I've been writing here since 2005 — practical how-tos, personal essays, the occasional opinion. After a recent cleanup, the 41 articles below are the ones worth keeping.
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Articles
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December 7, 2025This handy, low-cost tool can revive dead sections of your lights in minutes—saving you money, time, and a lot of holiday frustration. It…
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December 7, 2025Question: I have a lot of books on my Kindle, but sometimes I’d like to read them on my laptop instead of on my Kindle. Is there a…
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January 13, 2023You can almost always recover files from your memory card, even if your system is saying the card is corrupted. Here’s how……
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January 12, 2023Uploading songs, photos and contacts from your Mac to your iPhone requires the use of a software program like iMacSoft, which also has a…
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January 6, 2023Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be downloaded from your website in a given month. Every time someone visits one of your web pages,…
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January 2, 2023“NO AC” means your sprinkler system is not getting power and is running on it’s backup battery. Here’s how to check…
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December 30, 2022Question: How do I transfer an image from my mac to my Samsung cell? And is there any mac apps that I can use to edit an mp3 for a ring…
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December 30, 2022 With the foundation completed, it’s time to lay down the deck boards. You’ll spend the bulk of your money on this part,…
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December 27, 2022We all hope our kids will grow up and live much longer than we do, but if your kids are off to school like mine are, then you’re…
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December 26, 2022Question: Have you any info on formatting the memory chip for a camera after deleting all the photos? I tried to make an 8×10…
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December 26, 2022Question: I’m getting ready to sell my laptop to someone on Craigslist, and want to be sure they can’t use a restore program to…
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December 22, 2022I’ve heard of companies finding data that people thought they had deleted from their work computer. How do they do that? Might be…
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December 21, 2022Quick Response Codes – QR codes for short – can be linked to web pages. Here’s how to create one that links to your…
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December 19, 2022This year my day job has allowed me to work 100% from my home office. I love being able to skip the 45 minute commute into Portland, and…
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December 17, 2022Macs have a built-in way of letting you transfer files from one Mac to another using Airdrop over a wireless network connection. According…
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December 17, 2022How to transfer pictures from a Samsung digital camera to your computer. Question: I recieved a SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA for my birthday but…
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December 17, 2022Here’s how to send photos and videos to another iPhone – even when there’s no cell phone coverage or wifi – using…
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December 15, 2022With all the travel I’ve been doing lately, I splurged on a pair of QuietComfort® 15 headphones. Here’s my review of these…
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December 15, 2022Impress your friends with this simple and easy holiday-themed spice infused Bourbon recipe. Imagine the feeling of curling up by the fire…
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December 14, 2022Many of my friends (and family members) have said to me “So Rick… how do I get started creating my own…
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December 12, 2022Macbooks come with a built-in trackpad that you can press anywhere to manually “click” the mouse (with the mouse being your…
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December 6, 2022Question: How do I choose a web hosting provider, and which ones do you recommend?“ There are literally dozens of web hosting…
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December 6, 2022Hot tubs are extremely heavy when loaded with water and people, and you’ll need a solid platform to ensure the hot tub doesn’t…
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December 6, 2022Most web hosting providers include free website template building software to help the average non-programmer build a web site, such as…
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November 28, 2022FaceTime is a great way to stay in touch with friends and family, and even the people you work with… but sometimes it’s a…
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November 25, 2022I have developed a tight system for putting up and taking down lights over the past few decades, that makes it fast and easy each year to…
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November 23, 2022Drupal lets you define just about any type of content you can imagine using the Taxonomy module. Here’s how to create a form that…
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November 21, 2022I’ve used Craigslist to sell dozens of household items over the years, and I’ve noticed the larger-priced electronics are…
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November 20, 2022Transferring photos from your iPhone to your computer is a much easier proccess with Windows 10 and here are the steps to…
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November 18, 2022Question: Where can I download a free Christmas screensaver? Answer: There are a lot of free screensavers that you can download, but be…
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November 13, 2022I do a lot of photo and image editing on my Mac and typically use Preview for grabbing screenshots. After quitting Preview with too many…
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November 8, 2022Question: Can you recommend an affordable data recovery program for my Mac? Answer: Before you spend any money on data recovery software,…
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November 8, 2022Have you ever been midway through a software development project, and had your client request a change in features? That never happens in…
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November 6, 2022Hi Ricky, I need to find an electrician near me in the Beaverton, Oregon area. Who do you recommend? Hi Ricky, I need to find an…
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November 5, 2022Linux and Unix-based systems have a built-in scheduling service called cron, that runs in the background and executes commands defined as…
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November 2, 2022TweetDeck lets you post tweets to both your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Here’s how to set it up. I showed you a while ago how to…
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November 2, 2022There’s nothing worse than realizing too late that you accidentally deleted hundreds of precious photos from your iPhone or iPad.…
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October 30, 2022I’m often asked how to set up a website, either for personal use or for a new business. Fortunately, it’s easy and very…
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October 29, 2022Question: I have an idea for a new website, but how do I get the web site name, and how much will it cost? Question: I have an idea for a…
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October 20, 2022Centos comes with a powerful firewall called iptables, that gives you very granular control over access to your server. Iptables is…
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October 17, 2022I’ve built up a respectible arsenal of gadgets and devices while traveling around the world. Some are necessities, and some are just…