Prepare Your PC for Repairs

Computer Care: Prepare your PC properly for repairs

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: December 14, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	Attempting to create an image of my hard drive to DVDs recently, I discovered I had a nonfunctional optical drive. So I ran it through all the tests I could think of and came to the conclusion that is was in fact a hardware issue. What was so unsettling is the fact that my laptop is only four months old. After about an hour on the phone with support, I was eventually given a Return Merchandise Authorization number and sent it off to Texas. Since I, too, am a technician, I tried to save everybody some time by explaining to them I was able to troubleshoot the system and determine the problem was the optical drive. Often when a computer is sent in for repairs, the hard drive is wiped clean and Windows is reinstalled. The result is total loss of your data. This is often considered to be a panacea for whatever ails the system. In my case I asked them not to do that, as it had nothing to do with the issue at hand. Although I did have a backup of my data on an external drive, I preferred not to go through reinstalling everything once I got the laptop back. After 12 days, my laptop was returned to me, repaired. To my relief my drive was not wiped, but now something else was broken. The optical drive was replaced, but when I attempted to open the drawer of the drive, the plastic cover that holds the eject button simply fell off. Whoever did the repairs forced it on and broke it. It’s only cosmetic and I’m able to burn DVDs, but this is a new laptop. So I phoned once more for support. I explained what happened and that it didn’t require me resending the unit back to them. I enlightened them that I was more than capable of popping the cover on if they would ship a new one. They complied. There are lessons to be learned here. Let’s begin with warranties. I’ve worked on computers that were still under warranty. Even though clients knew I had to charge them (and the manufacturer wouldn’t), they advised me to continue knowing at least that repairs would be completed more expeditiously. Most computers have at least a year’s warranty. Usually the store will deal with issues for the first month; after that it’s the manufacturer’s problem. If you got an extended warranty at the time of purchase, you’re covered even longer. Generally, I refuse the offer to purchase extended warranties, but on laptops I make exceptions. For what it would cost you to repair a computer one time, you could have an extra year’s protection. Some brands offer in-home repairs which may cost a bit more, but will save you time in the long run. Usually a purchase through a business will get you that same in-home service. When you do have to call customer support, allow plenty of time, have a pen and paper and your computer in front of you. The agent will want you to try various things first, even if you will be sending it in for repairs. Many companies now outsource their support and yes, you may have trouble understanding your technician. Be patient. He or she can’t understand you well, either. This is one of the costs of cheaper computers. Some agents may come across with a condescending manner. Worst-case scenario, ask for another agent or politely hang up and call again in the hopes you’ll get someone easier to understand or at least one with a better attitude. Always get the name of those you spoke with and if possible, as my dad used to advise, ask for the head barber. Although I don’t require exceptional haircuts anymore, management usually has more experience and may be able resolve your problem more efficiently. If sending your computer in for service is required, remember you may get it back devoid of any of your personal information. Back up data from the hard drive. Look in your Documents folder for photos, spreadsheets, documents, music, videos, downloads and anything else you wouldn’t want to lose. Burn the data to DVDs (as I initially tried to do) or copy to an external hard drive or to the Cloud. You can’t save programs, only data, so be prepared to reinstall anything you got after you bought your computer. This includes programs like Office, Photoshop, anti-virus and malware apps or games. Applications that came with the system may need to be reconfigured. That would include things like your browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox), Skype and even your Windows desktop. Make sure there aren’t any sticky notes taped to your keyboard with passwords on them. Don’t give them anything they didn’t ask for. They will need your Windows password though, if you use one. Computers break. There’s no way around that. If yours is under warranty and in need of servicing, get it fixed by the manufacturer. To repair an older system with an expired warranty, look locally for a technician. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Beware of Keyloggers

Computer Care: Watch for keyloggers that can steal your password

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

	POSTED: December 1, 2012 1:00 a.m.

	My wife logged on to her eBay account early one morning this week to discover she had sold two Wii units to someone in South Carolina. Normally this would have been a good thing, except for the fact the she sells clothes online, not electronics. She had been hacked. Somehow, without her knowledge (or permission), her computer had a keylogger installed on it. This allows whichever low-life who installed it to see what she types — passwords, bank account and credit card numbers included. So without even a cup of coffee in her yet, my wife was on the phone to eBay customer service, Paypal and then our bank. It was not the way she wanted to start the day, and that was only the beginning. We had to discover what, if anything, else had been sold from her account, what money had changed hands and what else had been compromised. It was to be a long morning. My wife and I have both bought and sold on eBay through PayPal, since it showed up on the Internet almost two decades ago. Although many people tell us they are skeptical about purchasing from an online auction site, we have experienced very little trouble in the 17 years we have been dealing with it. They usually side with the buyer, rather than the seller. Unless you have lots of documentation and a good case to present, you’re in for a battle to get your money back being an online vendor. As a merchant some years ago, I was taken for a couple of hundred dollars by a scammer who claimed my shipment was never received. I shipped without asking for delivery confirmation at the time. Not only did I lose the merchandise, I was forced to refund the money. In the days following, I determined this person had scammed a dozen other eBayers similarly. Unfortunately, PayPal saw no pattern so I never got my money (or merchandise) back. Live and learn. I believe in karma and figure soon enough this reprobate either got caught or was a victim of a scam himself. One could only hope. But I digress. Keylogging, or keystroke logging, as it is also known, is a form of malware, or more specifically, spyware. There are various incarnations of this type if infection, each one recording what you type on your keyboard, each just as difficult to detect and remove as the next. Your keystrokes are recorded as a log or text file and emailed back to the hacker. At this point he has your passwords, banking information and anything else he may want to steal from you. The thing to do if you get hacked, especially with a keylogger, is to first change your passwords. This is a prime example of why one shouldn’t use the same password on multiple (or all) accounts. If you do, then go change all of your passwords, which isn’t a bad idea anyway if you know a keylogger was installed on your system. Choose a difficult one with at least eight characters, including numbers and symbols. Avoid the obvious like addresses, birth dates and pets. Next call your bank and look at your withdrawal history. Even have it flag your account to notify you of suspicious activity. Also call PayPal if you deal with online auctions and have an account with it. Unfortunately, you won’t get much help from your ISP, which will say it’s all on you and to call your bank. Last and certainly not least, clean your computer. You are infected. Run whatever security package you have on your system. If you don’t have one, now is the time to get one. As I’ve stated before, most antivirus programs just look for viruses. This is not a virus and your dedicated AV utility may not look for nor find keyloggers. Run full scans and allow the malware utility to remove or quarantine any infections as it sees fit. Reboot your computer when all is done to be sure the infections are removed. Do not ignore this. It will not go away on its own. It will cause you grief you do not want to experience. Keyloggers will take hold of your computer, then your money and your identity. They make pop-ups seem like a walk in the park. Even if nothing happens immediately, don’t fall into a trap of false security. They have your personal information and are just waiting to use it. The faster you react, the better. Keylogging can be beneficial and legal in certain applications and can also come as hardware attached to a computer. But most often it is installed clandestinely to steal financial information. As unfortunate as this was for my wife, it did give me something to write about for this week’s column and warn you of the pitfalls of keyloggers. Don’t let it happen to you. It’s imperative that you take action immediately, should a vicious infection like a keylogger attack your system all of a sudden one morning. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Know Your PC

Computer Care: Know your PC and its components

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: November 16, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	It’s imperative if you own a computer to know what the components are called and to know a few things about them. You know in your car what the tires are and that they need to be properly inflated and occasionally rotated, that the radiator needs coolant and the oil needs to be changed regularly. There are similar things you should know about your computer to keep it running optimally. I’ve had clients confuse basic terminology while describing a problem. It makes it easier when you call your geek friend or relative (or technician) for assistance, that you know what things are. When I hear that the home page on the desktop keeps changing, initially I’ve got to determine if it’s the desktop or the browser that is corrupt. The browser is what connects to the Internet. It could be Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Opera. That has a home page. It’s the web page that you see when the application is first opened. It’s your start page online. The computer desktop, on the other hand, has an image of either a graphic design or a photo of yours or Microsoft’s, and is covered with icons. Either can change without your knowledge or permission, but are two totally different problems. An icon can be your hero or a star, but on a computer it is a graphic representation of a program, a little picture. The cursor is the blinking little vertical line, pointer or hand on your display (monitor). Many people say their mouse is frozen when actually it’s the cursor. If the mouse were frozen, you couldn’t move it on your desk. This is semantics, yes, but it’s still important when troubleshooting. The Control Panel is something everybody should familiarize themselves with. It’s the place to go to modify just about anything in the system. It is the dashboard of your computer. In the Control Panel, you can change the tracking speed and click rate of your mouse and fine tune the way it operates, swap the desktop background or access your account to change your name or picture. You can find your printer, adjust the keyboard rates, or change power options, as well as a plethora of other adjustments. In the last few versions of Windows, Control Panel has its own search box in the upper right-hand corner. If you type mouse, it will show all items relating to the mouse. It saves the time of you searching throughout the Control Panel for what you need. The optical drive in a computer is the CD/DVD drive and is called such because it’s run from a light or laser. Speaking the optical drive, here’s a tip for you: There’s a tiny hole near the release button on most drive doors. This is a manual release in case the drive gets stuck. Open a paper clip and push it in the hole. When you feel resistance, push harder and the drive will pop open, even without power. To reboot a computer is to turn it off and then on again. While on the subject, it is a good idea to reboot and even turn off your computer every so often. By rebooting, you not only fix various wrongs in the system, but also refresh the system RAM (memory), making it run faster. The difference between RAM and hard drive is often confused. When your RAM is full, you are running too many programs at once (or haven’t rebooted in a while) and the system goes into brain lock. When the hard drive is full, you’ve physically run out of storage space. RAM is virtual and temporary, while the hard drive is real and physical. RAM is cleared each time you reboot. The hard drive, like your closet, will eventually reach capacity. Every computer with Internet access needs protection from viruses and malware. Often this requires two separate programs. Don’t assume because you have an antivirus app installed that everything will be covered. All they look for are viruses. Internet security suites, on the other hand, usually have a more comprehensive protection. That said, just because you have a program installed, don’t think you’ve got it covered either. It needs to be configured, updated on a regular basis and scheduled to scan your hard drives frequently. I’ve found clients’ computers infected that have had Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky or AVG installed. They all wondered how that could have happened, but they never ran a scan. These programs will only run themselves if you tell them to. They must be configured properly. I can’t stress this enough. There are malcontents, reprobates — call them what you will — who stay up late each night uploading malware and viruses to the Internet. If you fail to update your system’s defenses on a regular basis, your computer will become corrupted by these nefarious infections. The more familiar you become with your computer, the easier it will be to identify problems and the easier it will be to describe what goes wrong, when it does. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Free Programs Often Come at a Cost

Computer Care: Beware of what you install with free programs

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

	POSTED: November 2, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	Free programs are great and the Internet is full of them. The problem is that many of these so-called freebies come with a price called malware that piggyback the application or utility you are trying to download. I’ve talked about this in the past, but so many computers I’ve seen contain, for lack of a better term “self-installed malware,” that I thought this to be an important issue. Even if those secondary rogue programs appear to be enticing, they are applications that you didn’t ask for or want. This is a big caveat emptor. They can end up being either trialware or, worse, not legitimate programs at all. Let’s say for moment that those additional apps are real. They will either eventually expire, leaving remnants of a program and nagging pop-ups to purchase it or it will warn you of existing system errors, real or otherwise, that will require the app to be purchased to complete repairs. Many of these buddy apps will last only a week or a month before requiring a purchase. Initially you are led to believe they are full programs; most often, they are not. After you’ve realized that your system has been compromised, you’ll need to deal with removing the program. That’s usually not as simple as it sounds. Even when installing the legitimate free program, caution is both paramount and essential. Each box you check and agree to has important information that needs to be read and understood. I’m not talking about the never-ending End User Licensing Agreement. I mean the pages that require you to check a box and click “OK” or “Next” to install it after the download is complete. Often you inadvertently agree to have additional components installed or allow changes to be made to your system. These include toolbars or extensions (plug-ins) to your browser or gadgets to your desktop. Yes, this is where they come from. You put them there. You may also give permission to alter your browser’s home page or choice of search engines. During installation you are asked to agree to have the program installed and where it is placed on your system (usually your C:/program files folder). But read the fine print. Be careful what you agree to. Scrutinize the instructions before you hit “Next.” You can (and should) say “Decline” when asked to agree to these rogue apps or toolbars. Only agree to what you must to install the application at hand. The installation of those other programs is what pays for your free programs. You may come across a “free” utility that will claim to update your system’s device drivers. Most will scan your system and find a dozen or so drivers that require updating. Here’s the caveat: You need to purchase it to get the new drivers. The same goes registry cleaners. You install a utility you downloaded and let it scan your system, only to find out it will again cost you to effect repairs. Recently I was online to download and install a new version CCleaner, a good, free junk cleaner on my system. At the very top of the page was a button conveniently placed that said, “Start Download.” That was very handy except for the fact that the button was for a registry cleaner, not CCleaner. Again, this is how the folks at Cleaner (and others) can offer their wares for free, by selling space on their page to others. The product is good, but the practice is deceptive and they hope you fall for it. So when looking for that download button, be careful not to initiate a download of another application inadvertently. Now there are also full versions of CCleaner and other programs that are offered for free. They are the enhanced versions of the free ones, usually with more bells and whistles and thus supplementary capabilities. If the free version is legitimate, the real one will be better, so don’t be afraid to purchase it. This brings us the difference between an upgrade and an update. An update is adding new components to the existing program. It’s a good idea to keep an application updated. It’s free and usually quick. An upgrade on the other hand is a newer program and it will cost you. If you update your free antivirus app, you are adding new virus definition to the database. This is good. But if you upgrade it, you are replacing the free version with one that costs money — your choice. Even when downloading a free antivirus program, they will still try to trick you into installing their full, paid version. Initially it will be free, but that will generally last only a month, so be careful. Never respond to a pop-up that appears on your screen unexpectedly and suddenly. Read carefully what each page says before you click “Next” and agree to have an app installed. The integrity of your system depends upon it. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Password Security

Computer Care: The password is ... Best bet is to mix it up

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: October 19, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	Passwords are part of computing; there is no way around that. If you use a computer and the Internet, you will eventually need to use them. You may or may not need a password to log onto your computer, but one was needed to get your email this morning. Even if you didn’t have to manually type one in, your computer recalled it for you. I use a password manager and also allow Google Chrome to remember my passwords for me. There are 15 or so of them that I refer to on a regular basis to access various websites like email, my cloud storage, Amazon and other ecommerce sites that I frequent. There are also banking PIN numbers, alarm keypad codes and wireless router keys which are forms of passwords. You may use one to gain entry to your smart phone. Call them what you will, but any series of alpha-numeric codes you use to access something secretly is a password. There is no easy way for most of us to remember all of those codes, especially when choosing different ones for each site or application. If you use the same password for all of your websites and accounts, all could be compromised if just one is. So why take a chance? The poor choices are the obvious ones like your birthday or anniversary dates, your street, pet or your children’s names. Don’t choose the easy options. Stir it up a bit. Spell out anything that you can remember. Chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate syrup becomes ccicwcs; then add a number or symbol or caps. The end result could be CCiCwCs9*. Stir things up even more; spell things backward. A. Jones becomes senoja, then add numbers, caps or symbols to spice it up, like senojA5#. Be creative. Instead of your dog’s name, try using mydogbubba. Add caps or symbols for even more security as in mydogbubbA*7 or shorten it to dogbubbA*7. Backward, bubba becomes abbub. While on the topic of passwords and email, spam is something we all unfortunately get with email. One of the easiest ways to get spam is by having your email address sold to online merchants. The best way to avoid that is to be careful to whom and where you use your email address. Many times when you subscribe to a newsletter or sign up for something, it’s stated your address won’t be sold. Often times though, it is. That’s where most spam originates. One way to avoid this is to create secondary additional Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or other accounts that you won’t regularly check or only to verify a subscription that you just signed up for. When the inbox is full on this throw-away account, just sign up for another. An alternative is to use a Disposable Email Account. I use yopmail, but there are many others to choose from. They include Dispostable, Dudmail, MailExpire, DeadAddress, Spamex, Incognito Mail, Dodgeit, Yopmail and Mailinator. All work basically the same way. You create a name, they offer an extension and a duration with most adding the ability to check the account for incoming mail. Sometimes you can get away with simply making up an address with a nonexistent domain and have it work. I’ve used xyz5@abcmail.com, but if a response is required, then that strategy won’t work. Recently, I signed up for a free sample online that required me to click on a link in an email to verify my address. Using yopmail, I created an address on the fly and checked it from their site (the same page I used to create it) a few minutes later. There was the link. You don’t need to commit anything to memory; just create a new name next time you need a DEA. Remember to change your passwords regularly. Use password managers like LastPass, Roboform or Password Safe to help you recall them. Although less secure, you could simply allow your browser to remember them for you. Visit pwnedlist.com to see if your email address has ever been hacked. Choose passwords that are unique for every account, not the same one for all of them and give them to no one. The longer the better. Use at least eight to 10 characters and mix them up with caps, numbers and symbols. There’s a password generator at random.org if you have trouble on your own. Don’t fall for phishing scams. Beware of any emails or websites asking you to provide sensitive personal information. Not even your bank will ask you for your password. Avoid using addresses, birthdays or dog’s names. To circumvent spam effectively, use disposable email accounts. The end result will yield higher security for your accounts with less paranoia about being hacked. As easy as it has become these days to have your privacy compromised, you want to make it as difficult as you possibly can. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Longer IP Addresses Coming

Computer Care: Get ready for a longer new IP address POSTED: October 6, 2012 1:00 a.m.

	Computer Care: Get ready for a longer new IP address By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com POSTED: October 6, 2012 1:00 a.m If you've ever had to call tech support for a networking issue, they most likely asked you at some point to type your router's IP address into your computer. That address would have looked something like 192.168.0.1. Presently that number gives you access to your router so you can change its settings like your network name, allow you to set up encryption for security purposes or to change your password. Each computer and other smart device that connects to each other through the Internet requires a unique identifier or number known as an Internet Protocol Address. Each website you access online is actually a computer with an IP address. Those numbers are currently allocated from a system known as Internet Protocol version 4 or IPv4 -- and it is about to run out of numbers. That system was introduced in the 1970s when nobody really knew who or how many would be using the Internet. The rest as they say, is history. Asia has supposedly already run out of addresses on IPv4. Europe is next and then North America is expected to fall short sometime next year. But there is a new Internet protocol called IPv6. It is the next generation of the Internet. With it, those addresses will change from a 32-bit to a 128-bit format and will look something like 2001:0db8:85a3:0042:0000:8a2e:0370:7334, having eight groups of four letters and numbers separated by colons. Instead of the billions of addresses that we now have (and are about to run out of), we will have addresses in the trillions. There will be more than enough for a long time to come for home and business computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones as well as cars, refrigerators, alarm systems and an abundance of other smart home devices that will soon have Internet access worldwide. The chances of running out of those addresses are slim. For those who understand math (I don’t), the number of possible unique addresses available in IPv6 are 480 billion billion billion billion or 4.8 times 10 to the 38th power. The population of the Earth is approaching 7 billion people and that of the Internet is only approximately 2 billion, but growing rapidly. So what’s the rush you say? Well if you’re like me, I have at least five devices that use IP addressing: laptop, desktop, router, smartphone and Tivo. If you have a smart television, a gaming device or use VoIP phones, a PDA or a tablet, add those to your list. Home appliances that are still in development will need Internet addresses. Not that your living room will rival that of “The Jetsons,” but each new device that is being made is smarter than that of its predecessor. This coming new era of home appliances will be relaying information not just to you but to one another as well, so the need for more addresses was paramount. In the not-so-distant future you‘ll be able to access your freezer from your phone to tell it to make more ice for your party. On your ride home from work, you could ask your oven to preheat itself or access your DVR to record that new episode of “Revolution” that you forgot to set up. Each of these devices would have a unique IP address just as our computers do now. Many Internet Service Providers have jumped on the bandwagon and have converted or are in the process of converting to the new system. June 6 was the unofficial start date in the U.S. Google, Microsoft, You Tube, Facebook, Yahoo and many ISPs, as well as numerous municipalities have already begun implementing IPv6. Although there is no official deadline mandated, many corporations and governments have installed self-imposed deadlines and plan to employ the new address system within a year or so. Currently many are now using both the old and new systems to make for a seamless transition if and when IPv4 is finally retired. You should not experience any interruption of service at all – well, not any more than usual anyway. This will be a long transitional period and “out with the old, in with the new,” no doubt will be a long way off yet. IPv4 will most certainly still be around for years to come. Although they may be working together, they are two wholly independent entities not unlike a pair of old and new cables running underground, side by side. If curious, you can check at http://test-ipv6.com/ to see which system you are currently on. Chances are, you’re still with the old one. It could be years until the change is complete. I can only assume that each new piece of equipment we purchase (computer, router, modem), and each part of the Internet infrastructure that is replaced, eventually will be IPv6-ready. You won’t need to do anything and may not even notice a change, except for the longer address format. But the new system, aside from allowing many more devices to be connected, will be easier for ISPs to manage, faster and a lot more secure. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Smarter Smartphones

Computer Care: Smartphones keep getting smarter and better

By Arthur Glazer glazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: September 22, 2012 1:00 a.m.

	Although mobile phones have been around for a while, smart phone technology has advanced at a rate much faster than that of the PC. By the end of 2011, there were 6 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide. That’s 87 percent of the Earth’s population. Of those, approximately 40 percent are smartphones. Today’s mobile phones are not only phones that are mobile; they are computers as well as personal assistants. The reason they have become so popular is due to the device’s extensive capabilities. Along with 2.4 billion smartphone users, I use it to send emails and texts, video chat, browse the Web and shop, check airline schedules, listen to Internet radio and watch videos, check bank balances and pay bills, keep a daily agenda, take photos and videos, set an alarm, navigate in the car, check the weather and, of course, make phone calls. Applications for the phone have become as ubiquitous as the device itself. Most are free or cost less than $4. Each of us have apps we can’t live without. The ones I use constantly are my GPS, the dictionary app, my flashlight and most recently, my virtual assistants. I have Jeannie, Sam and Robin installed on my phone. Some are better with certain tasks than the others, so I haven’t yet decided which one to keep. I began with Sam, actually Assistant, from speaktoit.com after I Googled Siri-like apps. I read the reviews and loaded a few; most got deleted almost instantly. Sam adds things to my calendar and sets alarms. Although she has the answers to most of my queries, for some she just sends me to the Web. While driving, I don’t want to have to look at the screen, but just hear the responses. Sam also crashes every now and then, but I like her. There are various avatars to choose along with different voices, both male and female. She speaks to me by name with a British accent. Pannous.net is where I got Jeannie from. She also does the daily tasks I need, as does Robin, from evi.com. When I asked Robin to call home though, she said it was not in my contact list. All will make calls, send texts and read a weather forecast. In my car I use Vlingo (vlingo.com) because of the interface that appears when I place the phone in its dock. I press only a few buttons or have it respond to my voice. It’s great to be able to say, “Send text to Tess: home late tonight,” or “Navigate to 123 Old Dirt Road, Podunk, Ga.” With a virtual assistant, you can ask your phone not just directions, but how many cups in a gallon, who was the 23rd president or how many moons does Jupiter have? It all comes down to personal preference. Do you like the sound and is the interface easy? Most have free versions; many are still in beta (polished product not out yet), so some may function better than others on your phone. Try a few out before you decide. With almost 500 million smartphones shipped in 2011 and another 145 million in the first quarter of this year, they are only becoming more prevalent. Apple is breaking its own records with sales of the new iPhone 5 expected to be over 46 million by the end of the year. Two million were ordered in just a couple of days prior to the Friday release. Personally, I’m an Android guy, along with over half of all smartphone users. I like the interface and the larger size of my Droid. It is highly customizable. I have multiple home screens, each with a different purpose. One has my agenda, another with icons of those I call often, one with navigation features, another with my assistants, plus one with random apps. Mobile phones are heading in a direction that will be of assistance to us all. Just as bar codes, the RFID chip, Bluetooth and QR codes first helped us, there is now a new technology called Near Field Communication. With NFC we will be able to use our phones as credit cards. Some phones now let you scan them to make a purchase as in Starbucks. With NFC you only need to be near the scanner, not under it. The technology is built into Android phones already. For a full explanation, visit nearfieldcommunication.org. It keeps getting easier. But now that your phone is also your computer, it shares similar characteristics. It will slow down and may get infected. If you’re a smartphone user, download a (free) utility that clears the phone’s cache and refreshes the RAM. Just as with your PC, your phone can get sluggish with lots of apps installed. See your phone’s store for downloads. It’s also a good idea to install an antivirus app for your smartphone. As they become more popular, those who write malware and viruses will certainly soon target this up and coming technology. The apps may be free, but there is still a price to pay. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.