Many, if not most of us already have skype. But some people are still not too sure what it is, how it works, or if it will be useful for them.
Skype is an easy to use instant messaging program that delivers very good quality video calls as well with just a couple clicks. This ease of use makes it particularly well suited for grandma or others who are not all that comfortable with computers.
Listen in to learn more!
Should I turn my computer off, or leave it on?
This is perhaps the most, if not one of the most questions we receive.
The reason so many people don’t know the answer to this question, is because there are so many different answers out there! And most of them are not wrong, they are just not entirely correct.
The full answer is this:
“It depends.”
Now that’s not much of an answer is it? Let’s take a closer look.
The computer can be broken up into 2 “types” of parts, electronic and mechanical.
I get asked what I think about Mac often. So let me start by saying that I'm not writing this article because I have a chip on my shoulder. I am sure some of the mac fans out there will view what I have to say here as sacrilegious, which actually gets to one of the core points I will be making.
Backing up is critical if you have information you cannot lose. Kevin of Thomas Realestate Services contacted PcComputerGuy to setup a backup system on his 6 month old computer. Two months later, the hard drive crashed. Fortunately, due to Kevin’s precautions, getting him back up and running was quick and painless. Tune in to this PcComputerGuy tech talk with a happy ending!
Your computer is only as fast as it's weakest link. The primary components that determine the speed of your computer are simply your RAM, Processor and Hard Drive.
With modern day computers, most have plenty of RAM and Processing power. In fact many systems use about half the RAM and if you ever watch your processor, it's usually sitting around twittling it's thumbs waiting for something to do. The biggest "weak-link" in a more modern system is going to be the Hard Drive, the thing where everything sits when not in use.
So very often I am at a client’s home, and I run a speedtest on their internet. The results I get back are outstanding; but perhaps a bit overkill.
ISP’s try to up-sell their service, offering the more expensive internet services at premium rates. But is it really making any difference? Most of the time the answer is sadly: no, you are just paying them more money.
The computer is an enigma to a lot of people. You press some keys, and you get magic out of the screen, printer or speakers. But what is inside the computer and how does it all work together?
In this general education tech tip, we'll teach you about the parts that make your computer work. Don't worry you won't have to brush up on engineering or calculus to understand it.
Continue reading at: http://pccomputerguy.com/Tech-Tips-Podcast-Parts-of-a-Computer
A “Virtual PBX” is an internet based phone system that allows for tons of professional features often at a fraction of the cost of running your own PBX.
What does such a system get you? Think of all the fancy stuff that happens when you call a large company. For specifics, let’s look at what we’ve done at PcComputerGuy with our Virtual PBX hosted through Jive Communications.
First, you start off with a SIP based phone. These IP phones connect to your existing internet connection. Some of them are even wireless such as our Cisco SPA525G2 SIP phone.
Then you partner with a company that you plan on hosting your phone service. We again choose Jive. We tried Ring Central and were not pleased with the customer service or quality of the calls.
Each system has it’s own way of configuring the features of your phone system, but think of it very much like a corporate level phone system complete with extensions, call queues, forwarding to cell phones, custom music and more.
Continue reading at: http://www.pccomputerguy.com/Tech-Tips-Podcast-Virtual-PBX-Phone-Systems
The Olympics are on. Now if there is any sport I'm more likely to watch than Football, it's the Olympics. I'm an Olympic attic. If watching the Olympics was a sport, I'd definitely get the gold. Of course, I also have to somehow still get things done for the those two weeks. How do I cope? With Orb!
Orb is a great, FREE program that allows you to stream content on your home computer to you, anywhere. You can use it to stream videos, music files, access documents and of critical importance for the Olympics, TV.
Continue reading at http://www.pccomputerguy.com/Tech-Tips-Podcast-Stream-Media-With-Orb
It’s almost here. In fact you may be reading this after the officially launches on October 26th. You may have heard some things already, or may be completely in the dark as to what’s going on with this new Operating System. Let’s start there.
Windows 8 is definitely the most radical change in the Windows operating system since Windows 95. For better or worse, that’s what it is.
The main, radical difference is the removal of the “start” menu, a tool which I and many users have come to love. This has been replaced by the Windows “Metro” interface. (Insert: Metro Picture).
Continue reading at: http://www.pccomputerguy.com/Windows-8-Detailed-Review
So often people intend on backing up but never get it done. Others think it's not important, until AFTER disaster happens. Truly ask yourself, are there priceless memories stored in your computer? If so, are they backed up? If not, you are playing a game of chance that you will lose sooner or later.
I cannot stress this enough, back up now, back up before it's too late. You will save money compared to having disaster recovery work, and will certainly thank me down the road. It's not a matter of if your hard drive fails, it's a matter of when.
Google Chrome is the newest browser to the arena, and its main focus is on speed. It opens quickly, it loads pages in a snap and it’ll even grab you a cappuccino if you’d like. Quite frankly, it mops the floor with Internet Explorer.
In this Tech Talk we cover the biggest issues we saw in 2016 and tips on how to avoid these pitfalls for the 2017 year.
