Tag: tech support

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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Desktop Dos and Don’ts

I have talked a lot about how to keep your laptop running great, but I haven’t spent much time talking about things to keep your desktop running smoothly. Here is a list of items to consider when placing and working with your desktop. I recently did a video about this.

One of the most important considerations for desktop longevity is the location of your desktop. Many desks come with a cabinet for your tower, so you don’t have to look at all of the wires that are connected to it. If you have a cabinet like this in your desk, make sure it has some openings for air flow. Even though desktops usually have a lot of room inside the tower they can still get very hot and start to damage the components. There are fans in the tower to move air and keep the computer cool but if it is sitting in a closed cabinet that air has nowhere to go.

Some people have their computer tower sitting next to their desk. This solves the airflow issue but opens you up to other possible issues. Make sure it isn’t sitting in direct sunlight all day. This can also cause overheating.

 Make sure your computer tower is not right under an open window. If it rains the computer could short out due to the moisture. Being right below a house plant can also be a problem if the water leaks out of the plant.

Regardless of where you keep it, make sure the area is free of dust and dirt. This is especially important if you have pets that shed. The holes in the computer tower are there for airflow and your computer could overheat if they get clogged. Inspect the tower occasionally for excess dirt in the airflow holes. If the holes look clogged up you should disconnect everything from the computer, take it outside and use a can of air to clean it up. You can even take the cover off and blow out the inside. As always, I am more than happy to help with this if you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself. Doing this every few months can keep your desktop computer running smoothly for years.

Lastly, make sure that regardless of where it is located that it is plugged into a surge protected power strip. This is one of the biggest issues with computers. If there is a power surge due to lightning your computer could be destroyed if there isn’t a surge protector in the way.

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Is My Internet Down?

How can you tell what is really going on with your internet? Is it the router? Is it just your computer? I get these questions a lot, so I decided to break down exactly what you need to do to get the answers and get your internet working again.

Is it your Router? – To determine this, you need to do some homework before your internet goes down. Whether you have a modem/router that was supplied by your internet service provider (ISP), or you purchased your own equipment, it is important to know what it looks like when it is working correctly so you can easily know when it isn’t working.

When your equipment is working correctly, look at the lights and maybe even write down what lights are lit up and what color they are or even take a picture with your cell phone. With this information, you can easily look at your equipment and know that there is a problem because the one light on your Comcast router is orange instead of white for instance.

This is the first question I ask when someone calls with internet issues. What lights are lit up and what color are they? If the lights look different, your first step is to restart your equipment. This is usually done by pulling the power cord out and then plugging it back in. Just know that it will take a few minutes to completely boot back up, just like your computer. Many times, this will fix the issue. If the lights are still not correct, now is the time to contact your ISP for help.

Is it just my computer? – If you check your router and it seems like it is working properly after a restart, it might be a problem with your computer. If you have other devices connected to the internet, are they working properly? This is the easiest way to tell if it is a computer problem. Maybe your computer just lost its connection to the internet. 

Here are the icons that show internet connectivity. Look in the bottom right corner on the taskbar:

Descriptive graphic of internet signal icons

Based on this picture, if you should be on wifi and you are not, just reconnect it. If you should have an ethernet connection, check both ends of the cable. Many times, these simple things will solve your problem. If it still won’t work, call me and I will help you troubleshoot further.

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Urgent Public Service Announcement!!

In the past few weeks, I have had many people call me because “Microsoft popped up on my computer and told me to call them because I have multiple instances of pornographic malware on my computer.”  If they try to click away from the popup, it starts yelling the warning at them and threatening them that if they shut off their computer, they will lose all of their documents and pictures.

Here are a few things you should know and share with anyone who is in danger of believing these pop ups.

  1.  Microsoft will never popup on your computer and tell you to call them.  Neither will Dell, HP, Apple or any other tech company. 
  2. These popups are cookies that are hidden on the internet waiting to scam anyone that happens to click on the wrong item.
  3. They work off of fear and they hack your browser which seems to lock your computer.  Sometimes you can go to the task manager and quit your browser.  If you can’t quit your browser, you need to do a hard reset. (Press and hold the power button for at least 15 seconds until all lights and sounds turn off) Once you turn your computer back on, open your browser but don’t allow it to restore your tabs; this will only bring back the browser hacker.
  4. They are trying to get you to let them on your computer.  They can only do this if you call them.  Once on your computer they can do any number of things; Plant a keylogger, steal your passwords, add a pre-windows password which will disable your computer unless you pay hundreds of dollars to them, or they might add a few free tools and try to charge hundreds of dollars to clean up the malware.

I have checked out many computers after getting this popup and none of them received any damaging viruses from the initial popup.  The only time there was damaging viruses and malware was after they called the number and allowed them on their computer.   

Here is my video about this. It includes a video of the pop-up.

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Why do I have two different wifi connections?

I was at a customer recently and they had a router that broadcasts both the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz frequencies. The router had been set up with the 5.0 being named for their company and the 2.4 was named guest. Each had a different password. They also told me that their printer could not see their wifi but could see their guest network. Even though the printer was on the guest network one of the computers on their network could print to it.


They had recently switched to a new internet service provider and the new company just shipped them a new modem/router and gave them basic instructions on how to get it online. When they saw that there were two frequencies, they assumed it was two separate networks, so they named the 2.4 to guest because they figured the higher number was the better network for their business.


Based on this interaction and the many questions I have received about this I decided to completely explain the difference and how to best use your wifi if you have both frequencies. Th first thing to know is that they are not two separate networks but two different connections to the same network. It is kind of like taking a winding road or a straight road that both take you to the same place.


A 2.4 GHz connection travels farther at lower speeds, while 5 GHz frequencies provide faster speeds at shorter range. So, in your home or office it is helpful to have both. In many home situations the 5.0 GHz connection is used for gaming since these computers and consoles are usually stationary and probably set up near the router. If that is the case the 5.0 GHz connection will be faster which is needed for gaming. But if your gaming machine is not close to your router you might want to use the 2.4 GHz connection to ensure you won’t drop the signal.


When setting up the wifi on phones and laptops I usually tell people to connect to both networks and save the password on each so that as they move around their home or office, they will get the strongest signal at the time and place where they currently are. If you use your wifi on a patio or in your yard you will most likely want to use the 2.4GHz for this since it travels farther.


Now let’s address why their printer didn’t show up on their 5.0 GHz network. Many older components and also many smart devices only see the 2.4 GHz networks. Since these devices don’t need the higher speed and are always stationary, they don’t add the 5.0 GHz capability which probably saves them a few dollars per unit when they are manufactured. Hopefully they pass some of this onto the consumer.


Last year I was setting up a mesh wifi system for a church and they had a number of thermostats throughout that were all managed by a phone app, so they needed to connect to the wifi. While I was setting up their router and mesh system there was a setting that allowed me to combine both the 2.4 GHz and the 5.0 GHz into a single connection. I thought that might avoid confusion in the church about which one to connect to but the combined signal with both frequencies could not be seen by those thermostats, so I had to go back and remove that setting and list both frequencies separately.


I mentioned guest networks in the first paragraph but didn’t really explain them. A true guest network is just a tunnel out to the internet. When someone connects to your guest network, they cannot see your computers or printers. Usually, they can’t even see other computers that are connected to the guest network. This is very important for companies, so their computers are not compromised by hackers through their guest network. Most routers come with a guest network that can be turned on to keep guests’ connections walled off from your network.


If you are not sure if your guest network is separate from your main network or if you need any other help with your wifi network, let me know. I have helped many individuals and companies fix their networks by adding guest networks and expanding the networks with mesh wifi systems.

Think you will understand better if you watch a video? Here is a video version.

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Your Current Operating System is No Longer Supported. Please Upgrade Your System or Replace It with a Newer Model.

Whether you use a Mac, or a PC you could get a message similar to this and after that your computer might not run properly and over time many applications might not work. The first question is “why is this happening?” Followed by “What can I do about it?”

Why is this happening? All computer makers are continuously in a battle with hackers that are trying to find vulnerabilities in their systems. This is also why you constantly receive updates. When these vulnerabilities are discovered the operating system (OS) maker creates a software patch to improve the weak area of their software. At the same time these OS makers are trying to enhance the user experience of their OS. Eventually they can no longer keep patching the software and need to replace it with a stronger version. They also must keep up with newer hardware components, so they need to keep these in mind when making the changes. 

Once the software maker realizes they can’t keep up with fixing the holes in their current software, they create a newer version. When this happens the newer version may have capabilities that require a certain processor speed or memory amount that older systems don’t have. These companies decide that they can no longer protect the older systems since they have moved their resources (employees that create the patches) to protecting the newer systems. It always comes down to money. There have been very large companies that have paid these OS makers to continue to support their computers because they have too many of the older systems to be able to quickly replace all of them. But since the rest of us are not paying for this service, our older machines will eventually fall to the side and become obsolete.

What can I do about it? Regardless of the type of system you have; it is important to keep up with these updates and accept it when they roll out a new version (maybe not immediately, but within a few months). By always running the newest version you are keeping your system safer, and you can take advantage of any new features that come out. If you are not sure if you are on the latest version here is how to check. 

On a Windows computer, right click on the start button and choose System. On a Mac computer click on the apple and then about. This will show you the windows or OS version.

Even if you keep your device on the latest and greatest version you may eventually get to a point where your computer will no longer accept the updates due to not having the proper processor speed or not enough memory. If this happens you need to seriously consider getting a new computer since you have probably had your current one for many years. You might be pleasantly surprised at the increase in speed, picture quality and other improvements that a new system can provide.

I have seen many smaller companies and even individuals that are running an older version of software and don’t want to have to purchase a new version since the current one suits their needs. This could be one reason to keep your old system and use it just for this one application. I would not keep using this computer for anything financial or even to go onto the internet. Many times, the older software might run on the newer OS but sometimes it might not. If you do plan to only use this computer for software like this just know that if (when) your computer dies you will then be without this program so you might start looking for a contingency plan in case something happens.