Meet Mike Slavko Mike joins Grundig IT as a desktop support technician with a wealth of IT experience, including retail/tech support at Geek Squad & Computerware, educational tech support at St. Mathews Episcopal Day School & Brandies Hillel Day School and high tech at Apple & Intel. Mike's unique combination technical expertise and computer support will enhance the Grundig IT experience for all our clients. Mike has lived in the Bay Area for over thirty years. He is originally … [Read more...] about Meet Mike Slavko
Lafayette
Computer and Network Security
Computer and Network Security Major Security Breaches Continue: If you have been following the news lately, it is evident that large businesses, government departments and other organizations continue to be hacked, sometimes disclosing personal information of millions of customers. Recent major breaches include the Sony Pictures hack (which was purportedly carried out by the North Korean government) and the Anthem breach, which affected millions of customers. In the Anthem case, … [Read more...] about Computer and Network Security
Passwords, iPhone 6 and Ask Leo!
Passwords: Computer security has been at the top of the news this year, especially with exploits such as the heartbleed bug and others taking advantage of vulnerabilities in computer security which are used throughout the Internet. The heartbleed bug puts our focus on passwords. Passwords are pervasive. We used them to access almost every site on the Internet. It is not enough to have strong passwords any more. The same passwords should not be used on different sites, especially … [Read more...] about Passwords, iPhone 6 and Ask Leo!
Google Apps
We hear a lot about cloud computing these days, so I thought I'd cover one of the most popular and powerful suites of cloud-based services available today: Google Apps. (By the way, Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and mobile devices on demand.) As usual, feel free to suggest topics which you would like to see covered in an upcoming newsletter or on the Grundig IT news page, which can be found at … [Read more...] about Google Apps
Backup and Data Recovery
Backup and Recovery Data Recovery Hard Drive - A hard drive (or multiple hard drives) store all the valuable user data in a computer or server Hard Drive Failure - A hard drive can fail at any time. Mean Time Before Failure is from 3-7 years for most drives. A computer that stops working usually has most or all of the data intact. However, it is not accessible or not recognized by the filesystem. In case of damage to the filesystem, data can usually be recovered using specialized … [Read more...] about Backup and Data Recovery
Windows 8 Preview
Windows 8 Windows 8 is expected to be released in the 2nd half of 2012. Windows 8 will be very similar in many ways to Windows 7, but will incorporate many new features such as the new Metro User Interface, Windows App Store and improved security features. New 'Metro-style' user interface with metro style apps Windows 8 certainly has got a mind blowing interactive user interface(UI), which has been extensively redesigned. The Metro-style design, which shows … [Read more...] about Windows 8 Preview
2 Time-Saving Tools
Keeping track of contacts within an email application such as Outlook can be a tough task, especially if one is not in the habit of saving everyone's information. I first started using XOBNI for Outlook 3 years ago when I downloaded the free version (a pay version with more features is also available). It's a simple, easy-to-use tool that searches and indexes your mail in order to be able to quickly access contact information when you ask it to. XOBNI is also available for GMAIL, … [Read more...] about 2 Time-Saving Tools
Cloud Computing Revisited
Cloud computing refers to computing that is taking place somewhere other than on your computer or local server. Since the computing in cloud computing takes place elsewhere, it requires a good, stable internet connection to be accessed from your PC, laptop, Mac or smartphone. For example, web-based email can be considered a cloud service and has been around for a long time. Other, newer services, such as Google Docs, Office 365 and others are becoming more popular every day. QuickBooks online … [Read more...] about Cloud Computing Revisited
The smartphone is the new computer . . .
You will probably pay more attention this year to your selection of a smartphone than to buying a computer. The personal computer has been around since the early 1980s. The original Macintosh followed shortly thereafter, in 1984. Computers as we know them are over 25 years old. Smartphones, on the other hand, such as the Blackberry from Research in Motion and the iPhone from Apple, are relative newcomers on the scene. Today's smartphones are packed with more computing power than the … [Read more...] about The smartphone is the new computer . . .
Netbook, Notebook, Desktop or Wait and Repair?
Decisions being made by computer owners or prospective owners are mainly being drive by price these days, for obvious reasons. Not everyone wants to spend a ton of money on a new PC, unless the return on investment is high enough. However, quality matters, too, as does the manner in which you will be using your machine. So, here are the 4 choices which I see right now for most business or home computer users. 1) Netbooks (a new term which has arisen over the last several years to describe a … [Read more...] about Netbook, Notebook, Desktop or Wait and Repair?
