Latest testimonial from a satisfied small business owner.

I have a small business and I have depended on PC Mobile Help to keep me up and running for several years.  Whether it is was the ominous blue screen of death or help with something as simple as being unable to attach a file to an email these folks are amazing.

They are a busy office but they always make time when an emergency breaks out.

In addition I have always felt their rates were fair.  Previously I worked with a company who always had an add on cost of some type.

-Lisa D.

On-site computer solutions for home or business, IT Headquarters is your networking, security, servers, and workstation expert. We can also connect over the internet and make your computers run better than new. Grow your business with the help of experts who look at your plan and make technology work for you. Let us take the work out of your IT so you can stay focused on your business.

The post Blue Screen of Death is Never Good – Small Business Customer Testimonial for IT Headquarters. appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

The Question

When you are shopping for a new hard drive, it can sometimes be a bit confusing when similar, or not so similar terminology is all mixed together in the product’s description.

I know that SATA uses a SATA interface and ATA uses an IDE interface, but why is it using different “terms” in the same sentence? An HDD has either a SATA interface or an IDE interface, but not both at the same time.

Is ATA the same as IDE/PATA or SATA?

The Answer

Serial ATA is the connection/connector interface while ATA-8 is the protocol for that interface. IDE was the interface and it also used an ATA protocol for communication. IDE and ATA are not the same thing, just as SATA and ATA are not the same either.

To be clear, IDE defined that a hard drive should have Integrated Device Electronics (I.e. a controller) onboard and communication with the host should be done according to the ATA specifications. While IDE and ATA are very closely related, they are not the same thing.

IDE has been reverse-acronymed as PATA since the interface was a parallel connection using the ATA standard. SATA is a Serial ATA connection.

Photo courtesy of William Warby (Flickr).

The post What’s the Difference Between Hard Drive Acronyms appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

Our office hours are Monday – Friday 8:30am to 5:30pm. Saturdays by appointment.

We hope you’ll stop by to say hello and to check out the new location.

IT Headquarters is an integral part of your team. We are always present, making sure that your systems are running trouble-free. Our Managed IT Services in Seattle help keep costs down, increase reliability and up time, and avoid loss of business by having a proactive plan instead of waiting for your systems to fail.

The post Visit IT Headquarters Now in the West Seattle Junction appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

You may have heard of Ransomware, which when installed on a computer, locks the documents and holds them for ransom. They typically require you to pay via some anonymous method, such as a money order, or an online payment system. Now, ransomware can come as a payload in video ads. You don’t even need to click on anything once the web page loads. The malware is installed as soon as the flash ad is loaded. This has been dubbed “malvertising”. A large number of major online networks were infiltrated by these ads, many of which a majority of computer users have as their home page in their browser.  Attackers are actually purchasing advertising on ad networks, and the networks to distribute them like they’re real advertisements.  The perpetrators base themselves in foreign countries where they cannot be prosecuted, so even if they are caught, they are beyond our jurisdiction.

In the past, most people have just waited for their computer updates to come on their own, including Microsoft, Adobe, Java, and other software.  Now is the time to take the initiative to protect yourself against malvertising.

2 Ways to Protect Yourself

1. Keep your browsers up to date. We prefer browsers which keep themselves up to date, such as Google Chrome and Firefox.
2. Keep plugins up to date. This includes Adobe Flash Player, Microsoft Silverlight and Java. If you’re not sure, you can just download and install the latest version.

The installation should update the installed version for you.

Adobe Flash Player/Microsoft Silverlight and Java

Go to adobe.com and click on the link at the bottom right for Flash Player. Follow the prompts.
Go to microsoft.com/Silverlight and follow the prompts.
Go to java.com and follow the prompts.

Chrome
From the menu at the top right, click Settings.
On the left, click extensions.
Click Get more extensions.
Follow the prompts to install adblock and flashblock.

Firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashblock

Internet Explorer
Go to adblockplus.org and follow the prompts.
Flash is probably installed on your computer. To adjust the settings, type Flash into your Windows start menu. Open Flash Player Control Panel.
Go through the tabs and choose to have Flash ask you before it starts.

The post Ransomware Can Now Install Itself Without Clicking on Anything appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

1. Scanbot

The scans can be converted into JPEG or PDF instantly, then saved to a custom folder in Dropbox, as well as Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Box. The app also allows you to highlight information in PDFs, add comments, or add your signature.

2. GoodNotes

In GoodNotes, you can easily export handwritten notes as a PDF to your Dropbox account. Like Scanbot, you can annotate PDF documents, as well as fill and sign forms.

Experience the value of having an IT professional  spend the day in your office helping your employees with their most pressing IT problems.

1. Need mail or exchange help?
2. Are your workstations failing to connect to the network?
3. Has your backup system been verified and tested?
4. Is your protection against viruses, malware, adware and spyware missing or out of date?
5. Do you need help controlling access to shared files and folders?

Our IT professional will be on hand to address your most pressing issues.

At the end of each IT Optimization and Evaluation new client service, you will be given a report that assesses  the critical elements of your systems.  We will suggest a path for moving the critical and ok to good.  We will also recommend a managed IT service that will keep the cost down and the solutions proactive.

The post 2 Phone Apps for Creating JPEGs or PDFs appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

You want the strongest wireless signal you can get from your router, wherever you are in your home. Here are some quick tips for achieving optimal reception.

1.Update Your Firmware
Perhaps your router just needs an update. Router manufacturers are always tweaking software to eke out a little more performance and speed. How easy—or how hard—it is to upgrade your firmware depends entirely on your device manufacturer and model. Most current routers have the update process built right into the administration interface, so it’s just a matter of hitting a firmware upgrade button. Some models, particularly if they’re older, still require you to first find and download the firmware from the router manufacturer’s website. It’s tedious, but still a good thing to do.

In fact, even if your wireless network isn’t ailing, you should just make it a point to update your firmware on a regular basis. You will get performance improvements, better features, and security updates that way.

2.Optimal Router Placement
Not all rooms and spaces are created equal. The fact is, where you place the router can affect your wireless coverage. It may seem logical to have the router       inside a cabinet and out of the way, or right by the window where the cable comes in, but that’s not always the case.

A wired router can be tucked away, out of sight, out of mind. A wireless router, on the other hand, needs open spaces, away from walls and obstructions. It’s not just physical obstructions either; heavy-duty appliances or electronics running in close proximity can impact Wi-Fi performance.

3. Don’t Rely on Obsolete Hardware
A lot of the tips so far have been about getting the most out of your existing equipment, but if you are running old hardware, you can’t expect the best performance. We have a tendency to subscribed to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality with back-end devices, especially networking gear. If you bought your router years ago, you are likely still on the 802.11g standard.

There are still even 802.11b/a routers in the wild. All three wireless standards cap at fairly low bandwidths. Thus, all the tweaking we’ve outlined above won’t get you far, when you consider the maximum thoughput for 802.11g is 54Mbps. Compare that with the more modern 802.11n at 300Mbps, and the latest 802.11ac at 1Gbps.

Excerpt PC Magazine

The post 3 Ways to Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

This is what can happen to your computer if you don’t blow the dust out of it every few months. The reason computers have fans in them is to get rid of heat. Heat kills computers. Therefore, dust kills computers.

There are two or more fans in a computer:

* One to cool the power supply (as shown in the above picture).

* One to cool the processor (or CPU). There is usually a heat sink on the CPU with a fan that draws the heat away from the heat sink.

* One to cool the video card.

* An extra case fan.

Cleaning a computer:

* Turn off the computer.

* Don’t use a vacuum cleaner. These generate static electricity which can zap your electronics.

* Stop the fan by putting a stick in it. Something like a large toothpick or bamboo skewer or swizzle stick will work.

* You can blow it out with a leaf blower if you want to at this point. A can of compressed air works too.

* For laptops, just use short (quick) blasts through the air vents in the side and on the bottom of the computer. If you hear the fan making a whizzing noise, you are blowing for too long.

Information Technology Services

IT Headquarters is an integral part of your team. We are always present, making sure that your systems are running trouble-free. Our Managed IT Services in Seattle help keep costs down, increase reliability and up time, and avoid loss of business by having a proactive plan instead of waiting for your systems to fail.

The post Dustnado – When Dust Kills Computers appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

A quick call to IT Headquarters answered the question.  Here we post our response so you can also see how easy it is to turn on folder indexing.

Here’s how to turn on indexing for folders in Windows 7 or Windows 10:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Control Panel”
3. Press Enter
4. Click on Indexing Options
5. Click Modify

In the top box this box comes up:

6. Expand the drives to show the folders, and select the ones that you want to index.  Be selective.  The more you select, the more work your computer has to do for indexing (which could slow you down).

IT Headquarters is an integral part of your team. We are always present, making sure that your systems are running trouble-free. Our Managed IT Services in Seattle help keep costs down, increase reliability and up time, and avoid loss of business by having a proactive plan instead of waiting for your systems to fail.

The post 6 Short Steps to Turn on Folder Indexing for Windows 7 and 10 appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

Earlier this month, Microsoft acknowledged that it can’t shut off automatic tracking of usage in Windows 10, as Forbes reported. The background service handling tracking (the Diagnostic Tracking Service or DiagTrack) was removed in the November update. Now there is a new service to replace DiagTrack: Connected User Experiences and Telemetry Service.  Also, the update resets the previously saved privacy settings to defaults.

The good news is that you can still disable the service again. However, many Windows 10 users would probably expect these preferences to survive updates. It would be very disconcerting to find out Microsoft plans to reset preferences, including privacy settings, with each major upgrade.

Here’s how you can disable the Connected User Experiences and Telemetry:
. Hold down the Windows key and tap the R key
. In the box that opens type ‘services.msc’ and press the Enter key
. In the ‘Services (Local)’ section locate ‘Connected User Experiences and Telemetry’ and double-click it
. In the ‘Service status’ section click ‘Stop’
. Under the ‘Startup type’ drop-down menu select ‘Disabled’ and then confirm this and close the window by clicking ‘OK’

Information Technology Services

IT Headquarters is an integral part of your team. We are always present, making sure that your systems are running trouble-free. Our Managed IT Services in Seattle help keep costs down, increase reliability and up time, and avoid loss of business by having a proactive plan instead of waiting for your systems to fail.

The post Ultimate Guide to Disabling Windows 10 Tracking appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.

By default, when you double-click on a contact in Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016, the new Contact Card displays for that contact. Why did they take a good thing and mess it up?  Well, to justify an additional salary, of course!  Let’s all thank Microsoft for employing yet another person.

Meanwhile, here’s how we get the full contact editing window to show instead of the less than useful contact card.

Open Notepad and paste the text between the following dotted lines:

——————–
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Contactcard]
“turnonlegacygaldialog”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Contactcard]
“turnonlegacygaldialog”=dword:00000001
——————–
Save the document as “ContactDialog.reg” (include the double quote marks in the save file dialog).  You can save it anywhere you like as long as you can find it.

Double-click on your newly created ContactDialog.reg file.  Answer Yes to allow it to continue.

That’s it!  If Outlook is open, close it and open it again.  Your legacy (good) contact dialog will be back again, good as new.

Information Technology Services.  IT Headquarters is an integral part of your team. We are always present, making sure that your systems are running trouble-free. Our Managed IT Services in Seattle help keep costs down, increase reliability and up time, and avoid loss of business by having a proactive plan instead of waiting for your systems to fail.

The post Full Contact Editing Window Solved with this Text in Notepad appeared first on IT Headquarters: Seattle's Information Technology Service.