Let there be hope...
Life has changed there is no doubt and we wanted to reach out to see how you are doing.
As we go through this interesting time, we are trying to look at this as an opportunity to focus on our family and on friends like you. Let us use this extra time to catch up and talk more. Let us cook food that is not fast, but interesting and satisfying. Let us learn to enjoy a time to try new things. Let us find ways to enjoy time at home!
Computer Security
If my client base is any experience, anyone can be a victim of a Ransomware, Malware or Virus attack.
What can you do about it?
I conduct audits of your entire computer infrastructure and apply best practice solutions to plug the security holes on your computers, Smartphones and networks.
Now offering consultations to give you the best protection possible:
404.229.0839
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Home » Archives for February 2015
1:06 PM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Some of my tactics might work for you, others might not be
your style. The trick to managing the balancing act of a small business
is to throw yourself behind any time-saving tricks that fit the bill.
1. Take notes (by any means necessary!)
How many stray thoughts run through your mind every day? How many of them do you wish you'd held on to?
Be they business ideas or the dreaded
"I-should-call-him-backs," these thoughts are important. That's why I
always keep my information safely stored on one of my gadgets. While
most people will tell you to keep a notebook handy, I wouldn't be
America's digital goddess if I didn't have some note-taking apps to
present to you.
The best...
1:50 PM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Happy Valentine's Day SmartPhone Issue
Click on square icon to make post lar...
12:01 PM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
OK, please let me see a show of hands, how many of you have ever
emailed a file - like a photo or a document - to your Mac from your
iPhone or iPad, even as you sit right in front of your Mac? Yes, I've
done it too, just like nearly every other Apple user on the planet.
That's probably because using email to move files around works pretty
well as long as your file is small enough to be attached to an email.
But now there's a better way to move files among your gadgets or even
among your friends.
Though file moving is a feature that goes back to iOS 7, previous
versions did not include your desktop Mac computers. Seems many users
simply used third-party apps like DropBox
to move...
11:48 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
It's no secret that Facebook is using your information to build its
huge financial empire. Partly it does this by sharing your information
with other companies - and getting their info on you in return - to
serve you targeted ads and other services.
This network of ad-serving companies builds a detailed profile of
your likes and dislikes based on how you spend your online time and the
sites you visit. So, when you visit a new site and see ads for online
shops and products you've looked at recently, that's why. Creepy, right?
Still, there's a reason companies do it. In 2013 this practice helped
Internet advertisers rake in a staggering $42.8 billion, and the
2014 numbers...
11:45 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Reader Michael Downend is having difficulty ridding his Mac of a utility he no longer desires. He writes:
How do I get rid of MacKeeper?
I won’t go into why you’d want to. Some people have found MacKeeper
useful, others not. But many people I’ve encountered are confused about
how to delete it.
Versions of MacKeeper made in the last couple of years are actually
pretty easy to uninstall, but the process isn’t entirely
straightforward. If you click on the MacKeeper menu in the Mac’s menu
bar you won’t find a Quit command, which might lead you to believe that
it can’t be quit. Force quitting doesn’t seem to work either.
What you have to do is launch the MacKeeper app in the Applications...
11:42 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
To start out your new year I thought I'd remind you of (or, possible
reveal, if this is new to you) a handful of menu bar tricks that you'll
find helpful. Let’s start with rearranging icons.
If you don’t care for the way icons are arranged in the menu bar—you
want the clock to appear all the way to the left, for example—just hold
down the Command key and drag the item in question to a new position. Be
careful to not drag it outside the menu bar, however, as doing so can
cause it to evaporate. This trick doesn’t work with the Spotlight or
Notification menus.
Speaking of the Notification menu, when you hold down the Option key and
click on the menu, you immediately switch on the...
11:01 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Wish it were a little easier to type in ALL CAPS on your iPhone, or ever get stumped while looking for the em dash?
What about typing letters with accent marks, or dealing with cumbersome
URLs? Or maybe you’re just hankering for an alternative to tapping on a
slippery glass screen.
These 9 tips can make typing on your iPhone or iPad a little easier.
Even if you've been tap-tap-tapping away on the iOS keyboard for years,
it's possible you missed one of these time-saving shortcuts. Or just
point your new-to-iOS friends here if they ever complain that the
iPhone's keyboard isn't as good as Android's. (As if.)
The .com shortcut
Want to type a URL directly into the address bar in Mobile...
10:56 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Last June, Apple announced that it would stop development of its Aperture and iPhoto apps
and offer a single photo app in their place—Photos for OS X. Today,
developers are getting their first glimpse of Photos, as it’s bundled
with the beta version of OS X 10.10.3.
Providing many of the features found in its mobile sibling, the
Yosemite-only Photos for OS X offers an interface less cluttered than
iPhoto, improved navigation, simpler yet more powerful editing tools,
the ability to sync all your images to iCloud (though it doesn’t require
you to), and new options for creating books, cards, slideshows,
calendars, and prints. I’ve had the opportunity to take an early look at
...
10:40 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Verizon has been the number-one cell service provider for a while
now, but AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have cut prices and upgraded
packages recently to try and steal that title. Now, Verizon has
responded by reducing its data charges to attract new customers and stop
current users from switching to its competitors.
The mega cell phone provider is knocking $10 a month off the data
bill for MORE Everything customers that have plans that include 1 GB,
2GB, 3GB or 4 GB of data month. Current Verizon customers can choose to
keep their current data limit and lower their monthly bill or keep the
existing charges and receive an extra gigabyte of data every month.
So someone...
10:37 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Reader Dave Inglis has The Question about the upcoming Photos for OS X app. He writes:
I read your article about Photos for OS X and the app looks great. What can I do with my current iPhoto library to get it ready for the transition to Photos?
The glib answer is “nothing.” When you finally get your hands on Photos
for OS X (which is slated to be released sometime this
northern-hemisphere spring) and launch it, you’ll be asked if you’d like
to import your iPhoto library. (If you have multiple iPhoto libraries,
you can hold down the Option key while launching Photos and then, in the
Choose Library window that appears, select a library to use.) Note that
cloud syncing works only with...
10:34 AM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Whether skiing or going to the beach, place your phone in a sandwich
bag to prevent damage and best of all, you can still use the touch
screen. Need a fast charge? Put the phone in airplane mode to speed up
the process by around 25%. And if you need to pump up the volume in a
flash, set your phone inside a plastic, glass or paper cup, sans liquid
of course.
Today’s gadgets, apps and sites are so powerful and do so many
different things that most of us will use only a fraction of their
built-in features. I put together some of the greatest tricks that you
will use every day or at least on occasion to impress family and
friends.
1. Take a picture with voice
Smartphones and tablets...
5:14 PM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Right now, millions of hackers, spammers and scammers are hard at
work. They're after your Social Security number, bank account
information and social media accounts. With any of these, they can steal
your money or trick your friends into giving up theirs.
The scary part is that anyone can be a hacker. For as little as
$3,000, you can buy a complete and fully operational exploit kit. This
kit does most of the illegal work for you automatically. You get to sit
back and rake in the cash, unless you get caught.
Between semi-amateurs with automated systems and serious hackers who
are masters of technology and trickery, how can you possibly hope to
stay safe? The best way is...
5:03 PM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
The Web browser is a funny thing. It's one of the most-used computer
programs, but many people myths and misconceptions. don't really understand it. That's why in the
past I've tackled common browser
Today, I'm helping you get the most out of your browser with a few
simple tricks that you really need to know. Your friends and family
probably want to know these as well, so be sure to click the Share
button.
Choose your home page
What's the first thing you see when your browser starts up? If you're
using Internet Explorer, it's probably MSN's website. Chrome loads up a
modified Google page and Firefox has its own start page.
But if you then type in an address or hit...
4:26 PM
High Tech House Calls, Expert Computer Consulting
Of all the different kinds of apps that I regularly use on my iPhone, I
probably spend the least amount of time with weather ones. That’s not to
say I don’t like them, quite the contrary: I’ve downloaded so many of
them over the years, I could probably go a year without needing to open
the same one twice. But no matter which one I’m using, my time with it
is relatively brief—I check the temperature, maybe scan the forecast,
and close.
Therein lies the beauty of a great weather app. Unlike note-takers or
Twitter clients, weather apps aren’t designed to be used for any
substantial length of time. Unless you’re obsessed with all things
meteorological or happen to enjoy poring over...
