ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Happy "Techsgiving" 2017
Plugging in...
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
Monday, October 30, 2017
Low Tech "Clocking"
Plugging in...
Electricity and electronics. Can't have one without the other. And this week, the electricity sparked that dreaded blinking 12:00 on a client's stove. It should have been easy to re-set the clock, if the touchpad "settings" didn't fail to respond when touched. EVERY other touch button on the stove worked, except for the one we needed. My client lamented about the old-fashioned dials that we used to use to twirl about to set clocks.
Seemed like a costly event to get the stove button fixed - the circuit board might have been the culprit, but the company could not say for certain. So, the Tutor was asked, "anything you can do"? And there was. Quite a low tech solution, but it worked.
It just so happened it was 11:55am when the Tutor put the thinking cap on. Knowing that most electronic clocks default to 12:00 on a power outage, the Tutor created a power outage by turning off the breaker to the stove. We waited until it was high noon, flipped the breaker back on, and pressed the CANCEL button on the stove. Choosing cancel stopped the blinking, and the clock began keeping time at 12:00pm, which was the correct time of day.
The Tutor suggested the client use the same technique the next time the house lost power. Quick, elegant, and a no cost solution.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
Electricity and electronics. Can't have one without the other. And this week, the electricity sparked that dreaded blinking 12:00 on a client's stove. It should have been easy to re-set the clock, if the touchpad "settings" didn't fail to respond when touched. EVERY other touch button on the stove worked, except for the one we needed. My client lamented about the old-fashioned dials that we used to use to twirl about to set clocks.
Seemed like a costly event to get the stove button fixed - the circuit board might have been the culprit, but the company could not say for certain. So, the Tutor was asked, "anything you can do"? And there was. Quite a low tech solution, but it worked.
It just so happened it was 11:55am when the Tutor put the thinking cap on. Knowing that most electronic clocks default to 12:00 on a power outage, the Tutor created a power outage by turning off the breaker to the stove. We waited until it was high noon, flipped the breaker back on, and pressed the CANCEL button on the stove. Choosing cancel stopped the blinking, and the clock began keeping time at 12:00pm, which was the correct time of day.
The Tutor suggested the client use the same technique the next time the house lost power. Quick, elegant, and a no cost solution.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
Monday, October 9, 2017
NETGEAR Blocking
Plugging in...
How's this for puzzling? A website you used to visit regularly now blocks you, stating the security certificate is out of date. Hmmm. Was fine yesterday. Not only could the Tutor's client not get to the website on her laptop, but also not on her iPhone. Yet... everyone the client asked did not have any trouble viewing the website on their devices, including the Tutor, who tried it on her cell phone at the client's home without a problem.
Thinking harder now. What was the common factor between the laptop and the iPhone? Can you guess? A wireless connection, used on both. Once the Tutor tried the iPhone without WiFi, the website loaded just fine. Small problem with the laptop though. The client had an ultra slim laptop without an Ethernet port, meaning, it can't connect to the router with a cable :( so wireless was the only option without purchasing a USB Ethernet cable connector.
After a session with good old Google, it appears this Netgear router has this issue reported on a variety of online user forums but alas, nothing to fix it short of buying a different router. Now what do we do? I suggested the short, easy way out: if it's only that ONE website, view it on the iPhone while disconnected from w-fi. Still waiting on that to see if it is viable. Door #2: buy a USB Ethernet connector. Door #3: buy a new router. What would YOU do??
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
How's this for puzzling? A website you used to visit regularly now blocks you, stating the security certificate is out of date. Hmmm. Was fine yesterday. Not only could the Tutor's client not get to the website on her laptop, but also not on her iPhone. Yet... everyone the client asked did not have any trouble viewing the website on their devices, including the Tutor, who tried it on her cell phone at the client's home without a problem.
Thinking harder now. What was the common factor between the laptop and the iPhone? Can you guess? A wireless connection, used on both. Once the Tutor tried the iPhone without WiFi, the website loaded just fine. Small problem with the laptop though. The client had an ultra slim laptop without an Ethernet port, meaning, it can't connect to the router with a cable :( so wireless was the only option without purchasing a USB Ethernet cable connector.
After a session with good old Google, it appears this Netgear router has this issue reported on a variety of online user forums but alas, nothing to fix it short of buying a different router. Now what do we do? I suggested the short, easy way out: if it's only that ONE website, view it on the iPhone while disconnected from w-fi. Still waiting on that to see if it is viable. Door #2: buy a USB Ethernet connector. Door #3: buy a new router. What would YOU do??
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
Friday, May 12, 2017
An Avoidable Email Situation
Plugging in...
The practical, but unpleasant issue of dealing with a deceased person's gmail account. A recent client ran into this problem: her deceased sister's gmail account was forwarding email to her comcast email account. One day, without warning, my client was prompted to enter the password for her sister's gmail account. This is when we figured out what was going on since the prompt had never happened previously. Hmmm. Not only did she not have the gmail password, but... the options that gmail provided to "recover" (cell phone number, alternative email address) the password, were no longer in service.
Some websites provide the ability to prepare for this inevitable situation. You may have to search their website(s) to find out what to do. In the case of gmail, the company Google has an "Inactive Account" manager option that can be filled out now, while everyone is healthy and able. Google's Inactive Account Manager
So what did my client do? She was prompted to upload a copy of HER license to prove who she was, AND upload a copy of her sister's death certificate. She opted not to do anything, and when the window prompts her in the future for the gmail password, she will continue to click cancel and continue working uninterrupted in her own email account.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
The practical, but unpleasant issue of dealing with a deceased person's gmail account. A recent client ran into this problem: her deceased sister's gmail account was forwarding email to her comcast email account. One day, without warning, my client was prompted to enter the password for her sister's gmail account. This is when we figured out what was going on since the prompt had never happened previously. Hmmm. Not only did she not have the gmail password, but... the options that gmail provided to "recover" (cell phone number, alternative email address) the password, were no longer in service.
Some websites provide the ability to prepare for this inevitable situation. You may have to search their website(s) to find out what to do. In the case of gmail, the company Google has an "Inactive Account" manager option that can be filled out now, while everyone is healthy and able. Google's Inactive Account Manager
So what did my client do? She was prompted to upload a copy of HER license to prove who she was, AND upload a copy of her sister's death certificate. She opted not to do anything, and when the window prompts her in the future for the gmail password, she will continue to click cancel and continue working uninterrupted in her own email account.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
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