Tips & Tricks

Backing up your PC

Listen to this week's Tips & Tricks segment as broadcasted on JQ99.

Are all your photos, music, and documents at risk if your hard drive were to crash? There are many ways to backup your computer. There are several things to take into consideration when deciding which method is best for you.

When we do a customer assessment, we categorize one’s backup by red light, yellow light, and green light.

Red Light

  • Not performing a back up at all.

  • Anything that requires you to perform a manual backup. For example, backing up to a DVD. There is too much risk that it will not get done.

  • Any type of backup that uses of flash/thumb drive. These drive could break and easily get lost.

  • When the backup copy is not offsite in a secure location.

Yellow Light

  • An automated back up to an external hard drive.

  • While automation of the backup is great, your backup copy still resides in your home or business. This is a danger in the event of fire, theft, etc.

Green Light

  • Online backup services allow you to set it and forget it.

  • The backup process is automated based on a schedule.

  • All your data is offsite in a secure data center.

  • If a backup fails you can be notified by e-mail or a message on your computer.

We recommend Mozy backup. They are owned by EMC, a Fortune 500 company, that is a leader in data storage. Setup is easy and it is a very cost effective way to backup your data. Pricing for Mozy Home is $4.95 a month for "unlimited" backup. If you pay for a year in advance you get 1 month free.

SPECIAL OFFER FROM COMPUTER HOUSE CALLS - Click on the link below and use offer code "December" to receive a 10% discount with a 1 year sign up.

Mozy Unlimited Backup - $4.95/Month

Mozy offers backup for businesses too. For a business with a server there is a $6.95 a month license fee, plus 50 cents per GB of data backed up. Also, for businesses, there are some better ways than just backing up files and folders, so if your server crashes you can be operational again in no time at all. Contact us for additional details.

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Remote Access

Listen to this week's Tips & Tricks segment as broadcasted on JQ99.

There are a variety of options available to connect to your work computer from home. While those with a regular need to connect to the office should set up a virtual private network (VPN), there are some easier ways to connect.

Two services available include:

GoToMyPC
Pricing starts at $19.95 a month for access to a single computer. Annual pre-pay discounts are available and they offer a 30 day trial.

LogMeIn Pro
Pricing starts at $12.20 a month for access to a single computer. Their annual pre-pay discount drops pricing to $69.95 for the year. A trial of their service is also available. A free version, called LogMeIn Free, is available but is a limited version. Features like file transfer, remote sound, and printing are not included in the free version. 

Both GoToMyPC and LogMeIn have packages available if you need to connect to more than one computer.

Here are answers to a couple popular questions:

Speed - While it won't be as fast as being directly on your office PC, these services are fairly fast and will allow you to efficiently get work done from home.

Security - Both of these services encrypt your data as it's being transferred back and forth. Password protection layers also help to secure your account.

 

 

 

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Scareware

Listen to this week's Tips & Tricks segment as broadcasted on JQ99.

Scareware, a type of malware, shows up on your computer as a pop-up warning that your computer has been infected. It will instruct you to "scan" your computer and then directs you to their website to buy software to remove the infections. This unethical technique basically bullies you into buying their software. Usually there is no virus on your computer, but these pop-ups continue to warn you of such. These warning messages often look "official".

What do I do?
Normally it will ask if you would like to perform a scan of your computer. Do not click the "yes" button. In fact, do not click the "no" or "cancel" button. These often are programmed to install more adware or spyware on your computer. While it is best to click the red X to close the window, it is even better to look for that pop-ups window in your taskbar (the bar at the bottom of your screen) and right-mouse click and select close.

If you have been infected, there are applications like Spybot Search & Destroy that can help remove the infection. When the adware is deeply entrenched in your computer or you just don't want to try to remove it yourself, you can call Computer House Calls to assist you.

Proactively, a software application to help prevent adware and spyware is Spyware Blaster. The best advice is to be cautious and not to quickly click on any warnings that pop-up.

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Speed up my PC

Do you remember that day when you first bought your computer and it was so fast? Over time that computer has slowed down and become a source of frustration for you. There are a variety of things you can do today to speed it up.

Listen to this week's Tips & Tricks segment as broadcasted on JQ99.

Here are a variety of tips you can use to speed up your computer. If you don't want to do this yourself, consider our PC Tune Up service.

Free up hard drive space

Do you have a lot of old programs on your computer? Remove these to free up disk space. From the Start menu, go to Control Panel, and then Uninstall Programs. Remove each program you no longer use.

Clean up your desktop

The more clutter on your desktop will reduce the speed of your computer. Store these files in your My Documents.

Run Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a free utility that is part of Windows that will identify old files that can be deleted. Follow these instructions for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Clear temp files and cookies

Within Internet Options in Internet Explorer you can delete temporary files and cookies.

Run anti-virus and anti-spyware scans

Virus and adware/spyware can have substantial effects on the speed of your computer. Run your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to scan your hard drive.

Defrag your hard drive

 Follow instructions for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Add RAM (memory)

Adding RAM will provide great results in speeding up your computer.

Worst case scenarios

If your computer is in really bad shape and nothing seems to help, you may want to consider a PC Restart. Also, depending on the age of your computer you may want to evaluate replacing it with a new one. We can assist you in getting a new computer that meets your needs today and tomorrow.

 

 

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Cyber Safety for Kids

The Internet is the "digital playground" for today's youth. While this playground has many great benefits, there are some risks too. We've have some great resources to help parents keep their kids safe online.

Listen to this week's Tips & Tricks segment as broadcasted on JQ99.

How to Reduce Online Risks article.

15 Tips for Online Parents

15 Tips for Online Kids

OnlineFamily.Norton is a fairly new service for online safety.

eBlaster is a great monitoring and recording software program.

NetSmartz.org is loaded with tips for both parents and kids.

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