Blog: Tech News & Tips - Page 26 of 29

Patch Tuesday

Posted on December 7, 2015April 29, 2024 by Chris Eddy in Hackers, Malware, Microsoft, Patch Tuesday, Tips

A couple of years ago, when I started leaving my computer on all the time, I noticed that my computer would be turned off in the morning. Since I knew I hadn’t turned it off, I turned to the most likely culprit. I asked Chris why he had turned off my machine without letting me know so that I could save all of my stuff first!

That’s when he told me about Patch Tuesday. Microsoft has been sending out monthly updates, generally on the second Tuesday of each month, for a long time. They formalized this process in October 2003. According to this article:

“Microsoft has a pattern of releasing a larger number of updates in even-numbered months, and fewer in odd-numbered months.[7][8][9] Minor updates are also released outside Patch Tuesday. Daily updates consist of malware database refreshes for Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials. Sometimes there is an extraordinary Patch Tuesday, two weeks after the regular Patch Tuesday. Some updates could be released at any time.”

Although Microsoft has changed the name to “Update Tuesday”, the new name hasn’t gained wide acceptance in technical communities. The patches generally include code to update your Operating System to fix known bugs and to plug up any vulnerabilities from malware.

Most people notice a “Patch Wednesday” more than Patch Tuesday. Since the updates are generally installed overnight, you might be prompted to turn off your machine on Wednesday morning to finish the installation. And, occasionally you’ll experience glitches with your machine on Wednesday.

Patch Wednesday is also called “Crash Wednesday” since your computer is more likely to crash after the Patch Tuesday updates have been installed. We frequently hear from customers on “Patch Wednesday” who tell us that all of a sudden they can’t print, or their internet isn’t working. Lots of times the fix is as easy as turning off the machine and turning it back on again. But sometimes they need us to reinstall drivers or re-configure their router.

It’s also been called “Exploit Wednesday” since there have been times when the Microsoft patches have left machines more vulnerable to malware. In fact, a recent blog by UK engineer “Zeros & Ones” is a bit of a rant about the whole Patch Tuesday process.

“Security is not ‘my bag’ as such – but the people at Microsoft seem to be in a fantastic situation where security issues only arise on Tuesdays. How do they do they seem to manage to get the ‘bad man’ on side?”

If you’re interested in all the patches over the past ten years, check out this website, or this one for the past five years.

What do you think about Patch Tuesday? Share in the comments below!

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Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

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My Favorite Websites

Posted on December 1, 2015February 25, 2025 by Gail Eddy in Entertainment, Internet Searching, News, Tips

Several months ago, I blogged about Chris’ favorite websites. People keep asking me what mine are so here goes!

Searching:

For searching, I prefer Google over all the other search sites like Bing or Yahoo. I think it’s results are accurate – it finds what I am looking for, especially if I use the provided search tools, like Images, Video, Date, etc.

News Sites:

I’m a Jersey girl and grew up with the Sunday New York Times – every week! For a long time I didn’t like it because at my friend’s house, they had a newspaper with comics! But as I got older, I learned how to read and enjoy it. Now it’s my go-to website for what’s going on in the world.

I like the Huffington Post for its left-leaning news, and its separate pages for meditation, healthy living, and eastern religions.

I started following Mashable on Twitter ages ago. Now, the website is my go-to site for news that not everyone is writing about.

Other:

Call me weird, but I have a huge collection of books. I like LibraryThing because it helps me keep them organized. You can borrow and lend books with other LibraryThing members too.

Entertainment:

If I ever have a question about a movie, or an actress, or who was that guy in that TV show, I head over to IMdb.com, short for Internet Movie database.

Eagles:

In the spring, there are a couple of webcams pointed at eagle nests. I found it very relaxing to watch the mama and papa eagles tend the eggs and then the eaglets. There’s one from Minnesota, one from Georgia, and one from Pennsylvania. The webcams generally operate from February thru July.

What are your favorite websites? Let me know why!

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My 5 Favorite Weather Websites and Apps

Posted on November 24, 2015May 9, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Technology Tips, Weather

It’s that time of year when people start looking at the weather maps to see how their holiday travels will be. I’ve got a few favorites and will share them with you here.

NOAA – When you enter your city and state into the “Local Forecast” box, you can see just what is in store for your area. In addition, if there is a big storm coming, you’ll see a “Hazardous Weather Conditions” box across the top. I like the NOAA forecast because it is generally right on target. (Although they blew it with the last storm, predicting 10-14″ when we only got about 5″!) NOAA also has radar and satellite maps. By the way, NOAA stands for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is located right here in Boulder, Colorado!

Weather Underground – I just started using Weather Underground about a year ago. I like that I have several different weather stations to choose from in my town. In addition to the forecast, WU tells me what’s happening right now. When you click on the information from a particular station, you can also see if they have a webcam set up. Then you can see the snow and wind for yourself!

The Weather Channel – The Weather Channel has all the same information the other websites have. Because they consider themselves a news site, they’ve also got, what I can only call Weather Entertainment. Big Floods! Amazing Ancient Ruins! 20 Places Overrun by Animals! And More!! My favorite feature on the Weather Channel is their travel map found here. When you enter your starting place and destination, and the date you will be departing, the map calculates your route AND the expected weather.

NEXRAD – “Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 158 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service” This website shows the radar for the whole US, or just your state.

WeatherTalk – is a Facebook page I’ve recently found. Lyons Weather Analyst Greg Berman gained recognition when he accurately forecasted the extent of the rains and subsequent floods in September 2013. Just recently, he bucked the NOAA trend and called for zero to just a few inches of snow last week in Boulder County and said most of the snow would land south of Denver. He was right on both counts. If you’re on Facebook, I’d highly recommend this page to “Like” and bookmark. His forecasts include most of the Ft. Collins/Boulder/Denver Front Range area.

Some other apps I found while researching this post include Storm Shield Weather Radio and RadarScope.

Do you have a favorite website for weather forecasts? Share in the comments below!

When Were They Invented?

Posted on November 17, 2015May 9, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Computer History

Have you ever wondered when different components of the modern computer were invented? Me too!

Mouse – The mouse was invented in 1964 by Doug Engelbart in his research lab at Stanford. He had been looking for an accurate way to plot X-Y coordinates on the computer screen. He and his team went through several prototypes including one with a foot pedal, but settled on the small pointing device we use today. In Engelbarts words:

“Five or six of us were involved in these tests, but no one can remember who started calling it a mouse. I’m surprised the name stuck.
We also did a lot of experiments to see how many buttons the mouse should have. We tried as many as five. We settled on three. That’s all we could fit. Now the three-button mouse has become standard, except for the Mac.“

Keyboard – The keyboard is a natural extension of the typewriter. There’s a lovely write up of the history of the typewriter here: The typewriter was first invented in 1706 by Henry Mill. (There’s no proof that he ever built it, however.) Other models followed, but the typewriter, with a QWERTY keyboard, wasn’t commercially available until 1873. Little has changed since then, except making typewriters electric. The biggest difference between the typewriter of yesterday and the computer keyboard of today are the function keys.

Remote Control – Few things have encouraged the rise of the couch potato (pun intended!) as the remote! The first “remote” was developed by Zenith in 1950 and was called the “Lazy Bones“. It was “connected to the television by a wire. A wireless remote control, the “Flashmatic”, was developed in 1955 by Eugene Polley. It worked by shining a beam of light onto a photoelectric cell, but the cell did not distinguish between light from the remote and light from other sources. The Flashmatic also had to be pointed very precisely at the receiver in order to work.” The Universal Remote – a remote that would work with multiple devices – wasn’t invented until 1985!

Router – We probably wouldn’t have the network we have today if William Yeager hadn’t invented the router in 1981. It all started at Stanford:

“This project started for me in January of 1980, when essentially the boss said, ‘You’re our networking guy. Go do something to connect the computer science department, medical center and department of electrical engineering.”

History on even more gadgets are available here, here, and the flops are here.

Do you have a favorite history story about technology? Share in the comments below!

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Is It Time To Upgrade Your Smartphone?

Posted on November 10, 2015May 6, 2024 by Chris Eddy in SmartPhones

If it’s time for you to upgrade your SmartPhone, you might be wondering which one is best. There’s no secret that I’ve only used iPhones, starting with the very first iPhone all the way to my most recent upgrade to the 6S. I love the look and feel of them, and the way it integrates seamlessly with my music collection. (Yes, I buy CD’s. If it’s a local musician, I buy directly from them. Paying musicians for the music you listen to is the topic of a whole ‘nother discussion!)

But I know that the iPhone isn’t the only one out there. My brother, for instance, will probably never switch from his beloved Android. Some of the things you should look at when getting a new phone are:

Battery Life – How long will it last on a charge?
Price – How much do you want to spend?
Apps – Are the apps that you require available?
Size – How big is it? Do you want a smaller phone or a phablet?
Compatibility – Which phone do other family members have? Is it important to share cords and other peripherals?
Camera – Do you want a good camera? Camera resolution is measured in megapixals. For example, the iPhone 5 has 8 mp, the iPhone 6S has 12 mp.
Storage – How much storage do you want or need? If you have a large music or photo collection, you should choose the largest available.

Here are some descriptions of types of phones and reviews on what others think are the best SmartPhones and why:

Which SmartPhone do you use? What do you like or not like about it? Let us know in the comments below!

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How to Take the Headache Out of Asking for Computer Repair

Posted on November 3, 2015April 29, 2024 by Chris Eddy in anti-virus, Tips

Many people call in a panic about their computer. They’ve been living with something for awhile, but all of a sudden, it’s broken and they don’t know what to do. Now they’re in crisis mode and a little bit flustered.

Last week we got a call from a customer who wasn’t able to print. I asked a few questions to determine what the problem might be. With printers, it can be any number of problems. Sometimes when you get a new WiFi router, the printer stops working. Or, your Operating System gets updated overnight and now the printer won’t work. With this gentleman, it turns out that it stopped working months ago. He had no recollection of what happened before hand, just that it stopped working sometime during the summer. Now, he was taking a trip and needed to print the boarding pass … no later than tomorrow! Could we help?

You really don’t want to be in that position. So, what can you do differently?

Probably the most important thing to do is to get your computer serviced regularly. We recommend getting a tuneup once a year. During the tuneup, Chris will check for viruses, extra files, update your anti-virus, as well as any other things that might need to be completed.
During the year, if you start noticing a problem, grab a piece of paper and start a list. Remember to add the date.
Tape it to the side of your monitor, or another easily accessible place.
Every time you have another question or problem, write that down too.
Some of these you may be able to fix yourself, or get your nephew to fix the next time he’s visiting. If that’s the case, just cross them off!
When it’s time for your annual computer tuneup, or if something is really starting to bug you, give us a call and schedule your appointment.

What tips do you use to make sure you don’t forget about the little annoyances? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Biggest Lie in the Computer Industry?

Posted on October 27, 2015April 29, 2024 by Chris Eddy in anti-virus, Apple, Hackers, Malware, Phishing, Tips, Virus

What’s the biggest lie in the Computer Industry? It’s the myth that Apple’s don’t get viruses.

Geek For Hire has been out there fixing computers since 2001 and we’ve seen just about everything. When someone tells me they have a Mac, or are switching from a PC to a Mac because Mac’s don’t get viruses, I have to respectfully disagree.

As early as 2012, Apple changed their stance about viruses on their machines. According to the Huffington Post, in June of that year, they changed their verbiage from:

“Safeguard your data. By doing nothing.”

To:

“Safety. Built right in.”

In the last few months, we’ve been seeing more and more viruses on Mac machines. Everything from lots of adware and pop-ups, to “a lady’s voice keeps telling me to run my virus scanner”, to what’s commonly being called “scare-ware”.

What’s out there?

Malware is the general term used for any malevolent or bad software that can get loaded onto your computer.
Spyware is software installed on your tech device without your knowledge or consent. It collects information about you and relays it to an external person or organization.
Adware is frequently called pop-ups. This is where you get lots and lots of pop-ups with advertisements. Lots of people just live with this type of infection not realizing that it’s often accompanied by other more malicious malware.
Virus is the most common term used by “real” people for all of these types of infections.
Scareware is similar to Adware in that it generates a pop-up. In this case though, the pop-up tells you that your machine has an infection and you need to visit a particular website RIGHT NOW to get the virus removed.

How to keep your computer safe? Be careful what you click on! Don’t open attachments in emails. Don’t click on ads on the websites you visit. Above all, make sure you select an anti-virus program that continually upgrades their software and pushes those changes to your computer. We recommend ESET’s NOD32 anti-virus protection for Mac’s and PC’s.

Did you think Apple machines were impervious to viruses and other malware? What steps do you take to keep your machine safe? Let us know in the comments below!

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Reynolds Wrap

Posted on October 13, 2015May 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Privacy, SmartPhones, Tips

We’re not sure if we should file this under “scary” or “”weird coincidence”.

On Saturday Chris noticed that we were out of aluminum foil. We had a long conversation about it, revolving around his mom.

When she moved out to Colorado to live with us in 2001 she moved almost her whole house with the exception of some furniture. And she LOVED the deals at Costco! So, yes, her closets were full of supersized cases of paper dinner napkins, paper plates, plastic cups, laundry detergent, plastic wrap, AND aluminum foil. She insisted that she would still be needing all that, so we moved everything across the country from Long Island. I’ve slowly given much of the party goods away, although we still have a ton of plastic forks, but we always seemed to have a never ending supply of aluminum foil and plastic wrap.

When I went to get another roll from the garage, I noticed we were all out! We joked about not having any more foil from the Pathmark in Massapequa.

An hour later I was looking for something on Amazon and an ad for Reynolds Wrap was prominently displayed. Huh?! When was the last time you saw an add for Reynolds Wrap on your screen?

Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil, 200 Sq Ft

A year or so ago, I might have said it was just a strange coincidence. Today, I’m not so sure.

With all of the SmartPhones in the room at the time, one of them was bound to be listening.

There are two apps that I know of that could be listening. One, “Hey Siri”, had been turned off. The other, “OK Google”, I wasn’t sure about. Do you have these running in the background on your phone? Here’s how to turn them off:

Hey Siri is only available on the iPhone.

Click on “Settings”
Click on “General”
Click on “Siri”
Slide the green button next to “Allow ‘Hey Siri'” to turn it off

“OK Google” is available within the Google app on your SmartPhone. There are subtle differences in the instructions depending on whether you have an Android, iPhone, or Windows, but these are essentially the same steps each time.

Open the Google App
In the top left corner of the home screen, touch your photo
Touch Voice Search
Slide all of the blue buttons to the left to turn it off. (You can still speak your request to the Google app, but will need to tap the microphone icon first.)
Touch Done to Save

What are your thoughts about surveillance? How do you protect your privacy? Let me know your favorites in the comments below!

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11 Ways To Save On Your Entertainment Budget

Posted on October 6, 2015December 2, 2019 by Gail Eddy in Entertainment, Smartphone Apps, Tips

When we decided to get rid of DirecTV, we were paying over $100 every month. Lots of times we would flip through hundreds of channels and find nothing interesting to watch. We talked about it for months and eventually, of course, we cancelled DirecTV right before the Rockies were in the World Series, but who would have thought they’d get that far?!

Since then, we’ve found that there are a number of different websites and applications that allow you to watch movies, news shows, and weekly or nightly TV shows without having to subscribe to a cable or satellite service. All of these services come with a free trial.

Netflix – Starts at $7.99 for one viewer/ $9.99 for 2 / $11.99 for 4 viewers – Netflix is what we primarily use at our house and we’re pretty happy with it. Downsides? There are times when it “thinks” and we watch the little red circle spin round and round for minutes on end. They also don’t seem to like when you watch two many movies back-to-back-to-back.

Amazon Prime – $99 per year – Not just movies, Amazon Prime includes free two day shipping, streamed music, Kindle books, etc.

Hulu – $7.99/month, $11.99/month without commercials – You can watch current episodes and entire seasons of TV shows. The fine print says that some of the more popular shows still have commercials, but they are limited to the beginning and end of the show as opposed to interrupting the show two or three times with commercials.

YouTube has always been free, but there is the time hassle of finding what you want. Increasingly, there are commercials either before or during the video. Commercial shows are generally not available on YouTube.

HBO Now – $14.99/month – You no longer need to subscribe to a cable or satellite service to get Home Box Office!

Acorn TV – $4.99/month with first month free – For folks who like British shows. A friend of mine has been streaming Acorn for quite a while now. She and her husband really like it.

A lot of news and comedy shows are available online the day after they’ve been broadcast live. Shows like:

The Rachel Maddow Show
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – This is an HBO show, but video clips are available on YouTube
Real Time with Bill Maher – Also an HBO show with its own YouTube channel
Comedy Central has shows like South Park, Drunk History, Comedy Underground and Tosh.0

Some news stations provide taped videos and live streaming of their news programs. Some of these include:

ABC News –
CNN – you can watch various videos. Live CNN news is only available to cable or satellite subscribers.
MSNBC – has a number of regular programs that you can watch the day after they have been aired. Like CNN, you can only watch MSNBC Live as a subscriber to cable/satellite.
CBC -Canadian news
BBC -British news

And finally….

Roku – works with your existing TV to stream whatever apps you’ve signed up for. In this case the cost is for the hardware – $50 – $130 plus the cost of streaming apps. Roku works with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, PBS, Acorn TV, and many others.

Apple TV – Works like a Roku or Amazon Fire TV, where it needs an internet network connection to retrieve content, and has an HDMI jack which contains video and audio which outputs to an HDMI-input port on your television. It has a small and narrow shaver-like remote control and can display video from apps such as Netflix and Hulu. The differentiator of Apple TV is that it can be used to remotely display the content of your Apple computer. But the computer must be within about 10-15 feet of your high-end WiFi router, or else the video artifacts will make the display look very blocky.

Which of these services do you use? Are there others that you use that I didn’t include? Let me know your favorites in the comments below!

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Laptop Trivia (Portable and lug-able computers)

Posted on September 29, 2015April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Computer History, Laptops

I’m up next for a new laptop at Geek For Hire, so I’ve been thinking about all the computers I’ve had. Here’s some laptop trivia.

HP Luggable:

I remember carrying my first laptop through the Pittsburgh airport. At the time it was called a “portable computer”, and technically it was, although Chris called it a “luggable”. The computer was made by Hewlett-Packard, had a separate disk drive, a separate printer, and may or may not have had an internal battery. (We can’t remember.) It had a very small (5″?) black & white screen and ran on DOS 2.11. Of course, I needed to bring all of this with me on my business trips. All together they probably weighed 25 or 30 pounds and I would have deep indentations in my shoulders when I arrived at my destination!

The HP 110 laptop used the MS-DOS 2.11 operating system — The HP 110 used the MS-DOS 2.11 operating system

My new laptop will weigh about three pounds and will be a gazillion times faster.

More Laptop Trivia:

First Portable Computers – a precursor to the Laptop:

The portable computer was first imagined by Alan Kay of Xerox in 1968. He wrote a paper at that time and called it a “Dynabook”. A commercially available portable computer didn’t appear on the scene until 1975 when IBM released its SCAMP 5100. (For you acronym junkies, that’s Special Computer APL Machine Portable, and it was based on the PALM processor or Put All Logic in Microcode.)

Those first portable computers weighed around 24 pounds, had a 5″ CRT screen and a 5.25″ floppy drive for storing your data. Following Moore’s Law, laptops became faster and lighter relatively quickly.

Moore’s law:

The observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years.

Zeos 386:

Chris’ first portable machine was a Zeos 386, which he got when he was a consultant for Chase. It ran the DOS 5.0 operating system, had a backlit screen, and a battery that lasted for two hours! And, at only 9 pounds, it was light as a feather compared to my HP. Of course, we still have it:

All of the Utilities for the machine were kept on the boot disk:

Today you can get all that processing power and more in the new iPad! (Note: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases with no increase in price to you.)

When did you get your first laptop or portable computer? Which operating system did it use? What other laptop trivia can you share with us? Let us know in the comments below!

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