Tech Talk #73 – Mar. 17, 2018 Your digital legacy and before Google Part of being a grown-up is facing the fact we won’t be here forever. Most people are familiar with wills and family trusts as instruments of helping your loved ones know what do when you die. Wills and family trusts make it clear what your wishes are. You do have a will, right? If not, get one. While you’re at it,
Tech Talk #72 – Mar. 3, 2018 Something(s) old and something new Something old #1 - Fake tech support scams I know we’ve talked about this before, but the fake tech support scammers are still out there. You know that Microsoft, Apple, HP, the FBI or anyone else will NEVER call you about your computer. You know that when, not if, someone does call you it’s a fake tech support scammer trying to
Tech Talk #71 – Feb. 17, 2018 How (and why) to measure computer performance How do we tell if a computer is fast or if it’s faster than that computer over there? What’s fast anyway? We need an objective way to measure a computer’s speed overall, and it would be nice to break down the major parts of a computer and get ratings for them, too. That’s where benchmarking comes in. Gamers have
Tech Talk #70 – Feb. 3, 2018 Switch from Chrome to Firefox I’ve been a fan of Google’s Chrome browser for years. When it first launched, it was fast and very configurable. The sync feature made it easy to have the same bookmarks on both my desktop and my laptop, and there were lots of extensions that made it better and safer than browsing without them. Lately, though, Chrome has started helping itself to
Tech Talk #69 – Jan. 20, 2018 Meltdown and Spectre, oh my! It’s unusual when extremely technical problems make the news, but by now you’ve probably heard about Meltdown and Spectre. Multiple teams of independent researchers have discovered (and named!) these design flaws in computer processors. Meltdown and Spectre are in the news because these flaws result in vulnerabilities in every computer chip made in the last twenty years. The Windows, Mac, and Linux
Tech Talk #68 – Jan. 6, 2018 Helping your new gadgets live a long life Here are four things you can do to give your new gadget, whether it’s a laptop, smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer, a long life. Keep it clean and protected Keeping dirt and grime out of your devices helps keep them running. Getting your computer up off the floor will help it breathe cleaner air and last longer. Getting a