Techno babel, decoded.

For those of you using windows most of you probably use Internet Explorer as your web browser.  What happens if the web page doesn't load right, or IE breaks?   My recommendation is to have at least one other browser installed.   For windows machines you can install Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari. Mac users have Safari as the default, and can install Firefox, and Opera. The reason it is important is because if your browser crashes or is hijacked you need an alternative to get onto the internet to download something to clean your system.

I've been busy being a father and switching jobs. I'm now a System Administrator at Capital Bank in Raleigh. Father of a 19 month old (going on 3 year old) boy.  I'll be posting some more tech tips, but my focus is no longer desktop support so I won't have as many helpful tips to share in the future.  I will however be posting a variety of ideas, tips, tricks, and tools to help you with your computers and life in general.  See you all soon. --John

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html Steve, Thank you for your creativity and inspiration. Sadly, I never got to meet you in person. But you touched so many lives and changed the way many of us go about ours. You will be missed and remembered. Thank you for living your life!

For those who have not yet heard anything about the occupy wall street movement I would suggest visiting here: http://occupywallst.org/ The group seems to be getting more organized and it is scaring the bankers. So for those of you with the time and ability to join the protest go for it. I may join one of the local events but I'm busy working a full time job and freelancing on the side to save money for a baby on the way. I personally feel that the 1% doesn't understand how to give back to the community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htX2usfqMEs The above post sums up the way I feel. That's all for the off topic post. Next one will be back to my irregularly scheduled technical jargon.

Android Apps, (Warning, this post not edited by my wife, read at your own risk.) As the university (where I work) is moving away from departmentally issued cell phone’s to the new stipend plan, many of you will end up with either an iPhone or android phone. Personally I turned in my iPhone for a Droid 2 (The R2D2 version since I am geeky like that!) I don’t miss my iPhone. Anyway I wanted to list some of the more useful FREE Apps I have found so far that I think every phone owner would benefit from. 1.) Lookout Mobile Security! MUST HAVE! - This app is amazing for multiple reasons, first it is a virus scanner that checks all apps on your phone. Second it back’s up your phone on a regular basis. Third it can activate the GPS on your phone and locate it remotely from any computer. It can even show on a map within about 200 feet where it is. Last you can remotely sound an alarm to help you locate the phone when you misplace it, and then if you discover your phon...

Okay, so being an IT tech I should know better! Seriously I should. I take security very seriously. However this week I discovered, too seriously. I had an app on my android phone I used to store all my passwords. Android pushed out an OS update for my phone and what did I do? I installed it, I mean most updates are really good and offer new features and better security. I didn't think that it may break my most crucial application. Guess what? IT BROKE MY PASSWORD APP! I spent the last 4 hours trying to undo this change to get my password database back. It’s not life critical because they can all be reset, but it is EXTREMELY ANNOYING! I’ve spent the last 6 months creating this master database and I even backed up the database into an encrypted password file on my computer. But guess what, the password to get into the encrypted file on my computer, was stored in the database. DOH! I thought I had it memorized, but with so much going on day to day, and...

I know it has been a while since I've posted anything and I should probably begin with another PC post but that will have to wait for a few days. I'm posting about what inspire's me and what my help inspire you. With that said, here I go. Happy Sunday Everyone, Today I'm going to share a tidbit about why I am going back to school. I have been a computer tech for 20 years now and I am very good at what I do. But I am also a little (okay a lot) bored. About a year ago my brain began to feel like it was stagnating. I’ve managed to keep the stagnation at bay by getting security certifications, becoming more familiar with Mac OS and Linux, but it’s still really just the same principles over and over. I fix things when they break. So about 9 months ago my wife and I were talking about vacations and where we wanted to go, when somehow we got onto the subject of there being only 2 shuttle launches left at the time and she had never been to see one. I watched...