When site published, the content will be centered in the page
|
Vertical Divider
|
Vertical Divider
Issue 935
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF Welcome to the new Snippetz! I will be a monthly contributor to the magazine and will try to provide you with helpful and useful information that can hopefully demystify computers and give you the confidence to understand what your computer is telling you. For this first article, I want to introduce myself and or store and tell you how we can help you. Please note at the end of the article is an e-mail address where you can send questions about anything computer, internet, or IT related. I own Simple Computer Repair, a computer and electronics repair shop right here in Monument. We are the only full-service computer and IT service center in the Tri-Lakes area. We opened for business September 16th, 2016. In July 2018, we merged with Monument Computers and moved all operations to our store at 1445 Cipriani Loop behind the Kum & Go off highway 105. When I opened the store, I wanted to provide a different experience for my customers. Have you ever gone to a big-box store for repair and been charged just for somebody to look at your computer? Have they flooded you with geek-speak and then quoted you an outrageous price to fix what seemed like a minor issue? Or did they suggest that you just go buy a new computer from aisle 14? If you have been frustrated with this kind of service, come in and give us a try. I have tried to build a business where the customer feels not only comfortable coming in, but also welcome. We’ve tried to establish an atmosphere akin to the old-time neighborhood barbershop where, even if you didn’t need a haircut, you stopped by to chat about the weather, sports, or even computers! When you walk in to our store, you will notice that nearly all computer monitors face out. A customer can readily see that we aren’t looking at your pictures or last year’s tax return. We don’t take your computer behind a wall or a door to work on it. We work on it out in the open, and many times, our customers come back and watch the technician or ask questions as we work on their computer. While we are proud of our shop and our customer service, for some folks, it is just impractical for them to bring their computer to us. In those cases, we offer a very affordable at-home service to quickly resolve any problems. Being a small businessman myself, I feel for those of you trying to run a business and struggling with Information Technology (IT) issues. We offer the same great repair and problem-solving services for small businesses. Plus, we can help ensure your networks are secure and controlled. We also offer 24/7 monitoring of your IT system to ensure hardware and software health and stave off catastrophic failures that leave you dead in the water at a price 10 times less than the big guys out there. Simple Computer repair can be your IT department. In the coming months, I hope our articles will be helpful in answering some of the most common questions I receive every day. If you have a question about your computer, services available in our area, or any other IT-related question, please send it to questions@scr-cos.com. Issue 936
INTERNET PROVIDERS AND TYPES OF SERVICE For the next two months, I am going to write about one of the most common complaints received at Simple Computer Repair: Slow Internet. If web pages are loading slowly and email takes forever to check, it’s often the fault of your Internet provider and the type of connection you have. This month let’s examine some of the more common Internet connections available in the Tri-Lakes area. Each type of connection comes with advantages and disadvantages. Let’s examine some of these below Dial-up While not the first Internet connection to exist, dialup definitely became the most common source of Internet during the 90’s. Some of you may still remember the screeching and scratching sounds a dial-up modem emitted while making a connection. This system uses the telephone lines to make a direct connection to a central hub. The signals are sent back and forth between the hub and your computer with an analog signal. While this signal is extremely slow compared to modern systems, it is typically very affordable and has the added benefit of working on the infrastructure that has been in place for a hundred years. Yes, there are still people using Dial-up Internet today. Satellite Internet Satellite Internet provides users access to the world wide web through a direct connection from their devices to geostationary satellites about 22,000 miles above the Earth. The big advantage of this type of Internet is that it is available almost anywhere across the planet. It can be broadcast to fixed positions or mobile devices. The disadvantages, however, are great. The speeds are typically very slow, and weather has a significant impact on signal strength. There is extreme latency (the time it takes the signal to travel from its source to its destination) as the signal must travel 88,000 miles from your computer to the satellite and from the satellite to the Internet hub, and then back again. This makes online gaming nigh impossible on this type connection. Finally, the data caps that come with these connections are relatively low and the connections can be expensive. DSL – Digital Subscriber Line There are many forms of DSL: DSL, ADSL, ADSL+2, SDSL and VDSL. They’re all different from each other in their own ways, but for our discussion today, we’ll just call it DSL. The speeds of DSL range from 128 Kbps (barely better than dial-up) up to 50 Mbps (enough for 2 4k Netflix streams). DSL uses the same copper lines as dial up Internet but can do so while the phone line is also in use. DSL only provides Internet to one stationary location, but typically isn’t affected by poor weather. It is available more widely than cable or fiber Internet, but the speeds available are typically far below those offered through coax cable lines. Most of Monument has DSL available through Centurylink, and in some areas this is the only type of physical line available. Cable In the Tri-Lakes area, the cable TV, Internet, and phone lines are provided by Comcast/Xfinity. This type of Internet connection uses the cable lines that were originally designed to carry television signals. In our area, the theoretical speeds offered are anywhere from 20 Mbps up to 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) but actual speeds may be less. Cable Internet is much faster than DSL and tends to be more reliable since the lines are thicker/newer and the infrastructure tends to be newer than the phone lines. Weather doesn’t affect the signal, but speed can vary from minute to minute depending on the number of people in your area using the Internet. If this is available in your neighborhood, Simple Computer Repair recommends cable Internet for most users. Fiber The fastest Internet connection ever demonstrated was made over fiber optic cable and clocked in at over 1 petabit per second (1000 terabits per second) over more than 30 miles. That’s 27,000 hours of 4k video in 1 second, or 26 million songs per second. The two major providers in the Tri-Lakes area, Comcast and CenturyLink both offer fiber to some of their subscribers. Typically, speeds you’ll actually see from a fiber Internet connection will be between 25 Mbps and 10,000 Mbps, with extremely low lag times or latency. Fiber connections are extremely fast and reliable but can be expensive. New Service There is a new service in our area that is specifically targeting underserved areas and neighborhoods that don’t currently have cable Internet. Force Broadband was started by a local Monument resident, Dan Hamilton, and has been quickly expanding their footprint and offering faster speeds to their customers. They are now consistently providing speeds of 50 Mbps or greater to their subscribers throughout the Tri-Lakes area. In fact, we changed to Force Broadband in our shop and have been very happy with the service. How Much Do You Need? While a fast Internet connection is always nice, with speed usually comes increased cost. So how much do you really need? As a general guide you need 1-5 Mbps to check e-mail and browse the web. You need 5-10 Mbps to stream low resolution content and 15-25 Mbps to stream HD content. To stream 4K content and play online games you need 40-100Mbps and to download very large files you’ll need 200+ Mbps. Additionally, multiple streaming downloads in the same household will need faster speeds. Go to www.speedtest.net and check your speeds. If you are unhappy with your Internet speeds, come talk to us at Simple Computer Repair and let us help you find the optimum connection for your home or business. Issue 937
WEB BROWSERS Last month I wrote about slow Internet issues and Internet options available in the Tri-Lakes area. Part two of this series will examine another possible culprit slowing you down: the web browser. There are many web browsers out there, but five are found in over 90% of computers today. These include, in order of popularity, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer/Edge, Firefox, and Opera. Everyone has their favorite browser, but which one is the best for you? Let’s take a look at each of these browsers. Chrome Chrome, by Google, is currently the dominant and most popular browser across the globe. It is one of the fastest browsers in terms of loading time, allows synchronization of history and bookmarks across computers and cell phones/tablets, has very few security concerns, loads HTML5 efficiently, has its own store similar to the Apple App store or Google Play store, and even its own operating system. Chrome comes standard on most Android mobile devices and works well on tablets and phones. There is a reason half of all web traffic goes through Google Chrome...it just works! However, Chrome does have drawbacks. The desktop version of Chrome is a bit slower than the mobile version and Chrome program files are large. Chrome will also use more system resources than other browsers which can be challenging for older computers. Safari Dedicated Apple product users are familiar with Safari. Safari originally was designed for Macintosh computers. As iPhones came on the market, Apple included the Safari browser as a dedicated application (app). As is common with most Apple products, Safari runs smooth and fast, but does not allow much user customization. What you see is what you get. Additionally, Safari will only work on Mac devices so don’t try to load it on a Windows machine or an Android phone. Safari has been shown to be the fastest browser you can load on macOS systems. Additionally, Safari does have some neat built-in security and convenience features that keep Mac and iPhone/iPad users safe and secure. Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (IE) has been around for a long time. Compared to its modern competitors, IE is slower to load, has more security vulnerabilities, and has more challenges loading newer technologies like HTML5. The newest version, IE11, is better than its predecessors but still struggles in today’s world. The only people who should be using Internet Explorer these days are those who visit a lot of older web sites. Some government sites, especially those run by the military, still require Internet Explorer and some even require it to be run in Compatibility mode for IE7 which came out in 2006. Edge My favorite browser is Edge, by Microsoft (Available on Windows 10 only). A common practice in software lifecycle, Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, and has stopped supporting Internet Explorer 11 in favor of Microsoft Edge. Edge is an entirely new and much improved piece of programming. Microsoft Edge is quickly gaining popularity with those who have upgraded to Windows 10 due to its lightning fast speeds and rich new features. Edge is the only browser to beat Chrome in speed tests, and it does so in about half of the standard tests that are done. Edge has many new features, one of which is the “Web Note” feature. This allows someone to draw, highlight, and white-out web-pages to then share across the web. Mozilla Firefox FireFox, by Mozilla, has been a very popular browser and is currently the second most popular PC based browser behind Google Chrome. The Mozilla project was started in 1998 by the Netscape Navigator community before AOL purchased Netscape later that year. Firefox has many of the same features as Google Chrome including bookmark and history synching, an easy to manage tab interface, support for modern software technologies, and an entire app store of extensions that run well within the browser itself. While faster than Internet Explorer, Firefox has had security concerns due to its developer-friendly architecture. Firefox is also known to have more ads than other browsers. Opera Opera may remind some users of Chrome, and rightfully so. Opera uses the same base program. Opera’s speed compares favorable with Firefox or Edge and can be used in both Windows and Mac environments. Opera has a clever sidebar feature that allows the user to pin links to your favorite websites, shortcuts to e-mail, or links to your favorite websites. The primary drawback to Opera is that it can be blocked by older and out-of-date websites, which can be frustrating. Which Browser? So now we are back to the question of which browser is right for you. In the end, this is a “Ford vs. Chevy” decision. Users tend to stick with what they know and what they feel loyalty toward. Any of these browsers are fine for your web surfing needs, but you cannot go wrong sticking with tried and true. If you are operating in a macOS or iOS environment, then Safari is your browser. If you are working on a PC in a Windows environment, then I recommend you use either Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. The choice may depend more on whether you are habitually working in a Google environment or a Microsoft environment. No matter which browser you use, you should ensure that you are running the latest version with the latest updates to keep it running at optimal speed. Next month we will look at reasons why your computer may be running slow. Stay tuned! Issue 938
IS YOUR COMPUTER SLOWING DOWN? In the last two articles I’ve written for Snippetz, I’ve discussed why you might experience slow Internet browsing. I discussed the local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their attributes, and I compared the various Internet web browsers. But what if your computer seems to be slow when performing other functions. This could include when the computer is starting (booting up), when opening a program or app, when running programs, or when doing other functions. Let’s discuss some of the reasons your computer may be slow. Let’s start by looking at the computer itself. How old is your computer? Searching the Internet for the average life span of a computer returns the common answer of three to five years. This is a generalization based on the pace of technology development and the rate at which common parts in a computer wear out. An older computer is just going to be slower. At Simple Computer Repair, we have refurbished and repaired computers six to ten years old. When wondering whether a computer can still be useful, we generally ask the primary purpose of the computer as some tasks can be more demanding of the computer than others. An older computer can be repaired and used for e-mail and light web browsing whereas a newer and more complex computer is needed for higher-level gaming, graphics manipulation and processes requiring heavy mathematical processing. We’ll talk about repairing versus buying new in a future article. When a customer brings us a computer that is running slow, we first look at the hardware in the computer. We run extensive diagnostics to determine the health of components such as the motherboard, the main processor, the Random Access Memory (RAM), and the disk drive(s). The vast majority of the time, if a hardware component is to blame for the slowdown, it is usually a failing hard drive. In these cases, we usually recommend installing a Solid-State Drive (SSD), which is a newer technology than the old hard drives with a 5x to 10x performance increase. In the past, large SSD’s were prohibitively expensive, but recently the prices of SSD’s have really dropped making them affordable for nearly every application. Upgrading the RAM can increase the operating speed of your computer. Simply put, RAM is a holding bin for information pulled from a storage device and waiting to be used in a program or application. Increasing the amount of RAM and/or upgrading to RAM that can process information faster has the potential of speeding up your computer. However, this is very dependent upon the programs that you are running on your computer. Simple text programs like word processors or e-mail do not require fast or large RAM arrays. Programs that rely on many mathematical calculations such as large spreadsheets, and programs that are graphics heavy such as photo-editing programs and more advanced games definitely stress RAM and are helped by larger and faster RAM arrays. For the majority of today’s programs, we recommend 8 MB (megabytes) of RAM as the minimum you should have installed. After we have ruled out hardware issues, we then look at software. First, which version of Windows® or macOS® are you running? You should always be running the most up-to-date operating system for your computer. For PCs, there are few good reasons for not running Windows 10. Windows 10 is arguably the best version of Windows Microsoft has deployed. It is fast, secure, and easy to use. And for my customers who claim they don’t want to give up Windows 7 “because Windows 10 would be too hard to learn”, I say that Windows 10 can and does look and run remarkably like Windows 7. And if you still aren’t convinced, Microsoft will end all support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. So there will be no security or safety updates released any more. If you are doing financial transactions on a Windows 7 computer, it’s really only a matter of time before you find yourself in trouble. For Mac users, the version of the operating system you can load on your computer is limited by the age of your computer. However, we still see a lot of Macs with old operating systems. You can check online with Apple support to find out which version of macOS or OS X your computer can take. Once we are sure you have the best operating system installed for your computer, we spend a great deal of time looking at how you have your computer configured. One of the sneakiest thieves of computer speed is the “program running in the background”. Often, when a user downloads a new program on their computer, they also download other programs that they may or may not be aware of. These programs run in the background hogging processor power and slowing down your computer. Updaters, monitors, tool bars, search bars, and help programs are chief among these. We scour our customers computers rooting out these programs as few of them are beneficial for the user. Finally, the last culprit contributing to a slow computer is malware. Viruses can slow down a computer while they are operating behind the scenes, but normally cause much greater damage than just slowing the computer. Adware, on the other hand, can seriously drag your computer speed down without causing any other damage. Adware is usually picked up while browsing web pages and is stored in the form of cookies that can track your online shopping and browsing habits. While not necessarily malicious, adware can slow your computer to a crawl. We have an extensive routine we use to remove viruses and adware and clean up your computer so you can get every little bit of speed possible. So if your computer seems to be lagging behind, bring it in to Simple Computer Repair today for a free diagnosis and let us help you get back in the fast lane! Issue 939
BEWARE!! FRAUDS & SCAMS This month in the Snippetz computer column, I want to cover a subject that is a huge concern: computer frauds and scams. Many of my customers have reported being the victim of a computer scam and it frustrates me that I am not able to help them sooner. While it is very common that the victims of a scammer are usually older, more trusting, and less technically savvy, people of all ages and knowledge levels have been caught. Let’s start by discussing the most common type of computer (or phone) scam. Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive or personal information through fraudulent means. The scammers try to obtain credit card numbers, bank account numbers, PINs to these accounts, and other personal information, usually involving money. Before we go any further, let’s all repeat after me:
And while we are at it, let’s add these:
Seeing a pattern here? Bottom line is that nobody should ever call you out-of-the-blue and ask you for a password, PIN, or money…EVER!!! Just hang up! Let’s look at some e-mail scams out there that may pop into your inbox. First, let me say that you cannot receive a virus or have a problem just from opening an e-mail. Taking any action described within a scam e-mail could lead to serious problems. Here is the body of an e-mail I received that had a very convincing Apple logo on it: ACCOUNT DISABLED -- “It seems that your account did not follow the guidelines set in our terms and condition, which made us temporary disabled your account. Please log in and review all the personal data below.” Then it had a link with a button to click that read “Reactive Account”. So how did I know that this was a scam and wasn’t from Apple? First, reread my bullet notes in the left column. Next, the e-mail address it came from was “Apple <2YFHH8WT. kueoyjqT-Inspiration. 6cyoFeAp@eRZezVSrco. idinspiration. harvey-leebarry.rocks>”. This is obviously not an e-mail address Apple would use. Finally look at some of the awkward words and phrases in the text. “It seems…”, “terms and condition”, “temporary disabled”, “Reactive Account”. You would not find these errors in a legitimate e-mail. 99% of scam e-mails will have some or all of these elements in them. Look for misspelled words, awkward phrases, weird e-mail addresses that have strange domains (the letters after the period such as .com, .org, etc.) In the example above, .rocks is a dead giveaway. I received an e-mail supposedly from Netflix saying that my account was suspended because my credit card had been denied and that if I just clicked the button below, I could reenter my credit card information and my account would be restarted. Once again, I looked at the e-mail address of the sender: “NetfIix <szxLpUvVuUIUmHT. 133375739916768@szxLpUvVuUIUmHT. 133375739768. business>. Not exactly a legitimate looking e-mail address. Additionally, the body of the message was so poorly formatted that it was difficult to read. An obvious fraud. A scam I almost fell for last year was much simpler. We receive parts daily in the mail from UPS, FEDEX, and the U.S. Postal Service. I received a very simple e-mail that appeared to be from FEDEX that told me to click on the button below to get details on a delayed shipment. This seemed normal and only at the last minute did I see that the e-mail address of the sender looked very suspicious. Clicking on the button might have taken me to a page asking for personal information, or it might have been the setup for another type of e-mail problem: virus and malware insertion. We’ll talk about malware in my column next month. Finally, an e-mail fraud that was popular in the past 5 years and is still around today is the Nigerian Phishing scam or the Nigerian Prince scam. While “Nigerian” is used most often, the scam originates in other African countries too. In this scam, a person from Africa comes into a large sum of money, usually in the millions. He or she is unable to move the money out of Africa on their own and offers you a percentage of the money if you will only help them move it out of the country. Ultimately, they are looking for your bank information, and sometimes, they are looking for you to invest a small sum of money up front so that you can realize a large profit later. My father used to tell me that there is no such thing as a free lunch, or no such thing as something for nothing. This is good advice when receiving these types of e-mails. There is no large sum of money and you will not receive a percentage. Just delete these e-mails. It seems that every year, scams become more sophisticated and harder to avoid. But if you apply some of the lessons above and use common sense, you can avoid many e-mail scams. I encourage people with elderly parents who use the computer frequently to have a discussion with them on this topic. Cut this article out and share it with them to help them avoid becoming a victim. If you receive a suspicious e-mail or a phone call and are unsure what to do, feel free to call us at Simple Computer Repair before you do anything and we can help you determine whether it is a legitimate e-mail or computer service. If you have allowed somebody you don’t know to have remote access to your computer, unplug it from the Internet immediately and bring it to us so that we can ensure that it is still secure. As I tell all my customers, there should only be two people in your computer: you and your friends at Simple Computer Repair. Issue 940
In our last few articles for Snippetz, we have been very focused on questions our customers frequently have asked. Last month, we talked about scams and frauds and how to avoid them. This month we are going to be a little less focused. I want to riff on e-mail in this article. No one singular issue, but just discuss some of the problems and issues I have seen in the past three years with e-mail. Let’s start with probably the biggest problem I see with e-mail and my customers. Of computers running bundled productivity software (office suites), Microsoft Office 365 and its previous versions are running on approximately 44% of PCs. The G-suite of apps from Google runs on approximately 55% of computers. With the MS Office suite of programs comes Microsoft Outlook. Outlook is a very powerful and complex e-mail client designed primarily for business applications. Many of my customers just don’t need this level of sophistication in an e-mail client. Windows 10 has a beautiful and very uncomplicated e-mail client built right in that is more than sufficient for most of my customers’ needs. Thunderbird is another e-mail client that we have recommended. Both clients have simple and clean interfaces that receiving and sending e-mails, even from multiple accounts, easy. Yet many customers insist on staying with MS Office for no good reason other than familiarity or “somebody told me to.” Often a friend, neighbor, or family member has set up the customer with Outlook trying to help them and has actually made it more difficult for the customer. Sometimes, even when a customer is running the G-suite of applications, they still import their Gmail into Outlook. There is just is no good reason for this. Usually, the only people who can truly benefit from MS Office are businesses. The many features of MS Office make managing business e-mail easier and more efficient. The next random issue: multiple e-mail addresses. Many of our customers have multiple e-mail addresses. Some folks want all their e-mail from multiple addresses to arrive in one Inbox while others want separate Inboxes for each account. All of this is possible with most e-mail clients. In some cases, multiple accounts are necessary: to keep personal and business e-mails separate, for example. But in many cases, our clients will have a Gmail address, a Yahoo address, maybe an old AOL address and just don’t want to take the time and effort to consolidate or reduce the number of e-mail addresses thereby unnecessarily complicating their e-mail management. While it will take a bit of effort, consolidating e-mail accounts will simply e-mail management. Then there is the businessman who has three or four e-mail accounts, all being imported into MS Outlook. They come to us and want us to help them synchronize their e-mails so that every e-mail gets received in every other account and their MS Outlook calendar is reflected into all their e-mail accounts…AND ON THEIR CELL PHONE. Sometimes this is akin to trying to get five different foreign language speakers to communicate with each other. Trying to make MS Office communicate with the Apple e-mail client on iPhones and Gmail on cell phones simultaneously has truly caused gray hair for my guys. If you are trying to make magic happen with your e-mail, we can certainly help, but there is no guarantee that every client will communicate with every other. Finally, another issue we come across in e-mail is CHANGE. My friends, software companies, including Microsoft, make money by getting you to buy the latest and greatest version of software they put out. Author and Life Coach Tony Robbins has been quoted as saying, “Change is inevitable, Progress is optional.” While we can argue over whether a particular newer version of a piece of software is better or not, at some point, if you wish to continue to use that software, you must change with it. Companies stop supporting older versions of software. Older versions of software stop working with newer versions of software. Many of my customers say that they don’t want to change from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Last month, Microsoft completely stopped supporting Windows 7 with security and patch updates. The older Windows 7 gets, the more vulnerable it is to hackers and software bugs. The same process is happening with MS Outlook. While many folks don’t like the newer versions of Outlook (I don’t like them either), we need to adopt and accept them. Often, a customer will come in and be running a version of Outlook 10, 13 or even 17 years old, and then can’t understand why he or she is having problems with the program working properly or talking with other programs. While we can never force a customer to change, we always highly recommend the latest versions of software to ensure safety and security as well as compatibility with other programs. These are just some of the many issues customers have with e-mail. Managing e-mail can be complicated and exasperating. We stand ready at Simple Computer Repair to help you with your e-mail issues and get you back on the road to efficient e-mail communications. Issue 941
MS Windows (Part 1) Last month in this column, I talked about e-mail and some of the many issues my customers have with their e-mail accounts. This month, I want to discuss the program everybody loves to hate: Microsoft Windows. I’ll talk a little bit about the history of Windows this month and discuss some tricks and hacks to Windows 10 next month. Too many of my customers still insist on staying with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 when they should upgrade to Windows 10, and here’s why. Microsoft announced the release of their first version of Windows on November 10th, 1983. The original Windows was just a graphical user interface (GUI) for MS-DOS. Over the next 22 years, Microsoft would see Windows evolve into the worlds most used desktop operating system with over 85% of the worlds’ computers using some version of Windows. There have been 14 major versions of Windows released in that time, to varied customer reaction. We all love to hate at least one version of Windows that we’ve used. Today, Windows 10 is the latest release of the venerable Windows operating system and has garnered over 50% of the operating system share in the world. Windows 10 was released in July 2015 and was given away free to Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year after the release. Even today, if you are running Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, we can install Windows 10 on your computer without cost for the program. In our opinion here at Simple Computer Repair, Windows 10 is by far the best, most secure, fastest, and easiest to use Windows operating system yet deployed. We have many customers who tell us they “hate” Windows 10 and want to stay with Windows 7. However, when we dig deeper, these customers usually cannot say why they hate Windows 10 beyond they don’t like the way it looks, or they can’t find things as easily as they did with Windows 7. First, let’s talk about Windows 7. When Win7 was released, it replaced the much maligned and disliked Windows Vista. Vista itself had replaced the very well-liked Windows XP so it had big shoes to fill. Microsoft focused on operating system security with Windows Vista, but in the process, produced an operating system that was slow, cumbersome to use, and used a large amount of system resources. Windows 7 became available in October 2009 and people rushed to replace Vista with Win7. While Win7 actually used more system resources than Vista, it was a faster and easier to use version of Windows. People liked the speed, the “Gadgets” that they could install on the desktop and they liked the slimmed down Start Menu. Windows 8 and subsequently, Win8.1 were released three years later and focused on turning the ubiquitous desktop that had been in use since Windows 98 into something more resembling a tablet home screen with tiles used to start programs. Win8 mostly catered to people using touchscreens. While a small minority of customers liked the new interface, the majority stayed with Windows 7. As stated earlier, Windows 10 became available in July 2015, and was given away free, but people were reluctant to switch from Win7. Over the next 4 years, Windows 10 began to gain market share as manufacturers installed it on new computers and customers began to accept it more. On January 14th, 2020, Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7 with software and security updates as well as technical assistance. What this means to our customers who do not want to move up to Windows 10 is that their computers will increasingly become vulnerable to viruses, malware, and security breaches. If you are connecting to the Internet with a computer running Win7, you and your data are at risk. Windows 10 is the Windows operating system going forward for the majority of the worlds’ computers. If you are still running Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, you need to come see us at Simple Computer Repair immediately and get your computer upgraded to Windows 10. It is less expensive than you may think and will open a whole new world of speed, security and convenience for you. We can show you how to make it look and act nearly identical to Windows 7. Do it today! Issue 942
MS Windows (Part 2) In my column last month, we chronicled the birth and growth of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The major take-away from that column was that, if you are working in a PC environment and using Windows as your operating system, you should be using Windows 10. If you aren’t, come see us today at Simple Computer Repair so we can get you moved up to the faster and more secure operating system (OS). This month let’s take a deeper look at Windows 10. For the majority of my customers, Windows 10 has become their OS of choice. However, there are still folks out there who assert that they greatly dislike Windows 10 and insist on staying with Windows 7. Let’s look at some of their arguments and see why they just don’t hold water. The most common complaint I hear about Win10 is that it doesn’t “look” like Win7. The fact is that there are more similarities than differences in the two desktops. Both Win7 and Win10 have a customizable desktop where you can choose the background picture or let Microsoft chose it for you. They both have icons on the desktop for starting programs or apps as well as icons that you can chose for other files and processes. Both versions have an easily customizable task bar (along the bottom of the screen) to launch commonly used programs with a single click. Win10 has a cleaner and easier to use system tray (those icons and the date/time in the lower right corner). With both versions, you can click the window in the bottom left corner and get a start menu with a listing of programs/apps on the computer. However, Win10 takes the Win7 start menu and alphabetizes it with icons to make it easier to find the program you are looking for. Win10 gives you another way to start programs by placing “tiles” to the right of the start menu for programs you use often. Probably one of the most powerful features of Windows 10 is the ability to change settings and customize your environment easily and conveniently. Rather than having to go to the control panel to change most settings, Win10 has placed the most common settings in an easy-to-use settings menu. Click the start button, then click the gear (second icon up) and you go straight to a very clear settings page. You are a power user and want to dive deeper into settings? Click the start button and then just start typing “Control Panel”. You won’t get very far before Windows suggests that the Control Panel is what you want. By going there, you will find the classic Win7 control panel with all of its many settings. My favorite shortcut with Windows 10 is the ability to find just about anything you need as far as settings on the computer just by right-clicking the start button (little white window in the bottom left corner). An entire menu pops up giving you complete control. Want to delete an app or program, it’s the first choice at the top. Click “Apps and Features”, find and left-click the program you want to remove from your computer and then click the “Uninstall” button. Want to see what is inside your computer? Click “System”. Want to understand your disk or storage setup better? Click “Disk Management”. Do you have a program that won’t close or is frozen? Right click the start button and then click “Task Manager”. Alternately, you can use the old stand-by Ctrl-Alt-Del and click task manager. Left-click the frozen program on the first screen that pops up and then click the “End Task” button. Despite its similarities, Win10 was still designed with the touchscreen user in mind. However, Microsoft left in a host of keyboard shortcuts to make life easier for folks like me who still prefer a keyboard and mouse setup. The CNET website has a terrific listing of all the available keyboard shortcuts at the URL below: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/all-the-windows- 10-keyboard-shortcuts-you-need-to-know/ We talked last month about the security benefits of Windows 10 and this month I hopefully have shown the doubters that Windows 10 is a superior product to Windows 7 and if you haven’t made the change yet, you need to do so immediately. Windows 10 is the future of the Windows OS and we all need to be staying current. Come see us at Simple Computer Repair if you want to upgrade your computer to Windows 10, or if you would like a lesson or two on using Windows 10. Issue 943
REPAIR OR REPLACE? During our current pandemic crisis and the need to work from home and maybe a couple kids needing to do remote schooling, it has been tough on some families to find enough computers to meet their needs. Many of our customers have pulled out computers from desks and closets that have not seen use in many years, or maybe they are not that old, but have seen heavy use and are starting to run slower. In any case, many of these folks have taken advantage of Simple Computer Repair’s free diagnosis policy and have brought their computers in for a check-up. So Tyler and Joe have gone through our in depth diagnostic program with your computer and given you the news that, in its current state, your computer isn’t able to run the programs and applications that you need for work or school. Normally, at this point, we will give our customers several options. Option one is to rebuild or refurbish the old computer. Option two is to purchase an already refurbished computer. Option three is to purchase a new computer. Many times, the decision comes down to price, but there are other considerations too. We find ourselves giving advice daily to help folks make this decision. I thought I would put down on paper some of that advice should you be considering upgrading your computer. Our first option is to refurbish your current computer. This is usually the least expensive option and the one we do the most. A laptop computer is limited for refurbishment while a desktop or tower computer has multiple possible upgrades. The only two viable upgrades to a laptop are more RAM and a better storage drive. More RAM in your laptop of desktop computer can make some applications run faster, but all motherboards have a limit to the amount of RAM that they can use. The most popular upgrade to both laptops and desktops is changing the old style “spinning” hard disk drive (HDD) to a solid state drive (SSD). An SSD is like a very large flash drive that we install internally to your computer. HDD and SSD speeds are measured by how fast your computer can read information from them and write information to them. Read/write speeds for SSDs can be nearly 100 times those of HDDs. When we put a new SSD into an older computer, our customers are usually very surprised how much faster the computer boots up and operates. After installing an SSD, we can clone your old drive to your new drive so that the computer looks and operates exactly as it did before the upgrade. For desktop computers, we can consider replacing nearly every internal component with price being the only determinate. In addition to RAM and storage, we can also look at upgrading the motherboard, main processor and the video card. Price usually determines how far we go with a desktop refurbishment. At this point, I must address one of the most common comments I hear as we discuss the upgrading of a computer with a customer. In ballpark figures, upgrading an older computer with new storage and maybe another stick of RAM can run between $175 and $300. Often a customer will state that he or she could buy a new computer for that price. Frankly, no you cannot. You could buy a bottom-of-the-barrel cheap computer for that price, but you would regret it almost immediately as it would probably be just as slow and clunky as your old computer. A new computer with a basic Intel i3 processor or an AMD Ryzen 3 processor would cost $375 or more. And this is before paying for new software and the transfer of your files from your old to your new computer. So sometimes, refurbishing your old computer makes good fiscal sense. Option two is to buy an already refurbished computer. The advantage here is that the price of a refurbished computer can be several hundred dollars less than a new computer. Most refurbished computers will come with a short warranty and have usually been thoroughly tested. We usually help our customers with the purchase to ensure they are buying from a reputable company. Option three is to buy a new computer. This is the costliest option but does have advantages. New computers come with the latest hardware and have almost no time on their components. They normally come with longer warranties and often are bundled with useful software packages. As stated above, there could be additional hidden costs as they may not come with the software you need, so you may need to purchase new software licenses. A new computer is not set up the way your old one was and sometimes takes time to get used to the new setup. Finally, moving files from an old computer to a new computer can be confusing and could incur more cost if you want a professional to assist. We offer free consultation when you are getting ready to buy a new computer to help you understand the many configuration options and new technology. We also offer a service for new computer owners to remove “Bloatware” or programs and pop-ups on new computers that advertise antivirus or productivity applications. This is a popular service as some of these pop-ups are hard to find and remove. Of course, we also offer file transfer and set-up services to get your new computer looking and running like your old one (albeit faster). So if you need more computers in the house or are considering upgrading your home or business computer(s), come see us at Simple Computer Repair and let us help you make sense of the options that are available to you. Issue 944
APPLE VERSUS THE PC Hi everybody. Since the excitement is apparently starting to dwindle over COVID and murder hornets, I thought I would stir things up with a good ol’ fashioned discussion over the merits of an Apple computer versus a Windows-based PC. Let me start by saying that at Simple Computer Repair, we are brand agnostic. We fix them all. MacBooks, MacBook Airs, Mac Pros, iMacs, as well as PCs from HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, Sony, Asus, Microsoft, and others. We also repair nearly all models of iPhones and some models of Samsung. Because we see Apples as well as PCs, we can see some advantages and disadvantages of both. The first important point to make is that, at its core, a Macintosh is really just a PC with a different operating system in it. Back in the day, Apple went a different direction with their processor first with Motorola and then PowerPC. Windows-based PCs have always been equipped with Intel, and later, AMD processors. In the mid-2000s, Apple transitioned to Intel processors, recognizing the superior design, performance and development cycle. Apple and the PC manufacturers for the past 20 years have stuck with Nvidea and ATI/AMD video cards. RAM is proprietary, but basically equal, though you can generally put more RAM in a PC than you can a Macintosh. So, the interior components of an Apple computer and a PC are basically the same today. So let’s jump into the (arguable) pros and cons. First, let’s talk about the design philosophies of Apple versus PCs (and iPhones versus Android while we are at it). Bear with me as I’m going to use a bit of an obscure analogy. So, we are headed for a tour of Europe. You can go with Apple or you can go with PC. Apple’s design philosophy is basically like a bus tour. We’ll tell you where we are going, when we are going, how long we will be there, and what exactly you should do at each stop. You have very little input. The PC philosophy is more like renting a car and winging it, There are literally thousands of options and you can make every decision. Certainly more risky as you could make a bad decision, but also more freedom of choice. Apple is very specific for what you can put into their computers and phones and how you should use them while PCs (and Android phones) give you tons of options for what can go into the computer or phone, and you experiment at your own risk. Apple is certainly the safer way to go as Apple products just work…until they don’t. This brings us to what I call the Apple Tax. You could take your Apple products to an Apple store or a certified Apple repair center for repair, but you will probably pay 75% to 200% more than you would at a third-party repair shop such as Simple Computer Repair. As I said earlier, we repair both Apple and PC computers in our store. A very common repair is a broken screen on a laptop. You can generally get a PC laptop screen repaired for somewhere around $200 to $250. The same repair for a Macintosh laptop is usually twice as much. We repair nearly every component on a PC. But there is a slightly older Macintosh all-in-one computer where the screen must be removed to replace any interior components such as the hard drive. For whatever reason, Apple chose to bond the screen to the frame making it impossible to replace any interior components without breaking the screen and either adding another $300-$400 to the repair, or just completely destroying the computer. Apple’s repair philosophy appears to be “use it until it breaks, then buy a new one.”. A further example of the Apple Tax comes from one of my customers, a long-time PC user. She needed a new laptop and went to a big box store and found a Macintosh laptop that seemed to be a good deal. It was an open box deal so the price, which was a handsome sum, was even better. She brought it to our store and we took a good look at it, The processor was a several generations old Intel i5, the RAM was minimal, and the storage was not impressive. We then showed her that, for a slightly lesser cost, she could get a new PC laptop with the latest generation Intel i7 processor, twice the RAM and twice the storage. She returned the Mac to the store and ordered the PC the next day. Bottom line is that an Apple product is just more expensive. And don’t get me started about the Apple monitor that was listed for about $5000 (and well worth it given its specs)…and the stand to set it on for another $1000! For just the stand! So, given just a few of these comparisons, why would anybody buy an Apple computer? As I mentioned earlier, they are safer and give fewer problems. They have a reputation for outstanding monitors and graphics. They are NOT, as some would have you believe, more immune to viruses and malware. With 91% of computers in the world running Windows, Windows computers are just targeted more often. The Apple design team has always tried to give you style as well as functionality. Apple computers and laptops have just looked “cooler”. Only in the past few years have PC manufactures begun to pay attention to form, as well as function, and most PC laptops today are still pretty ugly. From the start, Apple has bundled together some really slick software packages with their operating systems. They have been allowed to do this based upon their small footprint in the computer world. Microsoft has faced much legal action worldwide because they bundled together too much with Windows. Apple gets a pass here. So, as with many things in life, the decision for Apple over Windows based computers is one of emotion and feeling and comes down to personal opinion and preference. Whichever computer you chose, be assured that Simple Computer Repair stands ready to assist you with all your computing needs. Issue 945
IT SERVICES This month, let’s talk a little bit about some useful services offered by Simple Computer Repair called IT Services. Many folks in the Tri-Lakes area know us for our computer and iPhone break/fix business. But we are much more than just that. We offer a host of services that are hard to find or too expensive with other companies. IT Services, as offered by Simple Computer Repair fall, under three categories: The Managed Services Program (MSP), network design, installation, and monitoring, and miscellaneous network devices and services. As a small company ourselves, we look to help the small businessman who cannot afford his or her own IT department, and also the residential customer who cannot find or afford the help of an Internet Service Provider, a big-box store, or one of the big boys in the IT Services world. Let’s start with the Managed Services Program or MSP. MSP is where we install an agent on a subject computer and that agent reports back to us 24/7 on the health and status of that computer. We monitor the health of all hardware including the storage medium, the system memory, the processor, the video card, and other critical pieces of hardware. We also monitor the software. We check to ensure that antivirus software is running and is up to date. We also ensure that the operating system and other reporting software has had all critical updates installed. The true beauty of this program and the thing that makes it hard to sell after six to twelve months of service is that we have the ability to repair and update software remotely. The customer need never know that a Windows update failed to load or that the antivirus software definition files were out-of-date. Often, a long-time customer will ask why they should keep the services as they have never had a problem, and we show them the records for all the updates and corrections we’ve made to their computer. Then they renew their contract. As a bonus, we can use this remote capability to help a customer who is having problems with their computer without the expense of us coming to their location. We can also offer off-site back-up of files and data to help our customers rest easy. We initially began offering MSP to small businesses as we saw a need in the business community. Many of the larger IT companies will not touch a company with less than 25 computers, so small businesses were left out. We have now begun to offer MSP to residential customers who are looking for an added assurance against catastrophic failure of their computer. So often, we have customers who bring their computer into the store with operating system problems and have to pay a good deal of money to have the entire operating system reloaded. This is usually caused by the customer failing to keep their operating system updated. MSP solves that problem. One of the biggest selling features of our service is that is can be up to 10 times less expensive than a larger company (if you can find a larger company who will even service a family with one or two computers). A fast-growing service offered by Simple Computer Repair is network design, installation, and monitoring. In the past two years we have designed and installed networks in new commercial and residential construction throughout the Tri-Lakes area. We meet with the builder who often is not aware of what Internet is offered in the area or how best to distribute that Internet in their new building or home. We take the plans, design a network, then work with the builder to ensure the design will meet all of their requirements. We then install the network during the construction phase. After construction is complete, we come in and connect the Internet and ensure the entire network is working. At the builder’s request, we also provide long-term monitoring of the network to ensure that it remains secure and functional. For existing structures such as offices and homes we can also provide network installation and optimization to make sure the customer or business is getting the most effective use of the Internet signal provided to them. Recently, we have helped a number of families who have found their Internet requirements increased with the pandemic shelter-in-place. Suddenly, their WiFi was not strong enough to support Zoom conferences, streaming movies, and social media all at the same time. Finally, we provide a host of services that are hard to find or too expensive with other companies. In the past two years we have:
This is just a partial list of the many services and capabilities that Simple Computer Repair can bring to your company or residence. For more information on any of these services, or if you just have an idea and want to bounce it off somebody, give us a call or come by and see us. We love to help our customers bring an idea to life! Issue 946
SCAMS AND PHISHING Hello again from the battlefront of computer and IT support. As more people are emerging from isolation and quarantine, they are getting their computers repaired and upgraded. This is a great time for it. Unfortunately, this is also a great time for scammers and con artists who are out there taking advantage of folks with computers and cell phones. I published an article on scams about six months ago, but I think that this is such an important subject, that I will talk about it again this month. I have had a couple of unsettling incidents in the store that I want to share in hopes that you or your loved ones do not get caught by a scammer. First, let us review the advice I gave in my earlier article as these are important to remember.
Specifically, look at the fourth bullet. I have watched one elderly customer of mine be taken in over and over again by somebody saying that they can secure his/her computer for several hundred dollars. We have cleaned up his/her computer numerous times after the same scam. After one of the last clean-ups, I offered my personal cell phone number and told him/her to call me at any time if somebody calls and offers to “fix” his/her computer. Sadly, a month later, the scammer hit him/her again and he/she paid another installment to “fix” his/her computer. This is a sad case, but the real take-away for my readers is to look at your own family and close friends. Do you have somebody with a computer who is older and maybe unable to resist the authoritative voice on the other end of the line? Do you have a parent or loved one who may not be able to understand what they are being told until after they have lost several hundred dollars to a scammer? I highly encourage you to have a discussion with your elderly family and friends and check up on them often to make sure they are aware of safe computer practices. Next, I saw a post on the neighborhood blog “Nextdoor” from a gentleman who got a text from AT&T saying that his last payment was unsuccessful and to call a number. I received the same text. Judging from the replies to the original post, many others in the area also received the text. Seeing the replies was very instructive. Some folks seemed surprised but were unsure of the validity of the text. Some folks called AT&T. Others just ignored the text. Nobody in the string of responses owned up to calling the number in the text. Hopefully, nobody did. This is an example of knowing what will and what will not be transmitted through text message. I can say that, almost exclusively, no reputable company will send any kind of formal billing information through a text message. That particular text message was very short. As I mentioned in my last article on scams, e-mails that are questionable will many times be very short. I keep receiving an e-mail from another member of a group I belong to. The e-mails are always very short and always say something like, “Do you know this couple?” followed by a link. No salutation. No closing. A dead give-away to not click on the link. Friend will always address you and usually write more. Lately, I have been getting a lot of the standard e-mail scam where somebody wants me to invest in a scheme that they can’t, or somebody wants me to help them get a lot of money out of a foreign country. These e-mails have had a COVID slant to them and are completely unbelievable, but people continue to get caught. As I have said before, if it sounds like easy money, it is not. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. I have gotten six to eight e-mails in the past month saying that my e-mail password is about to expire and that I should just “click on the link” to update it. Pure scam and do not fall for it. There is no e-mail provider that I know of (other than corporate IT departments and government e-mail systems) who requires you to change your e-mail password. The sender’s address on the e-mails I have received has nothing to do with my e-mail provider – another dead give-away. I have also received quite a few fake PayPal, eBay, and Amazon e-mails saying my account is frozen and to just “click the link” and put in my account details to unfreeze the account. In every case, the e-mail address was very strange and a dead give-away. Scams and phishing attacks are on the increase so just beware and think before you “click on the link”. If you are unsure about an e-mail or any other possible scam (text message, phone call, etc.), feel free to call us here at Simple Computer Repair and we can help you sort through the chaff and stay safe in the Internet era. Issue 947
THE VOLKSWAGEN Hi everybody. Hope you are enjoying these first beautiful days of Fall. For the next three articles, we are going to discuss purchasing a new (or refurbished) computer. Customers often come to Simple Computer Repair for our free advice when they are ready to purchase a new computer. Or, unfortunately, sometimes a computer just cannot be economically repaired, and a customer asks us what they should buy. We spend time with the customer examining what they routinely use their computer for and what would be a logical and cost-effective replacement computer. If you go to the Big Box store, they will usually recommend you buy the most expensive computer they can get you to buy, regardless of what you will be using the computer for. We laughingly classify computers by comparing them to cars. We like to talk about Volkswagens, a Chevrolets, and Cadillacs. By this we mean a pedestrian, utilitarian computer, a middle-of-the-road workhorse, or a top of the line computer with all the bells and whistles. First question is usually “should I buy a laptop or a desktop computer. Most folks usually replace their computer with the same style. However, with a new computer, we usually discuss how mobile the computer needs to be and the space where the compute will sit. As a rule, desktops are less expensive than laptops, come in more configurations and generally last longer. However, if mobility is a must, then a laptop is the way to go. This month let us consider the “Volkswagen”. This is the computer to be used mostly for e-mail, light web browsing and simple games. So often, light computer users just do not need anything more. We normally start with a processor (CPU) recommendation. The two major processor manufacturers are Intel and AMD. In this article, we are going to consider only the Intel line of processors. AMD has developed a line of processors called Ryzen which for some applications can be better and other applications, worse. For the Intel processors, we never recommend anything less than an i3 processor. So, for the Volkswagen we would recommend a current generation i3. Next, we need to consider graphics. Many of today’s processors have “on-board graphics” where the computer does not require a discrete graphics card. This is usually sufficient for a computer that is only going to do e-mail, light web browsing, and simple games, and saves money if you do not have to buy a graphics card. Memory and storage are the last two categories that we need to consider. For memory, or RAM, if the customer is on a budget, we can usually get away with only 4 GB of RAM. However, if they can afford it, we usually recommend a minimum of 8 GB of RAM. RAM is not something that has a huge impact on computer performance when doing e-mail and web browsing. For some folks, they do notice a difference between four and eight gigabytes of RAM, even when just doing light work. Finally, we look at storage. Most of the older computers we see coming into the shop still have hard disk drives (HHD’s). These devices have electric motors and spinning disks inside which have a relatively short lifetime. The latest, and probably the best improvement for PCs today is the solid-state drive (SSD). This is a storage device that has no moving parts and an exceptionally long lifetime. Because there are no moving parts; it is essentially a large thumb drive, it also is an extremely fast device. We assess the amount of storage that the customer is using now and what they may use in the future and recommend an appropriately sized SSD. Many folks overestimate how much storage they need and waste money on a drive that is far larger than they will ever use. For the “Volkswagen” level computer, it is nearly always less expensive to buy an off-the-shelf computer from Amazon, Newegg, or even the big box store, than it is to build a computer. We also discuss refurbished computers with our customers as these computers usually come with a warranty and can be $100-$200 less expensive than a new computer. We love to find a great solution that matches our customers’ budgets with their requirements without recommending a computer that is beyond what the customer needs. Next month: The “Chevrolet” Issue 948
THE CHEVROLET Hi folks. This month we are continuing our discussion from last month talking about buying a new or refurbished computer. Recalling from last month’s article, we talked about the three levels of computer that most people need. We called them the Volkswagen, the Chevrolet, and the Cadillac. We covered the Volkswagen last month. This is the computer used primarily for e-mail, light web browsing and maybe simple games like Solitaire or Mahjong. Generally, these will be the least expensive computers to purchase, and while we did not cover it much last month, this is also an excellent computer to purchase refurbished. Most refurbished computers come with a warranty and can save you 30% to 50% off the cost of a new computer. Let’s take a step up the ladder this month and look at what we call the Chevrolet level computer. This is probably the most appropriate and recommended computer. Why? Because it hits the sweet spot in computing that most people want or need. The Chevrolet can do e-mail and heavy web browsing without a problem. It can do simple photo editing and graphics rendering. If large spreadsheets requiring multiple calculations are your thing, the Chevrolet can handle it. A computer at this level can even handle light to medium complexity games. So, what is under the hood of a Chevrolet level computer? As I wrote last month, we are only considering the Intel line of processors, though the AMD Ryzen processors are quite good and usually are less expensive than a comparable Intel processor. At this level, we want the latest generation Intel i5 processor. By the way, when we talk about generations of processors, we are talking about when a processor was manufactured. The way to tell the generation of an intel processor is to look at the number following the “i5”. For example, an i5-10400 is a tenth generation (newest) processor while an i5-9400 is a 9th generation processor meaning that you are already starting with a processor that may be 18 months to two years old in your “new” computer. Sometimes a computer priced to move may have an older generation processor inside which is driving the lower price, so beware. To drive the graphics, if the computer is only being used for business applications, an on-board graphics solution can still handle the load. However, once you start getting into the realm of photo and video manipulation and complex games, a discrete graphics card is desirable. We have been using the NVidea GTX 1660 line of cards for this type of computer. The 1660 presents a good tradeoff between price and performance. For memory or RAM, we never recommend less than 8 MB of RAM for this level of computer and, if the customer can afford it or the computer’s planned usage dictates, we will recommend 16 MB of RAM. As you begin to deal with graphics processing, the amount of RAM in a computer begins to make a difference in the speed of the computer. Also, complex programs like QuickBooks® will run better with more RAM. We are now also starting to look at the manufacturer and the speed of the RAM. Some makers have a better reputation than others for putting out quality memory. Moreover, when you get into higher-level graphics, such as more complex games, the speed of the RAM can make a difference in the quality of game play. In the past few years, storage has changed significantly. As I wrote last month, hard disk drives (HDDs) have been supplanted by solid state drives (SSDs). SSDs can be 10-100 times faster than HDDs and because they have no moving parts, they last much longer than HDDs. As an added bonus, they are completely silent so no more HDD crunching noises while loading a program. Invariably, most customers overestimate the amount of storage they need. One reason for this is that so much more is now being done online or “in the cloud”. Many major programs have moved to online versions where there may be a small program loaded on the computer, but the major pieces of the program are online. Again, QuickBooks® is a great example of this. So, you no longer need tons of megabytes of storage to hold programs and games. The growth of online storage in the past few years with apps such as Dropbox®, OneDrive®, and iCloud® has also contributed to a lesser storage requirement in today’s computers. Many “Chevrolet” computers can get away with an SSD as small as 240GB. SSDs have come down in price so far in the past 5 years that a 500GB or even a 1TB SSD is a reasonable amount of storage at a good price to ensure future growth (or storing all those pictures of the grandchildren). Most of our customers are looking for a computer that falls into the Chevrolet category. They want something that is not as slow as an i3-based computer, but not as pricey as an i7-based computer. An i5-based computer fits this bill very nicely. At this level, buying off-the-shelf is still probably more cost effective and most manufacturers make a plethora of build combinations to meet the needs of nearly everybody. An i5-level computer can be custom built for a decent price if the customer has specific needs or just can’t find what they are looking for from an off-the-shelf computer. Next month: The Cadillac! Issue 949
IT'S A CADILLAC! In this issue, we are going to finish our series on the three kinds of computers that we see and that we help folks buy or build. Recall that we have classified the basic e-mail and web-browsing computer as the Volkswagen, and we have described the most common computer needed for business and light gaming as the Chevrolet. This month let’s talk about the top tier computer…the Cadillac! The Cadillac is the computer we most associate with high-level gaming. Its characteristics also lend it to doing detailed graphics editing, large video editing, and complex spreadsheet and mathematical calculations. A gaming or high-level computer can range from a low of just over $1000 to over $10,000 for the top-of-the-line models. You can purchase a computer at this level off-the-shelf, but many folks want to choose components individually to get the exact rig for their needs. Once again, we can look at laptops and desktops, but at this level, laptop computers can be fairly limiting. There are some very impressive gaming laptop computers, but with this form factor you are limited in screen size and options. Brands such as Alienware (bought by Dell several years ago), HP, and MSI make quality gaming laptops, and there are some custom brands making great gaming laptops too. However, the gaming purist will always defer to a desktop tower. Towers have many advantages over a laptop. Towers have nearly infinite configuration possibilities as well as exterior looks. Towers can have the classic rectangular look, or they can look like something out of a science fiction movie. Many times, these types of computers will have case modifications such as colored lights, special fans, or even liquid cooling to keep the insides operating efficiently. A quick Google search will bring up literally dozens of designs for every taste. The size, design, and look of a gaming tower is only limited by the builder’s imagination. However, what we are most interested in is what’s inside the beast. For the past two articles, we have focused on four major areas of the computer: The CPU, the graphics card, the RAM, and the storage. The Cadillac is no exception, but we have a much greater cost vs. benefit trade-off to consider. To help us make these decisions, we often defer to a very helpful website: PassMark Software’s benchmarking site at www.cpubenchmark.net. This site allows one to see graphically how nearly every CPU, graphics card, and RAM stacks up against the competition. At this level, the new Ryzen CPUs from AMD now begin to play a huge part in getting the best bang for your buck. Additionally, you must be careful to select a compatible motherboard to the CPU that you select. A discrete video card is the only real option for a high-level computer and this site shows the continuing battle between Nvidia and AMD, with Nvidia currently winning the war. You can see that the differences in RAM are slight and many times comes down to the builder’s brand preference. And, of course, when we look at storage at this level, we are only considering solid-state drives (SSDs). When building a gaming computer, we usually start with the builder’s budget and try to carefully balance cost with performance. Looking at some of the charts on the benchmarking site, you find that it is not always obvious which is the better deal. For example, you might think that a $1200+ processor would be better performer than a lesser priced unit. However, we can find an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X beating all Intel chips at a cost of only $549.99. Similar cost vs. performance comparisons can be made on the same site for video cards. RAM and Hard drives are also ranked on this site but the relative differences in prices and performance just are not that broad so choosing a stick of RAM or a solid-state drive is not too difficult. The question only becomes how much is enough? As a rule, for RAM at this level, 32GB is the minimum we would recommend, and 64 GB would be normal. Much of the gaming world has moved online in the past 5-10 years so having massive amounts of storage is not as important to a gamer. However, if you are using the computer for video and photo editing, then a larger storage sector might be warranted. Indeed, one of the biggest challenges for somebody building a high-end computer is timing. By this I mean when do you build the computer? The hard-core gamer wants the latest tech available, but there always seems to be another video card or chip coming down the pipeline. So, do you buy and build now, or do you wait four months to get the next big piece of tech. This is always an issue. Hopefully, I have given you a glimpse into the complexity of choosing the components for a gaming or high-end computer. These builds are usually only limited by your imagination and your checkbook. Should you decide to dip your toe into the waters of high-end computing, I hope you will come to Simple Computer Repair where we can give you solid advice and help you purchase or build a gaming rig to be proud of. Issue 950
WHOA NELLIE. BACK IT UP! The most common failure we find in computers is a hard drive or storage failure. It is a heart-breaking situation when a customer comes into the store with a computer in which the hard disk has failed and they have no backup. Invariably there are family pictures, important documents, our critical job-related information on the hard drive. It is a rare occurrence when the customer tells us he or she is not worried because the computer is backed up. More often than not, the customer has not backed up the files on the computer. This is tragic as treasured memories or critical information can be lost forever. So, let us talk about backing up your computer this month. Let’s begin by discussing what to back up. It is usually a given that you want to back up the files that you have created or stored otherwise known as a file backup. These might include pictures, documents, spreadsheets or even databases. Unless you are the kind of computer user that makes their own custom file structure, or you have multiple storage drives in your system, you will find your files in the Users folder under the C: drive in your computer. For some folks, they may have a computer with a lot of programs and applications that they may have lost the original disks for or lost the product keys. Moreover, the system may be set up with multiple custom file folders or an unusual architecture. For these folks, doing a complete system backup makes more sense. When customers ask us about backup, we normally recommend that they have at least two forms of backup: one local backup and one cloud or remote backup. When creating a local backup, you can set up your own system using a thumb drive or an external hard drive, or you can purchase a purpose-built back-up system such as a Western Digital My Book® which comes with the storage drive and all the software you need for an autonomous or custom backup solution. A positive aspect of local backup is that it can be restored very quickly from an external hard drive or thumb drive due to the high transfer rates between storage devices connected directly to the computer. However, should something catastrophic occur with the room or building that the computer and back-up are in, you would lose the local backup along with the computer. Therefore, a cloud backup makes sense too. There are a multitude of companies and sites offering cloud back-up. Some common apps include Dropbox®, iCloud®, and OneDrive®. iDrive®, Carbonite®, and Rocket® are just three companies that offer cloud back-up solutions. The downside to a cloud back-up is that it usually costs money to maintain a sizeable chunk of data in the cloud, and when you need to restore from the cloud, it can be a time-consuming and sometimes costly process. Also, a word of caution about back-up companies. You need to read the fine print carefully when signing up for a commercial backup solution. Simple Computer Repair took on a new business client and began to review their IT system and plans. Even though they were a business, the previous IT person had signed them up with a commercial backup company for a home backup plan for only $6.95 per month, and the business was happy thinking they were getting a good deal. Reading the fine print however, the backup service only backed up documents, photos and spreadsheets. It did not back up databases, of which the company had several. The least expensive plan to back up databases was ten times the cost of the cheap plan. If they would have had a need to restore their information, they would have been in serious trouble. Always read the fine print! This entire article has been about computers, but do you have a smart phone? Is it backed up? We see the same issues with smart phones where they fail or are destroyed in an accident and the owner has not backed the phone up to the cloud. It is simple and free, up to a point. Make sure your phone is backing up to the cloud. Check it today. Consider your computer(s). Consider your smart phone(s). What is on them? Are there precious photos on there? Important documents? Critical contact information? Does your job depend on what is on your computer? If so, then I strongly recommend that you back them up as soon as possible. If you are unsure what backup plan is best for you, come on by Simple Computer Repair and let us advise you. Don’t wait another day! Issue 951
CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE! “Nothing endures but change.” ― Heraclitus One of the hardest things for human beings is change. Change your toothpaste, change your hairstyle, change the model of car you drive. All these things can be difficult. Difficult change comes about in the computer world too. Folks come into Simple Computer Repair with a problem that can be remedied by a simple change, or what appears to be a simple change, but this is where it gets tough. The most common problems with change in our experience is change with either equipment or software. Let us start with hardware. Many times, somebody has brought a computer into the shop and asks if “something can be done to speed it up.” We look at the computer. We note the many scratches and dings on the case, the smudges and marks of many years of use. And let’s face it, older computers, especially laptops just had that characteristic chunky, fat look to them. Older towers still had that bland off-white PC color that the first computers came in. We do not even have to look inside to know that this is an old computer, but we do look. We find names like Celeron, Pentium, and Athlon. All good processors in their day, but their day has passed. When we suggest that it is probably time for a new computer, it can be a painful conversation. Folks do not want to change their computer for many stated reasons. People are used to the computer they have. They do not like the looks of new computers. They are not comfortable with all the new options with the latest computers. A new computer is too expensive. Software is perhaps an even larger issue with our customers. At the top of the list of challenges is changing the operating system. I wish I had a dollar for every time a customer brought in a computer with Windows 7 installed and just did not want to upgrade. Usually, they could not really give a good reason why they did not want to move up to Windows 10. They would claim they do not like the looks of Windows 10 or that they do not want to have to take the time to learn the newer OS. Some would tell me that they just could not find anything in Windows 10. MS Office is another program that people, including me, are frustrated with. As Microsoft has “improved” Office through the years, it sometimes seems that they only made it more complicated and harder to use. “The fear you let build up in your mind is worse than the situation that actually exists” ― Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese? I love the above quote from Spencer Johnson. It is so true with change in the computer world. More often than not, once a customer chooses to buy a new computer or upgrade to a newer version of software, all his fears are put to rest. I have seen customers who have resisted buying that new laptop only to find out that the newest laptops are so light to carry and so easy to move from one setting to another that they wonder why they ever waited so long. Newer laptops have better cameras, better touchpads, and better screens. And for those desktop users who say a new computer is too expensive and would rather just try to upgrade their old computer, often, when they add up the cost of newer RAM, maybe a newer solid-state drive (SSD), and the odd component or two that is tiring out, they find that a newer desktop computer can cost the same or only a few dollars more. If you are still rocking an old Pentium-based computer, you could pay nearly $300 or more to upgrade. A new Intel i3 based desktop computer would run about the same and have much petter performance. How about those folks that just do not want to put aside their Windows 7 (or heaven forbid, their Windows XP!) Some will tell me that they “heard” that Windows 10 is not as good. I am here to tell you that Windows 10 is the finest operating system that Microsoft has ever put out. It is the most stable and the most secure Microsoft OS. Others say that they do not like the looks of Windows 10. I tell all of them that I will make Windows 10 look nearly identical to Windows 7. And for those who say they can’t find anything in Windows 10, I tell them that Windows 10 is the cleanest and easiest OS to find programs and applications, as well as finding all the most used settings…and then I proceed to show them how easy it is. “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.” ― Barbara Kingsolver Yes, we all hesitate before making a change, but in the computer world, upgrading and buying new equipment just makes everything we do easier, faster, and more secure. Come into Simple Computer Repair today and let us show you how easy and affordable it can be to get into new equipment and software. And the final quote: “Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.” ― Robert C. Gallagher Issue 952
THE CELLULAR TELEPHONE Hi everybody. For over a year now I have been writing about the mysteries and wonders of the computer. Some of you may not know this, but Simple Computer Repair also repairs iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones. We can replace screens, speakers, charging ports and batteries in these phones, and usually within an hour or so of dropping off. Given this revelation, I would like to focus this month’s article on cell phones. Mobile telephones have been around longer than people think. The first wireless telephone that could be called portable was shown in 1973. It weighed almost four and a half pounds. I remember my parents buying a “mobile phone” for their car in 1977 which was about the size of a shoebox. As a young military office in 1993, I carried a Motorola mobile phone the size of a paving brick. In fact, we called it a “brick”. I can also recall trading that phone in a year later for a phone that was half its size and thinking that technology had truly reached a zenith. I still have customers come into my store today who proudly display their small, lightweight, ancient flip phone that most would consider low-tech by today’s standards. Today the smartphone is king. The first true smart phone was demonstrated in 1994 by IBM and was called the IBM Simon personal communicator. While not commercially successful due to its large form factor and short battery life, it was a vision of things to come. Before the Simon, people carried a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA). The PDA had many of the features of modern-day smart phones, though more limited in capability. After the advent of the Simon, electronics companies began to attempt to integrate the mobile phone and the PDA. These devices resembled larger PDAs but had telephony capabilities. While they were a brilliant technology for the day, their larger sizes, high cost, and expensive data plans were prohibitive for most consumers. However, the race was on to make smaller and more complex devices. In 1996, both Hewlitt-Packard (HP) and Nokia launched successful PDA/mobile phone hybrids. In the early 2000’s, smartphones began to feature small thumb keyboards and offer greater capabilities through “apps”. The RIM Blackberry was perhaps the iconic smartphone of the time. It was a wildly successful device, but only for business users as most individual consumers still could not afford the device costs or the costs of the data plans. In 2007 the worked changed. Apple introduced the first iPhone. This was one of the first devices with no buttons or keyboards (other than the home button) and a full touch-screen interface. {Few may know that LG came to market with the first touchscreen phone called the LG Prada before the iPhone and when Apple introduced the iPhone, LG claimed that Apple stole their idea.) Other companies were quick to copy the many innovative features of the iPhone (and lawsuits followed). Fast forward to 2021. Apple has just introduced the iPhone 12 line of phones and Samsung has just come to market with the Samsung 21 phones. Google, LG, Huawei, and Nokia among others, produce touchscreen smart phones, though with a limited market share. The smartphone has become a part of everyday life in the developed world and a part of pop culture. Few can imagine life without instant contact with the world through calling, texting and social media fed through a smartphone. Just today on a long car trip I was explaining to my son how, in the past, I kept a complete atlas (yes, paper maps) in my car to find my way while living in Europe. All of this while he was navigating us effortlessly using his brand new smartphone. At Simple Computer Repair, we repair Apple and Samsung smartphones and help our customers learn to use their phones better. Some of our older customers appreciate the time we spend showing them new features and ways to use their phones more productively. We spend a great deal of time helping customers get their e-mail synced with their smartphone. We have software that allows us to completely download the content of Apple and Android-based content which we have used to help customers back up their phones, and even helped one customer use their content in a court proceeding. In additional to all this high-tech assistance, Simple Computer Repair stocks Apple and Samsung phone cases, cables, chargers, and accessories…all for only $5.00 apiece. So, whether you have the latest Samsung 21 or Apple 12 Pro Max, or you still carry your Nokia flip phone, you can count on Simple Computer Repair to be your mobile and smartphone resource. Come by and see us Issue 953
THE SMART PHONE (PART 2) Last month in this column, we spent quite a bit of time tracing the beginnings of the cell phone craze. We reviewed the first heavy “bricks”, tip-toed through flip phones, and ended with a bang in smart phones. This month, let’s talk about just the smart phone, and some of the most common issues that people bring their phones in for. In the United States, Apple and Samsung together make up over 80% of the cell phones purchased. Because of this, the availability of repair parts, and the ease of repair, Simple Computer Repair only works on these phones and that’s what we will focus on in this article. Let’s start with the reason to have a smart phone in the first place. Like so much technology today, the more you know about smart phones, the more useful they are. Let’s face it, a smart phone can be “your whole life” as some of my customers say. Most of us keep our entire address book or contact list on our phone. Smart phones can be programmed with multiple e-mail addresses so you are never far from that important e-mail. Instant messaging or text messaging is invaluable these days for quickly keeping up with family or business. I’ve had customers tell me that they still refer to text messages from 2 years ago for information. Our phones have replaced point and shoot cameras and, in fact, the resolution of the newest smart phones surpasses that of most mid-level cameras. While car GPS systems have made navigation easier, often they are not completely updated with new roads and routes. Our phones have map functions that seem to stay nearly up-to-the-minute accurate and make getting from A to Z so much easier. Finally, there are thousands of applications or apps that make our life easier or even, more fun. Rather than staring off into space, most folks I see in a waiting room are doing something on their phone, many of them playing a game. Yep, smart phones are the way to go. But they can be a bit of a problem sometimes, and that’s where we come in. The number one problem we find with smart phones is that they break. Yes, Mr. Jobs (Apple) handed you a piece of glass, told you to carry it around in your pocket everywhere you go…and don’t break it. At Simple Computer Repair, we fix 20-40 broken phone screens a month or more. We’ve seen everything from a simple crack after the phone has fallen from 2 feet or less, to a completely crushed telephone that has been run over by a car…three times. And we were able to fix that one. Older Apple screens were liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and weren’t too expensive. Samsung went to organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens early on, as did Apple with their iPhone X and beyond, and replacing these screens are costly. We also sell tempered glass for Apple phones. While it is very thin and made of glass too, folks are usually surprised to have a completely shattered piece of tempered glass on their phone, peel it off, and find that the screen below is unharmed. We highly recommend tempered glass over plastic and brush-on protectors. We also have a wide assortment of high-quality cases for Apple phones and cables and accessories for smart phones for only $5.00 apiece. This brings us to the next most common problem: backing up your phone. Occasionally, we are given a phone to fix, and it just can’t be saved. With both Apple and Samsung, you have to be able to see and interact with the screen in order to download information off the phone. So, if you can’t see or touch the screen, you cannot get your information (photos, e-mails, etc), unless you have backed up the phone. Both Android and Apple phones have simple backup routines in the phone, and both offer a small amount of free cloud backup space. Also, if you need more space, both have convenient and low-cost cloud storage fees for larger amounts of data. We highly recommend that you BACK UP YOUR PHONE! Sometimes folks will bring us a phone that just won’t charge. Many times, we get lucky and find that there is a pack of pocket lint in the charging port. We use a microscope and very fine tweezers to pull this lint out and, voila, the phone charges again. You can do this at home, but you must be very careful to not bend any of the charging contacts on an Apple phone or break the middle support on a micro-USB port on many Android phones. Sometimes, we find that the battery is bad and needs to be replaced. We can replace batteries in 20-30 minutes. If your screen is bulging up, this can be a sign that your battery needs replacing. Occasionally, the problem is a worn out charging port and we can change these. We can repair other parts of smart phones too, such as cracked cameras, broken buttons and speakers. Especially with Apple, there have been some known issues with some phones and operating system updates. Perhaps one of the most infamous issues was with the iPhone 6+ when it first arrived. It was the first plus-sized Apple phone and people found that, if they carried it around in their back pocket, the case on the phone tended to bend and cause the phone speakers to fail or the entire phone to fail. The later 6S+ also had similar issues. The iPhone 7 had issues later in its life with the speakers and microphone failing. iPhone 8 and iPhone 8+ have had complaints about WiFi dropping issues. Growing numbers of iPhone 12 buyers are reporting problems. Issues include fast battery drain, odd displays, and dropped connections. Occasionally, problems result from an operating system update. Apple is usually pretty good at fixing these type issues quickly with another minor update If you are having problems with your Apple of Samsung smart phone, bring it in to Simple Computer Repair and let us have a go at it. While not every problem can be fixed, when we do fix an issue, it is usually less expensive than a manufacturer repair or a replacement phone. Issue 954
THE SCAM REVISITED... AGAIN! Over the past year and a half of writing this article, I have twice written about viruses, malware, and scams. I’ve focused on these topics in the past because this may be the second most common problem I see in our shop; second only to failed hard drives. It can be frustrating and heartbreaking to have a person come into the store having been a victim to a scam that has cost them money and the health of their computer. While antivirus (A/V) programs are fairly successful at catching obvious malware attachments to e-mails and malicious websites, it probably isn’t worth your money to pay for one. If you use Windows 10, we always recommend you use the included Windows Defender to protect your computer. It is usually highly rated among A/V software, does not slow your computer down like so many other A/V applications, and best of all, it is free. However, as just about anybody in the industry will tell you, you are the best antivirus defense for your computer. You need to really pay attention to what you are opening, especially when it is an e-mail attachment or an action button in an e-mail or on a web page. But once again, I want to focus on the worst family of scams I see out there. This involves either a phone call from somebody claiming they are from either Microsoft or an antivirus company saying there is something wrong with your computer, or a pop-up when on the web that purports to be from Microsoft saying that there is a virus on your computer, and you need to call them immediately. I have published the below mantra twice now, but I believe that it is worth repeating. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of a phone call or a pop-up, repeat after me:
I want to end with a story that just breaks my heart. I have a colleague in this business. He described to me a client who was elderly and the victim of slight dementia. About once a month, a scammer would call him and convince him that he had a virus and for $200, the scammer would remote into his computer and remove the virus. The scammer was smart and only took the client for $200-$500 a month. My colleague tried to help him and went so far as to give the client his card and asked him to call my colleague anytime day or night if a person were to call the client and tell him he had a problem with his computer. Unfortunately, the client did not use the card and continued to get scammed. The reason for telling this story is that, if you have elderly relatives; parents, grandparents, neighbors, or friends who are on the computer, please spend extra time with them and help them to recognize and ignore scammers. That generation did not grow up with computers and was taught to respect authority. Many scammers have honed their delivery to specifically target the elderly. So, please look around you and see if there is somebody you know that you can reach out to and educate about these scams. Also, if you are really interested in how these scammers work, there are some excellent YouTube videos where one YouTuber in particular, does a great job of exposing a scamming operation. Here is a great link if you have the time to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le71yVPh4uk Once again, Simple Computer Repair is not only a computer repair shop and IT services company, but we are also a community resource, and we want to help our friends and neighbors. Reach out to us if you are unsure of a scam or if you have recently been scammed. We can help ensure your computer is safe and secure. Issue 955
MY INTERNET IS BAD!! Hi everybody. Today I’m going to talk about a subject I’ve covered once before, but continue to get asked the question almost weekly: What can I do about bad Internet or Wi-Fi in my house? Whenever I hear this question, my first question back is always, “Who is your Internet provider?” Internet providers are not equal, and the question gets more complicated as better technology emerges. This is a great example of the old computer saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” If you have poor Internet service coming into your house, you will never have good Wi-Fi coming out of your router. In this day and age, I would consider 30-50 Megabits per second (Mbps) a respectable Internet download speed. In the past, it was common knowledge that CenturyLink Internet service was substandard. Even today, I have clients who are paying way too much to CenturyLink for single-digit download speeds. However, CenturyLink has been installing Gigabit fiber in some locations around the Tri-Lakes area. If you are lucky enough to live where this service has been installed, you can get some screaming fast Internet to your house. For those who are in the Comcast service area, you can pick your speed from 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) all the way to a Gigabit per second download speed in most areas. The important thing here is to know what you are paying for, and then check what you are actually getting (www.nperf.com). If you aren’t getting the speed you are paying for, get on the phone to Comcast immediately. Personally, I pay Comcast for 600 Mbps, and on my LAN, I frequently surpass that speed. A new player in town is Force Broadband. Force started out filling a niche by providing fast Internet to under-served areas using wireless links. Often, when a customer only has the option of slow CenturyLink Internet, like some places in Palmer Lake, for example, Force Broadband can provide a fast and economical Internet service. Likewise, Netlive Networks provides wireless Internet to residential customers in the eastern part of the Tri-Lakes area. Today, Force is expanding into fiber, expanding their footprint exponentially, and offering speeds as fast as 1 gigabit in some areas. If you are interested in supporting a local, veteran-owned company, check out their website at www.ForceBB.com. So, you’ve done your homework and have signed on for the best or fastest Internet service you can find for your residence or business, but your Wi-Fi still is slow. This is frustrating, but there are solutions. First, it is important to understand that a Wi-Fi signal is a fickle thing. I have a two-story house and my modem/router is in a bedroom on the top floor. I get great Wi-Fi in my basement Yet, I have been to some clients’ houses where the Wi-Fi can’t seem to reach from one room to another. This can be a result of the architecture of the house or it can be the fault of the wireless router, or both. Since we can’t do much about the architecture, we often need to look at the Wi-Fi equipment. In the IT world, the old adage “you get what you pay for” is very much alive. While you can get a wireless router for less than $100, you aren’t going to get much with that router. If you chose to buy your own router rather than renting from your Internet provider, you should buy a good router. Going cheap will just mean you will need to replace it sooner and thereby negate the savings of not renting the router from the provider in the first place. Contact Simple Computer Repair before you buy to make sure you are getting the right router for your needs. Alternatively, Comcast is deploying an excellent wireless router, so if you have an older Comcast router, you should contact them to have it upgraded; especially since you are renting it from them. In the past five years, Simple Computer Repair has become quite adept at designing solutions for our customers’ Wi-Fi and Internet challenges. We have equipment and designs to provide Internet throughout a house, no matter the architecture. We also have a great deal of experience extending Internet to other buildings on your property such as garages, barns, and guest houses. We can utilize a two-conductor cable to send Internet up to 500 meters. Beyond that, or if we are looking for a wireless solution, we have the ability to send fast Internet wirelessly over great distances. Having been fighting the “poor Internet” issue for five years, Simple Computer Repair is well positioned in the Tri-Lakes region to help you get out of the single-digit Internet speed world and get you into the 21st century of high-speed Internet. Give us a call today and start enjoying uninterrupted streaming and fast Internet. Issue 956
BROWSERS Let’s spend some time this month talking about an app that we all use, but don’t always understand: the web browser! There are many web browsers out there but five that are found in over 90% of computers today. These include, in order of popularity, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer/Edge, and Opera. Everyone has their favorite browser, but which one is the best for you? Let’s first understand that this can be very much a Ford versus Chevy argument. I mean to say that the browsers listed above all get the job done, and it often comes down to personal preference over any real technical differences. Let’s take a more in depth look at these browsers. Chrome Chrome, by Google, is currently the dominant and most popular browser across the globe. It is one of the fastest browsers in terms of loading time, allows synchronization of history and bookmarks across computers and cell phones/tablets, has very few security concerns, loads HTML5 efficiently, has its own store similar to the Apple App store or Google Play store, and even its own operating system. Chrome comes standard on most Android mobile devices and works well on tablets and phones. There is a reason half of all web traffic goes through Google Chrome. However, Chrome does have drawbacks. The desktop version of Chrome is a bit slower than the mobile version and Chrome program files are large. Chrome will also use more system resources than other browsers. Safari Dedicated Apple product users are familiar with Safari. Safari originally was designed for Macintosh computers. As iPhones came on the market, Apple included the Safari browser as a dedicated application (app). As is common with most Apple products, Safari runs smooth and fast, but does not allow much customer customization. What you see is what you get. Additionally, Safari will only work on Mac devices so don’t try to load it on a Windows machine or an Android phone. Safari has been shown to be the fastest browser you can load on macOS systems. Additionally, Safari does have some neat built-in security and convenience features that keep Mac and iPhone/iPad users safe and secure. Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (IE) has been around for a long time. Compared to its modern competitors, IE is slower to load, has more security vulnerabilities, and has more challenges loading newer technologies like HTML5. The newest version, IE11, is better than its predecessors but still struggles in today’s world. The only people who should be using Internet Explorer these days are those who visit a lot of older web sites. Some government sites, especially those run by the military, still require Internet Explorer and some even require it to be run in Compatibility mode for IE7 which came out in 2006. Edge My favorite browser is Edge, by Microsoft (Available on Windows 10 only). A common practice in software lifecycle, Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, and has stopped supporting Internet Explorer 11 in favor of Microsoft Edge. Edge is an entirely new and much improved piece of programming. Microsoft Edge is quickly gaining popularity with those who have upgraded to Windows 10 due to its lightning fast speeds and rich new features. Edge is the only browser to beat Chrome in speed tests, and it does so in about half of the standard tests that are done. Edge has many new features, one of which is the “Web Note” feature. This allows someone to draw, highlight, and white-out web-pages to then share across the web. Mozilla Firefox FireFox, by Mozilla, has been a very popular browser and is currently the second most popular PC based browser behind Google Chrome. The Mozilla project was started in 1998 by the Netscape Navigator community before AOL purchased Netscape later that year. Firefox has many of the same features as Google Chrome including bookmark and history synching, an easy to manage tab interface, support for modern software technologies, and an entire app store of extensions that run well within the browser itself. While faster than Internet Explorer, Firefox has had security concerns due to its developer-friendly architecture. Firefox is also known to have more ads than other browsers. Opera The Opera browser is one of the oldest browsers on this list and offers a couple of unique advantages over the other browsers. First, it operates on all your devices from smartphones to tablets to computers and works with all operating systems. It has some slick features built into it with the latest addition of a built-in VPN. It also has a small footprint on your computer so won’t take up too much space. A couple disadvantages couple be that some sites may not load or may not load completely with Opera as it has strict coding requirements. Opera also offers a ton of set-up choices which may confuse less experienced users. Issue 957
COMPUTER SLOWING DOWN? In the last two articles I’ve written for Snippetz, I’ve discussed why you might experience slow Internet browsing. I discussed the local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their attributes, and I compared the various Internet web browsers. But what if your computer seems to be slow when performing other functions. This could include when the computer is starting (booting up), when opening a program or app, when running programs, or when doing other functions. Let’s discuss some of the reasons your computer may be slow. Let’s start by looking at the computer itself. How old is your computer? Searching the Internet for the average life span of a computer returns the common answer of three to five years. This is a generalization based on the pace of technology development and the rate at which common parts in a computer wear out. An older computer is just going to be slower. At Simple Computer Repair, we have refurbished and repaired computers six to ten years old. When wondering whether a computer can still be useful, we generally ask the primary purpose of the computer as some tasks can be more demanding of the computer than others. An older computer can be repaired and used for e-mail and light web browsing whereas a newer and more complex computer is needed for higher-level gaming, graphics manipulation and processes requiring heavy mathematical processing. Repairing versus buying new is an interesting question and we will cover this in a future article. When a customer brings us a computer that is running slow, we first look at the hardware in the computer. We run extensive diagnostics to determine the health of components such as the motherboard, the main processor, the Random Access Memory (RAM), and the disk drive(s). The vast majority of the time, if a hardware component is to blame for the slowdown, it is usually a failing hard drive. In these cases, we usually recommend installing a Solid-State Drive (SSD), which is a newer technology than the old hard drives with a 50x to 100x performance increase. In the past, large SSD’s were prohibitively expensive, but recently the prices of SSD’s have really dropped making them affordable for nearly every application. If you are still running an HHD in your computer, no matter the age, an SSD can really tweak your computer speed. Upgrading the RAM can increase the operating speed of your computer. Simply put, RAM is a holding bin for information pulled from a storage device and waiting to be used in a program or application. Increasing the amount of RAM and/or upgrading to RAM that can process information faster has the potential of speeding up your computer. However, this is very dependent upon the programs that you are running on your computer. Simple text programs like word processors or e-mail do not require fast or large RAM arrays. Programs that rely on many mathematical calculations such as large spreadsheets, and programs that are graphics heavy such as photo-editing programs and more advanced games definitely stress RAM and are helped by larger and faster RAM arrays. For the majority of today’s programs, we recommend 8 MB (megabytes) of RAM as the minimum you should have installed. After we have ruled out hardware issues, we then look at software. First, which version of Windows® or macOS® are you running? You should always be running the most up-to-date operating system for your computer. For PCs, there are few good reasons for not running Windows 10. Windows 10 is arguably the best version of Windows Microsoft has deployed. It is fast, secure, and easy to use. And for my customers who claim they don’t want to give up Windows 7 “because Windows 10 would be too hard to learn”, I say that Windows 10 can and does look and run remarkably like Windows 7. And if you still aren’t convinced, Microsoft ended all support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. So there are no security or safety updates released any more. If you are doing financial transactions on a Windows 7 computer, it’s really only a matter of time before you find yourself in trouble. For Mac users, the version of the operating system you can load on your computer is limited by Apple and depends upon the age of your computer. However, we still see a lot of Macs with old operating systems. You can check online with Apple support to find out which version of macOS or OS X your computer can take. Once we are sure you have the best operating system installed for your computer, we spend a great deal of time looking at how you have your computer configured. One of the sneakiest thieves of computer speed is the “program running in the background”. Often, when a user downloads a new program on their computer, they also download other programs that they may or may not be aware of. These programs run in the background hogging processor power and slowing down your computer. Updaters, monitors, tool bars, search bars, and help programs are chief among these. We scour our customers computers rooting out these programs as few of them are beneficial for the user. Finally, the last culprit contributing to a slow computer is malware. Viruses can slow down a computer while they are operating behind the scenes, but normally cause much greater damage than just slowing the computer. Adware, on the other hand, can seriously drag your computer speed down without causing any other damage. Adware is usually picked up while browsing web pages and is stored in the form of cookies that can track your online shopping and browsing habits. While not necessarily malicious, adware can slow your computer to a crawl. We have an extensive routine we use to remove viruses and adware and clean up your computer so you can get every little bit of speed possible. So if your computer seems to be lagging behind, bring it in to Simple Computer Repair today for a free diagnosis and let us help you get back in the fast lane! Issue 958
THE PRINTER, PART 1 Lately, one of the most common problems we have been seeing at Simple Computer Repair is printer connection issues. We have also received numerous requests to repair printers or to advise on replacing a printer. So, I think it is appropriate that we dedicate this month’s article to the trusty printer. We all need one, but they can be oh so frustrating to make work properly. Back in 1938, a man named Chester Carlson invented the electrophotography process which would be more commonly called Xerox. This was the foundation for modern copiers and laser printers. However, it would take decades before this technology became cost effective and efficient for use in consumer computing. In fact, the first laser printer wasn’t invented until 1969 by a man named Gary Starkweather. As the home PC computer gained momentum in the early 1980’s, most consumers were purchasing a dot matrix printer to go with their new computer. These printers were faster and far less expensive than any electrophoto or electrostatic printer, so were ideal for the home consumer. The dot matrix printer originally could print up to 128 characters, but as the technology developed, one could program the printer to print other characters or variations of the first 128 characters. As computers and printers advanced, one could find wide carriage dot matrix printers, compact dot matrix printers and high-speed dot matrix printers. But, in the end, they all relied upon the same technology. The dot matrix printers had several drawbacks. For those of us that lived through that era, you know that they were incredibly noisy. It was pretty distracting to have a dot matrix printer clattering away while trying to work. Another major drawback was the print quality. All characters and later pictures produced by a dot matrix printer were a combination of small dots so they always seemed a bit fuzzy, similar to newspaper photos of the time. In 1988, Hewlett-Packard offered a new type of printer to the public called an ink jet printer. These printers showed a great improvement in print quality over dot matrix printers and all but completely relaced them in the home environment. Ink jet printers used very fine nozzles to shoot ink onto a page in a continuous way thereby making images sharper and more colorful. The ink jet printer is still very popular today due to its fine print quality and low price. However, the business model for ink jet manufacturers called for inexpensive machines but expensive replacement ink cartridges. The cartridges don’t hold a lot of ink so they must be replaced frequently, thereby making the machines profitable for the manufactures, and frustrating and expensive for users. Laser printers began to become more common in the workplace in the early 2000’s. As they became more popular and prevalent, the price for the machines began to come down until consumers could eventually afford them. By 2005, laser printers were beginning to replace ink jet printers in the home. Today, ink jet printers garner a market share of about 36% while laser printers maintain a market share of approximately 64%. Now back to where we started this article: One of the most common questions asked in our store about printers is whether we repair them. The simple answer is no. The complexity of modern printers combined with the difficulty in obtaining repair parts for printers makes them very expensive to repair. The average consumer printer costs less to purchase a new model than to have an older model repaired. The next most common problem we see is with printer connectivity. Back in the day, you downloaded the drivers for a printer, pointed Windows at either those drivers or standard drivers already loaded with Windows, and away you went. Today, Windows no longer has a library of standard drivers that you just point to. They leave printer installation to the printer manufacturers. And printer manufacturers are doing their very best to make the process of connecting a printer to a computer as complicated as possible. HP, for example, has a new application called HP Smart which is supposed to make printer installation easy. However, the program is buggy and difficult to use. Often, an HP printer will unexpectedly lose connection to the computer and you have to go back through the installation process to reconnect. I also recently purchased a Canon all-in-one printer for a customer. While it is installed exactly how Canon directs, the scanning function is hit or miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t with no rhyme or reason. This has been an overview of the printer and some of the problems you can expect to find as you try to work with them. Next month, we’ll talk about purchasing a new printer and what features you should look for. And, as always, come see us at Simple Computer Repair if you are having problems with your printer. Issue 959
THE PRINTER, PART 2 Last month in this column we talked about the lowly printer. We discussed how the role of the printer has grown and evolved in personal computing. This month we are going to continue our discussion by helping to answer a common question we get in the shop: I need a new printer. Which printer should I buy. I wrote about some of the options for home printers in my last column. Let’s examine them closer now. When a customer comes to us, we first ask the most important question: what are you using the printer for? This is important as it drives the features the customer needs in a printer. Are they going to just do black and white printing? Color printing? Mass printing? Do they need scanning and/or faxing capabilities? After understanding their needs and their budget, we start looking. By far, the most common printer on people’s desktop is the color inkjet printer. These printers replaced the dot matrix printer in the mid-1990’s for most people and are popular mostly due to their low cost. The printer works by shooting small dots of ink onto paper. These printers were the first to give a truly high-resolution output for home computers. However, the ink can be used quickly and the cost of replacement ink cartridges more than makes up for the cheap cost of the printer. Also, if you don’t use the printer for a long time, the print head can become clogged and unusable and the printer has to be replaced. In recent years, a new inkjet printer has become more popular. This is the ink tank inkjet printer. The printing mechanism remains the same as the inkjet printer, but instead of having to purchase expensive small ink cartridges, the printer stores the ink in tanks that hold much more ink that last longer and make the printer more economically feasible. Laser printers have been considered the Cadillac of printers, but also the most expensive printers. In the past few years, the price of laser printers has been coming down. Laser printers give excellent resolution and clean, crisp documents at faster speeds than inkjet printers. A laser printer uses the same process as copiers and bonds powdered toner to paper with heat. While toner cartridges for laser printers are expensive, they don’t need to be replaced as often as inkjet cartridges and, in the long run, are the most economical choice for printing. As for features, the first choice for customers is usually between black and white or color printing. All inkjet printers are color printers, but laser printers still come in either model. Monochrome or black laser printers cost less and are excellent in office environments where only basic documents are printed. They print very fast and their toner cartridges last a long time. Color laser printers will be more expensive than monochrome printers but can be more useful to print vibrant documents and pictures. However, most color laser printers have four cartridges that need to be replaced, so this adds to their cost. Another printer that is very useful to businesses and people who do a lot of business correspondence is the all-in-one (AIO) printer. And AIO printer usually has the capability to make copies of documents, scan documents, and even fax documents if a phone line is available. Most now have sheet feeders that allow for scanning or copying a large number of documents at once. For many, the printer on their desktop is like a teenager. It sits around the house but is difficult to make work. Printer manufacturers and Microsoft have been trying to make it easier to install a printer on your computer, but most have inadvertently made it more difficult. In the past year, we have made an extraordinary number of home visits to set up new or existing printers. All printers must have drivers installed on a computer before they will work with them. A driver is a small piece of software that tells a computer how to work with a peripheral such as a printer or a scanner. In the past, you merely installed a driver, ran it, and the printer worked. Now, with the plethora of features built into printers, drivers have gotten larger and more difficult to install. Follow directions carefully when attempting to install driver for a new or existing printer. Here at Simple Computer Repair, we are experts at installing and operating printers. If you are contemplating purchasing a new printer or are having problems with your home printer, give us a call and let us come out and get you printing in no time! Issue 960
INPUT DEVICES The past couple months, we’ve been talking about printers. These tend to hang off of every computer, either with a USB cable or wirelessly. But what else do we “plug” into our computers? The two most common devices we connect to our computers are the keyboard and the mouse. These allow us to control every aspect of the computer. While some computers, namely tablet computers, don’t require these devices, they are just pretty darn inconvenient to use for serious computing without the keyboard and mouse. Connections come in two varieties: wired or wireless. Wired keyboards and mice have been the standard for decades. However, in the past ten years, wireless keyboards and mice and keyboard/mouse combinations have become very affordable and more reliable. These are now the preferred way to communicate with your computer. The most prevalent problem with these devices is that the sending/receiving dongle that you plug into a USB port is not universal and works only with the device(s) you purchase. So, if you lose the dongle, you have to buy a completely new set. Keyboards generally come in two major types: either membrane or mechanical keyboards. Membrane keyboards are inexpensive and compact, but don’t necessarily last very long. More importantly, membrane keyboards are not very satisfying to type on. They tend to have a mushy feeling and do not provide a great deal of tactile feedback to the typist. Mechanical keyboards use a mechanical switch under each key and have a distinct tactile feeling. They feature a click as you push a key down confirming key selection/activation. Most people who use keyboards a lot prefer the feel and the feedback of a mechanical key versus the mush of a membrane key. If you have never tried a mechanical keyboard versus a membrane keyboard, go to Best Buy and try some of their gaming keyboards. They have a nice selection that you can demo. Mechanical keyboards tend to last much longer than membrane keyboards and the only drawbacks to them is that they can be pricey and noisy. However, for most people, once you’ve spent time typing on a mechanical keyboard, you will not want to go back to a cheap membrane keyboard. Other features to look for on a keyboard include lighted keys, molded rather than printed letters on the keys, a volume control, and media controls on the keyboard. This brings us to the lowly mouse. With the advent of the graphical user interface or GUI, computers needed a way to point at objects on the screen. The first pointing devices were track balls and tablet and pen combinations. The trackball, which this author still uses today, has been around since the mid 1940’s and was first used by the military in fire control radars. In 1968, a gentleman named Douglas Englebart invented the mouse. Computer mice were originally mechanical with usually two wheels or a ball rolling on the desk describing motion in two dimensions. Today, nearly all computer mice have optical sensors and no moving parts to detect motion. Once again, you have the option of having a wired mouse or a wireless mouse. Mice come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Mice for PC computers usually have a minimum of two buttons for input (left click/right click). Today, a majority of PC mice also have some form of a roller wheel or scrolling wheel. Mice for Apple products usually have only one “button” or tap input. A quick search online will show a bewildering number of gaming mice with multiple programmable buttons, scrolling wheels, moveable surfaces, colors, designs, and lights. Other pointing devices are available. I personally use Kensington Expert Mouse trackballs for my home computers as the ball is very heavy and allows very precise movement. Trackballs are popular with graphic artists and those doing precise drawings on the computer. Some tablet and touch screen computers come with a pen that can be touched directly to the screen to control the computer. Adaptive pointing devices are also available for people with special needs. So, as you can see, you don’t have to live with that cheap wired keyboard and mouse that came with your computer. Get out and try a mechanical keyboard and consider buying a wireless keyboard and mouse. These upgrades can enhance your computer experience. If you would like more information or advice on purchasing a new keyboard or mouse, come see us at Simple Computer Repair. Issue 961
PERIPHERALS Last month we talked about the two most important peripherals you plug into your computer: the keyboard and the mouse. This month, let’s look at some other items folks plug in to their computers. Let’s start with the webcam. Most laptops and all-in-ones today come with a webcam built in to the lid or the frame of the computer screen. However, few free-standing monitors have a webcam built in so when using a desktop, it is necessary to purchase an add-on webcam. Webcams come in all shapes and prices. Nearly all come with a built-in microphone. The biggest discriminator between webcam models is the resolution of the webcam. A quick scan of Amazon® shows that the minimum resolution of webcam you can purchase today is 720p while the maximum is called 4K. The middle class is populated by 1080p cameras. A quick note on resolution. The numbers 720 and 1080 refer to lines of vertical resolution. The numbers and terms used when talking about resolution can be confusing. In a simple chart, here is what the three most common resolutions for webcams mean:
So, when choosing a webcam, prices will generally align with resolution, with 4K cameras having the highest prices and sharpest images. If you are just video chatting with the family, then maybe a 720p camera is sufficient. But if you spend a great deal of time on video conferences for your career, then a 4K camera may be worth the investment. Next, let’s look at some of the plug-in storage that is in use out there. Storage needs surpassed the ability of the CD-ROM and DVD at about the same time that memory chips became cheaper and their capabilities expanded exponentially. This led to the rapid growth of the plug-in storage media. From the early 2000’s, flash drives replaced disks as the preferred method for storing files and moving files from computer to computer. Later, external hard disk drives became popular for holding larger files and storage needs when flash drives were too small. Today, you can buy flash drives that hold as much as 2 terabytes (TB) of data. Portable hard drives can hold up to 8TB of data. When choosing a portable storage device, the only real decision besides for the capacity is whether the device is a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0. A USB 3.0 device will be more expensive that a USB 2.0 device, but transfers data more than 17 times faster than a USB 2.0. With some computers, there just aren’t enough USB ports to plug everything in. For folks in that position, they can buy a USB hub. A hub plugs into one USB port on the computer but has multiple USB ports to use. When purchasing a hub, be sure you know if you are purchasing a hub that does not require power, or a hub that has to be plugged into the wall to power it. For some folks with laptops, they want to have the convenience of taking their laptop with them, but the efficiency of a full-sized keyboard, mouse, and maybe multiple large monitors when at home. For them, a docking station is ideal. One can plug multiple items into the docking station, yet have only plug for the laptop. Docking stations can be finicky, so be sure that when you are purchasing, you ensure that the docking station is designed specifically for your brand and model of computer. These are just a few of the peripherals that you can plug into a computer to make computing easier and more enjoyable. If you have any doubts about a peripheral or how to use it, please come by Simple Computer repair and let us advise you. Issue 962
E-MAIL - PART 1 We have discussed some aspects of e-mail in the past in this column, but I would like to take a deeper dive into e-mail and how it works. There are some very common misunderstandings out there about e-mail and we will try to clear some of that up. The first e-mail was sent in 1971 from one DEC-10 machine to another. This was also the first use of the @ symbol in an address. E-mail was slow to catch on as the Internet itself did not come into existence until 1983, and so up to that point, there was no standard protocol for machines to communicate. Even after the advent of the Internet, e-mail was slow to develop. It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that e-mail began to expand, and by the late 1990’s, e-mail was becoming a common means to communicate online. Today, e-mail is everywhere in business and in the private sector. In fact, it is estimated that there are 4.147 billion e-mail addresses in the world today with over an estimated 319.6 billion e-mails sent and received in 2021. But how do those billions of e-mails find their way from sender to receiver? An e-mail address is made up of a username and a domain in the form of username@domain. Some common domains include gmail.com, hotmail.com, aol.com, outlook.com, and icloud.com. These domains represent companies or organizations who provide e-mail servers that sort thru and store e-mails. We call these companies “e-mail providers.” Within these domains are you and I: the users. So, everything before the @ symbol tells the company or organization who within that organization the e-mail belongs to. This is why you must have a unique username within that domain. Ever tried to make a new e-mail account and spent ten minutes just trying to find a username that hasn’t been taken already within that domain? Some companies or organizations allow you to make your own domain name as well as username. You most often see this with companies whose domain reflects some form of their company name. Simple Computer Repair has the domain @SCR-COS.com. A common misunderstanding that I hear from many of my customers is that the company providing their e-mail is the same as the program or application you are using to read their e-mail. Often, I will ask who is your e-mail provider, and they will respond with “Outlook”, “Edge” or “Chrome”. This is where I will explain that Outlook on their computer is what is called an “e-mail client”. An e-mail client is a program that takes the e-mail from the provider’s server and displays it on your computer so that you can read it and respond to it or send new e-mails. There are a number of easier and less complicated clients than Microsoft Outlook including Windows Mail, Thunderbird, and several others, but this is what most people tend to use for a client. Another way to look at your e-mail is through a web browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. This is called webmail. Taking Chrome as an example, when you open the Chrome browser, there is usually a link for Gmail in the upper right corner. You can click on this, put your credentials in (username and password), and you are directed to a web version (webmail) of your e-mail. Alternatively, you can also type the name or web address (URL) in the address bar of any web browser and go to the same webmail page. Keeping Gmail as our example, you could type gmail.com into the address bar of a browser like Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox and you would still be directed to your Gmail webmail account. This is handy when you are checking your e-mail from a public computer or a friend’s or family member’s computer. This same method works for other e-mail providers. If you have AOL as your provider, you can type aol.com into any browser. Comcast? You guessed it. You just type “comcast.com” into any browser and you can get to your e-mail. Hopefully, this has given you a clearer understanding of how e-mail works. If you are still confused or need help with your e-mail, come on down to Simple Computer repair and let either Tyler me help get you back on track. Many people complain that e-mail has taken over their computer, and they spend too much time (or don’t have the time) reading, responding, searching through, or deleting e-mail. Next month, I am going to continue to discuss e-mail and some common practices and ways to organize your e-mail. Issue 963
E-MAIL, PART 2 Last month in this column, I discussed the origins and the functioning of e-mail and tried to clear up some common e-mail misunderstandings. This month let’s talk about common problems we see with our customers and their e-mail accounts. Also, let’s look at some easier ways to deal with e-mail. By far, the most common issue our customers have with e-mail is a forgotten password. This can happen when you haven’t used that particular account for awhile or if you have used it but have relied on your computer’s auto-fill password function to provide the password and haven’t had to type in in ages. Most e-mail providers today have routines in place to make it easy to get your password back…if you have taken the time to set them up and keep them updated. Most providers will ask for a cell phone number and/or a rescue e-mail account that is different from the one you are using. If you have used this procedure and have kept your information up to date, recovering a password is a relatively simple function. If you haven’t kept this information up-to-date, things can get complicated quickly. So, we encourage you to find this procedure in your e-mail account’s settings and make sure your information is up to date. Another problem we see is when a user with an old e-mail account that they have been using for quite some time for some reason loses or deletes their e-mails on their computer. Older e-mail accounts used a system called POP3 which downloaded messages from their e-mail server to their computer, and then deleted the messages on the server. If you lost them on your computer, you’ve lost them for good. The better e-mail system is called IMAP. With IMAP, your e-mail messages remain on a server and your e-mail client on your computer mirrors what is on the server without deleting the server copy. So, if you delete your e-mail program on your computer with all your e-mail messages (or your hard drive dies and you lose everything), all you need do is reload and set up your e-mail client and all your messages will download from the server again. With IMAP, you can also painlessly change your e-mail client if you wanted to. Another common problem we’ve seen is too many e-mails in the inbox, or too many unread e-mails. A recent customer came in with a very slow e-mail problem. Turns out this customer had 122,000 unread e-mails in her inbox., some of them dating back 16 years Most e-mail providers limit the space reserved for your e-mail. Some will even stop your e-mail completely if you exceed that space. The best way to avoid these problems is to keep your inbox clean. I like to keep no more than 3 months of e-mail in my inbox. I take e-mails older than 3 months and move them to a folder I’ve created called (cleverly enough) “old e-mail”. You can also keep your inbox clean by periodically sorting the inbox by sender, and then delete e-mails in batches from “junk” senders and e-mail from senders who you know you won’t need again. It’s a great way to delete 50-100 e-mails or more at one time. For those who like to be completely organized, nearly all e-mail clients and webmail providers allow you to make folders in which to store e-mail. Most often, clients and webmail formats have all e-mail folders, such as Inbox, Outbox, Sent, Junk, and Trash, in a field on the left side of the page. You can make you own folders and drag e-mail into those folders from your inbox to keep your inbox cleaner and make it easier to find e-mail. I have seen some clients organize their folders by project while other organize their folders by date, such as the year of the e-mail or the month of the e-mail. When I served in the Army, I had a colleague who had over 50 custom folders for his e-mail, and he would spend several minutes or more a day moving e-mail to custom folders so he could find a particular e-mail easier. Most e-mail clients and webmail formats have a “Junk” basket for e-mail that is deemed to be not important or originates from a mailing list, for example. Other clients may have both a “Junk” basket and a “Spam” basket. You should make it a habit to frequently check these baskets to ensure that e-mail is not mistakenly directed to these baskets. Remember: This is a machine routine that examines these e-mails and sorts them, and it is not infallible. Telling somebody you didn’t get a message then finding it in your Junk basket can be a tad embarrassing. I have made a custom e-mail folder called “Phishing” where I place any e-mail that I know to be an attempt to fool me or gain entry to my computer to insert a virus or gather information. This way I can keep them segregated from my other e-mails. I use these e-mails as examples when I do e-mail security training for customers and groups. And just to put your mind at ease, you cannot get a virus just by opening an e-mail. You get a virus by clicking on a link in an e-mail (even one disguised in a photo or graphic) or opening an attachment to an e-mail. Another excellent e-mail habit is to have a signature block automatically inserted into all your outgoing e-mails. This allows people who receive your e-mail to have a way to contact you through other means. This is most common in business where most professionals will have a signature block with their name, maybe their address, their phone contact, or other identifying information. You may even see a company logo, and for those who are really with it, the company logo has a “hyperlink” so that when you click on it, you are redirected in a web browser to a company website. This has been a review of some “Best practices” for e-mail. If you are having problems with your e-mail or would like to learn to use your e-mail more efficiently, come see us here at Simple Computer Repair. Issue 964
E-MAIL SCAMS REVISITED Hi IT fans. This month’s article is very important. Over the past couple years, I have covered subjects dealing with how to stay safe on the Internet. We’ve discussed Antivirus (AV) programs, staying safe on the Internet and e-mail scams. However, as e-mail scams are forever evolving, it is important that we review them from time to time, reminding everybody of those tried-and-true scams, and highlighting some new scams. Being a business owner, my e-mail address is out there on the Internet and easy to find. Additionally, when I order parts, communicate with associated businesses, or log in to various related websites, I generally must use my e-mail address. This gives lots of opportunities for scammers to pick up my e-mail address and abuse it. Of course, just like you, I receive the classic e-mail scams and phishing attacks that have been around for years. We have all received that e-mail at one time or another from a “lawyer”, a “banker” or a “Prince”, usually from Africa, who has come into a large sum of money and needs the help of an honest person like you or me to move the money out of their country. And of course, we are offered a generous cut of that money if only we will help. If you run that scam down, ultimately the scammer is trying to get your bank account information so that he can completely empty your account. This scam has been around for so long that it is becoming much less effective, though it is estimated that in 2018, Americans still lost over $700,000 to these scammers. Another common scam involves scammers hijacking a person’s e-mail address book and then sending out a short e-mail to every addressee. Sometimes it asks them to purchase gift cards for the sender. Other times it contains a link that the recipient is tricked into opening that then either deposits a program on the recipient’s computer allowing the sender access to the computer or is just a way to get the recipient to open a dangerous website. Recently, I received a short e-mail from the president of an organization to which I belong. The e-mail asked if I knew the girls in a photo that I was supposed to access by clicking on a link. Knowing that this individual would not send such an e-mail to me and recognizing this as a fraud, I did not click on the link. Those are some time-tested scams, but what about some of the latest scams going around? I own a computer store. We are constantly receiving parts from UPS, FedEx, and the USPS. A newer scam involves a short e-mail supposedly from a shipping company such as FedEx stating that an attached invoice has a problem or a link in the e-mail will give shipping details for an arriving package. These type e-mails are difficult not to open because everybody wants to receive something, and the promise of an unknown package can be quite a lure. In the case of my store, it’s important to keep track of parts on order, so it is doubly hard not to click on the link in one of these e-mails. Probably the most recent scam I’ve seen involves the popular social media site Reddit. I’ve received quite a few e-mails lately saying that an individual or an organization has followed my Reddit account. The organizations are usually well-known and make the e-mail more interesting. There is usually a link that is supposed to take me to my Reddit site and show me the person or organization that has just followed me. Instead, that link is usually to a dangerous website. How did I figure this one out? I don’t have a Reddit account, so I had no interest in clicking on the link. If you did have a Reddit account, you might be tempted to open the link showing that the Disney Corporation has just followed your Reddit. I have mentioned this before but want to review some important points about e-mail and e-mail scams again.
Issue 965
PRODUCTIVITY Nearly every household, and for sure every business, has at least one computer. Sometimes the computer is just used to play games, read e-mail, or maybe aimlessly surf the web. However, many computers are used in serious businesses or to earn a living. For people who use their computers in such a way, having a basic computer/keyboard/mouse setup is just not enough. In this month’s column, we’ll talk about ways to get more out of your computer. We’ve talked about many of these topics in other columns, but we’ve never put them together with the goal to make a computer user more productive. Let’s talk first about how to become more productive through equipment. Obviously, the first piece of equipment we should talk about is the computer itself. Often, we see people who have purchased a computer that just isn’t up to the tasks they want it to perform. From the gamer who buys a low-level Intel i5 processor and mid-grade graphics card and just can’t play the games he wants, to the businessperson who is suffering through having an i3 computer while trying to recalculate multiple spreadsheets and complex calculations (or run QuickBooks®), buying a cheap computer to save a little money can hurt you in the end. For businesspeople, we always recommend at least a current generation Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 with a minimum of 8GB of RAM. Usually, these folks don’t need a top-end graphics card, but rather need a processor with the power to execute multiple processing streams at a time. If they are really doing complex operations or maybe working on high-level graphics, we might even recommend an Intel i7, Ryzen 7, or even a Ryzen 9. Slower and cheaper processor will cause one to lose time waiting for processes to complete. It never pays to skimp on the processor. RAM is important also to keep your computer humming along. Too little an amount of RAM will cause your computer to run slow. Finally, a good graphics card paired with a nice monitor will limit eye strain due to flicker and poor graphics rendering. Speaking of the monitor, perhaps the easiest way to increase the productivity of an existing computer setup is to add a second monitor. A two-screen setup allows the user to have multiple windows open and move between windows so much easier than a single screen. In fact, most multi-screen users say they just cannot go back to a single screen. Most computers today have more than one video output and Windows handles the setup of multiple screens with ease. If your computer only has one video output, aftermarket docking stations are relatively inexpensive and are an easy way to add additional monitors and other peripherals. Ideally, a dual screen setup would have matching monitors to provide a consistent display across both screens. Alternatively, for a bit of a hefty price, you can purchase a single screen that is up to 49” wide that will give the same experience as multiple screens. I wrote an entire article on keyboards and mice recently. You can refer to that article, however, the important point for productivity is that you need to choose a keyboard and mouse that function well and that you are comfortable with. I recently replaced my keyboard because it was an inexpensive keyboard and the keys began to feel mushy, and sometimes it was hard to tell if the keys were pushing completely down. I replaced it with a mechanical keyboard with a distinctive click when a key is pushed which, for whatever reason, allows me to type faster and with fewer errors. Its made a huge difference. Maybe the most important aspect of productivity is your office or desk setup. Your office should be warm, comfortable, well lit, and free of distractions. Your desk should be set up in such a way that when you sit in your chair and look at your monitor, you are at a comfortable reading distance from the monitor with your eyes level with the top of the monitor. Your keyboard should be at a height which allows your forearms to be approximately parallel with the floor. These measures are designed to provide the least amount of fatigue and allow you to work comfortably. If you rely on your computer to run your personal or business affairs, productivity enhancements can make your job easier and more effective. Come by Simple Computer Repair if you are interested in upping your game and let us help you decide on the best way forward. Issue 966
REPAIR OR REPLACE As with many items that we use almost daily, a computer will begin to wear out over. I liken this to a car. When it is new, it is shiny and fast, and everything works. Over time, little things begin to pop up that bug you. Tires begin to wear. The engine starts having a little bit of a hum. Maybe it doesn’t have the pep it had when new. At some point, we begin to ask ourselves if it is time to replace the car. A computer is the same way. A program is slower to open. Windows takes longer to boot. There is a funny noise coming from the fan. Is it time for a new computer? Is there another option? Let’s look at the possibilities. So Tyler has gone through our in depth diagnostic program with your computer and given you the news that, in its current state, your computer isn’t able to run the programs and applications that you need for work or school. Normally, at this point, we will give our customers several options. Option one is to rebuild or refurbish the old computer. Option two is to purchase an already refurbished computer. Option three is to purchase a new computer. Many times, the decision comes down to price, but there are other considerations too. We find ourselves giving advice daily to help folks make this decision. I thought I would put down on paper some of that advice should you be considering upgrading your computer. Our first option is to refurbish your current computer. This is usually the least expensive option and the one we do the most. A laptop computer is limited for refurbishment while a desktop or tower computer has multiple possible upgrades. The only two viable upgrades to a laptop are more RAM and a better storage drive. More RAM in your laptop of desktop computer can make some applications run faster, but all motherboards have a limit to the amount of RAM that they can use. The most popular upgrade to both laptops and desktops is changing the old style “spinning” hard disk drive (HDD) to a solid state drive (SSD). An SSD is like a very large flash drive that we install internally to your computer. It has no moving parts. HDD and SSD speeds are measured by how fast your computer can read information from them and write information to them. Read/write speeds for SSDs can be nearly 100 times those of HDDs. When we put a new SSD into an older computer, our customers are usually very surprised how much faster the computer boots up and operates. After installing an SSD, sometimes we can clone your old drive to your new drive so that the computer looks and operates exactly as it did before the upgrade. For desktop computers, we can consider replacing nearly every internal component with price being the only determinate. In addition to RAM and storage, we can also look at upgrading the motherboard, main processor and the video card. Price usually determines how far we go with a desktop refurbishment. At this point, I must address one of the most common comments I hear as we discuss the upgrading of a computer with a customer. In ballpark figures, upgrading an older computer with new storage and maybe another stick of RAM can run between $175 and $300. Often a customer will state that he or she could buy a new computer for that price. Frankly, no you cannot. You could buy a bottom-of-the-barrel cheap computer for that price, but you would regret it almost immediately as it would probably be just as slow and clunky as your old computer. A new computer with a basic Intel i3 processor or an AMD Ryzen 3 processor would cost $375 or more. And this is before paying for new software and the transfer of your files from your old to your new computer. So sometimes, refurbishing your old computer makes good fiscal sense. Option two is to buy an already refurbished computer. The advantage here is that the price of a refurbished computer can be several hundred dollars less than a new computer. Most refurbished computers will come with a short warranty and have usually been thoroughly tested. We usually help our customers with the purchase to ensure they are buying from a reputable company. The downside to a refurbished computer, like a used car, is that you don’t really know how it was treated by a previous owner. Some problems can remain hidden until after using the computer for a while. That’s why a warranty is important. Option three is to buy a new computer. This is the costliest option but does have advantages. New computers come with the latest hardware and have almost no time on their components. They normally come with longer warranties and often are bundled with useful software packages. As stated above, there could be additional hidden costs as they may not come with the software you need, so you may need to purchase new software licenses. A new computer is not set up the way your old one was and sometimes takes time to get used to the new setup. Finally, moving files from an old computer to a new computer can be confusing and could incur more cost if you want a professional to assist. We offer free consultation when you are getting ready to buy a new computer to help you understand the many configuration options and new technology. We also offer a service for new computer owners to remove “Bloatware” or programs and pop-ups on new computers that advertise antivirus or productivity applications. This is a popular service as some of these pop-ups are hard to find and remove. Of course, we also offer file transfer and set-up services to get your new computer looking and running like your old one (albeit faster). So if you are starting to get that itch to replace your current computer because it is sending out some warning signs, come see us at Simple Computer Repair and let us help you make sense of the options that are available to you, and make the right choice that fits your needs and your wallet. Issue 967
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS Nearly everybody knows Simple Computer Repair is an excellent brink-and-mortar repair shop for computers and electronics. Many have also used our onsite services where we come to your home or business to help solve computer issues. We also provide networking services to include wiring in our customers homes to provide better Internet and Wi-Fi service. Another service that we have slid into is surveillance cameras. I say “slid into” because while cameras are not strictly an IT service, there are few companies out there that will install cameras at a reasonable price. So, a couple years ago, our customers started asking if we could help install cameras for their businesses and homes. So, let’s start at the beginning and talk about cameras. I have a strictly unofficial definition of what we install. I think of security cameras as those cameras that, when triggered, alert a security or law enforcement unit to respond. Surveillance cameras, on the other hand, merely view and possibly record activities, either through motion detection or continuously. We help install surveillance cameras. We leave security cameras to companies like ADT and others. The next distinction to understand is the level of camera system (once again, an unofficial definition). I like to think of cameras on three levels. The simplest cameras are consumer surveillance cameras. Kits are available at Costco, Sam’s Club, Best Buy, and other retailers. These kits vary in sophistication, but most are straight forward, with a number of cameras and maybe a network video recorder (NVR). The next level of camera system is what I call a prosumer level. This level usually offers better quality cameras and more control and recording features. Our favorite cameras at this level are from Ubiquiti®. Finally, there is the professional level where the cameras can have amazing resolution, specialty features, and great zoom powers but can cost over $2000 apiece. We leave this level to those who only do cameras and nothing else. The level of camera system you chose depends largely on the purpose for the surveillance and the architecture of the environment. By this I mean do we need to install a wireless system or can wires be relatively easily run through the area. For the wireless solution, you are pretty much forced to stay with a consumer solution. I prefer the Blink® camera system for wireless. I have installed a couple Blink systems and I am impressed with their battery life and ease of installation. I can deal with changing the batteries in a camera once a year or so, but I cannot abide by having to change batteries every 6 weeks. Beware: some wireless systems have horribly short battery life. As an alternative to Blink, Arlo® also makes some very nice wireless cameras. These systems can be augmented with solar chargers to extend battery life further. When we start looking at wired solutions, the possibilities expand. The simplest solutions from Costco and the like usually include 50-foot wires from the cameras to the NVR providing power and data on separate lines. In these cases, you can purchase additional “extension cords” for these wires to push out to 100 feet. The next step up are wired cameras that use CAT 5 or CAT 6 data wire to pass data and power the cameras at the same time. This is where you cross over between consumer and prosumer. I recently helped a friend install a camera system that provided data and Power over Ethernet (PoE) power from an NVR to the cameras through only one data cable. Not only is one wire easier to pull than the two in lesser systems, but with data cable and PoE, you can push out past 100 feet without a problem. The Ubiquiti system called UniFi Protect is a system that uses PoE to send data and power over one wire. In some applications, I have seen successful installations of over 200 feet of wire. The UniFi cameras are pricier than most consumer grade cameras, but their resolution, image quality, and built-in features make them an excellent choice for business and residential customers who are looking for a larger and more secure surveillance network. Another benefit of the UniFi Protect system is scalability. In most consumer grade systems, you are limited to eight cameras by the number of inputs to the NVR. If you want more cameras, you must purchase another NVR. I have installed UniFi setups with only two cameras and I have installed setups with many more. In one installation I have completed, we are running 14 cameras onsite and have the ability to expand even further should the customer desire. In that installation we have everything from a simple wireless indoor camera costing about $75 to three different types of exterior cameras, determined by the surveillance requirement, with the most expensive having outstanding 4K resolution, both optical and digital zoom and infrared night vision, which is currently about $600. If you are considering installing surveillance cameras around your home or business, come on in and talk to us about our experiences and what we can do to help you. I love to give free advice and enjoy giving people the peace of mind of being able to keep an eye on their assets from anywhere in the world. Issue 968
(reprint of Issue 943) REPAIR OR REPLACE? During our current pandemic crisis and the need to work from home and maybe a couple kids needing to do remote schooling, it has been tough on some families to find enough computers to meet their needs. Many of our customers have pulled out computers from desks and closets that have not seen use in many years, or maybe they are not that old, but have seen heavy use and are starting to run slower. In any case, many of these folks have taken advantage of Simple Computer Repair’s free diagnosis policy and have brought their computers in for a check-up. So Tyler and Joe have gone through our in depth diagnostic program with your computer and given you the news that, in its current state, your computer isn’t able to run the programs and applications that you need for work or school. Normally, at this point, we will give our customers several options. Option one is to rebuild or refurbish the old computer. Option two is to purchase an already refurbished computer. Option three is to purchase a new computer. Many times, the decision comes down to price, but there are other considerations too. We find ourselves giving advice daily to help folks make this decision. I thought I would put down on paper some of that advice should you be considering upgrading your computer. Our first option is to refurbish your current computer. This is usually the least expensive option and the one we do the most. A laptop computer is limited for refurbishment while a desktop or tower computer has multiple possible upgrades. The only two viable upgrades to a laptop are more RAM and a better storage drive. More RAM in your laptop of desktop computer can make some applications run faster, but all motherboards have a limit to the amount of RAM that they can use. The most popular upgrade to both laptops and desktops is changing the old style “spinning” hard disk drive (HDD) to a solid state drive (SSD). An SSD is like a very large flash drive that we install internally to your computer. HDD and SSD speeds are measured by how fast your computer can read information from them and write information to them. Read/write speeds for SSDs can be nearly 100 times those of HDDs. When we put a new SSD into an older computer, our customers are usually very surprised how much faster the computer boots up and operates. After installing an SSD, we can clone your old drive to your new drive so that the computer looks and operates exactly as it did before the upgrade. For desktop computers, we can consider replacing nearly every internal component with price being the only determinate. In addition to RAM and storage, we can also look at upgrading the motherboard, main processor and the video card. Price usually determines how far we go with a desktop refurbishment. At this point, I must address one of the most common comments I hear as we discuss the upgrading of a computer with a customer. In ballpark figures, upgrading an older computer with new storage and maybe another stick of RAM can run between $175 and $300. Often a customer will state that he or she could buy a new computer for that price. Frankly, no you cannot. You could buy a bottom-of-the-barrel cheap computer for that price, but you would regret it almost immediately as it would probably be just as slow and clunky as your old computer. A new computer with a basic Intel i3 processor or an AMD Ryzen 3 processor would cost $375 or more. And this is before paying for new software and the transfer of your files from your old to your new computer. So sometimes, refurbishing your old computer makes good fiscal sense. Option two is to buy an already refurbished computer. The advantage here is that the price of a refurbished computer can be several hundred dollars less than a new computer. Most refurbished computers will come with a short warranty and have usually been thoroughly tested. We usually help our customers with the purchase to ensure they are buying from a reputable company. Option three is to buy a new computer. This is the costliest option but does have advantages. New computers come with the latest hardware and have almost no time on their components. They normally come with longer warranties and often are bundled with useful software packages. As stated above, there could be additional hidden costs as they may not come with the software you need, so you may need to purchase new software licenses. A new computer is not set up the way your old one was and sometimes takes time to get used to the new setup. Finally, moving files from an old computer to a new computer can be confusing and could incur more cost if you want a professional to assist. We offer free consultation when you are getting ready to buy a new computer to help you understand the many configuration options and new technology. We also offer a service for new computer owners to remove “Bloatware” or programs and pop-ups on new computers that advertise antivirus or productivity applications. This is a popular service as some of these pop-ups are hard to find and remove. Of course, we also offer file transfer and set-up services to get your new computer looking and running like your old one (albeit faster). So if you need more computers in the house or are considering upgrading your home or business computer(s), come see us at Simple Computer Repair and let us help you make sense of the options that are available to you. Issue 969
Final Article CHANGE! It is with bittersweet emotions that Simple Computer Repair will be closing our doors in Monument on August 31st after six years of serving the community. There are many reasons for closing the store and I’ll touch on a few here and then give you a glimpse into the future. We opened Simple Computer Repair, a small franchise, in 2016 with the desire and mission to help people in our community with their computer needs. At the time, there were two computer repair shops in the area, one concentrating on Apple products only, and the other a small operation in downtown Monument. We wanted to provide a full-service experience for our customers in a clean, bright, and open store front. We also wanted to be able to come to folks’ houses and businesses who either couldn’t get out to get help or whose issue required a repair in situ. These people had few other options other than calling an extremely overpriced big box store for help. I chose to join the Simple Computer repair franchise due to their core principles of “No Opinions, No Speculation, No Geek Speak” and their policy of free diagnosis and “No Repair, No Charge”. These were the no-nonsense values that I wanted to demonstrate to our customers. I wish I could count how many customers over the years were shocked after we had spent hours working on their computer and then didn’t charge them because we couldn’t fix the problem. Most importantly, I wanted to build trust with my customers so that they knew that what they were told and the services they were given were both accurate and needed. This is a rare thing in any industry, and especially the repair industry. Over the years we have repaired countless computers of all makes and models, innumerable cell phones, more than a handful of game consoles and flat screen TVs, visited many homes and businesses in the area and installed networks throughout the Tri-Lakes area. We have supported Tri-Lakes Cares, The Kiwanis, and the Lions club in their vital missions. Each repair and event supported was special and we were thrilled to be able to help so many people. However, as many small business owners have found out, it is tough to keep a small business going, especially in a small town. As I tell people, if we do our job right, we won’t be seeing our customers again for a couple years. And a company like this requires a lot of customers to come through the door to make a profit. Add to that the incredibly high and ever-increasing cost in Monument of commercial property leases and taxes, and profitability becomes elusive. Finally, COVID took its toll on many small businesses and Simple Computer Repair was not spared. Though I am closing our “brick-and-mortar” store, I will be continuing to provide in-home, network, and IT services to the community with a new company called EmPower Technologies. I will still be around to help my current customers in their homes and businesses and continue to provide services for my Managed Services customers. If you are having connectivity issues (Internet, printer, or other peripheral), need IT services, or need a new network installed in your home or your place of business, you can still contact me at (719) 304-4463. So, let me thank the entire Tri-Lakes community and my customers for their support, friendships and patronage these past six years. It has been a distinct honor and privilege to serve you all. |
Vertical Divider
|
