Tag: Computers

WTAM 1100 – Choosing a Laptop for College

Play Audio – WTAM 1100 Newsradio – Tech Tuesday – July 8th, 2014

WTAM 1100 Newsradio Cleveland OhioIt’s pretty much a given that college students are going to need a computer for their studies. With limited dorm space and the need to access resources across the campus, a laptop is the most common choice. But what laptop is right for you? The Best Buy website has a Laptop Buying Guide that can help.

Two questions you need to answer first:

How will you use your laptop? Determining if you’re a light, average or advanced user will help determine what laptop specs fit your needs best. For example, demanding users will want to invest more in a higher resolution screen, faster processor, more memory and a larger hard drive.

How important is portability to you? This will help determine what balance to strike with large or small screen and keyboard size, as well as how many accessories, like Blu-ray drives you carry with you. There’s even a special laptop category for those that value portability above all else, known as “Ultrabooks“.

When shopping, you’ll come across 4 hardware specs that you’ll want to understand to help decide on a laptop:

  • Processor – This is both the brain and the muscles of the laptop. The faster and more powerful a processor is, the more work it can handle from your programs, just like an engine in your favorite car.
  • Memory – System memory, or RAM, is where your data and program lives while you’re working on the laptop. The more RAM, the more data you can be accessing and manipulating at any given time, like adding more seats to your car.
  • Hard Drive Storage – This is where your data, like your photos, documents, music and videos lives while not in use, and the more you have, the more files you can carry with you.
  • Battery Life – This one is important for college students on the go, because you may not always have a handy outlet to use at the library or time to recharge between classes.

Best Buy is offering some special discounts for college students. If you visit the Best Buy website, you’ll see a “College Student Deals” link to the right. To receive your deals, you will need a .edu email address, which can be entered on the site to get all the latest student-only offers sent right to your mailbox. When you sign up, you’ll be entered for a chance to win $100,000 as part of Best Buy’s Cash for College program.

Of course, no matter what laptop you choose, Geek Squad will be there to support you with our Geek Squad Tech Support program.

WTAM 1100 – Slow WiFi Frequencies & How Much Cloud Access

 
WTAM 1100 Newsradio Cleveland OhioWe’re always looking at new ways to be more mobile with both our devices and our data. From wireless networking to the Cloud, we like the freedom of going digital without cables.

In this week’s Tech Tuesday segment on WTAM 1100 Newsradio, I spoke to Bill Wills about how your wireless router can slow down in a highly populated area like a large apartment building. Newer routers and devices that support the 5GHz frequency may help in these situations, but here are some additional pokey WiFi tips from USA Today.

We also talked about one consideration that may influence how much data you move to the Cloud, which is accessibility on the go. For more considerations for and against moving everything over to the Cloud, check out this Wall Street Journal debate.

WTAM 1100 – 911 Texting & Tech Support Phone Scammers

 
WTAM 1100 Newsradio Cleveland OhioThis week, I spoke to Bill Wills on WTAM 1100 Newsradio about how the national wireless carriers are going to enable the use of “text-to-911” to allow 911 emergencies to be reported through the standard text messaging system on your mobile phone.

While the carriers will be supporting the service, only a select few local city emergency systems are setup to access that network. Visit the FCC’s Text-to-911 page for more information.

I also brought up the continuing threat of phone scammers pretending to be your tech support company. The Geek Squad Blog has more details on this ongoing attempt to fool the public into giving criminals access to their systems.

Protecting Yourself from Tech Phone Scams

I had a chance to speak to WTKR News in Virgina about how to protect yourself from phone scams from people claiming to work for big-name tech companies, like Microsoft, Dell or McAfee.

For more information on protecting yourself from cyber scams, check out my article on the Geek Squad Blog.

Password Sanity

Looks like the Katie Humprey’s article on “password sanity” is making syndication rounds in newspapers (including our local Plain Dealer). I had the opportunity to help give the writer our take on password security and provided the end quote for the article:

Derek Meister, a Geek Squad agent, said it’s important not to make security so complex that people get overwhelmed and default to insecure habits, like repeating simple passwords. He suggests thinking about digital security much like home security. It’s not perfect, but it can be a deterrent to those aiming to make trouble.

“You’re not looking to make your house into Fort Knox. You’re looking to make your house hard enough to get into that somebody will say, ‘I’m going to go elsewhere,’?” Meister said. “It’s the same with passwords.”