Go2techs.net

10/16/2017

Many homeowners can relate to the frustration of replacing an inkjet printer every year or two when they stop working or printing correctly. It's no secret in the IT industry that printer manufacturers have adopted the razor blade cartridge model of product pricing, where printers are sold as cheaply as possible and the ink is priced quite expensively.

Furthermore, if you don't regularly use an inkjet printer (at least once, in color, every two weeks), the print heads will become clogged, quickly ruining a printer. This is because inkjet printers use the ink itself to lubricate the system, which is also wasteful.

Color laser printers have become much more affordable in recent years, and the quality of color images has caught up to inkjet quite a bit - not quite enough for professional quality photos, but perfect for color documents, presentations and mail media.

The build quality and reliability of laser printers are much higher than inkjets, and though they may cost a bit more initially, in the long run you will end up saving on replacing ink and printers year after year. Toner cartridges last for thousands of pages, not hundreds, and don't need to be used regularly to stay in working condition.

Long story short: unless you are regularly printing out color photographs with your printer, consider a laser printer instead - you won't regret it!

https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/best-color-laser-printers-for-2017/

Laser printers are the ideal choice if you need a printer that's fast, can take on high volume, and is pretty economical to maintain in the long run. But if laser printers had one known ...

10/09/2017

Google has created a cool website that gives a basic, interactive demonstration of how artificial intelligence "Machine Learning" works. It's a great interactive activity for both kids and adults who want to learn what AI systems can, and can't do.

https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com/

An interesting side note - we've all seen the websites that ask you to verify that you are not a computer when submitting forms online. But, have you noticed lately that many sites ask that you identify "all the tiles in a picture that contain street signs" or that contain cars? Not only is this a way to verify that you're a human being, but it also helps to collect data for self-driving cars. This type of crowd-sourcing helps to move artificial intelligence programming beyond the engineers' desks and out into the public.

Teachable Machine: Explore machine learning, live in your browser.

09/15/2017

iPhone owners - we have recently seen issues with customers being unable to access the music library on their phones. If you have recently signed up with Apple Music, you may have noticed that when you connect your phone to iTunes, you no longer have the option to manually sync music to your phone.

There is an easy fix!
On your phone, go to Settings > Music and Toggle Off "iCloud Music Library". The next time you connect your phone to iTunes, the option to manually sync your phone library will be restored.

08/15/2017

Security Tip of the Week: How to create a strong password that you can actually remember:

http://lifehacker.com/four-methods-to-create-a-secure-password-youll-actually-1601854240

We recommend the Pass Phrase method, which is a simple four or five word phrase that's easy to remember with a mental picture but extremely difficult for a computer to guess based on the length of the password. Even passwords with complex digits, numbers and symbols are relatively easy to bypass with a powerful computer system. Longer passwords take many, many times as long to crack. Although they make take a little longer to enter (especially on a smartphone) they are much more secure, and easier to remember.

The article mentions an XKCD webcomic that outlines the Pass Phrase method. Picking seemingly random words such as "CorrectHorseBatteryStaple" is easy to remember but hard to bypass!

How do you balance the necessity of highly secure passwords with the utility of easily recalling them all? The only secure password is one that you can't remember, but there are times when you can't use a password manager and need to rely on your memory.

08/09/2017

The organization Common Sense Education maintains an online database of courses for parents of students of all ages (K-12) who want to better understand how to be proactive with their children's digital presence. They are designed to give you the toolbox you need to be a more informed parent in the digital age!

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lessons/family-tip-sheets/en

Common Sense Media improves the lives of kids and families by providing independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media.

08/02/2017

A quick sample of the quality and variety of work we can provide - all of this was done in one hour during an in-home appointment.

- Reset locked iCloud account
- Fixed Calendar app on iMac with updated account information
- Diagnosed offline printer issue, resolved and reinstalled
- Set up wireless internet on Smart TV
- Check up and clean up of two PC's.

Experience is the biggest tool in our belt, and we take pride in understanding our customers' needs, and cutting through the confusion to arrive at results quickly!

07/12/2017

NET NEUTRALITY

July 12th is the Internet-Wide Day of Action!

If you noticed that many tech companies and foundations are purposely slowing down their service or posting unusual banner messages today, here's why!

From today until July 17th, the FCC will continue to accept public comments from individual citizens on the issue of Net Neutrality.

What is Net Neutrality? At its crux, it is the idea that the Internet should be treated identically to phone services, or other "common carrier" services. The Internet should be a uniform highway, with content delivered at the same speed to all users via their Internet Service Providers.

Net Neutrality continues to be an essential issue to maintaining the free and open nature of the Internet. At issue is whether the FCC should have the power to regulate the Internet, or if it should regulated by Internet Service Providers through competition.

The general consensus among tech companies is that the so-called 2015 Rules put into place by the FCC protect the Internet while still allowing for healthy competition.

Open comment period ends July 17th - see the link below from the Mozilla Foundation to submit your comments to the FCC.

https://advocacy.mozilla.org/en-US/net-neutrality-comments/?sample_rate=0.01&snippet_name=6856¶m=optimizelycontrol

Let the FCC know your thoughts about Net Neutrality!

07/10/2017

TECH AT HOME

Quick guide from The Verge on setting up an Amazon Echo's voice controls to shop for goods on Amazon.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/10/15947672/amazon-alexa-voice-controls-shopping-prime-echo-how-to

One of the more useful abilities of Amazon’s Echo products is the ability to use them to order stuff from Amazon. So if you’ve been hesitant to set up the feature to avoid accidental purchases, or...

07/10/2017

RANSOMWARE

Brief takeaway from this article: ransomware attacks not only extort money; in some cases they are a ruse designed to distract from a more malicious purpose - the irrevocable destruction of data on infected computers.

As the article points out, most ransomware exploits existing vulnerabilities that may have been fixed by patches, but that have not been implemented by end users. Such strategies rely on individuals who don't use automated software updates or organizations which are slow to backup - perhaps because of worries about compatibility with proprietary software solutions.

At Go2Techs, we can assist you in maintaining an update plan that protects you from threats exploiting common vulnerabilities, whether you are a individual user, or a business with a dozen workstations.

http://www.realclearlife.com/technology/ransomware-attacks-work-dangerous/

Two waves of widespread ransomware attacks froze computer systems worldwide in the last two months, but experts think the worst may be yet to come.

07/07/2017

http://thewirecutter.com/

One of our favorite tech product review sites, The Wirecutter is specifically geared towards quick yet comprehensive reviews that let you easily make a decision on which product is best. We especially like their reviews of home networking and smart home technologies.

If you are looking to make an upgrade to your IT systems, Go2Techs would be happy to set up an appointment for installation, or provide consultation if you need more information to make a decision.

06/28/2017

Back in May, The New York Times published an excellent guide to protecting yourself from ransomware attacks. Every month, we see more and more stories worldwide about a broad spectrum of users - from individuals to major corporations - plagued by a new attacks. These attacks not only can lock out users from their personal data, but elicit payments to fund further illegal activity.

At Go2Techs, we can help you implement security measures in your home or business network that will keep you ahead of the vulnerabilities such groups exploit - and we will work to keep you informed about how to browse safely.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/technology/personaltech/heres-how-to-protect-yourself-from-ransomware-attacks.html?contentCollection=smarter-living

Some tips from computer security experts.

06/22/2017

https://www.lifewire.com/wireless-home-network-security-tips-818355

In today's world, security best practices start at home! Many cyberattackers target individuals with default security settings on home WiFi systems, as these are the easiest to exploit. Go2Techs can help you make informed decisions on how to configure your networks to keep private data safe.

When setting up and maintaining Wi-Fi home networks, consider these top tips for maximizing the security of the computers and data on these networks.