Dear Geek,

I bought a new computer for home. I sometimes take some work home, but mostly I want to write some Star Trek poems-from Spock’s perspective. My Mom says because it’s in her house, she has partial ownership too. I don’t want her messing up my poems while looking for new spaghetti sauce recipes, which by the way mom, the last one is still good.

Is there a way to keep her stuff separate from mine?

Sincerely,
SpockLovezSpaghetti

Dear SpockLovesPoetry,

The best way to do this would be to make her a user on your computer. This way, she has her own place for her recipes, and she can’t mess around with your stuff unless she really tries.

This can be done pretty easily. First, you open the Windows control panel. Then click on “add or remove user accounts”. It will then ask you what you’d like the user account to be named, so something like “Mom” would work. It will also ask you what sort of account you’d like this account to be. Most people stick with making additional accounts as “standard users”. This is so the additional accounts cannot make a bunch of administrator changes to the system. Last step is to click “create account”.

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Dear Geek,

I got a phone call from Microsoft Support. They told me I have a virus! They were going to help me remove it, but I told them I didn’t have time. They said they would call back. Is there a way to get this virus off without them tonight?

Sincerely,
Support

 

Dear Scammed

Microsoft Support, Facebook, Windows Support, Norton, Dell, ect, will NOT call you. This is a phishing scam, hoping to take over your computer and or get some of your important information.

They will give you a website to “allow them to have remote access to your computer so they can remove the virus”. When you go to this website, it will either download a virus or malware to your computer, give them remote access to your system, or lead to a landing page asking for information such as credit card numbers or usernames and passwords. All three can be bad for your information.

In downloading a virus, the hacker do things such as open back doors to allow access to your system at any time and log your keystrokes (getting them all the information you type in). Remote access to your system can allow them to get this onto your system as well. Some fake error messages may pop up on your computer, having nothing to do with what they are actually doing.

You may have a virus, but it has nothing to do with what they are telling you, guaranteed. Best thing to do is to run virus scans regularly, or have a company such as Technology by Design monitor your system for viruses.

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Dear geek,

I know Microsoft XP has ended, but I really don’t want to spend money for a new operating system. There hasn’t been any issues with XP yet, has there? Is it really necessary to switch?

Sincerely,
Still reluctant

Dear (soon to be) hacked,

Yes, and yes. There are already some issues with XP that are a result of the ending of support to the operating system. The biggest issue with XP so far is a bug found in Internet Explorer dubbed “Operation Clandestine Fox.”. This bug in the browser allows hackers to access your system and view, alter, or delete files.  It also allows them to download malicious programs, and make users so they have full access to your computer.

Microsoft said that there will be a security update to ensure that this bug is fixed, but only for Windows 7 and 8.  It will not cover Microsoft XP.  Any future security updates will not apply to Microsoft XP as well. This means any more problems in the future will be taken care of for Windows 7 & 8 only.  Microsoft XP will not have access to these updates, and any computer system that is running Windows XP (and its data/information) will be left open to attackers.

If you would like some more information on the ending of XP support, give us a call, and we can help make the change an easier transition.

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Dear geek,

I turn my computer off every time I leave it for more than 10 minutes. A coworker noticed when I went on lunch that I had turned it off, and asked why I don’t just leave it on. Is there really a benefit to turning it off all the time? Won’t leaving it on all day, everyday break it?Sincerely,
Powered off

Dear powerhouse,

Prior to about 1993, there was an issue with the power switch with some computer manufacturers if you left the computer on for too long, so many people would insist that you turn your computer off if you were going to be away from it for more than a few minutes. Today, this is not an issue.

With the issue of potential damage no longer an issue, the only other issue is power conservation. If you are leaving a computer on overnight in order to run a virus scan or backup once in a while, it should have very little impact on your electricity bill.  However, in an office with a hundred or more computers, leaving every computer on overnight could result in a higher electricity bill.

Computer virus scans and backups both tend to run at night. This means that if your computer is turned off, it will not scan or backup properly, which is not a good thing. If you are turning your computer off at night, it is important to schedule these things to run at another time- like on your lunch break.

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Dear Geek,

I’m always worried about my home computer. If something were to happen to it, all my family photos would be gone, and I wouldn’t be able to get those all back. Is there some way to ensure that my photos will be safe if some

Sincerely,
Photo historian

Dear historian,
Often when someone has a computer disaster, the first thing they are worried and we are asked about, is their pictures. Most times we can recover these, but unfortunately sometimes we can’t or the cost of such recovery runs into the thousands of dollars. For this reason, I offer some of the best ways to backup your photos for free, or at a low cost.

1. MyShoeBox
http://shoeboxapp.com
Cost – Free (At Screen Resolution) or $5/month for original resolution
Service – Unlimited backup of pictures

2. Dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/
Cost – 2GB Free, or per month fee for additional storage
Service – drop anything you want into your cloud storage

3. Google Drive
http://drive.google.com
Cost – Free 15GB of storage
Service – 15GB Free, but there is no security or file locations

4. Crashplan
http://crashplan.com
Cost – $10/month
Service – unlimited computer backups

Need someone to help setup a solution for you? Give us a call – 204-800-3166. We also offer managed cloud backups and local backups of your workstation.

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Dear Geek,
I’m going on a work trip next week, and I need to bring my laptop, and an external hard drive on a plane. Is the X-ray going to wreak my laptop? Can it erase my files?

Sincerely,
“I’m leaving on a jet plane”

Dear leaving,
Airplanes say that electronics need to be in your carry on bags. The X-rays used at airports produce electromagnetic energy, which is NOT magnetic, and will not damage your laptops or erase any files. Any kind of computer, tablet, or phone will be safe from X-ray damage. The only thing these X-rays can harm would be camera film, because it is light sensitive, but not many people still carry camera film.

The only thing to be worried about on the plane is physical damage, which is an easy fix. Get a good case for your laptop, and make sure your electronics are stored properly, so they don’t shift and break.

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Geek,

I am on my way to a meeting, where I’m giving a huge presentation. While trying to put the presentation on my USB hard drive, I clicked “delete”. My whole presentation is gone! What can I do?!

Sincerely,
Uh oh, Spaghettio.

 

Dear Spaghetti,

Don’t worry, the Geek is here to save the day! When you delete a file, it doesn’t just disappear, it actually goes to your “Recycle Bin”. When you click on the icon, which is on the desktop of your computer, it should open up a folder of all the files you have recently “deleted”. To restore any of your files, you just need to highlight any files you want to be restored, right-click on the file, and select the “Restore” option. This will restore the file from the original location it was deleted.

If your file is not in the Recycle Bin, there could be three explanations for this. The first one is that it could have been deleted from the Recycle Bin in order to make room for more files. However, if the file was just deleted, it is most likely one of the other two options. The second explanation is that you, or your boss, or whoever set up the computer, could have enabled Windows not to send the file to the Recycle Bin. The most likely scenario, is that you, or someone else has emptied the Recycle Bin.

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Dear Geek,

I want to make sure that my Windows support isn’t ending, but I’m not sure what version of Windows I have. Is there a way to check?

Sincerely,
Better door than Window.

Dear Window-Aspiring,

It’s relatively painless to figure out what kind of Windows program you have. If you click on the “Start” menu, then “Run” or sometimes there is a “Start Search” field, either way, click on one of them. Type in “winver”, and press enter. This will bring up some information about your licensing for Windows, including what version you are using in nice big letters.

Another option is to right-click on “My Computer” and click on “Properties”. In the “System Properties” tab, it will show you what version of Windows you have installed on your computer.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.

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Dear Geek,

I use a USB drive that I use to bring files to and from work. I used a co-worker’s Mac, and it told me to “eject” the drive. Do I have to do that on a PC too? Is this a Mac only thing? What does it do?

Sincerely,
Macs R Confusing

Dear Mac-aroni and cheese

This is a PC issue as well, not just a Mac thing. Usually when you copy files to or from your removable device, it will notify you when it is done. Many people know that if you remove a USB or external hard drive before an action is finished, there is a big chance that your files could become corrupted. But many people do not know that even if the drive isn’t actively being written to, you could still corrupt the data. Computers actually wait to perform actions until it has a number of requests to fulfill, and then it fulfills them all at once. This process is called write caching. When you hit the eject button it flushes the cache to make sure that all the pending actions have been preformed, ensuring that your files are safe to remove.

You can “eject” external hard drives and USB on a PC as well. In the system tray (lower bottom right hand corner), there should be an option to “safely remove hardware”. This is the windows version of eject.

To sum up, to avoid or reduce the possibility of corrupted files, it is always better to eject your drive.

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Dear geek,

I have noticed that posts and messages are being sent from my Facebook page, but I am not the one writing them. They sound like those silly spam emails, but Facebook accounts can’t get hacked- can they?

Sincerely,
Sleep  Facebook-er.

Dear Facebooker,

If it’s on the internet, it can get hacked. When Facebook accounts are hacked, they are usually used to send spam messages and send viruses. The first thing you need to do is change your password. This can be done by logging into your account directly at the facebook.com website, and by your name in the top right-hand corner, there will be a button that looks almost like a gear. When you click on this, the settings option will show up. Click on that, and the general options will show up, including the password. Change your password to something significantly different.

If the Facebook hacker has changed your password, you will be unable to access your account. On the homepage where you log in, there will be an option to have your password sent to your email account. Once the password is sent to your email account, log on right away and change your password to something different.

Another option is to check the Facebook secured page at: http://www.facebook.com/help/hacked

This also gives you some other options through the Facebook website as well.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

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