Bishops Computer Services

How do you protect your data?
Should I manage my own business website?
I forgot my password to log onto windows….huh?
new wireless router
Is there a safe place to download music for free?
Laptops. what do you recommend?
How do you get your email messages back after a system crash and you’ve had to reformat?

Should I manage my own business website ?

If your considering managing your website, ask your self these questions:

• Do you have at least 2 hours to spare each day for the first two weeks?
• Are you computer savvy ( do you download and install software )?
• have sold anything on e-bay ?
• Are you a self proclaimed expert at image editing?
• what does FTP stand for?

You can manage your own site, but, it will take time to learn and then time to edit and time for maintenance software updating, content updating and so on. The best answer is “yes you can” but you could also learn to fix your transmission too, or get a mechanic

How do you protect your data?

As some of you may know and the rest of you will find out, when your computer goes down , or you drop your laptop, or spill your coffee on it, your data is gone..for good..sometimes you can go to a service depot and pay a large amount of money to retrieve a portion of your data, but the best way to protect your data is to BACK IT UP! Its that simple, “but I forget” is what I hear all the time. Well now you can go to the store of your choice and purchase a USB external hard drive , just ask the teenager that is helping you if the drive has an auto backup feature. Most do nowadays and will usually start up the first time you hook it up. they are very simple to use, “what do you want to back up”? check the box beside my documents, “how often do you want to backup?” once a day, once a week…you choose and then BINGO! your data is safe. please go get one now!

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I forgot my password to log onto windows….huh?

Ok so you forgot the most important password you have and the hint button is only pissin ya off. well in short, your screwed, because the choices are bleak. you can reformat …everything is wiped out! Or you can look on the net and click on links that will infect the computer your using to find an answer. or you can bribe your neighborhood hacker/geek to use some “blackhat” software to crack your machine and give you access, not recommended at all! Prevention!!!! when you first get your computer create an administrator account with the name 2ndchance and write down the password, then open the computer case 2 screws (watch for warranty labels) then tape the password inside the machine, or if there is a warranty label tape it to the very bottom of the machine. Then you will have a 2ndchance at getting into your machine.

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New wireless router

So you just bought a new wireless router to allow you to sit on your deck and surf while you sip on your morning coffee, you installed the software and went through the set up wizard and you’re good to go. Nope you’re not..after installing the software and you go turn on your laptop and get instant access to your new wireless network..you need to ask yourself some questions? 1. did you enter a password to get on the wireless network..NO 2.if I didn’t have to enter a password, no one else will either. 3. your network is now wide open to anyone within range, the range only depends on the router, you could very well be providing at least 10 of your neighbors with free wireless internet as well as access to your shared folders on your computer. So how do you secure it? each router has a default IP address on your network and will vary depending on manufacturer, for example 192.168.0.1 is the default IP for D-Link routers (My favorite routers). To access the interface you must be hooked up to your network via a cable, you cannot access this console via wireless connection. enter the default address in the address bar at the top of your browser and press enter. It will take a few moments but a D-Link interface page will appear. enter “admin” in the user id field and leave the password blank and click enter. boom your in! Now head into the tab where it says wireless security and enable it! choose a pass code and hit apply. Nnow when you want to access the wireless from your laptop enter the code once and it will remember it. And now you have a code to give your buddies and charge your neighbors for LOL. There is a little more to this but if you read what you’re doing you should get through it no problem. or you can drop me an email and I can help you out. bishopscomputers@gmail.com

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Is there a safe place to download music for free?

NO….just like the old saying goes “you get what you pay for”. Gone are the days Napster where you could trust your fellow net surfers to provide clean downloads, now when you download from anywhere that you are not paying for the content you are seriously playing Russian roulette with your computer and everything in it. Peer to peer sharing site like slimewire! you are at the mercy of the file you download. It could have any name as the title but when you try to play it by double clicking…guess what…you just clicked install to a virus that will most likely now have free range to all your data. As well with peer to peer sharing you also share a portion of your hard drive with the entire universe when using these programs. So to sum it up ..NO..there is no safe place to down load music and videos for FREE. Now I will get a few emails saying they have no problems with the program they use for downloading and that everything works fine..ya! That’s called a keylogger and it does not want you to think there is anything wrong and wants you to keep using your PC as you usaully would …so it can collect as much of your personal information as it can while you type your passwords and user names into all you favorite sites like your online banking and facebook accounts. And then one day you wake up and your visa is racked to high heaven and some dude is on a all inclusive vacation in some tropical paradise, thanks to a free song. THIS HAPPENED TO ME …. no kidding some guy hacked my info and went on SEVERAL trips that he booked in one day and it took me 8 weeks to get my money back and prove it wasn’t me in Rome, and that i was here in Winnipeg freezing my butt of. So protect yourself …nothing is for free!

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Laptops. what do you recommend?

There are plenty of choices for laptops, but what you need to ask yourself is, what will you be doing with it? and when do you want to buy another one? If you are going to be surfing, checking email and spending your life on facebook, then really any laptop will do. Its then only a matter of price. But if you are purchasing a laptop for a specific task in mind then you need to assess what you will be doing. If you are going to be doing a lot of office productivity then your main concern should be the software, Microsoft office suite or open office suite(free). Your productivity will be determined by your software capability. If you are going to be creating multimedia projects, videos, picture editing and any other intensive work, power is your friend at that point. Also, please keep in mind that a laptop is not like a desktop where you can just undo a few screws and replace parts and/or upgrade them, my motto with laptops is buy once buy right, that often means a large price tag , because once you purchase a laptop its that way until it dies. So go big or go home. If you want to get a laptop that you know will do the job and do it for a while before you have to upgrade go and get a gamer class laptop. These laptops always come with higher end components and often blow the screens off of other bargain laptops. The last time I bought a laptop I spent $2600.00 and the new laptop I am looking at now is over $4000.00. Note: Always get the extended warranty… ALWAYS! The extended warranty is worth every penny. I spent $300.00 for the extended warranty and on my first and only visit to the depot it paid for itself. The inner workings of a laptop are all connected and often if one thing goes the whole thing is done like chicken. For any further info or questions or even a recommendation of whats out there now, just drop me an email.

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How do you get your email messages back after a system crash and you’ve had to reformat?

This will all depend on what email service you use..if you use MTS, Shaw or any other email service provided to you by your internet provider, you cannot! because once you have viewed or downloaded the email, it is now off of their server and no longer on record…..So what can you do? Instead of using those email services, get a free mailbox from hotmail, yahoo and/or my favorite GMAIL by google. These are very similar services, in that they all offer a web based interface that holds your email in the net and not on your PC. GMAIL is the service I use and have been for 6 years now. With gmail I have never, that’s right never deleted any mail other than spam. I have over 5000 emails in my GMAIL, and are archived so they don’t take up a lot of room. With that being said I have had many computers but I have never lost my contacts or my emails because google keeps them for me, so no matter what happens to my hardware all I need is a computer with an internet connection and I have them all. On top of this I use Outlook 2003 and sync my gmail seamlessly with it, even though I am viewing and editing my emails within Outlook my emails still remain on google gmail server, even the ones I sent from my computer. please refer to earlier posts were I talk about backing up your data, because I back up my Outlook data every month and so should you. For more information on this topic just drop me an email…

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