Five Essential Computer Maintenance Tips

a close up of a computer motherboard with some tools on it

Computer Maintenance

Performing computer maintenance on your devices is a matter of both convenience and savings.

With proper maintenance, you’ll experience less downtime and fewer unexpected malfunctions, helping you work with greater efficiency and productivity. You’ll also save on the costs of major repairs or device replacement.

The following computer maintenance tips will help you prolong the life of any device:

  1. Clean it, and treat it gently. The chances that a device will break down increase if it’s kept in hot, humid, or dusty conditions, banged against hard surfaces, or covered in food particles or spilled liquids. Regularly clean your device, eat or drink next to it with caution, and handle it with care.
  2. Take care with what you install on it. For instance, if you’re downloading a file or an app, make sure it comes from a legitimate source, it’s compatible with your device, and it’s free of malware.
  3. Investigate suboptimal performance. Sometimes, a computing device may perform poorly because you’re taxing its resources. For example, a computer with relatively low RAM (the memory called on when you’re using various programs) will struggle more with software involving videos or graphics. However, always check the reasons for slow performance or other problems, such as a program crashing repeatedly. You may have to perform some sort of disk repair, or perhaps it’s a sign that your device is harboring a virus.
  4. Keep your device updated. Updated versions of software include fixes for previous problems, such as security holes that hackers can readily exploit. A device operating with outdated software is much more likely to get compromised by a cyber attack. (One example comes from the healthcare industry, where outdated technology is one of the major cybersecurity vulnerabilities.)
  5. Use a surge protector. If your device is plugged in during a storm, a surge protector can help defend it against a sudden sharp increase in power flowing through your electrical lines. Power surges can wreak havoc with hardware.

For additional computer maintenance advice, please contact us. We can help you maintain your devices by keeping them in good condition and detecting and resolving problems before they have a chance to become emergencies.

Why You Should Use a Password Manager: Our Computer Tip of the Day

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A password manager is a practical way to keep track of your passwords and improve security. In today’s computer tip of the day, you will learn why and find useful links and suggestions on how to use a password manager.

You should have long, complex passwords that are different for each website. However, passwords like these are often hard to remember. A password manager lets you keep all your passwords in a secure vault. You will only need to memorize one strong password that gives you access to the vault when you need it.

Use a Password Manager

Why is it better to use software than to just write your passwords in a notebook? Consider what happens if you lose this book or it gets destroyed. Resetting all your passwords is an arduous task, especially if you don’t have the password to your email account.

A password manager securely stores all your passwords offsite. Additionally, you can use it to generate very secure passwords, such as a 15-character random password containing a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. You can save a secure password for each individual website. As you log into the website, the username and password will be automatically filled in for you.

A good password manager, such as LastPass or Dashlane, also has procedures in place to protect you when there is a known breach. You would receive a notification and suggestion to change your password for the compromised site. Furthermore, most password managers can run a security check to make sure all your passwords are appropriately secure.

While many password managers have a free version, some of them require payment for certain uses. Consider determining if the security benefits of a password manager are right for you.

Please contact us for more information on technology.

Momentum: Customize Your Home Screen

a black background with a chrome logo

Chrome Logo

Do you love beautiful computer screen wallpapers? Do you want to organize your workday efficiently straight from your computer screen? Our computer tip of the day will teach you how to do just that. We are talking about a Google Chrome extension called Momentum.

Momentum replaces your Google Chrome home screen with a beautiful new background each day. The images are usually stunning captures of nature. Your local time will be displayed in the center of the screen, along with a short message — “Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, [Your Name Goes Here]. What Is Your Focus For Today?”. You can then write in your main focus in the space provided, which will help you stay focused on your main task for the day. If you wish, you can turn off the focus message.

On the bottom of your screen, a new motivational quote will appear each day. You can remove this feature if you wish.

On the bottom-right side, you will be able to add tasks to a list. Each task comes with a checkbox that you can check when you complete it. You can expand the list, minimize it, or remove this feature altogether.

You can add your favorite links to the top-left corner, along with a search bar that lets you search the web using Google. Your local weather will appear in the top-right corner.

If you enjoy a particular background or quote, you can favorite it and save it. You can also create a Momentum account so that you can sync different computers.

For more great computer tips, just contact us.

Creating Secure Passwords: How To Do It And Why It Matters

a person holding a credit card in front of a laptop

Start the new year off right by creating secure passwords. Make sure that your passwords are as secure as they can be. It’s the computer tip of the day. Everyone’s computers, all the time, are subject to people, both in the U.S. and overseas, attempting to break into their accounts by hacking the passwords.

Creating Secure Passwords for Your Business

Creating secure passwords

Partly it’s because people are not sensitive enough, even yet, to the need for truly secure passwords. The most common passwords in use, still, are the word “password” and consecutive numbers, like 123456. Phrases like “love” or “iloveyou” run close seconds. Words connected with the computer user, like their name or a birthday, are high up on the list as well.

If you are really using these, a hacker can find your personal, sensitive information in just a couple seconds.

So how do you create a secure password?

First, accept that you will not be able to remember your passwords. Write them down and keep them in a safe place. Many people use simple passwords because they don’t want to be bothered memorizing a bunch of passwords. You can’t memorize all that you need to keep them secure, so don’t even try.

You should have a different password for every account. Why? Simply because it compromises the security of your accounts if one password unlocks them all.

Second, you need passwords that are totally random words and phrases. If they’re random, the thinking goes, hackers won’t be able to guess or predict them.

One strategy is to open a dictionary at random. (Drop it on the floor, and wherever it opens, place your hand on a page and there’s your word.) Another is to use a software that generates random combinations of words and numbers, like Diceware. A third strategy is to think up a nonsense sentence, like “itsnowedbutwasn’tcoldat53degrees.” Would a hacker be able to predict this? No. And that’s what you’re going for.

The longer, more complex, and more random the password, the better.

Contact us for more information on computer security.

Hyperlinking: How To Do It And Why You Should

a laptop computer sitting on top of a wooden desk

Ever wonder how to hyperlink and not sure how to go about it? It’s very easy and can make your life much simpler. That’s why hyperlinking is our computer tip of the day.

Hyperlinking is the term that refers to linking a piece of text in a computer screen to a URL that will take a reader to the relevant online page. Say you are looking at your computer and see a line that reads “Fort Lauderdale’s weather is usually warm.” The link, indicated by color and underlining, indicates that, if you click on “weather,” you will be taken somewhere with information about weather. And you will be, to weather.com’s Fort Lauderdale weather page.

Hyperlinking is easy and effective

Hyperlinking

So if you are writing an online holiday newsletter, for example, and you want to say that your sister and her husband went to the Everglades and it’s a great vacation getaway, you could link to Everglades National Park. Ditto a family reunion held at a particular site: you could send everybody to the site to read about the location or make reservations.

So, ready to begin?

To hyperlink:

  1. Open the internet page you want to link to. You will need the URL (the address that usually begins with www).
  2. Highlight the text you want to link on. In the “Fort Lauderdale’s weather is usually warm,” “weather” is highlighted.
  3. Right click on your mouse. A menu will open.
  4. The second to last choice on the menu will say “hyperlink.” Click on it. Your documents file will open. The important part of this is an address box at the bottom.
  5. In the address box, cut and paste the URL address of the page you want to link to.
  6. Click on the Ok button.

Presto! You have hyperlinked successfully.

Contact us for your technology needs.