Geek Teks. Not the Geek Squad ...better! » Tips

Uncle Travis, Facebook Viruses, Malwarebytes, and Verify Redirect Firefox Add-on

Kyle Moore — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:55:49 +0000

Uncle Travis fixing his virus infested PC

Does Uncle Travis keep posting creepy messages and links to your Facebook wall? Well, relax. Although somewhat unsettling and a wee bit disturbing, to say the least. It is probably not Uncle Travis that is actually posting those messages. A virus is. A virus like the Koobface virus, which post random messages (slightly creepy in nature and somewhat unnerving) automatically to other people’s facebook profiles in hopes that they will click on the link out of curiosity and contract the virus themselves.

Watch the video to learn how to help Uncle Travis, an ex-Geek Squad employee, remove those Facebook viruses from his computer.

Links:

1.Malwarebytes.org
2.Verify Redirect Firefox Add-on

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How to convert youtube videos to MP3 format files.

Kyle Moore — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:29:49 +0000

Every once and a while you might like to save a youtube video as an mp3 file to save space on your iPod or just because you like the background sound track. This video will show you how to do that with yet another great firefox add-on that can be found at Video2MP3.net.

Click here to watch the video.

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How to capture & record your computer screen to video – Screen Capturing

Kyle Moore — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:15:08 +0000

This video will show you how to capture and record your computer screen to video for free using one of two sites. The sites are Screenjelly.com and ScreenToaster.com

Recording your screen to video is helpful if you need to show somebody, say a friend or family member, how to do something on their computer but you are not able to due to distance or time constraints.

Click here to watch the video.

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How to burn any video file to DVD.

Kyle Moore — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:25:43 +0000

I love free software. Most of the software I use is free with the exception of my Windows 7 operating system. You can find free software that will do almost anything and everything you want to do if you look hard enough. In the last couple of posts, I’ve shown you how to download almost any & every media file from most media websites, how to convert video & audio while downloading, and how to play almost every video file format that is out there. Today I am going to show you how to burn any video file that you’ve already downloaded to your PC to a DVD disk for set top playback. The program you’ll need is called “DVD FLICK”. Watch the following video for instructions on how to operated the application:

Click here to watch the video.

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How to download & convert audio & video from most media sites in one simple step.

Kyle Moore — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:02:22 +0000

I love the power of firefox. It allows you to do things quickly and easily for free that in the past took expensive and complicated software to accomplish the same task. Take video downloading for example. In the old days it was often necessary to download an separate application to accomplish this task. If the software was free, you were bombarded with ads. And once the video you were looking for was downloaded, if you were even able to accomplish this task with the given software being used, you were many times still left with the task of converting it to a format that was usable or editable to you. Not any more. Downloadhelper is another add-on that I have recently discovered, which, once installed, will allow you to perform all of those same task in one function for free and with no ads. Amazing! Watch the following video to see how to install and view a demonstration on how it works:

Click here to watch the video.

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How to play any video file.

Kyle Moore — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:06:52 +0000

I get many questions on how to play a certain video file. I find that most of the time people are attempting to view their video files using a default OS application like windows media player. Uhhhh …no.

You see what has happened over time as the Internet has evolved is that video has become very popular. As a result people have tried to figure out how to compress (encode) their video into smaller formats that can more easily be uploaded to a site on the web and thus shared. Uncompressed video would take ages to upload, even on a high speed Internet connection. Therefore, it has become necessary to compress and encode the video into a small format size for quick and easy sharing. The problem is that everybody uses different encoding processes and mechanisms. Enter VideoLan. Videolan will play almost all of the most popular video formats. Just download and install. And if that doesn’t work, you need more codecs installed on your PC. A codec is just a small piece of software that recognizes the video format you are attempting to play and understands how to uncompress (render) the video format it is encoded in. The best way to get more codecs installed on your PC is to visit this site, download, and install the K-lite Video Codec pack. It is free. Not only does it include 90-95% of the most popular video codecs out there, but it also includes a free media player that will fully utilize all of these codecs call “Media Player Classic”. Here’s my Youtube video reviewing all of this information:

Click here to watch the video.

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Download those YouTube Videos with One Quick Click

Kyle Moore — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:19:25 +0000

I’ve been downloading various Youtube videos (particularly the ones that Youtube might snuff due to copyright infringement or voiced complaints) for years now. But since I am going to be starting to add quick and hopefully helpful video tips to Youtube now, I thought I’d start with a quick and easy tip, one that many of you will probably be familiar with already, on how to download those Youtube videos quickly and easily with one click of the mouse. Here is the video in which I demonstrate how to do this:

Click here to watch the video.

And here is the link to Easy Youtube Video Downloader, a Firefox extension.

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Block all Ads (including Facebook) and Secure your PC

Kyle Moore — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:52:50 +0000

I have resolved to keep my social sites updated with sticky content. On at least a weekly basis I will be updating my blog with new articles and helpful content. Here’s what I’ve got this week:

Adblock Plus. Most users of Firefox should be fairly familiar with Adblock Plus but if you are not yet a Firefox user, you need to start now. It is simply a better browser with a better browsing experience. http://www.getfirefox.com

One of the nice features of Firefox is the ability to add on extensions which help you to customize your browsing experience. One such extension that I’ve used for a long time is called AdBlock Plus. Google it. This particular extension allows you to block all ads that you come across on the Internet. Blocking ads is particularly helpful for several reasons:

1) Save space. No longer will your window be cluttered with useless ad information. By installing this ext. you will now only see the content that you really want to see.
2) Save bandwidth. Ads take up a lot of bandwidth causing much slower page load times.
3) Protect your kids. Let’s face it, some ads are just not appropriate, even on Facebook.
4) Protect your PC. Ads are not always as they seem. Some come packaged with viruses and spyware.

Watch this video on how to install:

Click here to watch.

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First wordpress blog post from my G1 cell phone

Kyle Moore — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:23:11 +0000

When I first started blogging for geek teks, we really only blogged for key word content enabling us to come up higher on google’s search rankings. But I am learning that blogging can be done for many more reasons too. First and foremost, it’s fun. Secondly, it is such an easy way to share relavent information quickly. And now thirdly, it can be done anywhere, even from my phone. Like this.

- Kyle Moore

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Real Geeks Use Free Software

Kyle Moore — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:24:03 +0000

You heard me right. Real geeks use free software. Why? Because most of it (and I do mean most) is written better than the commercial paid for stuff. “How can this be true?”, you asked. Well, to put it simply, much of the free software that is out there and available today is open source software. “Well, what is open source software?”, you then asked. Open source software, defined in layman’s terms, is basically just software that is written by an organization, group, or an individual who generously and sometimes, altruistically, chooses to reveal the code to the software. In other words, the code is not hidden and therefore it can be hacked, manipulated, and improved regularly. See, hacking is not always bad. In fact, more often than not, hacking is a good thing. Imagine if every time you wanted to make an improvement on your home or car, you could only do this by calling a corporately licensed repairman who charged you an arm and a leg just to service your request. And the reason you had to do this is because you didn’t have the ability to do it. And the reason you didn’t have the ability, is because you didn’t have the knowledge. And the reason you didn’t have the knowledge is because the knowledge was never given to you and could not be found at any bookstore, library, or on the Internet. And so you were held hostage to your own ignorance. That is much the same way that Microsoft and other licensed software providers operate today. And so those who want to make changes and improvements to any of Microsoft’s software for the benefits of all people, cannot do so because Microsoft refuses to reveal their code. They call it a trade secret. I call it a conspiracy. Knowledge should always remain free.

Anywho, enough ranting. Open source software, because it is continually being hacked and improved by a community of users, usually remains the premium software. It is often more stable, less prone to bugs (or if bugs do exist, they are patched very rapidly) , more secure, and more user friendly just for starts. The downside of open source software, is that there is not usually a place that you can go for immediate support, not that the places you currently go for support for commercial software are worth the cost of buying the software anyways. This is usually the drawback. But then again, this is why you have us. GeekTeks continues to remain separate in their resolve to help the average person with their software issues. While other computer repair service providers (cough-like the GeekSquad-cough) tend to push their clients away if they refuse to buy their commercial pushed software in favor of other software, GeekTeks does not. We want to help the average consumer save money on software. We believe by doing this, maybe, just maybe, you might spend a little bit more on our very inexpensive services (comparatively speaking).

Look at it this way. You buy a computer at (God forbid) Best Buy. You find a really great deal. You’re stoked. But as they ring you up, they start scaring you about all of the evil software that is going to get you if you don’t buy and have them install the security software that they are currently pushing. It is then that you realize you do need security software. But if you buy their commercial pushed product, your great deal is not so great anymore is it? But you figure, you’re going to need it anyways so you might as well go ahead and buy it. Now hold on a second. Stop and think. Do you know that there is plenty of free virus and spyware protection available. There are free firewalls and spam filters. There are free parental controls and phishing filters. So all that stuff that Best Buy was going to charge you to buy and install is really not necessary. In fact, I can almost guarantee that the money you would have spent on their pushed commercial products, would be double or even triple the cost it would be to call us and have us install all of our known free security software at our current going rate for remote support. So by paying for our services to install free open source software that we know of, you are actually saving yourself not only money but you are getting a better software product for all of the reasons mentioned above and then some.

So then why doesn’t the GeekSquad take this approach? That one is easy to answer as well. GeekSquad get’s huge kickbacks from selling their products. Software products are no different. You see, Best Buy is in the business of selling products, not services. Services are just a side item for them and not where their real money is made. Their real money is made in selling products. And thus, that is what their focus is. Along with their products, they will offer their services. Just because they’d rather not have that business go elsewhere and additional income will be generated. GeekTeks, on the other had, focuses 100% on services offered to our customers. We have no ties with large companies and therefore our recommendations are not polluted with alterior motives. Our focus remains exclusively on satisfactory service to our customers. And to help us keep this focus, we often recommend free and/or open source software. That is why I say, “REAL GEEKS USE FREE SOFTWARE”. There is no hidden agenda here. We want to meet your service requests and needs head on by providing you, our customer, with %100 service and price satisfaction.

There is lots of information available on the web in regards to open source software. CNET put together a quick video on the topic.

I’d encourage you to watch it here:

Click here or on the video thumbnail.

And here are a few links to web sites which will direct you to the best open source software available for use today.:

http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/top-100-of-the-best-useful-opensource-applications/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages
http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/index.php
http://mashable.com/2007/09/23/open-source/
http://www.opensourcewindows.org/

Enjoy,
- Kyle -

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