Everyday Tips from the ComputerMom

October
2013

Can you believe it's October already? This year is just zipping by. There should be lots of technology news this month as hopeful vendors introduce new "must haves" for the upcoming holiday season. Microsoft will be releasing Windows 8.1 on October 18th - I'll be sure to review it in the next newsletter.

I don't know about you, but I certainly get a lot of mail from Verizon telling me why I should switch to them from Comcast. Clients often ask me which is better. From my perspective, if you are still using DSL then either FIOS or cable will be a huge improvement, but otherwise you are best off with whoever is giving you the better deal. Your biggest consideration is your email address and whether or not you can keep it - keep reading to see different ISP's policies.

Have a great month, and don't forget to call or email if you have any questions!

Regards,

Julie Marto

508-359-8176
www.thecomputermom.com
www.facebook.com/thecomputermom

P.S. I have been much more active with my Facebook postings lately - please visit my page and click on "like" to automatically see new updates!

Switching Internet Providers? Take care of your email address BEFORE the switch!

Last month I got a panicked call from a client who had switched from Verizon to Comcast and now her Verizon email no longer worked. The Comcast rep had offered to cancel her Verizon account for her, and she didn't understand that her email account would cease to exist as soon as her account was cancelled. We spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon in a fruitless attempt to get her email reactivated, finally giving up and creating a new Outlook.com account for her and sending a change of address notification to all her contacts, effective IMMEDIATELY.

There are many good reasons to switch internet providers - better service, lower cost, moving out of the provider's service area - and usually the only real tie that binds you to the provider is your email address. Different companies transition your email address in different ways, and you should know their policy, and act on it, before it's too late. Some companies will allow you to keep your email address if you switch, others won't, so here's the breakdown for your reference.

Internet Service Provider	Policy
AT&T/SBC	If you have an AT&T email address associated with Yahoo your email will switch to a free Yahoo account when you cancel service. If you are getting your mail in Outlook you need to sign up for Yahoo Mail Plus for $19.99 a year to access POP servers
Comcast	If you cancel your internet but keep your TV or phone account you can keep your Comcast email address. If you have no Comcast services at all your email address will be discontinued
RCN	You can purchase an "email only" account for $3.95 a month per email address, call 1-800-746-4726 to order it prior to disconnecting service
Verizon	You can keep your email for a fee of $19.95 per year - IF you sign up for Verizon Your Domain Basic prior to cancelling service
Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Outlook.com, Me.com, etc	These email addresses are not tied to your Internet Service Provider, and will not be affected by an ISP switch.

Regardless of who provides your internet, it's always best to have more than one email address. Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook.com and AOL all offer free web based email accounts that can be accessed from computers, cell phones, and tablets. If you are thinking you might switch ISP's you might consider switching your "main" email to one of these several months in advance. Here are some highlights of the various options, and I can assist you with the transition if you need some help.

iDevice Update - iOS 7 and Knock-off Lightening Cables

Most of you iDevice users were upgraded to iOS 7 in the last few weeks. If you or your kids happen to have a newer device that uses the new style "Lightening" cable, listen up.

I know those cables are expensive, and so do you, and so do your kids. Lots of people have purchased third party cables as a backup. Unfortunately there have been some issues with the knock-offs, so Apple has disabled the ability to use third party adapters with iOS 7. To soften the blow, Apple will trade in any third party adapter for a genuine Apple cable for $10.00, but only until October 18th. So if you have a knock-off cable, hurry to the Apple store to take advantage of your discount - the link explains the full rules about the trade-in, so be sure to read it carefully!

Medfield Day was a ton of fun!

Thanks to everybody who stopped by my booth at Medfield Day, and I'm sorry to have missed anybody who couldn't come! It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed saying hi to my old friends and meeting a lot of new ones. I recruited Police Chief Meaney to pull names for my drawing, and the winners of a free drop off service were:

New Client: Ashley Tracey

Existing Client: Ellen Green

Hope to see more of you there next year, when I will have new giveaways and a new drawing!