Monthly Archives: February 2011

First Thoughts on Thunderbolt

Posted on February 26, 2011 by helpmeusetech

Several days ago, Apple announced an upgrade to their line of MacBook Pro laptops.  One of the things that caught my attention was the introduction of a new interface called Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and had been codenamed … Continue reading →

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Shortcuts: Two Ways to Force Quit Applications in OS X

Posted on February 25, 2011 by helpmeusetech

From time to time, it may become necessary to terminate unresponsive applications within OS X.  Applications can become trapped for many different reasons like waiting for a lost internet connection to return, slow writes to the disk or a very … Continue reading →

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Shortcut: Bring Up Windows Task Manager With Ctrl-Shift-ESC

Posted on February 23, 2011 by helpmeusetech

The easiest and fastest way to bring up the Microsoft Windows Task Manager is a simple three-key combination of Ctrl-Shift-ESC.  All three keys must be held down together, but you do not need to push them all at the same … Continue reading →

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Alice: Not Just the Housekeeper on the Brady Bunch

Posted on February 22, 2011 by helpmeusetech

As someone who has been in the technology field for a long time, I am frequently asked by parents, on behalf of their school-aged children who have shown an interest in some form of software engineering,  what programming language or environment … Continue reading →

Posted in 1 Geek, Education, Linux, Mac, Software Engineering, Technology, Windows | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Review of Katana: The Portable Multi-Boot Security Suite

Posted on February 20, 2011 by helpmeusetech

A large part of being the “neighborhood geek” involves fixing computers for friends, family and the occasional friend-of-a-friend.  A normal part of this process is to carry an arsenal of bootable DVDs, CDs, and yes, on occasion, even some floppy … Continue reading →

Posted in 5 Geek, Linux, Review, Security, Technology, Utilities, Windows | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Introducing the HELPMEUSETECH Rating System

Posted on February 16, 2011 by helpmeusetech

Going forward, I will try to tag each post according to the degree of difficulty or prior knowledge required.  I will be assigning from one to five “Geek Gs” with the following general guidelines: Simple – A useful tip for … Continue reading →

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The Daily App: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Posted on February 12, 2011 by helpmeusetech

A new application for the iPad was released on February 2, 2011, called “The Daily“. The goal was to provide a media-rich news experience on the iPad device.  This goal is an enviable one. I really do like the format … Continue reading →

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Caffeine – A Useful Application for the Mac available from the App Store

Posted on February 9, 2011 by helpmeusetech

As you all already know, Apple recently opened an App Store for the Mac.  You can purchase many Apple products and software produced by third parties which can be downloaded and installed directly on your Mac.  Some are free, but … Continue reading →

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Why I No Longer Use Carbonite

Posted on February 8, 2011 by helpmeusetech

I am all in favor of backups.  I am all in favor of online backups.  Having additional copies of your important files in an offsite location is critical.  For me, Carbonite is no longer a preferred solution. I have been … Continue reading →

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