Happy Holidays from C⁴!  We hope you are enjoying whatever new technological toys, gadgets and tools you recently received.  Whether it’s a new iPod or other MP3 player, digital camera, fancy new cell phone, Palm, Blackberry, DVD players, home theater system, laptop or desktop computer, we’re here for you.  We can help you install and configure it, and we can show you how it works.  Call us at (713) 861-4183 and let us know how we can help you.

Now that you have a new computer, what do you do with your old one?  Well, there’s lots of thing you can do with it. 

You can:

·         Give it to a friend or colleague

·         Give it to a non-profit or other organization

·         Recycle it.

Regardless of which option you choose, the first step is to remove your programs and data from the computer.  There are two ways to do this.  The first way is to manually remove all programs and data that you installed.  The second way is to reformat the hard drive to erase everything, then reinstall the operating system to get the computer back to the way it was when you first purchased it.  Many computers come with a System Restore CD that serves this purpose. 

If you want to give your old computer to a non-profit or other organization, you will want to call them first and see if they will accept your computer.  You will need to know your computer’s specifications (CPU type and speed, RAM, hard drive size, etc.) before you call.  Many organizations have minimum requirements as to what they will accept.

Many computer manufacturers now have recycling programs in place.  Dell will accept your old computer for either recycling or donation to The National Cristina Foundation.  For more information, go to www.dell4me.com/recycling.  Hewlett-Packard’s recycling program can be found at http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/recycle/index.html.  Apple’s program can be found at http://www.apple.com/environment/recycling.

We at Clerc Computer Consulting have given away many computers to worthy organizations and individuals in the greater Houston area.  We have cleaned up and given computers to an assisted living center, The Children’s Museum, and other places.  If you have a computer that you’re not using, please let us know.  We’ll help you find the best place for your used equipment.

Accessing Your Work Computer From Home – For Free!

If you left a file at work, or if you need to get a little more work done after dinner, there are several new solutions available for you.

Back in the old days, pcAnywhere was a popular remote control program that allowed you to access your work computer from home using dial-up modems.  While it was great for modem-to-modem communication, it was rather difficult to use over the Internet. 

The best Internet solution today is GoToMyPC.com.  It’s a service where you purchase a subscription.  The cost is $19.95 per month or less, depending upon how many computers you want to access and how much you want to pay in advance.  You can try it out for 30 days for free.  It’s designed to work over the Internet, and you can control your work computer from any other computer on the Internet.  To use the program, you go to www.gotomypc.com, setup an account with a username and password, and then download a small program onto your work computer.  From your home or anywhere else, you simply go to www.gotomypc.com, login and it will show you the computer(s) you can access (which are also password protected). 

A less expensive alternative is LogMeIn.com.  It works very similar to GoToMyPC.com, but the user interface isn’t quite as nice.  Their Pro version is $12.95 per month or less, and their Basic version is free.  The Pro version allows you to transfer files between the computers, which the Basic version does not allow.