Tag: Computer Maintenance

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Hey Parents! Your Router Can Help You.

Summer has begun and for many parents that means that their kids will be home alone more often. Many parents struggle with getting their kids to help out around the house because many kids spend too much of their time on their devices. Your home router can help you keep this to a workable amount of time.

Most routers come with some kind of parental controls that can keep kids safe and productive. They can block certain kinds of content so your kids can’t access it from their devices. You can also have a schedule that turns their wifi off and on at certain times. This is great for making sure the kids are sleeping at night and not just streaming or hanging out on social media all night.

Most of these routers come with an app for your phone so you can manage it even when you are not at home.

Here are some common features to look for in a new router:

  1. Profile based filtering – This allows you to add your child’s phone, tablet and game console to one profile so you can easily turn wifi off for all of their devices with one tap. You can also use this for specific rules for different ages.
  2. Screen time limits – You can give each child a daily allowance of wifi, or schedule daily shutoff for bedtime.
  3. Content filtering – Automatically block categories like gambling, adult content or even social media.
  4. App blocking – Prevent access to certain apps like TikTok or YouTube instead of just blocking an entire category.
  5. Pause button – Cut internet access to certain devices or all devices for dinner or family time.

If you are interested in this type of help and your current router doesn’t offer anything like this a quick Google search can find many that fit the bill. If you need assistance with this, I can help also.

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Cloud Storage is Full

This is a topic that keeps coming back to me. I get calls and emails about this all the time. Usually the first question is “Is this real?” Followed up by, “Do I even use this and do I need this?” Of course, the answer to these questions is different depending on who is asking.

First of all, there have been a number of scams based on “your cloud storage is full.” So, the first thing to know is if you do use cloud storage and if so, which cloud storage you use. In the scams the emails are usually very vague about the actual name of the cloud service so that is always the first give away that it is a scam.

In case you are not sure what a cloud storage service is, the major players are Microsoft with OneDrive, Google with Google Drive, Apple with iCloud, and Dropbox. There are others but most people have one or more of these if they use a cloud storage service. They all work very similarly. They all give you a small amount of online storage for free in the hope that you will put more in these accounts and then they can charge you for excess use. Basically, cloud storage is just someone else’s computer where your data is stored and with the correct credentials you can access it from any computer, browser, tablet or phone.

How do you know if you use a cloud service and which one you use? If you look at File Explorer on a Windows computer or Finder on a Mac, you should see your cloud listed in the left column. You can then open that folder to see what you have stored in the cloud. Both OneDrive on a PC and iCloud on a Mac could easily be installed without you really being aware of it. It takes more effort to install Google Drive and Dropbox onto a computer. Any of these can easily be set up on a phone. Based on all of this you might need to do a little research to figure out what you use, where you use it, and what is actually stored in it. When you get a legitimate email about full storage from Google or Apple it is usually pointing to photos on your phone since that is the largest use of space for most of us.

If you are not sure if you have a cloud service or if you need one, I am happy to discuss this with you. For some it is necessary or a great convenience and for others it is not needed at all. With a few simple questions we can figure this out.

Now getting back to that email you received about your cloud storage being full. The first thing is to look at who it is coming from. All of the cloud services mentioned above will send an email from their company name so if the sending email address is some random name, you can be sure it is fake. Next, don’t click any link in the email. Instead look for the account on your device and log into it from there. If your storage is full, you will be told about that as soon as you open their app. 

If you are using their free version and your storage is full you will need to make a decision about paying for more storage or removing the service from your device. If you are not sure, I can help you make that decision also.Finally, some of these services call their service a backup. They really are not a backup but a sync. Here is a video I made a couple of years ago that explains the difference. https://youtu.be/wzqLy-6cJWQ

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Preventative Maintenance, Not Just for Your Car

I noticed a trend last year. I have two kinds of customers. Those that I see a few times a year and those I only see once every few years. The ones I see often usually have very small issues and they are easily solved. The ones I see every few years usually have larger issues and are much more difficult to solve. This isn’t always the case, but it is a trend.

Based on this, I have combined together the items that seem to come up most often and I am now offering a semi-annual maintenance plan to keep these things from becoming a major problem for my customers.

These items encompass: 

  1. Administration of the computer which can keep my customers from getting locked out of their computers due to corrupt files, bad updates, and encryption.
  2. Data issues include backups, space usage, and malware/viruses.
  3. Computer Tune up to ensure all updates happen, only necessary programs are running, and everything is working in the most efficient way.

I have found that my customers’ computers last longer and work better when I keep up with these things.

I have started this service with an initial on-site service to get everything set up and then the future visits can be completed remotely, which is more convenient and cost effective. My goal is to remove as many emergency calls as possible. Since many of these things, when ignored, become emergencies, this should help everyone.

If you are interested in this service, give me a call or email duane@callduane.com.

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