John Healy's Tech Blog

Category: Computer

Posts related to computer hardware and software

  • Windows 10 Upgrade sneakiness — latest trick

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    Last week I received a panicky call from a client. The Windows 10 Upgrade was being installed without her permission! She’d not done anything different for the last months — in response to all the nagging to Upgrade, she just clicked on the “X” button in the pop-up. She didn’t want Windows 10 on her current Windows 7 PC. Well, PC World’s May 22, 2016,…

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  • Free Windows 10 Upgrade reminder — offer ends July 29

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    Microsoft announced this week that the free Windows 10 upgrade offer would end on July 29, 2016. What will the Upgrade cost after that date? Well, that’s not clear yet. The current price for a single Windows 10 PC license on Amazon — Microsoft Windows 10 Home USB Flash Drive — is $119. PC World notes in their “Microsoft says it will stop pestering users…

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  • Ad blocking — the controversy and the future

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    So, you used Google to search for a new clock. Maybe you also viewed some clocks on Amazon. Later you noticed many ads on other pages for clocks. Yes, that’s the result of tracking your web browsing. Are you okay with that? Did you consent? Are you using an ad blocker? Is it ethical to block ads? Prior posts have covered this topic, but this…

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  • Ransomware – Homeland Security alert

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    Already this year there’s been a lot of news about ransomware, a particularly nasty type of malware. Stay informed and follow best practices to protect your PC and personal data from this threat. Here’re excerpts from an alert by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), part of the Department of Homeland Security, published on March 31, 2016. In early 2016, destructive ransomware variants…

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  • Printing from a mobile device

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    One of the most common requests from my clients is how to print from their smartphone. First I check if their printer is compatible; then configure any settings on their mobile device. Most of the printers are from HP. But other manufacturers’ printers work as well. This HP Technology at Work (April 2016) article “Tap, tap, print” discusses mobile printing. Wireless printing is the single…

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