Category: General Tech Info

Do you have a laptop or desktop?  Well then chances are, it has a hard drive.  Understanding what it does in the computer doesn’t have to be all that difficult.

1. A hard drive stores the information on spinning magnetic discs permanently in your computers.
2. A hard drive keeps the information safe, even when the power is off.
3. A hard drive has moving parts.
4. A hard drive should never be opened, or permanent damage to the disks will occur.
5. A hard drive can be made of different kinds of materials, but always has magnets in it, and should never be exposed to a metal detector.

 

1. Events
   1. Are highly customizable.
   2. Not easy to use.
   3. Have notes like location, times, and more.
2. Reminders
   1. Are very simplisitic
   2. Easy to use.
   3. Have one notes section, the title, and meant for small tasks.
3. Goals
   1. Are highly customizable,
   2. Are easy to use.
   3. Are for scheduled around the other two types, and far more automated.

If You Have a busy day, using the three types of calendar notifications in google calendar can: reduce stress, improve punctuality, and more.

First things first, what’s an MVNO?  I’ll let you look into that more, but think of the big four wireless companies as limo companies that shuttle around flash drives in a limo.

Sometimes, the big four have space in the trunk, and sell it to a Mobile Virtual Network Operator.  The MVNO buys trunk space and resells it to you, sometimes at a steep discount.

Now imagine the limosines are cell towers, the trunk space is spare bandwidth, and the flash drives are your calls, texts, and data transfers.

Try one sometime, you might like the savings, can often keep your phone, and might be able to keep your number.  I’ll let you know more when I try one out this weekend, so stay tuned.

Oh, boy. Another big company in trouble. Well, technically, there are three main companies in trouble, but Intel is in the most trouble. AMD and ARM are not 100% safe, but there are and have been protocols in place with their CPUs to prevent the kind of vulnerabilities that are plaguing all modern Intel CPUs (dating back at least 20 years, allegedly). What actually goes on?

To put this in simple terms, the kernel (which sits between your operating system and your CPU and directs traffic) is supposed to separate the user’s experience from the bare metal of the processor. This means that a user who sits down at a computer cannot easily see what the CPU sees and is doing with each and every bit of information because the kernel encrypts everything. What Meltdown and Spectre do is exploit the lack of this separation and encryption to capture these individual bits of information. It is a slow process, but it can be modified to capture entire bytes at a time. This gives an attacker an easy way to surreptitiously read the information stored in memory, which can contain valuable information such as passwords, SSN, and other things which you may have had to type in.

The reason that Intel is more at risk is because an attacker can accomplish this remotely. With AMD and ARM, the risk is still there, but an attacker would need physical access to the machine due to their protocols in place that provide better separation between the user and the processor. What does this mean for Intel? Well, its stock price fell sharply in the days after the kernel bug was revealed, but that’s superficial. This means that every computer with an Intel CPU from the past decade (at least), even Macs, are vulnerable. We at Bendy Computers are taking this quite seriously, and would recommend an AMD system if you are looking for a new computer.

For your current system’s security, please accept all updates offered by your Operating System or CPU manufacturer.

Chances are if you have been on Facebook, you may have seen a friend broadcast live video of an mma fight on Facebook, or you yourself may have done something similar.  Most people I’ve seen do this simply use their cellphone to capture the video, and it can be very cheap to make something worthy of going viral.

You will need a few things.

1. A Facebook account.
2. A computer with internet and a spare usb port.
3. A video capture card.
4. OBS Studio.

What you need to do is take the input from your video source, and connect it to the capture card, and then connect the capture card to the computer.  Then, obs studio will hopefully detect the video stream from the card.  Then, goto live.fb.com and login to your Facebook.  Then follow the prompts and enter the appropriate information into the OBS Studio server settings.  Now you can go live on Facebook.

 

You can also use OBS Studio to stream your computer desktop, a webcam, or stream to any rtmp server.  That includes YouTube Live and Twitch.

 

Remember, if you need any help for as little as $15, we can get you up and running.  Just call 410-600-3456, order a support package online, or email support@s579766863.onlinehome.us

You may have heard of the deliberate and dastardly attack on your cellphone which will live in infamy.  Apple decided to slow iPhones with older batteries down through the use of a poison pill update in the iOS updates.  A poison pill update is any update, that when applied to the system, significantly negatively impacts the performance without the user being told so before the update is applied.

Apples intentions were to increase the lifespan of a phone with a degraded battery were not unnoticed.  When you pay $800 for a device you rely on every day for everything, nobody should be able to restrict your usage whatsoever and defiantly without your knowledge.  Features should only be added with updates, not removed with updates.

The Sony Xperia line of phones is as every bit polished as an iPhone, and does have battery saving features built in from day one, but you can activate them or deactivate them at any time.  The battery on my old Sony Xperia Z3 was rated for 18 hours, and performance could be restricted to the bare essentials of calling, texting, and other basics.  This extreme mode allowed for up to 20 days of usage.  I supported this, because I was told in advance of this and could decide to do it or not, and my decision was reversible.

I highly recommend that for people in the Baltimore, Md area that you go to Beyond Electronics in the Whitemarsh Mall.  Their prices are fair, they have been in business over ten years, have parts on hand for major models, and can get you up and running in the same day. They’re not a kiosk, and in fact have grown so much, they had to get a bigger storefront in the mall.  Their selection of accessories and used phones is unmatched.

$150 for a new battery is cheaper than $20 a month for 2 years for a new model, so breath new life into your phone by letting these guys do phone cpr.

 

Oh, boy. It seems like there’s some new information leak every day, and there’s probably even more than you or I realize. But this one is a big deal. Equifax, being such an important company to the structure of credit in the modern world, is privy to all kinds of personal information. This includes address, date of birth, Social Security number, tax ID, credit card numbers, etc. The works. And all of this data was leaked for 143 million Americans. What does this mean for you? It means that anyone can buy this information about you and use it to open up accounts in your name or take loans with zero intent of paying them off. This can and will destroy your credit. We at BendyComputers would always recommend that you have a high credit score, as it is not only necessary but imperative when it comes to important aspects of life such as renting an apartment, buying a car, or financing a home, just to name a few. One way you can go about protecting yourself is via freezing your credit, but this has its downsides, too. You can read more about that in your spare time.

Okay, but how did this happen? Well, it would appear that a high-ranking executive in charge of the databases used to secure all of your personal information used the default login credentials rather than changing them to something more secure. That’s right, the hacker merely had to be on the same network as the database and type in “admin” “admin” for the username and password and POOF! Everyone’s valuable information at his fingertips. Perhaps Equifax should have read my post on Password Security!