April 25, 2013

How to Stop CHKDSK from Running on Every Boot Up
Recently, my Windows 7 computer started running a CHKDSK each and every time that it booted up. For those that don't know, the CHKDSK utility is a way that Windows validates the system file structure and integrity of your computer's hard drive. You can scan your hard drive with it or run it with a fix (/f) flag to correct…
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March 18, 2013

How to Remove Little Black Square Paragraph Formatting & Page Break in Microsoft Word
Recently, I received a panicked email from my step-mom wondering why a page break could not be removed from Microsoft Word. Normally, if you click on the "show paragraphs" button (¶), you can see a page break or section break. However, in this case, there was no line signifying a section break or page break when the formatting was revealed.…
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March 13, 2013

How To Fix a Broken iPhone Home Button – A Free & Easy Software Fix
Yesterday I received a panicked call from one of my daughters - "Daddy, my iPhone's home button is broken!" Tears and wailing ensued. But, as with any broken gadget, I was up for the challenge, knowing that I could either replace the iPhone home button myself or figure out some other way to breath a few extra days or weeks…
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March 11, 2013

A Collection of My How-To Articles on GoGrid Cloud Computing
While I spend a lot of time writing articles for HighTechDad during the off hours and in my spare time, my day job as Technology Evangelist for the cloud infrastructure company, GoGrid, allows me to do a lot of other types of articles. These articles tend to focus on the cloud, GoGrid product and service features, How-To's, and reflections on…
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January 9, 2013

iOS Apps & Backups are Hogging Up Your Hard Drive – How To Easily Free Up Disk Space
I don't know about you but I am always looking for ways to clear up my laptop's precious free hard drive space. I have tools that clean caches, temporary files, language files, logs and files in my trash. But I never seem to get ahead of the game. I probably never will but a periodic cleaning is always an important…
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December 18, 2012

Why and How Ballerinas Break In Ballet Pointe Shoes
With the holidays upon us, ballerinas of all ages become a bit more inspired. One of the primary reasons is that various renditions of The Nutcracker are being interpreted and performed widely, from local community dance groups to large scale professional productions. Whether you are "into" ballet or not, you simply cannot help being sucked into this magical story. For…
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December 5, 2012

Honeywell’s WiFi-Enabled Thermostat is Hot, Cool, Controlled Remotely & Easy to Install
Here is the scenario. It's the early morning in the winter. You are snuggled warm in your bed but outside of the comfort of your blankets, your house is cold. The last thing you want to do it to have to get out of bed and turn on the thermostat to heat the house. So you just hope for someone…
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November 27, 2012

Klutz Teaches Kids About Basic Electronics While Setting Up Booby Traps Around the House
As part of my ongoing effort to remain as much like a child as possible, I was intrigued to set up some "Gotcha Gadgets" that would allow me to play 20 tricks on my kids. I wanted to set up trip alarms and motion sensors that would fart when someone opened a door, or set up a push-button applause machine…
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November 8, 2012

How To Find Where Outlook Stores Temporary Attachments – Ones that Don’t Appear in “Recent Items” in Microsoft Office
Here's the scenario. You receive an email attachment in Microsoft Outlook. You open that attachment directly from the email message, make a bunch of edits (and perhaps save them along the way) and close your Office document. Then a while later, you want to go back to that document, only to find that it does not appear in your "Recent"…
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October 17, 2012

Making Lemonade – In a Vacuum, Don’t Complain, Just Do!
We have all heard the old adage "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" right? I think that more people should focus on creating success than dwelling on misfortune. In the age of entrepreneurship where anybody can take even a mediocre idea and just run with it, we need to learn to turn a deficiency into an opportunity. Over the…
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October 11, 2012

How to Easily Edit Hosts Files on Mac & PC using Free Editors: Gas Mask (Mac) or HostsMan (PC)
If you have ever come across a situation where you need to edit your Hosts file on your Mac or PC, I'm sure that you have discovered that it is a bit of a pain. For starters, on either platform, you need to have elevated privileges, namely that of the administrator. Then you have to actually get to the Hosts…
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October 9, 2012

10 Tips to Help You Understand Your Business Needs Before Focusing on Cloud
I think that perhaps all of this cloud hype is doing businesses a disservice. It’s everywhere. Even people on the street are talking about how their stuff is “in the cloud.” If you aren’t using cloud, you are behind the times and your technology is old and out of date. Cloud will make your teeth whiter, help your kids get…
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