computers

Gloria's Windows 7 computer "went out" recently. It seems to be stuck in a boot loop. Rich says a software update may have broken your computer. Rich suggests going into safe mode and see if it will boot up. Use the F8 key when it's booting up. If it does, then that indicates a corrupted driver. Maybe a video driver. You can also bring your computer into a nearby Microsoft Store and they will run diagnostics to see what's going on. But with Windows 7 reaching End of Life in January, it's time to think about getting Windows 10. Rich also recommends looking at a Google Chromebook.

Mike wants to know if he can use more than one monitor on his computer. Leo says that most modern-day computers do support multiple monitors and both Windows and macOS support it natively. But the computer has to have more than one display port or HDMI port to do it. Most do out of the box these days.

Donna wants to know if getting a computer at Costco is a good deal. Leo says that Costco usually carries last year's models, so she can get a pretty good deal, and they have a liberal return policy. For a new laptop, Leo likes the Lenovo Thinkpad. For desktops, Leo recommends Dell, especially for video editing.  Great for business too.

Greg put his laptop in hibernation, and when he woke up this morning, it was on. How did it come out of hibernation? Leo says it's common that if there's an update or some preset network activity (like "Wake-on-LAN"), the computer can wake up. A tremor can wake it up as well. As a rule, Leo doesn't recommend hibernation because it can confuse the operating system, causing issues when waking up. Just let it go to sleep. Users can log out, though, for security issues.

Andy is thinking about getting into day trading. What does Leo think? Leo says to read FLASHBOYS. Trading is now an automated, high volume business, and trades are happening in milliseconds, often before anyone at the NYSE knows what's happening. That is the competition. And it's really easy to lose a shirt in day trading, as you get leveraged buying stock on margin.

He'll need a very powerful computer, but any laptop can do basic day trading. It's quite an investment. He'll also need software and a subscription to wall street's feed.

Larry's computer died and he has to buy a new computer. How can he move data from his old computer to his new computer when the old computer is dead? Leo says to go to Newertech.com and pick up their Universal Drive Adapter. This will allow Larry to take the old drive out of the computer and connect it to his new computer. He can open it as a drive on his new computer and just copy the missing data over. But if the drive isn't functioning any longer, he could be out of luck.