A reader asked us if he should have his computer registry cleaned. A pop-up on a website wanted to charge him $129 for this service. Back away, we said.
Filed under: anti-virus, spyware, tech support, troubleshooting | 2 Comments »
Our friend Nancy just had a tour of McAfee Anti-Virus hell. She thought she had a virus but she didn’t. Yet the company told her it would cost $180 for the “Concierge Gold” service to fix her computer over the Internet.
Filed under: anti-virus, spyware, tech support, virus | No Comments »
So Joy decided to upgrade her Windows 7 computer to Windows 8 — figuring how can we serve the readers if we don’t have the latest Microsoft operating system? Just so. Well, let no good deed go unpunished. From the beginning, there were warnings that should have told us we were on dangerous ground. The built-in Windows 8 “Upgrade Assistant” said we’d have to buy extra software if we wanted to continue to play DVDs. (Wait a minute: we had no trouble playing DVDs before.) Then it informed us the Windows Media Center also would no longer be available. But we could buy extra software that would perform those functions, which we had before. Furthermore, one of the Bluetooth utilities [...]
Filed under: tech support, training, Windows | No Comments »
Our favorite web browser is still Google Chrome, though Firefox is a close second and coming up fast on the outside. Here are some handy keyboard shortcuts:
Filed under: tech support, training | No Comments »
The best new fix-it program we’ve seen in a bunch of harvest moons has brought a 13-year-old Toshiba laptop back from the dead. (Or at the very least, a coma.)
Filed under: computers, tech support, troubleshooting | 1 Comment »
Starting April 8th, 2014, Microsoft will no longer support Windows XP. (We wonder if they may want to sell you something else.) This means no phone support and no Windows updates. According to Microsoft, this means “no security updates that help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware and malicious software which can steal your identity.”
Filed under: tech support, Windows | No Comments »
Our 89-year-old aunt’s iPad arrived the other day and for several days it stayed in the box. (Imagine, for the sake of contrast, a 3 year-old’s reaction. He’d have it out of there in a minute and would probably have it figured out in 15.)
Still, our aunt is ve
Filed under: Apple, iPad, tech support | 2 Comments »
Looking for a news topic through a Google search is a great idea. Trying to find a download this way is a bad idea. It turns out that quite a few sites exist just to trap you into downloading the wrong product. At best they only ask you to buy something you could get elsewhere for free. You may not think of that as “best,” but it can get a lot worse. In the worst situation, some of these sites take control of your computer and start downloading material you don’t want, never wanted, and will find hard to get rid of. Bob unknowingly acquired something called “I Want This” in this way, and he certainly didn’t want it. It [...]
Filed under: tech support, troubleshooting | No Comments »
If you type almost any computer problem into Google’s search box — just literally type it in — you will almost always get a solution. This also works for searching newspapers and magazines online. Google’s search works better than most publications’ built-in search function.
Filed under: search, tech support | 1 Comment »
Microsoft has launched a new tech support service called “Answer Desk.” Fifteen minutes of help is available free round the clock, seven days a week.
Filed under: Microsoft, tech support | No Comments »
