5 Common Computer Myths Debunked

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Common urban myths would have us believe alligators live in sewers or people put razor blades in kids’s candy. Common misconceptions about computers are just as persistent. Here are several IT myths debunked for your benefit.

Computer Myths


#1 A slow-running computer has a virus

A virus can be to blame. Spyware or other malware can also cause a computer to slow down. However, there are also many other reasons your computer might run slower:

  • You may have a lot of programs that start up when you boot up the computer. You could remove or disable programs that start every time.
  • The computer has gone into power save mode every night, but you haven’t rebooted the computer in a long time.
  • There are many programs running in the background. On a Windows PC, you can go into task manager and see what is running and the computer resources in use.
  • A security utility is running. If it’s an antivirus scanner, let the scan finish first, then see if your computer speed improves.
  • Temporary files or other junk are taking up too much hard drive space. Your computer needs at least 200–500MB of free space on the hard drive to be able to move and manage files.
  • Your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to run programs within memory. If your computer has to swap information on the hard drive to get enough memory to run programs, it’s going to work slower.
  • The computer is old. You may need to upgrade to a computer that can handle current software needs without slowing to a snail’s pace.

#2 Macs don’t get viruses

Many Apple owners believe their Macintosh computers are immune to viruses. If only. Macs do get viruses; they are simply targeted less than PCs. Why? There are many more computers running Windows, which means a bigger, easier target for cybercriminals.

As Apple’s market share rises, the threat to Macs is growing. Apple works to protect its users from malware, but you still need to use caution with downloads and when clicking on links from unknown sources.

#3 My Windows registry needs cleaning up

Registry cleaning companies will say that scanning your Windows registry can speed up the computer and avoid error messages. The cleaner finds unused registry keys and any malware remnants for removal.

But let’s consider the fact that Microsoft has not released its own registry cleaner. Why not? Because it’s really not necessary. Worse still, going in to clean your registry (when you don’t know what you’re doing) can actually do serious damage.

#4 My laptop battery needs to be dead before I recharge if I want it to last longer

This was once true. Nickel-cadmium batteries suffered from what was called a “memory effect.” If discharged and recharged to the same point several times, they would remember that point in the future and not go further.

Now, however, laptops typically come with lithium-ion (or Li-ion) batteries. They don’t suffer from this memory effect. In fact, they function better with partial discharge instead of letting the battery run down to zero.

#5 I don’t have anything hackers would want

Cybersecurity should be a priority for everyone, not only sprawling enterprises. Let’s put it this way:

  • Do you have any money?
  • Do you have an identity cybercriminals could use to access money or sell for money?
  • Do you work anywhere?

Hackers have all kinds of ways to profit from your data or from hijacking your computer’s processing power. They can turn your computer into part of a bot network or use your information as a bridge into a business target’s system.

Keep all your computers at top speed with the best security measures in place with the help of our experts. Contact us today at (970) 433-7454!

Time for What Matters: Essential Windows Shortcuts

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Time for What Matters: Essential Windows Shortcuts

The average person spends 90,000 hours at work. These hours can cost us sleep, affect our mood, and cause us to gain weight. Oh, and work can cause stress, too. We can’t give you a “get out of work free” card, but these essential Windows shortcuts will help you save time.

By gaining efficiency at your computer, you may find you have more time for what matters. At work, this may be devising new innovations or getting out in the field. At home, these shortcuts can free up time to play a board game with the kids or do some gardening with Grandma.

Ctrl + X to Cut

Think about X marking the spot in the text where you want to cut words, an image, or a URL. Drag your cursor over the selection to highlight the particular text/table/image/file (or a part of it). If you don’t want it at all, the cut function is another version of delete. If you want to move the selection, this is your first step.

Ctrl + V to Paste

With this simple shortcut you can place the information you just cut (or copied using Ctrl + C) anywhere you want. The important thing to remember is that the paste function only holds one selection in memory. So, if you cut a phrase from one place, don’t get distracted by an image you want to copy or other text to cut. You want to paste what you have first, then go back and copy or cut the next thing so as not to risk risking losing anything.

Ctrl + Z to Undo

If only this shortcut was available in real life. We could retract that thing we inadvertently said to Uncle Steve, or take out the salt we put in a recipe instead of sugar, or avoid leaving the house for the gym without our running shoes.

Still, Windows users are able to undo their most recent action with this key combination. Whichever Windows program you’re in, you can use Ctrl + Z to reverse your last action. To redo something, go with Ctrl + Y.

Alt then Tab to Switch Screens

There are many things you can do with Windows. Perhaps you’re multitasking: you have a PowerPoint open, as well as an Excel spreadsheet, and Internet Explorer, too. By pressing Alt and then the Tab key, you can switch between tabs or screens. If you hold down the Alt button while tapping Tab, you’ll scroll through all screens.

Ctrl + N to open a new window

Pressing Ctrl+N together opens up a new document file or browser window, depending on the program you’re in. It saves you a few drop-down menus and works in most Windows applications and Web browsers.

Ctrl + F to Find

This is another one we’d love to see in the real world. Using the find shortcut calls up a pop-up box where you can enter text or numbers. You can use this shortcut to find what you’re looking for on a Web page, in a PDF document, or in your rough draft of a speech. In fact, you’ll be able to see how many times your search text appears and toggle from one selection to the next.

Ctrl + Mouse to Zoom

Forget your reading glasses? Looking at a too-small infographic? Having a tough time locating the right tiny file on your desktop? You can zoom in with this shortcut. Using this shortcut on your desktop makes files and folders larger. In your browser, this function zooms in on the page.

Want to know more about Windows and technology to streamline processes? Our experts can help you find the right computer solutions for your home or office. Contact us at (970) 433-7454 today!

Why is My Brand New Laptop So Slow?

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Your old computer is beginning to slow down. So, you invest in a shiny new laptop. The clouds part and the sun shines down on this bright and lovely new device. Everything will be faster and easier. Only, from the first day, the new laptop is lagging. Why is it running so slow? One of these might be the reason.

Slooooooow
#1 Not enough computing power. 

In many cases, the laptop doesn’t have enough RAM (Random Access Memory). RAM is the computer’s main memory. This helps your computer do more at once. Information from the operating system, application programs and data are kept here, when in use, for quicker processing.

RAM is like the computer’s short-term memory, while the hard drive is the long-term memory. Just as the human brain can’t hold everything in short-term memory, RAM can get overloaded too. When this happens on your laptop, the computer processor needs to go to the hard drive. This slows things down.

Resolution: You might see 4GB, 8GB, 16GB or more of RAM available. How much you need is going to depend on what you plan on doing with the computer. For a laptop with Windows 10, we recommend at least 8GB of RAM, but 16GB is more comfortable for a better experience.

Not all laptops will let you access the RAM. When you can, though, upgrading memory can be quick and affordable.

#2 Mechanical hard drive. 

Often a single part is letting you down. With a less expensive computer, manufacturers skimp. While it’s less common these days, some laptops will come with a mechanical hard drive. You might think of this like a record player with a needle reading the vinyl album. Since something is moving to find data, the laptop runs slower than it would with a Solid State Drive (SSD), which has no moving parts.

Resolution: In many cases, a mechanical hard drive can be easily upgraded to an SSD. However, some super slim laptops have limited upgradability.

#3 Bloatware. 

Retailers like to tout all the bells and whistles that come with their laptops. So, when you turn on your laptop for the first time, you may notice there’s already a lot of software preloaded. Much of it you’ll probably never use. Maybe there are toolbars you don’t need, games you’ll never use, or stock widgets that you couldn’t care less about. These examples of bloatware slow down your computer.

The third-party applications are a revenue source for the manufacturer, but don’t always help you. Microsoft, for instance, sells a line of computers that come without any pre-installed third-party software. Computerworld reported those PCs “start up 104% faster, shut down 35% faster and have 28 minutes more battery life.”

Resolution: When you get a new laptop, check out the pre-installed software before you add your own. Determine what the existing software will do, and uninstall anything that you won’t want.

If your laptop is slow on the first startup, this may be due to system updates. For instance, a Windows 10 automatic update to bolster the security of the computer. You can’t do much about these, but look on the bright side, your laptop security is current!

Improved speed is a main reason to invest in a new laptop. Don’t let a lagging laptop disrupt your productivity. We can help with a slow running laptop.

Instead of wasting valuable time waiting on a slow computer, give us a call No Ware Computer Repair at (970) 433-7454.

Loving your External Hard Drive

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External hard drives are relatively cheap and a great way to move around data. However, they can be somewhat fragile. Here are some tips to make your external hard drive last longer.

These drives free up storage, offer portability, and provide a lifeline in case of computer disaster. It pays to take good care of these compact, convenient devices.

Here are some helpful strategies.

External HDD
1. Don’t knock the drive.

Depending on the type of drive you have, impact could damage it. The hard drive’s mechanical drives work a little like a record player. Envision a spinning platter and a needle reading it. Note, you don’t have to worry about this with a Solid State Drive (SSD) as there are no moving parts.

2. Don’t pull.

You can damage the drive port with a hard or sideways yank on its USB plug. Remove the device cable with a gentle pull. It’s best to unplug the drive cable when it’s not in use. Then, when you are reconnecting the external drive, inspect the connector before plugging the cable back in. Look for any damage, debris, or corrosion to help maximize the device’s lifespan.

3. Don’t skip steps.

You may be in a hurry, but always take the time to remove the hard drive from your desktop before physically unplugging it. On Windows, you’ll usually right click on the drive and press Eject. For Macs, you can drag the drive icon to the recycle bin (which changes to an eject button).  Never unplug the drive while moving data to or from the hard drive unless you want to risk data corruption.

4. Don’t suffocate the drive.

Ever put your hand on the hard drive after prolonged use? It’s hot. Don’t immediately store it away in a bag or tight space. Give it some time to cool off first.
When it’s out, and in use, keep the drive’s vents clear of other objects so that it has some airflow. Set it on a flat, level surface. Avoid placing it on paper, towels, or other cloth items that could add to its heat levels.

5. Don’t take the drive swimming.

OK, you’re probably not going to do that. Yet it’s our way of reminding you that condensation is an enemy to your hard drive. Hard drive failures can be caused by environmental factors such as temperature and air quality too.

6. Don’t expect immortality or invincibility.

A hard drive isn’t going to last forever. They aren’t built for that. They can also get lost or stolen. Don’t let one external hard drive be the only place you are backing up your data.
Have a backup on your computer, on the drive, and a copy in the cloud. Then, you’ll always be ready to move on to a new drive that you will love with the same care and consideration outlined above.

If you need help deciding on the best hard drive for your needs, give us a call at (970) 433-7454.

What is the Best Way to Backup?

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“That will never happen to me.” We get through our lives telling ourselves the worst won’t happen to us. It’s the same with business: “We won’t need this data backup.” Yet, whatever your industry, secure, reliable backup ensures business as usual. So, what’s the best way to backup? Here’s help.

Backup
Why You Need to Backup

  1. Business disruptions of any kind can be costly. The disaster might take one of several shapes:
  2. Natural (e.g. wildfires, floods, earthquakes, or hurricanes)
  3. On-site (e.g. hardware/software failure, power outage, inability to access building)
  4. Employee driven (e.g. damaging mistakes or intentional sabotage by a disgruntled employee)
  5. Cyber-attack (e.g. data breach, ransomware, or distributed denial of service attack).

Regardless, the best backup solution can help reduce downtime and damage.

Plan B: Approaches to Backup

There are several off-the-shelf backup options your business can use. Let’s consider the pros and cons of the most popular ones.

USB Thumb Drives — Also known as “flash drives,” “pen drives,” or “memory sticks,” these thumb-sized devices are compact and portable. But, they have size limitations compared to hard drives. Also, the mobility makes them easy to lose (which can actually set the disaster scenario in motion).

Additionally, a USB thumb drive is robust when not plugged in, but more vulnerable when attached. If someone inadvertently snaps the drive or employs too much force, they can put the data on that backup at risk.

The cheap ones also tend to be slow, which can make backing up sluggish.

USB Hard Drives — Portable hard drives increase the data storage available, often at a decent price. They are designed to be compact and mobile. You can prioritize durability, processing speed, storage volumes and more.

Hard drives are less likely to get damaged than a thumb drive. If knocked or jostled, the cables are flexible. Still, a hard drive can be prone to physical failure. Selecting an external solid slate drive (SSD) can help since it has no moving parts. Information is stored instead in microchips.

Cloud Storage — Backing up to the cloud stores data on an external, secure server. If thieves take your computers and USB backup, you can still access your data on the cloud. Cloud storage providers build in redundancy to ensure your backup remains safe.

Most cloud storage services back up to secure centers with thousands of servers storing data. Oh, and they’ll have their own server backups too, just in case they’re the ones hit by a disaster. The providers also encrypt data during transit to further ensure compliance and security.

Migrating to a third-party cloud storage service also cuts the clutter at your premises. You can count on expert help to ensure security and compliance. Plus, you can cut operational costs by offloading in-house storage or external hard drive expenses.

OK, What’s the Best Answer? 

Don’t think disaster won’t strike your business. Research has found data loss and downtime are most often caused by:

  • Hardware failures (45% of total unplanned downtime)
  • Loss of power (35%)
  • Software failure (34%)
  • Data corruption (24%)
  • External security breaches (23%)
  • Accidental user error (20%).

We recommend the 3-2-1 backup strategy. This means having 3 copies of your data. Two (2) of these would be located on different devices (e.g. on your computer and on a backup drive). The other remaining backup copy (1) would be secured offsite, in the cloud.

Want to secure your data for the worst? Give No Ware Computer Repair in Grand Junction a call to set this up. (970) 433-7454 

Saturday Appointments

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Clock
Hi there!

We just wanted to let everyone know about a little change to our business hours.

Starting Saturday, February 2nd we will no longer be open on Saturdays for walk-in business. We will, however, be available for Saturday appointments for computer pick ups and computer drop offs.

What that means is if you need to either pick up or drop off your computer on a Saturday, we’d be available on a by appointment basis.

The awesome thing about this is that we won’t be charging anything extra for Saturday appointments!

If you’d like to schedule a Saturday appointment to drop off your computer for repair, or if you’d like to pickup your computer after a repair is completed, please do so by calling No Ware Computer Repair at (970) 433-7454 or send us an email at support@noware.tech. We’d be more than happy to set something up for you.

Time is Running Out for Windows 7 Users!

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Windows 7 EOL

The clock is ticking!

There is now less than one year left before Microsoft drops all support for Windows 7. After January 14th of next year, computers running Windows 7 will no longer receive security updates or support from Microsoft.

Computers still running Windows 7 after January 14th 2020 will become more vulnerable to malware infections and cyber attacks.

Fortunately it’s not all doom and gloom. Most computers still running Windows 7 are perfectly capable of running Windows 10, which will be both more secure, and have more features that many computer users find extremely useful.

Now would be the perfect time to get those computers up-to-date and more secure with Windows 10.

Call No Ware Computer Repair in Grand Junction to beat the rush and schedule your computer upgrade today!

Browser Add-Ons

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web browserWith so many of the mainstream browsers supporting add-ons; from Google Chrome to Mozilla Firefox, a myriad of extensions are offered to try to make your life a little easier. The options can all be very overwhelming at first, but here are a few simple suggestions to help get you started.

Emsisoft Browser Security

An add-on that focuses on filtering out malicious websites and unwanted substance. They even boast on their website that it can increase a web page’s load time significantly, because it strains out much of the unnecessary content. It also blocks third party ad trackers from continuously bombarding you with the same ads while you are surfing – making your web browsing a bit more private.

Get Emsisoft Browser Security here for Firefox, and here for Chrome.

Ublock Origin

A free ad-blocker that is incredibly user friendly and easily accessible, with several different options at the user’s disposal. Ublock is easier on your CPU and memory while being able to enforce thousands more filters than many of the other ad-blockers available.

Get Ublock Origin here for Firefox, and here for Chrome.

Last Pass

Last Pass is a very convenient password managing add-on to have at your disposal. Sure you could just write your passwords down, but having Last Pass gives you the advantage of having to only remember one master password. You can even use the same account across multiple devices at once. This can be quite useful if you have many different accounts, each with a different password. It can keep your online accounts more secure.

Get Last Pass here for Firefox, and here for Chrome.

Browser add-ons and extensions are designed to enhance our web browsing experience. This was just a short list of some of our favorites. If you have any questions about add-ons and extensions, feel free to give your friends at No Ware Computer Repair a call at (970) 433-7454. We are always happy to help!

2018 in Review

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Happy New Year
As 2018 draws to a close, we look back on the past year and can’t help but to be extremely grateful.

This last year we’ve repaired hundreds of computers – desktops and laptops – Windows and Mac – for our clients.

We’ve removed viruses, stopped malware, and blocked pop-ups from computers of all makes and models, all shapes and sizes.

We’ve successfully recovered data from dead computers, old computers, flash drives, and SD cards for many panicked and stresses-out customers.

Our Maintenance Plans have protected our client’s computers, saving them hundreds of dollars, and countless hours of downtime and frustration.

We’ve helped clients who were scammed by unscrupulous emails, pop-up ads, and telephones calls – securing their computers, and walking them through the steps of recovering what was stolen from them.

We’ve advised many clients on what equipment was needed to fill their particular IT needs, recommended software, and helped with setting everything up.

We were even awarded for being the top rated Computer Repair/IT Services company in Grand Junction, and the third highest in the state of Colorado.

We’ve earned almost a thousand new clients, and made hundreds of new friends this year.

As you can see, 2018 has given us a lot to be grateful for, and know that 2019 will be even more awesome!

5 Signs Your Computer Might be Infected

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Computer Virus
You’ve probably heard quite a bit about computer viruses enough over the years – how threatening they are, and how dangerous they can be. Viruses or Malware are often explained in a slightly confusing manner – and though we’re all told to download an antivirus and stay away from sketchy email attachments, not many of us know what it’s genuinely like to be infected by a computer virus.

Often the symptoms of a virus or malware infection are easy to miss, or commonly associated with other computer issues that can be solved by simply rebooting the system or clearing the cache. That makes viruses especially scary, because we don’t often take these symptoms seriously until they’ve done a significant amount of damage.

Here are five things to look for that could mean that your computer is infected:

Start-up, opening program or internet speeds become drastically slow.

Viruses or malware working in the background can use a lot of memory, making it harder to open and close the apps you normally work with.

Pop-ups appearing not just when your web browser is open, but also when it is closed.

Some viruses will try to imitate your anti-virus or an anti-virus you don’t remember installing. These programs will pop-up telling you you have a virus and to call a phone number to get it cleared up. We strongly advise you don’t.

There is an icon for a software program or app you don’t remember installing on you desktop or in your apps menu.

You may have meant to download and install a program, but some programs can be sneaky, bringing unwanted friends.

When you open your web browser it opens to a page you have never heard of rather then the homepage you asked it to.

When you installed that app that you downloaded right before bed, you probably hurried through, not noticing that a toolbar wanted to install right along with your download. A lot of toolbars, or other junkware like this will also change your homepage.

In the middle of a project you computer freezes, or reboots itself.

Malware uses up a lot of a system’s resources, straining the hardware, causing your computer to stop working or force a restart in an attempt to sort things out.

Viruses don’t always announce themselves, and can be quite crafty. If you are experiencing any of the issues listed above, give No Ware Computer Repair at (970) 433-7454, or come by our office in Grand Junction today!