Warp Drive PC Repair

06/17/2022

END OF THE ROAD FOR INTERNET EXPLORER: FAREWELL, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

Quotage: "Web 2.0 might have never happened without what was possibly the most reviled piece of software in history. Today, Microsoft Internet Explorer—which at one point accounted for more than 90% of web browsers in use and was the first web browser included with Apple Macs—bids farewell to the world. And the world has not been kind. People have not appreciated IE and even made a sport of denigrating it.

True, much of the criticism was merited, especially in its last few years once Google’s Chrome browser took over to become the dominant player. Chrome left IE in the dust in terms of speed, and it sticks to open web standards whereas IE used proprietary technologies."

https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/farewell-internet-explorer-you-werent-all-bad

01/28/2022

FTC REPORTS "HUGE SURGE" IN SOCIAL MEDIA SCAMS

Quotage: "The Federal Trade Commission says that scams initiated on social media cost people a collective $770 million in 2021—and that's just among those who reported their losses.

That $770 million represents 'about one fourth of all reported fraud losses for the year and an 18-fold increase from 2017,' according to the FTC, which also says the number of scam victims who say they were first contacted via social media had more than doubled since 2020."

The leading scam categories (scamegories?) in terms of financial cost are investment and romance schemes.

08/05/2021

"IT'S GONNA BE A DIFFICULT HOLIDAY SEASON":

COMPUTER CHIP SHORTAGES AFFECT BIG CARMAKERS, MICROSOFT, ENTIRE COMPUTING INDUSTRY

Quotage: "As the chip shortage continues to rattle car and laptop makers, consumers are all but certain to feel the consequences, possibly in price hikes as high as 10 to 15 percent, Penfield, the supply chain expert at Syracuse, told Recode. So for now, whether you’re hoping to snag a pickup truck or a laptop for back-to-(virtual)-school shopping, it’s best to buy as early as possible. As Penfield warns: 'It’s going to be a difficult holiday season.' "

The semiconductor supply crunch came for cars and phones. Now consumers are facing higher prices.

07/13/2021

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ORDERS CRACKDOWN ON RESTRICTIONS ON REPAIR OF PHONES, ELECTRONICS

Quotage: "President Biden is going to call on the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on the repair restrictions the tech industry has been imposing on consumer electronics.

On Friday, Biden is slated to sign an executive order meant to promote healthy competition in the market. As a preview, the White House released a fact sheet, which reveals that the executive order also covers the internet and technology industry.

The order will please the Right to Repair movement, since it specifically calls out 'cell phone manufacturers' for blocking independent repair shops from fixing consumer electronics.

The executive order from Biden, slated to be signed on Friday, also calls on the FCC to revive Obama-era net neutrality rules and calls out 'corporate consolidation' in the tech industry.

06/25/2021

Microsoft announces release date for Windows 11 at the end of 2021

10/12/2020

TO QUOTE MYSELF: "WE ARE ASKING THE SYSTEM AND THE INTERNET TO DO THINGS IT WAS NOT DESIGNED TO DO"

Quotage: "We're 10 months into 2020, and businesses are still making adjustments to the new realities of large-scale telework (which, if you're not in the IT biz, is just a fancy term for "working from not in the office"). In the Before Times, telework was an interesting idea that tech companies were just starting to seriously flirt with as a normal way of doing business—whereas now, most businesses large or small have a hefty fraction of their workforce staying home to work."

Almost a year into the grand work-from-home experiment, businesses are still adjusting.

04/11/2020

WATCH OUT FOR CORONAVIRUS-RELATED INTERNET SCAMS AND FRAUDSTERS

Warp Drive PC Repair is available to help you figure out the real deals from the scammers, fraudsters, and con men out there willing to take advantage of the terrible, horrible, awful, no-good situation the world finds itself in.

Coronavirus fraud has already cost consumers $12 million, and government officials worry it could damage efforts to contain the virus.

03/30/2020

Warp Drive is available for remote desktop support for all your computer needs.

03/23/2020

Computer services are considered "essential services." Warp Drive is available for your PC needs during this difficult time.

03/19/2020

AMID THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS, YOU CAN HELP THE REST OF US BY BEING CAREFUL WITH YOUR INTERNET USAGE

Large companies pay extra to have lots of Internet data bandwidth, but it does not necessarily apply to residential service. With millions of people starting to work from home, you can do your part to make sure that we all have enough Internet data bandwidth to go around.

To be clear: The Internet infrastructure is not built for what our society may ask of it in coming months.

One thing you can do is what the European Union is openly requesting: limit use of high-bandwidth services such as high-def movie streaming and gaming.

As this article indicates, this applies even to Facebook, who openly acknowledges that their system is under strain.

And should any of you Gentle Readers have questions about this topic, feel free to contact me here at Warp Drive PC Repair. We work to help keep your computer humming, so you can do what you need to do everyday.

Excelsior!

The European Union is urging Netflix and other streaming platforms to stop showing video in high definition to prevent the internet from breaking under the strain of unprecedented usage due to the coronavirus pandemic.

12/30/2019

NEW CALIFORNIA PRIVACY LAW WILL MAKE A SMALL CHANGE TO ALMOST EVERY WEBSITE YOU USE

Quotage: "Starting New Year’s Day, you may notice a small but momentous change to the websites you visit: a button or link, probably at the bottom of the page, reading 'Do Not Sell My Personal Information.'

The change is one of many going into effect Jan. 1, 2020, thanks to a sweeping new data privacy law known as the California Consumer Privacy Act. The California law essentially empowers consumers to access the personal data that companies have collected on them, to demand that it be deleted, and to prevent it from being sold to third parties. Since it’s a lot more work to create a separate infrastructure just for California residents to opt out of the data collection industry, these requirements will transform the internet for everyone."

Why companies are scrambling to update their websites.

12/27/2019

MICROSOFT'S WINDOWS 7 SUPPORT COMES TO AN END IN JANUARY

Do you still own a computer running Windows 7? Support for Win 7, after a glorious decade, will be coming to a close in January 2020.

But you can still get some more life out of your Win 7 computer—Win 7 was being installed on new computers as recently as last year by special order, so you might have a relatively new PC with what is perhaps Microsoft's greatest operating system ever. But as they say, "All good things..."

Contact Warp Drive PC Repair—we can help you upgrade your Windows 7 PC to Windows 10 without having to reinstall all your programs.

A hundred million here, a half-billion there: Calculating the installed base of PCs, including those still running Windows 7, is a tricky task, filled with uncertainty. After clearing away the noise, I think I’ve got a reliable estimate.