Review: j5 Create Wormhole KM Switch

I'm going to switch things up a bit and start doing some product reviews for different tools, hardware, and software that I use or try out.  I will be posting various short reviews, as well as screenshots and download links if applicable.

My first product is:

The j5 Create Wormhole KM Switch

I cannot say enough how handy this little item is...

The j5 Wormhole Switch allows you to connect two computers together in order to share keyboard and mouse (KM) control between the two.  For example, I can connect my laptop to my desktop computer and use my desktop mouse and keyboard to manipulate both machines.

It's as easy as telling the simple, Plug and Play software where the other computer is physically located.  Switch a setting that tells the switch that my laptop is on the right side of my desktop computer, and when I move my mouse off of the right side of my monitor it automatically switches KM control to my laptop.  I can change this to left, right, top or bottom, so no matter how you have your workstation set up it can move fluidly and intuitively from one machine to the next.

As though this weren't enough, the device also allows you to transfer files between the two machines by either simple copy/paste or even drag-and-drop.  For example, let's say that I have software setup files saved onto my desktop computer and want to move them to a computer that I am trying to fix (this is something I do frequently, to save the time of having to find and download software that I use all the time).  All I need to do highlight the files I need from my Setup Files folder, and either copy/paste them onto the desktop (or into a folder) on the client's machine.  From there, I can install and run programs without the need for multiple peripherals cluttering up my already very messy worksation.

The installation is very, very simple.  All you need to do is plug the device in and allow permissions, the software will install and configure itself.  If that doesn't work, it's as simple as right-clicking the the WormholeKM icon under "My Computer" or "Computer" (depending in which version of Windows you have), clicking "Explore" and running WKMLoader.exe.  This may need to be run as an Administrator, I am not honestly sure as I run XP on most of my computers and do not remember if that was an issue on Vista or newer versions.

I have to say, if you are frequently working with more than one computer, or if you happen to be a computer tech, this is an excellent way to spend around $25.  I use this device constantly, and it saves me a huge amount of time and clutter when working with multiple computers at once, especially when one isn't working so well.

Because it isn't always clear, I do want to say that there are multiple models of this device for different uses.  The JUC 100 is the one I am familiar with, however it only works between Windows platforms (XP/Vista/7 that I know of for sure, claims to be compatible with 8 as well).  There is also the JUC200 that is Windows/Android compatible, and the JUC400 that is Windows/Mac/iPad compatible.  For my fellow Linux fans, I do not see support for any distributions listed anywhere so we still need a solution there (I have heard of a few software workarounds but I am admittedly very new to Linux, especially getting Windows and Linux to play nicely together).

Here is a link to the official page. - This is a good spot to check them out and see which one might be best for you, however I would advise checking them out here at Newegg.com.  I am having trouble finding the JUC200, even though the j5 website sounds as though it is released I can't seem to find it.  I did see the JUD400 KM sation, however, which looks very intriguing, but I digress.  I have not tried to use that item yet, but I may just have to try it.

I am in no way employed by this company, nor is any other company paying me to write this article.  As I stated before, I am just doing some product reveiws and, eventually, some computer repair tutorials and thought that this is an excellent tool that I use very regularly.  If you have any comments or questions, go ahead and place them here or at the Tech-Ease facebook page.  This is my business's facebook page that I am pretty active on, and honestly I wouldn't mind generating some conversation there.  Feel free to "Like" my page in the process for updates and information on sales and refurbished items that I am selling.

Thanks for taking the time to read through my first product review attempt.  Any constructive criticism is welcome, and I really hope that I can help you find some cool programs and devices or steer you away from some real duds.

Staying Safe on the Internet

Staying safe on the Internet

90% of my clients that bring me slow computers always try to lead the conversation off with the same line: "I think it's full of viruses or something.  Do you know how safe www.(insertwebsitehere).com is?"

I will lead off by saying this:  the Internet is not completely full of websites trying to give you a virus.  People get viruses when they open links in emails from unknown senders, or when they download files (videos...frankly porn) from shady websites.  Google does not give you viruses.  Paypal does not give you viruses.  Companies that set themselves up to look like Google give you viruses.

First thing you need to do to protect yourself from malicious software is to make sure that you are getting the files from the proper sources.  For example:  there are web pages that look like the Facebook login page.  The color scheme is the same, the entry fields look the same.  The difference is found in the address bar.  If the URL is not facebook.com, then don't enter information.

One big tip I give clients is that they should not use links included in emails to enter a website.  We will use Paypal as an example: I get an email from "Paypal".  It's not really from Paypal, but it looks similar and says Paypal on it a few times.  So I click on a link, which takes me to a fake Paypal login page.  I enter my information and POW, I enter a website full of malicious software (including the login page itself, which probably just sent your login info to the very people you don't want to have that info).

How do you avoid this?  Don't click the link.  Type the address into the address bar yourself, that way you know that you are going to the proper address.

If you receive messages containing viruses or spam sites from friends of yours, be sure to send them an email back informing them that they are spreading scams or informing them that they are sending viruses.  Sometimes people can send out malicious software without being aware of it, and alerting them to the fact that their account may be compromised is just the friendly thing to do.

Secondly, get a good antivirus program and use it to scan files that you want to download.  This is usually done automatically by reputable programs.  I cannot tell you how many times I have seen systems infected with viruses with absolutely no virus protection what-so-ever.  I suggest AVG Free for the average web-surfer.  It will automatically scan downloads to be sure that they are virus-free before you open them and expose your entire system to who-knows-what kind of virus.  Be sure that you are updating the program with the latest definitions.  Without the latest updates, the program is unable to detect new viruses that have emerged since the last update.  This means that the latest and greatest software will be able to ransack your system freely.

I feel like it should go without saying, but in my experience it does not, that once you install and update your antivirus program you actually have to run the scan every so often.  Having an anti-virus on your computer does not scare away malicious software, so just in case something does slip through the cracks you need to detect it before it becomes a problem.  This does not happen on its own, so once a week or so you need to open your virus scanner and run it.  You can also schedule the program to run automatically, say at 3 am every Thursday, so that while you are sleeping soundly your computer will run the scan for you and display the results when you get up in the morning.  Bear in mind that if you decide to go that route, the computer will need to be booted up at the scheduled time of the scan.

The same points can be applied to an anti-malware program and a firewall.  Make sure you have these programs updated and turned on, or they also lose their ability to protect you properly.

The programs I currently use to protect my own computer include:

Anti-Virus: AVG (They have a paid and a free version available, and honestly I use the free version myself and have very little trouble).  This can be downloaded here.

Anti-Malware:  IoBit Malware Fighter (again, I use the free version.  The biggest difference between paid and free version is that the paid version will scan automatically.  As long as you are diligent about running your scans, the paid version isn't necessary in my opinion).  This can be downloaded here.

Firewall:  ZoneAlarm (one again, free/paid version is up to you.  I use the free version).  It can be downloaded here.

Hopefully this quick guide can help you be sure that you are protected from your standard virus or phishing attack.  Just remember:

-Have a decent anti-virus, anti-malware and firewall program installed and updated on every machine.  There are some killer free programs out there, so there is really no excuse not to.

-Remember that, in order to work properly, you must run scans of your computer at least every week to ten days.  If your protection includes automatic scans as part of the software, that's great!  Just be sure you check up on them every so often to be sure that a.) the scan actually ran and b.) the program was able to automatically handle any problems that did arise.  If it cannot handle the problem on its own, it should show you a prompt that will walk you through the necessary steps to get rid of the software yourself.

-If a website or email looks suspicious, it probably is.  The safest bet is to manually enter web addresses as often as possible, and especially to avoid clicking on links or copy/pasting URLs from potentially dangerous emails.

Happy Surfing!

Due to Recent Developments...

Some slight changes in plan

These changes are pretty normal, no plan ever seems to go perfectly in my experience.

I had to put opening my office and honestly my business in general on the back burner for the last few weeks, which is the biggest reason for my lack of activity lately, which a apologize for.  The last few weeks of school are kicking my butt at the moment, coupled with my family responsibilities and the fact that my wife is now pregnant with our second child.

I have decided to abandon my associates degree for the time being.  Frankly, the commute and the amount of extra stress is just not needed yet.  I do plan on pursuing a COMPTIA A+ certificate, along with NET+ soon.  These to certifications will do what my associates degree would do anyway, which is prove that I have entry-level computer knowledge at least and that I have some specialization in networking.  As an added bonus, I can get these certifications in far less time and for a fraction of the cost.  I will start working with A+ for Dummies, and will probably purchase a course that includes test vouchers to expand my learning and get a second source of info.  I will include the course here when I decide which one I am going with, but for now I need to get through the last few weeks of school.

As far as advertising goes, I have been sticking with old-school tried-and-true methods like business cards, fliers, and word of mouth.  I don't have any referral cards yet, but I have heard and read that a referral system works wonders.  So, I plan on giving a $10 discount for every referral made, i.e. every time I get a new customer from Joe, Joe gets $10 off his next bill.  I don't plan on doing a lot of web advertising, since I do not plan on serving clients on a global or national scale and web advertising would target people that I simply cannot serve.  Business cards, fliers, and hopefully some good word of mouth advertising for now, and I will re-vamp if necessary if I find that to be insufficient.


I have had a few new projects, most interestingly a couple of iPhones.  Due to the recent firmware updates (6.1.3 for older devices, 6.1.4 for iPhone 5), iPhones are currently unable to be jail broken like they used to if they are running the latest firmware.  This has hindered my attempts to jailbreak and unlock a CDMA iPhone 4 that I acquired.  There is a work-around that allows an semi-tethered jailbreak for the latest firmware offered by redsn0w, but honestly I have had very little luck with it.  The other phone I have not played around with much, but I do know that it is on an earlier version of the firmware.  This means that I might be able to update it to 6.0 and jailbreak/unlock it in that state.  I will try to keep notes and post a quick walk-through on it when I get to that project.

Bear with me guys, the good stuff is coming!

Getting My New Computer Repair Business Established

Getting an office ready, finishing a website and Facebook page, and researching education opportunities...

     I honestly have not made a lot of progress on my office yet.  I am still trying to get a second vehicle ready so my wife and I don't have to juggle our one car around all day.  She works second shift, so the scheduling gets a little complicated.  The way I see it, I would rather have reliable transportation so that I can make more house calls than have an office when it is possible for me to work from home. However, I do still feel that having an office is important as it is difficult for me to establish the level of professionalism that I desire when working out of my house.

     I have learned a lot about creating websites from reading articles and such, and would like to share some of that here.

1. Keep it simple, especially at the beginning.  To many fluff items like apps, widgets, buttons, forms, and links...it just starts to clutter everything up until you have a better grasp of how you want the page to flow.  This is true for me, as I tend to let projects evolve and adapt as I go rather than sticking to a strict plan or picture in my head.  Thus, if I try to use everything that I see, I tend to make a big mess.

2. Don't try overdo the text, either.  Keep it concise, simple, and to the point. Like writing ads and flyers, assume that your readers are in a hurry, and write as though you need to give them enough info to know what you're about but not so much that they do not finish reading it.

3.  I used webs.com to create my website.  They offer a free site (however, you will have to use a hosted domain name like tech-ease.webs.com).  They do offer premium packages that get you a custom domain name and various other features depending on the package purchased.

4.  Make sure the theme and layout of your website matches your business.  If you are a cutting-edge tech company, make your website bold and daring as if to declare your confidence and willingness to take risks.  If you are a financial consulting business, you may want to town it down to appear more conservative and stable.

I have to say that many of the same ideas hold true for your Facebook page.  Keep each field concise and to the point, and keep posts friendly and conversational.

As far as education goes, I am at a bit of an impasse.  I am currently attending WITC in Rice Lake as a Computer Administration Specialist, but I am not sure if that is the route I want to go.  I was thinking that, in light of the new business, it might be a better idea to go for certifications one at a time rather than trying to juggle three to five or even more classes while establishing a business.  I was thinking that pursuing a COMPTIA A+ certificate might be a better idea.  Does anyone have any input here?

As a final note, what computer/electronic repair walkthroughs would you be interested in?  I would like to start posting these, but I am honestly not sure where to start.  If you could offer some suggestions I would really appreciate it!

Finally some Concrete Answers

Finally Got some Concrete Info on Licensing!!!

Ok, so I finally found (with direction from some very supportive people) info on how to get my licensing done.  I live in Wisconsin, so I went to Wisconsin.gov and used their Build your Business wizard.  The wizard gives pretty clear questions about your objectives, and if you have questions there are usually links available to help.  The results page can be a little overwhelming, though.  However, I found that if you just take it one piece of information at a time you can find what you need after some looking.

Wisconsin.gov Build Your Business Homepage

IRS.gov FEIN Online Application Page

Anyway, I was directed to the Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue for a Sales and Use Tax ID #, and a Federal Employee Identification Number (FEIN) from the IRS (irs.gov).  These forms are all online and after I finally found them (use the site's search menu if possible, though even that is hard to find on these government web sites, or you will be blindly clicking around all night), they were pretty straightforward and clear.  I filed as a sole proprietorship, as I am the only one at Tech-Ease right now and I don't plan on having employees for a while.  If I do, I can always change it as my business grows.

I finally got to Washburn County's Register of Deeds to apply for a Doing Business As name, and I need to drop that off ASAP (some counties can do it online, others aren't quite there yet but are working on it.  Unfortunately, Washburn county is not yet).  Then I just wait for papers to come back.

Wisconsin Register of Deeds Website

I am checking out an office in town, being offered to me by a friend of my family's, on Monday to see if it will be large enough and accessible enough for what I need, then I need to furnish it.  I will be starting out as cheap as possible, so pretty scanty furniture for the first little while (though the office will have a kitchen-style counter with cabinets installed soon, so I have that going), but I do need to make sure that I have the right kinds of furniture, as I know from experience that working with the proper tools makes all the difference in the world.  After I move in and get some inventory in the office I will have to take a second look and see what needs to be amended so that I can stay organized.  I am kind of a neat freak, so being clean and organized is important to me personally, but it's also important to the look and feel of my store and I don't want my clients walking into a disaster area, otherwise I would just work out of my house ;).

Just wanted to share the updated info with you guys, I hope it helps someone.  Just remember, it's really not as scary as it looks when you first start reading about licensing.  One form at a time, one license at a time, and before you know it you are already done and starting your dream. 

Keep at it, don't give up.  Focus, relax, and just take one step at a time.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, there's a lot more to learn than I thought...

 Constantly reading web articles and talking to anyone I can trap for a couple minutes has brought me to this one conclusion:  I didn't quite have as good of a handle as I thought.
 It's OK, though, I just need to regroup and hit it again.

Still researching who I need to talk to about business licensing and insurance...pretty much anything I need to know about being able to legally get an office in town.  I have decided that is probably my best option, since I don't live directly in town and an office would definitely look and feel more professional to the clients in my opinion.  I tried looking at it like a customer and figured that I would be way more comfortable bringing my computer to a store or office than to some guy's trailer house a little ways out of town.  I have discovered that my next big step is to write a business plan, so more info on that as I work on it and I will include any nice tips or helpful tools I come across.  I hope I can save someone the headache of trying to figure this out on the Web, because legal stuff in general gets pretty vague online without using a live chat site and paying $50.

Latest Projects:

Some interesting new projects have come my way, including a couple of rather abused Dell Dimensions that won't start (no official diagnosis yet, pretty sure one is just a bad hard drive but I currently need to get a good one to test, the other has yet to boot and I have to find the diagnostic codes for it), and an iPhone 4 that would not charge.

The iPhone I got running after I replaced the dock port following the guide in ifixit.com (See the manual here), which was a tedious process but I gotta say I was all sorts of excited when the thing turned on.  Be VERY CAREFUL with where you keep parts and how you keep them organized.  I used ifixit.com's Project Mat (check it out here!), and it served me very well, but whatever you do find somewhere to keep those tiny screws organized.

I pulled the pics off using XP's Scanner and Camera Wizard (yes, I still run XP, and yes, I am one of THOSE people.  7 is great and all, but there's just something about XP that I can't get away from), and restored the phone.  Unfortunately, restoring the phone updated it to the newest build (6.1.3 at this time), which means I have to do some more playing to get the phone either downgraded to 6.1.2 so it can be jailbroken or suffer with the semi-tethered jailbreak for 6.1.3.  Since it is going for sale anyway, I would rather make it convenient and semi-tethered phones are not so very much.

I also cleaned out an older computer for a friend's kids, you know the computer with 15 users on it that all have a million flash games installed...one of those.  They told me it was running too slow (go figure) and that they wanted me to speed it up.  So got it home and ran some of my favorite cleaning tools and virus scanners and rifled through their start up options for a while and it will be on it's way soon.


In the future I will give more detailed walkthroughs on some of these projects, and better reviews on some of my favorite products and gadgets, but I am trying not to rush things too fast.  Baby steps, this is my first blog, remember?

Thanks for checking in, and we just gotta keep on going.  I would rather be doing this than anything else!

Getting the Ball Rolling

Starting Up with Low-Cost Advertising

I started advertising for my computer business today, just running around town and putting up some flyers.  At the moment, I am only operating under my name (as I do not have licensing yet, I can't advertise as a business name until I do). 

So I typed up some flyers, pretty simple ones on Word, and stuck them up all over my hometown.

Locations

I started out by hitting the local assisted living apartments, since I am offering a 10% senior discount I figured that would be a good place to start.  I made sure to focus on my ability to come to them, as I would guess that seniors would not want to deal with the hassle of unplugging and dragging their computers out to their cars to get to me.  I was also tossing around the idea of setting up in the community rooms and having a day or so where people can come and talk to me, and since I am there anyway I can do some quick, cheap computer work to start to build a little rapport.

Next I hit bars and restaurants in the area, making sure I hit a lot of different establishments so that I can be sure to get maximum exposure.  I wrapped up by posting on the bulletin boards of the couple of gas stations in town.

Formatting

Just a couple notes on formatting, or at least what I know (which honestly isn't a whole lot at this point, but I will be learning as I go).

1. Leave a bit of extra space in the margins.  On bulletin boards, it can be very overwhelming to deal with the sheer amount of text on the pages, and leaving nice wide margins makes my text stick out.
2. Pictures are important.  I have to say that while I was posting my own flyers I was looking at the other advertisements near mine, and one thing I noticed is that I was drawn much more to those that had any kind of picture, even if it was just clip-art.
3. It seemed to me that printing your material was obvious, but a large portion of the advertisements I saw were hand-written with marker (or sometimes even pencil).  I have to say that, as a consumer myself, I would give a lot more credibility to ads that were printed than those that were written.

Placement

The most important aspect of placement that I saw was to place ads at eye-level.  People are a lot more likely to notice ads that are right in front of them than those they have to look for.

In a few instances, eye-level placement was not possible.  I decided that the next best idea would be to place ads that stick out from the others, for example have my ad hanging out off of the side or the bottom of the bulletin board further than others.  I thought that this might catch people's eye, since it is not just mashed in with all of the other text.


This information will become more refined as I continue to educate myself on marketing techniques.  I did try very hard to make sure that I talked to clerks or managers at the establishment, both to make sure that I had the proper permission to post on their boards and to make sure that I mentioned my computer service business to as many people as I could.  This method got a lot of people to tell me that they or someone they knew was ALWAYS looking for someone to fix their computer, and gave me an opportunity to give a bit of a sales pitch.  This got a lot of people to tell me that they would send people my way if they got the opportunity, and I am not sure if they would have taken the time to even notice the post without that face-to-face connection that I made.

At this stage in the game, it's all about rapport.  My hometown has around 500 people in it, and getting a few people to start talking about me and my business can have HUGE effects on my clientele.

Going forward, I need to start getting the legalities taken care of so that I can start to work on my website, my facebook page, and I can start marketing using my business name and logo.  I am going to try to find a lawyer in my area who might be willing to consult with me for a low price, as I need to keep overhead low and can't afford to have some big-name lawyer charging me for every little question.

I will try to post more information as I get it.  I know the next little while will be a blur of legal terms and tax information that I am not used to dealing with, so as I make sense out of it I will try to keep you guys informed.

Thanks for your support, and stick with it!  It's a lot of info to sort through, but the satisfaction I am already feeling is well worth the worry and effort.