Archives for Advice

Podcast: June 18, 2011

Cal Carson, Foster Braun, Shane Hamelin, Erik Anderson

Show Notes

  • Hack Attack: Chloe Albegensius, PCMag.com editor Who are these groups that have openly attacked banks, businesses and even the CIA?  What is their purpose?  Why haven’t they been caught?
  • Online Bank for the Disabled; Brad Saul President and CEO of Prime Access who is disabled himself, has developed specialized software to help the disabled with banking.  Bridgeview Bank
  • A few of our favorite things: Cal, Foster and Shane will share a favorite device or software program with our listeners.

The second hour is YOUR hour to get answers to your computer problems and concerns.

Podcast: June 18, 2011 – Hour 1
Podcast: June 18, 2011 – Hour 2


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Shane's Top 5 “Aha Moments”

Shane Hamelin is a tech expert who works for CompuQuest USA Inc.

The Top Five “Aha” Moments

1.) I’m connected to the Internet but my browser will not display websites.

Answer: Some malware will make normal connection to the Internet impossible by changing your Internet Connection settings to use a proxy server. If you are having problems connecting to the Internet and perhaps getting messages about a web page not being available follow my simple steps to change the Proxy Server back to the correct server.

a)     Start then go to control panel.

b)     Click Internet options, then connections

c)     Click LAN settings then it will open automatic configurations.

d)     Remove all the check marks you see on automatic configurations and proxy server

e)     Press OK

2.) My laptop will power up but I only have a “Black Screen”

Answer: You turned on your laptop, but the screen is BLACK! You see that the laptop has power but besides that nothing is happening. Some cases, its just static buildup and these simple steps can fix this issue on all brands of laptops.

a)     Take out your laptop battery.

b)     Remove your AC Adapter Cord, that’s the wall power plug; remove …


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How to Change Your Facebook Settings to HTTPS

Here is how you make sure that you are secure when you are using Facebook but don’t forget that using common sense is probably the best defense you can have.

1.) Go to Account in the upper right corner
2.) Account Settings
3.) Account Security
4.) Check first box under Secure Browsing (https) Check the bottom of the page to look for a Save button.


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The Usability of Passwords

Danish blogger Thomas Baekdel posted a fascinating article on how using simpler passwords is actually much safer than using complex ones that are  hard to remember.  The crew will discuss this during the opening segment of the 4/30/11 Show.


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Let Me Google That For You

This is a really fun site for helping someone see how easy it is to ask a question and get answers.  (Let Me Google That For You).  Here is an example
Ed Rudel


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Podcast: April 16, 2011

Show Notes:

  • Meet Todd Girdis of Intelli Home Systems Todd’s company has excellent systems to provide peace of mind for caregivers and security for seniors that give them the opportunity to live independently and safely.  Excellent services for aging parents or other for whom  you have the responsibility of care.
  • Thinking of starting your own website?  Vince Chmielewski of VC Web Design is the man we called on and has a bag full of tips on making your site excellent.  The ABC’s of site building.

Podcast: Todd Girdis
Podcast: April 16, 2011 – Hour 1
Podcast: April 16, 2011 – Hour 2


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Internet Search tips and tricks

Ed Rudel Special Search Tips (Click on link to hear the segment of our 4/09/11 program where we discuss the tips and the new addition to the Toolkit)

Can you imagine the internet without web search capabilities?   We would have to know specific web site addresses for every web site we visit.  A simple comparison would be memorizing all of the phone numbers we use on a daily basis and if we needed to find a new business or person we would have to look the information using the yellow or white pages.

Internet search portals provide the ability to type in a simple name, phase, or question and display a list of web site links that contain the words you provided.  These search results can be overwhelmingly huge and may or may not pertain to the information you were looking for.

The more specific the information you provide (the search criteria) the better the results.  Internet sites like “Google, Bing, Yahoo, or About.com are continuously refining and improving but there are a number of tips you can use to improve your Search results on your favorite Internet search site.

If you have an Internet Search tip or trick, send …


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Bug Hits All Versions of Internet Explorer

“Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a vulnerability in all supported editions of Internet Explorer on all Microsoft Windows editions. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to cause a victim to run malicious scripts when visiting various Web sites, resulting in information disclosure.  IE has over 900 million users worldwide.  Microsoft has published a one-click “Fix it” workaround for the bug that involved locking down MHTML. This will prevent the launch of script in all zones within an MHTML document. Any application that uses MHTML will be affected by this workaround.” Full Article.


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Podcast: January 29, 2011

Ed Rudel, Cal Carson, Foster Braun and Erik Anderson
Ed Rudel, Cal Carson, Foster Braun and Erik Anderson

You read that correctly, we are on for a full THREE hours this Saturday, Jan. 29.

Our first hour features reporting directly from MacWorld Expo in San Franciso with Laura Phillips, Media Director for Handeholder, the Michigan-made iPad/tablet holder that is so successful.  Mac Expert Cal Carson and Erik Anderson, host of The Mac Minute , rounds out the hour talking about up-coming Apple products and the impact that Apple is having on the PC’s that most of you use.

Best News: TWO HOURS of computer troubleshooting with Ed Rudel and Cal Carson to help you find answers to your digital dilemmas.

Podcast: January 29, 2011 – Hour 1
Podcast: January 29, 2011 – Hour 2
Podcast: January 29, 2011 – Hour 3


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Look Out For Another Fake Facebook Warning

This article will give  you all the details.  Needless to say, don’t accept any notice to either give information or change passwords in this case.  Do all of that from inside the service such as Facebook or Hotmail itself.  Otherwise you hand the bad guys the keys to your online life and Katie bar the door!


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