Castellini on Computers Free Weekly Email Newsletter
March 19, 2008

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In this week's issue. . .

*** 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

We will return tomorrow from our spring break with plenty to talk about. Expect an exciting new show with lots and plot twists and mystery.

Castellini on Computers is like no other talk show. To prove it, we will go the entire show this week without mentioning Barak Obama's preacher. In fact, we will likely not mention Barak Obama at all.

You can listen to - or download - any and all of our previous shows here.

Email your questions to us and we will answer them live on the air or on our daily website updates!

Custom Computer Help from Rick and Adam

We have been posting a new how-to video every week since November 2007 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

Tip of the Week
Zoho Sheet - Video Tip

Last week, I gave you a short video tour of Zoho.com's Writer word processing application. This week the tour continues with the Sheet program (spreadsheet) from Zoho. Like the word processor program, Sheet offers all of the features that 90% of spreadsheet users need or use, including:

• Multiple sheets (workbooks)
• Charting
• Advanced calculations
• Auto formatting
• Link external data
• Online collaboration
• and much more.

Watch the short video HERE to see how far online applications from Zoho.com can take you. 

Watch the video for this tip HERE.

Geek Speek

How about a Mac term this week?

Toast is a CD/DVD burning software designed for the Mac. Roxio purchased Toast at about the same time they bought EZ CD Creator for the PC.

On the PC side there are a number of great burning titles, a few of them are even free. However Toast is one of the only versatile titles for burning disks on the Mac side.

If you are a Mac user, add Toast to your must have software list.

TOAST

Computer News...and comment

Vista SP1 began shipping this week

Microsoft announced that Vista Service Pack 1 shipped out to retailers this week as well as making the free update available on their website.

As with all past service packs, we recommend holding off on SP1 for a few weeks and let everyone else be the lab rats. There will be problems for many people and they will be catastrophic in some cases.

HelpMeRick.com team sets trends again

Apple announced this week that February Mac.com store sales were strong in February, the same month that Adam switched his personal system over the Mac. Mac store sales were up 9 percent as Apple's overall revenues rose 5 percent.

This is only the latest in a series of undeniable signs that the tech world is watching HelpMeRick.com and everyone wants to be like us.

U.S. to improve broadband coverage by changing the way they measure it

After it worked so well with the economy for almost two decades, the government has decided to try it with Internet. FCC requirements and deadlines are coming due for broadband in the U.S..

Bills signed under the Clinton administration require that broadband use and availability spread at a certain rate. As the U.S. has fallen short of these goals, the FCC has decided to fix the problem by changing how the spread of broadband in the U.S. is measured.

The new methods, strangely, make little sense and increase paperwork. The FCC argues that the new methods will provide a more accurate report on how much of the U.S. is connected to broadband.

Poll Results

Do you use anti-spam software?

Next week's poll:
How often do you change the picture on your desktop (wallpaper)?

Yes        66%

No        14%

I would like to, but don't know which one.    20%

Adam's Comments

I am officially a Mac convert. All week this week I found that I had to take a second to adjust to the Windows machines I worked on. It wasn't painful, but just took a conscious effort to switch my mind over.

I am completely convinced that the Mac is easier, faster and better in almost every way. I am also convinced that anyone who does not rely on custom software can painlessly switch from Windows to Mac.

I haven't touched Microsoft Office, Windows, or Internet Explorer on my own systems for weeks.

I am using Thunderbird for my email, Firefox for my browser, Zoho.com for my word processor, NVU as my web editor, iTunes to manage my music and Toast to burn CDs.

What's even better is what I am not doing. I am not using any antivirus software, I am not going into MSCONFIG regularly to look for problems. I am not avoiding emails that might have malicious attachments. In fact, I have even intentionally opened certain spam messages that likely had viruses/spyware attached, just so I could enjoy the fact that I wasn't running Windows.

I still don't like the price of the Mac, but perhaps all of the positives are worth the added cost. I just wish they were a little more competitively priced. However, if you have the money and you are in the market for a new system, don't fear the Mac.

Call us or email us if you have any questions about what the change could mean for you.

Email of the week

Hello Rick,

What is the best application to use to "package" a bunch of pictures together so that they can be sent as one attachment in email? I use Winzip but is that typically installed on all Windows (and other OS's) so that the recipient can easily "open the package" and retrieve the individual pictures?

Thanks much! 

Karen

----------------

Hello Karen,

Great question and an important one. First off, if you are sending photos to dial-up users, only send 2-4 RESIZED photos only. 

However, if you want to send more than 2-4 to any computer users, I think the easiest and cleanest method is to not email them at all. Instead, use any number of services available to create a web album of your photos. Once you create an album, you can simply send the link (web address) to any of your email family/friends and they can can view them easily.

My favorite web album is Picasa. Creating a web album from Picasa is simple, fast, and free. For a tutorial on creating a web album in Picasa, watch our how-to videos on the site or order Adam's Picasa Instructional video.

Thanks for writing and have a great week!

Rick

Castellini on Computers & HelpMeRick.com ©2008
Rick Castellini and Adam Cochran