For many people, they have computers and laptops that have been around for a few years and are thinking about when or if they should upgrade to something new. That 3 or 4 year old laptop might be running “OK” but things seem slower than they once were. There are things that you can do to improve your older laptop/desktop before buying a new one. First off, if the current computer hasn’t been  maintained,  go through the regular steps (read our article here). This would include:

• uninstalling unwanted programs
• deleting temporary and other files to create drive space
• running virus and spyware scanners

If or when that has been done, there are additional steps that can be taken. Over years of use, computers become bloated and full of pieces of data. Even after uninstalling a program there can still be parts of it remaining in system files and the registry. Hopefully you have the original factory restore disks and/or the windows license key that came with your laptop/desktop.  If so, resetting the computer back to its original factory settings can provide a significant performance improvement. This will, however, take some time. To do this you will need:

• Original factory restore disks
• Copies of any other paid or free programs that you have installed
• An external hard drive or cloud backup of all of your data (including pictures, music and other documents). Also, don’t forget system information like emails and contacts, browser favorites etc…
• Ensure that you get all of the updates available for all programs.
• Information like your wireless network key / password
• Any other drivers or software for devices like printers
• TIME!

Before reinstalling any programs make sure that you have backed up all of your personal information to a second location. This should be done at all times in case you ever have a hard drive failure. Once this is complete (and double checked) you can start the process.

1. Place the factory restore disks in the drive and restart the laptop/desktop
2. Follow the wizard – this can take a while and will involve responding to a series of prompts
3. Once completed, connect to your internet connection
4. Proceed to reinstall any additional programs
5. Install and activate virus programs
6. Restore all documents from your backup. This is often a good time to purge and organize any data. It is best to keep at least 25% of the drive available.

This should provide an improvement in performance. If you would like to further improve your computer, a common upgrade that is relatively cost effective is to increase the RAM (memory) in the laptop/desktop. Computers from a few years ago often came with 1gb or less of RAM. Today’s programs can use that up quickly. You can see how congested it is by launching the task manager (in Windows) and look at the performance tab to see what % is being used while running a few programs (look at this while performing typical tasks). You can view your current installed memory by right clicking on ‘My Computer’ and selecting ‘Properties’ (in Windows). It is listed under installed memory (RAM). Depending on what operating system version you have you may only be able to use up to 3GB. Windows XP or 32 bit versions of Vista and Windows 7 can only use 3GB even if additional memory is installed. If the computer/laptop has a low level of memory (1-2GB), a relatively cost effective performance boast can be gained by upgrading to 3GB or more. This does, however, involve opening the laptop to remove and install the new memory.  If you are unsure or uneasy about doing this yourself let easyTechCare desktop/laptop/notebook repair technicians do it for you.

Finally, a great way to improve the life of an old laptop/desktop computer is to move to cloud-based solutions. Many netbooks and tablets of today have similar technical specs of the computers of a few years ago. They often have 1GB or less of memory (RAM) and a single processor or lower powered dual processor. These systems have been great for many people as the amount of day to day work we do on the computer itself has been reduced. If you use the computer primarily in locations with high speed internet, switching to online services like Google Docs versus the traditional Microsoft Office can extend the life of an old computer. Google Docs has Word Processing, Spreadsheet and other common programs in addition to email. This helps for 2 primary reasons. First, online programs require a lot less hardware resources, and secondly, in the event that an older hard drive fails, the information is stored online (cloud) for easy backup and recovery.

With all of this, there are ways to bring an old laptop/desktop back to life – whether it is to improve performance of your main computer or to refurbish it for a child, friend or other family member.  The usefulness of an older computer can be to locate it in a place where it might be handy.  In the kitchen, on the coffee table.  They can serve lighter use such as, playing iTunes or attached to the TV for Netflix.  Putting  a computer where you are instead of where its always been.

easyTechCare can help you with any laptop/desktop repair needs including refurbishing an old computer.

About easyTechCare: Welcome to easyTechCare.com, where we are committed to delivering computer service, support and repair solutions for all of your digital needs. Choose from our onsite, online, or telephone support services.

Services are available in: Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Niagara Peninsula, Ottawa and Eastern Ontario (including Belleville, Brockville, Kingston and Surrounding Areas)

Privacy is a big issue these days and the use of Social Media has only raised these concerns. Many people have been talking about how Social Media can aid thieves in areas like identity theft and also other crimes like cyber-stalking or more mundane issues like how much social media sites are know and track about individuals.

So, what do you share and what do you protect?

• Name
• Email address / Phone number
• Birthday
• Photo(s)
• Location / Address
• Financial information

It is very hard in this day and age not to have your name in social media and online even if you don’t share it. What is in a name? Really, a name by itself is not that helpful to anyone. On occasion people do use a name as an identifier to track a list source. That is to say, if you are unsure of a company, site or list, you can imbed the list name in the name field by putting the list in the last name field.  This allows you  to later track if they sell your name to other sites. An additional strategy is using multiple email addresses.

Many people have multiple email address that the use to control their online activity.

·         A primary one that only goes to close friends and family.

·         A second for social media and common trusted websites, newsletters and other trusted sources.

·         And a third that I reserve for places that you are less sure of.

If they pass through this you can always upgrade them later to your primary address. One can control the management of these by having them either forward or sync with your main account so you only need to check in one place. This allows you to discontinue and control the spam in your personal email account.

Phone numbers are fairly easy to obtain (see Canada411 or other online sites). You might generally try to use a mobile number instead of your home phone number they are not as easy to reverse lookup to your name or address.

With photos and locations, we are most concerned with kids, but many adults don’t realize how much information is stored in a photo.  "It's very scary. If there are people you don't want to know where you are, they'd be able to find you in just a few mouse clicks... with remarkable precision." - Read it on Global News: Global Edmonton | Cell phone photos can reveal location, hacker warns. Global news in Edmonton ran a story on this last year that provides a good overview. Check it out here. Be aware of how information is being used. As an example, Facebook removes this information in photos but flickr leaves it attached.

Some small pieces of information are commonly used to verify account and financial information. This includes things like birthdays and mother’s maiden name. You can use a secondary birthday in all but the required places leaving the day and month correct but altering the year on any sites that it is mandatory. For even strangers utilizing social media, it can be easy to gather this data.

Lastly, be sure of what you are sharing. It is very easy to log in with your social media login information but look carefully at what the site is gathering from your social media profile and make sure you trust the receiving site. They can easily gather profile and contact information, photos, locations and friends/relative data.  If you are unsure, provide the information instead of using the easy login so that you know exactly what you are giving up. It really just comes down to being fully aware of what you are sharing, being cautious of who you provide your information to and remembering how easy data can be connected. Social media is a great way to connect and keep in touch with friends and family – just be aware of who has access to information about you.

Managing small business expenses:

One of the biggest concerns for small business owners is managing monthly expenses. The TD Canada Trust Survey of Canadian Small Business showed “Cash-flow management continues to top the list as the most significant barrier to small business success. The survey found that 78% of small business owners identified cash-flow management as a significant barrier to success while 41% said it is very significant.”

For many small organizations, issues arise when there is a sudden cost that is beyond their predictable monthly expenses. IT costs for small businesses are one of these areas (#9 on the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses - top 10 financial burdens facing entrepreneurs in 2011.).

We now rely on computers and other technology to run many of the day to day operations of our companies and cannot do without computers/laptops, smartphones and tablets. Having them inoperable, dealing with lost information or costs to replace or repair technology can all result in real financial and productivity losses to a small independent business. They can go for long periods without issues, but sometimes we experience a rash of recurring problems - especially with the amount of abuse we throw at technology (transporting and using laptops/smart-phones and other devices) in our cars, public transit and in bags and backpacks . We see regular recurring problems such as: repeating failures of hard drives, broken screens, failed batteries, memory/mother board or other internal issues.

Now there are ways for small businesses to manage these costs. easyTechCare provides a variety of plans to help small businesses both control their monthly cash flow and retain valuable information / reduce technology related down time. With the easyTechCare Ultimate easyPlan for Small Business: we provide the computer! With this plan, you receive a Notebook or Desktop Computer and all the online and onsite support and repairs that you need.* In addition to receiving a new computer, the Ultimate easyPlan  will allow you to receive:

·         Manage Monthly Costs

·         Minimize downtime

o   Online Technical Support

o   Complete Hardware Repair Services

o   4 hour/same day response

·         Protect Valuable Information

o   Includes Norton Antivirus 2012

o   Online Backup (first 10GB included)

 

easyTechCare: Identity Theft

Identity theft is not new. For years people have been combing through documents,stealing wallets and sometimes looking through peoples trash to find bill statement and other documents to use for illegal purposes. What has changed is the easy and scale that identity theft can be accomplished in the digital age. According to US figures identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in North America. 

Identity theft is accomplished in a variety of ways covering many scenarios such as:

• Using existing information (eg credit card numbers) to make non authorized purchases
  • Obtaining information through phishing (most often “official looking” communication purported to be from the bank or other trusted institution.)
  • Physically copying the card information (eg during a POS swipe)
• Using private information (eg address, SIN number, mothers maiden name) to obtain new ID or credit cards

Social media is a new way for identity thief's to get access to your personal information. If you do not have your privacy settings enabled there is the potential for someone to easily see:

• Date of birth
• Based on relatives your mothers maiden name (do you have an uncle on your mom's side?)
• Your address, email and phone number

Now merge that information with LinkedIn and you add

• Your current employer and years employed
• Your past employers

A study this year revealed that in the US based on your birth-date and place of birth the researchers could identify between 7% and 9% of random Social Security Numbers. Often what we view as harmless information can be the starting point for a larger issue. 

So what should you do? First check your social networks if you use them. Have a look at what someone could see from a computer that isn't yours and when not a "friend" or follower. 

"Google" yourself. It is often interesting and scary what Google knows about you when you enter your name into the search engine. Look at information and other things like images. Images can often store information like locations that will help to identify you. 

Have a good virus scanner that is up to date. A common tactic is to load a virus software that copies information or redirects your web activity so that they can harness information.

Be cautious of emails that ask for data and look for things like:

• Links to "odd" or miss spelled domains
• links to IP addresses (numbers and not something.com)
• Run a live scanning program that checks for know hacking sites and warns against visiting sites. ( Worm Virus Removal)

Also during the holiday season check credit card statements carefully. You can also check your credit rating and history through equifax and transunion.


Don't be scarred to go on-line just be aware of the trail your leave in a digital world and take measures to prevent issues from occurring.

The easyTechCare Ultimate easyPlan takes the worry out of computer ownership. The ultimate easyPlan provides you with either a laptop or desktop computer and all of the Computer Repair (onsite or and online support) that you need. With this plan we will provide peace of mind for your computing needs helping you to more with what you have as well as computer/laptop repair and maintenance problems. The ultimate plan covers common issues such as:

Issue	Solution
Worm Virus Removal	Norton Anti-virus 2012
Data Loss and Corruption	Configured On-line Backup (first 2GB of storage included)
Hard Drive Failure	Computer Repair On-site & On-line Backup*
Screen, Memory or Other Repairs	Computer Repair On-site & Phone Support

For personal use the Ultimate easyPlan for home provides worry free computer ownership and a new computer every 2 years. 

For small businesses the  Ultimate easyPlan for business provides your business with:

• no upfront hardware costs
• predictable monthly expense
• decreases downtime due to laptop repair and maintenance
• secures important documents and information from loss
• includes computer on-site and phone support

Testimonials

“The technicians were terrific, very thorough, patient and professional. As someone who is self-employed, it's reassuring to have Easytech to help troubleshoot any IT problems so that you can get on with work! “  - Eva

"We have been using Easy TechCare since 2008 and I cannot overstate how impressed we've been with their outstanding service. Simply said, they are exceptional. Their technicians are highly skilled and waste no time in identifying and resolving problems. I cannot imagine their encountering a computer issue they cannot fix. Appointments are made promptly, and technicians arrive on time—we've never been in the situation of waiting around for something to happen. 

The courteous technicians who have called at our house are extremely helpful and patient and never leave until they’re satisfied the system is up and running correctly. During our last service call, in October 2011, it was only long after the technician had left that I realized he had discovered and resolved a problem that I had not even mentioned. This is a perfect example of the kind of care you get with Easy Tech. And you won't need a second mortgage to pay for their services. " - Chris

A recent call from a customer highlighted a common issue that we are faced with - a non-functioning laptop screen.

Screen repair is a common issue with laptops. We take them everywhere, they get thrown in bags, cars or things get placed on them. Not to mention, if you have kids or pets the damage they can do by accident. Our customers bring laptops in with a variety of screen replacement issues such as:

• Black screen
• Physically cracked screen with no other visible damage
• Physical damage with a "bleed" that cause dark or colored spots on the screen

Depending on the issue, the damage can be a result of loose connections to permanent damage requiring a full-screen repair. If your screen is black you may want to connect it to an external monitor (or TV if you have the connections available) to see if the laptop screen will display on another screen. On windows machines, you may need to hit the function key and the appropriate "f" key (often f4 or f7) to have it display.  Often, our computer/laptop repair technicians are able to come out to your home (In Home Computer Help / Computer Repair Onsite Service), pick up the damaged laptop and return it to you within a few days to a week. Our technicians will also assess the damage, specify repair costs and provide the best computer repair alternatives (such as an external monitor or our Ultimate easyComputer Plan that includes a new laptop plus servicing and maintenance) based on how you use your current laptop. As the screen is often the most expensive part to repair on a laptop, other alternatives may be better suited to your needs.

Our in home support is available in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Niagara Peninsula, Ottawa and Eastern Ontario (including Belleville, Brockville, Kingston and Surrounding Areas). We also provide phone or remote support in other areas. Contact us at 416-987-EASY (3279) or 1-866-507-EASY (3279) for additional details.

Using a virus warning message as a way to get unsuspecting people to install a virus or Trojan isn't anything new but based on how prevalent it still it the tactic must still be as effective as ever. Fake anti-virus software usually manifests itself through a pop-up that tells an unsuspecting visitor that they have a serious issue affecting their computer such as a series of viruses or malware or need to update their software (windows updates - see the sample image from Microsoft support). They offer to run the first scan for free but when the user wants to actually fix the computer problem the software requires a credit card to activate the program.

These scams are often hard for a user to detect as they will illegally use logo's and names of real software companies or variations of existing software vendors. The virus software are using search results, hijacking image searches, email spam messages and a variety of other techniques to reach consumers.

This type of computer scam is popular as it generates a steady and significant revenue stream from customers paying tens or hundreds of dollars. In addition to the initial revenue they also generate a stream of customers for associated organizations that remove the now installed virus software. If you think that because you have a MAC you are OK? That is no longer the case. MAC viruses are growing quickly in the hacker community. We often recommend that MAC users do not rely on the built in protection but enhance this with additional virus software that runs kernel-based filtering (these cannot be purchased through the App Store). In addition turn off the open “safe” files after downloading option so that you do not accidentally install a virus through a zip program.

Once installed the software will create real viruses on your computer. They also often prevent users from visiting legitimate virus removal sites and will disable software updates, affect the computer registry, show misleading messages and generally decrease the computer performance. To fix computer problems such as these if often requires that the computer repair be done prior to the operating system being started or from safe mode. 

If you suspect that you have installed fake virus software and need to fix a virus computer problem you should:

• Notify your financial institution if you paid anything
• If you have a legitimate virus and are able to run it, then download any software updates
• Call your team at easyTechCare so that we can ensure you are safe

To protect yourself in the future make sure you have a a variety of tools to prevent and block attacks. A good firewall, virus and malware software that is updated regularly, run time detection, email scanning for viruses and software to detect and block known domains that distribute bad software.

If you are still having issues with the virus program additional software may be required. Once it has been cleaned many people experience issues opening programs as the virus has affected the computer registry files.

If you need additional support for virus removal easyTechCare's computer / laptop repair and maintenance team can help you setup the appropriate solution to protect all of your systems. For computer phone support or in home computer help call us at 1-866-507-3279 to get help from our computer phone support team. 

Our in home computer specialists can fix computer problems on site (serving: Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Niagara Peninsula, Ottawa and Eastern Ontario (including Belleville, Brockville, Kingston and Surrounding Areas) or through phone and on-line support services across the country. 

 In our last newsletter we had a short poll on what our readers wanted to see and cloud computing came up as the top topic. This is an update/refresher on our article from late 2010 on cloud computing. 

As defined by Gartner1, “Cloud computing is a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service to external customers using Internet technologies.” In plain English, this means, doing things through the internet instead of directly on your computer.  Recently we have seen many articles on new or growing cloud services such as iCloud, Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Services / CloudDrive or more traditional players like Google and Microsoft.

Cloud services are common for things like, website and application hosting, email/office applications, sales force lead management and off-site backup and storage. As always, easyTechCare can provide expertise to help you make the right decision for your home or business from a whole host of cloud providers.

“Cloud” computing isn’t new, but it has been getting increasing focus and publicity as of late.  Companies have used software as a service and consumers have used hosted email (Hotmail, Yahoo, Rogers, Sympatico and Gmail) for years. With the increasing speed of internet access for consumers and small businesses as well as the growing variety of services available, adoption of cloud services has been growing rapidly in recent years. There are many advantages to using services in the cloud including:

•  Security, Redundancy and backups are provided by the provider, ensuring that it always works for you
• Pay for only the services/storage that you need
• More frequent updates
• Less reliance on user updates reducing time and cost
•  Data available from anywhere, on any computer
•  Potentially able to access information from any device with a browser including mobile

As with any technology there are always things to consider. Depending on what you are using cloud services for, there are different things to consider. Always make sure that the provider has regular backups and redundancy built in - you wouldn’t want to lose any critical information. As information is stored on remote servers, consider how critical it is to have immediate access to your data.

The advantage is that you only need an internet connection but at the same time if you need to have access at a minutes’ notice, there are several potential “weak links”. Your internet connection could have an issue, you can be in an area without internet (another office, subway, train, airplane etc…) or the provider can experience issues. These cases are often unlikely but you should consider all scenarios.

You also need to consider data security if you are storing sensitive data. All of the large providers take security very seriously as it is the backbone of their services, but in the last few years there have been a few high profile breaches (this is often a bigger concern for business than consumers), so it is something to be aware of. In reality, for most organizations the weak link in security are their employees. This can be either intentional or unintentional through viruses on computers or using the same username and password repeatedly (with common words such as birthdates or the company name). If this is an issue there are ways to encrypt data before it is uploaded through a variety of tools-just make sure the proper procedures are in place before you begin.

If you are archiving large files like images, videos and/or music you must also assess your internet contract. Most consumers have a cap on their monthly traffic after which you pay per GB, so be conscious of how much you are using (especially in the first month).

Let easyTechCare provide the expertise to help you make the right decision for you or your business (Computer Network Help) from a whole host of cloud providers. If you are looking at setting up cloud services (Computer Networking Services) or switching your existing technology to the cloud, there are lots of references available. Many experts and cloud companies have videos, whitepapers or articles, but just be aware of the source (or bias) and if they offer cloud services themselves.

  

Additional Resources:

Akamai is one of the largest cloud organizations as its technology manages about 20% of the entire internet by hosting content.

http://www.ted.com/pages/266

Amazon web services offers a host of applications within its cloud network infrastructure.

http://media.amazonwebservices.com/AWS_Overview.pdf

The easyTechCare Computer and Laptop Repair and Maintance Series.

The first aticle of our series is on antivirus, a key step in laptop repair and maintance. Protecting yourself and your computer/laptop should be a concern for every Canadian as well as all small businesses, as it affects the ability of your laptop/computer to function and execute basic tasks. It also affects your security and the privacy of your data.

• Malware
• Viruses
• Spyware
• Trojans
• Worm Virus

• Computer/laptop runs slow
• The hard drive is more full than expected
• Programs may launch on their own
• Email or network connections may not work properly
• Popup ads may display
• Strange messages on startup
• Browser doesn't go where expected

This is part one of our easyTechCare Laptop Repair and Maintenance series. Look for out next installment shortly....