to my job troubleshooting computers, I believe anyone can do it if they follow the formula I use.

  1. You need to be able to be able to learn and learn quickly. Computers, software, peripherals and the infinite combinations of them change at a rapid pace. Learning to be flexible and adaptable is a must.
  2. Remember and/or document solutions that you discover so you can use them again. 
  3. Work with as many different computers and situations as possible. Every computer is different than the next because of the way they are configured, what software is installed, whether the software has been updated, what security packages are installed, and more make every computer a unique challenge. The more of them you work with, the better your foundation becomes for the next one.
  4. Read as many online troubleshooting blogs, tech newsletters, support pages, and magazines as you can possibly digest. And again, document and/or remember the information that you deem the most helpful or applicable to everyday computer users.
  5. Hone your Internet searching skills (I use Google almost exclusively) so you can quickly find answers to problems you may have not yet encountered. When I say hone your skills, I mean learn how to properly word a search phrase and re-word it if necessary. Learn how to quickly scan the results of a search for the most logical and applicable result. Learn how to use tabs in your browser to make your searches and reading even faster. Learn how to discern which possible solutions apply to your specific situation. And finally, learn how to properly implement the solution you just found.
  6. Learning to carry out a solution requires that you to learn how to safely and properly make use of tools like Windows Device Manager, the registry editor, the command prompt, task manager,  computer management tool, anti-virus, and anti-spwyare scans to name a few.
  7. Always keep track of the steps you take as you work towards a solution. By keeping track and leaving yourself some bread crumbs, you can often back track if a solution results in a dead end and you need to star over.
  8. And most importantly, follow Harry Callahan’s (Clint Eastwood) advice, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Computer problems can eat up more time than a late night infomercial. Know when to walk away and re-evaluate a situation.

I’ve laid out most of the steps and techniques I use every day to solve computer problems. Feel free to use them and develop your own skills. When you decide that you need more help, follow Callahan’s advice and then call in the professionals.

Choose how many recently opened files show in Microsoft Office

Office 2003 OptionsIn almost any program where you can create, save, and edit documents, clicking the File menu (or the Office orb in Office 2007) shows a list of your most recently used documents for that program. With Microsoft Office, you can control exactly how many recent documents are shown.

With Microsoft Office 2003 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) and all versions prior, you control this option by following these steps in any of the applications:

  1. Click Tools –> Options
  2. Click the General tab
  3. Under the Recently used file list option, enter a number between 0-9
  4. Click OK

 

Office 2007 Options

 

 

With Microsoft Office 2007 options, follow these steps to control how many recently used files show:

  1. Click the Office orb icon in the upper left of your screen
  2. Click Word (or Excel or PowerPoint) options at the bottom of the menu
  3. Click Advanced
  4. Scroll down under the Display category and enter a number between 0-50 in the Show this number of recent documents box
  5. Click OK

 

Can your email be read like Sarah Palin’s?

Sarah PalinNot likely. In the Sarah Palin case, her Yahoo email account was not hacked…her password was hacked. That means the hackers guessed Sarah Palin’s password (maybe it was hockeymom). Seriously, it could have been that easy. More likely, however, the hackers used sophisticated programs that were used to crack the password.

The number one defense you possess to safeguard your email, bank account, or any other online account is a strong password.

  • A strong password contains a mix of upper and lower case letters, numerals, and special characters like (# @ ! * & _ – + ).
  • Never use the same password for all your accounts.
  • Never use words that can be found in a dictionary (these are the easiest to hack)
  • Change your important account passwords often.

I know, I know…”It’s too hard to remember.”. Write it down! No one said you have to memorize it. Write it down, but keep it in safe place and don’t forget where you put it. OR, you can use any number of password manager programs. Read my Password Mania tip for more info.

If you aren’t running for Vice President of the free world, you automatically reduce your chances of being hacked by almost 1 billion times. But, don’t get lazy and leave your account information open to the chance of being hacked.

Simple wireless password security

Thankfully, more and more home computer users are securing their wireless networks. Most newer wireless routers offer to automate the whole process which works pretty well. However, if you are wanting a little more control, I recommend the following advice for setting up a wireless router:

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 011

If your name is Mel, Jim, Barbara, Happy, Sandie, Buddy, Larry, or David and a few others…your email answer is here! Their questions ranged from hard drive data retrieval to Macintosh password management to AVG and many other questions as well…tune in by clicking play!!

My pick for the best technology currently available

Editors note:  Of course, I’m going to exempt smartphones (my current favorite is the iPhone 3G) because these are necessary to 21st century living.

TiVo logoNext to the smartphone, my vote for best technology currently available is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). A DVR replaces the venerable VHS recorder for recording television programming. DVR’s use hard drives to record the programming digitally and require about a tenth of the knowledge necessary to program a VCR. The hard drives can record from 40 HD hours to almost 200 hours of programming. With DVR’s, there is never a tape to change or rewind, and the quality of the recording is flawless no matter how many times you watch it.

Another plus with DVR’s is their advanced fast forward feature. All DVR’s have a skip button on the remote that skips 30-60 seconds in one push. Does that time period sound familiar? Yes, it’s the length of a commercial. When watching a sitcom, most commercial breaks last about 3 to 4 minutes…a few quick presses of the DVR’s skip button and you are watching the next segment. A 30 minute program can be finished in about 19 minutes…I’ll take 11 minutes wherever I can get them. And a one hour crime drama can be over in about 40 minutes!

Sorry Oprah and Dr. Phil fans, daytime talk shows cannot be recorded with a DVR.*

Right now my family is recording nearly 18 hours of Olympic programming every day, but we can watch all that in about 4 hours or so by using the variable speed of the DVR’s fast forward feature. Very helpful to skip through boring soccer matches or 50 KM race walking at 300X speed. But because the recordings are digital, you can actually keep track of the action and