Call Brady (www.callbrady.com)

When “Green Computing” is discussed, there are 4 main components. Green Design and Manufacturing are typically out of the typical user’s sphere of influence, so here I’d like to discuss Green Use and Disposal.

 As home users, our easiest target in Green Computing is power consumption. There are 3 main areas to consider:

1. Look for energy efficient models, such as laptops and netbooks if you do not have a need for a full size computer. These use less energy, and have the added benefit of portability. Replace old CRT monitors with LCD Flat Screens.
2. Use the hibernation settings of your computer (desktop or laptop) so that it will go into a low power state when you are not actively using it. NOTE: Screensavers don’t save energy. You should either use Sleep, Hibernate, or Shut Down when  the computer is not in use, and power the computer off each night.
3. Look for a Green Surge Protector, that will reduce Standby Power Usage (sometimes called Vampire Power Usage) by 80%.

 For Green Disposal, you should consider two primary options:

1. Donation: Goodwill Industries in South Carolina will take any used computer equipment. If it can be refurbished, they will be sold in select Goodwill stores. If not, they will be recycled in an environmentally friendly manner (details at http://www.goodwillsc.org/computers.php)
2. Recycle: Due to some of the hazardous materials used in PC manufacturing, computers and computing equipment should not be added to household trash. You can electronics at the following staffed locations, Tuesday-Saturday, 7am-6pm, per SCDHEC.gov:

• Enoree, 1311 Anderson Ridge Rd., Greer — PHONE: (864) 243-9672  
• O’Neal, 3769 Camp Rd., Greer — PHONE: (864) 243-9672  
• Blackberry Valley*, 409 Blackberry Valley Rd., Greenville — PHONE: (864) 243-9672  
• Piedmont, 200 Owens Rd., Piedmont — PHONE: (864) 243-9672   

 From a security perspective, you may wish to destroy data on a harddrive before disposing of it, although Goodwill does offer to do this for you.

 Brady Gilbert is the owner of Call Brady, Computer Services, providing in-home/office computer repair, and webpage design. For more information, call 864-335-8672 or visit CallBrady.com.

As I’ve spoken to many of you in the last weeks, the first tech question remains the same: What do you think of Windows 7?

Last week I upgraded my Operating System from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate. I have to say, I’m completely happy with the upgrade. Windows 7 has improved workflow considerably over Vista, with fewer irrelevant security pop-ups, easier computer navigation, and cleaner program control.

The actual upgrade took about 2 hours. Before the upgrade, however, I did took a complete image of my system. What is an image? Take a look at your current system. Your settings, your desktop, even your list of most recently opened programs and documents. If I take an image of my computer and then it fails, I can restore that exact image, and my computer will display exactly as it did the day I took the image. If you use your computer heavily for business or other purposes, I highly recommend this route.

I’ve played around with voice recognition, and the system does well with it, but I found myself frustrated by the frequent corrections it required.

Need info on upgrading? Give me a call today, and I’ll be glad to discuss your options with you, including system specs, which version you should upgrade to, 32-bit and 64-bit considerations, and software/hardware considerations.

Best wishes,
Brady Gilbert
Call Brady, Computer Services
864-335-8672

I have spent the last 3 hours trying to get one question answered from HP. Is this system covered under warranty? The utility on their site would not answer the question, and 3 separate technicians dragged me through 2-3 hours of chat just trying to get the ONE question answered.

Their laptops frequently have some impressive sales, but you get what you pay for. I work on these frequently, and they are frequently beyond repair at reasonable cost.

For laptops stick with Dell and Lenovo and you will be MUCH happier.

I’ve been trying to think of ways that I could use Twitter to benefit my customers and me. Here is my idea:

I frequently find myself driving across town to Simpsonville or Greer to see one client on a particular day. If I have additional times available, I will “Tweet” to users who have signed up for a particular location and offer a discount for specific time windows. For example: “I have 3:00 & 5:00 appointments available in yourcity, and am offering a $20 discount to the first person to call me at 864-335-8672.”

This will allow me to see additional clients without excessive driving, and will allow me to save clients a few bucks along the way.

If you would like to sign up to receive Tweets for your location, you can visit http://www.callbrady.com/twitter.html

Possible locations are: Golden Strip, Greenville, Easley/Piedmont, Greer/Taylors, and Cliffs Valley. Don’t forget to make these alerts available to your mobile device so you will receive them before I’ve already left!

This one will be short and to the point:

Don’t use your primary email address when you go to sites that will generate spam. I keep at least 3 active email addresses.
Personal
Business
Spam

The first 2 are obvious. Personal could be provided by your ISP, and the business should be from your business domain (see my previous article on this).

The 3rd, the Spam address, could be from any free service. Yahoo, GMail, and Live are all examples. Use this address whenever you have to use an email address to sign up for a web forum, service, or anywhere else that you don’t have to receive emails. If they sell this address to 20 other companies and they all start to spam you, you will be able to safely ignore it. Go into this spam address once each month to clean it out. This will keep the account active, and will allow you to scan for anything you may actually want from it.

With this tip, you won’t have to scan 30 emails each day to find the 1 or 2 that are truly important.

In my line of work I get lots of E-mails. Many are from home-owners who use E-mail addresses provided to them by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). These addresses look like name@bellsouth.net, or @aol.com, or @charter.net.

There is nothing wrong with home users using these addresses.

If you are a business, however, you are hurting yourself.

Businesses need to market themselves everyday. If your business is “ABC Foods” and you use an email address of abc@bellsouth.net, there are a few things happening.

• You are marketing for Bellsouth everytime you send an email, when you could be marketing yourself (joe@ABCFoods.com).
• You are telling your customers that your business isn’t quite big enough to be taken seriously. You are just taking free options for now.
• You are preventing users and easy path to your website (if I get an email from joe@ABCFoods.com, I know I can learn more about this company by visiting ABCFoods.com. I can’t do this if the email comes from the ISP)

I include business based email addresses for all of my web customers through CallBrady.com and 1Site1Day.com. Give me a call if you would like more details on setting this up.

I’ve driven by several times on my way to the Cliffs to handle computer repair. Last week I scheduled a client around the lunch hour just so I could stop and try it out. MAN, I’m glad I did.

Located at 2221 Hwy 25 North in Travelers Rest (several miles north of George Coleman), Huntin’ Camp is a beautiful cabin styled building, new, and VERY clean. The staff were all incredibly friendly, and the BBQ was fantastic.

I went with the Beef Brisket sandwich plate, and couldn’t finish the fries and baked beans. Huge portions, perfectly cooked and seasoned meat, and reasonably priced.

I will be back. No website to link to (yet– hey, I am a web guy, I’ve got to try)

I’m proud and excited to announce that “Call Brady, Computer Services” (www.CallBrady.com) is now my full time profession. Working with people is a passion for me, and I enjoy the 1-on-1 interaction I get with people on their home or work computers. I am available for webpage design, computer consulting, repair, and for getting the viruses and spyware out of your system. While ‘home-base’ will continue to be Travelers Rest, SC, I am available to work throughout the Upstate of South Carolina and beyond.

I have been working at building my business gradually over the last few years, while also working as a Server Administrator at Kemet Electronics Corporation in Simpsonville, SC for the last 8 years.

At Kemet my responsibilities included: 

• Corporate Antivirus Administration
• VMWare Server Virtualization
• Sharepoint 2007 Administration
• 2003 Server and Active Directory
• Backup and Disaster Recovery

Jennifer and I are excited about this new venture!  Please tell your friends, or Call Brady today to schedule your appointment. 864-335-8672, or brady@callbrady.com.