I love fixing and maintaining computers, I am also all about education. Education fosters empowerment. The more I teach my customers, the more empowered they are to use their technology. So I am creating The Daily Takeaway. This is where I will share my daily experiences with technology as a way to educate and empower. Today, I have a few nuggets to share with you.
1). I love a good all-in-one computer, but they sometimes have issues with the CD drive. Today, I took apart an HP all-in-one where the CD fell out of the drive and was rattling around inside the computer. The CD kept bumping into the touch screen, making the cursor jump all over the place. It took about 1/2 hour to gently pry the screen away from the back of the computer and grab the loose CD. It took 2 minutes to put it all together again. The CD enclosure sits vertically, making the chance of the CD falling out of the drive higher than normal. I suggested to the client that he buy a USB CD drive. You can get them at any computer type store for about $30.
2). If you are an IOS/Mac user, here is a tip for the Calendar. I had a husband and wife today whose calendar items did not appear to be syncing between devices. IOS/Mac calendars come with 3 built in calendars, Home, Calendar, and Family. You can create custom calendara calendars at the iCloud website. If you do this, make sure to enable the viewing of these new calendars in your IOS or Mac calendar. In IOS, tap on Calendars at the bottom of your calendar, and make sure all iCloud calendars are selected. On your Mac, make sure all iCloud calendars are selected on the left.
3). I get the scam calls daily. Yesterday, a client called to say a pop-up window appeared on the screen. The windows claimed her computer was virus-infected. The instructions were to call an 800 number for repair. You all need to know, that this is a scam! The window, designed to scare you, is very effective. The goal of the window is to extract your credit card information when you call the 800 number. The second goal is to gain access to your computer, where the scammer WILL plant a virus.
The final goal is to charge you hundreds of dollars to fix the virus. ALL pop–up windows claiming your computer has a virus, are fake. Fake news folks. If one of these windows appears on your computer, restart the computer. This will break the connection to the scammer.
That is all for today’s Daily Takeaway. Go forth and conquer your technology.