Data Doctors Tech Tips

Despite all of the advances in technology, there are times when you are simply trying to get to a website and nothing is coming up. It's not uncommon to assume that there is something wrong with your computer, your Internet connection or your wifi, but that's not always where the problem exists. Websites big and small are at the mercy of a lot of other connections, so it's entirely possible that even the biggest names on the web can have an outage. The next time this happens to you, don't start by assuming it's something on your end until you do a quick check to see if the website is actually up and running right now. A simple to use tool at https://www.isitdownrightnow.com makes it quick and easy to check the status of any website on the Internet. You need only to type the website you want to have them test and in seconds, you'll get back lots of information of the current status of the site. It's one of those websites that you won't need on a regular basis, but having this site in your favorites will potentially keep you from chasing the wrong end of the problem!

There's one thing that the modern age has taught us to never leave home without... our smartphones. With that as the default, this electronic appendage is the perfect way to keep things organized in our lives. Google recognized this when they developed a note-taking app they call Keep, which works with both Android and iPhone smartphones and syncs with your computer. The idea was to create an easy way to capture ideas, thoughts and reminders on your smartphone that could be easily brought up on all the devices you use every day. You can use text, voice and images to create notes that mean something to you and can help you accomplish your tasks in a more natural way. One of the really cool features is the ability to take any note and turn it into a checklist through the addition of checkboxes. This can be very useful when you get a text message from your significant other asking you to swing by the grocery store to pick up a bunch of items. Try it for yourself at: https://keep.google.com

We've all heard the guidance of make every day count and today's tip is designed to help you stay focused on doing just that! An app developer was experimenting and decided to chronicle his life for a year by capturing just a single moment from each day and joining them all together. As a result, he was able to easily re-live lots of special moments from that year because all it took was a brief video to remind him of them. The app he created that allows us all to do the same thing is called One Second Every Day. Think about all those amazing memories that get conjured up when you see a photo from the past. Using quick video snippets of something you did each day will take your memories to new heights. This free app for both Android and iPhone users could change the way you record your own life's memories, so check it out for yourself at: https://1secondeveryday.com

One feature of our smartphones that continues to get better is the quality of the images that they can capture. Even the cheapest smartphone camera today dramatically outperforms the top of the line point and shoot digital camera from a decade ago. One side effect of these glorious images that we can snap on our phones is that all those extra pixels that are captured increases the size of each image. These super high-resolution images can be problematic when you need to email a large number of them or be too much for uploading to a website. Another common issue is getting an image to the exact size that's required for our various social media profiles and pages. Lots of sophisticated software programs have the ability to make the changes, but for those without any tools, there's the http://webresizer.com tool. It's a fully functioning tool to resize, reshape and retouch your images without the hassle and expense of installing a special program. It's one of those obvious bookmark sites for those occasional times you need to manipulate your images!

I've often referred to the computer kitchen as an analogy to how things work and in that scenario, your hard drive is the equivalent of a refrigerator as it pertains to storage: no matter what the size, you can easily fill it up. The downside to running a computer that is running out of storage space is that it can negatively affect the performance of everything. Your computer makes temporary use of lots of empty hard drive space, so keeping it cleared of unneeded items is a good thing to do. Most tech challenged users aren't really sure what they can get rid of, which is the focus of today's tip Windows users can try the Treesize utility jam-software.com/treesize_free while Mac users can use the built-in utility: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206996 The tree reference comes from associating folders to branches and individual files as leaves on that branch. Knowing which branches are using up the most space makes it much more efficient to free up lots of space quickly. Keep in mind that if you don't know what something is, you should never delete it and always start by backing everything up just in case you delete something you shouldn't have!

It's hard to imagine a world without the Internet, but it really wasn't part of our lives all that long ago. The early days of the Internet are pretty amusing and look pretty primitive compared to what we expect these days. What was considered state of the art back then is pretty laughable now. If you'd like to see what the online world looked like in the early days, there's a website for that and it's at https://archive.org This project has been attempting to archive little bits of the Internet since 1996. While it would have been great to see every page for every site with every update since then, it's not that comprehensive. Take a look at the website for the company you work for or check out what the Data Doctors were looking like back in the say at: https://archive.org/web

Unless you've gone to school to become an economist or stockbroker, your grasp of complicated financial terms is probably pretty limited. A great way to dip your toe into the complex world of investing is through a website that we love called https://www.investopedia.com What started out as a simple encyclopedia of investment terms has grown into a full-blown online resource full of great information. From a simple dictionary of common terms to education on investment and trading fundamentals, this site can take you from clueless to clued in! One great way to test your new-found knowledge without risking any capital is through their investment simulator. It's never too early or too late to learn about important investment principals and options, so everyone can learn valuable life lessons by spending time at: https://www.investopedia.com

Your smartphone is probably loaded with apps that you never use, but we have a suggestion for one that we think you will use on a regular basis. It's an app to help you decipher the stars in the night sky without having to be an astronomy nerd. The Star Chart app for the iPhone offers the cool augmented reality feature that shows you an overlay of the constellations when you hold your phone up to the sky.and#8232;and#8232;The basic features are free with in-app purchase options for additional features. The Sky Map app for Android users is a free open source project that provides similar features to the Star Chart iPhone app. You'll find yourself under the stars on many occasions in the future, not to mention all of the stellar events that get announced regularly on social media, so having this app in your smartphone will pay dividends! Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroidandhl=en_US iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-chart/id345542655?mt=8 and#160;

It's likely you've heard the old adage: hope for the best, but always prepare for the worst and nothing could be more appropriate when it comes to technology. Whether you are a home user or a business user, you should develop a disaster plan for the most common situations that could devastate your technology. The most likely situations that can wipe out your tech include malware, fire, flood and theft. If you are a business, disgruntled employees and sabotage need to also be added to the equation. If you think it through, regaining access to your critical data and getting things back to operational status can be a lot different for each of these scenarios. For businesses especially, you need to not only have a plan for securing your infrastructure, but just as important is the plan for getting back up to speed. Downtime can be hugely expensive and it's the least desirable time to be developing a game plan for getting things going, so take a few minutes every year to contemplate this very important situation.

Take a minute to think about how many different apps and tools you use on a regular basis to interact with all your friends, family and business contacts. For most of you, the list is probably a lot longer than you thought since many people have a preferred communication channel for connecting with you. This leads to the process of starting with the person, then working through the list of apps to figure out which one they prefer. If this is happening to you on a regular basis, check out the app designed to streamline communications called Drupe. This app will consolidate all your contacts and all of the most popular messaging tools onto a single screen. Instead of having to go to each individual app, simply drag the picture of your contact to the messaging app of choice in the Drupe app to launch a session. It's interface can be used for so many regular tasks, which is why we are spotlighting it again. The days of phone, fax and email as the only ways to communicate are relics of the past, so keep up with all of today' channels at: https://getdrupe.com