One of the things I’ve really missed with Windows 7 has been the Run command on the Start button’s menu. The Run command has been available via the Start button’s menu for a lot of versions of Windows — but not for Windows 7. Fortunately, during a series of emails back and forth with Clif [...]

Recently, subscriber Peter Killick had a question about protection from downloads: I was under the impression that my combination of a router plus a software firewall completely prevented anything ever being downloaded on my computer over the web without my approval, typically indicated by clicking a button. My router is a Netgear, properly and carefully [...]

Reader Teri Scott wrote me to ask about her slow dialup Internet connection: Hello, I have a desktop and a laptop and live in a remote area so the only internet I can get is dial-up. We recently moved and in our previous home, my desktop and laptop connected consistently at about 36.8kps. Now my [...]

As a long-time personal computer user, I learned the importance of backing up my data long, long ago. There are just too many things that can go wrong when you’re working on your computer. Whether it is a hard drive that goes bad (or a floppy, in the old days), or a mental lapse on [...]

EJ wrote to ask about backing up his computer: Terry, what program do you use to back up your files I use two programs routinely. First, every evening, I use Karen’s Replicator (www.karenware.com, free for personal, non-business use) to copy my data files to another computer across my home network. Not only does this give [...]

Why should I network the computers in my home? Convenience, so you can share files and/or printers and/or the Internet connection Backup, so you can copy critical data files (e.g., your Quicken data) to the other machine for backup Computer access, so you can surf the Web while your spouse or kids are doing email [...]

Do you search the web using Google? I do. It’s easy and you can find the answer to almost any question via the web. Some people, though, are intimidated by the search engines at Google.com, Yahoo.com and Live.com (the renamed MSN.com) among others. The only real problem between them is that they don’t all use [...]

Subscriber Fran wrote recently about a problem she was having: When i go to control panel. Then i click on network internet connections. It just flickers. I can’t change any of the settings,or my home page. Also when i click on tools then i click internet option. It just flickers. what can i do to [...]

Many times, we want to print the contents of our computer monitor — not just the contents that will print when we use the File > Print function or press the Print icon (in a program that has one). Tech Tip There’s another way to trigger a program to print, assuming that the program can [...]