Tag: computer tips and tricks
9 Great Tech Tips from Call That Girl
Here’s a list of some good tips I’ve come up with over the years that everyone should know!
9 Great Tech Tips from Call That Girl
- Test different laptops in the store before buying one online
- Updates can be found in the lower right corner of your screen in the system tray
- If your phone gets wet, turn it off and pull the battery out immediately! Turn it upside-down and place in rice to absorb the moisture.
- More often than not, Googling and doing a repair on your electronics yourself only costs more in the end.
- Your Outlook email files are saved in a hidden PST file on your computer that CAN be recovered, transferred and backed up.
- Most people keep very important and private information on their computers, so put a password on your computer for a little extra protection!
- Macs can in fact get viruses, so use caution on certain sites and links.
- Do the updates on your computer regularly, and not just your anti-virus! Viruses can sneak through outdated programs such as Java.
- If your cursor seems to jump around the screen a lot and messes up the document you are working on while typing on your laptop, your wrist may be bumping the mouse pad. Turn it off if you don’t use it.
10 things you should know how to do with your computers – answers!
Do you know how to do these important computer-related functions? Here are the answers we promised!
1.) How do you save to a flash drive?
A: Insert your flash drive. A window should open up that opens your flash drive. If you do not get this window, then go to “Computer” or “my computer” and you will see your flash drive as a “drive letter.” Your computer is always the C: drive. Your flash drive might be the E: or F: or G: etc. Then when you go to save documents or pictures, you can find your flash drive letter in the list of places to save.
2.) Do you know how to download software, install it and use it?
A: When you download software, it usually downloads to the “downloads” folder. It’s best to always keep your downloads there so they are organized. Once a download is finished, you go to the “downloads” folder and double click the software and it’s usually just as easy as clicking the “next” button. Once installed, you can view the software by going to your start menu and clicking on “programs” and it should be listed there.
3.) How do you back up your data to a flash drive or external hard drive?
A: Save as answer #1, but you can copy and paste full folders of your pictures and documents to the flash or external drives.
4.) How do you find out if the link you’re clicking on goes to the site you intended or if it is taking you to a virus?
A: When you see the link, put your mouse on it and right click and view “properties”, then it will show you where the link actually goes. If it appears to be what you think it is, you can click on it. If it looks foreign to you, then click with caution.
5.) Do you know how to Google properly?
A: Many people try to Google their own computer repairs. Here is a tip if you are one of those folks…search for the exact problem you are having. Then read the list of searches. Try to click on only reputable websites that you recognize. If you are curious, have good Antivirus on your computer! Also, when you are clicking on the links, if you get a pop up to download software, close the box immediately, this is a virus more than likely. If you are asked on a website to download software to fix, keep in mind most are free, but want you to pay to “really fix” it and many times, those are fake as well.
6.) Do you know how to do a basic search on someone on the internet?
A: Search “name + town” in quotes, that will give you better results
7.) How do you blind copy (BCC) people in emails (So people can’t see the email addresses of others that you included in an email)?
A: Turn on BBC (meaning, you can send many people the same email, but they don’t see each other’s addresses). Some email programs have it already on, with outlook you may need to turn on the feature.
8.) How do you properly turn off your computer?
A: Go to “shut down” and shut it down. Just holding the power button is not the best way to shut it off. The power button shut downs just shuts it off without Windows helping to do it right.
9.) How do you perform a system restore?
A: Sometimes when your computer goes crazy, you may or may not have caused this problem. Either way, a simple system restore may help! What this does is take you back to a few days before it went crazy.
It may depend on what operating system you have, but you can search your computer for “system restore” and you will get a wizard that pops up. Do the restore to the date before it stopped working right. Then hit finish and it will take 10-15 minutes. After that, then see if your problem is gone or still there. If still there, you may need our help!
10.) Do you know how to find Call That Girl on Google maps and call us when you need help!?
A: Check out our website for directions, Google our name/address or just call us at 612-865-4475!
10 things you should know how to do with your computer
Do you know how to do these important computer-related functions? Take the quiz and see how well you do!
1.) How do you save to a flash drive?
2.) Do you know how to download software, install it and use it?
3.) How do you back up your data to a flash drive or external hard drive?
4.) How do you find out if the link you’re clicking on goes to the site you intended or if it is taking you to a virus?
5.) Do you know how to Google properly?
6.) Do you know how to do a basic search on someone on the internet?
7.) How do you blind copy (BCC) people in emails (So people can’t see the email addresses of others that you included in an email)?
8.) How do you properly turn off your computer?
9.) How do you perform a system restore?
10.) Do you know how to find Call That Girl on Google maps and call us when you need help!?
Check back in on Friday or subscribe to our RSS feed to check your answers and see how well you did!
IMAP vs POP email and why you need IMAP if you’re on a smartphone
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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Outlook Connector Update Giving You Problems?
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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DIY computer cleaning tips!
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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