Tech Talk #41 – December 17, 2016 Need a last minute gift? Maybe you just found out your son is finally bringing a girl home for Christmas. Or the office Secret Santa party is tomorrow, and you haven’t gotten anything yet. Or your best friend just got back together with their ex, again, and now you need something for the recently former ex, too. Don’t worry. Love’s Travel Stop has games, die-cast motorcycles, and
Tech Talk #40 – December 3, 2016 It’s that time of year again. The internet lets us shop in stores that can be anywhere in the world and the myriad delivery choices can bring our purchases right to our door. It’s convenient, and the transactions themselves are safe and secure. But there are a few things to watch out for while you’re shopping. Ransomware Criminals spread ransomware by adding an infected attachment to an
Tech Talk #39 – November 22, 2016 We log on to Facebook to see photos of families and friends and see who’s off to some far away land and (probably) having more fun than we are - but we don’t want to give the book of faces too much information about ourselves. Here are some changes you can make to take control of Facebook. Prevent your friend’s page likes from turning into ads If
Tech Talk #38 – November 12, 2016 As grown-ups, you probably know the basics of how to stay safe when you’re on the internet, but how about your kids? Have you had ‘the talk’ with them yet? If not, here are some things you can cover: Cyberbullying – Kids can be bullied online just like they can at school. Cyberbullying can include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted
Tech Talk #37 – October 29, 2016 When you buy your computer from a retailer – Amazon, Costco, Best Buy – you’re getting a system that was designed to meet most people’s needs. And also to make everybody involved (except you) some money. But if you build the computer yourself, you’ll probably end up with a better computer and you’ll learn some new skills. Note: there are absolutely no soldering or programming skills needed.
Tech Talk #36 – October 15, 2016 In case you missed it, late last month Yahoo! reported that in 2014 thieves broke into their servers and stole information on 500,000 Yahoo! email users. The information stolen included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and some security questions and answers. If you haven’t changed your yahoo.com, sbcglobal.net, or att.net password since 2014 you should put down this paper and change it right now. Really.
Tech Talk #35 – October 1, 2016 They’re still out there, the fake tech support people. I know, and you know, nobody from Microsoft will ever call you to tell you there’s something wrong with your computer. It just won’t happen. The people who do call you aren’t from Microsoft and all they want to do is get your money. Don’t give it to them. Don’t talk to them and just hang up the phone.
Tech Talk #34 – September 17, 2016 Computers are tools. We don’t need to know very much about our computer to check our email, play a quick game of Solitaire, or order ourselves a little something. As part of my job fixing things that can go wrong with computers, I need to explain technical things about computers and how they work in terms I hope people can understand. Here are two of the most
Tech Talk #33 – September 3, 2016 Myth: For digital cameras, the more megapixels the better For normal viewing, megapixels aren't as important as having a good quality lens and a good light sensor. There’s more to digital cameras than just megapixels. If you want to blow up your photos for printing or do some detailed photo editing, you can get pictures with more resolution by changing the settings on your existing camera. Myth:
Tech Talk #32 – August 20, 2016 Each version of Windows adds features and sometimes new ways of doing the same old things. But Windows doesn’t do everything by itself and probably never will. Here are a couple of utilities I use and recommend for certain tasks. Reducing file size for pictures Digital cameras and smartphones take great pictures these days and those picture are huge in terms of file size. To email your