Tame Your Technology - Computer Repair Zone

While Bluetooth is gaining ground all the time, there are still a number of people who either don’t understand what it is, or aren’t aware of what it can do so I thought a quick overview of Bluetooth would be useful.

Bluetooth is, in short, a wireless connection between two pieces of technology.

To communicate by Bluetooth both pieces of technology need to be Bluetooth-enabled either by having the service built in (as many cell phones and the newer printers do) or by having it added (such as by adding a simple, cheap Bluetooth dongle to an existing computer).

The two Bluetooth devices, once a link is set up, can then communicate with one another without having to plug anything in.

The classic Bluetooth combination is an earpiece for using in the car and a cell phone. The benefit of this arrangement (beside the safety, and in some countries legal, aspects) is the lack of wires. You can leave your cell phone on the passengers seat and when you get out of the car with your headset on the connection will drop. When you get back in, the connection will automatically start again.

But this isn’t the only combination.

Some new cars will have an in-car kit that will communicate with any Bluetooth phone allowing you to talk out loud without a headset and the recipient of your call to hear what you are saying.

You could also print out photographs taken on your cell phone if you are within reach of your Bluetooth-enabled printer. Or back up your contacts to your Bluetooth-enabled computer. Or send ringtones, images, videos and the like to another Bluetooth-enabled phone.

And remember - you don’t pay for the connection or what you send. Like infra-red, it’s “just there”.

So, if you wanted to send a picture to a friend’s handset, you could either pay to send it as a picture message (MMS) or just wait till you and your friend are close (12-15 feet maximum generally) and then just send it free to their phone.

So get wireless and consider Bluetooth options - you won’t look back.

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Cell phones have a nasty habit of losing reception at the most annoying of times. You’ll have all the bars showing perfect reception all day until the one time you want to make a call and then suddenly… nothing.

There are two main reasons for this to occur.

The first is that your phone’s software is playing up - a common occurence these days with our highly advanced handsets. It might be that the software was faulty to begin with, or that slowly over time the software has got corrupted and it can happen at any point in time so don’t think just because you’ve had your cell phone for some time that it’s not a software issue.

If it is the case that the software needs fixing you will need to get it upgraded either by a professional (try taking it back to where you bought it - many suppliers offer this service or know someone who does) or do it yourself online.

Be aware when it comes to upgrading cell phone software that you have backed up your important files - pictures, videos, contacts etc as upgrading to the latest release of software will wipe all these files from your handset.

The other, more likely option is that you need to carry out a manual roam on your handset. It’s such a useful feature to help improve the reception on your cell phone yet unless you’re in the industry you’ll likely never have heard of it.

Here’s how the average cell phone works by my understanding:

All over the country are hundreds of base stations - big aerials that receive and transmit cell phone calls.

You make a call on your phone, the call is routed via the nearest base station and sent along the wires to the destination.

Cell phones are designed to “jump” between these base stations so they’re always in contact with the closest one to you. If you go on a long drive your phone will be constantly searching for new aerials and swapping to the best one for you. It means generally a stronger signal and less battery needed to communicate.

But it’s in this “jump” - when your handset stops communicating with one transmitter and starts with another that can cause a problem.

Sometimes your phone will show a great signal because it is looking at the aerial closest to you, but it’s actually trying to communicate with a different one - sometimes one that you passed hours or even days ago.

That’s why sometimes somebody says they tried calling your cell but they couldn’t get through even though you know your phone was on at the time - the system was routing the call through the wrong transmitter.

The way to fix this problem is either by switching off the handset (a little slow and repetetive) or with a manual roam. This will cause your phone to literally search manually for any signals it can, and then latch onto the strongest one going.

The process differs from phone to phone (if in doubt, ask whoever sold you your cell) but here’s a general process:

In the menu, looks for a “settings” submenu and locate a “network settings” or “network options” area.

Within this area you should find a “Network Selection” option or similar that will allow you to switch between “manual” and “automatic”.

Select “manual” and the handset will take a moment to search for any available signals - often finding quite a few.

Select any network *apart* from the one you’re actually on (at which point the phone will often complain or show an error) and then select your actual network.

This takes your phone offline and then back onto your home network and should, in 90% of cases, sort out most signal problems such as poor reception, dropped calls, texts not coming through and so on.

Once you’re comfortable doing it you can carry out a manual roam in seconds if you need to.

Note, however, that if you *keep* needing to do manual roams for signal problems (which is what you should always start with) - then it is more likely to be a software fault and an upgrade should be sought.

Popularity: 68% [?]

Premium text messages can become the bane of your life if you’re unlucky enough to become a victim.

They will cost typically $2.00 - 5.00 (£1.00 - 2.50) each for you to receive them and it’s not uncommon to receive several each day.

I have seen victims charged anything up to $40+ a day for these messages, and monthly cell phone bills topping $800 thanks to these little beauties.

I have even known people to stop using their pay as you talk cell phone altogether because every time they top up the credit the money vanishes as all the premium texts they haven’t been receiving start to fill up their inbox again.

What’s more, not only can it be difficult for you as a cell phone user to work out where all these charges are coming from but it can be even harder to work out how to stop them charging you.

So lets start at the beginning - where do these texts come from?

Not surprisingly given the figures above these premium-rate sms services are big business. They might be horse racing tips, results, weather forecasts, ringtone subscriptions or adult chat messages among other things.

There are 4 main ways you may have a subscription:

1) You unknowingly signed up yourself.

More common than you’d think - you pay for a single ringtone, news report or wallpaper without reading the fine print and realising you’re actually signing up for a monthly subscription with, for example, a new ringtone to be sent out to you each day until you cancel. The message here is before you give out your cell phone number for anything like this *check the fine print and ensure you are dealing with a reputable company*.

2) Someone else signed you up.

I have seen numerous cases of family members (typically a teenage son or daughter) borrowing a parent’s phone to download a ringtone and accidentally signing them up to a subscription. I have also seen a few cases where someone’s mates have signed them up to an adult chat line for a laugh when they’re in the bar!

3) Your number has been gleaned illegally.

Somehow the company in question has gained access to your number (perhaps from another legitimate company) and is charging you fraudulently.

4) Your number used to belong to someone else who signed up.

Most cell phone numbers are now being slowly recycled. It’s likely any new number you have has previously been owned by someone else at one time or another.

Typically 3-6 months will elapse between someone cancelling a number and someone else being given it but sometimes they *do* slip through the system.

And, as I’m sure you can guess, if someone has previously subscribed a cell phone number to a premium-rate text line and then you inherit the number, they’ll likely keep charging you.

Now when it comes to actually resolving these issues let’s start with the bad news. As these charges are happening via your phone bill rather than your credit card there is no real chance of a chargeback and even if you *do* manage to get the subscription(s) cancelled, there is little chance of getting your money back - you’re really just protecting yourself from future charges.

The good news, of course, is that there are *some* things you can do to counteract these charges…

1) Trace The Number

First off, if you can, keep any texts sent to you and try to trace the number it comes from. This is likely to be a computer not a physical phone number you can ring but you may have luck either tracking down the company responsible online.

2) Text Response

If you haven’t managed to find the company responsible the next step would be to try texting the universal unsubscribe command for your cell phone network. Simply hitting reply and texting the word “STOP” without the speech marks is enough for some networks. If in doubt, ring your network and ask.

3) Network Intervention

If this doesn’t work then your final port of call should be your cell phone provider. Show them your bill and the texts you have been sent. Explain you have done everything reasonable to try and get the texts to stop and you need their help.

With details on the originating number plus copies of the texts received most networks should be able to either contact the originating company and demand they stop spamming your phone or at least provide you with the contact details for the company so you can call them directly.

4) Change Number

Unless you’ve only just got a brand new number and so you don’t mind losing it you should regard changing your number as the last possible option. Typically you will pay for a new number unless you have just entered into a new contract (as in, days, not months) and of course you are likely passing the problem along to someone else but if all else fails this method will work.

Bear in mind in addition that you will have to update all your existing contacts which can be an absolute nightmare - people are so slow at updating their phone books you’ll be missing calls and texts for ever more

Hopefully this article has given you something of a battle-plan to get those charges stopped. If you’ve enjoyed the content here please tell others about it so as many people as possible can benefit from it.

One last tip before I go - if you’ve just got a new number and the problem has just started it’s almost certain that you’ve inherited the problem in which case try putting pressure on your network who will likely (a) change your number free and (b) refund any out-of-pocket expenses you have incurred.

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Tying in perfectly with yesterday’s blog about backing up computer files I noticed when visiting Jim Karter’s interesting blog that he had two particular recommendations of just the sort of online backup services I discussed.

Take a look today… http://www.jimkarter.com/2007-12-16-do-you-backup.html

Popularity: 63% [?]

If you’ve heard it once you’ve heard it a million times - you need to back up the information on your computer. Hard drives *do* crash sometimes and it can be heartbreaking to lose all that information - documents, pictures, videos and so on. Even worse if you work online as I do.

Then you’ve got the chances of fire, theft and so on.

Sorry to sound negative but it is important - and I think too few people take this topic seriously.

Once you’ve made the commitment to back up your files though, how do you actually go about it?

Well here are 4 common methods for you to consider before making a decision:

1) CD

Easy and cheap, saving important files onto CD is a popular method. They’re small and reasonably hardwearing and can be stored in a locked box or safe in the home.

It does mean however that you need to pick and choose *which* files you’re going to back up as taking a complete copy of a well-stuffed hard drive and trying to squeeze it onto CDs would require a heck of a lot of discs.

In addition, appreciate that if it is fire, there is a risk the discs themselves could get damaged and make all your efforts worthless.

2) Flash Drive

Typically only stretching to a gig or so of memory these USB Flash Drives won’t hold too many files again but are simple to use. Simply plug one into an available USB port to read or write to it.

You have the same problem as with the discs in the case of a fire unless you decide, as some people do, to keep the Flash Drive on your person at all times, such as using it as a keyring.

3) External Hard Drive

A good-sized external hard drive will enable you to back up your whole hard drive - a real boon - meaning there won’t be any files you have to sacrifice in the interests of space.

You can also set up a piece of software such as x that will *automatically* back up your computer to your hard drive when you specify.

Once again, if there is a fire (or theft) you may be in trouble, and appreciate that while costs are coming down all the time this is still a far more expensive option to implement than either of those above.

4) External File Backup Service

These services function in such a way that whenever you log onto the Internet they will take a copy of every file on your hard drive and save them in a remote location. This location is built specially to store sensitive data and they are typically fire proof, bomb proof etc. and give your data the highest levels of protection available to the average joe on the street.

You *do* need to be aware of course that if you don’t log onto the Internet very often your files won’t be updated very often, that as all this to-ing and fro-ing of files is going on in the background there is a chance your Internet connection may run a little slower than usual and lastly some people are rather concerned about having their person files (diary, emails, will etc.) stored in a location they have little control over.

Your files are, however, likely far safer than with any of the other 3 options.

So which is the best method?

Well, it’s not that straightforward I’m afraid.

Its a decision best left to the individual. I personally went for option 4 and set myself up with external storage because then no matter what happens (bearing in mind how often I’m on the Internet) all my most precious of files are stored safely for retrieval in the unfortunate event thayt I need them.

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Hi and welcome to the very first post of TameYourTechnology.com.

This blog has really been launched after the numerous questions I get each week from friends and family when they discover I’m a bit of a techie… what does this do, how do I do that, what would you suggest for this and so on.

It’s important to say that I’m not a professional in any way - just an interested amateur who tends to find technology in all it’s formats highly interesting.

On this informational blog I’m going to be covering all sorts of technology - computers, cell phones, video game systems, the Internet, DVD players and more. I’m going to be mainly offering tutorials, how-to guides and product reviews as we go and hopefully this will build slowly into a very useful guide for anyone with technology-related questions.

I would like to encourage your questions as much as possible which will help to keep me motivated on this project, and to provide direction for future content.

Simply use the comments section at the bottom of any post, as much as possible!

Lastly, please bookmark this site and make sure you keep coming back - it’s going to be quite an adventure

Popularity: 65% [?]