Practical Help Library

Change your Email Password Now! – Practical Help’s Tip of the Day #013

December 15, 2013

As you read this, bad guys are illicitly hacking into thousands of email accounts. Why? because it’s so easy. It’s my opinion (most would call this a ‘fact’) that 90% of all email accounts in the world are secured with a simple password that can be easily discovered or cracked. If you think you’re not in this group, please consider carefully: Is your password at least 13 characters long? Does it contain at least one of each of these: a capital letter, a […]
Bluetooth Woes – my dongle bugs me!

December 12, 2013

A member asks… Every time I boot I get a message about InstDev from Toshiba, which I understand has something to do with Bluetooth. I’m not on a Toshiba laptop, but I have had an external bluetooth thingie in a usb port, so that’s probably where it came from. I can remove it with some utilities that I’ve found online, but I would like it if you could recommend a utility because some of them are filled with crapware. After […]
Considering a Home Generator?

December 11, 2013

A member asks… I’m considering getting a home generator since my neighborhood is older and it seems like the power goes out all too often. I know I could get a portable emergency generator, but I need something more… Can you give me some advice on what to consider, options and all that? Thanks! Buying a home generator can be a lot like buying insurance – you can pay a little and get bare-bones coverage, or pay a ton and […]
Supercharge Your Home Wireless Network – Practical Help’s Tip of the Day #TOD005

December 10, 2013

Chances are, you are getting your internet service from one of the big providers, Verizon, Comcast, or Cox. And you likely got a wireless router from them that provides wireless access in your home. But what if you have a large home, or an older home with walls that block the signal – you’ll have ‘dead’ spots where you can’t connect to your home network. What can you do? The quick answer is to: Make sure your home router’s antenna is firmly […]
Non-Profit Website Design & Hosting – on the cheap?

December 4, 2013

A member asks… I work for a non-profit religious institution and we have a quandary. I have two questions for you: 1) we use SundayStreams on our site but really like the way StreamSpot displays for their clients – at almost double the cost. Should we switch? and 2) What advice can you give me for our website design and hosting services? We are looking to keep our costs as low as possible. Pulling a little more information on your […]
Practical Help’s 2013 Holiday Gift Idea Guide

November 27, 2013

If you’re looking for a gift for Christmas, Hannukah, a birthday or anniversary, or any other reason, we’ve got some recommendations for you. And for many, it’s easier to go shopping hassle-free – online or at your favorite store, so go armed with a great list. So let’s get to it – here’s this year’s list: Of course, our first gifting tip is for Practical Help for Your Digital Life – our own website. This is the best type of […]
New Spammer on the Net?

November 8, 2013

It appears there’s a new spammer working the email servers these days. In the last week, our spam folder size has tripled from its normal levels. In addition to the usual junk email, we’re also seeing an uptick in phishing attacks – loosely, that’s where an email purports to come from a known entity, but in reality is fake. Here’s a random short list of the dirtiest dozen of these new spam emails we’ve seen: FBI warnings that you’ve been […]
Mac doesn’t like staying connected to Airport Extreme

November 7, 2013

A member asks… This is a cross between a puzzle and a minor annoyance. I recently got a Mac AirPort Extreme because I’ve had some good experiences with it outside of my home. It was easy to connect and everything works fine except…my MacBook Retina has trouble connecting. Everything else, PCs, iPhones, iPads, a Mac Mini, whatever, all connect with no problem, but my MacBook Retina will occasionally show the icon with an exclamation point, which means it’s not connected […]
Battery Life, Tips for Battery Powered Devices – Practical Help’s TOD#004

November 4, 2013

Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you tips on how to deal with all the battery-powered devices in your home or office. Chris Gardner describes the most common pitfalls that you’ll encounter dealing with battery power – when to change batteries and other considerations. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get the most out of the consumer technology you already own. Geek-free help for everyone on the […]
Windows 8.1 – assigning default audio devices

October 28, 2013

A member asks… Is there any easy way to assign/default audio devices in Windows 8.1 other than by right clicking the volume icon and selecting “Playback Devices” and “Recording Devices”. It is really annoying to have to go through a few rounds of “Enable/Disable” and “Set Default Device” when all you want to do is to switch from a USB headphone/mic unit to, say, an analog speaker system, and then back again. Is there any way to have audio go […]
How to get your Gmail working in Microsoft Outlook

October 28, 2013

A member asks… I used to use Outlook for my email, and have recently switched to using a Gmail account. Frankly, I’m not happy with Gmail’s ‘webmail‘ interface. Is it possible to go back to using Outlook? Outlook remembers email addresses I’ve used before, and fills them in for me. Plus, I’m comfortable using Outlook, and don’t want to have to learn a whole new way to do email. I recognize that change is difficult – both universally resisted and […]
Setting up Apple TV to use with your Home Entertainment System

October 28, 2013

A member asks… I want to use my new Apple TV with my home entertainment system. I have a Bose receiver. Tried to do it myself and it didn’t work well, so I had to call the Bose tech support line. They helped me somewhat, but I’d like to make sure I have things setup ok, can you run me through the setup? Bose and other ‘receiver’s in a home entertainment system have multiple HDMI inputs on the back for […]
How to Create a Facebook Account with Maximum Privacy

October 25, 2013

A member asks… My mom wants to finally get onto Facebook, but she wants to keep her account as private and anonymous as possible. What should she do? Your mom wants to do something that many other people want to do — see other facebook accounts and use facebook in a very limited fashion – with maximum privacy and control over who can see anything of hers. Not an unreasonable request in these days of identity theft and casual over-sharing. […]
BBM Woes – Blackberry Messenger for iOS still plagued by problems

October 24, 2013

A member asks… Hey, I saw BBM available on the Apple App Store, so installed it yesterday. I am a former Blackberry user who had to switch to an iPhone to keep up with the times. But lots of my colleagues are still on Blackberry, so I wanted to re-establish messaging with them using BBM. Here’s my problem. After downloading the app, I followed the instructions to get my BBM account activated, and the next day I received an email […]
Online Booking with a Guest Account – A Recipe for Difficulty!

October 22, 2013

A member asks… I purchased a ticket from Expedia, but I did it as a guest. I didn’t create or sign into an account on their website. Just a few minutes after I finished purchasing a ticket to Boston, I happened to see another flight that I liked better – plus it was cheaper! So I looked on the web page and saw that Expedia has a policy for a 1-day cancellation with no penalty, but I can’t figure out […]
iGoogle shut down November 1st 2013 – Looking for Alternatives?

October 17, 2013

If you used Google Chrome or any other web browser and their popular service iGoogle, you should already know that Google shut down iGoogle on Nov. 1st, 2013. This was a customize-able ‘portal’ web page that people could set as their web browser home page. There are lots of guesses as to why Google closed it down, but they first announced that about a year before, and haven’t said much since. Now, anytime you call up iGoogle, it pushes you […]
New “Airprint-capable” Printer for my iPad?

October 16, 2013

A member asks… Would you please recommend a new printer for my iPad? I am a senior on a budget. Look for this icon and/or the word “AirPrint” on the box or item description to make sure that the printer is truly capable of printing from your iPad (also iPhones). Of course, manufacturers are constantly putting out new printer models almost daily, but as of right now, we think your best option is either an HP, Canon or Epson printer. You […]
Problems you may encounter when using AOL email in Microsoft Outlook

October 11, 2013

If you have Outlook already setup to tap your AOL email account and are getting ‘IMAP‘ error messages, it’s because one or more of your emails in AOL are corrupted. They may work ok in AOL’s webpage, but won’t in other programs like Outlook. To solve this problem should take you just a few minutes: In Outlook, create a new folder in your regular set of Outlook folders (not the ones under the AOL account). Now move all your messages from the AOL account into this […]
Tip of the Day #003: Small to Big Screen

October 5, 2013

Here’s some Practical Help that gives you tips on how you can get music, video and other stuff from your smartphone or tablet to a larger screen, like your TV. Chris Gardner describes the most common ways that work well for the most popular platform: iOS, and the most popular tablet: the iPad. These tips will also work with Google Android and Microsoft Windows tablets and smartphones. Your Tech Coach at Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you practical […]
New Updates to Mac OS X

September 14, 2013

Mountain Lion update 10.8.5 is part of the preparation for the forthcoming Mavericks (next version of Mac OS X coming in the fall of 2013). This update is primarily bug fixes and security updates. The most important update fixes a problem with the Mail app that keeps it from showing you all your messages. For Lion, the update is 10.7.5 and for Snow Leopard the update is 10.6.8. These were all released on September 12th 2013. You should update immediately. Hopefully your […]
Tip of the Day #002: Don’t fall for Scams

August 22, 2013

Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you tips on what to watch out for to avoid being scammed at work or at home. Chris Gardner describes the most common ways that scammers try to trick you into bypassing your home, personal or office security, so you can recognize a scammer by their behavior. Printable tip sheets are available for our members below. Your Tech Coach at Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you practical and helpful tips, hints […]
PHYDL #003: The Post-PC Era Tips

August 2, 2013

Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you tips on navigating the so-called Post-PC era. Chris Gardner and Pam Willenz show you how you can simplify your digital life by ditching your regular computer and just using your tablet or smartphone to do everything you want. We focus on the popular iPad and equally popular Google account services to get everything done that you used to use a computer for. A handy printable tip sheet is linked below for our […]
Tip of the Day #001: Computer Hacked? What to Do!

July 30, 2013

Here’s a tip on what to do if you think your computer has been hacked. It might be worthwhile to check just to be sure! And don’t bother to take notes, we have a printable tip sheet below for our members! This is a video tip of the day, which supplements our regular scheduled show “Practical Help for Your Digital Life”. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get […]
Digital Egg Timer #165: Lighten up facebook, I’m overloaded!

July 10, 2013

This Digital Egg Timer is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Steve Gardner shows you how to filter your facebook news feed and reduce information overload. And don’t worry about taking notes, we have a handy, printable tip sheet link below for our members. This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, ‘Hidden’ Facebook Tips – PHYDL #2. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on […]
Saying Goodbye to Google Reader and Choosing a Replacement

July 1, 2013

Google is retiring the excellent RSS reading tool, Google Reader today. There’s been a lot of news about this impending… event? disaster? non-event? For those who love using really simple syndicated (that’s RSS btw) news feeds from all over in one place, there are a number of replacements. More on that later. But first, if you use Google Reader and you haven’t yet exported your news list, you’ve been ignoring that popup to backup your data for quite awhile now. So don’t ignore […]
Digital Egg Timer #311: Keep my facebook friends separate!

July 1, 2013

This Digital Egg Timer is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Pam Willenz shows you how to keep your facebook friends separate. Printable tip sheets are linked below for our members. This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, ‘Hidden’ Facebook Tips – PHYDL #2. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get the most out of the consumer technology you already own. […]
Fixing a problem with iCloud and your Apple ID/account

June 27, 2013

Signing into and out of iTunes on your iPad or iPhone is pretty straightforward. Just tap Settings, then iTunes & App Store, and either sign in to your account, or tap on the signed in account to see the Sign Out button. But with iCloud it works differently. Read on for more exact instructions. Once you link an iOS device to your Apple ID in iCloud, you’ve established a relationship between the two. In order to change to a different Apple ID, you actually […]
How to solve a problem when your iPhone or iPad won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network

June 25, 2013

Sooner or later, you’ll run into this problem, and shutting down, restarting, or resetting your iOS device won’t fix it. Here’s the most likely problem, and a practical solution to the times when your iPad or iPhone won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network. Situation: Your iOS device remembers the Wi-Fi networks that you have connected to in the past, and anytime you are in that neighborhood, uses the saved settings to re-connect you automatically. Problem: The Wi-fi network is determined by the ‘name’ also known […]
Digital Egg Timer #229: Facebook, don’t hide my messages!

June 25, 2013

This Digital Egg Timer is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Steve Gardner shows you how to see hidden messages in facebook that you may have missed. Don’t waste time taking notes, printable tip sheets are linked below for your convenience! This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, ‘Hidden’ Facebook Tips – PHYDL #2. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get […]
The best protection program for your Microsoft Windows computer

June 14, 2013

After extensive testing and reviewing the results of other respected testers in the industry, we have a winner of the best value for internet/computer security suites. Once a year we test a batch of suites and compare various factors, such as effectiveness, trouble-free use and cost. To do our own testing, we have a really nasty PC we keep around. We install each tested suite on this computer and then proceed to do everything we can to infect that computer – visiting […]