Computer Support Blog

RESCUECOM has tallied up all the computer repair calls it received, including tablets, for the 2015 Q1 Computer Repair Report, showing a surprising leap in certain problem areas.

The Computer Repair Report is created by tallying the data from all calls RESCUECOM receives at its 1-800-RESCUE-PC call center to form a list of the most common computer and tablet problems. RESCUECOM ranks the top ten computer repair problems in order from most frequent to least and explains them by category, creating a useful tool to inform users about the threats their tech devices face.

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Recently, RESCUECOM has received numerous requests from various news outlets to bring back a report on the most common computer problems. In response, RESCUECOM is now introducing a new and improved version of our previous report on the top computer problems. These new quarterly RESCUECOM Computer Repair Reports will cover the top ten problems for which we receive computer repair calls, along with useful tips to avoid the need for future computer repair services. Read more »

Buying a modem is rarely something that most people ever consider since their Internet service provider purports to include the rental of a modem they provide as part of the cost of their service.  The modem rental fee is one of the charges included as part of the overall price, typically in the monthly bill most subscribers receive.  The fees charged in a monthly bill include any installation of hardware and service fees for on-site visits by a technician.  There are also charges for returned checks, late payments, or reactivation after you have had service shut off for a late payment or any other reason.  This already costly bill is about to significantly change for customers of the nation’s largest Internet service providers, as both Time Warner Cable and Comcast have raised modem rental fees by 25-33%. Read more »

People talk about the sweeping changes the Internet has made to global culture very often.  Most people cite the way the Internet has changed media sales, retail, and the consumption of news.  However, one less obvious, but very real, cultural shift that the Internet has contributed to is the growth of the DIY (“do-it-yourself”) movement in society.  The Internet’s ability to spread information virally has led to the creation of thousands of how-to videos, detailed blogs and tutorials about home improvement projects. The web has even seen the rise a subculture centered on “life hacks”, which are micro-sized DIY concepts people design to make life more convenient.  DiggersList is another cool product on the Internet that feeds into this growing cultural emphasis on DIY projects.  DiggersList is an online classifieds page for home improvement enthusiasts who would rather recycle and reuse old materials than buy expensive new pieces of furniture. Anyone can use the DiggersList site once he or she creates an account and those who have trouble making an account can seek online tech support assistance to determine the problem.   Read more »

People’s definition of television is changing rapidly.  New realities of the web and streaming video have revolutionized how people consume video as entertainment.  Users seek more and more content from online sources such as Netflix and Hulu Plus rather than from their cable providers.  Many people have even cut the cord from cable companies completely, getting all their video content through the Internet.  This shift towards online streaming as a new standard for video entertainment opens to door to a slew of new possibilities and innovative business models for video content production.  Cool product Mobcaster is pushing one such new model.  This startup combines the concept of watching television online with the populist ideals behind crowdsourcing.  In crowdsourcing, the audience funds the projects they want to see completed.  Likewise, Mobcaster only airs the exclusive content that their viewers fund.  Audience members who experience buffering issues and hiccups on Mobcaster videos can fix their problems with help from a network support service. Read more »

Even when someone is generally a charitable person, life can be chaotic and prevent that person from donating to charitable causes very often.  Some charities offer donation plans where people pay on a monthly basis in the style of something like a computer tech support subscription.  However, these subscription plans are hard to market without a product and can flounder when trying to gain traction.  Cool person in technology John Ludlow presents a unique solution to this problem with his startup Snoball.  Snoball allows people to donate automatically on a regular basis, but uses a unique hook to draw more people to its program.  With Ludlow’s company, donations to charitable organizations trigger when a particular event that a donor chooses happens.  For example, a nonprofit could use Snoball to create a system where every a certain basketball team wins a game, people donate ten dollars to a special cause or foundation.  Read more »

Everybody loves a good, riveting speech that inspires people and brings them to action.  Many Internet users often spend significant amounts of time sifting through other content on streaming video websites and even famous quote databases to find inspiring speeches.  However, there is a cool product on the web now that can help people avoid wasting time and effort searching through the Internet for speeches.  Sweetspeeches is a website that catalogs speeches and makes them easily searchable and available to the public.  SweetSpeeches doesn’t stick to a single category of speeches—such as sports or politics—instead it compiles different speeches from all possible sources.  The site then categorizes each one for easier search functionality on the site.  Users can browse through categories such as athletics, movies, politics, scholars, inventors, musicians, and others to find speeches for every occasion, whether someone wants a new perspective on computer repair technology or a rousing speech about combatting injustice.  SweetSpeeches is trying to make it easy for people to find the right words to motivate themselves in any situation with the help of the Internet and modern technology. Read more »

The job market has not exactly been thriving over the last several years, and this has led to major difficulty for many recent college graduates.  Jobs are not only harder to come by in general, but the ones that are available are often hard to find as well.

Gradseek is a cool product that wants to help both new members of the job market and businesses with open entry-level positions handle this tough situation.  With fewer jobs to go around, many companies require more experience even for lower positions when a job opens.  This shift has left many recent grads stuck and unable to apply for positions that would normally be a good fit for people.  Gradseek believes that companies might be better off using recent graduates as a resource that they can tap for talented individuals that can benefit a company regardless of experience.  Gradseek lets students put themselves out there with complete and robust profiles for potential employers to sift through when they’re looking for employees.  Gradseek believes that if they present businesses with complete profiles of recent graduates, companies will be able to find the best people for open positions within the ranks of those graduates.  The company believes this trend will hold true in all industries, from fashion marketing to office computer repair. Read more »

It’s a common phrase uttered to college students: “You should really go abroad.”  It’s true that studying abroad while someone’s in school can open a person up to new experiences and give them insight they otherwise would not have had.  However, not all study abroad programs are equal.  Many students unfortunately go on the recommendation of others but choose a less-than-excellent program.  Cool person in technology Mitch Gordon has created a website called Go Overseas that looks to prevent students from choosing the wrong study abroad program for them.  Gordon’s website is a directory for thousands of different study abroad programs that are available to students.  People can look at abroad programs available for travel all over the world on Go Overseas.  Users can also leave reviews and give third-party advice about specific programs to help anyone who’s searching through study abroad ideas.  The resources that Gordon offers through his website are potentially far more useful to interested students than the usual advertising brochures that different programs distribute.  If someone is looking for honest opinions and the complete picture about different study abroad programs, Gordon’s website provides a comprehensive look at a person’s options.  If a student has problems accessing different areas of Gordon’s website, they should seek help from a computer tech support provider. Read more »

Online discussions, chat rooms, and forums can be frustrating to see sometimes.  Due the anonymity of the Internet, these discussions often break out into arguments, name-calling, and a place of offensive anonymous statements. However, Clivir is a cool product that aims to create a more productive forum of online discussion.  Clivir is website that hosts many online discussion boards, but this cool product organizes its discussion sections into “classrooms”.  Clivir is a community dedicated to learning above all else.  Clivir’s organizes its “classrooms” by subject and category.  There are sections on the website for art, entertainment, business, computer technology, writing, disease, food, current events and more.  Each of these sections has several of Clivir’s “classrooms” inside it, where Clivir users post structured information meant to inform and educate.  Unlike typical discussion forums, which tend to be a free for all with some limited moderation, Clivir classrooms require users to post complete “classes”.  Each class must have citations and sources for the material it teaches.  Clivir moderates each classroom to ensure that classes live up to the website’s standards.  If a user has trouble accessing classrooms on Clivir, that person should get in touch with a remote computer support service and acquire help.  Read more »