My Computer is Slow. I Should Get a Mac. 

Wrong Wrong Wrong! 

This is a common misconception that I'd like to address before moving on to the main point of this post, which is how to speed up the performance of your computer.

People seem to think that Macs are inherently faster than PC's based on their experiences. However, there are several factors that go in to determining how a computer functions. The first is price. It all boils down to the well known phrase:

You get what you pay for. 

The cheapest Mac computer starts at a cool $999. Comparatively, the cheapest PC can be had for around $250. This price gap makes an enormous difference when it comes to performance. The individual components that go into a Mac are going to be much higher quality than those that go into the $250 PC. If you were to compare a $1000 PC to a $1000 Mac, you would find that you can often get much greater value and performance from a PC. You get what you pay for.

So you bought a cheap PC and now it's slow. What are you going to do about it? Well first, don't make the same mistake twice, ya cheapskate. It's wise to invest in something you're going to use everyday.

Thankfully, there are some things that you can do to speed up your current computer and prevent it from getting that way again. The first thing you'll need to do is install some virus protection software. I recommend AVG. First, download the software from the link below. Wait 5 seconds, click the "Skip Ad" button, and then click the big green download button.

Click Me!

After clicking the big green button, a file should start to download. Double click it when it says it's finished.

Double click where it says avg_free. This starts the install process. When this screen appears, click "Downgrade" where it says "Switch to Free Protection".

After this installs, it will prompt you to restart your computer. Don't worry we're almost done! After it restarts, go to your taskbar and click the icon for AVG.

It's the four-colored square. Double click that icon. Once the program launches, just click "Scan Now" and wait for the program to scan your computer for errors. This should take about 15 minutes. Go have a cup of tea!

All Done! Your computer should now be rid of many nasty programs, and now has virus protection for the future. However, let's remember 3 NEVERs to protect our computers from viruses and malware in the future.

1. NEVER open email attachments from people you don't know.

     2.  NEVER download a program or a game from a site you don't recognize.

     3.  NEVER panic and just buy a Mac.

As always, if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment or send me an email!

-The Help Desk

Understanding the Internet

As magical as the internet may seem to us, it's actually a very real and tangible technology that most people just don't fully understand. So what do you need to know about the internet?

First, the internet is made out of a vast network of computers that are all connected to each other. When you visit a website, you're essentially visiting another computer that has the content of that website stored on its hard drive. When you connect your computer to the internet, you become a part of it! You can stay in contact with family and share funny cat videos.

Now isn't that nice?

So how does the internet get into your home, and how do we fix it if it breaks? It starts by coming in through your cable modem or satellite dish. This is the same thing that lets you watch cable television. From there it generally goes to what's called a wireless router. Think of this as a hose being attached to a sprinkler. The hose is the internet and the sprinkler is what distributes the internet to the devices in your home without the need for wires. If you've heard the term Wi-Fi, this is what it is.

Here's a diagram that should help to explain it and help you identify your devices:

A wireless router- characterized by its antenna










A modem- look for the blinky lights!






If you're having trouble accessing the internet, a quick fix can be to unplug the power cords from both of the devices above. Wait 60 seconds, and plug them back in. Give it a few minutes to reset and then try accessing the internet again. If you think this sounds familiar to my previous post, you'd be right. That's because these things are all connected!

Daily Challenge:

If you can't get to the internet, try plugging your computer directly in to your cable modem. If it seems to fix the problem, that means the problem is with your wireless router. The cable will look like this:

If it doesn't work, it most likely is the fault of your cable provider and you should call and complain.

Fun fact: By threatening to cancel your cable internet service, you can often get big discounts on your monthly rate!

The Art of Troubleshooting

Let's see if this sounds familiar. You're trying to do something you do everyday, checking email or reading the news, when all of a sudden, everything stops working. Something freezes, or the dreaded "can't connect to the internet" error appears and you feel like your world is ending.

Remain calm. It's going to be okay. Resist the urge to pick up the phone and call the tech-savy person in your life because most likely they are going to tell you the same thing I am. 

Turn it off and turn it back on again. 

These nine magic words have been spoken across telephone lines since the beginning of the computer age for a reason. It works. That black box in front of you works through a series of smaller processes, sort of like a to-do list, but a list that must be done in a very specific order. If one thing fails, it can cause a chain reaction that results in the error messages that you dread so much. Thankfully, most of the time, these problems can be fixed by resetting everything. 

If you don't know how to do this, it's very simple. On mobile devices, (pretty much any piece of technology that isn't your computer) hold down the power button until something happens. On an Apple product this will appear: 

You guessed it. Just slide to turn it off. Hold the same button to bring it back from the dead. 

Now for a Windows PC, there is a recommended way to shut down, and an emergency method. For the recommended method, right click on the start button, and click shut down or restart. 

If your computer freezes and you can't interact with it in any way, hold down the power button until it shuts off. Press and hold the same button to bring it back to life. 

 <----------- Universal Power Symbol

These tried and true troubleshooting techniques are the first step to finding out what the problem is. In the next post, we'll work through a few more specific issues. If your problem continues, you can at least proudly and defiantly tell the tech support people "I ALREADY TRIED THAT" when they ask you to:

Turn it off and turn it back on again.

Happy Troubleshooting!