The latest update to Windows 10 is full of new and improved features like Spatial Sound, Natural Language Search, an improved Calendar, Night Light, Dynamic Lock and much much more! Check them out here!
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A combination of common sense, backup, proactive protection, and automated removal tools is a solid defense against the growing scourge of ransomware. Ransomware doesn’t sneak into your PC like ordinary malware. It bursts in, points a gun at your data, and screams for cash—or else. And if you don’t learn to defend yourself, it could happen again and again, as the recent WannaCry outbreak is demonstrating. Read this article on protecting yourself. As always, The Goto Tech Guru is here to help!
If you own a Windows XP or Windows 7 PC that's been hit by the WannaCry ransomware, there's good news: French researchers have created a software utility called wanawiki that can potentially unlock an infected PC. There are specific instructions on running this fix, so read the article carefully!
For help with installing and running wanawiki, contact The GoTo Tech Guru! Users of old Windows systems can now download a patch to protect them from this week’s massive ransomware attack. This week, Microsoft published a patch for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 8—all of them operating systems for which it no longer provides mainstream support. Windows 10 customers were not targeted in Friday’s attack. For information and to download the patch appropriate for your Windows version, read here. For assistance with installing this patch, contact The GoTo Tech Guru.
Did you know that Microsoft's mainstream support for Windows 7 ended in January 2015, with extended support ending in January 2020? This means that Microsoft will no longer provide software patches or security updates for Windows 7. Windows 10 is rapidly becoming the platform of choice among Windows users. But did you know there are 6 Editions of Windows 10? Yep!
1. Windows 10 Home 2. Windows 10 Pro 3. Windows 10 Educational 4. Windows 10 Enterprise 5. Windows 10 Mobile 6. Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise So which Edition do you choose? Most people need only be concerned about the first 4 Editions which pertain to PC's. But which one is right for you? All of the first 4 Editions support the following: the much awaited Cortana, the Microsoft Edge browser, Windows Defender, Fast Start with HiberBoot feature, TPM support, Battery Saver and basic Windows Update feature. Continuum is also available in all editions so you can switch from PC to tablet mode and vice-versa. All Editions support: Personalization settings such as Lock Screen, wallpapers, themes, and customizing of sounds etc are also available in all Dditions of Windows 10. You can also download and add themes to your computer or tablet. Basic security is available to all editions in form of Windows Defender and Windows Firewall. Device Encryption will be available to all editions if the device hardware supports it. Beyond these basic features, things vary according to which Edition of Windows 10 you select with Windows 10 Home being the most basic. The good news is that you can upgrade from Windows Home to Professional and from Professional to Enterprise Edition if the version you buy winds up not meeting your software requirements. To find out more, read this FAQ and this article. Windows 10 tracks a lot of what you do, even when you're not using a browser, any browser! Microsoft says they're doing this to make functionality more convenient for the user. The good news is you can turn these options off. Read here for more information and on how to stop Microsoft from tracking your every move!
Most people think that if they are backing up their photos and documents, they are protected against a computer failure. Restoring your PC back to operational status where you can do things like your business completely normally again takes much more than this. Just having backups of your data without the software doesn't get you operational again. Even if you have copies of all your software, it will takes time to reinstall them all and reconfigure them to the efficiency you once had. What about your software keys? Without them, your software won't work. What if you no longer have copies of your software and/or keys? You'll have to re-purchase them. Often when you repurchase software, it's been upgraded and your old files aren't 100% compatible anymore... now you've lost more time ... and money! How about your Windows operating system? Do you have a backup of that? Luckily, there is a solution to these worries which can restore your system back to its original state, with all your tailored settings and the like ... as if no computer failure had ever happened! Just call TheGoToTechGuru for a consultation!
With all the complications of life, the last thing you need is for tech issues get in the way. After all, tech is supposed to make things easier, isn't it? Here are four quick tips on how to make your tech life just a little easier!
Most websites and apps let you sign in with just a username and password. If anyone guesses either of these, they can take over your account, steal all your money and/or steal your identity. An additional layer of security is called "Two Factor Authentication" or 2FA. With 2FA, there is an extra step the user must complete before access to the account is granted. It's usually request for a piece of information that only the legitmate owner of the account would know. This additional piece of information could be the name of the owner's first pet dog which is requested after the password is entered. It could also be a rotating/changing computer generated code that is sent to the cellphone of the owner via text. This cellphone number is previously established by the legitimate account owner as part of the account setup. This prevents a hacker from getting sent the code (unless they stole your cellphone as well). If available, you should always use 2FA, especially for bank accounts, credit card accounts, brokerage accounts and/or any account that holds personal identification information (PII) such as your social security number. Yes, it's an extra step, but it's worth the time to protect your PII and your finances.
For questions or help on setting up 2FA for your accounts, contact TheGoToTechGuru. The two worst enemies of not just your computer but any electonics, are heat and dust! This includes both external heat such as leaving your electronic devices in a hot car as well as heat generated by the device itself. When it comes to dust, there's a correct way to clean it and it may not be what you think! Water & Moisture are also terrible for electronics, including condensation that can be created by bringing your stone cold laptop from your car into your house! Learn more here on how to prevent heat and clean dust!
Your first reaction may be to change all your passwords, which is a great first step. But this is only the first of many steps in order to both protect yourself and eraticate any spyware, virus, malware or ransomware that may be making the situation with your PC even worse! Hopefully, you already have a full backup of your PC before the hack. But the first and best thing you can and should do, is disconnect it from the internet! If you need change passwords, do it from a different unaffected computer or tablet, even your smartphone. But by continuing to leave your PC connected to the internet, you are allowing the hacker to actively continue mining your affected PC for financial, medical, personal and other information! Worse, even with it disconnected from the internet but still powered on, any spyware or ransomware the hacker installed may continue to mine, propogate and thus spread! So your best bet is to turn your PC off and contact a professional to eraticate the problem. Of course there may be damage already done, such as possible loss of data and corruption to the operating system, but your goal is to minimize the damage so that your computer can be recovered to an operating status vs. having to reinstall the OS completely and lose everything. Here are some tips. For more information and to help you navigate this personal violation, contact TheGoToTechGuru!
Backing up your PC/Mac is the key to your sanity after a virus attack or hack. There's an old saying in Cyberspace: "The integrity of your data is only as good as your last backup!" There's nothing worse than to lose a year, 6 months or even a week's worth of work that you may not even be able to reconstruct! How about all those photos of your kids, anniversary or once-in-a-lifetime vacation? Fortunately, there are several options to back up your PC/Mac content online. It doesn't backup your operating system (eg. Windows or Mac OS), which you can more easily get, but these options will backup everything else if you so choose. Most of these services will automatically backup a file as soon as it's changed, such as a document, so you won't have to remember to do it manually. Of course, there's a nominal fee depending on the amount of backup storage you need, but it will be nothing compared to your sanity when you lose the precious photos and legal documents! Here is a review of several online backup services. For more information and to install these services, contact TheGoToTechGuru. If you prefer offline backups for more privacy, TheGoToTechGuru can provide a consultation on this option as well.
I recently had a customer that had his PC infected by Ransomware. For those of you not familiar with Ransomware, it’s a virus that encrypts all your files and holds them hostage until you pay the hostage taker $1000-$5000+. It’s well known that even if you do pay the exorbitant ransom, there’s still no guarantee that you’ll receive the key to unlock all your files. All his business and personal files were affected, including emails, which were all no longer accessible. To make things worse, he had no backup of anything.
To avoid getting virus’ and Ransomware, you must have good virus scan software AND malware prevention software. Don't depend on what comes with Windows because it's the minimum protection, which is only what my customer had. In the event a virus or malware does slip through, having a sound backups is the key to minimizing loss and letting you sleep at night. I strongly recommend the following virus and malware software: Kaspersky Internet Suite (most robust) and Malwarebytes Professional/Premium (industry leading software). For backups, I recommend Carbonite, which has unlimited storage for just $5.99/month and provides multiple versions of files you backup in case you accidently delete a file or make other changes you didn't mean to. Transmission and data storage is encrypted for security. Backed up data is available to your other computers, smartphone and tablets as well from free! For more information on Ransomware, Virus’, prevention software and backup software, contact TheGoToTechGuru. The latest USB connector, the USB Type-C, is emerging as the industry standard USB connector. It was developed by the USB Implementers Forum, the group of companies that has developed, certified, and shepherded the USB standard. It counts more than 700 companies in its membership, including Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Samsung. Although it's currently most commonly found on the Apple Macbook, you'll soon start seeing this new connector on other computers and devices. The USB-C connector is much smaller than the standard USB connector you see on most devices today. This reduced size was necessitated by the shrinking size of laptops and other devices as well as the need to carry more power, data and faster transfer rates. For more information on the USB-C Connector, read here.
So what’s the difference between an electrical power strip and a surge protector? The typical power strip provides nothing more than multiple outlets along a single “strip”. This “strip” plugs into a single electrical wall outlet, thus allowing multiple electrical devices to be plugged into a single electrical wall outlet. A surge protector also provides these, but guards against power surges often generated by lightning, thunder storms and when your power is first restored after an outage. Power surges can easily short-out electrically sensitive devices such as your TV, DVR, Roku, PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, router and the like, because the surge contains far more power than these sensitive devices can handle. This will literally burnout your device(s).
Surge protectors are not usually recommended for high power appliances such as blenders, lamps, microwave ovens, washers/dryers and the like. Do NOT combine high power appliances and your surge protection strip on the same electrical wall outlet and power circuit as changes in high power appliance draws can cause internal surges. Energy absorption / dissipation is what handles surges in electricity. This rating, given in Joules, tells you how much energy the surge protector can absorb before it fails. The higher the Joule number, the better the protection. Look for a Joule rating greater than 1,000, even more if you can afford it. Response time is also important. Since surge protectors don’t kick in immediately, the longer the response time, the longer your electrical device is exposed to the power surge and the greater risk of damage. Look for a surge protector with a response time of less than one (1) nanosecond. Finally, look for an indicator light that tells you if the protection is functioning. If you have an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), these only provide limited surge protection, usually in the low-to-mid 100-300 joule range. If your device(s) have a need for both a UPS and surge protection, you can consider plugging a surge protection strip into the UPS, however, depending on the devices' power demand, you likely won't be able to connect more than 1-3 devices into a single surge protector since the power strip plugs into a single UPS plug and this one plug handles a lower total power than a wall outlet. For questions or to have the proper UPS / Surge Protector installed in your home/office, contact the TheGoToTechGuru. You’ve likely heard the term “Podcast” quite a few times over the years, but what is it? The term came from when the original Apple iPod was popular, combined with the word “broadcast”, hence “Podcast”. Basically, a Podcast is an electronic audio or video recording of a news article, story, music collection or the like. Gone are the days of needing to time your radio listening or TV viewing to a specific time or miss it! Now you can just download it on-demand from the Internet to your PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet and listen / watch it at your convenience like on an airplane or during a long commute. There are thousands of Podcast shows and topics to choose from and they are usually free to listeners. So how do you find a Podcast? Many organizations provide Podcasts of their programs, like National Public Radio (NPR.org), listing them on their websites. You can also find Podcast listings using more centralized sites and utilities like Apple iTunes (for Apple products), Stitcher Radio or Podcatcher (for Android).
To download Apple iTunes, click here. To download Stitcher Radio, click here. To download Podcatcher, click here. Some laptops come with a button to turn the Wi-Fi on or off. If your laptop doesn't have this feature, don't dispair for there is an alternative! You can create Windows desktop shortcuts to do the exact same thing! Follow this link for turning your Windows Wi-Fi on and off!
There are many opinions and articles on what you should and shouldn't do when charging your mobile phone and devices. I have found these to be very accurate throughout the years, both the hard way and otherwise. Although this article may speak to the iPhone, the same rules apply to any mobile device that uses Lithium-Ion batteries, the most common used today ... Android, iPad, Laptop, etc. Read this article for great advice on what NOT to do when charging your mobile devices.
Many people are not aware that the 5Ghz band is now available for Wi-Fi. 2.4Ghz has been around forever, so almost all wireless devices use it. As a result, the frequency is very crowded as it is also shared with cordless telephones, garage door openers, baby monitors, microwave ovens and more. Even if you don’t have some of these, chances are your neighbors do, so you’ll still suffer from interference and dropped signals due to conflicts.
Both the 2.4 and 5-Ghz bands have pro’s and con’s. 2.4 can go longer distances and through walls / objects much easier but is much more crowded so prone to congestion (ie. slow transmission) and dropped signals. 5-Ghz can handle transmission of larger amounts of data due to less congestion but is less able to penetrate walls and objects. For both 2.4 and 5-Ghz, what channels within those bands you use and share with your neighbors and other devices also affects the quality of your transmission. You’ll need a professional to help determine channel conflicts and to make the proper adjustments. For more information on 2.4 and 5-Ghz wireless bands, see this article or contact TheGoToTechGuru for more information and to setup or improve your Wi-Fi reception. Standard spinning computer hard drives (HDD) are quickly being replaced by the newer Solid State drives (SSD). While the HDD has high spinning platters like an LP record, the SSD has no moving parts, similar to a USB stick ... so there's far less heat, the worse enemy of electronics (aside from water) and no moving parts to breakdown. SSD's offer much faster performance and durability than standard HDD's and SSD prices are dropping fast! The slowest thing on your computer is the HDD. Other advantages of SSD's over HDD's are: lower failure rate, lower power use, significantly faster bootup time (10-30 secs vs. 30-40 secs), less noise, less vibration, faster file read/write speed (550 MB/s vs. 50 MB/s).
So rather than buy a new PC, replacing the HDD with a SSD will likely improve its speed drastically. For more information on SSD's and their advantages over HDD's, read here! A Chromebook is a laptop, but it runs Google's Chrome OS, not Windows or Mac OS X. As such, you cannot install Windows software on it like Microsoft Word, Excel or the like, although you can use Microsoft Office Online, the cloud version of Office. Google also has look-a-like software apps. The Chromebook is not designed to be a performance laptop, but rather for the person that uses mostly the internet with most applications and data residing in the cloud since there is limited storage on the laptop itself. Since the Chromebook is designed for use on the internet, many apps just won't work if you're not connected via WiFi. However, there are more than 200 offline Chrome apps that can work without internet connectivity, including Gmail, Pocket and Google Drive, and tons of the Android apps coming soon will also work offline. Chromebook benefits include low prices and long battery life. You can find lots of information on the Chromebook here and Chromebook buying advice/information here.
If you are in the market for an iPad/tablet vs. a laptop, this article is for you! There are advantages of both, but currently, there are significant differences. Generally, a laptop is more versatile and powerful than an iPad/tablet. Laptops (2-4TB) also have more storage capacity than an iPad/tablet (256GB). You can do things like email, websurfing, Facebook, Twitter, word processing and the like on both. But that is where most similarities end. Everything from photo editing software to backups can be different in procedure, functionality and quality of results (good or bad either way). Connecting compatible devices like cameras and scanners is very limited on an iPad/tablet. But many tablet apps can more easily do things than the software on laptops. Apps on an iPad/tablet (Free-to-$5) are typically much less expensive than software for a laptop ($40-$200). To find out more on what to look for on iPads/tablets vs. Laptops, read here or contact TheGoToTechGuru!
Did you know you could send and receive faxes through your computer, smartphone and tablet via the Internet without using that old fax machine?? No need to have that dedicated fax phone line anymore! No more hardcopy paper filing! No more long distance phone charges! Check out the several ways you can fax online now!
!It's no secret that Google tracks what you do, where you've been, and more. They even have a profile on you! Yes, really! But did you know you can see this information?? Here are 6 links that will show you what Google knows about you!
If you aren’t a user of Dropbox, you may want to reconsider. It’s one of the most widely accepted and used cloud-based storage options out there. Basically, cloud storage allows you to store just about any type of file, such as photos, documents, spreadsheets, etc. in a single location while allowing you access on multiple devices such as your mobile phone, tablet, PC, Mac and its apps. If you update and save a file, say a document on your PC, it is almost immediately updated on the cloud and accessible on your mobile phone. Another great way to use Dropbox is when you want to email a large file such as a home video, which can take a long time and lots of space in your mailbox. Instead, just put the video in Dropbox, then send a Dropbox link and have your friends & family download it themselves.
Dropbox is free with 500gb of storage; to get more space, just refer people. Click here to get Dropbox for Free. There is Dropbox for Business as well which provides not only more storage but more versatility. Look here for great ideas on how to integrate Dropbox into your life. |
Blog AuthorI love technology and how it enhances our lives! Just think, without the Apollo moon missions, we might not have calculators! Imagine!! Archives
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