Google Email

Published by yu on March 31st, 2013 - in education, events, slider
April 1, 2013
5:00 pmto6:00 pm

This Monday’s free training will be on Gmail (Google Email).  The Monday night classes are meant for promoting greater computer literacy by going over subject matters that otherwise people wouldn’t know or bother to get help on.

When: every Monday night from 5 pm to 6 pm.
Where: The Hollywood MacPCX Store at 2000 NE 42nd Ave #E, Portland, OR 97213.
Cost: Free
Trainer: Yu Te

Some of the benefits of using Gmail include:

  • Well-designed easy to use
  • Browser-based interface allows you to check emails from any computer connected to the Internet
  • Personal productivity features: Address Book, Calendar, Tasks list
  • Gmail, Address Book, Calendar, Tasks list can all be synced with your iPhone or Android Smartphone
  • Security features
  • No ISP vendor lock-in as opposed to using email with Comcast and Century Link
  • Use as a backend service for your business (for logging into to Gmail for sending and receiving YourName@YourBusiness.com emails)
  • Google Voice – turns your computer into a phone for text messaging and making / receiving calls over the Internet
  • Google Drive – that can be used to securely share large files with others

Bring your laptop or tablet computer to follow along.

Hands on topics we’ll cover include:

  • creating a gmail account
  • resetting / recovering passwords
  • sending pictures / attachments
  • receiving pictures / attachments
  • word processing features (spell checker, changing fonts, bullets)
  • using multiple Gmail accounts

When: every Monday night from 5 pm to 6 pm.
Where: The Hollywood MacPCX Store at 2000 NE 42nd Ave #E, Portland, OR 97213.
Cost: Free
Trainer: Yu Te

 

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Reference Sheet from Training Demos at the Open House

Published by Ari Milner on March 5th, 2013 - in education, services, slider, training

Last night at our open house many of you watched some of the training demonstrations. Notes and tips from the demos are in this blog post below. If you have any questions from these demos then feel free to ask in the comments below.

Interested people watching Ari's Facebook training demonstration

Facebook training demonstration being given at the open house


iPad Multitasking

  • Double tap the home button to bring up the multitasking bar
  • Quickly switch back and forth between recent or open apps
  • Force close an app by holding down on it and then hitting the red minus
  • Swipe the bar to the side to reach the screen lock, brightness, volume, iTunes control
  • Quick switch apps directly by swiping the screen to the side with 4 fingers

Google Maps, Local, Places
Review us at http://goo.gl/jKorj

Newer smart phones can use Google Maps for navigation

  • Google Local & Google Places are now integrated into Google+
  • When you search for a business on Google Maps, the listings are from Local or Places
  • You need a Google+ account to write reviews, but not just to search and read them
  • The scale is 0 – poor to fair, 1 – good, 2 – very good, 3 – excellent

Facebook Privacy
Like us at http://Facebook.com/MacPCX

  • New privacy shortcut in the top right has Basic Privacy, Timeline & Tagging, Blocking
  • Not all privacy options are available on mobile, use a desktop or laptop
  • Go to the gear and click privacy settings for the full list of options, Notification, Mobile, Followers, Apps
  • Apps allows you to control sharing your data with other apps and services
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Backing up, saving, and recovering your data

Published by Ari Milner on February 22nd, 2013 - in services, slider

Have a dead drive that needs data recovery? You don’t want to lose your precious documents, pictures, and music, right? We charge 1-2 hours of service or $64-$128 depending on the difficulty of the recovery. To compare, Best Buy’s Geek Squad charges $249.99 for their equivalent service.

We use many methods for data recovery when it comes to that point, but there are also a number of measures you can take as an individual user to protect your data.

1. The first thing is to have a backup. Mac users can use Apple’s Time Machine for free backup software if your Mac is 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or later. For those of you using an older PowerPC Mac with 10.5 or earlier you can still backup your Mac with a program like SuperDuper! backup. There is a free trial but the full version is $27.95.

Windows XP,Vista,7,8 also have built-in backup programs although they aren’t as robust as Time Machine. Learn how to backup your files in Windows 7, the process is very similar for Windows Vista and Windows 8. There are some other good free backup options for Windows if you don’t like the built in program. FBackup is a great simple program and Cobian Backup is another more powerful free solution.

Having your data backed up means that you shouldn’t need our data recovery services unless something goes really wrong. You can get a new computer when yours dies and restore the backup yourself. We are also glad to help you with this process.

2. Sync your data with the Dropbox, iCloud, or Google Drive. This keeps a copy of your data on a remote server somewhere in “the cloud” and available to you from any computer or device in the world. Your data is synced between all of your devices (Mac, PC, Phone, Tablet) so it is still available to you if your computer crashes or it is lost or stolen. Most of these services are “freemium” where you get some storage space for free but you get more storage space if you pay a subscription fee. We’ll go into comparing and contrasting some of these cloud sync options in another post. The important part for now is that these services can offer an extra way to backup data you need to have available regardless of the status of your computer or local backup.

3. Something else you can do to help protect your data is to use a solid state drive (SSD) instead of a hard disk drive (HDD). SSDs have no moving parts so they are slightly less susceptible to data loss than traditional drives. This is why SSDs are more beneficial in laptops and devices that moving around more often. Even though drive crashes are rarer among SSDs, they still happen occasionally and it is more difficult to recover data from a SSD than a HDD if it does crash.

Data-recovery

However, if your computer or HDD does crash and you do not have a backup then we can recover the data for you. The only times we can’t typically recover data is when the drive needs to be physically opened and repaired. It requires a clean room to do this level of recovery and the costs are much higher. In the last year and six months we have recovered over 99% of data from every hard drive that did not need a clean room repair. That’s a record we are proud of.

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Facebook Tagging

Published by yu on January 25th, 2013 - in Facebook, slider

At MacPCX we think of Facebook as a necessary evil, and as worst as buying insurance.  Many relationships can be made through Facebook, as well as broken.  But used well, it can be very helpful especially if you’re a business and want to keep in contact with your customers. Facebook also provides a simple and effective way for natural customer referrals, by commenting and tagging about your employees or the business.

So here’s hot to Facebook tag:

When writing a status update on Facebook, preface the names of the person, business, or place with the @ symbol, pronounced as the “at” symbol. It’s usually SHIFT+2 on the keyboard.

For example, the following is a referral for people to book events at Eternity Hall.  Facebook starts to give options with the first character after the @ character, and the options keep narrowing the more specific the word phrase.  If no option appears, it means there is no person / business / place associated with that tag.

facebook-tagging

 

To complete the tag, click on the tag option presented by Facebook.  You can also press enter, or if necessary move the cursor up and down the arrow keys.  The “@Eternity Hall” turns is replaced by a the simple text Eternity Hall, but highlighted in light blue like in the picture, and with a hyperlink to the Facebook page.

facebook-tagging-4

 

Another nice feature of using the @ character is that it forces Facebook to attempt to tag the word phrase after the @ symbol.  It works for people, businesses, or sites with names that Facebook gets easily confused with, either because the name is generic or because there are lots of variations on the name.

If you like this article, please like MacPCX on Facebook, and/or friend the author, Yu Te.  Comments with constructive feedback are always welcome. :)

OK, may your Facebook tagging bring you a wider audience and much personal and business success!

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Zoom Zoom

Published by yu on January 22nd, 2013 - in slider, Tech Paranormal

Here’s a recent case from the department of the Tech paranormal, that was resolved quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction.

Customer came in with an iMac, complaining its been possessed.  He had to move the mouse to the edge of the screen to bump the viewing area so he can see the hidden parts of the desktop.  The windows and icons got bigger, but his screen remained the same size.  I knew immediately what needed to be done, and fortunately it didn’t require a lengthy exorcism.

The fix in three steps:

1. Go into the System Preferences applet.  It can be accessed from the Apple menu, and clicking on “System Preferences”.

zoom-1

 

2. Click on the “Universal Access” icon, which will bring up the Universal Access settings.

zoom-2

 

3. Make sure Zoom is turned off.

zoom-3

 

 

As soon as Zoom was turned off, the display went back to normal, and the windows and icons could fit into the physical display area.  Another Tech Paranormal case solved, and this time it didn’t require a blood sacrifice.  Next time when your computer acts strangely, bring it to the MacPCX Tech Paranormal department and get it resolved to your satisfaction.

 

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office calls on the go

Published by admin on December 10th, 2012 - in education

Do you wish you could get your office calls on the go?

You can pay an arm and a leg for forwarding and other advanced features from the phone company.  Or you can look at using VOIP based solutions, and the two services we use are Google Voice and Ring Central.  Google Voice is free, while Ring Central costs us about $30 a month.  Both Ari and myself can receive calls to the main line on our cell phones.  Meaning when a customer calls 503-512-0064, the call rings three phones: the office, mine, and Ari’s.  Additionally we could add other employees phones.

If you are concerned about privacy, and don’t want to give out your cell phone number, you could set up a Google Voice account with its own phone number, which you can then give out to people, such as on your resume.  Calls made to that number can be forwarded to your cell phone.  There are other benefits, including being able to easily block phone numbers, getting transcribed emails, and text forwarding.

Let us know if you’re interested and we can set you up to getting office calls on the go!

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Training Room Update

Published by admin on December 10th, 2012 - in news

One of next year’s goal will be to hold regular classroom style training for up to 8 students.  We’ll need to save up and get the computer workstations to make it happen.

At least we can prepare the space… Here are some pictures of Harold and his father remodeling the training room at the Hollywood MacPCX store.  It used to be covered by curtains, but now with double doors, the noise is lower and creates a better learning environment.

Check back for updates on the training schedule to sign up for classes.

 

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More Battery Tips

Published by admin on October 24th, 2012 - in knowledge base

Look for our free tech tip article and ad on the back page in the Hollywood Neighborhood Association newsletter for the fourth quarter 2012 edition.  It came out in a nice green single fold tabloid (11×17) sheet.

October 12, 2012

Do you have a laptop, or iPad, or phone? If you use any electronic device that runs on a rechargeable battery, then this short article will help you save money. There are three easy steps you can do to extend your device’s life. First, about once a month charge the device to 100%, then unplug and use it until the battery is drained. Second, regularly keep the battery charged between about 10 and 90%. The main point to remember is not to charge the battery to 100% everyday, because that greatly reduces the battery’s life. Third, if your battery stops holding its charge, get a new replacement.

By the way, it’s hard to write anything when the audience is mysterious. So please write to me and let me know who you are, and what about computers you would like me to write about that could really help you. I’ll pick out the ones that I could write a short article on, and longer ones I could put on the web.

By Yu Te, who is one of the employee-owners of the MacPCX store, located inside the Hollywood 42nd Street Station.

I already received comments from Lisa, a Hollywood neighbor, who asked if it’s a good idea to plug into the wall and take out the battery on a laptop.

October 23, 2012 “question re: battery life”

Hello Yu,

I just read your tips in the Hollywood Neighborhood Assn. newsletter. They were very helpful. I’m still confused about something though. When I’m at home and have the laptop plugged in to an outlet — so I don’t need the battery to run it — should I remove the battery from the laptop? Then replace it when I actually need to use it? Does it decrease battery life to keep it constantly in the PC even when it’s plugged in?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Regards,

Lisa

Hollywood neighbor

It was a thoughtful question.  I had on my techie blinder, and with a narrow vision did not consider that someone might run their laptop with the battery off and plugged into the wall  all day.  I wrote back it’s not a good idea.

Hi Lisa,

Good question.

I recommend to leave the battery on, rather than taking the battery off and staying plugged in at home.

Batteries are much cheaper to replace than other components on the computer such as the hard-drive and motherboard.  Running on the battery guarantees a clean power supply.   Letting the computer shut itself down as the battery draws down is safe.

On the other hand, taking the battery out and running on the plug puts the laptop at risk of suddenly losing power and the damaging the computer’s components.  The plug could accidentally be pulled with the computer on, or before the computer could properly power down.  With the battery off, if the computer suddenly dies, the sudden power loss stresses the computer’s components, probably damaging a spinning hard-drive, and losing data.

Hope this helps.

I’ll have to clarify for other readers in the next article.  Could I reference your first name and the question you asked?

Thanks for writing.

Yu Te

Lisa wrote back to clarify why she’s running with the plug in all day.

Thanks Yu. I *have* to have my laptop plugged in at some point when I use it though, since on days when I work from home my laptop is on 8+ hours continuously.

So should I run the laptop off the battery in the morning until it goes out (about 4 hours) and then plug it in to recharge as I’m working?

Feel free to reference my name and question. As a former marketing person myself, I know that testimonials are some of the best PR ;-)

Regards,

Lisa

Finally, my answer to Lisa’s last question.

Hi Lisa,

Yes what you described of charging the battery up, then pulling the plug and drawing down the battery during the day is a good course. I wouldn’t let it draw down to zero every day, though. That should be done once in a while to recalibrate the battery life indicator. 90/10 is a good number to remember. Keep the plug in until 90%, and plug in again at 10%. It’s ok to overcharge the battery once in a while, by forgetting to remove the plug. (I’ve been guilty of that.) Just don’t want to do that on a regular basis.

Thank you on the PR. Again, what I write and intend to mean isn’t always clear, and your questions help a lot! :)

An extra bit of advice for users of desktop computers: from day one, desktops don’t come with batteries and are also at risk of the power suddenly going out and damaging the hard-drive and motherboard.  However, an additional purchase of a $36 UPS backup battery can go a long way to also saving the life of the desktop.  The link is to a battery on newegg.com.  By the way, we don’t get advertising money or kick backs from newegg, so we’re not trying to sell more batteries just for the sake of profit.  What we want is to make sure our readers, our customers, and the community get good advice and be able to act on it.  :)

Thank you Lisa for emailing.  I hope to see more email responses from readers on our web and print articles, and be rewarded with some free advice.

 

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Microsoft Windows for Beginners starts next week

Published by Ari Milner on August 24th, 2012 - in mac & pc, training

Join us for our premier Microsoft Windows for Beginners class. Whether you are a true beginner or novice who would like improve your comfort level with your Windows PC, this one week course will get you there. Learn how to navigate and maintain your Windows PC. From handy shortcuts to hidden tricks. Learn how to work with programs and files. Get things done on the Internet efficiently, safely and securely. You will learn about virus protection and other types of security tips. Customize Windows to work for you so you can rely on it. Bring your own Windows laptop or reserve one of ours.

Each day we will focus on a different general topic and build on some material from previous days:

  • Navigation and Programs (this one is free! come on Monday!)
  • Control Panel and Customization
  • Maintenance & Security
  • The Internet, search, web apps, and online safety
  • Documents & Multimedia

Who: For business owners, artists and professionals. Anyone new to Windows PCs or looking to improve their basic skills and comfort level.

When: 6 to 7 pm Monday to Friday (8/27 to 8/31), please check in 10 mins earlier

Cost: Free on Monday, $140 to complete the course ($20 off for early registration)

Where: MacPCX, 2000 NE 42nd Ave #E, Portland, OR 97213

Call 503-512-0064 to register today!

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7 Tips for Purchasing Computer Items

Published by yu on August 22nd, 2012 - in education

At MacPCX, we mostly focus on providing service, though that doesn’t mean we can’t help customers get what they need. The value proposition for using our service is that the hardware is expensive, and the time and effort it takes to setup the hardware is even more expensive. So we’ve built up quite a bit of experience shopping for our customers, and want to provide you with tips if you’re more of a do-it-yourselfer.

Tip #1. Avoid craigslist and other non-business sellers, unless you can verify it’s the real deal.

Yes, embarrassingly even we have been burned several times buying through Craigslist. Most recently we bought an iphone 3GS, but couldn’t verify it until several days later (needed to get an AT&T sim card). The phone turned out to be a 3G only, and the difference between G and GS a thousand miles: the G can’t be upgraded and turns out can’t be connected to the iTunes store.

Tip #2. Use PayPal if you wish to buy online, because with PayPal, if you get a lemon or something else, you can dispute and get your money back.

Tip #3. Comparison shop using google and sites like Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect. Look at the total cost, for the item plus shipping (and tax if applicable to your locale). Google and Amazon allows you to look at reviews for the sellers, so that you can bypass buying from problem sellers.

Tip #4. Another reason to comparison shop is to look at the reviews from other buyers. I like to look at a spectrum of reviews from one star to many stars, and throw out the outliers. Some reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt, because they’re made by unhappy users that didn’t know how to use the product. On the other end, the glowing five star reviews should be ignored, too.

Tip #5. Buy refurbished if it makes sense. Sometimes we get great deals on refurbished machines from Newegg Outlet, TigerDirect Outlet, Apple Outlet. We’ve helped our business customers replace their aging computers with refurbished ones from Newegg, at $200 per unit. Recently we bought an all-in-one Windows 7 multi-touchscreen desktop from TigerDirect that was half the price of a new machine, and it looks brand new.

Don’t buy used hard-drives, though. They are not worth the discount, and even new ones tend to fail more often these days. (For this reason, I recommend that business users invest in a good backup system, which we’ll touch on in a future article.)

Tip #6. If it’s got a moving part, and you’re buying new, purchase an extended warranty on it. Printers are notorious for breaking down inconveniently. There’s no helping that, except to have a backup printer, or come use our printing services. :) But I would recommend that you get your printer from Newegg with an extended year warranty on it.

Tip #7. Make sure someone is home to sign for the goodies.

That’s all the tips for now. There are more, of course, but I need to save some for future articles. We want to start putting up our own recommended buying list as well, so check back on this article for a link.

-Yu

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