Posts Tagged ‘computer’

Stand Up! No, I’m Not Kidding.

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Do you work out during the week?  And are you active on weekends? If the answer is yes, that’s good! But, if you’re sitting in front of a computer for most of the workday, or on your rear watching TV for hours each evening, none of that active time seems to matter in the long run.

Too much sitting, even with an otherwise active lifestyle, will shave years off of your life.

Here are a few ways to avoid the sittin’ down blues if you spend your day at a computer:

  • Get an adjustable desk that elevates your monitor and keyboard when you want to stand, and takes them back down when you want to sit. Don’t sit for more than an hour at a time.
  • Stand up to talk on the phone or when chatting with colleagues.
  • Walk the long way around the office to get a drink or use the facilities.
  • Don’t phone or text anyone who shares your office space—get up and walk to them, even for brief conversations.
  • Get rid of your desk chair and use an exercise ball. Just trying to stay on the thing will give you a bit of a workout.
  • Set a timer to go off about 45 minutes after you sit down, and get back up when it dings.
  • Walk up or down a couple of flights of stairs each day, rather than taking the elevator. If you’re on the 20th floor, get off on the second floor and walk the rest of the way down.

This won’t be fun or easy at the beginning. Commit to two weeks, and then two more, and then three more. See what happens.

What else can we do to stay off our rears during the workday? Share your ideas in the comments—we’ll do this together.

By Danny Tehrani

Image courtesy of Mike Oliveri

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Posted in Health | Comments

A Little Help, Please!

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

You know those nights when you’re up late, messing with your computer or software, and you want to do this or that but don’t know how?

Well, we thought it’d be helpful to start a list of resources for folks who want to tinker on their own and just need a little guidance.

We’re hoping you add on to this list in the comments section. No one knows how to do everything, and we’re hoping this becomes a valuable resource for all of us.

Dummies.com has a how-to section on computers. They’re trying to sell books, but they also have masses of instructional videos and text that show you how to network computers, edit a picture, format Excel charts—they cover too many topics to list here. They also have a section just for seniors, which we liked.

C|NET has a surprising number of how-to documents that cover everything from securing your Twitter account, to adjusting YouTube default settings for your uploads, to adding Gmail and Yahoo to Windows 8 Mail. Hundreds of topics are covered, and there’s a place to ask questions and actually get answers.

BleepingComputer.com is a practical site that has a long, long list of tutorials and downloads, and a forum where questions may be asked and answered. There’s a list of virus removal guides, and the tutorials cover Windows 8, browsers, hardware, Linux, Internet, and on and on. There’s even a searchable glossary.

Wikihow has a deep pocket of articles that cover a surprising range of topics including how to create a website or blog, how-to tips for Quickbooks, how to multitask on an iPhone, how to extend a USB cable, and even more topics and subtopics than we have room to cover in this post.

The GCFLearnfree.com site is full of basic tutorials, if you’re just getting started with computers. They have a Spanish version of the site and tutorials, which is a big bonus.

TechTips at Salon.com is kind of a cool little site full of an eclectic mix of tips and tricks for smartphones and computers and ancillary products. Definitely worth a look.

Intel.com has a tech tips and tricks section that covers a lot of territory. There’s no index to view to see what all they have, so you have to browse around or search on the site, but if you like tutorial videos, you’ll be happy you stopped by!

The BBC has an Absolute Beginner’s Guide to using your computer. Easy to understand, so don’t be afraid to have any computer newbie try it out.

There are more resources online and we plan to expand this list as time goes on.

What how-to resource have you found that’s helpful? Share the URL in the comments!

 

By Danny Tehrani

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Posted in Tech How-To | Comments

Computer Maintenance (ugh) – Just Do It!

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Computer maintenance. Is there anything that’s as boring as computer maintenance? Maybe organizing the junk drawer, or scanning receipts into the computer, or watching paint dry.

But you have to do it. When the computer is zipping along, not causing any problems, life’s just a little better.

Here’s a to-do list that will save you time by eliminating preventable problems, and save you money by extending the life of your computer.

 

Daily/Weekly

Anti-virus/malware/spyware software – We harp on this because it’s critical that each computer has this software and that you set it to automatically update. And, set it up to scan every email and anything you download, as well as do a weekly scan of the entire computer.

Data backup – Set up the computer to back up data every day, at whatever time is convenient. The first backup will take awhile, but after that, it shouldn’t take long because it will be backing up only one day’s worth of data. You will never regret backing up data on a daily basis.

Update OS – Check for operating system updates at least once a week. This helps keep your computer secure and running smoothly.

Monthly

Trash it – Delete old emails and files. They clutter up your computer and will eventually slow it down. Tuck the remaining files into folders so that you can easily find what you need. You won’t always find all of the temp files or other items cluttering up your computer, so you may want to use something like CCleaner to give you a hand. It putters around and sweeps up a lot of debris and potential problems in various areas on your computer. Also, Windows has Disk Cleanup built in, so you can set it to run automatically. As long as you’re doing that, you should also set up the Check Disk utility to run once a month. It checks the hard disk for errors and fixes them.

Organize it – If you’re using Windows, there’s a built-in utility called Disk Defragmenter. It goes around and collects parts of files that are stored here and there and moves them to more convenient locations, increasing the speed of file retrieval. You can set this up to run automatically as often as you like.

Password – Change your email and computer passwords. Yes, you have to do it for security. And keep them handy but not on a Post-it stuck to your monitor. (We’re all guilty of that one at some time or other.)

Cleaning – Turn your keyboard upside down and see what falls out. Use a little brush to dislodge what doesn’t fall out. Dust off the outside of your computer and your monitor.

Quarterly

Cleaning – Open your computer and use an air canister to blow the dust out of it.

Updates – Check your programs, see if any need updating. This will help protect your computer from viruses and take advantage of patches or bug fixes. Always a good thing. A couple of programs that might facilitate this task: Ninite for PCs and Main Menu for Macs.

 

By Danny Tehrani

Image courtesy of Kealoy

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Posted in Computer Maintenance | Comments

Ready-Made or Custom-Built?

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Is it better to buy a ready-made computer, or to order one built to spec?

We get this question every day because we build custom computers and we service both ready-made and custom-built machines.

The answer to the question is, it depends on what you want to do with it.

If you want a home computer for email, browsing the web, and running off-the-shelf software, you should buy a ready-made computer. They cost a bit less and if you buy a decent brand, you should have little to no trouble with it.

Be aware that you won’t be able to do much upgrading because in the ready-made computers, there’s not a lot of room inside for extra parts. And, if one component breaks down, they’ll have to disable it and try to tuck another one in beside the broken part; (usually) they can’t pull out a component and replace it because the components are integrated.

And, be prepared to purchase a new ready-made computer every two to three years—closer to two years—because, as we all know, technology evolves at speeds that make our heads spin. The ready-made computers can’t be adapted enough to keep up.

If you’re doing anything more with a computer, you should look into purchasing a custom-built machine. Think about how you want to use a computer now, and what you hope to be doing in the future, and share that with your computer architect.

When a computer is custom-built, each component is chosen for its strength and its ability to work with the other components.

Upgrading is much easier because the workings are not integrated, and you can change out components as needed. This is a primary reason that custom-built computers stay useful longer than those that are ready-made. Another reason is that when you’re building a computer, you can choose quality components that will last longer than what’s found in many ready-made computers.

You want to make sure that your computer architect provides a warranty for all the hardware—typically that’s a one-year warranty, although you can sometimes get up to three years. You don’t want to have to deal with each manufacturer of each component for service.

There is a time factor to consider when purchasing a custom-built computer vs. one ready-made. You can’t get a custom-built in the 30 minutes it would take you to buy an off-the-shelf computer.

Those are the big issues to consider when looking at ready-made vs. custom-built!

If you have questions, we hope to see them in the comments section and we’ll get answers to you ASAP.

By Danny Tehrani

Image courtesy of T. McCracken

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Posted in Custom-built computer | Comments

Malware. Don’t You Just Hate It!

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

A blogger posed a query last month: How many computer viruses are out there?

He looked at “definition files” listed by Symantec and found millions. But, they don’t represent new viruses, they just indicate how many battles the anti-malware company has fought.

Turns out, there aren’t that many new viruses out there. But what’s there can rip your computer to virtual pieces.

Malware, which is short for malicious software, sneaks onto your computer (or phone or tablet) without your knowledge and, if your computer is unprotected, it will do pretty much whatever it was designed to do.

Some malware is just annoying, and then there are Darth Vader-ish programs that take your files and sink them so far into a black hole, they’re never found again.

Here’s what you need to do and not do to protect your computer:

Do keep your firewall on at all times. Firewalls may be built into your computer or they may be pieces of hardware you hook up to your computer. The firewall filters what comes in from the Internet and only allows safe programs in (in theory). To be very safe, you can have two firewalls working, one hardware and the other software.

Do automate the updating process on your computer so that it stays current. New malware does circulate and you want the latest protection available to prevent infection.

Do use a quality anti-malware program that acts as your army against the invading hordes, should they get past the firewall.

Do perform frequent scans of your computer to ensure that it is free of malware, or to alert you if there’s an infection. And do scan with anti-adware in addition to the anti-virus/malware program, just in case the malware is trying to mask itself.

Do backup every day. This can be set up as an automated process, just like the updates and scans. If you find yourself skipping some days (weeks, months), call us and we’ll share some horror stories. Really. You won’t be able to sleep at night.

Do reach out to a computer service person for help if you’re unsure of how to do any of this. Your professional and personal files are important to you, and you want to be the one to decide whether you’re keeping them or deleting them.

Don’t open email that looks like spam, and even if it’s an email from someone you know, don’t open an attachment unless you were expecting it. It’s possible that your friend’s email program has been hijacked and the attachment carries malware.

Don’t visit websites you’re not sure about, and don’t click on any links on such sites.

Don’t share your personal information online unless you’re sure of where it’s going. And then double-check that source before giving your info.

There are more advanced steps you can take to protect your computer, or to check it if you suspect it’s infected. When you’ve done everything you know how to do, it wouldn’t hurt to have your computer technician take a look to tweak it if necessary.

If you have more ideas on how to protect computers, please share in the comments. We’d love to read them!

By Danny Tehrani

Image courtesy of Sophos

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Posted in Malware | Comments

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