Real Life Viruses

I know this is off-topic, and you're probably tired of hearing about COVID-19, but I wanted to address a couple of comments that have come in.

Indeed, I do live just a couple of miles from the long term care facility that's been making the news, and the hospital where the first U.S. deaths occurred is even closer -- I drive by it often. My team, on the other hand, is quite spread out: while one is about 50 miles to my north, the others are in Idaho, Missouri, and Germany. That's not to say we aren't all at risk, but they're not nearly as close to the local goings on.

The good news(?) is that the life of a online entrepreneur and computer geek is pretty much already "work from home and avoid people". My wife, the corgis, and I, are taking appropriate precautions.

As I hope you are, regardless of where you may be. I'm involved as a volunteer for a couple of emergency management organizations, and this appears to be a long term, major event, with much still unknown.

Stay safe, wash your hands, and thank you for your concern.

Featured

My new machine is here! My new machine is here! My new machine is here!

Seriously, that's the kind of stuff that gets a computer geek like me excited. So excited I got in the car and drove the 35 miles to go pick it up in person as soon as it was ready.

I'll introduce you to the manufacturer, show you a few photos, and then run down a list of what I installed first.

It's a cool machine. Way cool.

Also this week

You take an update, it reboots, and then ... nothing. What now?

Put aside your distrust: using OneDrive properly can make one form of backups trivial and transparent.

Yes, you can send text messages using your PC. There are multiple approaches.

The Ask Leo! Live Webinar

Thanks to everyone who attended the live webinar last week!

I categorized it as a "test", and as such it succeeded: I learned a lot. While there were some technical problems that I'm looking to get resolved, it's something that I think I'll be doing more often in the future. Stay tuned here for news.

You'll find the replay here.

The TEH Podcast

In episode 88 Gary and I talk about Coronavirus (of course), and the importance of skepticism. I geek out a little about Yubikey, and Gary struggles with the end of Flash and how to keep his old games running. Gary had some server issues, and I miss Mr. Robot, but perhaps not for the reason you think.

Have a great week, and stay healthy,

Featured

Picking Up and Setting Up My New Desktop

In a previous article, I went through the steps and decisions I made as I designed my new desktop system.

I'm now using it, and it's great! I'm very pleased.

Today, I'll introduce you to the manufacturer and walk you through my initial setup.

Continue Reading: Picking Up and Setting Up My New Desktop
https://askleo.com/116329

This Week's Articles

A Recent Update Prevents Me from Booting. How Do I Fix It?

I have a problem with my Dell laptop. When I switched it on, it started good, then a pop up of Dell Assist came on and said I need to update my system. It updated bios, hard drive …. then graphics card update failed and then it needed me to click restart. When it restarted, a black screen appeared and now it won't reboot. What should I do?

While I don't have a solution for this specific problem, I do have recommendations for what to do next and how to be prepared for this type of failure.

You can probably guess how I recommend you prepare, but there are several things to consider if you find yourself in this situation.

Continue Reading: A Recent Update Prevents Me from Booting. How Do I Fix It?
https://askleo.com/116313

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Using OneDrive for Nearly Continuous Backup

In previous articles, I looked at two backup techniques:

Creating an image backup using Windows 10's built-in imaging tool 1, and
Setting up File History to back up files that change on a regular basis to an external drive.

This is all good — but we can do better.

Best practices for a robust backup strategy call for keeping a backup copy off-site. OneDrive, included as part of Windows 10, can do that automatically.

We'll set up OneDrive and then make a couple of changes to other applications to make our use of OneDrive for backing up nearly transparent.

Continue Reading: Using OneDrive for Nearly Continuous Backup
https://askleo.com/29368

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Sending Text Messages Using Your Computer

Can a computer (laptop or desktop) text message a mobile phone, and can a mobile phone text message a computer? If so, how?

Yes and no.

The “no” is that it doesn't happens automatically.

The “yes” is that there are several ways to set something up, depending on what you and the other person have available.

Continue Reading: Sending Text Messages Using Your Computer
https://askleo.com/116519

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