I was recently asked to come up list of requirements for a home computer support service and what to look for when hiring in a Geek to help you with your computer at home.
As with any person or company you hire to come into your home you have to be a bit careful, so I’ve made a list of requirements:

Trustworthyness would be my main priority, when you have a computer repaired you need to know that person is honest because all your documents, pictures and website logins details are stored on your computer.

Reliable – They show up at the time you’ve agreed.

Encouraging – Good to have a person that will encourage you to learn new things and introduce you to new software, whether it is for managing your pictures, or backing up your computer. There are many ways your computing experience can be improved by making small changes.

Knowledgable – A good knowledge of computer security and best practise, so they can offer advice on the best way to setup your network and stay safe online. A good working knowledge of what setups and systems work well together saves a lot of time.

Impartial Advice – Looking what’s best for you and not how the most profit can be made, sometimes replacement is more economically viable than repair, recommending the best antivirus product instead of the most profitable.

I would also look at their website and see if there are recent testimonials from people in your area.

I can empathise for  a completely non technical person looking to get help with their home computer, it is really difficult to assess the skill level of the technician, but you can asses the company by making a few basic checks.

Here are two really useful utilities for dealing with Adobe PDF files.

Convert PDF To Word

The first piece of software will convert an existing pdf (.pdf) document into a fully editable microsoft word document (.doc)

This is called PDF to Word Converter (strangely enough) and it’s made by a company called AnyBizSoft

This software  is free you just have to register (they don’t spam you, I use this software) register here:

PDF To Word Converter

The software once installed and you get the free registration code

Looks like this:

Just drag and drop your pdf file onto the window or click add and browse.

It will output the word docs in a folder specified at the bottom.

Once ready hit the large ‘Convert’ button, the word docs will be in the folder ready to go.

Create a PDF from a Word Doc

The second piece of software is called Bullzip PDF Printer (terrible name, but works well)

Here’s the download link, there’s no registration it’s Donationware (if you like it donate)

Bullzip PDF Printer

This software comes as a .zip file so you’ll have to open it (windows will open .zip files, winzip not required)

Then run the installer.

What is does is add a printer to your PC, called Bullzip PDF Printer.

So all you do now is open a word doc and press print, select the Bullzip PDF Printer and press OK

Next you’ll get a box giving you save options , here you can choose where to save it and other options.

Hope these pieces of software help.

The information above is provided free of charge and free of warranty as I don’t provide the software.

DialaGeek Computer Support Bristol

Here’s what it looked like,

It’s much like the windows Scareware, it’ll ask you for money to remove non existent viruses

What to look out for is a popup much like this one, you’ll be surfing the web and this will popup full screen

and look like a normal finder window with links on the left hand side

If you do get such a message pop up on your Mac , don’t panic, don’t press OK.

Take your cursor straight up to the Apple icon on the top left and select Force Quit – Your browser, Safari Chrome Firefox whatever your using.

In doing this you’ll have not inadvertently installed anything by clicking a close box that a link or something along those lines.

Another good precaution to take if you’re a Safari user is to go into the preferences and disable ‘Open Safe files after downloading’

A good idea also is to get some Mac Antivirus (pains me to say it)

Sophos do a free one for Apple Mac which seems quite light on resources, it also detects windows viruses (windows viruses do not effect macs) which is handy.

Sophos Mac Antivirus

Unfortunately viruses on Mac are set to increase so we need to be bit more careful as Mac users these days.

DialaGeek Apple Mac Support Bristol

We discussed various topics, including the subjects covered on the blog here, this is a slightly cut down version (due to You Tube and it’s 15 Minute Limit).

Many thanks to Steve for inviting me in and making the the interview go well, I never realised what a skillful job interviewing is.

The topics covered are:

Password security

How to securely store your passwords

Dangers of open WiFi

What is backup?

How to setup a free safe surfing system

There is a great piece of software you can use that will securely remember all you passwords for your, allowing you to use longer passwords and different passwords on different sites.

The software is the aptly named LastPass

This small piece of software works in Windows and Apple Mac it also works on your iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android or Windows smartphone and keep them all synced up with each other.

I’ve been using this for around a year now and it it is very good, it means you can have long secure passwords, without having to remember them.

From a security standpoint is is secure, as long as you use a long master password, see here for a guide to making long secure passwords it is secure.

Another tip if you using it on a laptop, make sure you close Internet Explorer/Firefox/Chrome when you’ve finished using it and tick this checkbox below in the Lastpass preferences

If you interested (which you should be really) here’s what Lastpass has to say on security, this has also been verified by a well know security researcher.

1. All encryption and decryption happens on your computer.