Posted on

New Year Redefine your Tech goals

First of all, Happy new year to all, may this year bring you many joyful moments in your life. Now let’s get back into Tech world, as we all getting more and more attached our self to Technologies, we need to keep it clean as same way we do with our home, office, car, etc… If we don’t digital data will continue filling up your hard drive, phone, tablet, computer, etc… even though storage is getting cheaper and cheaper that does not mean we keep filling up. When we need something, it’s very hard to find and some information might be sitting in unknown places where someone else might have access to it, whom you don’t want to or did not even know about it.

Explore more ways to keep your system up to date, which will keep your data safe. These days most if not all of the tech things we use are cloud-based, which we have no idea who is looking around your data, privacy keeps changes, software keeps getting updated, with added more restrictions to help protect you, but at the end of the day you are the one who needs to a take action. It does not matter what kind of device you are using, they are all digital data and if they are connected to the internet, it can compromise your data, it’s just a matter of time.

To do list:

  • Keep your device up to date by checking for updates and check on Tech news that may affect your device
  • Change your password at least twice a year and more complex
  • Keep your eyes on the permission/privacy settings of your device(s)/application(s)
  • Delete old data which no longer needed or outdated (be careful not to get confused with sync vs. backup)
    • Sync – same data on all device, if you are cleaning because your device doesn’t have storage by deleting it will delete on all devices. Some application might have an option on what data to sync.
    • Backup- is more of going back in time when your data is backed up. It mostly used when your data get corrupted, virus, or malware (any important data, should be kept 2 or more copies and maybe even offline version)
  • Uninstall any application you don’t use
  • if your device or application supports 2 steps authentication, set it up so it gives you added extra security
  • Last but not least, don’t post your personal data on social media or any public sites or give any personal info over the phone unless you are the person who called to known person or institution

Enjoy your every moment, not a single moment are same. if you had bad moments they gone, but by thinking of bad moments you are loosing current moments and creating similar for future. So enjoy current moment and create new good moments 🙂 for future, stay safe.


Posted on

Windows operating system information

Windows operating system came long way, I am listing some links from Microsoft about Windows versions and release information, since there are so many versions it’s very hard to find information about different version.  Microsoft have listed the fact sheet for Windows at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853, this also includes the Windows Servers version 2008-2019.

Windows version 10, 8, 7 Home, Enterprise, Education, Pro, and Pro for Workstation editions.  Also includes Windows version history, Date of availability, Mainstream support end date, and extended support end date.  If you want to know more about the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy FAQ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17140/lifecycle-faq-general-policy-questions

If you just want to know more about the Windows 10 release information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10/release-information

Windows Server release information https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/windows-server-release-info


Posted on

Are you paying too much for your Internet and want to save?

Hello all users, people ask me many times what kind of internet should I get (Fios, Cable, DSL, etc..)? or how much should I pay for my internet?  I will not say any vendor here because don’t want to sell you one vendor over another, all I can say is shop around and pay attention to details especially on fine prints, not that you will have an option to change, but at least you are aware of it.  The answer to this question is not clear unless you know what your needs for the internet are and how many users going to be connected to the internet.  One thing for sure normal users, who don’t know much about technology, the provider makes big money from them, buy selling bundle packages, and upgrade packages.  When your internet runs slow, the first thing to do is check to make sure it’s not only you having issues or you’re a device.

Here are few ways to do find out if the website you are on or your internet connection:

  • Go to any other website
  • Use a different browser (like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet, etc..)
  • Do a speed test
    https://fast.com/en/, http://speedof.me, https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/, many others out there, but the vendor has their own, so they can control, while you test it)
  • If you have option user another device, nowadays most people have a smartphone or tablet, so check on that
  • Also in a different location if you trying to find out speed

If your internet use is normal, meaning browsing, shopping, watching videos, etc… then you fell into general use.  You may be paying too much for your internet connection if it’s normal to use and paying over $100-$200 per month, because Vendor may have you in a bundle package with high speed/download like 150Mbps/75Mbps, in reality, you only be using 3Mbps to 25Mbps for Download and upload maybe about 1Mbps to 10Mbps.  Here are some facts, you can watch High Definition videos with speed of 5Mbps that’s 1080p if you have Ultra High Definition (UHD 4k), then about 25Mbps.  Also if Vendor giving you 150Mbps, but where you getting your content like website or videos limits you from download maximum about 5Mbps or 20Mbps, then you are just throwing your money out the window.  Also, your Vendor might be blocking or throttling, look at up on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_throttling, you from downloading or uploading.

How can you find out if your Vendor is throttling you?  It’s very easy, but your vendor will not accept it or give you all kind of excuses, that it’s on your end.  Also, tech person cannot say anything because they were monitored and recorded for quality and training purposes.  You can do a simple test by downloading or uploading a big file from one source and checking in two different locations.  You may have to try few locations or sources, to confirm it’s not the source, vendor or hosting service throwing.  I hope people get the service for what they paid for, not pay a lot and use just a fraction of it.  Feel free to leave a comment on anything, you want, maybe someone can learn more.


Posted on

SanDisk SSD Drive

SSD (Solid State Drive) drives are the common now on many devices, I have been using for about 3 plus years and I cannot live without it.  Any computer that I support end users, whom still using the spinning drive, it feels very slow.  I have been using Samsung most part, I just wanted to try SanDisk, because it’s what I use as a flash drive most part.  This is great for home users; because it has software then can monitor your drive and user able to see stats on their hard drive and performance.  It also has help option where a user can chat with live support to get basic support.  Here are some screenshots of the drive in action.

Status of SSD SanDisk SSD Drive:

Under Tools you will find cloning software, so you can clone your old hard drive and switch it over from old spinning drive to new SSD Drive.

Under Help, you get an option to contact live chat support for basic on new drives and other user manuals.

You may run into this issue unless they have fixed it.  I just did not like when I installed their recommend software Acronis which said clearly supports Western Digital or SanDisk drive and it could not see my new SanDisk which was plugged in.  After contacting them via live support, got them to send me the link for a quick fix and it works fine.

Overall if you are still running old spanning drive, think about it getting SSD drive.  You don’t have to get SanDisk, just make sure you get one with faster Read/Write speed and good software to clone your old drive with some easy access to their support in case you run into any issues.