White Collar Handyman
In-Home and In-Office Technology Concierge Services
Lessons & Tutoring • Repair • Troubleshooting • Upgrades & Installation
Fast Response • Reasonable Rates • In Your Home or Office • Same Day Service Available
(781) 989-2373
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Monday, January 30, 2012

Life Not What It Used To Be?

iPhone or iPod battery life got you down? I can replace your old battery with one that is more powerful and lasts longer than the original. In your home or office. In about an hour.

Snap, Crackle, IMAP and POP

Q: Which two are not e-mail account settings? A: The first two.

If you use email on more than one device... computer, iPhone, iTouch, iPad... and you are not using IMAP, your life could be a lot easier.

If you've noticed that somehow, email that you read on your iPhone is not showing up on your computer, or a draft that you wrote on your iPad isn't showing up on your iPhone, it could be that your email preferences aren't quite right and that life could be easier. See if your ISP offers IMAP as an alternative to POP.

Most ISP's provide pretty good instructions on how to set things up or switch things over.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Is it plugged in?

There is a list of questions that any electronic support technician will run through while trying to diagnose malfunctioning equipment. You can pay by the hour for them to ask you these questions, or you can do it yourself:

1. Is it plugged in? Not just into the wall. Have you checked all of your connections? You would be surprised how many times a plug will have wiggled half way out, or a helpful spouse or child will have left something unplugged without telling you. Always start with a complete connection check of all the components of a system.

2. Is it a bad cable? If the printer isn't working, for instance, try using a different cable. Grab a cable from something that is definitely working if you can, and try it between the computer and the printer. Does it work now?

3. Which device is it, really? Can you connect the printer to another computer? Does it work now? Aha! It's not the printer...

4. Does the device have a self-test? Get out your manual. Many electronic devices have a self-test routine and will pretty much tell you what is wrong, and maybe even how to fix it.

If you still can't get it to work - or just don't have the time and inclination to do the basic troubleshooting, you know how to find me!