VC Computing will be Closed until January Somethingth!

VC Computing will be closed until the first week or so after New Year’s Day, owing to some down time after spinal fusion surgery on my neck.  I’ll be trying to get back as soon as possible, but the exact date of my return is a bit of a question mark, henceforth and forever to be known as January Somethingth. That will be the date of my return, the somethingth of January, but I have the ability to do a bit of work from home after a few days so I’ll be checking my messages, if you need me.

If it can wait until I return, feel free to check back here or on Facebook for a better guesstimate as to my return date.  I’ll be updating.

Happy New Year to all, I will return.

One Week Later, Still No Power. Duke Energy Sucks.

I understand there was a hurricane because I stuck around for it.  It’s easy to see the damage, from my own neighborhood to every other neighborhood, street, avenue, road and highway. I know it exists, because I can see it.  What I don’t see in the immediate area, is why on earth Duke Energy still has not restored power to both businesses and residences around Belleview for almost a full week now.  So many still without power, my daughter and her family among them, and where are the Duke Energy trucks?  Nowhere to be seen.

There is no place on the planet as dull as a computer repair shop without power and I neglected to setup a call forward prior to the storm so callers get an operator-intercept message.  Great way to make money…  The shop closes for a week for the first time in 15 years and when I return, Irma is about to pounce.  It is the 16th as I write this, and the shop has been open for a total of 2 days this month. I blame Duke Energy’s piss-poor response with barely any updates and just a vague, “By Sunday Night” showing all week as the expected date of repair… it hasn’t changed all week.  Duke Energy is clearly inept, and it is costing me $$. 

A few days ago I published a F*** YOU IRMA on my personal Facebook page. It should have read F*** YOU IRMA & F*** YOU TOO DUKE ENERGY!

OK, rant over.  Have a nice day. Hoping to open Monday.

OK Irma, You Win. Now go away.

We are closed due to Hurricane Irma, and will be until power is restored, whenever that is. To those of you who made the similar decision to stay put for whatever reasons, I hope you fare well. I’ve been here now for more than 30 years, and always felt like Ocala was a place to evacuate to, not from, but we’ve never had the eyewall of one of these things pass over our house, or the shop either, which it is currently predicted to do.

For my Customers, I will be at the shop the very second power is restored in case you need me, until then, please take care.

For my Friends, once power is lost, we will have three cell phones to cycle through. The order that they will be on will be as follows. Trish’s cell phone until it dies. My cell phone next and the third will not be powered up until mine dies. If you don’t know the numbers, don’t worry, those that need to do.

For my Family, Trish and I love you with all our hearts and will be looking forward to seeing you all real soon. Take care of yourselves, and don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.

Sorry. My Apologies for the Strange Hours Lately…

Several things going on these days that conspire to produce some odd hours at the shop so here’s my brief explanation and apology.  I’m sorry.

As some of you are aware, doctors seem to be quite enamored with me, constantly inviting me to show up at their various offices and spend hours waiting while they spend my time with  their other patients.  I went from zero ologists a few years ago to so many ologists that I can’t even recall their names or the locations of their offices, so that results in the shop being closed at various times, mostly because I am out driving around trying to remember where they are.  Sorry.  Arthroscopic knee surgery scheduled this week, in fact, so expect the shop to be closed Thursday the 29th, Friday the 30th & Saturday October 1st, with Monday the third of October being a definite maybe.  Sorry.

Additionally, I have been very fortunate of late to have secured a relationship with one of the largest companies in the country that DEPENDS ON ME to function properly.  OK, OK, so maybe a bit of a stretch there, but some of their clients do rely on me to troubleshoot their network, phone and cabling problems, all large businesses that can ill afford down time so that accounts for some odd hours at the shop as well.  The problem is, it pays really well and I LOVE doing it.  The problem part?  Most of these businesses are out of town, as they’ve sent me everywhere from Ponte Vedra Beach to Brooksville and Orlando so it usually takes time, resulting in the shop being closed. Sorry.  I don’t want to be a name dropper, so I won’t reveal the name of the company I work for here, but when I call in to their Network Operations Center, the recording says…  Thanks for calling NBC Universal…

For the record, as I’ve been known to say… ever comes the day I decide to close the shop, I’ll be keeping my phone number forever, and will continue to serve you even if it means me coming to you to do it, so fear not folks…  You can also find this identical post on my FaceBook page, just in case you enjoyed reading it so much that you wish to read it again.

I ain’t going nowhere, anytime soon.  Sorry.

Get Windows 10 Soon, Free Upgrade Ends July 29

Windows 10 Free Upgrade Offer End Date Announced  —  July 29, 2016

Microsoft has announced that the free upgrade to Windows 10 currently available to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users at no cost, will end on July 29, 2016.  If you’ve been waiting, the time has come.  Microsoft will support Windows 7 and Windows 8 until 2020 and 2023 respectively, while those who upgrade to Win10 have a scheduled end of support date of 2025.  If you’re thinking or have been waiting to make the jump to Windows 10, the time is now… or sometime prior to July 29, 2016 anyway or it will cost you about $100.00, the customary price of a legitimate copy of Windows.

If you’ve hesitated until the bugs got worked out, jump on in, the water is fine.  Computers and problems seem to go hand in hand and Windows 10 is certainly no different.  However, like all previous versions of Windows, bugs get fixed.

If you think Windows 10 is going to be difficult to learn or master, jump on in, the water is fine.  Downloaded almost 300 million times, it’s more like Windows 7 than Windows 8, most Windows 10 users LOVE it, at least 99% of my customers do.

If you have heard all kinds of horrible stories about the upgrade not being truly free, jump on in, the water is fine.  They are simply not true, period, end of conversation.  While it’s true that some apps are available that do cost money, that is no different than every version of Windows ever made… applications, games or some programs often cost money, but the upgrade to Windows 10 is free, and there are thousands of great apps that are available free in the Microsoft Store.

 

Allow me to bottom line this for you, jump on in, the water is fine.

Telephone Calls About Your PC? HANG UP!

NOBODY ASSOCIATED IN ANY WAY WITH MICROSOFT WILL EVER CALL YOU ABOUT YOUR COMPUTER.

These are scammers trying to commit fraud by telling you they are calling from Windows Support or from the Technical Department of Windows about error messages on your computer.  They are lying to you, typically by showing you a Windows error message log that shows common, internal Windows errors that Windows is designed to handle. If you really think something is wrong with your computer, hang up on them and give me a call.

DO NOT ALLOW THEM REMOTE ACCESS TO YOUR PC. DO NOT GIVE THEM CREDIT CARD INFORMATION.  PROTECT YOURSELF & YOUR IDENTITY, HANG UP ON THEM.

Another Redesign of the Website?

Yep, and I blame Google… and you.  Seems so many of you are connecting to websites from small screen devices like tablets, cell phones and small screen laptops, that Google decided to no longer list websites that could not accommodate all the various screen sizes.  Voila! New website.  Google compliant.  No matter the screen size, the site now responds by shrinking and or rearranging items to suit the screen dimensions.  You can test it yourself by grabbing the edge of your browser and making the screen smaller.