A malware infection on your computer is never fun. Lost time, repair costs, data loss, and frustration can all result from a single piece of malware or a virus on your computer. Y-Not Tech Services wants to help you avoid this problem with four tips to keep malware and viruses off your system. [Read more…]
Local Computer Help in Lethbridge, AB | Y-Not Tech Services
If you’re looking for computer help, you’ve come to the right place. Y-Not Tech Services can help you with a wide variety of computer and technology problems. Whether your computer is slow, won’t boot up, full of malware or other issues we can get you back up and running.
Computer and Technology Lessons in Lethbridge, AB and Area
Learning new things can be hard. Even worse, it can be frustrating when you are trying to learn something you need to use every single day. Maybe a new software update has made tasks you used to do regularly seem like a nightmare. Or a new smartphone doesn’t make you feel smart at all. The tablet you got as a gift and were told you would love just sits in a drawer without use because it just feels awkward.
Y-Not Tech Services can help! I love technology. I love learning about technology and how to use it. I have developed a way of explaining technobabble in a more easily understandable way. When I worked in Retail selling Computers and other technology items many of my customers expressed their gratitude at the way I explained things. Some would refer to me as the plain-English speaking geek.
Visit us for one on one training in our office, or I can visit you where it’s convenient
Now, I offer that experience to my clients. If you want to learn about your computer, smart phone, tablet, or almost any other device I can help. I have a knack for learning this stuff. I don’t know everything. There’s a good chance that what you want to learn, I don’t know. Yet. But I’ll learn it and then pass that knowledge onto you in a way that is easy to understand. I strip out the technical language found in manuals and online tutorials and put the information into simple terms that are understandable and you’ll remember. Below are two components of a computer. On the left are common descriptions of them and on the right is how I describe them.
|
Technical Explanation |
My Plain English Explanation |
| A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive or fixed disk is a data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. | A Hard Drive is like your computer’s library. It stores all of your files and programs like books on a shelf. The larger the Library, the more files, programs, photos, videos and music can be stored before running out of shelf space. |
| RAM is an acronym for random access memory, a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computers and other devices, such as printers. | RAM is like a desk you sit down at and spread out your work on. It is where everything you work on is stored while you work on it. Windows or MacOS need some space on your desk, and the rest is available for the programs and anything else you have open. |
The customers I served in the Big Box Store I used to work in always appreciated those explanations and it helped them choose the computer that best fit their needs. I planned to develop set Lesson Plans for popular subjects, but as I started helping clients I found that the subjects they wanted to learn were unique and numerous. I still might develop plans on some subjects, but in the meantime, I am enjoying learning whatever a client needs to know and then passing the knowledge onto them in easy to digest lessons.
A few examples of lessons I have taught:
- Garmin Fitness Tracker syncing to iPhone plus online calorie counter website
- Building a Facebook page for an organization to promote an event through
- Other basic Facebook uses including how to find friends and unfriend someone
- E-mail attachments
- Basic WordPress and other website set up (using pre-made themes only, no design)
- Smart Phone Data limit restrictions and warnings (so you don’t get dinged with a huge bill)
- Accessibility options on computers and smartphones to help clients with eyesight and hearing loss
- Getting started with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms
- I have even shadow wrote for a client writing up promotions for online sales
The list goes on, really, and is always growing. What would you like to learn? Contact me to set up an appointment. I want to be your ‘Computer Guy’.
No current plans, but If the opportunity arises, I’ll do some classroom style lessons
About Tony – Computer Repair in Lethbridge, Alberta
Hi, my name is Tony Whitney. I am the owner and founder of Y-Not Tech Services in Lethbridge, AB. I thought I would write a little about myself so that you can get to know me. I feel it is important for my clients to trust me and knowing a bit about my past and my love of computers might help in that respect.
Growing up my family didn’t have a computer in my younger years, but I learned early on that I loved them. The old Apples with 5 inch floppy disks in my elementary school’s computer lab, the single newer PC in the same school’s library (it had a CD-ROM!), the computer at the office where my mom worked and the hours I would spend on it. Later on, the computer my grandparents owned. I would spend as much time on all of them as I could. I would fiddle around with the settings and loved seeing how things changed based on what I did. I eventually learned that I could control these things. And it was wonderful. My family got a computer of our own when I was in Junior High School. By this time the internet had started to come into its own and I taught myself how to build webpages using basic HTML code. The family computer became my favorite place. I would spend hours after school sitting behind that old CRT monitor, chatting with friends, writing web pages, playing around with Windows Registry tweaks, reading all the technology news I could find online, and avoiding writing that English essay that was due the next day.
Had to go way back in the archives for this one
My Junior High School had a computer lab too. It was a bit more up to date than the Elementary School’s was. It was a small school and my computer teacher was… Well, she told me the only reason she taught the computer class was because she needed the computers in her classroom so she could teach the accounting courses she specialized in. She didn’t know much more about computers than what the curriculum explained, and some of that wasn’t completely clear to her. Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Franks was a great teacher and I learned many wonderful things in her class! But I quickly discovered anything she taught us was just barely scratching the surface of the topic. I was intrigued by these things and started to research them further. Mrs. Franks saw that while she showed the class a WYSISYG (what you see is what you get) web page designer, I would write a web page using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) code instead. This led to me first explaining the basic code that makes up webpages to my class. Then later she would come into my other classes and pull me out so I could come and explain it to her other students. This continued with some other subjects as we covered them in class, even going so far as her ordering an extra copy of software she had to teach so I could take it home to learn and then teach it to her so she could teach it in her classes. I found an appetite to explore and learn the world of computers and technology. I love teaching myself about computers, figuring out how to solve new challenges. This is how I learned to solve computer problems.
Apart from the Computer Classes throughout Junior High and High School, I don’t have any formal training. I have taught myself through experience, personal research and online courses. After graduating from High School I started working at a retail store that sells Computers and other technology items (they sold other things too, but I tried to stay in the technology section) as a part time sales associate, and then as the Head of the computer and technology section of a new store location when it opened. My career with this company would last 6 years. I enjoyed my time in these positions, especially the times I could speak with customers and help them find the right products to fit their needs. At one point my store was in need of someone to take over the Technician position and I jumped at the opportunity. I had been dealing with customer complaints for some time about our previous Technician. Customers would wait for weeks to get their devices back, with no updates on the status of the work. The tech was smart. He had an A+ Certification and knew how to fix computers, but he was disorganized. He would forget about customers from the week before while working on the ones that just came in that morning. When I took over the position our average turn around time went from over a week to 2 days and our store started having the highest numbers in the district. And I found my true calling. I loved locking myself in that room, surrounded by computers. Life was good. Mostly.
I quickly found that working for a large box store retailer meant that the customers best interests were not always the highest priority. As time went on, more and more policies were implemented that were designed to take value and choice away from the customer and put more dollars into the hands of the shareholders and CEO. I get it. That’s how big business works, but it felt wrong to me. It was at this time that I decided I wanted to work for myself. Every time I would visit my grandparents, their neighbors would have a list of things they wanted my help with.
- How do we program the VCR?
- Can you show us how to email pictures?
- I can’t get my new phone to work properly.
- My computer takes 30 minutes to turn on, can you help me?
It always amazed me how much more I enjoyed these interactions than what I was doing at work. Even though many of the problems were the same. The difference was that I could solve them MY way, instead of the way that made the company the most money. This is what I wanted to do! I even started jotting down notes and plans to make it happen.
Around this time my wife and I decided to start a family. That job in a retail store was not paying the bills. It was at this time that I should have opened up my own tech business. But the cost of living in our city was sky rocketing and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to provide for my growing family, so I moved South to Lethbridge and got a job at Frito Lay. It was the safe choice. Maybe it was the right choice, but it didn’t make me happy. 4 years later and I’m still not happy, despite numerous promotions and a wage nearly 2 times as much as I ever made at the retail store. Making Doritos just isn’t my calling. I’m only working there three days a week now (three nights a week) and I want to use my free time to follow my dream of building a tech business with a truly personal touch. One that puts the client first. One where I get to decide how best to meet the client’s needs.
I want Y-Not Tech Services to be your go to solution to all your technology frustrations or needs.
Why not let Tony help you?
Why not let Tony fix that?
Why not let Tony teach you?
