I'm astonished at how hard it is to keep my personal IT going and that there aren't swarms of trustworthy IT people willing to let me pay them a monthly subscription and a per hour rate to keep my problems at bay. What do I really need?
A security review and some help muting effing Norton and Winzip. First, Norton. I bought the 5 system Norton security system and installed it on three computers. Now everytime I go on the computer, the screen is full of ads from Norton to sell me a lot more security. WTF? I thought I was paying them to protect me from popups, not to place them.
Winzip is a little different. I thought unzipping files was a basic function of Windows but it turns out be an independent service. I installed the freeware version (I know, big mistake) and since the, Winzip competes wtih Norton to see who can popup the most windows on my screens. I've started uninstalling it but then, what happens when I download a zip file and need to open it? Is there a paid version of Winzip which will NOT popup ads on my computer all the time?
PDFs. I had the same sort of problem with Adobe and PDFs. I think I ended up subscribing to Acrobat so that I could read all those PDFs but it turns out to be useful only for reading, not for filling in blanks. I'm sure there is a simple solution to this but I haven't found it yet.
Pictures, iphone to Windows PC. I take a lot of pictures that I would like access to on my computer. Many years ago, I had installed a file system on my PC so I could see and directly access the images on my iphone. I would like to stop spending so much time picking pictures on my phone, sending them by email in groups smaller than 6 (all that I can email), saving them, and then using them. There must be a way.
Calendars. I use the Google suite most of the time including Google calendar. When an invite arrives from the Windows world, I manually type it into my google calendar. Obviously, there should be a better way.
When email breaks! I use rackspace to handle the email to my private domain but sometimes, it breaks. Usually, this seems to have to do with an updated in the basic security system of email (ie the way authorized domains are named and listed). Last time, Rackspace was fantastic about staying on the phone and eventually, taking over my computer so that all the changes that had to be done inside GoDaddy (the register) were taken care of. But having someone to look at it would be great.
Ebook readers. I have bought a digital version of the Hoffman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards but it comes in an epub format that requires a digital reader. Which one is quality and not a security risk?
Picking computers. I am about to take a three week trip in which I would expect to have to use a bigger screen than my phone a few times. So I'm thinking of buying a super light PC, maybe a Windows Surface or even a tablet of some sort. I could get myself another apple tablet with a tiny keyboard. Not sure. Would like help choosing.
Never mind networks, passwords, and television stuff.
