Garcea Computers

May 2013 Newsletter

05/17/2013 12:00 AM

Finally the weather has turned nice! Noah is outside playing and for everyone who hasn't heard the news, Bonny is pregnant again. Our new baby's due date is December 6^th of this year. That makes for an even busier time in our lives. We're really excited that we get the opportunity to be blessed with another baby especially since the doctors told us we wouldn't be able to have another baby due to Bonny's medical history.

Spring Cleanup Reminder Don't forget to schedule a Spring Cleanup on your computer. The Spring Cleanup takes about an hour and we clean out the junk on your computer, uninstall programs that you're not using and perform general maintenance. Call to schedule your appointment today!

What will you do when the PC is obsolete?... There has been a lot of talk in the news about how we live in a post PC world. I found an article from PC World that talks about how you can't do everything on a tablet that you're used to doing on a PC. There were some interesting points in the article that I want to talk about. The first one is typed documents. I know a lot of you have iPads and tablets and I think we can all agree that typing anything on a virtual glass keyboard is brutal. If I have to type more than a few words I'm reaching for my laptop or my desktop.

The second point of discussion is multitasking with different windows. If you've ever tried to multitask on a tablet, you know it's difficult to do. You have to keep changing windows and closing apps and opening other ones. When you're on your laptop you can have everything spread out across the desktop.

The last point that I thought pertained to most of my customers is working in large documents like spreadsheets. A few years ago when I first got my iPad, I bought an office-like program and found that it's impossible to work in spreadsheets without a mouse. It was one of the worst experiences I've ever had with a tablet.

The reason I wanted to discuss these points is that I have a lot of customers who try to replace their computer with tablets. The above information and information found in the article linked below shows that the best thing to do is to have a desktop or laptop for typing long documents, playing certain games, saving a lot of music or pictures, or working in complex documents like spreadsheets where a mouse comes in handy.

If you just need to check your email or browse the web, tablets are great. I use my tablet for that all the time, but if any time consuming task comes up, I reach for my laptop. We've never had a customer who's been happy switching to only a tablet. People that have tried to do that wind up buying some other type of computer, too.

To read more examples of what you can't do with a tablet click here.

Enjoy the rest of Spring, and as always, if there's anything we can help you with, give us a call.

April newsletter "Is your Software Pirated?"

04/12/2013 12:00 AM

One important thing I've learned is when it's April and it's still cold outside, toddlers get really bored inside and you can't do anything about it. This year gives a whole new definition of cabin fever. Noah is now 15 months and runs around with tons of energy and really wants to go outside and can't. We are definitely looking forward to warmer weather.

Pirated Software This month's newsletter topic is pirated software. It is very likely that at one time or another we have all had pirated software. The problem with pirated software, besides it being illegal, is that it costs more in the long run than if you had purchased it outright in the first place. And sometimes you don't even overtly steal it. Consider the following scenarios

Scenario One
A friend loans you an install disc for a very expensive software. You install it on your computer, and soon, you can't imagine how you ever lived without it. Thanks to the loan, you can now also afford it. Something happens to your computer or you get a new one and you need to have the software reinstalled. But, for whatever reason, your friend isn't around anymore and you don't have their disc. Without the disc, the program that you have grown to love cannot be moved or re-installed. You have to then go out and buy the software. In addition to down time, you now have to purchase the very expensive software that you couldn't afford and wouldn't have started using in the first place.

Scenario Two
A friend gives you 3 copies of Adobe software.The software was overkill for what you were doing anyway, but you like it so much you become dependent on it and start using this software and creating things for your business with it.When you have to replace computers you are forced to purchase the Adobe software for $4000.Chances are you would have used a less expensive alternative if you had purchased the software yourself in the first place.

Where we've seen this be the biggest problem is with your Windows disc.

Scenario Three
A friend installs Windows on all 7 of your custom-built computers. Later, the hard drives start to go bad.Normally, we would replace the hard drive and reinstall Windows, but you don't have Windows disc and we can't buy a new one so a $250 repair becomes a $1,000 computer replacementall because you didn't own the copy of Windows that had to be reinstalled.To make matters worse, all of your computers were about the same age so every 3-6 months another hard drive would die. This happens 6 more times.By the end of this scenario, you end up replacing all of your computers in the span of 12-18 months.If you had not had the pirated copy of Windows we could have replaced some of the hard drives and saved you lots of money.

Always buy your software.In the long run it will save you money because we can actually repair the computer in most cases, IF you own the original software.

Software Serial Numbers
Since we're on the topic of reinstalling software I wanted to share some tips about software serial numbers. It is a good idea to keep all of your software in one place. Make a folder labeled Computer Software, where you can store all of your software purchase receipts. Most software is purchased online now and you are emailed an activation code or CD key. Print out that email and save it in a file that says computer software. Then if we have to fix your computer we have all of the software licenses in one convenient folder ready to go when we work on your new computer or repair your existing one.It seems simple enough, but not many people actually do this. Then we're stuck trying to find the information we need which takes time and costs you more money in downtime and labor charges from us.

For our business clients, we have a form we use to keep track of all of your network passwords, software serial numbers, and network information and we can help you organize this information. Give us a call.

March 2013 Newsletter

03/21/2013 12:00 AM

I can't believe the snow we had at the beginning of this month. Hopefully it will all be melted soon. Spring is just around the corner. Noah is getting big and is running all over the place. He also wants to know how things work and is trying to take things apart (just like his Dad used to do)!

Spring Cleaning
Last year our Spring Cleanup Special was so popular with our residential clients, we decided to offer it again this year.For those of you unfamiliar, a Spring Cleanup is when we go through your computer to make sure your antivirus is working, your backup is working and fix any annoying problems or glitches you've been having since we've seen you last. We also perform maintenance tasks that keep the computer up-to-date which can increase the speed of the computer. If you are interested in this service please call to set up an appointment today.

For our business customers, now is a good time to call us for general maintenance on your server and/or workstations. Microsoft comes out with updates every month.If you've never done Windows updates on your computers, now would definitely be a good time to think about doing that. Please call today and we can discuss individual needs for your network.

Windows 8
I've been getting a lot of questions about Windows 8.Is it better than what I have now? Should I upgrade my computer? Can I upgrade my computer to Windows 8?

Before you purchase any new computers with Windows 8 or upgrade computers to Windows 8, we will need to review your software and make sure that it is in fact compatible with it. Windows 8 uses a new interface and may require that you upgrade your software to be compatible. In my opinion Windows 8 is difficult to use because Microsoft eliminated the start button. You can read about the new interface more in depth in my October 2012 newsletter (http://garceacomputers.com/news.php?function=details&id=46). From my own experience and from what customers are telling me, this new interface is slowing everything down because people have to relearn how to find and access their programs. I can still get Windows 7 computers and if you're a business that needs a new computer or a home user who isn't ready to jump into Windows 8, we can help you.

Now as far as Windows 8 being better than Windows 7, I would say no. I think Microsoft is trying to compete with Apple and that is why they came out with Windows 8. I would not try to upgrade an existing computer to Windows 8 unless you have Windows 7 on that computer. We have done several upgrades and have found that each computer needs to be checked to see if it's compatible with Windows 8. Some computers are compatible and others aren't. It just depends on the age of the machine and what software you're currently running. The best thing to do is to call us if you have questions about Windows 8 so we can help you with the upgrade or advise you on the best course of action.

Remember to call about Spring Cleanups and as always, if there's anything we can do to help please let us know.

February 2013 Newsletter Security Edition

02/12/2013 12:00 AM

Security Edition

I hope everyone is having a good year so far. We've had a hard time staying well at my home. First Noah got a cold, which he promptly gave to my wife. Then both of them had sinus infections. They both got better, but I had stomach flu. Then Noah got another cold and gave it to Bonny (again). Noah got better; Bonny got an ear infection.Hopefully we're all going to get and stay well longer.

This month I wanted to talk to you about security. We've had many customers with security issues lately.In fact, there have been so many security issues lately, that it seems like every night there is a news story about a new virus, or compromised programs and malware being used to take control of a computer.

I regularly receive security newsletters and one of the most recent focused on some of the threats that all business and residential customers should be aware of.

A new area of concern is the increasing number of cloud services. There has been an explosion of people using the cloud to communicate, store data, and backup their computers. Services like Dropbox are handy (I use them myself), but that doesn't change the fact that your information is on the Internet. If you store sensitive information in the cloud and someone gains access to it, how will your life or business be impacted? Further, some recent court cases are questioning the ownership and right to privacy of data in the cloud.

Email is actually a cloud-based solution. If you use web-based email, that means it is stored on the Internet. Most don't realize that email is usually unencrypted. This means whenever you send information via email the potential exists for it to be compromised on the way from your email box to the recipient.

Now I've probably gotten some of you scared, and you're wondering what can you do to protect yourself? There are a number of options.

If you own a business, you need a firewall. A firewall is a piece of equipment on your network that helps protect you from viruses and network intrusion. We strongly recommend these for all of our business customers.

The next tip is simple: don't use the same password for multiple accounts. I know password management is a pain that you have to have all these passwords, but it's a bigger pain if your bank account or other information is compromised.

Just be careful with what you store in the cloud. If you're using Dropbox or any other cloud service, don't store anything there you can't afford to become public knowledge.

Never send anyone your credit card information through email and always have antivirus protection on your computer.

For my business customers, you should consider a business grade email solution like Hosted Exchange. This has enhanced security features including, advanced spam protection, optional encryption, and remote wiping of your phone or tablet. All of these features greatly enhance your email security.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, pertaining to anything in this newsletter. I'd love to sit down and discuss your individual circumstances with you. Finally, don't think that any of these things can't happen to you because they can. Protect yourself as much as possible now to avoid headaches later on.

January 2013 Newsletter

01/11/2013 12:00 AM

Happy New Year everybody! Thanks for all the support you've given to us this last year. I thought I would start out the New Year by briefly reviewing our services. I know that as we grow and change as a company it can be hard to keep up-to-date with all of our service offerings. Below is a sampling of our most frequently used services. How may we help you?

Service Offerings

On-site computer repair (both PC's and Mac's)
Computer/project consulting (ask us anything IT related.)
Network setup (connecting computers together so they can share files and Internet)
Wireless Internet setup (this way you can sit on the couch and surf the net)
Virus removal (the doctor is IN)
Setup printers (so you can print on multiple computers and iPads at the same time)
iPad setup/Android tablet setup (mobile computing at its best!)
iPhone setup/Android phone setup (e-mail, texting, Appsoh, my!)
Server setup (imagineall your business files in one location!)

The tech industry is very large and encompasses many things we're able to do. The list above represents things we do on a regular basis.If you see something that sparks an interest or if you don't see what you need, give us a call and we can discuss the specifics of your project.

Passwords
Another thing I want to talk about is the importance of changing your online passwords on a regular basis. A few times a month I get emails from customers that contain viruses or have some link that they want you to follow and it is obviously spam. Please remember to change your e-mail password at least twice a year. Just like changing your smoke detector batteries, it's a good habit to get into. I'm sure you're probably thinking, "if I do that, I'll never remember my password."Here are some tips that might help

Write it down and then hide it somewhere in your house where you're the only one that knows where it is. When a password is compromised it is done onlinenot because someone broke into your house and stole the piece of paper next to your computer with the password written on it.
Don't use the same password twice. Hackers will routinely check to see if you've used your password with common websites and then have access to lots of your accounts instead of just one.

Microsoft Windows offers these tips for creating a strong password click here.

Here's to a great 2013! And remember...IT when you need IT! means we're here to help you! Please don't hesitate to call.

Thanksgiving 2012 Newsletter

11/19/2012 12:00 AM

I can't believe it's already November. Noah's almost a year old. Kids grow so fast. Everyone says that, but you don't really believe it until you're actually going through it. I first and foremost want to thank everyone for their support this year. I am truly thankful for all of my customers. You make this business possible. I also appreciate the fellow businesses that I work for that refer me to other businesses and clients. We're always looking for new customers. If you know anyone that needs our assistance or needs help with their computer please feel free to refer them to me.

I always wait and release the November newsletter later in the month because it's my annual thank you newsletter to everyone.

There is one tech related thing I wanted to discuss with this. Fraud and viruses always peak around this time. There are a lot of people around the holidays that try to take advantage of people. This year is no different. We've had a lot of computers coming in with really nasty viruses. Now is the time to make sure you have antivirus. This goes for my Mac customers too. I have been attending a virtual conference. One of the discussion topics is how viruses are becoming a harsh reality on smartphones and tablets. Trend Micro makes a solution for Android phones and tablets that I would recommend for everyone's phone.

There are two other scams that we've seen happen too. The first is someone has been calling people telling them that they're from Microsoft and that you have a problem with your computer that they need to fix. They next have you go to a website so they can remotely login to your computer. You do that and they go on your computer and steal the product keys and licenses for your software. They claim they're fixing your system. They next ask for a credit card number. You give that to them for the service you think they just performed and now they have free software and money. If you or anyone you know has had this happen it's imperative that you call me so we can fix the computer. Remember Microsoft doesn't know if anything is wrong with your computer. Even if there was some way for them to know they would never call you on the phone to fix it.

The next scam is the FBI virus. This virus says that the FBI has taken over or locked your computer. First of all if the FBI wants your computer they'll come to your house with a search warrant and physically remove it from your house. This virus which looks real official it has the FBI seal and everything is just another scam to get money. If you have this virus we can clean it up for you we just need to have the computer so we can clean it out.

Please be extra careful this holiday season and realize that the amount of scams go up. If you have any questions about these scams or anything else related to viruses please contact our office we're experts in virus removal and can take care of it for you.

October 2012 Newsletter Mac Edition

10/11/2012 12:00 AM

I've realized when you have a child time goes by even faster than before. Noah is getting so big. He's 9 months now and is standing and walking along furniture. He's also a very fast crawler. He seems to always get to the places we don't want him to go.Bonny and I really enjoy having him in our lives. Parenting is both the most difficult and most rewarding thing Bonny and I have ever done.

For the Mac newsletter this month I wanted to talk about the new iPhone 5 that was released. This looks like a great phone. I think Apple could have added a few more features to the way the phone operates though. One annoyance I've also had with iOS is the fact that you can't have widgets. A widget, as an example, would display the weather just by looking at the screen. Android phones have done this and it's a feature I appreciate. With iOS you have to open the weather app to see what the weather is like. That is just an example. Android has widgets that let you dial your most called friends or family etc. I think this is a nice feature and it was one that I was hoping they would add.

The main difference between the older phones and the new iPhone 5 is it has a larger screen, and is thinner. It also has a faster processor and is 4G LTE meaning it uses a new data standard that makes it a lot faster to download programs and information.

I'm also not sure about the fact that they changed the dock connector to charge the phone and to plug it into your computer. I hate it when manufacturers do this because then you have to rebuy all of your old accessories. Also, Apple is licensing this to other companies so they can control the connector. This is going to make it a more expensive connector.

There really aren't a lot of iPhone 5's in the marketplace yet so I haven't had a chance to use one. When I get a chance I will give you an update with my impressions.

Overall I think it's a great phone and I think Apple will sell a lot of these. I also think that this phone is more evolutionary meaning they had to release a phone with 4G LTE and a bigger screen to make the phone relevant next to Android phones which have had bigger screens then the iPhone and have had 4G for a long time. I was hoping the phone would have some new features that would put it over the top next to Android, but that didn't happen. I'm sure Apple has something else innovative on the horizon that will put it past Android, but we'll have to wait and see.

October 2012 Newsletter

10/11/2012 12:00 AM

I've realized when you have a child time goes by even faster than before. Noah is getting so big. He's 9 months now and is standing and walking along furniture. He's also a very fast crawler. He seems to always get to the places we don't want him to go.Bonny and I really enjoy having him in our lives. Parenting is both the most difficult and most rewarding thing Bonny and I have ever done.

This month I wanted to discuss Windows 8. Windows 8 is Microsoft's newest operating system. I got a chance to install and use the new system last week. Let me say first of all I was not impressed. I think the new operating system is going to be very confusing for people that have used Windows for a long time. They removed the start button and replaced it with a interface that was called metro for a while, then Microsoft got sued for using that name so now there is no name for it. This interface was taken from the Windows phone. It's a pretty good interface if you have a touchscreen. If you don't have a touchscreen then you're constantly scrolling from left to right to see all of your programs. I think this a difficult way to use a desktop or laptop computer.

One of the other big annoyances is you have to go to the edge of the screen with the mouse to click the word start which takes you back to the interface formerly known as Metro. When you're in the interface your programs show up as tiles with pictures. I find it difficult to find the programs that you want to click on because the tiles don't jump right out at you.

Aside from the interface it looks and acts a lot like Windows 7. I like Windows 7 and only time will tell whether this will be like Windows Vista and Microsoft will realize it's mistake and quickly move on to Windows 9 and push Windows 8 under the rug quickly. The main thing that bothers me about Microsoft is they don't take comments from the users and they change things radically instead of a slow progression giving everyone time to adjust to the new way Windows looks, acts, and feels.

Unfortunately Microsoft has already committed to this interface so it's what we're going to get for the time being. My hope is that there is so much user outcry they have to give you the option of turning off the interface if you don't like it. If you could turn off the interface it would probably be a pretty good system.

My advice would be to hold off as long as possible with the upgrade and see what Microsoft decides to do.

Fall Cleanup
If you haven't scheduled a fall cleanup for your computer, please give us a call. The fall cleanup includes cleaning up unused files, checking your antivirus and backups if you haven't already done so. This is for both residential and business clients.

September Newsletter

09/10/2012 12:00 AM

I can't believe it's already September. Noah is 8 months old now, he's crawling and I went into his room the other day and he was standing up in his crib looking at me. Until you have kids you don't realize how fast they grow up.

This month let's talk about fall cleanup. We ran a spring cleanup promotion that was really popular so we thought we would run a fall cleanup promotion. If you haven't had your computer cleaned up recently please call us.

With the fall cleanup we fix and check the following things:

Slow computer
Junk files on your computer that need to be cleaned up
Make sure your computer is virus free and has current antivirus software
Verify your backup system is working
Install software updates
Fix any other problems you're having

If you'd like to take advantage of this, it takes about an hour.Give us a call and we can set up an appointment.

For our business customers we are offering a similar promotion. We will check any computers you're having issues with in your office.We can also do this on your server to keep everything running fast and smooth.

Used Software

We've had a lot of problems lately with customers buying used software. This is never a good idea. The software makers don't allow you to sell your copy of software to someone else. All of our customers that have done this have paid money for the software and had problems installing or activating it. This is especially true with Microsoft software. Don't ever buy used software for that. It will only cause you problems.

Once the used software is bought and you start having problems with it the best you can do is just go out and buy the software brand new. Now you wind up spending more money because you have to buy the software twice. Backup The last thing I wanted to tell you is we're still having a lot of customers call us without backups. We had someone call last week and they lost all their pictures of their kids. Don't get caught with this problem. Setup a backup it's not expensive and it will give you piece of mind.

September Mac Newsletter

09/10/2012 12:00 AM

I can't believe it's already September. Noah is 8 months old now, he's crawling and I went into his room the other day and he was standing up in his crib looking at me. Until you have kids you don't realize how fast they grow up.

For this months' Mac Newsletter I wanted to talk about Mac OS X Mountain Lion. This is the newest release of their operating system. I have been using it for a few days and there are some improvements I really like.

First, I like that the mail app works like my iPad. I often thought it was strange that Apple's mail client worked differently on the Mac then it did on the iPad. They fixed that in Mountain lion and it works really well.

The other thing I like is how they brought Notes to the Mac. The notes app on the iPad is nice, but you couldn't look at your notes on the Mac without exporting them which was a real hassle. Now you can open notes on the Mac and the iPad. I find this useful for meetings.

The new operating system seems a lot faster, too. Speed is good for everyone especially these days when it's a fact of life that you need to get things done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The one feature I'm not sure about is the notification center. It works well on the iPad and the iPhone. I just haven't decided if I want notification pop ups on my Mac. You can turn this feature off, though, which is nice. So if I decide I don't like it I can always turn it off later.

With the initial release of Mountain Lion one of the biggest complaints was shortened battery life on the Macbook Pros, and Macbook Airs. Supposedly with the update that just came out this has been fixed. I'm still skeptical. I waited to put Mountain Lion on until the update came out which I have installed and it still doesn't seem like it has as good a battery life. I'm sure they'll fix it completely in the next update because this is a big issue for mobile users like me who use laptops almost exclusively.

If you have a Mac I would suggest upgrading to the newest version of the Operating System. If you need help with that we're always here to assist. Please give us a call and let us know. 815-494-6050.

July Newsletter

07/09/2012 12:00 AM

As I sat down to write this month's newsletter I realized we haven't talked about printers in a while. Since I've received a lot of questions about printers this month, I thought I'd remind you that printers are a piece of technology that you can lose a lot of money on very easily if you don't have the right kind.

Inket vs. Laser Which one is best for you? Before you start shopping, think about your printing habits--what you print (plain text, graphics and photos, or a mix), the quantity you print, and if you need to share the printer with others. Once you are familiar with these items, you'll be able to determine which is best for you by finding a printer that matches your need for cost, speed, quality and color, and technology. Printers come in two varieties for both home and office use. Inkjet and Laser. Let's look at them both.

Inkjet This is the type of printer most people use at home. These are the printers that require purchasing $50 ink cartridges every time it runs out of ink. These print in color and the printers themselves are inexpensive. Realize, however, with these printers the manufacturer is making their money off the ink cartridges so the printers are extremely inexpensive.I generally don't like these printers. I find most people don't need to print in color they just do because the printer has the ability. However, according to pcworld.com, you should consider an inkjet printer if you want t

Print photos. Inkjets blend colors more smoothly than lasers when printing photos. Lasers do fine at printing graphics, however.
Print on a variety of media. Some media – specially coated fabrics, canvas or iron-on transfers for example, do not work with laser printers as anything heat-sensitive cannot be run through them. Banner-size sheets generally require an inkjet printer as well.
Keep it simple. Inkjet printers tend to be smaller and lighter and simpler to maintain than laser printers. They also have low-capacity paper trays (50-150 sheets).

Laser I recommend this type of printer for all of my business clients. Laser printers are a little bit more expensive, but you save a lot of money on ink (toner). Color laser printers are available, but for most businesses having mostly all monochrome laser printers is sufficient. One toner cartridge lasts on average for 2000 pages vs. an inkjet printer that has a 250-page cartridge. One laser toner cartridge costs around $60 to $70. This dramatically brings down the price of printing which is good for everybody. PCworld.com recommends a laser printer if you want t

Print perfect text. Laser printers create precisely drawn black text, and their colored text is usually just as good. If you print mostly text with occasional, simple graphics, a laser printer is the easiest way to go.
Print exclusively on plain paper. Laser printers work well with any laser-compatible paper: sheets that are smooth-surfaced and designed to handle the high heat of the fuser mechanism. Basically any standard office paper will meet that requirement.
Print quickly. Most laser printers are faster than most inkjet printers; but some low-end laser printers have no speed advantage.
Print a lot. Laser printers are designed to handle high-volume printing easily. Most come with 150-sheet or 250-sheet capacity paper trays, and many models offer dual or extra-cost trays.

Networked printers and AirPrint technology... Another option to consider is whether or not you want/need a network printer. So, you're thinkingWhat's a network printer and why do I care? The beauty of a network printer is you can print to it from all the computers in your office or home. Imaginemultiple computersone printer.Everyone in your home or office can print to one printer. This eliminates the need to purchase a printer for every desk. At your house you can be sitting on your couch using your laptop and you can print to your printer in the den without having to be cord-connected to your computer. There are also new printers with AirPrint technology. These printers allow you to print right from your iPad!

We have been installing a lot of laser printers lately for both our residential and business customers. Please call us to discuss your current printer situation. We'd be glad to talk to you about saving money by consolidating your printers, replacing your inkjet printers with laser printers or helping you choose which printer is right for you.

July Mac Newsletter

07/06/2012 12:00 AM

For this month's Mac newsletter I wanted to talk about Apple's newest release of laptops. I actually got a new MacBook Pro 13 inch. I've been waiting for the release of the new hardware so I could get one.

Here's a quick rundown of what they've released:

New MacBook Air 11in
New MacBook Air 13in
New Macbook Pro 13in
New Macbook Pro 15in
New Retina Display Macbook Pro 15in
No more 17in MacBook Pro
Slightly updated Mac Pro tower

The new MacBooks have a few problems I want to share with you.
First, the MacBook Air It's nice because it's so thin and light. My problem with it, however, is that it has a very small hard drive and you can't upgrade the computer memory to make it faster. Also, the MacBook Air 13 inch and the MacBook Pro 13 inch are available for the same price. But, the MacBook Pro 13 inch has upgradeable memory and a 500GB or a 750GB hard drive vs. the MacBook Air which has a 128GB or a 256GB hard drive. Those drives are just too small for all of my pictures and music. The processors that they are putting in the new computers are really very fast. After using my new laptop this past week, I recommend the MacBook Pro 13 inch.

I was most excited about the 13 inch and 15 inch MacBook Pro. The Retina display MacBook Pro looks nice but you can't upgrade the memory on it and by the time you get one that has enough memory for all of your pictures and music you're up to $2200. I am a computer guy and I can't justify spending that much money on a laptop.

I've been getting a lot of questions about the new laptops and these are the observations I have made. It's difficult to talk in general terms about these computers. Please call and you can discuss with us your specific needs. We can then make recommendations for a laptop that will best meet your needs.

The other thing I wanted to mention is Parallels software. This software allows you to run Windows on your Mac. There is another software with similar capabilities called VMWare Fusion. I used Fusion for this purpose for a long time. With this new computer I switched to Parallels. Parallels is much better software. It's cleaner, easier to use, and faster.

If you would like to explore the possibility of running Windows on your Mac, I recommend you call us first.There are some things that you may need to consider when setting this up. We're very familiar with setting up this software and would be glad to help you with that.

June Mac Newsletter

06/04/2012 12:00 AM

I hope all of my Mac customers are enjoying this nice weather that we're experiencing.

In this month's newsletter I wanted to talk about our Mac Maintenance program. Believe it or not Mac's need maintenance, too. If you read this month's PC newsletter you'll read about two different maintenance programs that we our offering. One program is for our business clients and one is for our residential clients. We have the same two programs available to our Mac customers.

The purpose of these programs is to increase productivity and decrease down time. How many of us have had our computer go down and then we need to get something done and we're unable to do so. That scenario is always the same. Right after the computer goes down a frantic call is placed to your tech company asking how fast someone can get over there because you have something important to do.This is exactly what the maintenance program is for. We can usually see most problems coming before this happens. This dramatically decreases downtime.

For our business customers we have a brand new product that I'm proud to introduce called the 6 Point Maintenance Program. With this program we come in every month to assess and maintain your Macs, servers, and network. The six areas we focus on with this program are:

1.Tech Check-this is where we make a plan for your IT. This plan includes a report and a timeline to meet your current needs and goals.

2.Strategy-Next we sit down with you and develop a strategic plan so we always know where we're going

3.Backups-We make sure your backups are working. So many businesses we go to are going through the motions of making a backup, but they're never quite sure if it's working. When we come in we verify every week's backup.

4.Antivirus-We perform regular antivirus checks and clear up problems often before you even know you're systems have a problem.

5.Prevention-We complete preventative maintenance. We also leave a tracking form that allows you to write down problems as they happen so we will fix them when we're there.

6.Updates-We perform regular system updates. Most of us never run updates on computers or servers. These are often very important updates. We take care of these for you.

Our residential customers should have received a spring cleanup card in the mail. We are offering this program to all residential clients. We will come to you and perform maintenance on your computer. This generally takes an hour. We look at your backups, antivirus, we run an antivirus scan, and cleanup any other problems that you are experiencing.

To setup an appointment for the 6 Point Maintenance Program or the spring cleanup, please call our office at 815.494.6050

One other Mac-related item I wanted to share is new hardware from Apple. I would hold off on buying new Mac's until after the first two weeks in June. Apple is set to release new Macbook Pro laptops and maybe new iMac's. If you're thinking of getting a new Mac I would wait until after they release the new hardware. There are also rumors that the new computers will have high resolution retina displays.

June PC Newsletter

06/04/2012 12:00 AM

I hope everyone is enjoying this nice weather. I sure enjoy summer weather more than I like Winter weather.

One of the big goals of Garcea Computers this year is to offer preventative programs to help our customers decrease down time and increase productivity. Everyone has experienced down time. The computers go down, your employees are sitting at their desks collecting a pay check, but they're unable to get anything done. So, you make a frantic call to your tech person. At home your computer seems to always goes down when you have to go online to pay those last minute bills, or you want to show someone family pictures and all of the sudden the computer breaks and you're unable to do anything. We have put several programs in place for both our business customers and our residential customers to achieve these goals.

For our business customers we have a brand new product that I'm proud to introduce called the 6 Point Maintenance Program. With this program we come in every month to assess and maintain your computers, server, and network. The six areas we focus on with this program are:

1.Tech Check-this is where we make a plan for your IT. This plan includes a report and a timeline to meet your current needs and goals.

2.Strategy-Next we sit down with you and develop a strategic plan so we always know where we're going

3.Backups-We make sure your backups are working. So many businesses we go to are going through the motions of making a backup, but they're never quite sure if it's working. When we come in we verify every week's backup.

4.Antivirus-We perform regular antivirus checks and clear up problems often before you even know you're systems have a problem.

5.Prevention-We complete preventative maintenance. We also leave a tracking form that allows you to write down problems as they happen so we will fix them when we're there.

6.Updates-We perform regular system updates. Most of us never run updates on computers or servers. These are often very important updates. We take care of these for you.

We are in the process of going through our customer list and meeting with clients about this exciting new program. If you're interested please call us we'd love to meet with you and explain how this program can benefit you individually.

Our residential customers should have received a spring cleanup card in the mail. We are offering this program to all residential clients. We will come to you and perform maintenance on your computer. This generally takes an hour. We look at your backups, antivirus, we run an antivirus scan, and cleanup any other problems that you are experiencing.

To setup an appointment for the 6 Point Maintenance Program or the spring cleanup, please call our office at 815.494.6050

April Mac Newsletter

04/10/2012 12:00 AM

iPad 3
I got a chance to play with the new iPad at the store. While it was very nice, I was actually surprised that it wasn't a more major update. Really, the main thing that was changed was the resolution of the screen. They added a retina display which is beautiful for viewing pictures. If you show a lot of pictures on your iPad or do a lot of picture editing you will love the iPad 3.

Another thing that everyone who likes photos will be interested in is the new iPhoto app for iPad that Apple released.This gives you the opportunity and ability to edit photos on the fly with your iPad. I was just reading yesterday that they have sold a million copies of iPhoto for iPad.-

I have an iPad 2 and I was really disappointed in the picture quality of the iPad camera. Thankfully the new iPad has a 5 megapixel camera. I have not used the camera myself, but early reports say that it is a big improvement on the iPad 2.

With any new device there's bound to be problems and there are a few problems that have popped up with the new iPad. The first is heat. The new ones run a lot hotter than the old ones. Some people have said it is pretty uncomfortable to use them on your lap. Apple has said that this is because of the new video processor that they have to have to drive such a high resolution screen. Another issue that has been reported is that the new screen has a somewhat yellow appearance on the screen.

If I were buying an iPad today, I would get an iPad 2, which is good for everyday use and doesn't have a lot of the problems that are being reported with the new iPad 3. If you have your heart set on an iPad 3, my recommendation would be to wait for a few months and see if they get some of these problems worked out.

Of course if you do purchase an iPad and you need help setting it up, just let us know. We're here to help!

April 2012 PC Newsletter

04/10/2012 12:00 AM

Spring is a good time for cleaning out closets, changing batteries in your smoke alarms and for reviewing your computer security and antivirus software.Below I will review a more proactive approach to security. The first part of this article is directed mainly to businesses. The last part will talk about what our residential customers can do to decrease their security issues.

URL (Website) Filtering As much as employees will complain it's ok for a business to block access to certain sites. Social media sites are particularly bad for viruses. We find that our customers who have website filtering in place have a lot less viruses than those that don't. It's relatively easy to do and we can set it up for you.

Firewalls Secondly, let us install a firewall that has the capability to scan all incoming data for viruses for you. We often add these firewalls to customer's networks that are prone to virus problems. Everyone likes to install the $60 router from Best Buy. Those routers are ok for in-home use, but in the business environment you need a business class firewall. The business firewalls all have antivirus scanning.

Passwords The third step in this security process is to create strong passwords, especially for email accounts. I can't tell you how many times we have received calls from customers whose email account has been taken over by a spammer and then sends SPAM to everyone in their address book.

Know Your Antivirus Software The final step is to let everyone in your office know what antivirus software you're using. This will prevent them from clicking on fake antivirus pop ups. Many customers have gotten viruses by clicking on fake antivirus warnings that pop up on their computer and while working on the Internet.

Now, I haven't forgotten about our users at home. At home hands down the top two things you can do is install a router on your Internet connection and install an antivirus that is an Internet Security suite. Doing these things will decrease viruses at home.One other recommendation I have for our residential customers is to have us run a full scan of your computer at least once a year for viruses and spyware.

Coming Soon We'll be launching a new maintenance program in the next few months and one of the things we monitor are viruses on your network. This program dramatically decreases downtime. We will contact you to introduce this program.

Having us help you implement these changes can dramatically decrease virus problems at your office and at home. To schedule an appointment for this or any other technology assistance, please call us at 815-494-6050.

We look forward to serving you

Jeff Garcea
Garcea Computers, LLC

January 2012 Newsletter

01/09/2012 12:00 AM

Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to discuss backups and disaster recovery. One of the reasons I talk so much about backups is that I am constantly asked questions. Customers often bring in their computers and we discover they lack proper backups. The reasoning behind this is that backups are inconvenient and it's just something else to remember. Well, not anymore. There are plenty of options that take your memory out of the equation.

The issues we see with most backups are:
1.The software isn't working properly so you're not getting a good backup.
2.You don't notice the backup hard drive is full, which means the backup can't run. 3.You simply don't make backups.

All of these issues are bad. Backing up data is vital for businesses.Lost information can cause a major crisis or worse, lead to business failure.

ShadowProtect
We've starting using a new backup software called ShadowProtect that works well and is completely automated. It can be a little tricky to setup the backup job the first time. Therefore, we recommend that we set it up for you so you can be sure sure you're getting a good consistent backup. There is a desktop version and a business version that works with servers.

Once the software is setup, we will install backup hard drives to store all of your information. If this is for your business we recommend you take the hard drive home or use the Data Center in Rockford to pickup your backup once a week. Having the Data Center pickup the backup eliminates the need for you to remember to do this.

Something else to keep in mind when thinking about backups is if someone breaks into your house or office, would you still have your data or would the thief steal your backup hard drive and all your pictures of your kids or grandkids. If they broke into your office how much personal customer data would they get? What if your building burned down? Would you be able to get your business up and running in a few hours, days or weeks? How much money would you lose by not being able to conduct your business? We've seen all of this. Don't think it can't happen to you. It can and it most likely will. We're here to help you plan for these types of crises.

If you have less than 10GBs of data to backup, we would set up an online backup. It will back up your computer and you can access the data from any computer with an Internet connection. If you have more than 10GBs, your backup will take too long to retrieve by download if you have a disaster. Please call us today to setup a consult about your current backup process. We're looking forward to serving your needs throughout this next year. We're very thankful that you've chosen us to be your tech company. If you are planning on any upgrades, getting new computers, or need any technology assistance please call us.

January 2012 Mac Newsletter

01/05/2012 12:00 AM

Happy New Year! The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to discuss disaster recovery for your Mac. We can't stress enough that if you are not doing regular backups, you are going to lose data. Even with a Mac. It might not happen today or tomorrow, but odds are that sooner or later, something will happen to the hard drive of your Mac, causing it to quit working.

Hard drives are one of the last mechanical components left in a modern computer. They work by spinning two or more magnetic disks past a reader, not unlike the way a record player works. If any of the motors, bearings, or other components fail, the ability of the hard drive to store and retrieve data can be lost. And because of the speed at which the drives operate, it really is only a matter of time until something goes wrong.

Thankfully, Apple has made it extremely easy to backup your Mac's data. Any Apple computer running OS X 10.5 or newer has access to a built-in backup program called Time Machine. All you need to use it is a second hard drive. In most cases, this will be an external drive. When you first connect a new hard drive to your Mac, a dialog box will appear on your screen and ask if you want to use the drive with Time Machine. If you indicate that you do, then Time Machine will immediately begin backing up all of your data to that drive.

Once Time Machine completes that initial backup, a process that may take several hours, it will continue to monitor your computer and save any changes you make, like new or updated documents, to your Time Machine drive. Because it is only saving changed files, these subsequent backups are usually very small and take place very quickly.

When you need to recover a file from Time Machine, it's as easy as opening the program (found in "Applications") and selecting the date you want to recover the file from in the timeline. You can navigate to your file and select it for recovery. Time Machine only works when the designated drive is connected, so it's best to leave it connected to your desktop Mac all the time, or have a plan in place for regularly connecting to your Mac laptop. It's also best that your Time Machine drive is dedicated to that purpose and is used for nothing else.

We can definitely help you in getting started with Time Machine. Give us a call at 815-494-6050 or send an email to gcs@garceacomputers.com. Please note that we cannot currently receive text messages at this number.

December 2011 Newsletter

12/06/2011 12:00 AM

Merry Christmas! I can't believe another year has almost passed us by. Many new customers and many exciting projects - not the least of which is the anticipation surrounding the birth of my son - due December 30th. It's been a great year!

What's on your list?... At this time of year, most everyone has questions about the latest computers and gadgets and has at least some technology stuff on their Christmas list. So, let's talk about some of the most popular items and how Garcea Computers can help you.

iPads are probably the number one thing that both PC and Mac users are asking about. I've been using an iPad for a few months now, and one of the best things the iPad is good for is taking notes. Whenever I have a meeting with clients I bring my iPad. I take notes in the meeting and then I can go over them later. They're organized and I don't have to carry paper files around with me. The iPad has also been good for is listening to music. Pandora internet radio for the iPad is really nice and it's free. Netflix works great on the iPad as well. The iPad is light and portable and you can watch lots of movie and TV shows on it.

Other gadgets we've been fielding questions for are the new Smartphone's. Those could be Android phones, iPhones or Blackberry's. It can be very tricky to get your e-mail working properly on them. We have a solution that will sync your e-mail on your computer, Smartphone and iPad or tablet. So if a Smartphone is on your Christmas list give us a call.

Are you considering a technology purchase for this Christmas as a gift for someone...maybe even you? If you have questions or would like some advice on the best purchase for your needs, we can help. This is a free service offered by Garcea Computers by phone or by e-mail.We can also take the guesswork out of buying a computer.We do this quite a bit. We just had someone come over and buy a laptop for their daughter for Christmas. Give us a call - we can definitely help you.

Backups... It's never too late to get a backup system in place. In next months' newsletter we're going to talk about what you can do to be ready for a disaster and some backup options. If you don't have a backup now let us get that taken care of for you this month.

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please call us at (815) 494-6050 or send us an e-mail to gcs@garceacomputers.com.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Jeff Garcea
Garcea Computers, LLC

September 2011 Mac Newsletter

09/06/2011 12:00 AM

I get questions all the time about what to do with old Macs. The simple answer is to sell, trade or recycle them.If you're like most Mac users, myself included, you hang on to your Mac as long as possible. This is because of the cost and how the machines keep working. There are some Macs I've had for 9 years. I have received several hundred dollars for Macs that were 6 or 7 years old. Macs really do hold their value for a long time.You can look on eBay to get a good idea of what your old Mac is worth. There are a couple of websites I recommend that allow you to see what your Mac might be worth - www.everymac.com and www.secondhandmac.com.You can get a good idea of what your Mac is worth based on similar Macs for sale.

You might also try trading your Mac on Craigslist. One of my friends traded a Macbook that was 6 years old for a barely used iPad. I thought that was a pretty good trade for him. There are tons of people who are looking for Macs. They're willing to trade for gadgets that they want like iPods, iPads, dvd players, and gaming counsels.

Or, if you really want to just get rid of your old Mac, you can recycle it. Goodwill, American TV and Best Buy all take old computers. American and Goodwill recycle for free. Best Buy charges $10 to recycle a computer, but then gives you a $10 gift card.Personally, I prefer free.

Finally, you can also donate them to a school or other not-for-profit. If you're interested in that contact me and I can give you the names of some not-for-profit's that may want those Macs. Educational institutions tend to need Macs more because they use them for some of their classes.

Lion Update Various Adobe products are having trouble with the Lion conversion. If you are going to upgrade to Lion make sure that you first look up your specific product and version before you upgrade. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. We have had some customers who have just upgraded and they didn't think about how it would affect their software. Now they have a computer with Lion on it and they can't use any of their software. Aside from the issues with Adobe software, Lion so far has been well received. Even if you don't have any Adobe products make sure to check either online or with us to make sure that your essential software will work with Lion.

If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact us.