I’m late in writing my daily Shotgun report because I have four computers sitting in my office in various forms of failure. Fortunately, at some expense to the owners, I was able to extract some valuable data from two of the machines. The other two machines didn’t fair as well and nothing was salvageable.
Today’s lesson? BACKUP!!!!!!!
I just searched HelpMeRick.com and found no less than 15 articles and tips directly related to
A resent consumer reports article compared cell services and Sprint ranked last among the top four services across the board. I use Sprint and have never had any real troubles. I have also found that the coverage is great whenever I travel. They also have the best price for data and their rates are reasonable.
I am not writing this in defense of Sprint though. I am pretty upset with American cell service in general.
Currently cell phone service business models are built on a foundation of using gimmicks to get a customer to buy then punishing them for long term loyalty by raising prices and excluding them from promotional deals.
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 anti-spyware tools. Each year I have seen them less and less.
I saw them today to help them setup a new laptop and I decided to scan their desktop computer for spyware while I was there.
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 sound correct to them so they download and install the software.
By Andy Cochran
1. Does the item have all of its accessories?
This is a very important question when it comes to things like,
battery chargers or special cables for Ipods, MP3 players, or digital cameras, and remote controls TVs. Ask if everything is there before you buy it. Owners’ manuals and most product software can be found online, if it’s MIA at the store. Have a salesperson print the manual, and give instructions on where to download the required software (if there is any) at home.
2. Is the item in good condition?
Eighty percent of people now own cell phones and the other 20 percent are standing next to eight people holding a cell phone.
Remember pay phones? Remember stuff that made you ask, “What is that?” on the receiver of the pay phone? Remember having to insert more money to continue the call? Remember being at the airport or mall and searching like mad for a pay phone that wasn’t in use?
AT&T announced this week that those days will be happy memories by the end of 2008. The company plans to end the pay phone business.
I will be first in line for a vintage phone to put with my 8-track player, phonograph, rotary phone, cassette tape, CB radio, typewriter and film camera.
I kind of enjoy shopping. I don’t enjoy watching other people shop, but if I have some money to spend, I kind of enjoy the experience.
Black Friday is always fun. Typically my wife stands in one line while I stand in another before the sun comes up with a list of things that we want to rush in and grab for the kids.
Digging through the paper with all of the Black Friday ads is as much of a Thanksgiving tradition for us as the turkey, stuffing and polka music.
The Internet bargain sites have kind of ruined Black Friday for me this year because the ads are being leaked.
Two sites that are tracking leaked Black Friday ads are:
Computer bargains are all over the place! This week I must have seen
two dozen offers that I would have purchased if I only had the funds.
I have been using the Dell 3110cn color laster printer for 10 months now and I must say that it is amazing. I just checked the stats tonight and we have printed over 1000 pages per month 10,480 to be exact.
During that time we have put $100 worth of toner into it. Currently our black cartridge is at 40 percent, cyan and magenta are at 80 percent and yellow is at 60 percent. The black is the cartridge that we replaced previously. Let’s do some math. A nice durable ink jet printer costs roughly $150. A set of ink tanks costs about $60. Every 700 pages a $30 cartridge needs to be replaced. Color cartridges may go out sooner.
Most users go through about 5000 sheets per year. Between color and black, it is not unusual for an ink jet user to pay out $210 in ink for an economical ink jet and even more if you have an Epson, newer HP or older Canon. Heaven help you if you have a Lexmark that takes $45 cartridges.
Adding the cost of ink and printer, you will likely spend at least $950 combined ink and printer cost in the first four years. Most estimates are much higher than this. The average costs used by many online reviews for ink jet printers is $60 per 700-1000 sheets. If this figure is more accurate that you can almost double the costs mentioned above. True you can save some money by
At least once a year, I write a short article about my current computer recommendations. The holiday season is upon us, and I haven’t written an article like this in awhile, so here goes.
In the past six months, I ask more questions than I give when approached with this question.
If I find that the person has a 2-4 year old computer with Windows XP, and just thinks the computer is slow, I go with this advice: