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Castellini on Computers Free Weekly
Email Newsletter
January 23, 2008
Hear
(and see) our show LIVE
Every Thursday night at 9:30 PM MST
or
Visit HelpMeRick.com ANY time to download or hear
any of our shows.
Spelling and
punctuation guaranteed to be at least 78 percent accurate
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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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This is the "late" edition of our weekly newsletter. It doesn't mean that it is necessarily better...just aged.
January
is off to a great start on the Thursday night show. Last week we
had dozens of great questions and the chatroom was lively during the
show. Remember that you can listen to the podcasts of the show at ANY
time that is convenient to you by visiting our site and clicking the
PODCASTS option at the top of the screen...it's free and easy.
Tune in this week for more great computer news and information. |
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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 and 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
Backup...yes, again
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I'm late in writing my daily Shotgun
report because I have four computers sitting in my office in various
forms of failure. Fortunately, at some expense to the owners, I was
able to extract some valuable data from two of the machines. The other
two machines didn't fair as well and nothing was salvageable.
Today's lesson? BACKUP!!!!!!!
I just searched HelpMeRick.com and found no less than 15 articles and tips directly related to
backing up your valuable data. In today's computing world, backing up
your data takes less time and money than ever before. And since our
computers hold so much valuable data for us today, backing up your data
should be paramount for all of us to avoid the catastrophe that can and
usually does hit all of us with these imperfect machines.
Currently, I use an external hard drive for my automatic daily backup,
but I burn those files to DVD's once per month to make sure they don't
only live on movable, breakable media like hard drives. I set up my
daily backup over a year ago with the easy and inexpensive Second Copy backup program.
Since then, I haven't had to worry about that part of my backup
regime...only my monthly backups to DVD's using my DVD burning program.
This week, I plan to put together a video tip on using Second Copy
backup to add to the plethora of backup tips we have posted here for
YOU at HelpMeRick.com. Also, my goal for the first quarter of 2008 is
to test the many online backup systems and review them here as well.
Please help yourselves and use these tips to protect yourself and your
data. Also, be a good neighbor and forward our backup tips to friends
and family who also have precious digital data they need to backup.
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Geek
Speek |
Lately we have seen a lot of problems with Adobe Reader software.
Adobe Reader is a program that allows you to view special PDF documents
online where formatting is important such as tax documents, books,
magazines and instruction manuals.
While Adobe created the PDF format, their reader software has become
sluggish and the massive file size takes a long time to download.
There are several Adobe Reader alternatives out there; our favorite is Foxit Reader.
Like Adobe Reader it is a free download and it works great. It also
gives you options that Adobe usually doesn't such as saving the PDF
rather than opening it right away.
If you install Foxit Reader you can uninstall all of the Adobe Reader
versions that you have installed on your computer and your computer
will thank you for it.
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FOXIT READER
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Computer
News...and comment
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Dell announces more Ubuntu laptops
Dell announced this week that they will be releasing a new line of
Ubuntu-based laptops under the XPS 1330 series name. They will features
Ubuntu 7.10.
The systems will go on sale in France, Germany, Spain and the UK next week and the US will get theirs a few weeks later.
The move to XPS systems is a good sign of the success of the Ubuntu
systems. Dell's XPS systems are typically higher end systems.
World of Warcraft reaches 10 million subscribers
World of Warcraft looks like most games the kids are playing today, the
difference is that most of the other characters in the game are other
humans playing the game over the Internet.
Players can work together or against each other on missions and each
success makes their character stronger and more valuable in the game.
World of Warcraft costs between $13-$15 per month to play.
This week World of Warcraft designer, Blizzard, announced that they service/game has reached 10 million subscribers.
Maybe we should make a HelpMeRick.com fantasy tech support game.
Internet Explorer 7 coming as a mandatory upgrade
Tuesday February 12, will be Internet Explorer 6's last day on Earth - or close to it.
On that day, Microsoft will begin including Internet Explorer 7 in
their mandatory upgrades. Until now businesses and individuals had an
option of preventing the IE7 update. Now, Microsoft says that they must
include it as a mandatory update for security reasons.
We say for even better security, don't use Internet Explorer at all and use Mozilla Firefox instead. |
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Poll
Results
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What kind of memory does your digital camera use?
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Next
week's poll:
Who's more valuable to you? Your computer guy, mechanic, plumber, accountant, butler, or doctor
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Floppy Disk
4%
SD Card
60%
Compact Flash
11%
Memory stick (only in Sony cameras)
3%
xD Card
12%
I'm not sure
5%
I don't own a digital camera.
5% |
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Adam's Comments
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Here
are ten things that listeners to our show and visitors to HelpMeRick.com never have to ask because the topic is covered at least
a dozen times on the site.
1. I have a flash drive, I just don't know how to use it.
2. I don't have any backup of my files.
3. What program should I use to get my pictures out of my digital camera and into my computer?
4. What is msconfig?
5. I have heard of Cut and Paste, but I don't know what it means or how to do it.
6. Should I turn my computer off or leave it on all the time?
7. What is the best way for me to backup my files?
8. What registry cleaner should I use?
9. Why don't you guys like Windows Vista/Norton Antivirus/AOL?
10. Should I let my kid fix my computer?
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Email of the week
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Hello
Rick,
I have an older HP computer that I want to donate. How do I remove the personal data on the
computer, i.e. Quicken info, personal letters, etc. If I delete the personal data is the original
program still on the hard drive.
Norma
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Hello Norma,
Great
question! In this day and age of identity thefts and garbage diving, I
think it is best to approach giving away a computer in one of two ways
to protect personal information that resided on the system:
1.
The BEST and most fool-proof way to avoid your information getting
into the wrong hands is opening up the system and physically removing
the hard drive. Then take the hard drive outside and destroy it in a
way that is most meaningful and cathartic to you (sledge hammer,
repeatedly throw it on the pavement from a six foot ladder, or shoot at
it from a distance of at least 50 yards). This insures that your
personal data is never salvageable and the computer is still perfectly
useful for someone who can just buy a new hard drive and slip it into
the computer. 2. If step 1 doesn't appeal to you
AND your computer comes with restore CD's, use them to do a destructive
restoration which erases all your data and restores the system to its
factory defaults. Good luck.
Rick
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Castellini
on Computers & HelpMeRick.com ©2008
Rick Castellini and Adam Cochran
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