Rick Broida - Author - Good Gear Guide

Stories by Rick Broida

Article | 6/04/2010 Fix Windows Media Center's 'low bit rate' error

I've made no secret of my love for Windows Media Center, but for months I've been living with a glitch that almost drove me to TiVo.

Article | 31/03/2010 Repair stalled print jobs with Stalled Printer Repair

My wife's laptop suffers from a seriously annoying problem: Sometimes print jobs get stuck in the queue. I'm not sure if this is the result of a drive...

Article | 12/03/2010 Learn everything you need to know about Twitter

Still not sure what the heck Twitter is or why you'd want to use it? I understand completely: Friends and family members are constantly asking me, "Wh...

Article | 12/03/2010 Create the world's fastest, easiest, cheapest, and best iPhone stand

So you're on the airplane, ready to watch Zombieland on your iPhone, when suddenly you realize you have no stand, no way to prop it up at a comfortabl...

Article | 8/03/2010 Update your video drivers after installing Windows 7

I just installed Windows 7 on a Compaq laptop that was previously running Vista. It was a clean install, meaning I wiped the hard drive rather than si...

Article | 12/02/2010 MS Word tip: Quickly add filler text to your document

Ever need to add some filler text to a Word document? You know, the "lorem ipsum" stuff you routinely see in document mock-ups, presentation materials...

Article | 11/02/2010 Microsoft Word tip: Strip hyperlinks from pasted text

I don't know about you, but I'm constantly copying text from e-mails, Web pages, and other online sources into Word documents, and always with the sam...

Article | 10/02/2010 MS Word tip: Print multiple copies of individual pages

Most Word users know how to print multiple copies of a document: Just change the Number of copies setting to the number you need, then click OK.

Article | 13/02/2010 MS Word tip: Change text size using only your keyboard

This is a keyboard shortcut that saves you the hassle of reaching for the mouse, then fiddling with toolbar menus, every time you want to adjust the f...

Article | 17/02/2010 How to make Web pages print properly

A few days ago, the missus shoved some sheets of paper in my face and demanded, "Why are Web pages printing big all of a sudden?"

Article | 30/01/2010 Simplify Facebook, Twitter with Brizzly

Brizzly provides a clean, simple, ad-free interface for Facebook. Twitter, too.

Article | 8/02/2010 Make your new PC hassle-free

There are steps you should take to make a new PC as hassle-free as possible.

Article | 5/02/2010 Turn off Windows 7 'compatibility mode' for iTunes

Back in December I told you about Windows 7's little-known application-compatibility troubleshooter, which I'd used to try to resolve a problem with i...

Article | 3/02/2010 Facebook tips and tweaks

I like using Facebook to keep tabs on my friends, but I don't like the endless stream of "so-and-so took this quiz" and "Joe became friends with Jane"...

Article | 29/01/2010 Add Facebook chat to your Firefox sidebar

Already this week we've looked at reducing feed clutter from your Facebook home page and downloading entire Facebook photo albums with just one click....