Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
With just about everyone wanting email on their smartphones and wanting it to just “work” right, IMAP is your answer. Many folks are setting up their smartphones with POP and their email doesn’t match up, meaning…they will delete an email on their phone and it’s still on the computer. Everyone wants that email GONE when they log back into their computer. That’s the point of deleting it, right? Not if you have your email set up for POP, it will stay there!
Here is an explanation of IMAP and POP
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Synchronizes your email, your deleted email, your folders and sent items. So that means, if you are on one computer or your iPhone/Droid and delete emails, they are deleted on your computer as well.
POP (Post Office Protocol): Just downloads your email to your computers and smartphones and does not synchronize anything. This is a problem for those with Gmail because they are constantly having email that doesn’t make sense or is hard to manage.
Changing your email to be managed via IMAP
Gmail users: When you log into your Gmail inbox on the website, you can change your settings by going to the settings and selecting “forwarding and IMAP” and turning on IMAP. For instructions from Google, click here.
Go Daddy users: You will need to call Go Daddy and get IMAP set up on your account. Once you have it set up, they can send you instructions on how to set it up yourself. It’s easy, but make sure you have a backup of your Outlook PST first! Safety first folks. Here are some instructions I found online on how to set up IMAP for Godaddy after you have upgraded.
Others: Call your email hosting company and request their information.
For those on Outlook who need help, feel free to fill out the form below this blog to set up an appointment to get your email configured for IMAP. It’s a good idea to also get your old email backed up too, or imported into your IMAP if you are using POP, those emails will be missing when you set up IMAP.
I know this may be confusing to some, but once you are set up on IMAP…your email life is so much easier to manage and it’s a one-time set up, nothing to do after we get it done.
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Do you have files that need to be on multiple computers? Or maybe you have files and folders you would like to share with your fellow employees or another company that you are working with. Emailing or transferring documents back and forth on a disk drive can become tedious and time consuming if you are constantly updating and changing the file. A great solution to this issue is to use the file hosting service Dropbox. This secure web-based site allows you to save a file on one computer and access it anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. Or, just download Dropbox to specific computers and have your updated files anywhere you need them, even if you don’t have an internet connection. In this day and age, people are traveling more than ever and rely on their phones or tablets to get their work done. Dropbox makes it super easy to access your documents on the go with the mobile app. Basically, Dropbox allows you to access any document anywhere, any way.
Another benefit of Dropbox is the ability to give permissions to certain people who you are sharing your documents with. Maybe you only want to share a few specific files and don’t want them to have access to all of the folders in your Dropbox. With a Dropbox account, you have the ability to pick and choose which files you want to share with family, friends, employees, co-workers or another company.
Sometimes your computer might not have enough memory to hold all of the files in your Dropbox folder, depending on the size of the plan you sign up for. Luckily, you can also select specific files to have available on your computer. To do this, simply right click on the Dropbox icon on your screen, go to preferences and click the advanced tab. (See the picture below.) In this tab you can choose which files to remove from the folder on your computer.
Dropbox also provides you with a backup solution in a couple different ways. First of all, by keeping important files in your Dropbox folder they are protected if anything were to happen to your computer. All you would have to do is log into your account on the web from another computer and all of your documents will be there just the way they were left. Secondly, Dropbox keeps a one month history of your work, so if you accidentally change or delete a file or decide that you need it back, you can undo changes and undelete files.
Call That Girl uses Dropbox throughout the company. It’s great for us being that we have stores and employees all throughout the state. Check it out if you’re looking for a file sharing solution. Get started today with this link, http://db.tt/HHcLY6KC. First 2GB free!
And as always, call us or fill out the form below if you need any computer support!
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That darn Outlook again, this time it’s giving an error for some folks who need the Outlook Connector add-on for some 
email accounts. There was an update sent out and I have already received reports that it’s not updating correctly. As I’m booking appointments now to fix those, I am guessing it’s because Microsoft is having you update the wrong bit version. So if you are having problems doing the update, book an appointment with us to repair.
I woke up today to open Outlook and had the update. I approved it, installed it and my own hotmail account was not sending and receiving. Before I did any technical troubleshooting, I rebooted and now my emails are sending/receiving just fine. So try that first, then call us!
TIP: If you use accounts such as Microsoft Live, Hotmail or MSN and Outlook, you probably have the Connector update. If you use Microsoft Office 365, you might have it installed as well.
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Just as a tip…when I clean a computer, the first thing I do is go to the Control Panel and hit “add/remove” programs (for XP users that is).
I generally do a quick scan and see what looks like it should be there and what should not be there.
What should be there? Programs you have paid for or knowingly downloaded.
What shouldn’t be there? Spyware programs!
You can easily tell a spyware program by 2 things.
1.) the word “search” is in the name of the program
2.) the program is very small in size (under 1 mb usually)
If you want to delete those little buggers, you can. Just a reminder that sometimes a removal of those spyware will take you to an internet site and require a download of a tool to uninstall it. Generally that is the safest way to go, follow the spyware instructions. Back in the day it was hard to remove the spyware, but today it’s a big easier.
Sometimes the computer will require a reboot after removing. Make sure you watch for that window or option in a window because you may want to wait to reboot until you are done.
TIP…many “coupon” saving websites will download a tool, so if you’re a coupon maniac, you may want to remember that those coupons you are cyber clipping is maybe adding spyware. Most people hate it when I remove that coupon tool, but it’s really best for your computer.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule one of our 22-point checklist cleanings, give us a call at 612-865-4475 or fill out the form below.
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In the next few weeks I’ll be posting some blogs from our archives. Digging all the way back to the beginning, you’ll be getting refreshers of some great information 🙂 Here’s the first oldie but goodie all the way from 2008!
So you get the “blue screen” or “blue screen of death,” what do you do now?
If you call someone, you may get this answer, “It’s your hard drive”
Or is it…
I’ve troubleshooted many of these errors. Sometimes simple troubleshooting is all you need to do.
First I would start by turning off your computer.
Then unplug all your cords including monitor
Let the computer sit for 20 minutes
After 20 minutes, only plug in the ac/dc for the computer and monitor and turn it back on.
If it turns on and goes to the Windows start up screen, you may have a bad keyboard, mouse or USB external port issue.
Once it comes back on, if all seems ok…turn it back off.
Plug back in the keyboard and mouse. Turn it on again.
If it blue screens, it’s more than likely your mouse or USB port. If the end of your mouse has a circular end, it’s probably not the issue. If it has a 1/2″ thin metal end, it’s a USB mouse and could be the issue. Try another mouse if you have one.
If your computer turns on fine again, then test your USB plug-ins. (camera, webcam, printer, etc)
If then all seems ok, go in and back up your information/data right away.
Again….if anything at this point fails, it could be a hard drive issue. I don’t always think it’s a bad drive if it blue screens. Sometimes your computer just has a bump in the road and needs to be “reset”. The troubleshooting tricks above often help figure out what may be causing the issue.
USB ports can fail if you plug in a camera or another “external device” meaning…printers, cameras, webcams, etc.
Are you getting a blue screen and not sure what to do? Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you!
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Taken from Mashable, (they did a great job on the write up).
http://mashable.com/2012/07/06/dnschanger-malware-removal/
A nasty piece of malware called DNSChanger will kick thousands of Mac and PC users off the Internet on Monday, and there’s a chance you could be one of them.
The FBI is shutting down domains that have been affected by the DNSChanger malware, which has been circulating the web since as far back as 2007. The malware redirected Internet traffic to sites with paid advertisements where cybercriminals reaped profit from unsuspecting visitors.
The trojan’s creators — six Estonian nationals — shut down their services when they were caught and arrested about eight months ago.
Although the FBI has been urging consumers for months to check if their systems have been affected by DNSChanger, about 275,000 computers are still at risk of not having Internet access on Monday, July 9.
The good news is that it’s easy to see if your system has been infected and fix it if needed. The DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG) launched a check tool (Click on the link below to test your internet)
— if you click on the link and the box is green, your computer is clean (If the box is red, your Internet will be dead).
A Note from Call That Girl…
If you are in the “red” zone, feel free to call us and get a virus spot check completed or a complete virus removal.
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