Posts Tagged ‘geek housecalls’
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
The Withings Body scale is not your mother's bathroom scale!
Although the phrase “home automation” has been around for over a decade, its meaning is still unclear for many who tend to think of it only in terms of large-scale green home projects, or whole-house entertainment systems and the like. What most folks don’t realize is that a quiet revolution has been taking place as designers and manufacturers have begun connecting ordinary household objects from thermostats to refrigerators, to bathroom scales to the home wifi network, and more importantly, have been taking the power of the PC, Smartphone, and tablet, and turning these classic consumer products into dynamos of information and assistance.
One such object is the bathroom scale. It wasn’t so long ago that most of us (meaning us middle-agers) can still remember when the bathroom scale was a creaking mechanical beast with a difficult-to-read weight chart and a little thumbwheel underneath for zeroing it. Then sometime in the mid-eighties (mid nineties? it’s all such a jumble to this old geek), the bathroom scale went digital and, provided the batteries didn’t go dead, became self-zeroing and gave you a nice bright readout, easily visible from 4-6 feet away without having to stoop or squint. And so it was until recently when a company called Withings introduced the wifi-connected bathroom scale.
Okay, so if you’re anything like me you might be thinking: Why do I need my scale to be wifi connected? So I can weigh myself in the bathroom then run to my computer to see how much I weigh? How is this progress? Oh wait, I see, I can see my weight on my smart phone or tablet? Does the scale take into account the added weight of my Android or iPad? Maybe that’s the kind of thinking that has me blogging about other people’s inventions instead of being the inventor myself…
Well so let’s talk about someone else’s invention for a minute shall we? Because the Withings Body scale is so much more than my simplistic imaginings would have lead to. You see, the real value of having a wifi scale isn’t the scale itself. Although it is a sleek marvel of high-tech design, the real wow-factor in this product is the app behind the mechanism. You know what I mean when I say app right? That little program that’s designed for your smart phone, tablet, or PC. The brains behind the scale that does so much more than just tell you what you weigh today.
Charting weight and body mass index on PC, iphone, iPad, and Android makes the Withings Body scale an integral part of a fitness regimen
The Withings scale is complimented by apps for all major platforms, and provides sophisticated tools that show you your weight, Body Mass Index, and a bunch of other cool measurements in a graphical layout featuring performance over time and ties into weight management and fitness program goals that not only provide valuable data, milestones, and achievements to you, but can also be shared instantly with your doctor or your coach. Of course, if you just want to know your weight, it will tell you that too, but when it comes to home automation, it’s companies like Withings that are reshaping the future of interconnected devices.
for more info, check out Withings on the web at www.withings.com
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This article was written by Andy Trask, Head Geek at Geek Housecalls, the New England area’s original traveling computer geeks, on the web at www.geekhousecalls.com. Geek Housecalls specializes in “anything computer” and, since 2001, has become the trusted in-home computer and technology support provider for over 15,000 families and small business computer users in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. For help with your computers, gadgets, or network at home or at the office, click here to contact Geek Housecalls via the web, or call toll free:
1-877-4PC-GEEK (1-877-472-4335)
Tags: bmi, body mass index, digital scale, doctor, fat, fitness, geek, geek housecalls, graphing, health, home automation, mechanical scale, network, network scale, networked, product reviews, scale, weigh, weight, wifi, wifi connected scale, wifi scale, wireless network, Withings, Withings Body scale
Posted in G2C (geek to consumer), Home Automation, Interesting Stuff, Product Reviews | No Comments »
Friday, November 11th, 2011
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If your email account is suddenly sending out spam to your contacts, your account may have been hacked by a spambot
- If your email account has been sending spam messages to your contacts, chances are, your email account has been hacked.
One of the typical problems faced by our customers is the discovery that their email account has been sending spam email messages, often with very unsavory content, to everyone on their contacts list. Unfortunately, the problem usually goes undiscovered until you get a barrage of responses from your friends and other contacts, sometimes warning you that you’ve been infected, or maybe just wondering about why you would have sent them such a message.
The bad news is: Your email account has been hacked, and a spammer is using it, not only to send out spam emails, but often times, also is using your hacked account as a springboard for hacking the accounts of your friends and other contacts as well.
The good news is: The problem is fairly simple to fix – no degree in rocket science required!
THE SOLUTION: Click Here for the free solution from Geek Housecalls as well as to learn techniques for preventing this from happening again in the future.
by Andy Trask
Tags: email account, email account hacked, email account sending spam, emails from myself, geek, geek housecalls, hacked, hacked email account, how do i stop my email, my email, outlook express sending spam, outlook sending spam, sending spam, solution, solved, spam, why am i getting messages, why is my email, windows live mail sending spam, windows mail sending spam
Posted in a helping hand, By us, G2C (geek to consumer), Good Advice | No Comments »
Friday, November 11th, 2011
If your Hotmail account suddenly starts sending spam email messages, it's probably been hacked by a spambot.
If your HOTMAIL email account has been sending spam messages to your contacts, chances are, your HOTMAIL email account has been hacked.
One of the typical problems faced by our customers is the discovery that their HOTMAIL email account has been sending spam email messages, often with very unsavory content, to everyone on their contacts list. Unfortunately, the problem usually goes undiscovered until you get a barrage of responses from your friends and other contacts, sometimes warning you that you’ve been infected, or maybe just wondering about why you would have sent them such a message.
The bad news is: Your HOTMAIL email account has been hacked, and a spammer is using it, not only to send out spam emails, but often times, also is using your hacked account as a springboard for hacking the accounts of your contacts as well.
The good news is: The problem is fairly simple to fix – no degree in rocket science required!
THE SOLUTION: Click Here for the free solution from Geek Housecalls as well as to learn techniques for preventing this from happening again in the future.
by Andy Trask
Tags: email, geek, geek housecalls, hacked, hacked hotmail account sennding spam, help, hotmail, hotmail email sending spam, solution, solved, spam, why is my hotmail account sending spam
Posted in a helping hand, By us, G2C (geek to consumer), Good Advice | No Comments »
Friday, November 11th, 2011
If your Yahoo email account is sending spam messages to your contacts, your account has probably been hacked by a spammer.
If your YAHOO email account has been sending spam messages to your contacts, chances are, your YAHOO email account has been hacked.
One of the typical problems faced by our customers is the discovery that their YAHOO email account has been sending spam email messages, often with very unsavory content, to everyone on their contacts list. Unfortunately, the problem usually goes undiscovered until you get a barrage of responses from your friends and other contacts, sometimes warning you that you’ve been infected, or maybe just wondering about why you would have sent them such a message.
The bad news is: Your YAHOO email account has been hacked, and a spammer is using it, not only to send out spam emails, but often times, also is using your hacked account as a springboard for hacking the accounts of your contacts as well.
The good news is: The problem is fairly simple to fix – no degree in rocket science required!
THE SOLUTION: Click Here for the free solution from Geek Housecalls as well as to learn techniques for preventing this from happening again in the future.
by Andy Trask
Tags: account, address book, contacts, email, geek, geek housecalls, hacked, hijacked, junk mail, sending, solved, spam, why is my yahoo, yahoo, yahoo account hacked, yahoo account sending spam, yahoo email hacked, yahoo email spam, yahoo mail hacked, yahoo mail sending spam
Posted in a helping hand, By us, G2C (geek to consumer), Good Advice | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Windows Live Mail error 0x80041161 can be a puzzler if you don't know what to look for...
Don’t you just hate it when things are working perfectly well for months and then suddenly and inexplicably, they just quit working? Well Windows Live Mail is no exception to this kind of behavior and in this case, the error you get when you try to launch Windows Live Mail says “Windows Live Mail could not be started, It may not be installed correctly. Make sure that your disk is not full or that you are not out of memory. (0×80041161)”.
Now what’s really frustrating about this (aside from the fact that you can’t get at your email), is that the error message sends you off on a wild goose chase to investigate things that are totally unrelated to the source of the error. By now you’ve probably already confirmed that you’ve got gobs of disk space and so that’s not the problem, and who even knows how you’d determine if you were “out of memory” considering the fact that windows dynamically allocates hard disk space as a substitute for ram memory to increase memory capacity (but that’s a subject for another blog post). Suffice it to say, the likelihood of “running out of memory” on a modern pc running Windows Vista or Windows 7 falls somewhere on the scale between “slim” and “none.”
But I wax geeky, let’s move on to the real reason you’re here which is: How do you fix this error 0×80041161 and get Windows Live Mail running normally again?
No rocket science required! read on for the free step-by-step solution from Geek Housecalls (more…)
Tags: 0x80041161, computer repair, computer service, computer troubleshooting, could not be started, geek, geek housecalls, how to fix, how to fix 0x80041161, solution, solved, solved! 0x80041161, Vista, win vista, win7, windows 7, windows live id sign-in assistant, windows live mail, windows live mail error, windows live mail won't start, windows vista, wlm error
Posted in a helping hand, By us, G2C (geek to consumer), G2G (geek to geek), Good Advice, Microsoft Windows | 6 Comments »
Saturday, November 5th, 2011
Why is my computer so slow?
This turtle is faster, cuter, and definitely less aggravating than your slow computer!
Ever sit waiting forever for a web page to open wonder why your PC is so %#@#@* sluggish?!
Slow computer performance is easily the #1 complaint voiced by home computer users everywhere and spans the entire range of PC brands and vintages, that is to say, it doesn’t matter what brand of PC you have, or how old it is, most home computer users experience performance slowdowns within six months of getting a new computer or having a system cleanup performed. Talk about aggravating! Here’s a little info about what may be going on and what you can do about it…
- click for full article here -
Tags: computer, computer repair, computer service, connection, crawling, geek, geek housecalls, internet, laptop, laptop repair, laptop service, memory upgrade, network, pc, pc repair, pc service, ram memory, slow computer, slow pc, sluggish, so slow
Posted in about us, By us, G2B (geek to business), G2C (geek to consumer), Good Advice | No Comments »
Saturday, October 15th, 2011
Here’s a simple trick to save money and aggravation the next time you have computer problems: Don’t wait!
“Don’t wait” What? That’s it? How does that save money? In fact, what does that even mean??
Acting quickly to solve computer problems can make the difference between a free ride or an expensive repair!
Okay, here’s the scoop… Pretty much on a daily basis, your computer updates itself. Programs like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, AOL, Microsoft Office, Java, Adobe Reader, Flash, and more – all sorts of programs running the gamut from games to email to photo software to antivirus, and of course including Microsoft Windows itself, all have built-in updaters that go online periodically and automatically download and install the latest tweaks, patches, and updates for your computer and the programs on it.
Getting the latest updates is usually a good thing and is highly recommended by geeks the world over. These updates perform important functions like plugging security holes, enhancing functionality, and fixing bugs, but there’s a hidden risk to updates that can cost you plenty if you wait too long to fix a problem.
Solving computer problems can be as simple as choosing a system restore point prior tto the onset of the problem.
Let’s start with the basic premise that 80% of computer problems can be solved immediately after they first occur thanks to the built-in System Restore tool that has been a standard feature of Windows since Millennium Edition and is included in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. I’m not going to go into detail about what System Restore is, or how it works, but suffice it to say, it is a quick, simple, and often effective first approach to solving problems ranging from virus and malware infections to driver glitches and corruption, to inexplicable errors or loss of functionality. Mind you, System Restore is far from perfect, but for the average home pc user, it can often make the difference between a free self-repair and a costly professional repair.
But besides being aware of system restore or knowing how to use it, there is again, this matter of timing. When you address a problem immediately (immediately by my standards being within hours or days, definitely not weeks or months), you are far more likely to see that problem simply solved as it has not had the chance to become buried under layers of updates and changes (ah yes… that’s why the explanation about automatic updates earlier!) that can complicate or even aggravate the issue making it a bigger problem than when it first occurred. As a professional geek, I can tell you from personal experience with thousands of customer computers, that I can look at a job description and have a fair idea of how complex the issue is and how long it will take to resolve, but when I ask the customer how long they’ve had the problem and they reply “oh, a month or two” all bets are off.
So in conclusion, the lesson to take away here is that the quickest, least expensive and least aggravating, as well as voted-most-likely-to-succeed approach to take when you have a computer problem is DON’T WAIT! Whether you plan to tackle the fix yourself or plan on hiring a professional, act within hours or at most, a day or two, and chances are your issue will be resolved more quickly, painlessly, and at minimum cost.
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This article was written by Andy Trask, Head Geek at Geek Housecalls, the New England area’s original traveling computer geeks, on the web at www.geekhousecalls.com. Geek Housecalls specializes in “anything computer” and, since 2001, has become the trusted in-home computer and technology support provider for over 15,000 families and small business computer users in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. For help with your computers, gadgets, or network at home or at the office, click here to contact Geek Housecalls via the web, or call toll free:
1-877-4PC-GEEK (1-877-472-4335)
Tags: computer geek, easy computer repair, free, free computer repair, geek, geek housecalls, home computer, pc repair, system restore, Windows
Posted in By us, G2B (geek to business), G2C (geek to consumer), Good Advice, Interesting Stuff, Microsoft Windows, Wait. What??! | No Comments »
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
OMG These %&^*## toolbars are driving me %&^*## batty!
There was a time not long past when toolbars ran rampant across the browser landscape, showing up uninvited and urging you to search from any of a dozen different search engines or enticing you to head off into surfland with snippets of juicy headlines, not to mention offering endless links to everything from shopping coupons to airline travel to alerts of upcoming weather. Those were the days when people were either totally infuriated by the seemingly endless browser encroachment, or worse yet, didn’t even seem to notice the accumulation of toolbar and searchbar clutter across the top of their web browsers. And when helping our customers, it was typical for us geeks to point out the various toolbars and ask “do you use this?” or “did you install this?” and the customer would say “oh no. that just showed up one day.” Or, especially in multiuser environments like shared family computers, we’d find that each user thought one of the other users installed it. The bottom line though, is that toolbar accumulation was a nuisance that ate up valuable screen space that left users with a shrunken area for viewing websites which generally equated to more scrolling and less enjoyment.
Enter the latest editions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (version 9) and Mozilla Firefox (version 7). Both web browsers offer users the usual unassuming “time to do the upgrades” kind of messages that then launches the installation of the latest version, but what users don’t expect is that after the installation, they are left looking at a practically barren screen.
Internet Explorer 9 directly after installation offers a sparse, mostly tool-free landscape (click for full-screen view)
By default, both browsers now hide all toolbars and menu bars leaving the user to wonder where they went. The only obvious options besides the address bar and tabs (now crammed into a single bar across the top) are forward and backward navigation buttons, a home button, a favorites button (bookmarks in FF) which, in case you’re scratching your head trying to find that little star icon, has been moved from the left side of the screen to the far right side of the screen, and in the case of IE, a gear-shaped icon called Tools. The biggest change for most users, especially advanced users who may have been comfortable configuring tools and options themselves is that they now find missing the familiar “File Edit View Favorites Tools Help” menu bar that was previously used to access any configurable part of their web browser or browser options.
The good news for most users, particularly those who were being smothered and didn’t know what to do about uninvited and unwanted toolbars, is that those annoying screen real-estate hogs just plain go away (at least from view, they’re not actually uninstalled, that’s a completely different subject), and as a result those users are suddenly seeing entire web pages without having to scroll around to get at off-screen content.
The old familiar menu bar is available by clicking the ALT key
And the good news for users who want more, and yearn for access to the old menus and options, pressing the ALT key while in either IE or FF will magically open the old familiar menu bar temporararily so any configuration changes you wish to make, including making the menu bar permanently display, are available for the taking.
In summary, while some may bemoan the forced changing of the browser layouts with laments like “why do they have to decide what I should see or not see?”, Most will find that within a matter of days, the new skinnier layout will become comfortable, and you’ll barely notice that you no longer have a search bar begging you to click for the latest gossip about Charlie Sheen or Lady Gaga. But if you do miss all that clutter, never fear, with your trusty ALT key by your side, all those menus, toolbars, and other junk are just a keystroke or two away.
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This article was written by Andy Trask, Head Geek at Geek Housecalls, the New England area’s original traveling computer geeks, on the web at www.geekhousecalls.com. Geek Housecalls specializes in “anything computer” and, since 2001, has become the trusted in-home computer and technology support provider for over 15,000 families and small business computer users in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. For help with your computers, gadgets, or network at home or at the office, click here to contact Geek Housecalls via the web, or call toll free:
1-877-4PC-GEEK (1-877-472-4335)
Tags: can't find file menu, computer repair, ff, firefox, geek, geek housecalls, home computer service, ie, ie9, internet explorer, menu, missing icon, missing menu, missing tool, missing toolbar, toolbar, web browser
Posted in a helping hand, By us, Good Advice, Product Reviews, Wait. What??! | No Comments »
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
In the categories: Wait. What??! and Interesting Stuff
Temazcal Tequila Cantina- Fine mexican dining on Boston’s historic waterfront now features a bit of modern history. Throw away those heavy tomes and dog-eared volumes, your menu will arrive neatly packaged on the touchscreen of an Apple iPad.
Advantages? Yes! No more wondering “what is it?” as you ponder your order. Every dish offers mouthwatering high-res photos prepared by chef-owner Todd Hall himself. Want to know more? Just tap your way through the onscreen menu for nutrition information, a look at the recipe behind the dish, or to check out the intriguing “history” of the ingredients (like did you know the Aztecs considered the avocado to be an aphrodisiac?).
Disadvantages? Hmmmm… How would my 82 year old mum fare if handed this glowing electronic thingamajig? Oh yeah, she’d hand it to me and say “You’re the geek. How does this work?”
Welcome to the future… who ever thought it would arrive with a side of guacamole?
Straight from the Tamezcal menu, this photo of Todd Hall's Guacamole Langosta is so lifelike you might have to fight the urge to lick your screen!
Tags: Apple iPad, chef, geek culture, geek food, geek housecalls, geeks in boston, guacamole, ipad menu, menu, mexican restaurant, tablet menu, temazcal tequila cantina, todd hall
Posted in Interesting Stuff, Wait. What??! | No Comments »
Friday, August 26th, 2011
In the category: Wait, what??
Is there possibly any angle on hurricane Irene that hasn’t already been thoroughly dragged out and beaten to death by the media? Why yes, yes there is…
Okay, pop quiz: What is the most likely outcome of hurricane Irene that will have the biggest impact on the most people? Flooding? Well, that could happen, but what about damage to lawn furniture? No wait, downed tree limbs! THAT will happen to a lot of people right? (you’re getting warmer!) Yes, downed tree limbs, and entire trees too, and invariably what do these hurtling hunks of hickory (and other species) drag down in their flight to Terra Firma? You got it! POWER LINES! (da da DAAAAAA!)
I can't believe I didn't take Geek Housecalls' advice and unplug this thing before the hurricane...
So let’s talk about your computers and other high-tech gadgets (like expensive flat screen TVs) for a minute… nothing like a sudden power outage to corrupt the file system on your hard drive rendering it unreadable, but that problem, usually easily recoverable by companies like Geek Housecalls, pales in comparison to the possible physical damage to your computers and other high-tech electronics from the surge that occurs when the power to entire neighborhoods is abruptly restored. Sure, you might have a surge protector, even an expensive one that boasts some kind of product replacement insurance, but trust me - In the unpredictable world of restoring power to the grid, your best protection against expensive damage is to have your most susceptible electronics off the grid (read: unplugged) until after power is reliably restored to your neighborhood. And by “reliably,” I mean don’t rush to plug everything back in at the first inkling of power. Give it a half hour or longer to make sure it’s going to stay on.
Okay so let’s review:
- Before the storm hits, say, saturday night before turning in for the night, unplug your expensive electronics.
- Don’t forget ‘expensive electronics’ is not limited to tvs and computers. Play it safe by also unplugging stereo systems, video game systems, and network routers. Basically, anything that contains a microprocessor is more susceptible to surge damage than old-fashioned electric stuff like toasters and can openers (of course even though it probably is controlled by a microprocessor, I’m not going to advise you to unplug your refrigerator…)
- Don’t go crazy, you don’t need to disassemble your entire network and home entertainment wiring, just unplug the power cords.
- After the power comes back on, wait a while to make sure it’s going to stay on before plugging back in.
- And finally, don’t miss the opportunity while your kids aren’t under the spell of technology, to sit around the dining room table and have a good old-fashioned game of scrabble…
Oh yeah, and if the controls and digital display on your fridge go crazy after the power comes back on, don’t worry, usually rebooting the fridge will solve that problem. Just unplug it for a minute or two then plug it back in. It will reboot, self test, and likely return to normal 
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WAS THIS ARTICLE HELPFUL? PLEASE SCROLL DOWN AND LEAVE A COMMENT!
_______________ o ________________
This article was written by Andy Trask, Head Geek at Geek Housecalls, the New England area’s original traveling computer geeks, on the web at www.geekhousecalls.com. Geek Housecalls specializes in “anything computer” and, since 2001, has become the trusted in-home computer and technology support provider for over 15,000 families and small business computer users in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. For help with your computers, gadgets, or network at home or at the office, click here to contact Geek Housecalls via the web, or call toll free:
1-877-4PC-GEEK (1-877-472-4335)
Tags: blackou, blown power supply, brownout, computer repair, computer service, damage, dead computer, flat screen, geek, geek housecalls, hard drive crash, hurricane, Irene, is it safe, massachusetts, network, no power, plasma, power outage, power strip, power surge, prepare for hurricane, ps3, rhode island, should i unplug my computer, storm, storm damage, surge, surge protector, surge strip, unplug my computer, utilities, why unplug, wii, wireless, xbox
Posted in By us, Good Advice, Wait. What??! | 2 Comments »
