News from Geek Girls IT Services - Geek Girls IT Services

Palm and Windows 64-bit – a solution

by Roberta | Aug 8, 2009 | Tech Tips for Small Business

Several of my clients have recently bought new computers with 64-bit versions of Windows. They may not have even realized they were doing so! 64-bit versions of Windows have speed advantages over the 32-bit versions. While the difference between 64-bit and 32-bit...

Open Office – FREE, LEGAL MS Office replacement

by Roberta | Jul 20, 2009 | Tech Tips for Small Business

Open Office is a free, legal alternative to MS Office for PCs and Macs. With its suite of programs, you can edit and create Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint files. These files are fully compatible with the MS Office versions, so you can send them to a colleague and...

Recycling Technology

by Roberta | Jun 30, 2009 | IT for Small Business, Tech Tips for Small Business

There's an interesting article in the NY Times today about the trend of local governments mandating recycling of electronics. Coming soon to New York and New Jersey... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/earth/30ewaste.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

What to do about Conficker (Downadup)

by Roberta | Mar 30, 2009 | Cybersecurity, What's New at Geek Girls IT Services

By now you've probably heard about the Conficker (aka Downadup) virus that is supposed to start wreaking havoc some time after April 1st hits. It's been on 60 Minutes and in the NY Times. What should you do to protect yourself? First, take a deep breath. 54% of the...

Surge Protectors

by Roberta | Mar 25, 2009 | IT for Small Business, Tech Tips for Small Business

It's very important to keep all electronic equipment, not just your computer, plugged into a surge protector to protect it from surges and spikes on the line. I'm not an electrician, but my residential clients always assume I know about surge protectors and ask me...

Genie-Soft Backup Manager How-To Videos

by Roberta | Mar 15, 2009 | Tech Tips for Small Business

Many of our clients are using Genie Soft Backup Manager to automatically back up their computers to an external hard drive or ftp site. Most of them are not interested in learning how to use the software; they just want to know that it works and that their data is...

How (and Why) to Delete your Internet Explorer Browser Cache

by Roberta | Mar 7, 2009 | Tech Tips for Small Business

A client asks whether it's necessary to delete her browser cache after an online banking session, as her bank encourages her to do this. The reason the bank suggests deleting your browser cache is propably to make sure that personally identifying information isn't...

How to Run an Online Virus Scan

by Roberta | Mar 2, 2009 | Tech Tips for Small Business

Suppose you’re not 100% confident in your anti-virus software. You’d like to run another company’s anti-virus scan but you know from speaking with your friendly Geek Girl that you should NEVER install two AV programs on your computer at the same time. They will conflict with each other and cause performance problems. Instead, consider running an online virus scan from your web browser. One of the best is Bit Defender online scanner.

Dangerous web sites found using Google search

by Roberta | Feb 3, 2009 | Cybersecurity

A while back I wrote about the "XP Anti=-virus" rogue malware which many of my clients have accidentally installed by visiting an innocent-looking web site. I want to reiterate that you need to be careful what web site you visit, no matter what the source of the link...

My internet travails

by Roberta | Feb 2, 2009 | Tech Tips for Small Business

As I mentioned in a previous post and mailing, I just moved to Teaneck NJ. I thought it would be a simple matter to move my Verizon DSL service from Brooklyn to Teaneck, but boy was I wrong! Here's a summary: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=48049 I finally...