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Q: I see many more computers and other electronics are “refurbished” than ever before, some being offered at deep discounts while others are almost priced at the new price. What are your thoughts on refurbished electronics? I would assume refurbished could be as little as a good cleaning or as extensive as replacing several boards. […]

Q: I have a Dell Inspiron laptop running Windows 10 Home, version 1803. Our ISP is Cox.com. We have MS Office 2016 installed on the PC and use Outlook for our e-mail. Up until about a month ago my wife and I were not having any problems with Outlook. Then we started getting a message […]

Q: My computer keeps shutting down and must restart several times a day. The shutting down and restarting takes forever. It is Windows 7 using Firefox. I know it is almost done but so am I. Help! – Joan H.Port Saint Lucie, Florida A: I suppose that I will spare you the lecture on the […]

Q: I have a Dell desktop running Windows 10. I leave it running and just hit the sleep button when I’m not using it. It always seems to be up to date, i.e. the various software updates are downloaded and installed and the process is transparent to me. When I check Updates and Security in […]

Q: Some websites ask if I agree to “allow cookies”. What is good/bad about allowing this. – Spouse PeripheralNiceville, Florida A: In order to understand the answer, I think it’s important for everyone to understand the question. Specifically, exactly what cookies are, and what they do in the context of web browsing. Browser cookies were […]

Q: I read your column every week however many times it is over my head. Anyway, my present desktop computer is just like me, old and slow. I am going to purchase a new desktop soon, with a solid-state hard drive and other normal upgrades. What is the best way to transfer all my data […]

Q: One of my coworkers had their car broken into. The Sheriff’s Office was called and when a deputy arrived he warned them against using Apple Pay because his office has received a lot of complaints from people who have had their accounts hacked and money stolen. I was really surprised by that because Apple […]

Q: Dear The Geek:  Unfortunately, I have Windows 10 and my software was converted to the “service,” Office 365. There are two problems: I can no longer directly open Outlook. 1.1 A notification states, “Outlook is closing,” in spite of Outlook notifications being set to “off.” Therefore, I have to open the task manager, search […]

Q: I read your column every week and love it. You said recently you will address things outside of PC issues. I have one for TV’s connected to the internet. We have two TV’s (Element E2SW5018 and Vizio E400i-B2) and two wi-fi networks, thru WOW and Centurylink. Both are reliable. WOW is weaker strength cause […]

Q: I recently received a message from Microsoft saying that as of Jan. 14, 2020, they will no longer support Windows 7, the operating system on my laptop. (Yes, it’s that old.) I opted not to update to Windows 10 when it was offered free because of all the bad reports. It goes on to […]