Email Newsletter - 10-01-08

Submitted by Rick on October 1, 2008 - 2:16am.

Email Newsletter

Castellini on Computers Free Weekly Email Newsletter
October 1, 2008

Visit HelpMeRick.com ANY time to learn about your computer!
I guarantee it will save your time, money, and sanity!!

Spelling and punctuation guaranteed to be at least 88 percent accurate

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

*** Email of the week
This Friday there will be a special edition of the Castellini on Computers Radio program on our local public radio station, KAFM. Like all public radio stations, they need to ask for public donations in order to keep themselves on air. The KAFM management asked if we would be willing to do a special edition of the show during the fund raiser, and we said, "Yes!".

Tune in this Friday, October 3 from Noon-1pm for the special edition show. In addition to tuning in, we would really like to see your support for the show and our new home at KAFM in the form of a donation to their fund raiser. You can click here to donate on their web site, or better yet, lets flood there phone lines on Friday during our show and let them know how many people tune in to the Castellini on Computer show!

We will be offering donation incentives in addition to the ones KAFM already offers...so tune into your web browser (at KAFMradio.org) or your radio in Grand Junction, CO (at 88.1 FM) from Noon-1pm Mountain Time on Friday for another edition of the Castellini on Computers Radio Show.

We will be taking your tech questions at 970-241-8801 Ext. 1 during the entire hour! So give us a ring!!

Did you visit HelpMeRick.com last week? Yesterday? Today? Did you refer all your computer buddies to HelpMeRick.com?

Remember, studies show that computer users who visit HelpMeRick.com at least twice per week are 36% smarter than those who don't and their computers are 94.6% safer than those who don't visit!

READ ALL PAST ISSUES OF THE NEWSLETTER HERE

Email your questions to us and we will answer them via a weekly YouTube video or on our daily website updates!

Custom Computer Help from Rick

We have been posting a new how-to video every week since November 2006 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

Instant Shutdown in Windows Vista - Video Tip

Many moons ago, I shared with you a tip on how to create a desktop icon to shutdown Windows XP instantly. It's about time that I share with you the same tip applied to Windows Vista. Here's how it is done:

1. RIGHT Click on a blank part of your desktop
2. Click New --> Shortcut
3. Type the following phrase EXACTLY as shown in the box (or better yet, Copy and Paste it): %SystemRoot%\System32\shutdown.exe /s
4. Click Next
5. Type a name for your shortcut like Shutdown, It's Over, Time to Go...you choose
6. Click Finish
7. Now RIGHT click on the new shortcut you created
8. Click Properties
9. Click Change icon (you might get an error message, just click OK)
10. Click an icon you want to use for the shutdown
11. Click OK

You can see all these steps in action in the video below AND get a bonus tip of how to change the action of the little power button on the start menu.

Watch this week's tip of the week by clicking here.
Geek Speek
Many people hear or read this term every day, but are unsure of what it is. PayPal created a system by which two Internet users can exchange money without revealing their personal information...a payment clearing house. eBay purchased PayPal (the most popular form of payment on eBay) in 2002 for the price of $1.5.

PayPal claims more than 150 million account holders worldwide and employs 2,000 people in three countries.

PayPal

Computer News...and comment

SSD Reaches 250 GB
Solid State Disks (SSD) have caught fire in the past few years and with prices dropping and storage increasing, laptop manufacturers increasingly use them instead of standard hard drives. Toshiba showed off their 256 GB SSD this week and expects to be shipping them by the first quarter of 2009.

SSD take up much less space, require less power and cooling, and out perform traditional hard drives.

Internet radio wins in Congress

Online radio stations, sometimes called Net Radio, wanted to have the power to negotiate royalty rates with the music industry. Currently, they pay as much as any radio station, but have a reach that exceeds terrestrial radio by a factor of 100-1000. That translates into huge royalty fees that could break the back of an online radio station. Even the popular Pandora radio considered themselves on the brink of closing if this bill allowing negotiations with the music industry didn't pass.
The bill still has to pass through the Senate, but with a unanimous vote in the House, this bill looks to be signed into law soon.

Wal-Mart joins Amazon and others in removing DRM
DRM is short for Digital Rights Management and was the brain child of the music industry to stem the flood of illegal downloading of music. It didn't work. Downloading of music is bigger today than it was 10 years ago. Amazon opened their music download store last year and decided not to cripple it with DRM and has been applauded for doing so. Now Wal-Mart is pulling DRM off of their music downloads as well.

DRM makes managing music and getting new devices extremely cumbersome. The thought is that if DRM is not in the way, music lovers will actually pay for more music. It seems to be working.

Poll Results

Is the presidential election season too long?

Next week's poll:
Have you tried the Google Chrome browser?

Log on to HelpMeRick.com and VOTE!!

Yes 96%
No 4%

Email of the week
Hi, Rick!

I uninstalled free AVG because the subscription ran out. Then installed Windows defender and Windows live one care. Since then I am unable to open links in hotmail. In my quest for help I found out that I didn't need Windows defender with Windows live one care, so I uninstalled Windows defender. I still can't open links in my email. I am using an XP. Please help.

Beverly

=============

Hello Beverly,

First, I would suggest uninstalling the Windows Live One Care. Next, go to http://free.avg.com and download the newest copy of the free AVG and install it. You shouldn't have any other problems.

Good luck.

Rick

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