Previous episode

Episode 1772 February 20, 2021

Next episode

Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

What Can I Do If My ISP Doesn't Show Up to Install?

Watch Steve from Los Angeles, CA Comments

Steve ordered internet service to his house and he had to sue them in small claims court because they didn't show up to install it. He won a judgment of $600 plus court costs thanks to a California state law that provides for such relief. Leo says that it's likely the technician had a choice to either fix a complicated install and stand up the next guy, or stop the install and move on. Either way, a customer gets left in the lurch. But not showing up at all is bad customer service, and $600 is about right for a wasted afternoon. Leo also says that customer service is the most expensive thing that companies have to maintain. Oftentimes, it suffers because it's also the first thing that gets cut. 

How Can I Backup My Network Hard Drives?

Watch Martin from Hayward, WI Comments

Martin wants to know what is a good backup strategy for his Seagate hard drives and how can he mount them as network drives. Leo says that Seagate has its own backup in the cloud, which figures out where all the drives are. But that's not the only way to do it. FTP can work with a sync program. Robocopy wasn't designed for it, but it may be able to. The key is to figure out what the IP address is on the fly since most are dynamic. If he had a static IP, it wouldn't be a problem. The key is to find a sync program that supports FTP, but FTP isn't secure either. SCP is where it's at. The chatroom says that FileZilla does programmable FTP.  One other thing is to pre-encrypt data before backing up.

Leo also says that's why he uses Synology. It's encrypted.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Do I Need Extra RAM for My M1 Mac?

Watch Jeff from New York, NY Comments

Jeff recently bought an M1 Mac and wants to know if he needs to get extra RAM for it. Leo says that Hagabis RAM is more like storage for the M1 Mac, and doesn't offer any performance benefit. It's not even RAM really. If one wants performance with storage, Leo recommends a Thunderbolt 3 hard drive, but that's pretty expensive. 

Have My Passwords Been Compromised?

Watch Richard from San Diego, CA Comments

Richard is getting notified by Google that several websites he's visited have been hacked and he should change his password. Leo says Google has been doing that to advise users that their passwords are showing up on the dark web. Leo says that using a password manager like LastPass to generate all passwords would be a good option. They will also go through user passwords and let them know what ones need to be changed. So all he will need to know is the master password. That's what Leo uses. Check out HaveIBeenPwned.com to see what passwords have been breached on accounts. 

What Do I Need to Digitize VHS Tapes?

Watch Paul from Laguna Nigel, CA Comments

Paul has 35 VHS tapes and he doesn't want to pay $650 to digitize them. How can he do it himself? Should he just buy a VCR and use it to digitize? Leo says he can do that. But while at it, look for a VHS model that also has a DVD burner built-in. It's called a Combo player.  But Paul wants to get it done sooner rather than later. But with a VHS player, he'll need a video capture card to hook it up with that can take the red, white, and yellow composite video cables. S-Video would be even better. But the capture card is what's important. And get the fastest converter box he can get, USB3 is ideal. Hauppauge is one of the best makers of capture cards. Roxio is the other. But he can get them on Amazon from dozens of makers.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

How Can I Connect My iPhone to Stereo?

Watch John from Fallbrook, CA Comments

John used to be able to listen to music from his phone to the radio using the headphone jack on his phone. But now he can't do that because his phone doesn't have a headphone jack. So what can he do now? Leo says that a Bluetooth cassette that he can put into the cassette player can then pair it to the phone. There's plenty of them on Amazon. EluraTech makes one for $29.99, but he can get them for half that as well. He'll want to make sure it has Bluetooth 5 though. So be sure. The player also has a 4-8 hour battery life too, depending on the model. Apple also sells a connector that goes from a headphone jack to a lightning adapter.

What 1st Smartphone Should I Purchase?

Watch Pat from Denver, CO Comments

Pat uses a flip phone and is looking to get her first smartphone now. Leo says the only real reason to get a smartphone is to text others or to go online while mobile. If all she's using a phone for is phone calls, she won't really need it. But Pat's old phone is obsolete. Leo says she can still buy a flip phone. They're called feature phones now. But if she wants one, the iPhone is the easiest one to use and for most people, it's the best choice. Leo recommends the iPhone SE. 

Pat was looking at the Samsung Flip, which is a folding smartphone. Leo says it's pretty expensive at $1200 and he's not really sold on the folding phone screen just yet, even though he owns the Galaxy Fold 2.  Better to buy another flip phone.

How Do I Improve My WiFi Reception?

Watch Carmen from Springhill, FL Comments

Carmen's WiFi is terrible and she's been told it's because of "firewalls" in the house. Will a WiFi booster help her problem? Leo says it's more likely the crappy router she's been given by her ISP. She can try moving it around, and up to a higher position. That could help. The higher the router is, the better the reception she'll get. So if Carmen's router can be above her head, that would be better. She also wants to ask the ISP for a newer WiFi modem. Call Spectrum and demand the latest box. Ask for a WiFi 6 router. It's called the Spectrum Wave II. She pays the rental on that box, so she may as well have the latest one. 

There is a way to put a wifi access point into her room so that it could pick up the signal and relay it. Leo recommends going with powerline networking. It'll use the powerline electrical wires in her wall to carry the network to any room in your house. TPLink makes them and it works really well.

Playlist