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affinity Computer Masters’ 10th anaversery
This is the celebration of affinity’s 10th annaversery. Come join us for refreshments and prizes. Come to our offices/shop at 721 S. Mustang Road, just 1/4 mile South of Reno Ave on the West side in Mustang Creek Plaza. The festivities will be held Wednesday, the 9th from 4:30 to 6:30. We’re looking forward to seeing you there. Kurt, Susan, Matt
read moreHidden PC Costs
Why does buying a PC cost so much more than what is listed in the ads? People get frustrated when buying a Personal Computer / Mac / Laptop when the price for the PC ends up so much more than what is listed on the sticker. What are these sometimes hidden costs and what needs to be factored in to find out how much it will really cost in the end? The price on the tag from the mass producers of PCs that you see on-line or on the store shelves is only for the hardware, either the Windows or Mac system and mostly superfluous software that advertise to you or extract information from you. The most confusing of these “free” or “preloaded” products are the office and Internet security products. Free software usually means that the product is available for you without loading it. In order to use it you give personal information via registration to a third party. The “preloaded” products are much the same. They merely ask to to buy the software right away. For the free and preloaded anti-virus and Office products eg. Word™ will stop working after a time. This either puts your computer at risk or holds what you have typed into the computer for ransom until you pay (or install something other product). The cost for these can be an additional $190 above the sticker price of the PC/Mac/Laptop. Don’t forget the protection from Oklahoma weather! Most people have outlets into which they plug their computer. They may be surge strips or just power strips with out any protection. Since surge strips’ protection tend to weaken over time and exposure to power problems it is a good idea to get new electrical protection when getting a new computer. For electrical protection in Oklahoma I recommend more than a surge strip. Many of our neighborhoods suffer from momentary blackouts and with Oklahoma storms often the power dips or browns-out. These dips can really take a toll on the PC hardware and can be disastrous for the system running the PC. A simple battery backup or UPS (Uninterpretable Power Source) fits the bill. These now can be had for little more than an adequate surge strip, about $60. Printers are a possible problem, too. With a new Windows or Mac system, often their software will not work with older printers. Let’s add $150 for a moderately low priced printer on a new system, though most will opt for better models. So far that has added $400 to the sticker price of your PC. Now there are optional items to get. You may want professional setup and updates. The first part is just setting up the PC: taking it out of the box and hooking up cables. Then following the tasks the manufacturer has set up for you, agreeing to all the terms to use the computer and choosing the options the programs offer. Also there are the recovery disks to be created when you first start your PC. Now connect to the Internet and do the Windows, Adobe, Java and other updates that have come out since the factory put together the system that is on your PC. These are needed to protect your computer from hackers. Now the computer can be personalized including...
read moreDumb Smart Phone
Believe it or not I only recently obtained a smart phone. My only justification for not getting one sooner is that my PDA was still working. That’s a “Personal Digital Assistant” for those of you who don’t remember back that long ago. Now we’ve heard of texting and driving being a problem and the teens can no longer legally do that. We’ve also heard of distracted driving. Well the smart phone definitely causes that. This article is a bit more personal than most but I think my experiences with technology are as per tenant as the next guys. I’ve always tried to not talk while driving. I’ve had a couple of close calls while driving and phoning with a regular cell phone and I’ve had difficulty in stopping that behavior. I attribute this to my using wireless phones before there were cell phones. Perhaps this is why teens may have difficulty in stopping their texting wile driving. They have been using, some from a young age, before they were driving and have become habituated to responding to the tone that indicates a text message has arrived. I began to look at my text messages while driving (not responding) but I found this also too distracting and have ceased doing that. I don’t think adults are any better at texting and driving than kids. Now my main purpose in writing this is not about texting. It is about using a smart phone. Just using it for phone calls can be challenging. And heaven forbid should you need to call a family member in an emergency. That can be an exercise in futility, especially with a new phone. As with any new technology it is created in such a way that it’s use is “obvious.” There are no manuals except for FCC notifications, advertisements from the company you bought it from and maybe how to put the battery in. I didn’t even know how to answer my first phone call on the darned thing. Answering calls and starting apps on the thing was quickly learned. The main trouble was calling numbers in my address book. It seemed to take half a dozen searches and clicks to get the phone to dial. In my fustration the phone almost became a dangerous projectile! I looked for an app to call a number with just one touch to no avail. Finally, I found out that I could simply create a link on the phone to call the number without picking from all the different options for making a call. So, what does this have to do with distracted driving? Well new-bee (noob) users will, like me, look like they are texting and be just as distracted if they are trying to use their phone (not texting) while they are driving. The take-home from this is don’t try to use your phone in the car especially if it is new to you. Texting is not the only problem with smart phones while driving. It is all the other things the phones can do that just seems plain dumb when you only want to make a call. Stop distracted driving! Questions? Ask at info@affinityCM.com or IM me at kurtrr on skype. Your question may be in an upcoming blog/column. Image: scottchan /...
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