Think twice before your blame your computer’...

“What brand of computer do you recommend?” is one of the most common questions I get asked. My answer is usually, “It really doesn’t matter as long as it is a name brand and has the specs that you need.” I often hear comments like, “Our first computer was a Dell and we constantly had problems with viruses and spam,” or “I’m never going to get another HP, this one just...

Take control of the AVG Scans – Video Tips

As you know, we whole heartedly recommend and use AVG Antivirus. It is unobtrusive, fast, and most importantly effective. However, one irritating function it has is the default full system scan at 8:00am. Many people are working on their computers at 8:00am and full system scan slows down the system enough to be highly annoying if not unusable in some cases. You don’t have to wait for the scan to finish. Just RIGHT...

Avery website offers great way to make labels easi...

There are certain tasks that you would expect to be done simply on a computer. At the top of this list is making labels. In my opinion the number of label making programs on the market should rival the number of digital photography or antivirus programs on the market. For some mysterious reason, there are hardly any good label programs out there. They are either too simple and limited in features or they are too complex and...

Worst excuse for keeping Norton: I have already pa...

If you search for the word “Norton” using the search engine in the upper right corner of our website, you will discover that our advice to dump Norton branded software is echoed by dozens of other visitors to the site. This week I saw a computer that took 27 minutes to completely boot up. It was an older system with 256MB of RAM and a 1.6ghz processor. Even at that, 27 minutes was a long time. I noticed that they...

Why good computer guys get grumpy sometimes

Arrogant computer guys really bother me. I try very hard not to be a computer guy who thinks he knows everything. The problem with this is that I am sometimes competing with computer guys who convince people that they do know everything. When I try to straighten out the situation, I get the line, “but the guy at Best Buy said that Norton is the best.” or “But my son who has worked at HP for 20 years says...

AVG Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade Advice

The past few days calls and emails started filtering in about the new AVG 8.0 version folks have seen appear on their free versions of AVG Antivirus. The common query is, “Should I upgrade?” No, home users of AVG Antvirus do not need to upgrade at all. The current free version of AVG will continue to be updated and as it has been for years. The new 8.0 version is the newest commercial product from AVG...

Your hard drive is meant to hold stuff

Every week I’m out making my rounds, I hear this expression; “My computer is really slow it must have too much stuff in it and needs to be cleaned out.” Your computer can never have have too much “stuff.” Your hard drive is designed to hold tens of thousands of documents, pictures, music and more. The number of files you store on your computer has next to nothing to do with your perceived speed...

Slow computer? Viruses? Malware? I can help!

After almost 13 years of battling security problems on Windows machines, I’m finally seeing the light of day and recommending Mac’s and Linux for many computer users. It will be a long journey convincing people that there is life beyond Microsoft. For those who bang away with Microsoft Windows computers,and have problems with Slow Computer Disease (SCD), pop-ups, viruses and other problems, I present the following...

Zonbu – Part II

In a post last week, I announced that the first Zonbu computer (that I know of) was coming to Grand Junction. It has indeed arrived, and I am enormously impressed with the machine. Like all Linux computers, the Zonbu requires a high speed wired or wireless connection to operate. Dial-up users need not apply. The reason for requiring a high speed connection is that Zonbu provides automatic backup of files, automatic...

Zonbu is coming to Grand Junction!!

Today, I helped a new customer order a Zonbu computer. I first wrote about this interesting computer about two months ago. I offered to setup these machines up for free for the first three people in our area that buy one. After much deliberation and research, the customer (KC) and I decided that this computer was really the right decision for her needs. She bought the laptop Zonbu, and I can’t think of anything...

Incredible deal on a fast computer

I installed a new computer for a customer yesterday that turned out to be the easiest setup I’ve done in quite a few years (with the exception of Apple setups). He bought the computer, ZT Affinity, from OfficeMax’s web site for $399. It comes with 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard drive, fast processor (albeit the previous generation Pentium D), Windows XP Professional, built-in memory card reader, keyboard, optical mouse, a...

What we teach actually works!!

Today I saw a client I have not seen in a long time. They are a great family with four teenagers at home. One year I had to reformat their computer three times because of their knack for picking up spyware. While I enjoyed the money, I did not enjoy doing all those reformats. Reformatting a computer is my least favorite project. Gradually I would break them of their habits and have them using Firefox, AVG and a variety of...

What everyone ought to know about downloading secu...

Already this week, I ran into five different customers who were bitten by security software impostors. Since security problems are rampant on Windows’ computers, many degenerate computer programmers and sheisters have come up with spyware and virus spreading software disguised as security software. And the worst part is that unsuspecting computer users know the name of good, legitimate software and these impostors...

Another parental reminder

We mention this tip as often as possible on our show, but I felt it was necessary to bring it to the attention of our web visitors again: Parents, please install and use only Mozilla Firefox for your web browser. Kids, especially teens, plus Internet browsing with Internet Explorer spells disaster. Too many Internet degenerates target their spyware and virus spreading programs at teens and teen related web sites. Also, teens...

Don’t run more than one antivirus program

I ran across too many computers this week that had multiple anti-virus programs installed. My advice has always been and still is that you should only be running one anti-virus product at a time. Multiple anti-spyware products are ok, and sometimes necessary, but running multiple anti-virus products will drastically slow down your computer and cause many more problems than they solve. My top 3 anti-virus products as of today...