As we summer desert dwellers struggle to survive record high temperatures and monsoon storms, please take a little time to consider the seasonal hazards your electronic servants face. Power surges and outages challenge the growing numbers of electronic minions in your household on a daily basis. Your expensive and important appliances should have surge protectors in place; more sensitive or critical devices are best protected by uninterruptable power sources, a.k.a.battery backup systems. These protective devices do not last forever; replacing every few years or after a single severe power surge is routinely advised. If you will be away from home for a prolonged interval, simply unplugging unused devices is safest of all.
All Good Things Must Come to an End
Spurred by the free conversion from earlier editions and prodded by constant and progressive nagging, PC users have made Windows 10 the most rapidly adopted version of Windows in history, doubling in installations since last November.
If you were among the millions who were “inadvertently” upgraded to Windows 10 even after repeatedly refusing the offer… Continue reading
Do Computer Screens Damage Your Eyes?
Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), sometimes termed Digital Eye Strain, describes a group of eye and vision-related problems that result from prolonged exposure to digital screens for computers, televisions, tablets, e-readers and cell phones. Many individuals experience eye discomfort and vision problems when viewing digital screens for extended periods. Continue reading
A Little Help From Our Friends
The SaddleBrooke Computer Club started in 1993 as a result of 3 men sharing conversation and coffee in the RoadRunner Grill. Occasional meetings became weekly; these eventually became weekly presentations with a single borrowed computer in space shared with the sewing club. We incorporated as a non-profit group in 1998 for the express purpose of teaching computer classes. That single borrowed computer evolved into a well-equipped computer laboratory with 30 computers. We now offer over a hundred classes for PCs, Macs, iPhones and iPads each year. More than 3400 current residents have become members and attended our classes. Over the 23 years since inception we have served an entire generation of active retirees.
Is Windows 10 Really Free?
Even though I thought I had already overdone writing about Windows 10, questions keep rolling in! Six months after introduction, Windows 10 has been installed on over 213 million computers; this is an adoption rate even greater than Windows 7, the previous record holder.
Upgrading to Windows 10 is currently free to those who have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 already installed on a personal computer. The offer does not extend to those who have Windows XP or Vista, nor can businesses participate in this promotion. The promotion officially ends on July 29, 2016, but there are rumors that the offer will be extended.
Planning Your Digital Estate
Approximately 55 percent of American adults do not have a will or other estate plan in place, according to LexisNexis. Since SaddleBrooke residents regularly get offers of free eats and presentations from estate planners, I’m guessing that nearly all of us have given estate planning more than a passing thought.
If you haven’t revisited your estate planning recently, you may not have considered what should be done with your digital assets. According to a recent survey, 63 percent of people don’t know what will happen to their digital assets when they die. A 2014 survey funded by McAfee found that the average digital device holds $35,000 worth of information by the owners estimate. The largest part of that value was attributed to irreplaceable personal memories, photos and videos. Over half of those surveyed felt their computers held information that is impossible to recreate, download or purchase again.
Spring Cleaning
If you missed the observance of National Clean Up Your Computer Month this January, never fear! This is a chore you can do any time of the year.
Cleaning video screens and the outside of your devices is fairly straightforward. Turn the device off or, better yet, unplug it. Blow off loose surface dust with canned compressed air, then wipe with a microfiber cloth using a gentle circular motion. If any smudging remains, lightly dampen the microfiber cloth with distilled water (moist, not dripping!) and wipe again. For stubborn spots, use 50:50 distilled water and vinegar in the same fashion. Never use Windex or other household cleaners and never spray any liquids on electronics. Do not use paper towels or old cleaning rags – they can cause scratches on video screens.
Getting to Know You
Spending hours on the internet exposes all of us to seemingly endless swarms of advertisements on a regular basis. While acknowledging that many websites could fade away without ad revenues, the ever increasing aggressiveness, duplicity and disregard of privacy displayed by ethically challenged marketers has become a constant annoyance.
The introduction of Windows 10 with its detailed delineation of the depth and breadth of personal information routinely tracked, ostensibly to “let Cortana get to know you very, very well”, may well have rekindled public awareness of the relentless electronic surveillance routinely imposed on all of us.
Windows 10: Naughty or Nice?
Although I have written about Windows 10 earlier this year, I’m still fielding questions on a regular basis. Although many computer users befuddled by the idiosyncrasies of Windows 8 welcomed the arrival of free copies of Windows 10 as if they were early Christmas gifts, electronics vendors are still wistfully longing for improved new computer sales this holiday season. Nearly 132 million computers are now running Windows 10; this represents about 8.8% of the 1.5 billion PCs around the world.
While the early adoption rate exceeded that of Windows 7, that initial surge of interest appears to be dwindling. Microsoft is changing strategies to encourage more installations of Windows 10.
The Era of Good Enough Computing
Even procrastinators are beginning to realize that the holiday shopping season will soon be upon us. If you’re shopping for personal electronics, you will have an incredible array of new gadgets offering tempting – and bewildering – technological wonders.