1. iCloud – what does it mean when iCloud does not have enough space to backup my iPhone? Apple gives you 5GBs of iCloud storage for free, but Apple wants you to buy more space. Usually, the biggest user of space is your Photo Stream. You have three options: buy more iCloud storage from Apple, stop backing up your Photo Stream or use another cloud based solution such as DropBox to backup your photos.2. Samsung Galaxy S5 - I moved from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy S5. Why? A bigger, brighter screen that was easier for me to read. More choices for replacements for the stock calendar application. Cheaper than the iPhone 6 by at least $100. Ability to add more storage using a micro SD card. For $12, I was able to add an additional 32GBs of storage to the 16 GBs the S5 came with out of the box. You cannot add more storage to an iPhone. You can also replace the battery on the S5 yourself. If you need a new iPhone battery, you have to take it to a repair place for a $60 fee.
3. Dead iPhone battery at lunchtime? - If you make an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, they can test the battery for you. If the battery is defective and the iPhone is under warranty, the iPhone will be replaced. If the battery is not defective, the operating system image is corrupt and is causing the high battery drain. You need to backup your iPhone and restore it after resetting your iPhone. There is high risk of losing your personal data if you are not careful on how you reset it. Best to contact an expert for help with this one.
4. Java and Flash Player - Both of these Internet browser plug-ins have the potential to expose your computer to security holes. One solution is to de-install one or both of these plug-ins. The reality is that many websites use these plug-ins and without them, your Internet browsing experience will be degraded. The key to minimize your exposure is keeping your plug-ins up to date. One way to do this is to install the Mozilla Firefox browser (www.mozilla.com). Once Firefox is installed, use the add-ins option under tools to test your plug-ins. Any out of date plug-ins will be flagged and a link to the updated plug-in will be provided.
5. Backups – Any part of a backup strategy is a recovery strategy. Testing your backup by doing a recovery is a must.
6. Recovery – "Garbage In, Garbage Out." If your hard drive is failing, you are backing up corrupt files. Your recovery process will restore corrupt files. You must monitor your hard drive for signs of corruption. At the same time, multiple backups of the same files taken at different times are key to ensuring you have a viable backup that can be recovered if the time comes.
7. External Hard Drives – If your external hard drive is within an arms length of your computer at all times, what happens if your computer is stolen or destroyed? Your external hard drive containing your backup is also stolen or destroyed. Moving your external hard drive to another place in your house or business away from your computer makes sense when your external hard drive is not needed so as to prevent theft of everything your computer contains.
8. Malware/Spyware – Computer viruses are no longer the sole means of delivering a payload to corrupt your computer. This class of infection is not detected or removed by most antivirus applications. Malwarebytes is my choice to remove malware/spyware (malwarebytes.com)
9. Magsafe AC Power Adapter Connection to your Mac laptop - Has your Mac laptop stopped charging or charges intermittently? Take an old toothbrush and clean out all the dirt and lint from the connection on your laptop where the Power Adapter connects. You should be seeing nothing but bright shiny metal after you are done.
10. Car Chargers for newer iPhones and Samsung Galaxy S5 - With each new version of Smartphones, the electrical needs of those Smartphones are greater. Your old charger that worked fine for your iPhone 4S will not charge your iPhone 6. It will charge your Samsung Galaxy S5, but very slowly. When buying a car charger, look for a charger that says 2.1 amps.
11. Portable Battery Stick for your Smartphone or tablet – I own two of these sticks. One is in my glove compartment of my car and the other is in my laptop case. This is one more way of making sure that you can charge your Smartphone or tablet in case you misplaced your wall charger or car charger.
12. Risk of Not Updating Your iPhone or Mac Laptop - Jumping from a much older release of Mac OS to the newest one raises your chances of the upgrade failing. Try to make timely upgrades as they are released by Apple. Always have a backup of your system before the attempted upgrade, just in case.
13. External Hard Drive – This should be part of your backup/recovery strategy. Pay the extra money for one that has backup software included.
14. Is Your Laptop (Mac or Windows) ready to use out of the box? - See this link on what High Tech House Calls does to set you new computers. (Getting a New Computer Ready)
15. Have a delivery to your home from Fed Ex scheduled but feel uncomfortable about leaving that brand new computer on your front steps for hours until you return home from work? - Call Fed Ex and have them hold the package for you at a Fed Ex facility of your choosing. I pick one that is open 24 hours a day. The package is locked in a cage. You must present an ID to retrieve the package.
16. Why buy a case for your Smartphone? - You will drop your Smartphone. I guarantee you will drop your Smartphone no matter how careful you are. If it cracks the screen, it will cost $100 to repair your iPhone and $200 to repair your Samsung Galaxy S5. A $50 OtterBox case seems like a small price to pay for this protection.
17. What is the downside to using webmail to access your Internet service provider email account? - Most Internet Service Providers make it very difficult to export your contracts from webmail to an application like Outlook. If you have 20 contacts that is not too much of a problem typing him into Outlook, but 3000 contacts is another matter. Stop using webmail as soon as possible to minimize the headache of moving your contacts.
18. Why downloading software is a bad idea - It is not easy to reinstall software you downloaded unless you store the download package in a safe place. The download package is usually too big to burn to a backup DVD. Unless you copied the download package to your cloud backup or external hard drive, you may not be able to download the software again without paying for it again.
19. Samsung S5 battery saving ideas – Go to Settings-> Location-> Mode and select Power Saving. If you need to get step-by-step directions for a mapping application, the application will remind you to change from Power Saving to High Accuracy.
20. Are my emails being backed up by cloud backup services such as Carbonite? - Open files cannot be backed up reliably. If Outlook is running, your emails are not being backed up.
21. Where can I sell my used Smartphone? - I have used Gazelle (gazelle.com) five times and I have been happy with the price offered, ease of sending the Smartphone to them and speed of receiving payment.
22. What is the case I recommend for your Smartphone? - OtterBox (otterbox.com). Their website has a better selection of cases than you can find in a retail store. Beware buying a case in a retail store as there is a chance that case was returned. The rubber like material can be ripped if you are not careful assembling your case. I have bought a case at Best Buy that appeared to be new but was ripped when I got it home. Many times the price online, including postage, is better than buying at a retail store.
23. OtterBox guarantee – If your case wears out, they will replace the case for free. I have not had any problems replacing three cases when the screen protector was scratched or the rubber part of the case was stretched out.
24. Backing up your iPhone - The easiest way to move from one iPhone to another is by restoring it from an iTunes backup. Connect your iPhone to your computer. Open iTunes and perform a backup to your computer.
25. iPhoto – Photos are stored in iPhoto in a database. Once damaged, it may be impossible to access your photos. If the database becomes corrupt, there are no tools to repair the damage. A damaged database means that you cannot access your photos. Backing up your iPhoto library and keeping multiple copies of the library is critical.
