Author Archives: Website Admin

Windows 10 quick tips: 10 ways to speed up your PC

Want Windows 10 to run faster? Take a few minutes to try out these tips, and your machine will be zippier and less prone to performance and system issues.

1. Change your power settings

If you’re using Windows 10’s Power saver plan, you’re slowing down your PC. That plan reduces your PC’s performance in order to save energy. (Even desktop PCs typically have a Power saver plan.) Changing your power plan from Power saver to High performance or Balanced will give you an instant performance boost.

To do it, launch Control Panel, then select Hardware and Sound > Power Options. You’ll typically see two options: Balanced (recommended) and Power saver. (Depending on your make and model, you might see other plans here as well, including some branded by the manufacturer.) To see the High performance setting, click the down arrow by Show additional plans.

To change your power setting, simply choose the one you want, then exit Control Panel. High performance gives you the most oomph, but uses the most power; Balanced finds a median between power use and better performance; and Power saver does everything it can to give you as much battery life as possible. Desktop users have no reason to choose Power saver, and even laptop users should consider the Balanced option when unplugged and High performance when connected to a power source.

2. Disable programs that run on startup

One reason your Windows 10 PC may feel sluggish is you’ve got too many programs running in the background programs that you may never use, or only rarely use. Stop them from running, and your PC will run more smoothly.

Start by launching the Task Manager: Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc or right-click the lower-right corner of your screen and select Task Manager. If the Task Manager launches as a compact app with no tabs, click “More details” at the bottom of your screen. The Task Manager will then appear in all of its full-tabbed glory. There’s plenty you can do with it, but we’re going to focus only on killing unnecessary programs that run at startup.

Click the Startup tab. You’ll see a list of the programs and services that launch when you start Windows. Included on the list is each program’s name as well as its publisher, whether it’s enabled to run on startup, and its “Startup impact,” which is how much it slows down Windows 10 when the system starts up.

To stop a program or service from launching at startup, right-click it and select “Disable.” This doesn’t disable the program entirely; it only prevents it from launching at startup — you can always run the application after launch. Also, if you later decide you want it to launch at startup, you can just return to this area of the Task Manager, right-click the application and select “Enable.”

Many of the programs and services that run on startup may be familiar to you, like OneDrive or Evernote Clipper. But you may not recognize many of them. (Anyone who immediately knows what “bzbui.exe” is, please raise your hand. No fair Googling it first.)

The Task Manager helps you get information about unfamiliar programs. Right-click an item and select Properties for more information about it, including its location on your hard disk, whether it has a digital signature, and other information such as the version number, the file size and the last time it was modified.

You can also right-click the item and select “Open file location.” That opens File Explorer and takes it to the folder where the file is located, which may give you another clue about the program’s purpose.

Finally, and most helpfully, you can select “Search online” after you right-click. Bing will then launch with links to sites with information about the program or service.

If you’re really nervous about one of the listed applications, you can go to a site run by Reason Software called Should I Block It? and search for the file name. You’ll usually find very solid information about the program or service.

Now that you’ve selected all the programs that you want to disable at startup, the next time you restart your computer, the system will be a lot less concerned with unnecessary program.

3. Turn off search indexing

Windows 10 indexes your hard disk in the background, allowing you – in theory – to search your PC more quickly than if no indexing were being done. But slower PCs that use indexing can see a performance hit, and you can give them a speed boost by turning off indexing. Even if you have an SSD disk, turning off indexing can improve your speed as well, because the constant writing to disk that indexing does can eventually slow down SSDs.

To get the maximum benefit in Windows 10, you need to turn indexing off completely. To do so, first type services.msc in the Start Menu search box, and click the Services result that come up. The Services app then appears. Scroll down to either Indexing Service or Windows Search in the list of services. Double-click it, and from the screen that appears, click Stop. Then reboot. Your searches may be slightly slower, although you may not notice the difference. But you should get an overall performance boost.

If you’d like, you can turn off indexing for only files in certain locations. To do this, first type index in the Start Menu search box, and click the Indexing Options result that appears. The Indexing Options page of Control Panel appears. Click the Modify button and you’ll see a list of locations that are being indexed, such as Microsoft Outlook, your personal files, and so on. Uncheck the boxes next to any location, and it will no longer be indexed.

4. Clean out your hard disk

If you’ve got a bloated hard disk filled with files you don’t need, you could be slowing down your PC. Cleaning it out can give you a speed boost. Windows 10 has a surprisingly useful built-in tool for doing this called Storage Sense. Go to Settings > System > Storage and at the top of the screen – in the Storage Sense section – move the toggle from Off to On. When you do this, Windows constantly monitors your PC, and deletes old junk files you no longer need; temporary files; files in the Downloads folder that haven’t been changed in a month; and old Recycle Bin files.

You can customize how Storage Sense works and also use it to free up even more space than it normally would. Underneath Storage Sense, click “Change how we free up space automatically.” From the screen that appears, you can change how often Storage Sense deletes files (every day, every week, every month or when Windows decides). You can also tell Storage Sense to delete files in your Download folder, depending on how long they’ve been there. And you can also set how long to wait to delete files in the Recycle Bin automatically.

You can also delete old versions of Windows that might be hogging space. At the bottom of the screen, check the box next to “Delete previous versions of Windows.” Storage Sense will then delete old versions of Windows ten days after you’ve installed an upgrade. Note that if you do this, you won’t be able to revert to the older version of Windows.

5. Clean out your Registry

Under the Windows hood, the Registry tracks and controls just about everything about the way Windows works and looks. That includes information about where your programs are stored, which DLLs they use and share, what file types should be opened by which program or just about everything else.

But the Registry is a very messy thing. When you uninstall a program, for example, that program’s settings don’t always get cleaned up in the Registry. So over time, it can get filled with countless outdated settings of all types. And that can lead to system slowdowns.

Don’t even think of trying to clean any of this out yourself. It’s impossible. To do it, you need a Registry Cleaner. There are plenty available, some free and some paid. But there’s really no need to outright buy one, because the free Auslogics Registry Cleaner does a solid job.

Before using Auslogics or any other Registry Cleaner, you should back up your Registry so you can restore it if anything goes wrong. (Auslogics Registry Cleaner does this for you as well, but it can’t hurt to have it backed up twice.) To do your own Registry backup, type regedit.ext in the search box, then press Enter. That runs the Registry editor. From the File menu, select Export. From the screen that appears, make sure to choose the “All” option in the Export range section at the bottom of the screen. Then choose a file location and file name and click Save. To restore the Registry, open the Registry editor, select Import from the File menu, then open the file you saved.

Now download, install and run Auslogics Registry Cleaner. On the left-hand side of the screen you can select the kinds of Registry issues you want to clean up – for example, File Associations, Internet or Fonts. I generally select them all.

Next tell it to scan the Registry for problems. To do that, click “Scan Now” and from a drop-down menu that appears select Scan. That lets you first examine the Registry problems it finds. If you instead choose “Scan and Repair,” it makes the fixes without you checking them.

It now scans your Registry for errors, then shows you what it found. It ranks the errors according to their severity, to help you decide which to fix. Click Repair when you’ve made your decision, and make sure that “Back up Changes” is checked, so you can restore the Registry easily if something goes wrong.

6. Disable shadows, animations and visual effects

Windows 10 has some nice eye candy — shadows, animations and visual effects. On fast, newer PCs, these don’t usually affect system performance. But on slower and older PCs, they can exact a performance hit.

It’s easy to turn them off. In the Windows 10 search box type sysdm.cpl and press Enter. That launches the System Properties dialog box. Click the Advanced tab and click “Settings” in the Performance section. That brings you to the Performance Options dialog box. You’ll see a varied list of animations and special effects.

If you have time on your hands and love to tweak, you can turn individual ones on and off. These are the animations and special effects you’ll probably want to turn off, because they have the greatest effect on system performance:

Animate controls and elements inside windows
Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
Animations in the taskbar
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show shadows under windows

However, it’s probably a lot easier to just select “Adjust for best performance” at the top of the screen and then click OK. Windows 10 will then turn off the effects that slow down your system.

7. Launch the Windows troubleshooter

Windows 10 has a very useful, little-known tool that can sniff out performance problems and solve them. To launch it, run Control Panel and select System and Security > Security and Maintenance > Troubleshooting > Run maintenance tasks. A screen titled “Troubleshoot and help prevent computer problems” will appear. Click Next.

The troubleshooter will find files and shortcuts you don’t use, identify any performance and other issues on your PC, report them to you and then fix them. Note that you may get a message that says, “Try troubleshooting as an administrator.” If you have administrative rights to the PC, click it and the troubleshooter will launch and do its work.

8. Get help from the Performance Monitor

There’s a great tool in Windows 10 called the Performance Monitor that can, among other things, create a detailed performance report about your PC, detail any system and performance issues, and suggest fixes.

To get the report, type perfmon /report into your search box and press Enter. (Make sure there’s a space between “perfmon” and the slash mark.) The Resource and Performance Monitor launches and gathers information about your system. It will say that it will take 60 seconds, but I’ve found that it takes several minutes. When the Monitor finishes, it will launch an interactive report.

You’ll find a lot of extremely detailed information in the report, and it can take a lot of time to go through. Your best bet is to first look at the Warnings section, which details the biggest issues (if any) it found on your PC, such as problems with Windows, with drivers and so on. It also tells you how to fix each problem — for example, how to turn on a device that has been disabled.

It is also worthwhile to scroll down to the Resource Overview section, where you’ll find an analysis of how well your CPU, network, disk and memory are performing. Each result is color-coded, with green meaning no problems, yellow meaning potential issues, and red showing a problem.

Beyond that, the Resource Overview also reports performance metrics and explanatory details. For example, for the CPU, it might show green and a utilization of 21%, with the details, “Normal CPU load.” Or for Memory, it might show yellow, with 62% utilization and the details, “1520 MB is available.” Based on what you get, you might want to do something about your hardware — for example, add more memory.

9. Kill bloatware

Sometimes the biggest factor slowing down your PC isn’t Windows 10 itself, but bloatware or adware that takes up CPU and system resources. Adware and bloatware are particularly insidious because they may have been installed by your computer’s manufacturer. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly your Windows 10 PC can run if you get rid of it.

First, run a system scan to find adware and malware. If you’ve already installed a security suite such as Norton Security or McAfee LiveSafe, you can use that. You can also use Windows 10’s built in anti-malware app — just type Windows Defender in the search box, press Enter, and then click Scan Now. Windows Defender will look for malware and remove any it finds.

It’s a good idea to get a second opinion, though, so consider a free tool like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The free version scans for malware and removes what it finds; the paid version offers always-on protection to stop infections in the first place.

Now you can check for bloatware and get rid of it. Several free programs will do this for you; your best bet is to run several of them, because no single one will find all the bloatware on your PC. Good choices are the PC Decrapifier, Should I Remove It? and SlimComputer.

10. Shut down and restart Windows

Here’s one of IT’s not-quite-secret weapons for troubleshooting and speeding up a PC: Shut it down and restart it. Doing that clears out any excess use of RAM that otherwise can’t be cleared. It also kills processes that you might have set in motion and are no longer needed, but that continue running and slow your system. If your Windows 10 PC has turned sluggish over time for no apparent reason, you may be surprised at how much more quickly it will run when you do this.

Try just some of these tricks, and you’ll find that you’ve got a faster Windows 10 PC — and one that is less likely to have any reliability problems.

10+ Windows 7 services you may not need

If you evaluate your organization’s need for certain Windows 7 services, you may find that a number of them can be safely disabled.

Every version of Windows has shipped with a core set of system services that must run so that the system can perform basic operations. However, your organization may not necessarily need to have all the services running, and disabling unnecessary services can enhance performance and security. We’ve put together a list of 13 services you can disable on your Windows 7 systems that will probably not negatively affect your business operations at all.

Before you take drastic action, such as disabling a service on every PC in your organization, make sure that the service you’re disabling is not actually in use. This article makes a couple of broad assumptions: that your company doesn’t need to share Windows Media files and doesn’t use Windows 7’s HomeGroup features.

This is not a definitive list of services that can be disabled; these are just some obvious ones. Read carefully and make sure you test changes before deploying them across your organization.

1: IP Helper

Windows description: Provides tunnel connectivity using IPv6 transition technologies (6to4, ISATAP, Port Proxy, and Teredo) and IP-HTTPS. If this service is stopped, the computer will not have the enhanced connectivity benefits that these technologies offer. Why this can be disabled:Many organizations haven’t even started testing IPv6, much less fully deployed it. As indicated in the service description, the IP Helper service is leveraged in IPv4-to-IPv6 transitions.

2: Offline Files

Windows description: The Offline Files service performs maintenance activities on the Offline Files cache, responds to user logon and logoff events, implements the internals of the public API, and dispatches interesting events to those interested in Offline Files activities and changes in cache state. Why this can be disabled: If your organization doesn’t use the Offline Files feature found in both Windows client and server products, this service can be safely disabled. Obviously, if you are synchronizing files across the network, you shouldn’t disable this service.

3: Network Access Protection Agent

Windows description: The Network Access Protection (NAP) agent service collects and manages health information for client computers on a network. Information collected by the NAP agent is used to make sure that the client computer has the required software and settings. If a client computer is not compliant with health policy, it can be provided with restricted network access until its configuration is updated. Depending on the configuration of health policy, client computers might be automatically updated so that users quickly regain full network access without having to manually update their computer. Why this can be disabled: If you’re not doing network-based remediation or if you’re doing remediation with a third-party tool that doesn’t leverage the NAP client, this service can be disabled.

4: Parental Controls

Windows description: This service is a stub for Windows Parental Control functionality that existed in Vista. It is provided for backward compatibility only. Why this can be disabled:Corporate networks rarely used Vista’s Parental Control functionality. Further, this is a legacy service from Windows Vista.

5: Smart Card

Windows description: Manages access to smart cards read by this computer. If this service is stopped, this computer will be unable to read smart cards. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start. Why this can be disabled: If your organization does not use smart cards for authentication purposes, you can safely disable this service.

6: Smart Card Removal Policy

Windows description: Allows the system to be configured to lock the user desktop upon smart card removal. Why this can be disabled: If your organization does not use smart cards for authentication purposes, you can safely disable this service.

7: Windows Media Center Receiver Service

Windows description: Windows Media Center Service for TV and FM broadcast reception. Why this can be disabled: In most corporate environments, TV and FM broadcast reception on desktop computers is not considered a “business critical” item that needs support, and it’s often not allowed anyway. You can disable this service to save some resources.

8: Windows Media Center Scheduler Service

Windows description: Starts and stops recording of TV programs within Windows Media Center.Why this can be disabled: Likewise, there’s no need to record TV programs in a corporate environment.

9: Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

Windows description: Shares Windows Media Player libraries to other networked players and media devices using Universal Plug and Play. Why this can be disabled: On a corporate network, Windows Media Player doesn’t have nearly the place it might have on a home network. Disabling this service will have no impact on business activities.

10: Fax

Windows description: Enables you to send and receive faxes, utilizing fax resources available on this computer or on the network. Why this can be disabled: If your organization is not using a network-based faxing service, disabling this service will have no business impact.

11: HomeGroup Listener

Windows description: Makes local computer changes associated with configuration and maintenance of the homegroup-joined computer. If this service is stopped or disabled, your computer will not work properly in a homegroup and your homegroup might not work properly. It is recommended that you keep this service running. Why this can be disabled: It’s highly unlikely that a business organization — except a very small one — is using HomeGroups as a way to share resources on a network. It’s almost always safe to disable this service in a business setting.

12: HomeGroup Provider

Windows description: Performs networking tasks associated with configuration and maintenance of homegroups. If this service is stopped or disabled, your computer will be unable to detect other homegroups and your homegroup might not work properly. It is recommended that you keep this service running. Why this can be disabled: As noted above: Only very small organizations are likely to use HomeGroups to share resources on a network, so it’s almost always safe to disable this service in a business setting.

13: Tablet PC Input Service

Windows description: Enables Tablet PC pen and ink functionality. Why this can be disabled: The vast majority of PCs that are deployed to users do not have hardware that can leverage tablet-like capability. This service simply uses system resources with no possible benefit.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

First Look: Hulu with Live TV Beta

Hulu’s channel bundle attacks the norms of pay TV service—for better and for worse.

Hulu with Live TV is not the channel bundle you might’ve grown up with. The $40-per-month streaming service clearly wants to be something other than cable.

Aside from being cheaper than the average pay TV package, Hulu’s new bundle aims to blur the lines between live TV, on-demand shows, and DVR. It pushes personalized recommendations on what to watch, and it shunts the notion of channel-flipping out of the spotlight. Recordings, on-demand episodes, and Hulu’s existing TV and movie library intermingle in ways that obscure the source of what you’re watching, as if to suggest that only the content matters.

Hulu’s attempt to distance itself from the legacy TV experience is refreshing, and it can lead to discovering some great television. But it can also be disorienting, due to an expansive, sometimes confusing menu system. Hulu also accurately describes the current service as a beta, and it’s marred by limited device support and occasional glitches. We’re not going to render a review score until Hulu lifts the beta tag; in the meantime, cord-cutters signing up for the service in its current state should be aware they’re paying for an unfinished product.

Hulu’s bundle is one-size-fits-all, with more than 60 channels for $40 per month. That puts it in the ballpark of other streaming bundles’ primary offerings, though Hulu throws in access to its existing on-demand service—an $8 per month value—to sweeten the deal. The ad-free version of that existing service costs an extra $4 per month, and you can still tack on Showtime’s on-demand catalog for another $9 per month.

Channel highlights include ESPN, Disney channels, regional sports from Fox and Comcast, all three cable news networks, and on-demand video from all four major broadcast networks. In certain markets, you can get live feeds from local broadcast stations as well. (A full channel list appears at the bottom of this review, and Hulu’s sign-up page lets you enter a zip code for a list of local stations.)

Hulu includes roughly 60 channels for $40 per month—no more, no less.

Like other streaming bundles, Hulu omits some networks to keep prices down. AMC Network channels, Discovery channels, and Viacom channels such as Comedy Central and MTV are all absent from Hulu with Live TV, as are league-based sports channels such as NBA TV, MLB Network, NFL Network, and NFL Redzone.

The service does include 50 hours of DVR at no extra charge, but with some opaque rules and restrictions. Some live channels let you rewind to the start of a program even if you haven’t set up a recording, and then allow you to skip commercials. Others allow automatic rewinding, but not ad-skipping. Recordings are supported on all channels, but some won’t let you skip ads unless you pay an extra $15 per month for expanded DVR, which also increases storage to 200 hours.

Hulu’s cloud DVR lets you record individual episodes or entire series.

Subscribers can add up to six user profiles and are allowed up to two streams at a time, either inside or outside the home. That’s the same as DirecTV Now, and better than Sling TV Orange, but less than PlayStation Vue, Sling TV Blue, and YouTube TV. It also leads into another upsell: For $15 more (or $20 total combined with expanded DVR service), you can stream on unlimited devices at home and three devices on the road.

Currently, Hulu with Live TV runs on Apple TV, Xbox One, Chromecast, iOS, and Android. Live TV subscribers can still use Hulu’s on-demand service on a longer list of devices. The service also includes access to a handful of cable-authenticated apps, but the limited device support for live channels is one reason Hulu has applied a beta tag for now.

How Hulu Works

As for the experience of using Hulu with Live TV, it’s at once gorgeous, empowering, and utterly overwhelming.

Top-level navigation splits into three main sections: The “Home” section focuses on recommendations and quick access to recently-watched programming. The “My Stuff” section pulls in all the channels, shows, and movies that you’ve marked as favorites, including both on-demand and DVR content. The “Browse” section is a catch-all for everything else, including genres and a full channel list.

Logical as this layout may seem, the purpose of each section isn’t immediately self-evident. Each section also has numerous subsections, which in some cases share a name with subsections in other parts of the interface. For instance, there are four menus entitled “Sports,” three menus entitled “Movies,” another three entitled “TV” or “TV Shows,” and two ways to access your favorite channels. These redundantly named sections rarely behave in exactly the same way. Better labelling could be a short-term fix, but Hulu would really benefit from consolidating the interface into fewer branching pathways.

In the “My Stuff” section, the “TV Shows” menu provides a list of your favorite shows. But there’s a different menu by the same name under the “Browse” section.

At least the Hulu interface isn’t lacking ways to discover things to watch. During setup, Hulu asks users to pick some favorite channels and genres, which fuel the recommendations on the home screen. Intriguing subsections such as “Star Wars” and “Binge-worthy” pepper the home screen, and browsing the genre menus yields fun results such as “Workplace Shenanigans” and “Nostalgia TV.” You can also search for shows, channels, and genres, but not for actors or directors.

Other parts of the interface show promise, but need further development. Hulu’s centralized menu for favorite sports teams is brilliant, but did not come with any setup process on Apple TV. (A menu for setting up favorite teams did appear on the Xbox One app). Support for kid-friendly user profiles is also helpful in theory, though it lacks parental lock and misses the mark with age-based recommendations. No disrespect to the unashamedly bizarre Uncle Grandpa, but it’s not appropriate for a three-year-old.

Hulu lets you track all your favorite sports teams from one place.

Performance Hits and Misses

By calling itself a paid beta, Hulu with Live TV is trying to inoculate itself against early criticism for glitches and performance hiccups. And there have been a few.

For instance, I experienced a persistent issue on Apple TV where Hulu boots me out of a stream and back to its menu. Sometimes this would happen while attempting to fast forward, and a few times it’s occurred on its own. While I was always able to resume the channel or program in question, it happens frequently enough to be a nuisance.

The live channel guide—yes, this does exist; it’s accessible by taping or swiping up from any video—also has a design flaw that’s hopefully unintentional: The buttons to initiate a recording or view more information only apply to what’s playing in the background, not to whatever’s highlighted in the guide. This makes a chore out of recording or favoriting soon-to-air programs.

Yet in terms of reliability, Hulu with Live TV has performed well in my experience. Channel load times were initially a bit sluggish, but have improved over the past week, and I haven’t seen any show-stopping errors like the kind that afflicted DirecTV Now in its early days. Video resolution has been routinely crisp at 720p for live channels, 1080p for movies, and 4K for some originals.

Hulu managed to avoid any major buffering or freezing issues during our testing.

The only major problem concerns frame rate, which tops out at 30 frames per second for all channels and programs. That means you don’t get the smoothness of motion that’s typically found in live sports, news, talk shows, soap operas, and late-night programming. PlayStation Vue and DirecTV Now remain the best options for 60-frames-per-second viewing.

How does Hulu compare with other streaming bundles overall? To be honest, a strong opinion eludes me. The channel lineup is a fine cross-section of what cable TV has to offer, but with holes that may be disqualifying for some potential cord cutters. The interface deserves praise for its vision, but not so much for its execution. And the barrage of upsells—more DVR storage, no streaming limits, fewer ads—is grating even if the options are nice to have.

In the end, the right call on picking a streaming bundle is still to thoroughly examine all the options—their lineups, their features, their device support—and hope you find a match for your needs. In beta or otherwise, Hulu with Live TV just tilts the odds a little further in your favor.

Here’s the full channel list for the Hulu Live TV bundle:

21st CENTURY FOX

FOX
Big Ten Network
Fox Business Network
Fox News Channel
Fox RSNs
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 2
FX
FXX
FXM
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Wild

The Walt Disney Company

ABC
ESPN
ESPN2
ESPNU
ESPNEWS
ESPN-SEC Network
Freeform
Disney Channel
Disney XD
Disney Junior

NBC Universal

NBC
Telemundo
Comcast RSNs
The Comcast Network Philadelphia
NECN
USA Network
Bravo
E!
Syfy
MSNBC
CNBC
NBCSN
Golf Channel
Chiller
Oxygen Network
Sprout

A+E Networks

A&E
The History Channel (THC)
Lifetime
Viceland
Lifetime Movie Network (LMN)
FYI

Scripps Networks Interactive

Food Network
HGTV
Travel Channel

Turner Networks

CNN
HLN
CNN International
TBS
TNT
TruTV
TCM
Turner Classic Movies
Cartoon Network & Adult Swim
Boomerang

CBS Corporation

CBS
CBS Sports Network
POP

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

To read this article in its entirety click here.

New Website Design – L & D Design and Construction

L & D Design and Construction provides specialty construction services for in home renovations, remodeling and design. They have a professional & licensed team that can handle any custom construction need for commercial and residential business owners. L & D Design and Construction provides complete design and construction services from the beginning of your project to the end.

Have questions?

Our Web Design team is here to help
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and IT Services Company located in Marlton, NJ providing IT Services, Managed IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, IT Consulting, VoIP Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact Us Today.

New Website Design – Khoa Nguyen, DMD & Kristen Lovelace, DMD

The Website Design team of South Jersey Techies has been constantly working on developing great looking websites using the latest web technologies. The most recent website developed by our team is for Khoa Nguyen, DMD & Kristen Lovelace, DMD. Their custom built state-of-the-art dental facility offers the best in dental technology. Experience flat screen cable televisions in every room, WI-FI throughout the building, and a beautiful see-through fireplace. With a convenient location, flexible Saturday and evening hours, and a completely digital experience, including electronic patient charts and digital x-rays that use 80% less radiation, there is no reason you shouldn’t make their family, yours.

Have questions?

Our Web Design team is here to help. Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net.

Here’s how Microsoft will integrate LinkedIn into its products

Microsoft’s massive $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn finally closed, and CEO Satya Nadella explained how the companies will begin working together.

Microsoft’s $26.2 billion purchase of professional networking site LinkedIn officially came to a close on Thursday, after the deal was approved by regulators. Following the close, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella penned a blog post on LinkedIn detailing how the website would begin integrating with Microsoft’s products.

For starters, LinkedIn identity and network capabilities will be coming to Microsoft Outlook, and to the Office suite in general, the post stated. Additionally, LinkedIn notifications will be available to users in the Windows action center as well.

Since LinkedIn is known as a digital CV of sorts, Microsoft will enable LinkedIn members who draft a résumé in Word to directly update their LinkedIn profile page, and more easily search for and apply to relevant job postings, the post said.

One of the potentially troubling integrations is “extending the reach of Sponsored Content across Microsoft properties,” as Nadella wrote on his blog. Whether that means that users will begin seeing ads in their Office apps remains to be seen, but it sets the stage for a potentially tricky user experience.

Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup will soon be powered by Active Directory and Office 365, which could make it easier for employees to connect with one another. Nadella’s blog post also noted that LinkedIn Learning will be made available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem, giving Microsoft shops access to new forms of training and continued learning that could prove valuable to their employees.

Additionally, Nadella wrote that the two companies would begin developing a business news desk across their existing ecosystem of content, and for MSN.com. Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365 will also be integrated in hopes of improving social selling capabilities.

Since the acquisition was first announced, it’s been fairly clear that data was the driving force behind the deal. The two companies had non-overlapping, complementary data graphs, and these integrations show just the first steps that Microsoft is taking to leverage LinkedIn’s data, along with its own, to build out a more holistic ecosystem of business technologies and services.

Current LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will continue to lead the company after the acquisition, and theNew York Times reported that roughly 10,000 LinkedIn employees will join Microsoft.

The 3 big takeaways for readers

Microsoft closed its $26.2 billion acquisition of social networking site LinkedIn on Thursday, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlining how the two companies will merge.
LinkedIn features and services will be coming to Outlook, Office 365, Dynamics 365, and even MSN.com, with LinkedIn search getting a boost from Active Directory.
The deal has always been about data, and the integrations are just the start of how the two companies will merge their individual data graphs.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

Microsoft hints at September release of Windows 10’s next feature upgrade

Based on the current progress for Windows 10 version 1903, due to arrive next spring, it now looks like the fall update for the OS will arrive around Sept. 10 or Sept. 24.

Microsoft last week released the first preview of what will become Windows 10 version 1903, the opening feature upgrade of next year, slated to ship in the spring.

The debut of what Microsoft calls the “Skip Ahead” build for Windows 10 1903 also hints that the release of this fall’s upgrade, aka 1809, will take place in September. If so, it would be the first time since late-2015 that the actual delivery date matched the numerical label.

On July 25, Microsoft forked the 1809 preview of Windows 10 – as it’s done before when a feature upgrade approaches – so developers could continue to deliver betas for that build while also beginning to work on the next-in-line, 1903. (Microsoft uses a yymm labeling system to mark its Windows 10 feature upgrades; 1809 should indicate a September 2018 release, while 1903 would be a March 2019 release.)

When it forks preview code, Microsoft provides the even-further-in-the-future build, in this case, 1903, to Windows Insider participants who earlier volunteered for Skip Ahead. As the current feature upgrade gets close to release, Microsoft switches Skip Ahead users to the following upgrade, so that engineers can start collecting feedback on that version even as they keep polishing the one set to launch soon. The bulk of Insiders remain on the latter.

Think of the Skip Ahead debut as a warning bell, like the one rung at track meets when racers start the final lap: When Microsoft begins to ship Skip Ahead code, it’s close to wrapping up the impending feature upgrade.

In 2017, as Windows 10 1709 (aka “Fall Creators Update”) neared completion, Microsoft first forked the preview code and distributed a different build to Skip Aheaders on Aug. 31. Windows 10 1709 began its release cycle on Oct. 17, or 47 days later. With this year’s version 1803, Skip Ahead debuted Feb. 14, or 75 days before the April 30 release of that upgrade.

(Windows 10 1803’s original launch date, reportedly April 10 – which was one of two dates Computerworld had forecast in February – was postponed by 20 days after a deal-breaking bug was uncovered at nearly the last minute.)

For one estimate of the release date for Windows 10 1809, Computerworld added 47 days to July 25, arriving at Sept. 10. A second estimate was generated by adding 61 days – the average of the two previous Skip Ahead triggers – to July 25, resulting in a Sept. 24 rollout.

Because the last three feature upgrades launched on either a Monday or Tuesday – April 11, 2017 for version 1703; Oct. 17, 2017 for 1709; April 30, 2018 for 1803 – Sept. 10 or 11 would be the most likely release dates for 1809, absent a show-stopping problem like the bug before 1803’s launch. Computerworld’s alternate forecast would be September 24 or 25, also a Monday/Tuesday combination, because it would match the previous upgrades’ average time-between-Skip-Ahead-and-release.

If Microsoft does release Windows 10 1809 in September, it would be the first time since November 2015 that the company has matched delivery date and the upgrade’s label. Version 1511 debuted Nov. 10, 2015. The four subsequent upgrades, 1607, 1703, 1709 and 1803, all missed their release months by between 2 and 30 days. (Version 1607 came the nearest, releasing Aug. 2, 2016.)

Although Microsoft has never expressly tied itself to March and September release months – in a support document, it gives itself wiggle room by stating that feature upgrades will be released “twice per year, around March and September [emphasis added]” – the disconnect between release and numerical designation has always seemed odd.

Issuing feature upgrades during the appointed months would be a sign that Microsoft has gotten a better handle on the rapid development tempo it has at times struggled with executing. It would also be a step toward a more predictable schedule, which was the point of the pledge it made over a year ago to issue a pair of feature upgrades annually.

New Website Design – Prism Engineering

The Website Design team of South Jersey Techies has been constantly working on developing great looking websites using the latest web technologies. The most recent website developed by our team is for Prism Engineering. From warehouses and manufacturing to data centers, hospitals, campuses, solar, and complex infrastructure, Prism has a track record of handling high-stakes, high-complexity projects at scale. With a veteran leadership team averaging 25+ years of experience, Prism brings unmatched knowledge of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware regulations, agencies, and development processes.

Have questions?

Our Web Design team is here to help. Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net.

What You Need to Know About the Big Chip Security Problem

According to Intel Corp.,most of the processors running the world’s computers and smartphones have a feature that makes them susceptible to hacker attacks. The chipmaker, working with partners and rivals, says it has already issued updates to protect most processor products introduced in the past five years, but the news sparked concern about this fundamental building block of the internet, PCs and corporate networks.

The revelation of the so-called Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities spurred a scramble among technology’s biggest players, from Apple Inc. to Amazon.com Inc., to enact fixes and reassure customers they were on top of the problem.

1. What’s the problem?

Modern processors guess what they’ll have to do next and fetch the data they think they’ll need. That makes everything from supercomputers to smartphones operate very fast. Unfortunately, as Google researchers discovered, it also provides a way for bad actors to read data stored in memory that had been thought to be secure. In a worst-case scenario, that would let someone access your passwords.

2. How bad is it?

The vulnerability won’t stop your computer working and doesn’t provide an avenue for hackers to put malicious software on your machine. Though it could put important data at risk, there’s been no report so far of anyone’s computer being attacked in this manner. More broadly, though, the new fears could undermine longtime assurances that hardware and chip-level security is more tamper-proof than software.

3. How was it discovered?

The weakness was discovered last year by folks Google employs to find such issues before the bad guys do. Usually, solutions are developed in private and announced in a coordinated way. This time the news leaked before the companies involved had a chance to get a fix in place.

4. What’s being done to fix it?

Chipmakers and operating system providers, such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft Corp., are rushing to create software patches that will close the potential window of attack. Intel said that it expects to have issued updates for more than 90 percent of recently introduced processor products. Amazon.com Inc. said “all but a small single-digit percentage” of its servers have already been protected. In a blog post, Google said its security teams immediately “mobilized to defend” its systems and user data. Some customers of Android devices, Google Chromebook laptops and its cloud services still need to take steps to patch security holes, the company said. Patches for Windows devices are out now and the company is securing its cloud services, Microsoft said in a statement.

5. Is this just an Intel problem?

No, though that seems to be what panicky investors initially thought. Intel says it’s an issue for all modern processors. But rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. stated that its products are at “near-zero risk.” ARM Holdings, which has chip designs that support all smartphones, said that, at worst, the vulnerability could “result in small pieces of data being accessed” and advised users of its technology to keep their software up to date. Google fingered all three companies. Apple said all Mac computers and iOS devices — including iPhones and iPads — were affected, but stressed there were no known exploits impacting users and that steps taken to address the issue haven’t dented performance.

6. What will the fallout be?

Some computers, mostly older ones, could be slowed down by the software patches that will make them more secure. Intel said that in common situations software might be slowed down by as much as 3 percent or not at all. But in other rare situations, performance might be reduced as much as 30 percent. The company doesn’t expect any financial impact and said it thinks customers will keep buying. As the fixes haven’t been widely deployed yet, it’s unclear whether anyone will even notice or whether computer slowdowns will be widespread. Intel has only done lab tests.

Winter Coat Drive

The colder months are here, and many families in our community are struggling to stay warm.

Author Archives: Website Admin

Want Windows 10 to run faster? Take a few minutes to try out these tips, and your machine will be zippier and less prone to performance and system issues.

1. Change your power settings

2. Disable programs that run on startup

3. Turn off search indexing

4. Clean out your hard disk

5. Clean out your Registry

6. Disable shadows, animations and visual effects

7. Launch the Windows troubleshooter

8. Get help from the Performance Monitor

9. Kill bloatware

10. Shut down and restart Windows

1: IP Helper

2: Offline Files

3: Network Access Protection Agent

4: Parental Controls

5: Smart Card

6: Smart Card Removal Policy

7: Windows Media Center Receiver Service

8: Windows Media Center Scheduler Service

9: Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

10: Fax

11: HomeGroup Listener

12: HomeGroup Provider

13: Tablet PC Input Service

Have questions?

Hulu includes roughly 60 channels for $40 per month—no more, no less.

Hulu’s cloud DVR lets you record individual episodes or entire series.

How Hulu Works

In the “My Stuff” section, the “TV Shows” menu provides a list of your favorite shows. But there’s a different menu by the same name under the “Browse” section.

Hulu lets you track all your favorite sports teams from one place.

Performance Hits and Misses

Hulu managed to avoid any major buffering or freezing issues during our testing.

Have questions?

Have questions?

The 3 big takeaways for readers

Have questions?

Based on the current progress for Windows 10 version 1903, due to arrive next spring, it now looks like the fall update for the OS will arrive around Sept. 10 or Sept. 24.

1. What’s the problem?

2. How bad is it?

3. How was it discovered?

4. What’s being done to fix it?

5. Is this just an Intel problem?

6. What will the fallout be?

Techies News Categories

Techies News Search