Tag: Saint Paul Computer repair
Looking for a local online backup solution? Try MNBU
Well folks, the time to start considering online backup solutions is NOW. Many times I have been asked what is better, online or external hard drives. I always ask people how important their stuff is…external drives are not that reliable these days. I had one a few years back that died after 3 months and I had to send it back in under warranty. Where was my stuff? I didn’t have a back up or a back up solution for 2 weeks. ???
How good is your external hard drive if it was stolen, in a fire, fried out or got something spilled in it?
Online back up today is very reliable and I will now introduce you to a Minnesota based online back up solution, MNBU (Minnesota BackUp). The owner is Dean Meier and I met Dean when we were neighbors a few years ago. He is also the owner of Digital Brigade (http://www.digitalbrigade.com) a server/network solutions business. I was thrilled to find that they are offering a local solution, as many people are worried about online backup. “Where is my stuff”…it’s right here in Minnesota!
Why chose MNBU?
- Minnesota based
- Easy to install
- Your data is HERE in Minnesota
- They check your back ups daily for you
- If you miss a back up, they will email you
- If you don’t respond to the email alerts, they call you and let you know
- If your computer has a crash, they will deliver your information to you
- Unlimited backup for one price
- You have a problem? You call a Minnesota number for help…and they answer the phone with a real live Minnesota person!
Want to give it a try? Here is the sign up link….and use code “CALLTHATGIRL” to get one free month.
Stop drop and roll: the virus evacuation plan
I bet you didn’t think I could come up with this one, but you are wrong! I have come up with an evacuation plan! I recommend printing these out asap and tape up to a filing cabinet. These instructions, could save your computer and your wallet a few bucks.
Be Smart
- Be very careful when clicking on any advertisements, many are fake and will take you to a virus download
- Be very careful when “googling” anything, just because it’s at the top of your google search, doesn’t mean it’s “virus free”
- If you see any type of “scan” started when you go to a website, do not touch anything! These are definately fake and will download a virus if you touch any part of the screen. Right now, it’s “fake” (appearing to be real)
- Change all of your email passwords, make sure they are unique and are not the same as your Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn accounts
- Many email accounts are getting hacked into, so be very careful when getting emails from friends with “just a link” in it. The hackers are getting lazy and not even sending out text anymore. Just a link, be careful!
If you happen to see an attack/infection going on, your best bet to stop it:
- Press the “control, alt and delete” buttons” at the same time on your keyboard or…put your mouse down on the bottom of your screen (the task bar) and right click
- Start “Task manager”.
- Go to the “applications tab” and then you will see what you have going on with your computer.
- Click on the Internet E or Firefox and then hit “end process”. Do it for all of them.
- You will see the scan windows go away.
- Update your antivirus software and do a scan
Now, you may or may not be infected still. If you do all of the above and see symptons of a new program on your computer or it acting very slow, then you probably have a virus.
You can do the following:
- Ignore it and it will get worse, no question
- Fix it yourself, some folks do a good job with that
- Get the neighborhood kid to fix it, not a good idea
- Call That Girl and get it fixed and get added protection so next time, you are set!
Star Tribune and Sports Illustrated hit by viruses!
Not a shock to Call That Girl, well known websites have been hit lately by viruses, and there is not much “the average user” can do about that….unless you know how to avoid getting them!
If you watched the segment tonight on WCCO’s “Good Question” with Jason DeRusha, then you will have seen our interview about Malware and viruses! It goes to show that everyone/everywhere now can be hit by these sneaky intruders.
The interview was pretty cool, I have to give props to Jason…He has heard of Call That Girl and forgot our name, Tweeted it and got responses…called me immediately and had an interview done within with the hour! Talk about a HOT on the TROT journalist!
I was very impressed with his interview style, he knew the topic and it was like having a conversation with a client, even the cameraman was interested in what I had to say.
What did I have to say? The Star Tribune was attacked over the weekend (Jimmy’s List Tony Lopez was the first to call in did the recommendation today!)….Jason figured this was a GOOD QUESTION…what is malware and how can you all help yourself from being attacked! The Star Tribune didn’t even know about this…until it was too late.
Call That Girl to the rescue! We are here to help!
Tip for Vista users thinking of going to Windows 7
If you are one of those folks getting a bit frustrated with Vista and want to upgrade, here are a few things to keep in mind. Just don’t buy Windows 7 and throw it in the drive and install it…until you have backed up the following:
- My Documents/Documents folder
- Desktop items
- Pictures
- Music
- Outlook PST files
- Favorites
I think there is an assumption that if you upgrade your Vista to Windows 7, that all of your stuff and programs will still be there. This is not verified by Call That Girl as we have read reviews out there and haven’t done an upgrade, only full installs. The reviews are not good about upgrades. What we do know is that if you do the full install, all of your stuff, data, programs are gone. You will need to have your disks ready to reinstall on the computer. Itunes too!
As I have said in past posts, I am all for moving to Windows 7. I have found very few problems with my testing to not recommend it. Your Vista computer should have enough hard memory (RAM) to be able to make Windows 7 run pretty smoothly.
If you are thinking of upgrading and want help, give us a call and we can certainly help you with this! Can we help you with this remotely? We sure can! No need to bring your computer to our office or have us come to your home, this should be fairly simple to do via the remote tools/internet.
Computers and printer problems, enough already
Printer errors and slow computers…very common problem for many users lately. I have seen folks not only calling that their systems are slow, but they are getting odd errors too. For the most part, we can remove the problematic printer issues to make the system faster and get rid of the errors, but let’s review a few things for you folks.
All printers install HUGE software programs with the printer. So understand this, you go out and buy a new HP or Canon printer. You put in the disk and the install isn’t difficult, but you have to babysit it for almost 45 minutes! How annoying! Next up, the printer installs fine, works like a charm, but you can’t figure out how to scan/fax/etc because the software is not easy to understand.
Question…are you buying an all in one printer to save money or because you need all of those functions? I am highly recommending the following:
If you just need a printer, shop around. Buy something affordable, ink is cheap to replace and won’t cost you a bundle to get repaired. Usually a home user can get away with a $75 dollar printer. Our rates to fix a printer is the standard $75, so trust me…I don’t put too much time into troubleshooting a cheap printer!
To save you problems, if you don’t need the fancy software, skip installing it. Just plug the printer in the computer and then do a “add a printer” function and hopefully your comptuer will find it automatically (most do, especially the newer ones).
What does Call That Girl have for printers? haha…Ask my interns, I don’t allow printing! They get antsy and irritated I think, but that makes them do things electronically…save and share files. I have found too many scrap print jobs in my day to know that printing is not necessary for everyday things. We do have an old Lexmark in the workshop for scanning (but haven’t in months) and a nicer HP that my friend Mary borrowed us many months ago, but it hasn’t worked right since I re-did the wifi network and is almost out of ink, so I gave up on it and went back to my “no printing” policy. Seems to work fine, we are still a “No print” company!
Comcast users should avoid installing Norton/Symantec
If you are experiencing a problem with Norton and want assistance, feel free to submit a ticket by clicking here….we know both Comcast and Norton well and can help you with this, quickly and with an affordable rate. Get 20% off your call by mentioning this blog post.
As most of the Minneapolis/St. Paul readers of this blog know, our choices of getting high speed internet are limited to pretty much 2 corporations in town. Comcast and Qwest. As a residential computer repair tech, here is how I see the choices being made.
- Home users with a phone/landline, have Qwest.
- Home users without a phone/landline have Comcast.
According to my website statistics, in the past month out of almost 4000 visitors, 1800 are cable users 951 are DSL. This also includes visitors from around the world too, so it’s not just local stats, but interesting nonetheless.
Now, on to my latest Comcast rant. According to their press relase dated Jan 20th, 2010
http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=957
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Comcast Partners With Symantec to Offer Award-Winning Norton Security Suite to Its High-Speed Internet Customers
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Norton Offers Superior Protection, Robust Family Safety Tools and Fast Scanning Speeds
Call That Girl has a problem with this press release. Norton/Symantec is far from “Award winning” in our computer repair shop. Norton/Symantec is one of the antivirus programs that I see in the shop BY FAR more than any other. Not only are they not catching the latest Malware viruses, but the program is so slow for some users, that they call us to figure out why it’s slow…only to have me SHOW them, their Norton/Symantec is killing their computer. Of a slow painful death. I also have to add, I call it far from ROBUST. Sure it has all the bells and whistles, but it doesn’t work.
- Pay us to remove it? Sure
- Remove it yourself? Great!
- Never install it? BEST CHOICE
- Install and purchase a Malwarebytes Anti Malware license? Most awesome choice! Click on the image below to get Malwarebytes with CTG’s anti-virus protection plan.
Mind you, I also wasn’t a fan of the McAfee product they used to give away either, but if I had to make a choice of one over the other…I would probably chose McAfee.
To close, I will add that Qwest used to (not sure if they do now) offer Windows Live One Care, but they probably won’t be in the future, as it’s being discontinued.
http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-in/default.htm?mkt=en-in
Microsoft’s replacement product though is is quite nice. Read my blog a couple down for a review on that.
If you are here and want to start your own computer repair business, check out my blog series about How to start a computer repair business
