Help for personal tech gifts that don’t work right

A record number of the holiday gifts unwrapped this year are going to be personal technology gadgets and gizmos. But it’s inevitable that some of those smiles will turn to frowns because those dad-blamed devices don’t work they way they were supposed to. So just where do you find help when you can’t get through to the support lines? My NBC-TV High Tech Talk segment has some suggested Websites.

One of my favorite help sites…Tom’s Hardware Guide offers lots of insight and background on the sound boards, video card and hard drive innards of today’s computers.
But for fixing them, try Everything Computers. It isn’t fancy but offers great step-by-step troubleshooting.

If you have a Mac and can’t find help on the Apple site, try Mac Fix It. It specializes in solving issues with Macs, and even has tutorials.

A lot of problems come from outdates=d software. Head over to Version Tracker. Here you can find the latest software for Windows and Macintosh computers.

And for everything about Windows and Microsoft software , go to the company’s help and support page.

I’m gonna let you in on a secret. I used to host a radio call in show where I’d help people solve computer problems. Most times I could. What I’d do, as they were explaining the issue to me, was type a search on what they were describing on Google. In seconds, I usually found the solution. They thought I was a genius. You can try the same thing.

The solution to what ails your technology is probably online.

Time’s run out for online shopping

If you’ve been procrastinating with your Christmas shopping and figured you had plenty of time to buy online… you’re pretty much out of time.
Unless you select overnight or expedited shipping - often as costly as the item you purchase - it’s just not going to get there by Friday. With Christmas cioming on a Monday this year, Friday is the last delivery day (unless super-expensive Saturday FedEx delivery is selected). Some sites still guarantee Friday delivery. many of the big box major retail stores let you order online and pick up in the store. Other online sites are pitching downloadable products like audiobooks and software. But time’s a wasting. If you still haven’t bought, better forget about online and head to the mall. And good luck there, where lots of the hottest-selling items are long gone.

Santa Sites for Christmas

The Internet is all alglow with the Christmas SPIRIT. And my NBC-TV segment this week offers up a guide to this year’s Big Christmas sites… places where you and your family can go to get ready for the big day.. and the big guy.

On Christmas Eve, the NORAD folks from the US and Canadian air defense outfit will once again have the Santa Tracker online. You can wow the kids with some free downloads and Santa fun stuff from their Website, which is counting down the days and hours to Christmas Eve.

Kids love Claus.com. There’s a whole north pole village they can click and explore but most fun is a peek at Santa’s naughty and nice list they can check out…enter your kid’s name and….back comes an instant report… personalized even.

Then, there’s this one. You know the Christmas Story movie and the warning about not shooting your eye out with that Red Ryder BB gun? Now you can play a silly little game based on the “You’ll Shoot Yor Eye Out” warning.” Watch out for the ricochets everyone…oh yeah… don’t start playing unless you have some time to burn. It’s mindlessly addictive.

Be wary of spyware posing as holiday screensavers

This is the season for twinkling holiday lights and Christmas trees. Neighborhoods are aglow and houses are shining. But before you fall for an Internet pitch urging you to do the same with holiday programs for your computer, you’d better think before downloading.

My NBC-TV High Tech Report this week notes that there are scores of sites urging you to decorate your desktop this holiday season with great-looking Christmas-themed screensavers and wallpaper like this very popular Night Before Christmas animated scene.

But beware! Not all of of the sites check their programs for spyware or viruses.
And also watch out for sites that install a toolbar or adware that turns your browser into a virtual advertisement.

The vast majority of these sites offering free stuff like this are there to get your e-mail address, or to subscribe you to receive advertisements or trick you into clicking on other ads.

The site I recoomend the most is Freeze. It has no spyware that I could find and offers some very cool animated screensavers, like a very popular Night Before Christmas animated scene.

My recommendation is don’t download anything unless it is guaranteed to be virus or adware safe. And just to be sure, have some strong anni junkware programs like Adaware or Spybot Search and Destroy ready to scan that software after installing it… just to be sure.