Refresh Computers Tech Talk
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Refresh Computers Tech Talk
06-14-26 Why Passwords Are Dying And What Replaces Them
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Passwords are turning into a liability, and not because you are “bad at security.” The rules changed. AI-driven guessing, phishing, and nonstop automated attacks are making the old “strong password” playbook harder to live with and easier to break. So we talk through the shift that Apple, Google, and Microsoft are already pushing hard: passkeys and passwordless authentication. We explain what a passkey actually is, why it is tied to your device, and why it helps protect you even when a website gets breached.
We also get honest about the transition pains. What happens if you lose your phone? What if you prefer a physical security key? Where do passkeys “live,” and why do they feel easier once you set them up? Along the way, we share practical guidance for saying yes to passkey prompts now, so you are not forced to learn it later in a rush.
Then we zoom out to the rest of your tech life. We walk through Refresh Plus, our service designed to feel like having an IT person at home, with remote support, background hardware diagnostics, and antivirus protection. After that, we shift into hurricane season tech prep: backing up your data before a storm, using surge protection and a UPS battery backup correctly, keeping phones charged, using the right alert and weather apps, and staying sharp for scams that surge after storms. We wrap with a quick, real-world phone storage fix, including why some apps and photo settings quietly eat massive space.
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Welcome And Today’s Game Plan
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, President and Founder of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have a comment during the show, go and use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website at Refresh Computers.net or stop it at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And now for David Levitt and Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_03All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to this Sunday morning edition of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. I'm David Levitt, the owner and founder of Refresh Computers, a 26 and a half year old company right here in Central Florida, serving thousands, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of customers and businesses all across Central Florida and happy to do so.
SPEAKER_02You need a McDonald's countdown. That's right.
SPEAKER_03Need the McDonald's countdown. How many served? Tillions and billions. Yeah. And today we're going to talk about why the password is a dying thing, and we're going to get into details about that. And then we're also going to talk about our Refresh Plus program that we have at Refresh Computers. We haven't mentioned that in a long time. Basically, it's a paid-for service that, well, you don't have to worry about your computer or laptop or right there for you. And it covers a lot of different things. And then we're going to be talking about hurricane season and what you need to do to be prepared for that, because that's here. That's an important one. That's a big one. There's all kinds of tech tips we have for you to get you ready for hurricane season. So you want to pay attention to that. And then we're going to get into a way to free up space on your phone in five minutes, right? Right. So we'll talk about that towards the end of the show today.
Passkeys And The End Of Passwords
SPEAKER_03But let's get into why the password is dying. So it's a change that's affecting every single person, everyone, with an email account. The password, right? So it's going away. So it's we've all been suffering with it for 60, 60 plus years, right? The password has been around for a long time.
SPEAKER_00I can't say I've suffered with it that long, but that's right.
SPEAKER_03I have almost that long.
SPEAKER_02And it's certainly evolved, right? It's gone from just kind of like here, just give us a keyword or something like that, to where you have to have 24 characters and all the different symbols known to man involved. That's right. In that combination. But again, like you said, it's kind of yeah, it's kind of complicated and it's kind of falling by the wayside now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it is finally on its way out. And for you know, and for good, for good reason. I mean, we'll get into all those details. So, and here's you know, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, right? Probably the three biggest players out there with passwords, people things that use passwords, right? They've all committed to replacing passwords with something called pass keys. We've talked in depth about pass keys in prior shows and why it's important to go ahead and you know get used to it because passwords are going away. Right. They are going away everywhere. They're not gone away, they haven't gone away everywhere yet, but they are going away. We're going to get into more details as to why. Google says that over 800 million accounts already use pass keys. So that's that's a lot. And it's and but it's still needs to be a lot more. Microsoft actually, they started making pass keys the default for new accounts. So when you set up a new Microsoft account now, you can't even use a password. You got to use a pass key. And and they're even removing passwords from its authenticator app. Microsoft has this app called Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator that people use to get into computers and the different sites and stuff. And you know, and so they're taking away the pass the passwords from that authenticator app. Right. Because that's actually part of the paths key process now.
SPEAKER_00And and you know, I know the authenticator app actually was a uh a major focus of security issues, actually. Because you know, I've had uh some some customers that actually, you know, one of their accounts get compromised, and you're able to view you know a little bit of a history of your account, specifically with Google. And you know, the first thing I've seen, people that hack into these accounts, what's the first thing that they go and look at?
SPEAKER_03Your passwords.
SPEAKER_00Passwords, your passwords and your authenticator.
SPEAKER_03So you've probably gotten a prompt lately, right? Everybody probably has by now, right? Set up a pass key. And so this is what it's all about. And it's actually really good news. So, but it's still a transition. Not every website supports pass keys yet. Right. And there are there are some growing pains too with it. There are some growing pains and some head scratching pains. But you know, that's what refreshed computers is there for. Exactly. If you've got a head scratching technical pain, you give us a call at 407-478-8200, and we'll help you with that. Happy to scratch. That's right. We'll scratch that that technical itch for you.
SPEAKER_00But if it's a dermatitis itch, we can't help you with that one.
SPEAKER_03Probably not. So, and it can be, you know, the setup can be a little confusing the first time. And again, that's what we're there for. And it's exactly the kind of thing we can just walk you through over the phone. But I mean, this I really mean this. The the direction is very clear. All the big players want passwords gone. Right. And and you know, and they're going away. Why is whether you want them to go away or if you don't want them to go away. Right. They are going away.
SPEAKER_00The biggest thing, the biggest biggest thing with passwords to me is you know, that question that I'm sure a lot of listeners right now have is why? Why are passwords going away? Why are they killing my passwords? Something I've known for so long. And the the the answer to that, you know, as far as I know of, is AI. Again, AI is something that a lot of people can use now to guess passwords.
SPEAKER_03It certainly has accelerated the extinction of passwords. Yes. The AI's ability to crack a password, right? To get in using somebody's password. Right. So and Microsoft, they say that roughly 7,000 password attacks happen every second. Every second. 7,000 attacks. And get back to your point, Adam. AI. That's AI at work. They can do things instantaneously, and they can do millions of things instantaneously. And that's the scale of the problem. I mean, that's one of the reasons why Microsoft is getting they well, they got rid of passwords already. I mean, you can still use your password with a Microsoft account, but that's going away. They're making you set up a pass key now. And you know, how many times have you got this notification that you try to sign in here, reset your password, you know, do all that stuff? Yeah. So you don't have to worry about that stuff with pass keys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, pass keys are, you know, they're gonna they they make it a lot more simpler now. And by simpler, I mean, you know, with our phones, for example. You know, you can use your phone actually to set up a lot of you know pass keys with accounts right now. So when you go to log into that account again, instead of having to remember to put in a password and then get emailed a code or texted a code, you know, however there that is going. Now it asks you for your face, maybe your fingerprint, or even just pin.
SPEAKER_03Right. And so a pass key lets you sign in the same way. You unlock your phone, basically. Right. Pretty much.
SPEAKER_00And the night the nice thing with these pass keys is you know, say with your passwords you keep them all in a Word document, and someone steals that. Well, now they can go onto any computer in the world, onto whatever websites you use, put in your passwords and log in just like that.
SPEAKER_03Just like that.
SPEAKER_00With pass keys, it's it's way more secure because it's tied to your device. That's right. You know, say your phone, for example. So if somebody were to steal your phone, they don't know the password to your phone, they don't know the pin to your phone. Well, they can't get in and get into your logins.
SPEAKER_03So the bottom line is, you know, let's all get used to using pass keys. Right. And even if you're not required to use a pass key, if you get prompted, do you want to use a pass key? Say yes. This is my advice to you. Go out, go ahead and just do that. Because once you're on pass keys for everything, you have no passwords to ever remember ever again. Passwords are a thing of the past once you use pass keys.
SPEAKER_00And it'll, you know, really, I want to say doing it if you log into an account and it pops up and you you just you you bite the bullet and you do it, it's gonna save you headaches down the road too when they finally force you to do it.
SPEAKER_03Because it's coming. It is if it's if it hasn't forced you to do so already, it's coming. Yeah. And so you so so start getting used to it, and it's just the way it is, and it's much, much, much more secure than passwords. And so so, what is a pass key anyway? What what does it do? Where does it live? So it's only on your device, and it never gets sent to the website. No, so whatever website you're visiting, wherever you're logging into, Microsoft, Google, Apple, whatever, it's not sending any data to them to unlock. It's not sending the data to that website to unlock it. Yeah, it's unlocking it from your device.
SPEAKER_00And that saves you from, you know, something we talked about in a previous show about your accounts, your passwords being breached. You know, that's right. Websites have data breaches, and a lot of websites I've actually used, a lot of big name ones, surprisingly, will save your password, you know, in their systems in plain text. So if somebody gets into their systems, they can breach that password easily. Oh, that's that's why it was always preached. Never use the same password because it can happen.
SPEAKER_03It can happen. And when going back to when I said Microsoft says that they're seeing roughly 7,000 password attacks every second, they're seeing it at the Microsoft website. That's what's happening at the Microsoft website. It's their own data, not the world. Right. So if you're it's so if you have a password, it's not stored on your phone. Well, you can store it on your phone or on your computer, but it's stored at that website also. So with the pass key, there is nothing at that website stored. Exactly. And so that's why it makes it so much safer. Right.
SPEAKER_02This is a one-time handshake. One timely. This is this is the correct information. Yes, this is the correct information, and that's it. Yeah, and then it'll ask it again the next time it tries to sign in. And I guess a lot of people they had a lot of issues when they tried to change over to the chip payments on your credit card. Remember when those changed over? Very, very similar. It's a one-time, not the same code the next time when it goes to try and reiterate. Yeah, right. It changes every time. That's the key here. Your password doesn't change every time until somebody tells you to change it, right? Exactly. This changes every single time to keep that information protected.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And there's there's so many different types of like pass keys that you can have.
Physical Keys And Recovery Fears
SPEAKER_00It's not just your phone or your computer. There are physical pass keys that you can buy, plug into a computer, and use it everywhere. I have one on my keychain. And, you know, I started off this segment talking about some growing pains. And, you know, for me, I put all of my all of my eggs in one basket with a physical pass key.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00That way, if I lose a if I lose a computer, if I lose something else, I always have it on my key ring. But I can tell you, trying to get it to tap and work on my phone is the bane of my existence. And if anybody's ever seen me at the store rubbing my keys on the back of my phone, I'm trying to get logged into Google. That's it. I'm just trying to log in. What a weird way to pray, Adam. It is, I know. But it's just, you know, there's little, little honest caveats I have to put out there because, you know, just like all technology, it's not a hundred percent, it's not gonna be just you switch over to it and and that's it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But this is the way technology is going, and I will personally say it is the safest way to go.
SPEAKER_03It is. And what do I always say about technology? It's always finding a way to replace itself. Exactly. It just does. And so it's about time with passwords. So, you know, we you you don't need a password anymore. I mean, it's simple as that. I mean, you still do on some sites, but they're going away too. Every place now is going to be requiring a pass key. Right. So, but you know, you can it could be a four-digit code, right, that you just type in on your computer. Could be your face ID on a phone, right? That could be that. And you know, and you can set it up on more than one device too. It can't be, you know, it doesn't have to be just one device, it could be all your devices that you can set up your pass key on, and it'll work with every one of them.
SPEAKER_00And that comes all down to you know, personal preference where you want to put what baskets you want to put your eggs into. You know, myself, I chose to do it all in one, but that's just because I can trust myself to never lose my house keys. You know, right? That's something that I know with myself I'll never lose it, so I'll never have to worry about you know my information being out there. Plus, the the little key fob I have also has a fingerprint reader in it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, that's another added layer of protection in case I do drop my keys somewhere.
SPEAKER_03And and that's certainly a way people can go is the physical pass key like you're using. But it's not something I would use personally. I know you like it, Adam, but I because I'm I'm afraid I'm gonna lose that that fob.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Then you had to go through the trouble of recovering all of those accounts and you know, recovering accounts with, you know, resetting your password was easy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Recovering an account with a pass key, I've never had to do it. I've never had to, but I know it's a little bit more of a process. And that's why actually, uh, you know, the the biggest question I guess I could put out there is what if I lose my phone? What if I lose my computer that has all my pass keys on it? The nice thing is those pass keys actually sync through your Apple, your Google, and your Microsoft account. So you do have a way to get those back without jumping through a thousand flaming hoops. And and I'll tell you what, it feels like a thousand flaming hoops trying to recover some accounts.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know what? And then think of it, think about pass keys this way, right? It is the most secure option. Period. Period. How many times does the most secure option is actually the easiest way to go? How many times have you seen that in the history of technology? Hardly ever. Yeah, but now it is. So as far as security is concerned, the easiest way to go is using pass keys. If you need help setting up a pass key, come by the Refresh Computer Superstore. We're three and a half miles east of I-4 on State Road 434, or give us a call at the free tech support hotline 407-478-8200. And folks, when we get back after this break, we're going to be talking about a program at Refresh Computers you can also chat with us about called Refresh Plus, basically being your own personal tech.
SPEAKER_02You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Or if you have a comment during the show, we'd love to hear it. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And now back to David and Adam.
SPEAKER_03All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. If you missed our first segment, we talked about the death of the password, and it's about time. It's a 60-year-old technology, passwords being able to get you access into what you're trying to get into. And it's about time for a new technology to come along, and that's pass keys. They've been around for a few years now. And why we talked about why it's very important to go ahead and just make that transition because I'm telling you folks, passwords are they're already dying and they're going to be completely gone very soon. It's not going to take very long. So when you get prompted, do you want to set up a pass key? Go ahead and say yes. Go through that little bit of pain. It's not really that painful at all. And it's it's going to instantaneously make your computer and the site you're visiting more secure. Right. Practically impossible to get into. So it's a it's a very nice transition. So but you know, pass keys are great, but that's just they're just one piece. One piece of the puzzle. That's right. So your computer itself also needs to be protected, also. Yeah. And at Refresh Computers, we have a wonderful program.
Refresh Plus Remote Support Explained
SPEAKER_03We call it Refresh Plus. And Adam, I'm going to let you talk about Refresh Plus since you deal with it with it with every day with folks that come in to Refresh Computers.
SPEAKER_00It's Refresh Plus, it's honestly one of my favorite services that we offer. You know, I have a bunch of customers come in that all a lot of times they just have some simple tech questions that, you know, we stand in front of their computer with, answer, and just go through it with them. And they I always have always had the comment made, I wish I had an IT guy at home like you. And that's all that's pretty much what Refresh Plus is. That's what it is. It's it's a service. We're your IT guy. Yeah, it's a service that lets you call on us to remote into your computer. We offer, I believe, three free remote sessions per year. We can remote in, take control of it, diagnose whatever you've got going on. It uh it gives us some hardware diagnostics too in the background. So we get reports on if there's an imminent hardware failure, say maybe your hard drive starting to throw some errors, we get notifications of the code. We get instant notification of that. It it comes with uh malware bites as well for your anti, or not malware bites, sorry, bit defender.
SPEAKER_03Bit defender.
SPEAKER_00Pet defender antivirus. And you know, that's something that is just in the background working. If it blocks something, we get a notification of it. We get a full rundown of what it was, where it came from. You know, if it's something that you need to be aware of, we reach out to you and we tell you, hey, whatever site you just tried to download something from, that's not that's not a good site you're visiting. That file you're downloading is gonna is gonna just destroy everything. And that's my biggest thing with Refresh Plus is it's I believe the the price on it is 90 per year.
SPEAKER_03It's $90 per year. And folks, that let me just make an announcement. The price is going up. It's been $90 a year for many years now. And you know, things change and and things get more expensive, even for refresh refresh computers are on our backside. We've just I've been holding tight, holding tight, not going up on that price. But 90 bucks a year is a ridiculous price to get that kind of tech support for a whole year, right? And is it's just an awesome thing. So, you know, if you don't have refresh plus yet, many of our customers do for 90 bucks, go ahead, see what you can do to get that set up as soon as possible. Right. Because the price will be increasing here in the very near future.
SPEAKER_00And the thing with Refresh Plus too is again, it's not just your antivirus, you know. You some people we have on sub that are on subscriptions of like uh Norton or McAfee, and those subscriptions, you know, they're more than what Refresh Plus is for a year. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03And that's the one of the benefits of it. I mean, I mean there's so many benefits of you know, you have the the what do you the online support, right? The remote session, the remote support, remote sessions. Like, well, you get three of those. I mean, that more than pays for it right there if you ever need that.
SPEAKER_00You can't you can't call on these big antivirus companies saying, hey, I need some tech support. They say, Well, we don't provide that that type of service. We provide antivirus, and you know, something again that I've I've noticed is you know, a lot of people have to have their computers protected. Right. Refresh Plus is one of, I would say, the best things to do because it's not only your software it's defending, it's the physical part of your computer. And, you know, that software part of it, that antivirus, we have a lot of people that come in thinking they are protected by a subscription they started and it's expired three years ago.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it just happens. Well, yeah. So, folks, come on by the Refresh Computer Superstore at 820 East State Road 434, three and a half miles east of I-4, right there in Longwood. And when we come back after this break, we're gonna talk about what you need to do to prepare for hurricane season in your technology world.
SPEAKER_02You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, President and Fender of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200, or you can always leave an open mic using that WDBO app. Also check out the website over at Refresh Computers.net, or stop it at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And now, David Levitt and Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_03All right, thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. You know, we started the show off today, Adam, talking about pass keys. Right. And the death of the dinosaur, which is the password. The password is a dinosaur, and it's going the way of the dinosaur. Right. And so if you have not started converting to pass keys, we are recommending that you get started on that right away. So when you get prompted, do you want to use a pass keys? All the major sites are already making people do this, and uh they're good Microsoft for one is just completely giving away from passwords. Right. Completely. And you have to use a pass key if you set up a new Microsoft account, and for good reason, 7,000 password attacks on the Microsoft site every second.
SPEAKER_00So there's some big writing on the wall with this, and we really, really suggest that you listen to it because moving on to pass keys, it's it's gonna be the way of the future.
SPEAKER_03It is. So if you missed that and you want to catch up, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link in the upper right-hand corner, and you can listen to the show in its entirety. Or better yet, scroll down to the bottom of the page, type in your email address, click submit. That's all we ask for, is just your email address, and that will sign you up for email notifications, letting you know when the show is ready to be listened to. And in that email body will be bullet points that will describe all the talking points that we talked about on the radio show, which converts to the podcast. We're also available, by the way, in all your favorite podcast mediums. Every one of them that's out there, we're connected to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all of them. And there's just so many I I can't name them all. So you can find us there. Just look for Tech Talk with Refreshed Computers on your favorite podcast medium, and you'll find us right there.
Hurricane Tech Prep That Matters
SPEAKER_03So hurricane season, it's here, it's already in very fast. So officially it started June 1st and it runs through November 30th. So, you know, there's you know, the good news is NOAA is predicting a very minor mild year. Mild year for hurricanes. So because of the uh developing El Nino that's out there. But you know, uh they've been right, they've been wrong. I know the El Nino does affect history shows that it affects the number of hurricanes. But let's talk about the technology that you can keep and you and your family safe, right? Right, connected and protected when a storm rolls in. So again, the below normal 2026 season, about a 55% chance of below normal activity because of the El Nino. That's something to be thankful for. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02Thankful, but it's always one of those things that you can say that it's a lower year, but that just takes one storm making the right impact. Exactly. That's always the concern.
SPEAKER_00Look at Adelia, for example. I believe that year we were told it was going to be a very mild year for hurricanes, and then that hurricane came through and just just swept across. You know, it's it's a it's a very, what's the word for it? It's a misnomer for it, calling the hurricane season mild because it could be, you know, it only takes one. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03It only takes the one.
SPEAKER_00It's estimating like eight to fourteen named storms, but you know, they're there again, it only takes one to fry all of the tech in your house. So what can you do about that?
SPEAKER_03So here's the tech tip, right? So tech tip number one is a biggie. Back up your data before the storm comes, right? This is the one people forget about. And unfortunately, we see a lot of people in the store almost every day with data loss. Yeah, and that's that's from because they didn't have a backup.
SPEAKER_00And it's from a single lightning strike, too. We're not talking, you know, hurricane level storms. We're talking little sun shower that came through that nobody knew was going to be there, one crack of lightning, and you've lost all of your stuff.
SPEAKER_03Little power surge. I mean, you don't even need lightning. You know, the utilities still today they go through stages of power surges. Right. And without even a storm being around. And those power surges is why you need a surge protector, which is another tip. If you don't have your expensive computer or your laptop plugged into a surge protector, get one now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And even better, take a look into getting a uh a UPS that's an uninterrupted power source. Those are, you know, basically large batteries that you can plug 120 volt plugs into, charge your phones off of them. Obviously, you know, the their main use is if your power goes out, you've got your computer connected to it, gives you a couple minutes to save your work and shut it down gracefully instead of losing everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they also kind of act as a bit of a power regulator as well. So it keeps that steady power where, like you mentioned, some of those ups and downs can really affect sensitive electronics. This really kind of keeps that power level nice and steady for you.
SPEAKER_00And what I even do at home is uh when the hurricane season starts up, all of the UPSs in my house, I make sure, are keeping themselves charged. And I have a couple that I plug in, I'll charge to 100 and I'll disconnect them and turn them off. So that way, if I need something, if I need a charge on my phone, if I need to turn on a light and the power is out, I've got these backup batteries just sitting in the closet, ready to go.
SPEAKER_03And speaking of the UPS systems, you know, at Refresh Computers, we sell refurbished, go figure, refurbished, you APC and other brands, UPS systems. And what does refurbished mean? Well, you know, the only thing that really goes bad in those typically is the battery wears out. The battery is we take these in and we re put brand new batteries in them, right? Right? Put them back out there, and they sell for half of what you'd pay for a brand new one. It's the same thing. And so, yeah, and it like you said, Adam, it's it's not going to keep your computer on for half an hour, an hour, you know, not even maybe 15 minutes if you're lucky, but it's long enough to for you to gracefully shut down your computer, save everything that you're working on, and and be able to, you know, and then turn off your computer. Right. Even you know, momentary power glitches. How many times is just the you know, you see the lights flicker? Well, that that affects your computer, and so that's all it takes. Yeah, and so these unit uh UPS systems will help prevent your computer from being shut down when that happens, or like to Greg's point, they're also a surge protector. So that not only do they are they a battery backup for your system, they also protect against surges. Yeah, so it's all it's all in one. And one tip here, too, and I I want to say this because we had a customer that that came in last just last week with questions about his UPS system, and he didn't realize that you know the on one half of the UPS system is battery backup plus sear protection, on the other half is just search protection. So not every port is battery backup that you plug into. And this is the case on most UPS systems, just about all of them. So make sure that you are plugging in your computer to the side that says, because they're clearly labeled, but if you're just not looking at it, you just start plugging stuff in, then you know you your power goes off and then your computer shuts down. I mean, it still has search protection, so that's a good part, right? But it just make sure you're plugged into the battery backup side of the UPS system. So that's a very important thing to keep in mind there.
SPEAKER_00The biggest thing I've always had with hurricane season, and it it goes back a couple years now, is always power. Just when the power goes out, you need, you know, maybe your your fridge at least uh to keep running for a couple hours. Most people have generators. I have I've had some people that have whole home battery backup power wall units, you know. And this is just another one of those things. A UPS, it's really good for if you need to be able to charge your phone because when power goes out, your phone is your only lifeline at that point. Yeah. And if you need emergency services, you know, a lot of times cell service goes down, and a lot of newer phones are offering satellite coverage now for SOS. But if the phone's dead, it's not gonna do you much use, is it?
SPEAKER_02No, it's not. And not so many people have that old-fashioned landline in their homes anymore.
SPEAKER_00So and a big thing I've actually started telling a lot of people that if you have an electric vehicle, an EV, that when you know hurricane season starts coming through, if you're in a if you're in a surge or surge area for that storm, charge it to 100%. Because a lot of people don't think about that, is the largest battery that you probably have near your house.
SPEAKER_03You can plug in your phone and charge up your phone. You can run your house off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, some of them are offering vehicle to load power. So, you know, it's that's just another one of those things that is important to think about is keeping you powered and and it's gonna keep you connected.
SPEAKER_03Well, and that's another reason to have a phone charger for your vehicle, whether whether you have an EV or not. Right. Because that might be the only way to charge your phone inside your car. If all the power goes out, your UPSs are depleted because it's been three days, four days, five days, you didn't get that generator that you wish you bought, and now they're all sold out because of the hurricane and still flooded from the last hurricane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I and I I do want to give one more tip about what to plug into a UPS system. Let's get back to that for a minute. Yeah. And what not to plug into a UPS system. So what you don't want to ever plug into a UPS system, because it'll totally obliterate them, is anything with a motor in it. Right. So what has a motor? A printer? A laser printer. Those little inkjet printers, eh, okay. They're they're all right. But I wouldn't plug it into the battery backup side. I'd only plug that into the to the surge protection side. But if you have a laser printer, do not plug it into your surge protector. Use a standard wall outlet. You don't don't plug it into your UPS system, I should say. You can still plug it into a separate surge protector, right? But not the one built into your UPS because we've seen so many UPS systems get fried because they just can't handle that big power surge that happens when a laser printer turns on. There's a big surge there, and that motor is the cause of that surge when it starts running things in your laser printer.
SPEAKER_00So and I've actually uh I've actually had a couple moments before because we keep a lot of our stuff at the store on surge protectors. We have a couple things that are or on uh battery backups, we have a couple surge protectors sitting around, and I cannot remember I cannot forget the first time I plugged a printer into one of our uh strip sets on a UPS, and that thing started screaming across the store.
SPEAKER_03Vacuum cleaners.
SPEAKER_00Vacuum cleaners are another big one.
SPEAKER_03Don't plug your vacuum cleaner, it has a it has a motor in it, right? So don't plug anything, just think if it has a motor, don't use your UPS system. Right.
SPEAKER_00Plus, I mean, in the middle of a hurricane, are you really gonna be vacuuming at that time, anyways? Probably not.
SPEAKER_03Probably not. This is just like general UPS battery backup tips. But yeah, don't don't plug in your your vacuum cleaner, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_00So a big thing actually, you know, that I want to talk about as well is the apps that are gonna matter to be on your phone. Because when that cell service is very, very spotty in the middle of a storm, you only have one line to basically get news about it at that point, and that is through your phone, through weather apps. There are there are tons of them out there. I use uh specifically myself, I use one called Overdrop.
SPEAKER_03I use one called WDBO. WDBO.
SPEAKER_02That's what I was the answer I was looking for, Dave.
SPEAKER_03But there's I do. I actually have that same app on my phone. That's a great, great app.
SPEAKER_00But there's also free ones out there. You know, WDBO is free. There's also Florida Storms, you know, that one gives you geo-targeted forecasts. There's an app from FEMA that you can download that'll give you notifications for your area, emergency alerts, not just during a storm, but overall, floods, you know, earthquakes. I don't really think earthquakes are a big concern here in Florida, except maybe that one we filmed from Cuba.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. No, it didn't used to be.
SPEAKER_00It didn't used to be a problem, but about a week ago. But you know, there's things like that that are just so important to know. And, you know, with these apps as well, a lot of them do give you information for evacuation routes, evacuation centers, in case you know your home can't stand up to the power of these storms because let's face it, a mild hurricane season does not mean we're going to get little rain showers here and it just doesn't.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't at all. And I will say that when it comes to the WDVO app, at least there are options for you able to get notifications during storms and weather alerts, very important weather alerts, including also tornado warnings during this time of the year as well. So, WDVO app, you can check out the hurricane guide inside there to see your evacuation routes, to see the latest information from FEMA, to see our latest weather reports as well as coming from the National Weather Service. So there's a lot of great resources built inside that one app that you're able to really access a lot from.
SPEAKER_00And let me let me touch on one more subject with this hurricane season because it is such a big thing. Scams. Oh, yeah. After after the storm, there are huge waves of FEMA calls, bogus repair offers. You've got those fixed the phishing texts saying we we see you were in an area impacted by this. Give us this information and we'll give you money. That's basically what they say.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Big time, unfortunately. That's become a big problem. It is. So something to be aware of after the storm.
SPEAKER_00That's the thing is you know, after the storm, after you know everything clears, there's still a lot of panic, and you just got to keep yourself focused.
SPEAKER_03That's right. And folks, back up that data before the storm. Back it up. Back it up. If you're not already backing up to a to the cloud somewhere, I don't care which device, which cloud you use, OneDrive, Google Cloud, uh, any of those. Or there's so many of them out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, an external drive even is a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, make sure you have a backup on your computer.
SPEAKER_02And I know this is touching a lot of Florida listeners right now. Let us know what is your tip for hurricane season when it comes to tech. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. We'd love to hear those. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. You can also check out the website at refreshcomputers.net. And now back to David and Adam.
SPEAKER_03All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to the Sunday edition of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. As usual, we had a lot of interesting technology topics that we talked about today that we touched on. If you missed anything and want to catch up, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link, and you'll be able to hear this show in its entirety. Better yet, go to the bottom of the page, enter your email address, click submit. We don't ask for any other information. We don't ask for your name, your address, your phone number, none of that. No ID, nothing. No ID, nope, nope, nope. Just an email. Click submit. It's that simple, and you will automatically be signed up to receive notifications via email whenever this podcast or any future podcast is ready to be listened to. And you with a link right in there so you can click on, along with bullet points in the body of the email that basically is telling you what we're talking about.
Clear Phone Storage Fast
SPEAKER_03So in this segment, we want to get into a tip for your phone. We don't talk a lot about phone tips.
SPEAKER_00Not too much. We don't do too much with phones, but they're a piece of technology that's present in all of our lives. And this is this is a big one that I know a lot of people get hit by.
SPEAKER_03It is. Or their hundred dollar phone.
SPEAKER_00Especially with phones, you know, now that you know there's no expandable storage. You can have the option of SD cards, and you can't do it anymore. Yeah. That was the one alleviation to it. And now instead, the the phones are actually starting to integrate some new new features to clean up some space, you know? That's right. The biggest thing that I always preach for people, and we just preached it last segment: cloud backups. That's right. Yep. That is that is the biggest thing you can do to clear up space on your phone because you take a picture, it uploads to the cloud, it's not storing it directly on your phone. So your phone could get destroyed, you still got it in the cloud, but you don't have to worry about it taking up space either. That's a big that's a big thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, Google photos if you have an Android phone. Or even you can back up your Apple, your iPhone. Google photos, photos as well. And it's also on OneDrive, Microsoft OneDrive. iCloud. That's a big one with Apple as well. You can you can back up your photos to OneDrive because here's here's the deal. You know, you back up your photos to to OneDrive on your iPhone, and then you delete that photo, it's still on your OneDrive. Right. If your photo is backed up to iCloud and you delete that photo, it deletes it off of iCloud.
SPEAKER_00Oh. Now there's a difference I wasn't aware of. I haven't used an iPhone in many years, just as a disclaimer there. I didn't know that though.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, so you know, so you can have the cloud backup turned on, but if it's going to iCloud and you delete it on your phone, it's gone. Okay. It's gone, gone. That's that's something new for me then today. So and it's a shame. And it's just it shouldn't be that way.
SPEAKER_00It doesn't, but it is. It doesn't sound like it should be that way, because you know, I I assumed it it would be kind of like how Google Photos is, where you delete it off your phone, it's still on the phone. Or it's still on in the cloud.
SPEAKER_03But nope, nope. If you if you have cloud backup turned on on your which you should anyway, on your on your iPhone, what you delete on your iPhone is deleting in the cloud, unfortunately. So, but there's other things that you can check on your phone, which are big, big storage hogs. And that the next biggest thing would be, or maybe the biggest thing, are your apps. Yes. You know, we talked about this on another show. How many apps do you have on your phone? And how many do you actually use every day or once a week or so? Right. I mean, you know, compared I would guess that probably I'm just gonna put a wild guess out there that maybe 10 to 20 percent of the apps that you have on your phone are the ones that you use every day. Just to all the rest of them you probably never used ever since you installed it. Right. Or you use so rare, rarely, that it doesn't really need to be taking up that space on your phone.
SPEAKER_02Or you just had an update done and they reinstalled random footwear on your phone. Right.
SPEAKER_00And and something I just saw on my phone, and this links in perfectly to this. When I downloaded the Facebook app, it said the app was 800 megabytes. That's nothing for my phone. I've got 512 gigabytes. I just looked at it in the in device care and it says it's taking up 19 gigabytes of space on my phone.
SPEAKER_03It does.
SPEAKER_00So there's there's data there that's being saved along with the app that's just you know hogging up that space.
SPEAKER_03Well,
Hotline Reminder And Sign Off
SPEAKER_03and folks, that's all we're gonna have time for today. And it was really nice talking with you again, catching up on a lot of technology stuff. If you have any questions, don't forget that free tech support hotline 407 478 8200. This is David Levitt, owner and founder of Refresh Computers. We'll be talking to you again next week.
