BestAdvice Computers

There's a big difference between investments and expenses. An investment implies you expect to get some return on your money, while an expense is money you spend and never plan to see again.

Despite the vast difference in money-use methodologies, shoppers tend to get their terminology mixed up. "Investing" in an LCD TV or Blu-Ray player is a misnomer. Just like a new car, these items lose value as soon as you take them for a spin. Though most consumers are already aware of this detail, it doesn't seem to slow their interest when it comes to electronics. The Consumer Electronics Association projects more than $1 trillion in such spending this year, an increase of 5 percent from 2011.

With the Consumer Electronics Show wrapping up last week, tech fanatics everywhere have an itch for the next big thing. If you plan on scratching it, use these tips to help defeat depreciation.

1. Use the News
Nothing kills the excitement of a brand new gadget like discovering a price drop days after you've opened the box. In fact, many holiday shoppers are suffering through this exact scenario, thanks to a recent $100 price drop in several popular tablets. Avoid getting stuck in this predicament by tracking the news on products you're planning to buy. Big cuts are usually announced in advance to help stimulate sales. Read more

Like the TV commercials say, "Free is better." The only problem with the Internet is that it's not always free, and sometimes the price can be steeper than you'd ever want to pay.

That's the warning offered from Todd Drowlette, Chairman of classified listing site Move That Block. Drowlette said that his research into the consumer-to-consumer advertising space on the Internet revealed a wide variety of practices that exist for the sole purpose of deceiving the consumer.

"We all tend to have faith in the 'truth in advertising' laws protecting us from bait and switch scams," Drowlette said. "The problem is that the Internet is so saturated with bait and switch sites, the government would never have enough resources to prosecute them all. So, it's really up to consumers to beware and be aware of the kinds of sites that are out to get their money, get their email addresses or just flat out rip them off."

His tips include:

• Free or Premium – Before signing up with a listing site, surf it carefully to ensure that all their user listings are free. It's common for them to charge companies for display ads and banner, but that's only one of their revenue models. Many sites advertise free user listings, but in reality, only the first one is free and only after you sign up for a paid membership. Make sure you understand exactly what you will be getting for free before you sign up.Read more

Consumers across America are experiencing sticker shock with this month's electrical bill. While kilowatt rates vary by vendor, a new national increase is being seen across the country.

With the enactment of the Clear Air Interstate Rule from the Environmental Protection Agency, 31 states are required to substantially reduce power-plant emissions. Specifically, power plants must reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by a whopping 71 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 52 percent.

Coal is both the most common energy source and the primary cause of both emissions. As a result, this new regulation is expected to cost coal power plants billions of dollars for retrofitting or in facility replacements. Naturally, this expense is being passed on to consumers. Short of going "off the grid," what's a customer to do? Here are 12 tips to help reduce your kilowatt usage. Read more

Buying a new computer's always a thrill -- but sooner or later, your fast new machine will start to act like a clunker. Or will it? With a few simple tips, you can keep your computer running smoothly.

Sammsoft, a company that develops and publishes software products designed to secure, protect, maintain and enhance computer users' experience, gave us the following tips:Read more

Now that wireless networks are everywhere, computer burglars, aka hackers, are having a field day, attempting to invade your privacy and worse yet, steal your identity. Believe me, you don't want that to happen.

That is why we strongly suggest that you take the following steps to secure your network:

1. Almost all routers and access points come with an administrator password that is a weak default, like "password" or the manufacturer's name. Replace the default passwords on every wireless router or access point you purchase with passwords of your own. Imagine, for instance, how many "dlink" networks there would be in the world if none of our customers renamed their routers? Hackers make it a point to know every company's default passwords. By simply defining a new password, one that will certainly be easier for you to remember than the default, you will establish the protection you need to halt hackers from accessing your network or devices.

Most reputable vendors supply easy set-up wizards with their devices. Just follow the directions to rename your router or device with something unique and easy for you to remember. But be careful not to be so creative or simplistic that you provide sensitive information with the name you give your device. "Smith Family Router" is not the best idea. Be sure to write it down and keep it someplace safe for future reference. Without it, the only way to access the router or access point may be to reset it to factory default settings. which will wipe away any configuration changes you've made.Read more

Your hard drive just crashed, and you're afraid you have lost a bunch of important files. What do you do?

First you swear a lot, then you let panic wash over you. Then you shoot a dirty look at the "helpful" family member who asks if you backed up your files on disk. (Of course you didn't.)

After all that, take a few deep breaths and know that there is a good chance you will see those lost files again. In fact, you may be able to recover them yourself.

First, you should make sure it really is the hard drive at issue. Remove the hard drive and use a USB universal drive adapter to hook it up as a secondary drive to another computer. If your files don't show up, you know the hard drive is in trouble and you will have to invest some money in attempting to retrieve those family photos or that project for work. Remember that there are no guarantees your files will be recovered, yet in most cases, the data can be saved even when it appears that all is lost. Read more

Need to bring the Internet with you wherever you go? Consider buying a wireless broadband card for your laptop. These cards get you online while you're on a train commuting to work, sitting in an airport waiting for a flight – or even lounging on a beach soaking in some sun.

But before you purchase a card and sign a two-year service deal, think about these important factors when deciding which Broadband card and service provider to choose:

Internet access: Most Broadband companies charge customers roughly $60 per month for unlimited Internet access. If you're getting online several hours a day for both business and personal use, you will likely need to sign up for a plan that provides unlimited access. But if you use the card only a couple hours a day – when you're not at home or in the office on a desktop – you might want to consider cheaper $40-per-month plans that limit your online access to 40 or 50 megabytes a month. When shopping various providers, give them a list of ZIP codes where you will be using the card most to determine signal strength in those areas. Read more

Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of calling technical support, only to end up on hold for an extended period of time to ultimately speak to someone in a foreign country who speaks poor English. The advice we’re offered from such loosely titled "technicians" is often wrong, and it’s not uncommon to be told the problem is a.) your computer or b.) Microsoft. It can often be a colossal waste of time and energy. It’s enough to make anyone not want to call technical support ever again – and the manufacturers would like nothing better.

From the manufacturer’s perspective, offering technical support is considered a "cost center," because they do not make any money from the technical support department. As such, they cut costs every way they can by under-staffing and out-sourcing. Technical support personnel working for manufacturers are not paid to help the calling customers. Their productivity is not measured by how many customers they’ve actually helped, but instead by how many phone calls they’ve dispensed within a certain period of time. Whether the customer’s problem was actually resolved is not typically part of the equation management measures. Read more

PC security software is a necessity for any PC connecting to the Internet. However, deciding which PC security software to use can be tough. Major PC security software companies have deals with the large PC manufacturers to include trial versions of their software in the hopes that when the trial is over, you'll hand over your hard-earned cash for continued protection. The tactic works: People are so confused over what to do, they just pay the money. Who really wants to figure out how to replace the security software that came with the PC or what to replace it with?

Norton and McAfee antivirus products are the two most popular and most widely used. However, their PC security software has become so complex and complicated that it cannot only be difficult to understand and operate, but it can also severely degrade a computer's performance. Security suites have become so bloated they can even cause computers to crash upon installation. And uninstalling them can render a computer completely unusable if the uninstall does not complete correctly. Also, even after being successfully uninstalled, many files, folders and registry entries related to the PC security software are often left behind, requiring a manual clean-up to actually rid yourself of them completely. Read more

By Jeff Zbar 
www.chiefhomeofficer.com

Let’s survey the landscape of my home office’s technology graveyard: I have an old PC — circa Last Century and long since obsolete; a once-coveted, leading-edge Nokia analog cell phone my daughter now uses as a playtoy; two CRT monitors long ago replaced by flat-panel monitors; a few keyboards, mice and other gadgets and hardware that serve no purpose but to keep me from having to dust the shelf-tops on which they rest. They consume my space. There has to be a better solution.

Enter MyBoneYard, an online service designed to help people ditch the old tech.

This is no idle concern. The mercury, chemicals and various elements that exist in PCs and monitors is enough to make your body glow green. Once crushed and in the landfull, these nasties leech into the groundwater, polluting the environment and the water that irrigates our crops, quenches the native fauna — and flows through our taps. Read more