People often ask me for generic computer and technology advice. So here's some common questions I get and the best answers for most users.
Currently, I recommend Windows Defender. It is updated frequently and has pretty good detection rates. Windows Defender is free and comes with Windows 10 and 11. You do not have to spend any money or do anything extra to enjoy its benefits. It just works. That said, some people want a more premium security solution. If that sounds like you I recommend ESET Nod32 Anti-Virus. It has a long history of being an effective solution and does not waste system resources to the same degree as most of its competitors such as McAfee and Norton Anti-Virus.
Unless you have something particularly useful or interesting I would rather not. You can take your old equipment to a community recycling drive, or reach out to an e-waste specialist like Recycle I.T. USA. Recycle I.T. USA has convenient recycling drop boxes throughout the Toledo area. If you take your equipment directly to their warehouse on Tractor Road in Toledo they will even guarantee the destruction of your old data, which is a fantastic service to guarantee your peace of mind if you are looking to dispose of an old computer.
If it's Adobe Reader, Google Chrome, Windows, or Mozilla Firefox... probably. However if you've never seen the update notification before you may be right to be cautious. Sometimes malicious software may not yet be on your PC, but a pop up from an advertisement or website is displaying a notification asking for permission to do an update. In these rare situations clicking yes could be the start of a real infection. As with so many other entries on this page, feel free to contact me if you're unsure and we can setup a service.
In addition, I'd also recommend using Ninite.com to download or upgrade many programs you may use all at once. This website will let you check all the programs you want and download all of them at once while bypassing all "yes," and "next" prompts you would normally see and telling all of the toolbar installations "no" on your behalf. It's a huge time saver for someone like me.
In recent years SSD's have finally become the standard drive type for most new computers. Which is good, because they should be. SSD stands for Solid State Drive. Only a few years ago, most computers came installed with a Hard Disk Drive, or hard drive for short, that stores all of the files on your computer. In the most basic terms, hard drives work like a very advanced magnetic record player with spinning disks and an arm that reads information off of the disks. Solid state drives on the other hand are basically memory chips that store data permanently like an SD card you would use for your cell phone or digital camera. The memory chips in solid state drives are typically 10 to 100 times faster than hard disk drives. For what they lack in speed however, hard drives make up for in storage capacity. Dollar per gigabyte, standard hard drives are cheaper and still have their place as secondary drives in desktops as well as being the core component in Network Attached Storage (NAS) Devices and file servers.
In any case, moving to a solid state drive is generally the most powerful upgrade you can make for your computer if you're running on a standard hard drive. At this point though, traditional hard drives are becoming quite rare even in budget computers.
I have been using Mozilla Firefox for years and I'm not about to switch. Firefox is open source and offers great plug-in options and I prefer it for these reasons. I distrust and cannot stand advertisements, thankfully Ublock Origin is available on Mozilla Firefox. It was available on Google Chrome, but Google has since blocked the majority of ad blocking extensions on Google Chrome. As much as it is a good thing to support websites through ad views, ads are a huge security risk. Though they may not be able to inject viruses into your computer the way they could in the Windows XP era of computing, scammers can still use ads to scare users with full screen warnings often claiming very scary things such as false notices from Microsoft or government agencies claiming that you are in violation of a law or agreement. Be wary of any ad scaring you with a phone number to call. Neither Microsoft nor the government would ever reach out to you in such a manner.
A good start is to be careful with where and what you click. I've seen viruses spread over a corporate network quickly because someone decided to email office friends a link to a new recipe found on msn.com. It turns out that recipe wasn't a direct link to an MSN article, but rather a link to an advertisement that was on MSN. The ad network happened to be sending out links to malware infected sites at the time. If it's your personal computer, I recommend using caution when clicking links and browsing. If you're on a work or school computer, show it a little respect and only use it for what you need and know is safe. Look out for things that sound too good to be true. Lastly, try to stay away from obvious clickbait.
If you do not already have a preference between Apple and Android, I tend to recommend Android phones. Particularly the Moto G and Google Pixel lines of phones. The reason for this is simple, Motorola and Google deploy the closest thing you can find to stock android for the operating system. Samsung makes great phones, but their preinstalled Samsung apps I feel are inferior to the default Android apps.
Don't worry iPhone owners, I have experience with troubleshooting a variety of iPhone issues and I can help service your devices too.
For anyone in the Toledo area, I recommend Verizon or Verizon Prepaid as your carrier for the best possible coverage. I hear good things about Mint Mobile too, for those that want to lower their monthly bills.