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.

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

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 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!

Some of the top (or bottom) stories from this month:

• A computer that was shutting down randomly within 20 minutes of every  boot. The customer took it to a big box store once and called the same store out to their home the second time. When the problem wasn’t resolved, they called me. I immediately opened up the case and we couldn’t even see the processor. It was covered in dust causing the system to overheat. The case had never even been opened by the technicians. They charged $225 and didn’t resolve the problem. I charged $70 and was out the door in no time. The problem hasn’t occurred again.
• A technician told a client that Outlook didn’t come installed on Vista. If he wanted his E-mail he would have to pay $120 to have the technician install and configure another application. I configured and tested his Windows Mail within 5 minute during his service call. I couldn’t believe they were going to charge him for an application that he already had!
• I was walking around in an Office store. A technician was telling a woman that she needed 6GB of RAM to send and receive pictures with her Grandkids. I couldn’t believe it! I don’t sell parts. I only make recommendations for parts and upgrades and don’t profit from the sale of those parts. My professional opinion isn’t profit-motivated!

I’d love to hear your best horror stories. Send them my way! Thanks!

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.

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.

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)

Yesterday, I saw the Professional version on Amazon.com for $99 (not an upgrade, this is the full version). I called Intuit and asked them to upgrade me for a reduced cost. They refused. They said the charge would be an additional $100 (total $185) when the cost online was only $99.

Since I’m still in my 60 day “Satisfaction Guaranteed” window, I decided to order the Amazon copy, and will return my Intuit copy once I receive the Amazon one.

I expressed to the Intuit operator that, from a customer service perspective, there should be a better way. She listened, and then thanked me for calling.

Shouldn’t it be easier? Shouldn’t you want to help your customer by doing the right thing?

Two great reads if you are in a customer service industry: “Raving Fans,” and “Eat More Chickn, Inspire More People.”

 Brady Gilbert has 8 years corporate IT experience and is now fulltime owner/technician for Call Brady, Computer Services (www.CallBrady.com). Call with any of your computer needs. He is also a web designer, and can help with projects large (www.CallBrady.com) or small (www.1Site1Day.com). Brady is a graduate of Furman University and Greenville Technical College. He is A+ and CCNA certified.