Computech Idaho

06/25/2021

Just a little reminder on how to navigate a bit faster in Windows.

03/01/2021

Johann Henrich von Muller conceptualized a computer on paper, called the Difference Engine, in 1786.

11/18/2020

20 Interesting Computer Facts:

Computers are a critical part of our daily lives. In the last two decades, computers have revolutionized business, relationships, and shopping, and given rise to a whole new era of marketing and connection. By now, you probably know a computer is an incredible machine, but did you know just how amazing? Here’s a list of the top 20 computer facts you might not know:

1. The First Computer Weighed More Than 27 Tons
Her name was ENIAC, and she took up a modest 1800 square feet of space.

2. About 90% of the World’s Currency Only Exists on Computers
This means only about 10% of the global currency is actually cash.

3. The First Computer Mouse was Made of Wood
Doug Engelbart invented it in 1964.

4. About 70% of Virus Engineers Work for Organized Crime Syndicates
This gives new weight to the importance of anti-virus and anti-malware software, and excellent virus removal services.

5. The First Known Computer Programmer was a Woman
Her name was Ada Lovelace, and she lived in England, where she worked as a mathematician and writer. She is famous for working on the “Analytical Engine.”

6. Some of the Biggest Computer Brands Started in Garages
This is true for Apple, Microsoft, and HP.

7. People Blink Less When They Use Computers
While the average person blinks about 20 times a minute under normal circumstances, people on computers only blink about seven times a minute.

8. Hackers Write About 6,000 New Viruses Each Month
These viruses are designed to target a wide selection of operating systems, so learning to avoid viruses and malware is essential!

9. More Than 80% of Daily Emails in the U.S. are Spam
To keep your data safe, delete these emails immediately and don’t click any links or attachments they might contain.

10. MyDoom is the Most Expensive Computer Virus in History
The virus cost an estimated $38.5 billion in damage and came about in January of 2006. Shortly after that, it earned a name for itself as the fastest-spreading virus ever.

11. The Parts for the Modern Computer Were First Invented in 1833
A man named Charles Babbage put them together, but the first modern computer came about 120 years later.

12. The First Gigabyte Drive Cost $40,000
It was released in 1980 and weighed 550 lbs. How’s that for a portable drive?

13. The Case of the First Macintosh Computer Includes 47 Signatures
On the inside of the device, Macintosh’s entire 1982 division signed the case.

14. The Worst U.S. Security Breach of All Time Happened Because of a USB Stick
Someone found the stick (which a foreign intelligence agency infected) in a parking lot and plugged it into their computer. The computer had links to the U.S. Central Command. The attack happened in 2008 and resulted in the theft of thousands of classified and unclassified documents. The Pentagon spent about 14 months cleaning up the damage from the worm.

15. A Single Computer Catches 50% of all Wikipedia Vandalism
This computer has a 90% accuracy rate.

16. Computers Sort 95% of Mail
The U.S. Postal Service still hires individual employees to sort through addresses that are too sloppy for computers to make sense of.

17. MIT Has Computers That can Detect Fake Smiles
These computers can tell between genuine smiles and frustrated smiles.

18. Computers Might Soon be Able to Tell What Dogs Think
These computers are under development by a Scandinavian company. A prototype is purported to be available.

19. Russia Engineered a Computer That Ran on Water
The computer was built in 1936 and was meant to solve partial differential equations.

20. Disney Fired John Lasseter for Pushing Computer Animation
He’s now the CCO of Pixar.

03/25/2020

Computech will continue to offer our services and will be open and available for our customers and businesses. Many computer needs can be serviced using our Remote Management Services which would allow you to stay at home and still have your computer worked on. We are also taking drop offs at our office. Please call us ahead to schedule drop offs. Any questions or concerns please call us at (208)525-5139.

03/17/2020

Computech wants to help out our community during this difficult time. We currently have several desktop towers, all with WIndows 10, that we are marking down to $100. If you need that extra computer to help while the kids are learning from home now is the time to get them. We have a very limited amount on hand and it will be a first come, first serve basis.

11/28/2018

Even though you use your computer every single day, that doesn't mean you know how to use it to its full potential. We wanted to share some tips so you can take full advantage of your Mac or PC.

We focused on some keyboard shortcuts that'll help you crank out text and data faster in Microsoft Word or Excel, or to help you better navigate your computer or its internet browser. Additionally, we recommended a handful of extensions and programs, and have listed some tips to help you get your inbox under control. If you get one thing out of this post, we think you'll be happy with how much time you'll save in the long run.

1. Keyboard shortcuts that'll come in handy in word processors
CTRL C: Copy
CTRL X: Cut
CTRL V: Paste
CTRL Z: Undo
CTRL Y: Redo
CTRL B: Bold
CTRL U: Underline
CTRL I: Italicize
Remember, if you have a Mac, the CTRL button press is substituted with the Command button on your computer. You can find a full list of Word shortcuts here.

2. Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts
F2: Edits cells
Shift Space: Selects whole lines
Ctrl Space: Selects whole columns
Ctrl Plus: Insert cell
Ctrl Minus: Delete cell
Ctrl 1: Edits the cell format
You can find a full list of Excel shortcuts here.

3. Keyboard shortcuts for internet browsers

CTRL N: New window
CTRL T: New tab
CTRL Shift T: Reopen last closed tab
CTRL Shift W: Close all open tabs, browser
CTRL W: Close current tab
CTRL Plus: Zoom in
CTRL Minus: Zoom out
CTRL 0: Resets zoom to default
CTRL F: Find in page
More keyboard shortcuts for Chrome, and for Firefox, here.

Another great resource of keyboard shortcuts for your operating system can be found at these links: Here for Macs or here for PCs.

3. Take a screenshot
On Macs, CMD Shift 3 takes a photo of the entire screen, or you can press the Print Screen button on your Windows keyboard for PCs, and the screenshot can be pasted into any photo-editing software, like Paint or Photoshop.
On Macs, CMD Shift 4 lets you use your mouse and select a portion of your screen to take a screenshot of. On the PC, you can use the Snipping Tool — a program in Windows — to select a specific area of your screen to take a screenshot.
4. Easily search websites
In Google Chrome, when filling in a web address, for example www.youtube.com, press TAB instead of ENTER and you can perform your search on the site from the address bar.
5. New computer? No problem!

Use Ninite.com to download commonly installed programs all at once when setting up a new computer. The service is free, but unfortunately it only works for PCs.
6. Download VLC
Speaking of installing programs, we highly recommend VLC for all computers. The free and open-sourced software makes it easy to play practically any file format you throw at it. You can download it here. The app works with Mac, PC, Linux, Android, and iOS!
6. Take advantage of Facebook's powerful search engine
You can type in a person's phone number in the Facebook search bar to oftentimes see their name. This comes in handy for checking into the background of someone you're meeting up with to complete a Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace transaction.
On Facebook, you can also type in extremely specific search queries to network.

For instance, type "My friends of friends who live in San Francisco" to find mutual friends when you move to a new city.
Or, you can find new concert buddies by typing in "My friends who like Name of Artist."
You can even see who your friends of friends are at a company you're applying to by typing "My friends of friends who work at Google."
7. Use Shoutkey.com to easily share links to people
Link shortener sites like bit.ly are convenient and common, but there's an even better link shortener site that you probably haven't heard of. It's called ShoutKey.

Other link shortener sites' URLS are case-sensitive and difficult to read on a whiteboard or PowerPoint presentation. Not to mention, they're practically impossible to say out loud. "Oh, just go to bit dot l y slash x g capital H r 2132."

ShoutKey will randomly select a word to use that it places at the end of a Shoutkey.com link that's easily shareable and shout-able.

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8. Use Pushbullet to send files, links, and text between devices
Pushbullet is an app and extension that brings all your devices together. It lets you easily send messages and reminders from your computer to your smartphone, and share links and files to different devices. So, if you take a screenshot or picture on your smartphone, you can easily 'push' it to your laptop to edit it in Photoshop. The service is free, and it works with iOS, Android, Mac, and PC devices.

9. Use the OneTab extension to get your tab addiction under control
OneTab is arguably the best Chrome or Firefox extension you can download. The extension places a small button on your toolbar that, when pressed, converts all your open tabs into a list that you can easily open and access later. Or, you can export your tabs as a list of URLs to share with others. The extension saves up to 95% of your computer's memory, because your browser is no longer running all those tabs. Goodbye spinning wheel of death!

10. Disable autoplay videos in Chrome
Another quick Chrome tip: You can now turn off autoplay videos! 🙌

In the Chrome address bar, paste this: chrome://flags/
On your keyboard press CTRL F (or Command F on a Mac)
Type autoplay
Click the dropdown menu and set it to "document user activation required"
11. Clean out your inbox much faster
If you're buried under thousands of emails in your Gmail inbox, we think you're going to love this search string.

In the search bar, type the following, then press enter. in:inbox is:unread -category:promotions
This will make it easy to delete a bunch of email from brands and stores that are trying to sell you something.

Another bonus email tip that works for all email clients: Just make a filter for the word "unsubscribe" in your email. This will make it easy to unsubscribe to those pesky emails that never stop coming. If you're new to creating filters, here's how you can do it in Gmail or Outlook.

10/12/2018

Cleaning your computer and its components

How to clean a computer, computer components, and other electronics. Page includes computer cleaning tips and tools that can be used while cleaning your computer.

10/10/2018

When it comes to using computers and the internet we are all challenged to create a plethora of user names and passwords. But how do you make up a user name and password that will be easy for you to remember but impossible for anyone else to figure out?


Follow this link for more information

15 hours of free training in just 5 minutes a day. 180 free computer technology tips that will teach you basic computer skills in just 5 minutes a day

07/27/2018

https://funfactz.com/computer-facts/internet-20-years-ago/

20 years ago, there were only 130 websites, Google wasn't around, and you had to pay for an email account through an ISP.

07/27/2018

Terms & Conditions can be overwhelming!!!

It would take 76 work days (8 hours a day) for the average person to read the Terms and Conditions they agree to in a year.

04/02/2018

HP 15.6" Laptop
Windows 10
Intel i3 2.13GHz Processor
4GB RAM
500GB Hard Drive
Microsoft Office Pro
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Access, & Outlook
HDMI
We**am
Card Reader
3 USB Ports
$150.00