Archive: Tips
Your Opinions Requested: PC-Repair Services
The e-mail came from an old friend, but it could have been sent by any random reader -- a "Help, please!" subject header, followed by a litany of computing ailments and a request for suggestions about a good in-home repair service that could, in this case, troubleshoot an erratic monitor...
By Rob Pegoraro | July 22, 2008; 10:23 AM ET | Comments (15)
Energy Savings For Earth Day
Tomorrow is Earth Day, which apparently means that we'll be treated to lots of full-page ads from various large corporations touting their environmental consciousness. And some of them may even mean it! If you'd like to make some changes of your own to help this particular planet--a goal you may...
By Rob Pegoraro | April 21, 2008; 12:14 PM ET | Comments (21)
Relationship 2.0: Two People, Two iPods, One iTunes Library
Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, which means I'm almost through being bombarded by press releases with headlines like "Valentine's Day Gadget Gift Idea." These pitches have suggested a remarkable variety of tech trinkets--portable hard drives, laptop bags, a multifunction printer, phones and camcorders in red or pink--as the ideal token of one's...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 13, 2008; 01:20 PM ET | Comments (29)
Reminder: Preserve Purchase Paperwork
Here's one last tip, suggested by reader "rjrjj" in his comment on yesterday's post, before this blog takes a few days off for Christmas week. Many of the services attached to a tech purchase, such as the warranty, any available rebates, a merchant or credit card's price-protection policy, require you...
By Rob Pegoraro | December 21, 2007; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
Renewed Advice For New Computer Users
Today's column could double as one of my "what the heck is wrong with computers" rants. But what I really wanted to accomplish with the piece was something else: answer my reader e-mail before it can be sent. I figure plenty of people will boot up new PCs over the...
By Rob Pegoraro | December 20, 2007; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (11)
Help File Help: Nuking a Windows Nag?
Yet again, I'm turning to the collective brain of this blog's readership in the hope that you all can point me to a solution to a problem I want to address in Help File. This time around, the issue is the way Windows reminds you -- constantly and perpetually --...
By Rob Pegoraro | December 3, 2007; 10:35 AM ET | Comments (19)
Just-For-Today Deals
Today is "Cyber Monday," when Americans allegedly flock to online stores--presumably using their employers' computers and network connections--to get their holiday shopping in gear. I have to write "allegedly" because the numbers we reported last year didn't back up that description. And it's hard to take anything too seriously with...
By Rob Pegoraro | November 26, 2007; 03:08 PM ET | Comments (4)
Sites That Dig For Black Friday Deals
This Friday will supposedly the best time of the year to look for bargains in computing and electronics. Every year, the day after Thanksgiving--"Black Friday," in industry argot--sees retailers offering ridiculous pricing on few high-profile products to get people into stores (where, hopefully, they'll spend more on non-discounted items). A...
By Rob Pegoraro | November 21, 2007; 02:47 PM ET | Comments (3)
A Thanksgiving Tech-Support Toolkit
"Hey, could you take a look at the computer when you get a second? It's been acting a little strange lately." If you're one of your family's primary sources of tech support, you'll probably hear some variation of that request this weekend. If you're lucky, nothing more needs to be...
By Rob Pegoraro | November 20, 2007; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (17)
Use a Smart Playlist to Fill Your MP3 Player
While yesterday's review of Microsoft's new Zune was being edited, a question came up: What's a good way to describe a "smart playlist" to the uninitiated? As we tossed around a few phrases to add to the story, I showed how I used one smart playlist to automatically load a...
By Rob Pegoraro | November 16, 2007; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (14)
Help File Help: Windows Insomnia
Periodically, I use this space to try out a recipe for my Help File column... or ask for your help in crafting one. Here's another issue that's stymied so far: You set a Windows computer to go into standby mode automatically--as I've outlined before, a good idea on both environmental...
By Rob Pegoraro | August 24, 2007; 11:02 AM ET | Comments (21)
Help File Help: Interrupted iTunes Podcasts
A few chats ago, a reader wanted to know why iTunes would download only part of some podcasts: Have you ever had any of your podcasts on iTunes appear to finish downloading, but then, when you go to play them, find that they cut off mid-podcast (i.e., a 40 min....
By Rob Pegoraro | August 13, 2007; 08:20 AM ET | Comments (13)
Anxiety at the Internet Cafe
As I wrote in a blog posting last week, I had to log on a few times during my vacation. Part of that Internet use involved checking my Gmail account--and anytime you're logging on from a strange computer, you have to worry if the computer isn't logging any passwords. It's...
By Rob Pegoraro | June 18, 2007; 07:13 AM ET | Comments (15)
A Current Affair
On Tuesday, a group of computer, electronics and Internet firms--Google, Intel, and such others as Dell, IBM, Lenovo and Yahoo--launched a program called the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. The aim here is to push for design improvements in computers, networking devices and other gadgets that will reduce their electrical consumption,...
By Rob Pegoraro | June 15, 2007; 09:43 AM ET | Comments (14)
Reset Runaround
A while back, I had to get some high-end cell phones and smartphones ready to ship back to the PR departments involved. But before doing that, I had to reset them to erase any personal data I might have left on them--principally, schedules and address books sent over via Bluetooth....
By Rob Pegoraro | June 5, 2007; 08:12 AM ET | Comments (1)
E-cycle Your E-Junk
Sunday is Earth Day, but it and Saturday can also be "Get Rid Of Your Old Electronic Gear Day": * At the Environmental Protection Agency's Capital Area eCycling Event, you can drop off old computer hardware (including monitors, but not stereos or TVs) at Freedom Plaza (13th and E Streets...
By Rob Pegoraro | April 20, 2007; 01:38 PM ET | Email a Comment
Last-Minute Help With Daylight Saving Time
Here are a few more ways to get your computers and gadgets ready for this weekend's accelerated onset of Daylight Saving Time: First, for people with older Macs: Remember when I wrote in my earlier Help File on the new DST rules that I couldn't find a simple fix for...
By Rob Pegoraro | March 9, 2007; 10:38 AM ET | Comments (27)
Two Other DST Fixes
Two quick updates to last week's Help File item about getting computers to recognize the new Daylight Saving Time period effective this year: * One reader was having issues with her copy of Outlook after applying Microsoft's Windows patches. The answer was to download a separate, Outlook-only update. (Remind me:...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 27, 2007; 06:52 PM ET | Comments (1)
RSS, Revisited
I'm seeing a bit of confusion in the comments and my inbox about how to subscribe to this blog. I had included a quick tutorial on RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") feeds in the final edition of my newsletter this morning... but I must have left some details out. For some...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 5, 2007; 05:07 PM ET | Comments (10)
Help File's greatest hits
One of the things I want to do in this blog is complement my inbox. I read everything I get and try to answer as much of it as I can--but as many of you have doubtless noticed--I'm not always the fastest typist in the West. And even when I...
By Rob Pegoraro | February 4, 2007; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (5)
