HP and MACs have been good to me.

Also, just to throw it out there, I am an IT professional who does consultancy on the side. I can fix most computer issues such as Virus removal, computer running slow, New Operating system installation, networking solution, printers, etc.

I cater to Houston Metropolitan area and is reasonably priced so If anybody is interested, please send me a private message.

Thank you!

Hey ya'll well it seems my laptop has bit dust and I will be in market for new one soon so

opinions please?I will use this for grad classes in fall.

Is there brand you love
or one you hate so much you
would not take one even if
they were giving them.away?

513 fudge.

I saw something similar to this on a friends computer a few years back except it said it was the federal government and it locked his computer because he was doing illegal stuff and needed to pay a fine first. It wouldn't even let me get into the bios or enter safe mode. Luckily he had an external hard drive that was just an internal one inside a casing so we pulled that apart, installed it, and installed a fresh copy of windows. At least he had a computer. I told him to hold onto the drive because there are probably people more versed in this kind of stuff than me and could salvage it. (I am more of a hardware guy myself)

A scary new malware is on the rise here's how to protect yourself

A scary malware is on the rise and it could end up costing you a fortune.

Ransomware, which is a type of malware that holds your mobile phone, computer, or certain files on your computer hostage until money is paid, is increasingly becoming a cyber criminals favorite kind of weapon.
In fact, there was a 165% increase in new ransomware during the first quarter of 2015, according to a data published
Tuesday by the security firm McAfee.

Why is Ransomware becoming a big deal all of sudden?

Ransomware, like any other kind of malware, is taking off because its a lucrative business for cyber criminals. Hackers can make thousands of dollars each month depending on how many people opt to pay the ransom.

Cyber-thieves usually demand anywhere from $200 to $5,000 as an initial payment and give the victim detailed instructions about how to pay the ransom, according to the FBI. And if the victim doesnt pay within a certain period of time, the ransom may double or the files on the infected device will be completely destroyed.


It is especially dangerous because its very hard to detect. Often times the ransomware comes in the form of email spam that looks legitimate. It can also be spread in newsgroup postings, peer-to-peer networks and internet relay chat, according to McAfee�s report.

The most important thing you can do, bar-none, is to continue to make backups of your data," he said. "Because in the worse case scenario your computer becomes affected and your hard drive becomes encrypted you can at least revert back to the last good backup."

Second, you should always be weary of what you click on, the websites you visit and what software you download, Glassberg cautioned. This can be tricky because ransomware can often times look very legitimate, but that just means people should be extra cautious.

Full story:
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-protect-yourself-from-ctb-locker-ransomware-2015-6

Virtual box is to put another operating system on your PC. Tor is to hide your IP address. Which are good to use on open Wifi's. Try hotspot shield. Tor doesn't track your IP address so it is harder to hack them and then track your IP back, but they are very limited on what you can do and make sites harder to get on, because all the trackers these sites use. Some can expose your current IP address and open you to being hacked. Now if you are talking about Tor as in torrents then Torrent pond may be able to direct you to a good torrent to use. Torrents, are for file sharing. I hope either one help and was what you where looking for.

ditto

My PC has two HDMI outputs. One is built in and the other is on my NVIDIA GeForce graphics card. I use the VGA output on the card for my monitor. I tried to also hook up my Toshiba flat screen (to watch Netflix, etc.) with an HDMI cable.

First I tried the built in port, but got no signal to my TV. Next, I tried the graphics card HDMI output with mixed success. The TV showed the desktop, but nothing else. When I opened a browser the TV did not mirror what was showing on my monitor, thus no Netflix on my TV... I am not sure if I need to change any of the NVIDIA settings or something on my TV...