Frequently Asked Questions
  • What is better PC or Mac?
We like to use both; they are extremely similar. If your focus is on music production or video editing, Apple OS X includes some software that is great for that. Windows runs Office and Outlook a little better than Apple does so if your focus is on office productivity Windows may be a little better for you. It’s important to compare quality business laptops and desktops from manufacturers like Lenovo and Dell when deciding between PC and Mac. Some of the lower end Windows computers definitely have inferior hardware builds compared to Apple computers.  High-end business grade Windows computers are just as reliable hardware wise as the Apple computers. Apple computers are less prone to viruses and spyware than Windows, so if that has been an issue for you in the past it could be a good reason to switch to Apple.

  • What’s the best way to back up my computer?
We recommend buying a 2 TB external hard drive from Western Digital, this connects to your computer with a USB cable. If you’re in Windows you can set up automated backups from the control panel, we like to schedule them to run once a week to back up the entire computer. If you’re on a Mac, you can set up Time Machine to run continuous backups of the entire computer. We recommend for every computer user to have a backup, unfortunately internal hard drives fail all the time and if you don’t have a backup you could lose all your data, documents and pictures.

    •    What’s the best Internet browser?
We like Google Chrome whether you are on PC or Mac, it’s fast reliable and secure. Mozilla Firefox is also a nice browser.

  • Is my Internet connection fast enough?
We recommend a minimum speed of 20 megabits per second download, that’s what we consider to be a decent connection especially if you want to stream any music or movies. A great connection these days is closer to 60 or even 80 megabits per second. You can test your Internet speed by going to www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ 

  • How did I get this virus on my computer?
It can be very hard to know where a virus came from after the fact, we believe most viruses these days are coming from malicious websites. We also still see a lot of email attachments that contain viruses. We recommend never to open email from people you don’t know. Also try to stick to all the major well-known websites when surfing the Internet. We also recommend to run up to date antivirus like Avast, and up-to-date malware protection like Malwarebytes. Both of these are free for home users, and can be downloaded from the downloads page.

  • I have decided to get a new computer, what are the minimum specs you recommend?
For everyday home or office use we recommend an Intel I5 processor, eight gigs of RAM and 256 GB solid-state hard drive. You may be able to get by with less power, but we have found that little bit extra will really pay off in the long run and allow you to use your computer for several years after the purchase. If you do music or video editing, design in AutoCAD, or just want a really fast computer we recommend a I7 processor, 16 gigs of RAM, and a 500 GB solid-state hard drive with a video card from Nvidia.

If you have any questions about any of this, or would like help getting stuff set up, just give us a call. We’re here to help!