My pet peeve #1 - you would think it would be a customer losing or forgetting a password. Although that is frustrating, that's not my #1 pet peeve. What is, however, is when information is not updated to recover or reset the password. Pet Peeve #1 Examples For example: recently, I was setting up a …
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.
How To Be CERT-ain
I want to share with you a great government page regarding cyber security. It's the Department of Homeland Security site called US-CERT. On the home page, there's an opportunity to get on their email list for security alerts. You should sign up. Yes, some things in the alerts will be way over your head. Still, …
What????
What the heck is that? Well, that's a very small portion of code from our webinar page. (www.4kcc.com/webinars) All of the Internet would look like this if we didn't have something called a browser. The most popular browsers include: Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi and Internet Explorer.# There are tons of other …
The Time Has Passed
In my blog of September 20, 2018, I spoke about the fact that I have Windows 10 users still using Internet Explorer. Well, today, I want to update that post a bit. I want to mention that not using IE isn't limited to just Windows 10 users. If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, …
Should You Go Out Of Business Or Just Move The Candy Rack?
Let's pretend you own a convenience store franchise - perhaps a 7-11 or Cumberland Farms or maybe a Turkey Hill. Additionally, let's say that you have a candy rack near the front door as you're trying to entice customers into purchasing some slightly high-priced candy. But, when inventory time comes around, you discover that a …
Continue reading Should You Go Out Of Business Or Just Move The Candy Rack?
Michael (Don’t) Row Your Boat Ashore
Hurricane Michael is headed for the Florida Panhandle and is currently packing winds of 100 MPH. For our customers in the area of projected impact, we hope you are evacuating and/or finding a safe place to stay. If you are in the landfall area, be sure to let friends and family know of your plans …
Question of the Week Email Error
There was a mistake in today's Question of the Week email. To sign up for Wednesday's webinar, here is the correct link: 5 Websites That Will Keep You Thinking!
Whatever Happened To Columbus Day?
In the United States, Columbus Day is still a Federal holiday. The Federal Reserve is closed, as is the US Postal Service. Non-essential Federal employees have the day off, as well. On the state level, however, controversy reigns. More and more states either ignore Columbus Day altogether or they have replaced it with another holiday …
Fake News!
Okay, I made that part up about "Fake News" just to get your attention! Now that I have it, you might as well stick around to see what I am really talking about in this post. Although it's not fake news, I want to educate you about fake tech support. When you purchase a computing …
More Webinars!
We've scheduled two more webinars. Be sure to sign up for them by visiting https://www.4kcc.com/webinars! The first webinar is Wednesday, October 10th at 4:00 p.m. This free, 30-minute training session is entitled "5 Websites That Will Keep You Thinking." We're going to explore 5 sites that will keep your brain active, make you laugh, and …
October Update Features
In my last blog, I mentioned that I would share some of the new features of Windows 10 version 1809. There are lots of updates for those of us in the techie field but there are some pretty cool, new features for the home user, too. One of the areas of Windows 10 with the …
Windows 10 October Update
Yesterday, October 2, 2018, Microsoft released it's newest edition of Windows 10 - Version 1809. The update will slowly be pushed out to the millions of computers running Windows 10. Of course, here at KCC, I upgraded my main computer manually, as soon as the update was ready for download. When the update was finished, …
Are You One In 50 Million?
As you may have heard, Facebook was recently hacked. About 50 million users had their information placed at risk. Facebook moved quickly to fix the issue but the damage was done. If you're a Facebook user, you should change your password - just to be on the safe side. And, the other thing you should …
Make Someone Smile!
Here at Keystone Computer Concepts, we buy from Amazon an average of two to three times a week. When we do, we don't shop at amazon.com. Instead, we shop at smile.amazon.com. Most purchases we make qualify for an Amazon donation to our favorite charity. We support Shania Kids Can - an organization founded by Shania …
5 Computer Acronyms You Should Know
As I mentioned in a previous post, we love acronyms in the computer world. We have so many of them, we just can't keep up with them. But, in today's daily missive, I'm going to introduce you to 5 computer acronyms you should know. Additionally, I'm going to direct you to a new page on …
3 Ways
When it comes to hooking up your printer to your computer, there are three ways, although not all printers give you all three options. USB Cord With this method, a USB cord is hooked up between your printer and your computer. This is the most direct way of being able to print but it also …
Another Acronym?
In the techie world, we love acronyms. We have a million of them! One of the newest ones is IoT which stands for Internet of Things! Equipment falling into the IoT category include those devices that allow us to control things in our homes or work areas from the outside. Example: from my phone, from …
Are Foreigners On Your Computer?
Those Evil Foreigners! Are there foreigners on your computer? You've heard me talk about the scam artists who will tell you anything and lie through their teeth just to sell you their worthless service. You know if you let them onto your computer, they will do whatever they can to panic you. The picture above …
Weird Windows?
We've had a number of customers log into our remote service (www.4kcc.com/rts) because they have some weird windows at the top of their browser. They look like this: What are those little windows at the top of the browser page? Those are preview windows found in Microsoft Edge. Of course, if you are using any …
Address Book Thief!
STOLEN In the past few days, I received emails from one of my relatives and one of my friends in which there was an invitation to click on a link. The only thing was that, although the emails had the person's name, the return email address was an address that ended in .jp - the …
Fake Scam Pages – Turn Off Alternative
In our last post, I explained why your anti-virus doesn't block the fake scam pages which can appear on your computing device. I also mentioned that one of the ways of getting rid of those pages is by turning your computing device off. (Hold the physical button that you use to start your device in …
Anti-virus Not Working?
It's been about 2 years since I first published a video warning people about the fake webpages and pop-ups that can appear on your computing devices. (You can watch the video farther down in this post.) Still, every week we receive at least one phone call or one person logs into our Remote Technical Support …
The Time Has Come…
Amazingly, I have customers with Windows 10 who are still using Internet Explorer as their primary browser. If you are one of those people, I have a message for you: it's time to stop using IE! In today's Internet world, security is primary. Unfortunately, Internet Explorer - which has been around since August, 1995 - …
To Skype Or Not To Skype!
Free Webinar You've seen Skype used on television shows and on news broadcast. Perhaps you've even used Skype yourself. Regardless, there are new features and changes in the Skype program. In our free, 30-minute webinar, we're going to explore how to use the newest version of Skype. The webinar is this Friday, September 21, 2018 …
iOS 12 Today!
For all you iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users, a new operating system, iOS 12, is available today. Yes, I've already installed it on my iPhone (at 4:00 a.m. today). The latest OS is full of new features. More importantly, though, Apple has improved speed and security. For instance, Apple says that the camera will …
Subscribe?
In my last blog post, I talked about YouTube Premium. Today, I want to explain the process of subscribing to a YouTube Channel. As I mentioned in the previous post, if you go to YouTube and search 4KCC (notice all capital letters) our channel will come up, usually at the very top of the search …
Are You Seeing Red?
Formerly known as YouTube Red YouTube is an awesome site with videos on any subject you can think of. Here at Keystone Computer Concepts, we have our own YouTube Channel and we hope you'll subscribe. To find us, just search 4KCC in the YouTube search box! Of course, to host all the videos that YouTube …
I Didn’t Know You Could Do That!
If you missed our webinar this week, you can view the entire webinar by clicking this button: Webinar 09-13-2018
Flash In Firefox
If you visit a website in Mozilla Firefox and there’s a message that you need the latest Adobe Flash, you need to check it. Adobe Flash is not built into Firefox so it's possible it is actually an old version. To check your Adobe Flash installation for Firefox, visit the test page by clicking the …
Flash In Microsoft Edge
If you visit a website in Microsoft Edge and there’s a message that you need the latest Adobe Flash, you can assume that’s a mistake if your Windows Updates are current. Since Adobe Flash is built into Microsoft Edge and can’t be updated separately, what the webpage is really telling you is that Adobe Flash …