The Computer Wizard

To celebrate and provide easier access to services for veterans and their families on fixed incomes, we are running this special offer from Memorial Day until Monday, June 4th at 11:59 PM.

$40 off two prepaid house-call hours with either Tyler or Jason. This discounts Tyler's rate for two hours from $140 to $100, and Jason's rate from $180 to $140.

As usual, these hours are transferrable; you can give one to a friend if you like. House calls still have the usual one-hour minimum per visit. Additional time beyond two hours will be billed at the discounted rate ($50/hr for Tyler, $70/hr for Jason) for this one visit only.

These hours may be used for remote support, if desired, at our standard conversion rate: 1 hour of remote support = 2/3 hour of in-home support; 1/2 hour of remote support = 1/3 hour of in-home support. We hope this will allow them to stretch a little further for anyone who prefers to use them that way.

One special per household, unless you're purchasing a gift for someone.

This special requires 1-week notice for appointment scheduling, except in the case of emergencies such as data loss, hardware failure, or serious virus infections.

If you're interested, please send an email to us at [email protected] and we will send you a PayPal invoice for the special. If you want us to use a different email address for the invoice, please mention that in your message.

I've long steered clients away from HP computers because they don't last very long. But here's an even better reason not to buy one.

HP laptops covertly log users’ every keystroke, researchers warn Audio driver supplied by Conexant may put PCs from other makers at risk, too.

If you travel internationally, please read this article carefully.

I’ll never bring my phone on an international flight again. Neither should you. A few months ago I wrote about how you can encrypt your entire life in less than an hour. Well, all the security in the world can’t save…

Reasons to consider a tablet instead of a new computer:

1. Usually at least 2-3 times the battery life of a laptop on a single charge.

2. Faster startup times.

3. Impossible or (in the case of Android) nearly impossible to get viruses.

4. Tablets can do anything a computer can do, if there's an app available for that function.

5. Touch-screen computing is more immediate and feels more satisfying on a visceral level than using a keyboard or mouse.

6. Most tablets are more affordable than laptops.

Reasons not to consider a tablet instead of a new computer:

1. The operating system is going to look a bit different from what you're used to at first.

2. You may need an external keyboard if you want to type long documents.