Mac and Linux users, forgive me please. This posts only relates to Windows users running Windows 10! The screenshot above is from my main computer in the shop. I'm already running the latest version of Windows 10 - 21H1. I've had it for a few weeks since I'm a beta tester but it was just …
Author: John Grubb
I've been working on computers since 1983! I love helping people resolve their computing issues and sharing preventative measures, as well.
Let’s Review
I always hope that everyone learns at least one thing from each of my posts. Just for the fun of it, though, let's see if you've really been paying attention! I invite you to take a stab at answering these ten (10) questions all drawn from previous blog posts. Give it a try! [qsm quiz=1]
A Placeholder Doesn’t Cut It
Seriously, I get it. You don't like to have your picture taken! You don't think you look good in your pictures! You look old! You're over or under weight and you don't want to share that fact with anyone by posting your photo! I really do understand. You have no idea what a mental fight …
Even The Cobbler’s Kids Had No Shoes
The title of this post is an old saying you might have heard somewhere along the way. You might also have come across the related phrase, “The shoemaker's children go barefoot.” Either way, many interpret the maxim as “One often neglects those closest to oneself.” However, in this post, I'm going to give a different definition. Oh …
Oh, The Old Typewriter Days
https://youtu.be/ANaL80AsKVM The younger generation reading these posts probably can't relate to using a typewriter. But for those of us old enough, we may have some wonderful memories of pounding on those keys and hitting the return carriage. Those were the best of times and maybe the worst of times. How much white-out did we go …
Knowledge Is Power
As the computing world advances at a sometimes alarming rate, we keep expanding our avenues of helping you. We're building our video database on YouTube; we've added security notices on our site; and, now, we've added a Knowledge Base (KB). We just set up the KB yesterday and, at the moment, there's only one article. …
Visual Organizing Aids
For all of us, keeping files and folders on our computing devices (especially our computers) organized is always a challenge. Over a period of time, we accumulate folders and sub-folders and sub-sub-folders of documents, pictures, videos, etc. If we're really on the ball, we help bring sanity out of chaos by renaming files and folders …
Win 10/Local Account * Password Recovery
In my post of November 21, 2018 (You Can (Ac)Count On Me!), I explained that with Windows 10, you can either use a Microsoft account or a local account. I also pointed out that with a local account, you do not have to use a password but with a Microsoft account, you do. Recently, I’ve …
Two More Brochures
As I mentioned in my post of January 21, 2021 (Our Most Popular Brochures), because of the Pandemic, we haven't had any live seminars. In fact, it's been a year since our last one! We hope we can hold a live event on the Florida's Treasure Coast in the near future! Also, as I mentioned …
A Capital Idea
If you know anything about us, you know that Joyce and I buy from Amazon almost on a daily basis. (KCC sells on Amazon, too.) We're Prime Business Account holders which gives us free deliveries and lots of other benefits. While great deals are often found on Amazon, I've recently added Capital One Shopping to …
Disk Cleanup
In my post from last week, Celebrate National Clean Out Your Computer Week, I gave you a couple of ways to clean up your computer - removing duplicate files and deleting old files you haven't used in years. In this post, I want to add another way of getting back hard drive space and possibly …
That 60 Minutes’ Story
If you watched the CBS News show, 60 Minutes, this past week, you may have seen a computer-related story. The segment was called "Inside The SolarWinds Hack." (If you missed it, you can click on the title to view.) The report covered how the Russians allegedly used Malware to infiltrate computers at the US Justice, …
I Have To Share Bad News With You-Email Scam
"I have to share bad news with you" is actually the first sentence from the email pictured above. (You can click on the image to see a larger, more readable version.) Lately, I've been getting about six of these a day. So far, we've had one customer log in to Remote Technical Support because they …
Continue reading I Have To Share Bad News With You-Email Scam
Celebrate National Clean Out Your Computer Week
https://vimeo.com/511080757 Click to watch the video (and hear some cool music by Luigi Boccherini) before reading! Whenever we set up a new computer for one of our customers, it's not unusual for us to find multiple copies of the same file on the old computer. If you click on the picture above to see it …
Continue reading Celebrate National Clean Out Your Computer Week
True Image
If you've followed my blog for a time, you know that I'm a huge fan of online backup for my data. We don't own a computer that doesn't have Carbonite on it to back up data. If any of my computers ever crash, I'll be able to recover all my data just by going to …
Printer Misunderstandings – Part Deux
In my first post about printer misunderstandings, I explained the three normal ways printers are hooked up so that they can be used. In this writing, I'm going to talk about some other subjects frequently not fully understood. Rarely Used Often, when I have to condemn a printer as "not worth repairing," my customer will …
Ignore Microsoft and Google
In my recent post, "Delete Now!," I explained through verbiage and a video the importance of NOT saving passwords in your browsers. I based my narrative on my own experiences; those opinions of well-known hackers and cybersecurity analysists; and the NZ Bankers Association which said in a post: "A common mistake that users make is …
SD Card Info
If you have a digital camera, you might be using an SD card to store your data. Besides cameras, there are more and more places you can use an SD card. If you are using one, my question for you is: "What does all the writing on the card mean?" Let's see if I can …
Printer Misunderstandings
Next to Quarterly Updates, the most popular reasons people log-in to our Remote Technical Support are printer-related issues. During this process, we've discovered that there are some pretty common misunderstandings about printers. In this post, I'm going to clear up some of the confusion. Wired or Wireless? Just about the first question we ask when …
Hey Google!
When it comes to voice-operated, personal assistants, more and more of us are adding them to our homes. There's a number of options to choose from including Amazon's Alexa, Google's Home Nest and Apple's Home Pod. If your home is like ours, you might have more than just one brand. Over a number of posts, …
Speed Is A Great Asset…
Whether you use a smartwatch, smart TV, smartphone, tablet or computer, in today's world of intense graphics, speed is of utmost importance. When it comes to any of these computing devices, there are two types of speeds: the speed of the machine itself and the speed of the Internet connection. In this post, we're going …
Delete Now!
In my final Question of the Week email, I addressed the issue of saving passwords in a browser. Is that safe to do? I explained that I used to say "Yes." to that question but that answer is no longer correct. Why have I changed my mind? Because I recently attended several webinars conducted by …
Why You Need More Than One
Granted, you don't need as many browsers as I have but you definitely should have more than one and, in particular, you might make sure you have an extra browser that isn't based on Chromium. Currently, the only popular browser used on a Windows machine that is not based on Chromium is Firefox (FF). (On …
Amazon Pay
As you probably know, for our Online Shop (see the menu at the top or the bottom of this page) and for the purchase of Remote Technical Support, training, service calls and/or new computers, we accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express. You probably don't know this but we're going to be expanding the products …
Now, It’s Their Turn
I've mentioned our email-handling company and/or their web push feature in the following posts: Get Notified - A New WayA New Page...The Importance of Being JunkOutgoing Email Locked? Now, it's their turn to mention our 4KCC Blog. Have a look at these two posts and see if you can find where we are highlighted: Web …
Outgoing Email Locked?
In my post titled "The Importance of Being Junk," I mentioned that we use the email-handling program called AWeber. I want to tell you about this program and explain why you might want to use it, too. Granted, this won't apply to everyone who reads my blog but if you happen to be in one …
The Importance of Being Junk
Although today's post heading might sound a little like the play title by Oscar Wilde, the resemblance is just a coincidence. Okay, you caught me. It's not by accident that the post's title sounds eerily like Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. I created it on purpose to get your attention. "What is this post …
Our Most Popular Brochures
Because of the pandemic, we haven't had any in-person seminars. These training sessions are one place where I often hand-out computing-related brochures. I also distribute them when I speak at local organizations but that hasn't been happening either. Of course, not everyone could attend these functions even if we were holding them. With that in …
In Case You Were Wondering…
Here are our holiday hours from now until the New Year. I've used a red text color for those times which are totally different from our normal hours and I've underlined end of day times which are really changed for the holidays. Monday, December 21st: 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.Tuesday, December 22nd: 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.Wednesday, December 23rd: …
Scammers Have No Moral Compass
Here we are, in the midst of the worst pandemic in one hundred years, just trying to make sense of 2020. Finally, vaccines are beginning to appear to provide us a light at the end of the tunnel. For most of us, this fact is a reason to begin to celebrate. Unfortunately, for those morally …