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 brilliant and lovely new device. Everything will be speedier and smoother. Only, from the first day, the new laptop is lagging. Why is it running so slow? One of these might be the reason. [Read more…]
OK Google, How Safe Are Smart Home Assistants?Are you using Siri, Google, or Alexa? When you talk to a home assistant, you join a growing number of smart homes.
Smart home assistants search online, start phone calls, order groceries, play music, turn lights on. All with a single spoken command. [Read more…]
We all try to have healthy habits in our lives. Whether it’s eating better, exercising more or flossing our teeth daily, we make a daily effort to improve ourselves and make our life better. If you use a computer (and I assume if you’re reading this, that you do), you should put some effort into your digital habits. They can improve your life in their own way. Read on to learn what Habits Y-Not Tech Services recommends developing. [Read more…]
Old age creeps up slowly – unless we’re talking about a computer.
Then it seems to happen overnight and with a vengeance! One day you’re logging in normally and jumping straight into the action, the next day booting up takes so long you not only have time to make a cup of coffee, you could have run out to the local café for the good stuff. [Read more…]
What Happens to Your Data When You Die?Death is a morbid topic most of us try to avoid. Making a will and saying we prefer cremation is the extent of our advance planning. Yet, you may want to also think about what’s going to happen to your data.
Consider your digital footprint. You have photos, files, and emails on your computer and your phone. You’re also documenting your life on social media, and sharing on more than one channel.
Your wearable technology (say an Apple Watch or a Fitbit) may be recording information too. If you have a virtual assistant in your home, it’s recording your search history and saving that data on the cloud.
Yet many of us never think about what will happen to my data after I die? Do you want it deleted? Are there digital assets you want to share? Perhaps there is tangible value attached to some of your digital assets. At the very least, some photos and videos that may have sentimental value for those who survive you. So, let’s explore advance planning you can do to protect your digital legacy.
Personal Files on Computer or Phone
Your personal devices are password protected. While necessary, this makes it more difficult for your survivors.
Now, they could physically pull the computer or phone apart if needed. But, it’s easier to have a copy of your passwords in a secure place for someone to access in the event of your death. An even better option is to use a password manager. You can designate someone as your backup contact. They will be able to gain access to your passwords should you die.
Digital Media Collections
Often, when you click the “Buy” button, you’re not really purchasing that movie or music forever. Your contract with iTunes, for instance, was only for your lifetime. Your rights expire at your death.
Cloud Accounts
Consider the personal and private data you have in the cloud, such as Google or Microsoft’s Outlook. This might include calendars, emails, GPS, documents and financial information.
Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you make plans for your account. You decide:
Microsoft won’t provide your passwords after death. However, via their Next of Kin process, someone could be sent a DVD of the data in your outlook.com account.
Other cloud providers ask for proof of death and of legal right to access. In Dropbox’s case, for instance, your survivors will need a court order. Even with all this, there’s no guarantee your personal data is completely removed from the cloud. It may exist in other datasets in system backups.
Social Media Accounts
Social media companies do not provide login credentials. Many require proof of identity and a death certificate to deactivate the account. Facebook and Instagram will “Comemorialize” your accounts. The public can’t see, but Friends or Followers can still view it and post memories. You can assign a legacy contact to look after the account or have it deleted.
You don’t want someone using your social account to send out spam or inappropriate photos. For instance, a sexy spambot took over a New York Times media columnist’s Twitter after his 2015 death.
Plan ahead to protect your privacy and provide access where necessary. Think of the pain and heartache you can save your survivors by managing your digital legacy now.
Want help preserving your data legacy? We can help. Book an Appointment below:
Once upon a time if you wanted to update a computer program you had to wait until you got the Floppy Disk with the new program on it. Then you would install the new version, and replace the old version altogether. This worked at the time, and this is how you would get new features and bug fixes for the programs you use. Things are different today. [Read more…]
You’re busy. You need a PC that can keep up with you. At Y-Not Tech Services we understand that and want to help you speed up your Windows 10 laptop or desktop. If your computer is running slower than you expect, here are Five tips to get it back up to speed. [Read more…]
Just like your car needs regular oil changes and other routine maintenance your computer requires certain things be taken care of regularly. If you don’t do regular maintenance on your car you’ll notice a drop in its performance and if you continue to neglect it you’ll end up with bigger (often expensive) problems. The same is true of your computer! Regular maintenance keeps it running well and can help avoid calls to a technician. Last month we looked at doing some spring cleaning on our computers. Today I’ll share a maintenance checklist that you can do monthly to help keep your PC running great. I’ll break it down into two sections: Hardware and Software.
This checklist can help keep your computer running well, but even if you follow it you might come across problems. If you do, you can book an appointment below and have the experts take care of it.
Got a Bad Case of Password Exhaustion?You’re not alone! Most people use the exact same password everywhere – home, work, Gmail, Facebook… even for banking. Considering how many passwords we’re expected to remember and use on a daily basis, password exhaustion is a very real thing. It’s no wonder that when yet another prompt for a password appears, users enter easily guessed combinations like ‘abcd’, ‘qwerty’ or ‘password’. [Read more…]
Have you started to notice your computer’s issues, flaws, and problems growing more severe and more frequent recently? These issues can irritate you daily, stop you from doing critical tasks, and even put your data in danger. It may be time to book in your computer for a brief service check or repair to get back on track.
When booking your PC in for a service, you can help your technician get straight to the root of the problem. A few simple notes are all it takes. Many people drop off their computers with, at best, a brief and vague description of the problem they experience.
Technicians have a wide range of diagnostic tools and years of experience to bring an aging computer back to health. Even with tools and knowledge, without a clear description of the problem, troubleshooting is far more time consuming and that means more expensive. The best physicians in the world couldn’t diagnose a medical condition without a clear explanation of the patient’s symptoms.
With just a few simple steps, you can save time and money while ensuring you get your computer back with every problem fixed.
Some computer problems only crop up every once in a while. A machine might freeze suddenly, or shut down unexpectedly. Intermittent issues like these can be frustrating and seemingly impossible to solve, but they may not be entirely random as we dig deeper.
When these events happen, you can help to resolve your issues by jotting down what you were doing and the applications running at the time they happen. Information about what you clicked on last, or settings you recently changed can reveal unexpected links to the computer’s behavior.
Detailed notes help technicians to reproduce the problem and see the crash or error for themselves. This can lead to faster fixes, more lasting solutions, and less time spent diagnosing issues in the dark. Simple notes scribbled down on a piece of paper or smartphone app can save you a surprising amount of money.
It’s not just things within the computer we need to take note of. External factors can play a large role in how a computer operates. Hot and humid days have been known to limit cooling on devices already suffering from heat issues.
Even changing the time of day can raise different computer related issues. There have been occasions where users have reported problems connecting to the internet around lunchtime every day. A seemingly strange coincidence with no apparent cause, until technicians dig a little deeper.
Wi-Fi, which relies on radio waves to send and receive data, uses a frequency of 2.4ghz to communicate with devices. By coincidence, the same frequency is used in concentrated form inside of a microwave to heat food and beverages.
Microwaves, particularly when poorly positioned, or faulty, can cause Wi-Fi issues that disrupt communications every time they are used. Problems that come and go, seemingly randomly, have such a strange link to the computer’s environment that they can be very difficult to diagnose.
Bringing your computer in for repair, whatever the issue, is as simple as picking up the box itself. We don’t need the peripherals such as the mouse, screen, or keyboard unless those are the things causing the issue. Bringing in a laptop is as simple as carrying it to us, along with the charger.
If you have concerns about how to safely transport your computer, give us a call first and we can advise you what to bring and how best to pack it.
When deciding when to come in, sooner is always better than later. Computer issues often get worse over time. Vents gather more and more dust, fans run slower and slower. Heat issues in particular drastically lower the lifespan of a machine as time goes on.
A machine that gets less and less stable over time puts your programs and your critical data at risk. Updates applied over a shaky foundation can cause any number of software issues. With data, there’s often zero warning before it’s gone.
Can you afford to delay?
Click the button below to book an appointment and give your computer a clean bill of health.
