Tag: IT Help

Posted on

National Clean Out your Computer Day

Yes, February 10th was National Clean Out your Computer Day. I know most of you probably have not celebrated this day before and are probably wondering why I even mentioned it. This just gives me an excuse to take you through some very important computer maintenance issues that usually get overlooked and can make a big difference for your computer.

So how do you celebrate this day? 

The first thing is to get rid of unnecessary files that are on your computer. The files I am referring to are the temp files that are created when updates happen. There are tools built into both PCs and Macs that will remove these files, but I like to use a program called CCleaner (ccleaner.com) to do the job. This program is available for both platforms and will go through your computer and get rid of all of those temporary and unneeded files. It will also work in the background and tell you when you should run the cleaner again. They have a paid “Professional” version and a free version. The free version should be just fine.

The second thing you should do is look at your desktop and move any files stored there to your documents folder. By keeping your desktop relatively empty you will know if a new icon appears on it. Many times, unwanted programs that you accidentally install will drop an icon onto your desktop. If you notice anything suspicious you can take action to remove it. I am always available to remove those pesky programs that just happen to appear.

The third thing to do is make sure your backup is working properly. If it isn’t working correctly now is a good time to fix this so you won’t lose any documents in case of a computer failure. If you are not sure how to check your backup or you don’t have a backup, I can help with this also. If you are using a cloud service like OneDrive or DropBox as a backup, you might want to watch this video since those are not really backups but syncs.  

The last thing is to make sure that your anti-virus is working properly. If it has expired and you are no longer protected, your data could be in jeopardy. I have written a lot and made videos about anti-virus software. If you need one, I can also help with that.

Now that you have done all of these things your computer will hopefully be more organized, maybe a little faster and definitely safer. So Happy National Clean Out your Computer Day!!

Want to get my computer services updates and reminders directly into your email inbox? Sign up for my FREE Newsletter!

Sign Up!
Posted on

Microsoft Accounts

If you have a Windows computer, it is nearly impossible to not have a Microsoft account anymore. They have made it very difficult to set up a computer without using a Microsoft account. In this article I will discuss the good and the bad and some things you should not do with Microsoft accounts.

Before we get into that, what exactly is a Microsoft account? According to Google’s Generative AI:

A Microsoft account is a personal account that allows you to access Microsoft’s products and services. You can use your Microsoft account to: 

  • Sign in to Windows, Xbox, and other Microsoft devices
  • Access online apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
  • Save files and photos in 5 GB of cloud storage
  • Access the Xbox network and community
  • Customize privacy settings
  • Receive alerts for suspicious account activity
  • Use optional password less sign-in
  • Automatically sync data to the cloud

You can use any email address as your Microsoft account username, including addresses from Outlook.com, Yahoo!, or Gmail. It is even possible to use your company email as a personal Microsoft account, but it is not a good idea. Microsoft accounts used to be called “Windows Live ID”.

First, the positives of having a Microsoft account:

  • It allows you to sync settings, documents and browsers across two or more computers. This is great if you have a desktop at home and a laptop that you carry around or use for travel.
  • It is easier to set up a new computer since you can just sign in with your account and synchronize the above-mentioned items.
  • You should never get locked out of your computer because you can always reset your password by using the email account connected to your Microsoft account on another device.
  • It allows you to use fingerprints, pins or your face to login.

Next, the negatives of having a Microsoft account:

  • All of your documents and settings will sync across your devices.
  • You must use their cloud. It is difficult to only save documents on your computer.
  • In small businesses it is difficult to set up computers for employees and it is difficult to get into the computer if that employee leaves and you don’t know their password.
  • Microsoft will have control over your computer, programs and documents.
  • Microsoft accounts can be used with many different things. You can use it only as the method to sign into your computer. You can use it only for signing into your Office365 programs or you can use it for both.
  • It is possible to have a personal and a business Microsoft account that use the same email account. (this can cause a lot of issues for people)

Next, I will list the things you should never do with your Microsoft account.

  • You should never use your Microsoft account to set up a computer for someone else. If you are a small business owner and you don’t use the entire expensive suite of Microsoft this makes setting up an employee’s computer difficult.
  • You should never share your Office 365 programs by signing into someone else’s computer with your Microsoft account.
  • As a business owner it is not a good idea to simply hand a new computer to an employee and have them set it up for themselves.

Microsoft mainly caters to large enterprises, but it is possible to set up and use computers without falling into these issues. No one wants to find their personal documents and pictures on their employees’ computer. This is something I help small businesses with all the time. Before you set up your next computer, whether it is a business or personal computer, give me a call and I can help you make the best of the Microsoft accounts without compromising your security.

Posted on

Driver Updater Applications

There are applications out there that claim they will keep all of your drivers updated on your computer to help keep your computer running smoothly. I see these on computers all the time and if they are the free versions I always uninstall them. If the customer has actually paid for the application, I have a discussion with them about these applications.

First of all, what are drivers? A driver is a software component that lets the operating system, and a device (printer, monitor, mouse, etc.) communicate. The most common drivers and the ones most people have heard of are for printers.

Now that you know what drivers are and what they are used for, let’s discuss these applications that supposedly keep your drivers updated.

If you are on the internet and you do a search for printer drivers and you don’t specify the brand, you might end up downloading and installing a program called a driver updater. I did a Google search and found dozens of these programs. Some of them are stand alone programs and others are part of program suites bundled with anti-virus and other similar applications.

One common theme is that they all install for free and then when you run them, they will tell you about the many drivers you have that need updating. They will be happy to update them for you, all you have to do is purchased their upgrade. This is always their endgame.

Drivers are not like the other types of software on your computer. They don’t get regular updates and generally are not security risks. Occasionally a manufacturer will find a defect in a driver and will issue a fix, but this doesn’t happen very often. Usually new versions of an operating system can cause the need for a new driver, but you will know if this is needed because your device will not function properly. Incases like this, many times you will get a driver update from that operating system to fix the issue with the driver.

If for some reason the operating system doesn’t help you, you can go to the manufacturer’s website and get the necessary driver. I have never seen one of these driver updater programs help in this situation.

In my experience, the only thing these driver updaters do is slow down your system and try to scare you into sending them money to fix a problem that really doesn’t exist. I know many anti-viruses have this as an addon, including Avast, Norton, AVG. McAfee and others. I don’t recommend any of these anti-viruses. They all act like marketing companies always trying to sell you more stuff by scaring you.

Save your money and don’t fall for the driver updaters. If you end up with one of these on your computer and are not sure how it got there, you are not alone. I see this all the time. I can help you get rid of these if you don’t know how. I can also help you if you have other software on your computer that you are not sure what it is and where it came from.

Posted on

Why are Updates so Important?

Just say the phrase computer updates, and you will get negative responses from most people. We have all heard and some of us have even experienced the horror of a bad update that kills your computer. This is a real fear, and it does happen from time to time, but today I want to give you some of my success stories involving computer updates.

I had a customer a while back that could not get her Office 365 applications to run. She had tried everything she could think of and then called me. I tried all of my normal troubleshooting steps and then took to googling for more possible fixes. Nothing that was suggested fixed her issue with these applications, in fact after trying to uninstall and reinstall we could not even get it to install on her computer.

As a last effort I suggested that we update from Windows 10 to Windows 11 since it seemed her operating system might be corrupt. Sure enough, after updating to Windows 11 we were able to install her applications, and they were once again running correctly.
Many times, I have had customers with issues in their browser (Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox) and the first thing I do is check for updates. That usually solves their issue. When a customer gets the “Blue Screen of Death” over and over again the first place to look is if there are any updates that might solve this.

Aside from these good stories about updates, there is a good reason to complete them. The majority of updates are done to fix known bugs or known vulnerabilities. Based on this, it is important to run updates even if you don’t see any problems on your machine. Software “bugs” don’t always show up immediately. They might not show until a certain feature is used. If you can keep the issue from affecting your system, it is even better.

If you are concerned about updates breaking your system, see this video where I show you how to ensure recovery points are being created before any updates.

Posted on

YES, Another Update About Windows 10 End of Life.

So, a few months ago I wrote about Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 as of January 2025. Well, a couple days after I sent that newsletter out, I discovered that Microsoft changed their date to October 2025. This means you have an extra nine months before they stop supporting Windows 10.

Just because Microsoft decided to wait an additional nine months doesn’t mean you should just forget about upgrading. If your computer is able to upgrade to Windows 11 you will gain more than you will lose by doing this upgrade. If you don’t know how to upgrade or if you are not sure if you can upgrade, I can help you check the possibility and even help with getting it done. I can also help you find a suitable replacement if you can’t upgrade.

While this extra time is helpful since you can save longer for a new computer or check for sales for a longer time, putting off the inevitable isn’t always a good thing. As I have mentioned, there are a few features that make Windows 11 great for more productivity and ease of working with your computer.

The Windows Phone Link is something I use daily to quickly get links and pictures transferred between my desktop and my phone. It saves me so much time. I also use the enhanced snap assist to get certain windows exactly where I want them on my two screens.

If you find out that your computer can’t be upgraded to Windows 11 that means that the processor is not fast/strong enough to handle the new speeds and other demands of Windows 11. Once you make the move and get a new computer you will be presently surprised at the responsiveness and how you can easily do more than one thing at a time.

The slight learning curve is well worth it. If you need help finding the right computer or help setting it up, I can help with both.

Posted on

Passwords, the continuing saga.

Here is another article about passwords. I could probably have a newsletter that is dedicated to passwords every month and I would still have information that I can’t send out because there is so much information about passwords. 

I recently read an article that claims it is possible to recreate a password by hearing the slight differences in the keys punched while entering your password. They state that using a smart phone microphone in the same room or the microphone in a zoom meeting it could be possible using AI to get a password.

While this is mostly just hypothetical, at this point the potential is there. The point I am trying to make is that it is becoming harder and harder to keep your passwords secure. This is why I think using a password manager is the safest way to go.

When you use a password manager all of your passwords are hidden behind a secure wall that only you can access. Bonus if you can access this wall by using something other than a password like your fingerprint, or two factor authentication through an app on your phone. The password manager that I suggest allows you to use Windows Hello, which can be your fingerprint, your face, a pin number or your other device to log into their application. This way you are not inputting a password which apparently can now be heard by your keystrokes.

I know this all sounds very scary, but keep in mind that sophisticated methods like listening for your keystrokes and similar things will first be used on much bigger fish than people like us since they require a lot of hi-tech gadgets and programs. Eventually this might become more mainstream but by then there will probably be more ways to counteract this threat and good password managers will be ahead of the game.

Another good reason to have a password manager is the “set it and forget it” factor. I often help people set up new computers and the thing that takes the most time is finding all of their passwords to get their email and other important accounts set up on their new machine. What typically happens is they pull out their password cheat sheet and we start attempting to login to their accounts. Sometimes they will have a few different passwords for the same account, and we go through each with trial and error until we find the correct one or we get to the point where we have to reset it. This costs these folks a lot of time and money since I charge by the time I spend. It would be so much easier to just add their password manager to the new computer and then all of their passwords would be correct in this app, and it would only take a few minutes to sign into all of their accounts.

Here is the password manager that I use:

KEEPER

If you need help setting up a password manager, give me a call and I can help.

I saw this on Facebook a while back:

Posted on

Why Are My Personal Documents on My Employee’s Computer?

As scary as this sounds, I have had this question from many small business owners. Usually, it happens for one of two reasons. They either used their personal Microsoft account to set up an employee’s computer or they used their personal Microsoft Office 365 subscription for their employee’s office applications. Either way you can end up with all of your stuff, no matter how confidential it is, on other computers.

I know Microsoft doesn’t make it easy to set up computers for your employees since they mostly require a Microsoft account to complete set up and you may not have a Microsoft account for the employee yet. I also know it can be a major expense to add Microsoft office onto their computers. But, most small business owners don’t realize they are sharing all of their information when they use their accounts.

When you sign into a new computer with your Microsoft account it will copy everything from your current computer that is in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft OneDrive. So, if you use Edge and save your passwords there you will inadvertently copy them all to your employee’s new computer. This can also include saved credit card numbers and bank logins. If you use OneDrive everything from your Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders will also sync to this new computer. Even if you can get past the required Microsoft account on setup you can still end up with all of your info on this new computer if you share one of your 5 copies of MS Office Family.

So how can you safely set up a computer without sharing your entire personal life with your crew? For enterprise sized businesses there is the option to use MS Azure and the employee’s email account as the business Microsoft account. But very small businesses usually don’t have this as an option since it can get very expensive. Rather than using your personal copy of Office365, you can share a copy with their Microsoft account. If they don’t have one, you can easily create one.

If you are not sure how to do this, it is probably best to call someone like me to assist with this. I can help you find the most economical way to set up the computer for your employees to use and keep all of your personal information from ending up on their machine.

Posted on

Windows 10 End of Support

In January of 2025 Microsoft will end their general support for Windows 10. This means that after next January, any computers still running Windows 10 will not receive security updates any longer. Due to this, those computers will be more vulnerable to internet attacks since new security issues found will not be addressed in those computers by getting updates. Over time, you will not be able to access certain sites and eventually your browsers will quit working.


None of this will happen immediately and I know there are still people using Windows 7 which has not been supported for years. But if your Windows 10 computer is used for any financial or secure connections, upgrading is a great idea. So, if you are still using Windows 10, it is time to start planning to switch to Windows 11 if your computer will allow it. If that isn’t possible you should start considering getting a new computer.


If you are not sure what version of Windows you have it is easy to tell between Windows 10 and Windows 11. In Windows 10 the start button is four white squares and in Windows 11, the start button is four blue squares.


If you are on Windows 10, click on the start button and then click on the settings menu. Once that opens, click on Updates and it should list if your computer can upgrade to Windows 11. If not, give me a call, sometimes you just need to change a couple settings to be able to upgrade to Windows 11. I can tell you in a few minutes if that is the case or if you need to get a new computer.


If you discover that you do need a new computer, I can help you find one that is powerful enough to handle all of your needs while staying affordable for your budget. I can also help you set up the new machine and migrate all of your data from the old one.


One big question I always get asked is why does this happen? As the “war” between Microsoft software engineers and the bad guys continues, Microsoft has to keep making patches for every version of their operating system that is out there. When you consider that they create new sub versions, usually three times per year, there can be quite a few versions they need to make patches for. For this reason, they make a cutoff date so they can keep the number of versions down to a manageable size. These versions are necessary since there is a steady stream of new and faster hardware being made all the time and Microsoft needs to have software that can take full advantage of those improvements.


I have only mentioned Microsoft because they still have the majority of the market, but Apple does the same thing, it just isn’t reported as loudly. I run into people all the time that have MacBooks that no longer get updates and begin to lose functionality. This is all part of the computer world. The same goes for all cell phones and tablets too.


One extra benefit to upgrading, I recently had a customer that was having trouble with her Microsoft Office, and we ended up uninstalling it to fix the problem. Once it was uninstalled there was an error that kept us from reinstalling it. I upgraded her computer from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and then I was able to install Office again. A new operating system can solve old issues sometimes.

Posted on

Windows Phone Link Phone Application

One feature that many people really like and always mention when talking about Apple devices is the fact that they connect together and allow you to share files with ease and even answer your phone or text messages on your computer. As an avid PC user, I can see how this would be handy.


For Windows 11 Microsoft has added a new feature. It is called PhoneLink. If you turn this feature on you can connect your Android phone or iPhone to your Windows 11 computer. You can share files, answer text messages and phone calls from your computer and even use your phone’s apps while on your computer. You can also see all of your notifications in the window of PhoneLink and access all of your phone’s pictures.


I recently enabled this feature on my desktop computer in my office. Being able to respond to texts from my computer is much easier. I can even copy links from my browser right into my text messages or take links from a text message and pop it into my browser. I wish I had not fought this. I was aware of this months before I actually added it. I usually don’t jump into new applications; I wait for the bugs to be worked out first.


I am just beginning to see all of the uses for this, and it is really saving me time. For someone who works in an office this would be fantastic. It was also very easy to set up. You turn on the app on your phone and enable the setting on your computer and follow the prompts and give it a few permissions. It took me less than a minute to get it going. The biggest requirement is to have your phone and computer on the same network.


This PhoneLink is set to automatically start each time I start my computer, so it is always available to me. If you have Windows 11 and would like to set up this feature, I can help you with this but it is pretty easy so you can probably figure it out on your own. While setting up a new computer Windows will ask if you want it set up.


I know a lot of people don’t like to upgrade Windows but if you are on Windows 10 this feature alone would make it worthwhile to upgrade to Windows 11. I can also help you with this if needed.

Posted on

Whole House Wifi

This is a term that I hear occasionally but what does it really mean? It usually refers to a system that covers your entire house with wifi. The trouble with most routers is that they are only in one location in your house and sometimes that location is in the corner in your basement. Most routers are not in the middle of the house where they could give you the most coverage and even if they are in the right place they probably don’t have the range to reach everywhere in the house.


So how do you cover your entire house with wifi? By using a Mesh Wifi System. This is a system of pods that are strategically placed around your house to cover all areas. The brand I use most even says you can “paint your home in WIFI.” People used to use wifi extenders to do this, but an extender usually creates a new network instead of expanding your current network, so you have to connect to a different network in certain areas of your house. Extenders also don’t come with a phone app, so it is difficult to tell if they are really working or not. Mesh systems only broadcast one signal, but you seamlessly connect to the nearest pod.


The great thing about these mesh systems is that you don’t need to rewire your house to connect all of these pods. They only need to be plugged into an electric outlet and they also need to be in the range of another pod. By using a few pods, you can cover all areas and all floors in even very large homes. Many mesh systems can even reach outside onto outdoor living spaces with special pods that are made for outdoor use and are weather resistant. You don’t even have to know how large the range of each pod is because there is an app that you put on a cell phone that helps set them up.


After fighting with some dead zones in my house for years I recently added a mesh system. I had been putting it off because I was concerned that I might need to reprogram all of my smart devices after changing my network. I was very careful to name the new network the same as my old network and make the password exactly the same. When I turned on the new network all of my devices connected to it automatically except for one printer so it didn’t take long to get everything working.


This not only improved the coverage of wifi in my house it also gave me much higher speed. I was previously using the wifi from my Comcast modem and those don’t have a lot of wifi coverage or speed once you get a few feet away.


There are many brands of mesh wifi systems. I have installed expensive systems and inexpensive systems. I know what works and what is junk. Just because a system is expensive doesn’t mean it works well. If you are considering a mesh wifi system I can help you find the right one for your home. Here is a video where I talk about these systems: