Do You Think Setting Up Your Computer Is As Easy as Taking It Out of the Box and Following the On Screen Instructions?

My 17 year old son who is somewhat tech savvy got a new laptop computer last month. As such, I did not expect him to ask me for help in setting up his new computer. Even afterwards he had a question since his screensaver was not working properly which I promptly fixed for him.

It got me thinking and realizing how much more there is to setting up a computer than just taking it out of the box, making the necessary connections and following the on screen instructions. I always knew, but with my 17 year old asking for help did not realize how much more it truly is.

Here are just a few things to consider: 

1.     Do you know which programs need to open when you start your computer? Unnecessary programs opening when you start your computer up will slow start time.

2.     Do you have a system recovery disk should you ever need it?

3.     Do you know the correct update setting for your computer to use? Make the wrong selection and you are more likely to get a virus or have another computer problem.

4.     Do you know what to do when your factory installed antivirus program expires? This will occur shortly after you purchase your new computer. The right move will keep your computer virus free and save you money in the long run.

5.     Do you know how to set up your computer to find and open your favorite programs and files quicker?

If you live in Queens or Nassau County, NY call me at 917.572.3468.  Installing computers is just one of the technology services I offer.  I also provide expert computer training in the convenience of your home (seniors a specialty) as well as computer troubleshooting, printer setup, computer repair, computer support,wireless networks, and more.

Computer Concierge NY LLC, provides expert computer services in the Bayside, NY area, Including Queens, Albertson, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellrose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park,  Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park,  New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside vicinity.  

Buying a New Computer

Sooner or later you will find yourself in the market for a new computer. It could be a replacement for an existing computer, your first computer purchase (not likely if you are reading this), or an additional computer.

When that time comes you need to keep a few things in mind. The first is probably what will you be using your computer for? Will you use it for word processing, surfing the net, photos, etc? While you need to realize your use may change as your computer usage evolves, you should not purchase much more of a computer than what you will need. Don’t purchase a computer that is suited for games when you will only be doing surfing and word processing.

You should get the most recent operating system provided it has been around long enough to work the bugs out. Usually the operating system should be out a few months.

Consider your space requirements and where you will primarily be using it. If you live in a small apartment, will you have space for a desktop? Would a large laptop (11” and up screen) that is considered a desktop replacement be more suitable? If you have a desktop, you likely will not be moving it around much if at all as it involves a tower. Also keep in mind if you are purchasing a laptop, a bigger one tends to be less expensive.

With that in mind, if you are purchasing a laptop you need to know again how you will use it. If you will be travelling with it often, you should consider a smaller one. You also need to realize that the keyboard is not a standard keyboard that you would find with a desktop. You can buy an external mouse and keyboard to use with your computer but this will take up space in your computer bag which you should get if you are buying a laptop. If you are getting either an external mouse or keyboard, get the mouse. It is more value added to a laptop than the keyboard as far as speed is concerned.

Also note that more and more laptops these days come with a cam for videoconferencing.

You also have 3 other aspects to consider. Note that the minimums given are as of now and will change as technology changes. Random access memory (RAM), processing speed, and hard drive size. RAM is the most important. It is the memory used when your computer is on. Once your computer is turned off, this memory is no more. It is sometimes referred to temporary memory. The more RAM, the faster your computer operates and this is the most important of the 3 components. It is where the operating system all opened programs, and current data used are stored. Your minimum RAM should be 2GB and if money is not an issue, a minimum of 4GB. You also need to consider your hard drive size. Think of this as the drawer space for keeping clothes. It is your permanent memory as opposed to RAM memory. You should have a minimum of 160 GB of hard drive storage. If you will be storing, pictures, video, audio streams, you will need more depending on how much you plan to store. Processing speed is the speed of your computer. You do not need to get the fastest processing speed available. You should get 2nd or 3rd fastest. You will not notice the difference and you will appreciate the savings.

The next issue is MAC vs PC. There is a greater availability of software for a PC than a MAC but this gap is a lot less than it used to be. There are other factors to consider however. See below:

MAC Advantages
1. Not as Prone to Viruses.
2. Less Issues of Breakdown – also quicker to start up and shut down.
3. Excellent training. A lot is free.
4. Better maintenance and customer service.
5. Easier to use. However Windows 7 operating system has greatly narrowed this gap. It is competitive with MAC’s Snow Leopard Operating System.

PC Advantages
1. Owned by 90% of people and businesses.
2. More varieties (HP, Dell, etc).
3. Less expensive especially laptops.
4. More for businesses especially since more availability of software as noted.

Last but not least if you are buying a desktop, think about the screen size of your monitor. Again space considerations come into play.

By doing a little research into your needs and space availability you will be able to get a computer that works best for you.

Online Petitions

While people still go door to door or are in crowded places trying to get signatures on a petition for a cause, there is another way to get signatures on a petition. Online petitions are now a thing. Site like Ipetitions and Petitiononline are changing how petitions are done. There are pros and cons to an online petition. It is good that anyone with internet access can create a petition online. This also can lead to petitions for frivolous causes. Another issue  are people using false names that could make a petition invalid.  People using false names is also an issue for non online petitions as well. I would also guess that some petitions you see people trying to get signatures for in crowded places some consider frivolous as well.

You can create a petition for your cause. You also can sign a petition for or against a cause. One thing to keep in mind is that unless you wish to make yourself anonymous, your name may come up as signing the petition in question.

So go ahead while at home sign your name to a cause at 3 in the morning if you desire.

Anthony Weiner and Twitter

This is not going to be a political post. I do not get political on this blog. However there are times where politics and tech related issues intertwine and this is one of these times. This blog is from a tech perspective and I will not issue an opinion of Congressman Weiner one way or another politically.

Congressman Weiner admitted yesterday that he had tweeted lewd pictures of himself. He supposedly is one of the more tech savvy members of Congress. I have made mention both on this blog and on Twitter the need to be careful of what you put out on the internet especially social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. A lot of what you put out there in cyberspace is out in the open for all to see. Congressman Weiner who again is tech savvy should have known this. Unless your tweets are protected or you are sending a direct message to someone, any tweet you make is there and cannot be considered a secret in any way, shape or form. When I tweet, I realize this. If I make a grammatical error or another error guess what? It can be seen by anyone and does not put me in the best light. Anyone with internet access can see them by simply doing a search on Twitter. A lot of my tweets can also be found by doing a search on Google or another search engine. Since he admitted that he sent it, I cannot understand how Anthony Weiner as a user of Twitter could not think that somehow the Tweet of him in his underwear would be hush hush. If he intended to send a direct message, he should have been extra careful knowing the implications of the tweet in question. Also keep in mind that anyone using Twitter has the ability to retweet a tweet to their followers and of course that is there for all to see. So for argument's sake, if Charlie Sheen who has over 4 million followers was to retweet Weiner's infamous tweet all 4 million plus of his followers will see it. Sheen's followers can then retweet it to their followers and you can see this all spiraling.

Let me respond about hacked passwords here as Weiner initially said his account was hacked. You need to have a safe password. I have blogged about the need for a safe password in previous posts. Please see the link which also has links to related posts. http://mklubok.blogspot.com/2010/09/password-protection-revisited_29.html. You also need to be careful of phishing schemes.

In this day of social media, Google, Facebook, etc., we need to be careful of what we put online. Anything you do online in a public forum can be obtained by others. A few years ago I signed an online petition that photography in New York City subways not be banned. One time when doing an online search of myself, it came up. Anything I put on my website www.computerconciergeny.com is not between friends but for the whole world to see. This means that not only what you put on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter do you need to be careful about. You need to be careful about EVERYTHING you put online that is not an email or text message. Yes the recipient of an email or text can share that with others. But that also holds true for what you tell someone verbally or in writing.

CCleaner A Good Free Software Product for Your Computer

CCleaner is a product developed by Piroform. It is used to clean unwanted files and invalid Windows registry entries from a computer. It is an application for Windows and not for Macs. However the Piroform webite which is responsible for CCleaner notes on its website that it soon will be making CCleaner for Macs as well.  It is free and a valuable program to have. One of its applications is the removal of cookies. For those who may be unfamiliar with cookies per Wikipedia they are "a piece of text stored on a user's computer by their web browser". What this piece of text does is that it stores various information on it. This information can be site preferences, shopping cart contents and an identifier.

Yes you can use the Disk Cleanup program in the System Tools of your PC. However CCleaner does a better job. As mentioned it can be used to delete invalid registry entries from your computer. It is not a sophisticated program for doing this but for those unfamiliar with registry files, it will do the job without harming your computer. It also is very good for cleaner your internet browser's cookies, history, temporary files and form history and download history.

Having said all this I will add that you can customize the settings. For example should you not wish to delete anything related to MS Office you can. This is important because if you select MS Office your history of recently opened documents will be deleted.

CCleaner also removes from your PC temporary files, listing of recent documents opened and clears your recycle bin. In addition it also removes unnecessary information from various third party programs. These include MS Office and Adobe Acrobat. If you like your computer to save your passwords (not recommended) or browsing history you have that option. Should you wish not to delete selected cookies, there is an option for that as well.

You also can uninstall programs using CCleaner instead of going into your computer's Control Panel.  The ability to wipe your hard drive also exists by going into the Tools option and selecting "Drive Wiper" then selecting "Entire Drive"  in the drop down menu to the right of "Wipe" so you do need to exercise some caution.

In all this is a desirable program to have on your hard drive. It is free and is a good way to get rid of unneeded files as well as being user friendly. I have found the settings to be easy to use.

UPDATE:  CCleaner is now available to Mac users as a free beta download.  http://lifehacker.com/5808168/ccleaner-for-mac-clears-personal-data-in-one-click-for-safari-and-firefox

I would like to add here that if anyone has a suggestion for a subject, please let me know. Also please feel free to comment.  All comments are welcomed.










Bayside computer repair, North Shore Towers Computer Repair, Great Neck computer training, Bayside Computers

Facebook Privacy Settings

As you likely are aware, Facebook has had privacy issues that seem to pop up from time to time. You always need to keep on top of privacy issues that come out through the media or otherwise. Below are some security settings you may or may not be aware of.  By using these you will further be able to have your Facebook profile and activity seen only by those you want to.

If you wish that a particular person not be able to access your profile or even see that you have a Facebook account, there is a "Block Lists" in the privacy section (note that all unless otherwise noted require going into the privacy section). Just enter the name of the person you wish to block. Note that for this that the person can log on under another ID that would enable him or her to access your profile according to your privacy settings.

Under "Customize Settings" in the privacy section there is a section "Things Others Share". This is what others can share about you. Make sure to edit these to your choosing.  In particular "Friends Can Check Me Into Places".  This is one that you will likely want to disable.  For "Photos and Videos I'm Tagged In" you will likely want "Friends Only" or "Only Me" which is under "Customize". For "Suggest Photos of me to Friends" I would suggest you disable this. Friends can tag you without suggestions.

Be very careful about sharing contact information. I would not share phone numbers and addresses with anyone within Facebook. Those settings should be set to "Only Me". Personally I did not enter any information for them. For email addresses if I was to share I would only share with friends. Unless there is a business reason I would not share beyond. If you have a website, you can share that with everyone. Anyone can see the address of this blog as well as my Twitter account. For Twitter the privacy setting is under "IM Screen Names".

You also want to be careful about what Apps and websites share about you. In the "Apps and Websites" section under "Info accessible through your friends" I would suggest under "Edit Settings" you keep all unchecked. For Public Search, you need to determine whether you want your profile to be found when a search engine is used. Select as you see fit.

Facebook is a great site for social connections and for reconnecting with old friends. With the privacy issues that Facebook has had and will likely continue to have, you need to keep on top of your privacy settings.  As always, be careful of what you put out there. You never know who will see it. For starters divorce attorneys have been known to go through Facebook profiles to aid in their cases. I heard a story of a divorce attorney friending their clients estranged spouse in an attempt to get incriminating information. Now of course the estrange spouse should never have friended the attorney but that is another story.