A member asks… Would you please recommend a new printer for my iPad? I am a senior on a budget. Look for this icon and/or the word “AirPrint” on the box or item description to make sure that the printer is truly capable of printing from your iPad (also iPhones). Of course, manufacturers are constantly putting out new printer models almost daily, but as of right now, we think your best option is either an HP, Canon or Epson printer. You […]
If you have Outlook already setup to tap your AOL email account and are getting ‘IMAP‘ error messages, it’s because one or more of your emails in AOL are corrupted. They may work ok in AOL’s webpage, but won’t in other programs like Outlook. To solve this problem should take you just a few minutes: In Outlook, create a new folder in your regular set of Outlook folders (not the ones under the AOL account). Now move all your messages from the AOL account into this […]
Here’s some Practical Help that gives you tips on how you can get music, video and other stuff from your smartphone or tablet to a larger screen, like your TV. Chris Gardner describes the most common ways that work well for the most popular platform: iOS, and the most popular tablet: the iPad. These tips will also work with Google Android and Microsoft Windows tablets and smartphones. Your Tech Coach at Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you practical […]
Mountain Lion update 10.8.5 is part of the preparation for the forthcoming Mavericks (next version of Mac OS X coming in the fall of 2013). This update is primarily bug fixes and security updates. The most important update fixes a problem with the Mail app that keeps it from showing you all your messages. For Lion, the update is 10.7.5 and for Snow Leopard the update is 10.6.8. These were all released on September 12th 2013. You should update immediately. Hopefully your […]
Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you tips on what to watch out for to avoid being scammed at work or at home. Chris Gardner describes the most common ways that scammers try to trick you into bypassing your home, personal or office security, so you can recognize a scammer by their behavior. Printable tip sheets are available for our members below. Your Tech Coach at Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you practical and helpful tips, hints […]
Practical Help for Your Digital Life gives you tips on navigating the so-called Post-PC era. Chris Gardner and Pam Willenz show you how you can simplify your digital life by ditching your regular computer and just using your tablet or smartphone to do everything you want. We focus on the popular iPad and equally popular Google account services to get everything done that you used to use a computer for. A handy printable tip sheet is linked below for our […]
Here’s a tip on what to do if you think your computer has been hacked. It might be worthwhile to check just to be sure! And don’t bother to take notes, we have a printable tip sheet below for our members! This is a video tip of the day, which supplements our regular scheduled show “Practical Help for Your Digital Life”. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get […]
This Digital Egg Timer is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Steve Gardner shows you how to filter your facebook news feed and reduce information overload. And don’t worry about taking notes, we have a handy, printable tip sheet link below for our members. This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, ‘Hidden’ Facebook Tips – PHYDL #2. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on […]
Google is retiring the excellent RSS reading tool, Google Reader today. There’s been a lot of news about this impending… event? disaster? non-event? For those who love using really simple syndicated (that’s RSS btw) news feeds from all over in one place, there are a number of replacements. More on that later. But first, if you use Google Reader and you haven’t yet exported your news list, you’ve been ignoring that popup to backup your data for quite awhile now. So don’t ignore […]
This Digital Egg Timer is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Pam Willenz shows you how to keep your facebook friends separate. Printable tip sheets are linked below for our members. This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, ‘Hidden’ Facebook Tips – PHYDL #2. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get the most out of the consumer technology you already own. […]
Signing into and out of iTunes on your iPad or iPhone is pretty straightforward. Just tap Settings, then iTunes & App Store, and either sign in to your account, or tap on the signed in account to see the Sign Out button. But with iCloud it works differently. Read on for more exact instructions. Once you link an iOS device to your Apple ID in iCloud, you’ve established a relationship between the two. In order to change to a different Apple ID, you actually […]
Sooner or later, you’ll run into this problem, and shutting down, restarting, or resetting your iOS device won’t fix it. Here’s the most likely problem, and a practical solution to the times when your iPad or iPhone won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network. Situation: Your iOS device remembers the Wi-Fi networks that you have connected to in the past, and anytime you are in that neighborhood, uses the saved settings to re-connect you automatically. Problem: The Wi-fi network is determined by the ‘name’ also known […]
This Digital Egg Timer is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Steve Gardner shows you how to see hidden messages in facebook that you may have missed. Don’t waste time taking notes, printable tip sheets are linked below for your convenience! This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, ‘Hidden’ Facebook Tips – PHYDL #2. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get […]
After extensive testing and reviewing the results of other respected testers in the industry, we have a winner of the best value for internet/computer security suites. Once a year we test a batch of suites and compare various factors, such as effectiveness, trouble-free use and cost. To do our own testing, we have a really nasty PC we keep around. We install each tested suite on this computer and then proceed to do everything we can to infect that computer – visiting […]
Practical Help for Your Digital Life exposes hidden tips in Facebook to let you use social networking smarter and easier. Pam Willenz shows you simple ways to get Facebook working smarter/harder for you, and possibly save you some embarrassment! A handy printable tip sheet is linked below for our members. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get the most out of the consumer technology you already own. Geek-free […]
Ok, I gave it my best shot. I don’t think Microsoft Windows 8 is ready for me to use either as a primary computer or in a ‘production mode’. In many ways it is better than Windows 7, but it still carries many of the same problems of stability and reliability that I have with Windows 7, plus I see new, Windows 8-only bugs. Most recently, a disk usage problem cropped up where Windows would use 100% of disk usage […]
Rounding out this week’s focus on Google, if you are a Google fan but also use an Apple iPad or iPhone, you have a number of great apps direct from Google that you can use to extend your reach within the Google ecosphere. Google isn’t doing much for the Blackberry crowd or Windows tablet and smartphone users, although they will let you set up gmail’s email and contacts along with your Google calendar. And for Blackberry Enterprise Services users, you can’t even do that […]
This Digital Minute is a quick shot of Practical Help for Your Digital life. Chris Gardner shows you how to use Siri to make phone calls on your iPhone faster and with less work on your part. This is the Digital Minute that’s embedded in our show, iPhone Tips – Using Siri – PHYDL #1. In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get the most out of the consumer […]
A member asks… Hi Chris, I read about this computer virus called DNSChanger that can take over your PC’s web browser. Apparently, the FBI is really worried about it, and I read in some news stories that it is really bad. So my question is, I’ve got protection for my computer (AVG), should I be worried? Thanks! James and Tillie Quick answer to your question – you need not worry, even though AVG likely didn’t protect you from this. EDIT: Please […]
It’s not news that everybody hates having to deal with passwords, and all the different and sometimes conflicting rules on how to use them. We here at Practical Help are no different – they’re darn inconvenient! Most of the people who ask us for help don’t even remember their own email passord – they’ve gotten their computer to remember it for them which is great until they have to get to their email another way. And as much as we hate them, we recognize […]
In March 2013, two groups of U.S. high school age kids with prodigious cyber skills visited the Washington, D.C. area. On March 2nd, George Mason University hosted the annual Virginia Governor’s Cup CyberChallenge with 40 of the state’s brightest and smartest ‘geeks’. On March 15th, 156 high school cyber experts from across the country were treated like rock stars at the Gaylord hotel in National Harbor competing at CyberPatriot V – the National High School Cyber Defense Competition. In both of these events, the […]
Mac users need to be aware that auto-updating for your OS X system is not a perfect science. Often, updates are issued by 3rd party app providers, and even if they have a setting to apply updates automatically, they often don’t do that. So you need to be vigilant in keeping your Mac up-to-date. Especially with ‘helper’ programs like Adobe Flash. Adobe’s Flash player has been a long-time easy target for hackers, and having an out-of-date Flash player installed on your Mac can […]
In this show, we bring you tips on getting Siri to make using your smartphone less work. From a faster way to make a phone call to sending text messages easier to making quick and easy appointments and reminders, Chris Gardner shows you simple ways to get the most out of your iPhone and get it working smarter/harder for you. And don’t bother to take notes, members can view, download and print our exclusive tip sheet – see the link below. […]
So you got a shiny new iPad, either as a present or you bought it yourself. You open the box and lo, there’s not much of an instruction manual! You might be able to discover how to use it by trial and error, or have visited an Apple store and talked to the Genius bar folks, but have some lingering questions about some pretty basic how-to-do-stuff. Here’s where we come in. Members can click the link after the jump to […]
This danger appears to be spreading quickly since September 2013. Latest info in: they’ve extorted over $5M US from people since the ransomware craze started last fall. A member asks… I saw a pop-up that appeared on my computer warning me that I needed to buy their app to make sure my computer is safe. What should I do? You may have fallen victim to one or more apps we call ‘ransomware’. Ransomware is a type of malware who’s primary […]
A member asks… Hi Chris, I received this email and am not sure if it’s for real. Can you tell me whether I should do something about it or not? Thanks! Subject: cell phone numbers go public this month… REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month. REMINDER….. all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. …. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS To prevent this, call the following number […]
A member asks… I tried to do a virtual tour on a site and the computer said i needed plug-ins. Is that safe? Thanks for your answer. Ms. Penny If you’re in the market to buy a house, you may opt to do a ‘virtual tour’ before actually going to the house. Real estate agents and brokers do this all the time. But how do you know when plug-ins are safe to do virtual tours? Click on this virtual tour to see […]
A member asks… I am recovering my system from serious problem, and was able to deactivate some bad malware using your advice on Malwarebytes (thanks!), but my system is still kinda flaky. You advise using System Restore – how do I do that? Ok, at this point, your computer is operational, but desktop icons may be missing, and other stuff may look wierd as a result of a malware infection. Let’s get your computer back to the way you like […]
A member asks… Help Chris! All of the sudden, I’m getting tons of warnings that my computer is malfunctioning! Some refer to hard drive errors, some to memory errors, and lots of warnings I just don’t understand. They just started today, has my hard drive crashed and my data is toasted? One of our worst nightmares when dealing with our technology is the dreaded “OMG, I shouldn’t have clicked on that!” Consumers beware of: System Check – a program that many […]
In this Digital Minute®, Your Tech Coach gives you a quick shot of Practical Help and covers the basics for keeping your computer (Mac and PC) up-to-date to help prevent computer problems from turning your computer into an expensive paperweight. This Digital Minute® is part of our video series, Practical Help for Your Digital Life® (PHYDL). In this series, Your Tech Coach gives you practical and helpful tips, hints and advice on how to get the most out of the […]
"I'm all about helping you deal with our 21st century high-tech digital world so you can enjoy a healthy and secure digital life!"
Hi! I'm Chris Gardner, Your Tech Coach giving you Practical Help for Your Digital Life® since 1996. My job is to translate geek-speak into clear and concise advice and give you easy-to-understand how-to's and instructions about your consumer technology products and services.
Browse my library with over 1,000 of the types of questions and answers we all have about our consumer technology. Better yet, use the search bar above or pick a subject or keyword below to see a list of related posts you can read. And please sign up for my free weekly digest and occasional email alerts!
If you don't find the answer to your question in my library, ask me a question - anything about consumer technology. I answer questions large and small, from how to use Siri on an iPhone to how to protect your computer, tablet or smartphone. I take arcane language from manuals and translate that into easy-to-follow instructions. This gives you better ways to use your consumer technology - helping you get more out of the gadgets and services you already own and use.
I provide all the above, supported by my readers who find my answers valuable (patronage model). Please consider supporting me by sending any amount via 
(send to @PosiTek), or via 
(send to Support@PosiTek.net), or via 
using any credit card (no Paypal account required), or by mailing a check or cash to PosiTek.net LLC 1934 Old Gallows Road, Suite 350, Tysons Corner VA 22182.
I am not a non-profit, but your support helps me to continue delivering advice and consumer technology support to the public.
If you need more immediate or direct support, please see my 1-on-1 Tech Support page. I don't profess to know everything about everything, but I'm great at finding and giving you exactly the right answer in the way you need to hear it. Give me a try and let Your Tech Coach help you get your technology working for you, not the other way around!
Need more help using this website? Click here!
The information presented on this website and referred to in various social networking channels are the considered opinions of the authors. We accept no advertising, kickbacks or any sort of remuneration for any commercial products or services that we recommend or suggest. Furthermore, posts or links to external websites or other content do not imply endorsement, unless explicitly stated.
Any elements on this website that may be linked to or displayed, including trademarks and product/service images, are for educational purposes only under fair use copyright law. PosiTek.net LLC purchases licensing for commercial imagery used on this website via Shutterstock.com and any other imagery is licensed for our use via:
