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Castellini on Computers FREE Weekly Email NEWSLETTER
September 5, 2007
HEAR
(AND SEE) OUR SHOW LIVE
EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT AT 9:30PM MST
AND/OR
VISIT HELPMERICK.COM ANY TIME TO DOWNLOAD OR
HEAR THE SHOW ANYTIME!!
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In this week's issue. . .
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***
TIP
OF THE WEEK
*** GEEK
SPEEK OF THE WEEK - (Simple definition of common computer terms)
*** COMPUTER
NEWS...and comment
*** LAST
WEEK'S POLL RESULTS
*** ADAM'S
COMMENTS - Stuff from the digital world that is rolling around in Adam's head.
*** Email of the week
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Each
week more people tune into our show. For those of you who haven't had a
chance to checkout the new show, here are simple instructions on how it
works:
1. At 9:30pm MST (or a little earlier) visit www.HelpMeRick.com.
2. A small video will appear in the upper left corner. Double-click on it.
3. The video and a chat box will open up in a new window.
4. Type in a chat name (it doesn't have to be your real name) and enter the
room. 5. You can still listen to the show if you don't sign in, but then you can't interact with us and the other listeners.
At this point you can watch the video and hear the audio of our program.
Tuning in on Thursday nights is the only way you can get the video, audio and
chat from from each episode.
9:30pm MST late, but it's worth it. We
know it's late and we know that Saturday afternoons aren't always
convenient, but that's why we offer the podcast ANY time you want to
visit HelpMeRick.com |
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Email your questions to us
and we will answer them live on the air or on our daily website updates!
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CUSTOM COMPUTER HELP FROM RICK & ADAM
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We
have been posting a new how-to video every week since November and the
feedback has been tremendous. Now YOU have the opportunity to get your own
customized video tutorial about a topic that you are having trouble with or
just want to learn.
To learn more, visit: www.HelpMeRick.com/videohelp
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TIP OF THE WEEK
Print Anything You See on Your Screen
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CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO TIP
Many times a computer user may need the ability to print what they see on
the screen, but can't access a Print command. Using the underutilized
Print Screen button on the keyboard can rectify this situation.
The Print Screen button is usually located just to the right of your F
keys and above the Insert, Home, Delete key section.
In the ol' days of DOS, pushing this button would indeed send a paper
flying out of your printer with the contents of your screen printed on
it. Today, however, when you push the button, nothing appears
to happen. Appearance is not as it always seems...your computer takes a
'snap shot' of whatever is currently visible on the screen and stores it in
the Windows Clipboard when you press the Print Screen button.
To access this 'snap shot':
1.
Open your favorite word processor (if you are
using Word, sometimes it needs to be open before you hit the Print Screen
button). WordPad works great for this tips.
2.
Click Edit from the menus
3.
Click Paste from the menus
4.
Now print as you normally would via File
--> Print from the menus.
If you only want to print out part of the screen, you can either
crop it in your word processing program (if the program supports that
function) OR you can paste your screen shot in an image editing program or
even Microsoft Paint to further modify the screen snap shot.
Go on, give it a try. You are sure to find a use for this
interesting and useful tip. Believe it or not, this function has been built
into all versions of Microsoft Windows since 1995!
TIP WITHIN A TIP: Push the Alt key plus Print
Screen to capture just the 'active window'. For example an error message box
or a dialog box.
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GEEK SPEEK
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No,
we aren't being politically incorrect. Gimp is a great free image editing
program comparable in most ways to Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paint Shop Pro.
You can download it for Mac, PC, Linux and Unix from www.Gimp.org.
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GIMP
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COMPUTER
NEWS...and comment
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PALM NEWS
Palm must be listening. We love Palm devices, they are everything a
non-gaming handheld computing platform should be. But, Palm has always seemed
to struggle with it's identity.
Constantly in a tug-o-war between ease of use and competing with the
clunky Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm hasn't been able to find its
place in the market.
We have had the answer all along. Create an inexpensive PDA that is the
essence of Palm and price it competitively.
A few months ago, Palm announced the Foleo - a product that was the exact
opposite of everything Palm should be doing. It was a 10" laptop that
was limited in space, functionality and use, but it was priced at $600 before
a $100 rebate (why bother).
Over the past two weeks Palm has demonstrated that they may be listening to
their user's cries. First, they announced the Centro a smaller and cheaper
version of the Treo reportedly priced at $99 with a contract.
This week they really proved themselves by canceling the Foleo. The market
reacted with Palm's shares closing up by 12 cents.
OFFICE 2007 NEWS
The International Standards Organization denied Microsoft Office 2007 status
as an official standard. In other words, it is officially considered a,
"doesn't play well with others," proprietary format.
The move will also limit adoption of Office 2007 and Vista by businesses around
the world.
EMAIL NEWS
Eudora is one of the oldest email programs still being used. This week Eudora
quietly transformed from a product of Qualcomm to an open source project
under the Mozilla Thunderbird umbrella.
While the current version of Eudora (8) is little more than a tweaked
version of Thunderbird, the Thunderbird folks intend to merge the best of
both products into a solid competitor of Outlook Express and other email
clients.
DVD 3.0 NEWS
Have you committed to Blu-Ray or HD DVD yet? Well wait no longer. Rush
out to the store right now and commit to one or the other. If you don't you may
miss DVD 2.0 altogether and have to wait for DVD 3.0.
Mempile announced this week (What!? You've never heard of Mempile?) that
they have developed a new optical disk technology capable of 600GB to 1TB
(that's terabyte or 1,000GB on a single disk).
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POLL Results
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Do you spell
check your email?
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Next week's poll:
How much did you pay for your first computer?
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Yes
75%
No
25%
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ADAM'S COMMENTS
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It
is time for another episode of "What it's like to be a computer
guy!"
Disclaimer: The following account is a generalization and does not reflect
any specific person or problem. This account is not intended to embarrass or
upset anyone, it is simply intended to be a look into the world of what it is
actually like to be a computer guy.
I am running about 20 minutes late to my next appointment. I called 15
minutes ago and said I would be five minutes late.
As I get into my car I decided to use the time between appointments to check
my messages.
"You have six new messages... Message 1. 'Hi this is ________________
and I can't get anything to print..."
Sounds like something simple that I can diagnose over the phone on the way.
"Press 8 to return this call..."
I press 8.
"We're sorry this party does not accept unidentified calls, please hang
up, enable caller ID and try again."
This should be quick so I pull over and write the number down and dial. I get
back on the road as the phone rings.
"Hello..."
Hi This is Adam the computer guy. You called and said you can't print
anything. Have solved the problem yet?
"No."
Do you have a quick second to write down some instructions?
At this point I am almost to my appointment.
"Just a second I need to get a pen."
Short pause.
"OK, I'm back."
OK, write this down: First, you will need to turn off your computer and your
printer.
"OK, just a second..."
No! just write the steps down.... Hello? hello?
"OK, I'm back. It's shutting down."
Good. Now, I'm getting ready to go into an appointment so just write these
steps down and I will call you back to see if it worked when I
get done with my appointment.
"OK, it's off now what?"
Alright, now write this down. Step 2. unplug the cable that connects the
printer to the computer.
"My computer doesn't have one."
Yes it does.
"No, I've never used it."
Have you printed before?
"Yes, it was printing just fine yesterday."
What did you print?:
"Some email's that my daughter sent me."
OK, then there is definitely a cable connecting your printer to your
computer. Do you want to just schedule a time for me to come by? I figured
this would go quick but your computer might have some other problems.
"Oh! There's the cable."
Good. Now write this down. You are going to unplug that cable.
"OK, just a second *clunk*..."
No just write this down.... Hello? hello? (2 minutes goes by)
"OK it's disconnected, now what?"
OK, I have to go into my next appointment so just write this down. Step
3.Turn your computer and printer back on.
"OK, just a second I need to find the buttons..."
This goes on for 12 minutes. In the end the problem isn't fixed, I am half an
hour late to an appointment and absolutely no notes were taken. And the last
sentence before we say goodbye is often the same...
"It didn't work. Now, tell me what we did so I can try it again before I
have you come out for an appointment..."
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EMAIL
OF THE WEEK
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Rick,
I
recently purchased a Cannon Powershot 710. I need to organize photos
into books, folders, or whatever. I find I have two choices to do that
- AOL My Picture Finder or Cannon's ZoomBrowser EX Windows. Which
program should I use that is after I figure how to do it?
Thanks. Theresa ----------------------------------------------------- Hello Theresa, I
would suggest that you don't use EITHER of the programs you listed.
Instead, go to www.picasa.com and download their free photo organizer
(a Google company). The program is fast, works great and has many
built-in features to make your digital photo life just a little easier.
You can learn all about the Picasa program by searching our web site
(HelpMeRick.com) for picasa. We have three or four video tips that can
get you up and running fast with this great little tool. Thanks for writing!
Rick
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Castellini
on Computers & HelpMeRick.com ©2007
Rick Castellini and Adam Cochran
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