How To Keep Kids From Losing Homework And Laptops

That back-to-school rush creates the same two kinds of problems every year: broken devices and missing files. We kick things off with a simple, real-world plan to protect student laptops, tablets, and phones before they get tossed into backpacks and hauled across campus. From padded sleeves and hard cases to screen protectors that prevent expensive bonded-screen repairs, we focus on the small purchases and setup steps that save you big money and big headaches. We also flag the timing of the Florida tax-free holiday and what typically qualifies under $1,500, so you can make smarter upgrades while it still counts.

Then we get into the stuff that makes people’s stomach drop: scary “virus” pop-ups and computers that will not power on. We explain why many of these warnings are scareware scams designed to trick you into calling a fake support number, what to do first, and when it is worth bringing a system in for a check. On the data side, we talk through why a dead computer does not always mean dead files, what basic data recovery can look like, and when specialized partners like DriveSavers may be the next step. The simplest protection is still the most boring one: set up OneDrive or Google Drive now, turn on autosave, and keep a second copy of truly important work.

We also zoom out to home tech that can pay you back. Smart thermostats can cut cooling costs by adapting to schedules, location, and weather, and smart plugs can reduce vampire power, but only if you avoid gimmicks and secure your network with strong passwords and a guest Wi‑Fi for smart devices. To wrap up, we share step-by-step casting tips so you can mirror from iPhone with AirPlay, cast from Android apps, or connect from Windows with Windows key + K, plus the quick fix that solves most “won’t connect” issues.

Subscribe for more practical tech help, share this with a parent or student who needs it, and leave a review with the device habit that saves your household the most.

Transcript

Welcome And Contact Info

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hey there and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with Adam Littlefield, a technician from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free Tech Support Hotline, 407-478-8200. Or if you have a comment during the show, use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website at refreshcomputers.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. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. And now for Adam Littlefield.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Well, thank you, Greg, and thank you everybody for tuning in to this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. Good morning on this lovely Sunday. It's a uh great day. Gonna be talking about a lot of exciting stuff today. We do have the return of school coming up this Monday, the 10th, for Seminole County, and then we have Orange County following Tuesday on the 11th. I still don't understand the day separation. I still can't wrap my head around it. But, you know, it is we are getting back to school and we still are in that tax-free holiday right now. We have that is going until uh August 20th. So if your kid or you are needing a new device, um a new laptop, a new desktop, check out our website, refreshcomputers.net. Um, our whole inventory is there. Everything on there, as long as it's under $1,500, is gonna be tax free. So it this is you know a bet no better time to get that upgrade finally done, especially with you with the kids going back tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

A great way to get a 7% sale. And especially after the the kids get back into school, you're gonna start seeing maybe they need an extra drive, maybe they need an extra storage capacity. Hey, maybe they need a new wireless keyboard. All of those things are a part of that tax-free, not just a whole computer or your monitor. So keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Right.

Back-To-School Deals And Game Plan

SPEAKER_01 2:04

So in this episode today, we're gonna be talking, you know, a lot about some back-to-school tech tips and you know, what you can do with uh your kids' devices, protecting them, backups, all of that. Now, just a lot getting a lot of the headache out of the way now, rather than having it down the road when you when your kid's six-month project just disappeared. We're also gonna be talking about some uh virus removal and recovery services that we provide at Refresh Computers. We're gonna talk a little bit about some smart home gadgets that can actually help lower your power bill. And in in this state, I think we can use all the help we can get with lowering that power bill sometimes. And uh then we'll be closing the show off today with, you know, walking through how you can actually cast your phone and your laptop to your to your TV.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

It's one of my favorite things to do.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

It's it's a great feature, and we'll get into that, you know, towards the end of the show.

Cases And Screen Protectors That Matter

SPEAKER_01 2:51

But starting off here, you know, again, we're going back to school Monday the 10th, except if you're Orange County, they're going back on the 11th. An extra day to sleep in there for you, Orange County. Exactly. So, you know, that means we're gonna have a lot of kids going back to school. There's gonna be a lot of uh tech devices out there, and you know, if I remember anything from when I was a kid, I was not easy on a lot of stuff I brought to school. So we're gonna well let's talk a little bit about some physical protection you can get for a lot of that hardware because I'll tell you what, it a $20 case beats a $300 screen repair that you might have to do. Any day of the week. Right. So for a laptop, you know, a hard shell or padded sleeve for being inside of the backpack would be, you know, the best, the I would say the best thing you can do. I keep my laptop inside of its own protective sleeve in the laptop portion of my my work bag, which also has padding there, because that's that's one thing I don't want to deal with is breaking the screen on that because I tossed the bag too hard into my trunk or something. For a tablet, if your kid, if your kid or yourself even, you know, ha you have to carry a tablet, having a case um with a raised lip actually protects the screen. So if it lands, you know, face down, it's landing on the edges of that case rather than glass on whatever it's landing on.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

And whether that's for little, little, little, little ones or all the way up to you, they they make some that are actually like foam designed. I have one for my toddler. He has his little tablet that he likes to play some of his learning games on, and it's a nice thick raised edge. He can throw that thing almost against the wall and it's not gonna touch it. So it's definitely uh definitely a good idea to invest in a quality case.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Right. And you know, me personally, the uh I've never really kept cases on like my tablets. Um I've I just started I just put one on my iPad the other day because I dropped it and scraped the edge of it. Right off the bat. But you know, my phone, for example, I've always gotten my uh my cases from D brand. I've really liked their cases. They're they just they protected my phone as long as I've had them. And uh a good thing to also keep with your devices as well are screen protectors. Um I can't stress that enough. I never used to use screen protectors. I hated the idea of them. I thought they got in the way, they made things you know harder to use. But I will tell you, the the drop in my stomach when I when I see that first big scratch across the screen from that little rock that might have been in my pocket, it that that's all it takes sometimes. A little bit of that pocket sand for your phone. And especially throwing like a laptop into a bag or a tablet into a bag, you know, there's so much dust and dirt that just kicks up inside of that bag all of the time. So, you know, spending a few extra dollars, getting a good screen protector as well, you're gonna you're gonna really protect your your device from a really costly repair. And on a lot of smartphones now, that is a very costly repair. The screen is. It's a whole bonded uh screen. Tablets two now are getting that way. So if you have to get that replaced, it's it's a process. It's not even a service that we offer at refresh computers, it's just it's too dangerous of a process to try to remove that screen because there's other components just right beneath that are just under so much danger all the time.

Simple Backups With OneDrive Or Google

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Second, and this is the most important thing. I mentioned it when we were starting the show, backing up everything. So you've if you've got you know a kid that's working for doing virtual school, or if they are doing just in-person schooling, set up their computer. If they're using a micro Windows computer, set up Microsoft OneDrive. That'll sync uh their documents, pictures that they might have for assignments. That will go through and sync everything that they've been working on through Word, Excel, and actually create backups. So, you know, they they that's one less excuse they can have of you know, the program deleted my my homework, you know. No longer is it the dog ate my homework. Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

And if it's just general programs like that, where you're talking about like Word documents, maybe a couple of pictures, that free OneDrive access will probably be enough for their backup. It should be. But if you do need more, they do offer options for you to upgrade that to larger sizes.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

They do. And it's it's phenomenal fees, really. It's cheap enough that I pay for expanded storage, and I don't even notice the payment I pay every month for it. And that's for 100 gigabytes that I've barely filled up a quarter of it. So another thing to say is if you don't want to use OneDrive for any reason, Google Docs is also a very good option. I know a lot of schools are starting to give students their own emails, sometimes through Google itself. So having that tied to their Google account already will be great because the synced files can't just disappear. There's no way that that account will just disappear. And that means if, say, their computer kicks the dust, say they they they misplace it, well, they can log in on another computer and still have access to that. So that means that there won't be a lost paper anymore because their computer suddenly stopped working. The main thing I would say is well, turning on autosaves and backups now at the start of the year. You don't want to do that halfway through the year. It's something that takes five minutes, do it this weekend, just confirm it's done. That way, you know, six months down the road, if there's an assignment that teachers needing or a file that's needed from the beginning of the year, you still most likely will have it. And for anything in truly important, uh I always suggest keeping two copies. Yep. The cloud is a great option, but having like a uh a USB drive that you save the important stuff onto as well, that's gonna be just another, you know, for a rainy day situation. You put it in the a desk drawer or something and just keep small updates on it as you work on stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Sometimes that's even included in the teacher's list of items needed for the school years, those little USB drives, and you can find those right there at the refresh computer superstore.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah. And USB drives are are a major thing now because I do know some teachers require them for bringing in assignments instead of you know emailing them in, submitting them through an online portal. They do require it be on a on a actual USB flash drive. So again, that's just something to consider. It's it's great to

Theft Prevention With Find My

SPEAKER_01 8:54

have. Now, this is this is the part that I I hate that I have to cover, but it is it always happens. And I remember when I was in school, this always happened. You've gotta you've gotta guard the devices against theft. Yep. There there's always gonna be somebody with sticky fingers somewhere. I remember in my high school, there was somebody that stole about eight or nine phones and almost made it off campus until the Canvas Security Guard found them because one of the phones had Find My Device enabled on it. It was an iPhone. So that's something that I would really, really suggest turning on on any devices. It can be a laptop, it can be a phone, a tablet. Turn on. For Apple, it's called Find My Now. Um on Android devices and normally in Windows, it's called Find My Device. Turn that on so you know if it's misplaced, you can go into your own account on another device and lock it. What that does is it makes it so whoever has it, it shows a it can show a message that says please return this device to such and such. You can put please contact and have a phone number there. But the major thing is you can lock it so whatever is on it can't be taken. You know, there's no data that can be stolen from it. And that doesn't just apply to to students as well. That can apply to all of us. You know, we we carry so much important information on our phones. I know some of us on our tablets and on our laptops. The last thing I would want to go through and handle is trying to recover any damage of if somebody stole my phone and it was logged in, because they have access to everything right there. You know, access to my whole password library, my bank accounts, all of that. So that's something just to think about. It's not just your your kid that needs this turned on. It's also, you know, could be you, the listener. Another thing I would say is put a put a simple label with a phone number on it. A huge like amount of lost devices are really just because nobody knows whose it is. That's it. What I would suggest doing, since we already mentioned possibly getting a case for laptop or for a phone, put that label on the inside of the case of the phone. A lot of the times, you know, that's not really checked, and there is some security that I know with trying to return a phone to its lost owner, trying to verify that you you are the owner. And I hate to say it, but you know, if I have somebody that says that they're coming to retrieve a lost phone and they can call out a small minute detail like a specific exact phone number on the inside of the case, it that that makes me believe it's theirs, right? It's beneficial. It is beneficial.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

That's on their side for sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Now, don't make it the phone number that is the it is on. You don't you don't want them to go calling and then it starts ringing in their hand. Right. You know, set it to a phone number that you yourself can have access to if you lose your phone. That way, if you know it's lost, somebody can actually call you and you know, kind of throw you a lifeline on getting that device back in your hands. A lot of our lives run through our phones now and it's crippling when we lose it. Another thing I do want to mention as well set a screen lock, you know, a pin number, a face, a fingerprint, whatever whatever security you can put to lock the phone so that if somebody does steal it or if it gets lost, they c nobody can just pick it up and open it right away. You know, they have to know a pin number, the screen lock, even if it's your your face ID or your fingerprint. You know, that that's that's stuff that you can't easily duplicate, you know? So that's just something to think about.

Safer Charging And Device Routines

SPEAKER_01 12:27

And another thing I do want to mention as well, because we've talked about it on the show before, some healthy habits worth setting up early with some of these devices, is charging. Charging the night before is gonna be your best bet to make sure that you know when you wake up, whatever device is gonna be fully charged. A lot of these devices now actually have intelligent charging as well, so they won't hit 100% and stay there until you disconnect it. Some of them will actually taper off. So when they get to 100% is normally when you're gonna be picking it up, taking it off the charger. I will I cannot stress this enough. I almost was a victim of this one. Charge the device just in a common area, not under your pillow. When I was when I was a kid, I remember I had a nice fancy light up charger cable. I thought it was cool. Plugged my phone in, threw it under my phone or my my pillow, went to sleep, woke up the next morning, and went and pulled my phone out, and the cable was melted to the bed. Absolutely melted into it. My phone was at 50% because luckily it stopped sending power. So that's something to kind of think about. When you put a device under a pillow, it takes a it generates a lot of heat sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Cuts off all the all kinds of circulation to it as well for airflow. A lot of these devices really, really depend on that, especially when they're charging. Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

And you know, another thing I would say if with your kids going back to school, agree where that device is gonna be where living during their homework or where it's gonna be sleeping at night, you know, just so you have it in a known area, so there's there's no chance of, hey, you know, I lost my laptop, I can't go to school, I can't do my work. Having it in a in just a well-known central place is gonna be a good thing to have.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

And that also helps with the discussion we've had so many times on social media addiction and things like that. It definitely helps kind of taper that as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Exactly. We're gonna be getting to a break here, but when we come back, we're gonna be talking a little bit about some uh services we offer for recoveries at Refresh Computers. Again, school is back in tomorrow, Monday. So this is the time that if you need to upgrade, take a look at our website, refreshcomputers.net. Take a look at some of our systems there and see what you may be able to get yourself or your kid into.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580.

Scareware Pop-Ups And What To Do

SPEAKER_00 14:54

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 Adam Littlefield, a technician from the Refresh Computer Superstore. 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, we'd love to hear it. Use an open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And now back to Adam.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Well, thank you, Greg, and thank you, everybody, for tuning into this Sunday edition of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. My name is Adam Littlefield. I'm one of the technicians over at our Refresh Computers Superstore. We are closed today, being Sunday, so we're going to be opening up at 9 a.m. on Monday morning. So if there's any questions or comments you have during the show, give us a call that morning. I'm going to be the Monday, 9 to 7. So if you have any questions, give us a call. I'd be happy to answer any that you may have. In this segment, I'm going to be talking about some of this the stressful stuff that we have coming through our doors. And it's not stressful to me or any of my guys there. It's actually stressful for, you know, our customers that come in. There's the two biggest stressors that always come in. The first one being the virus, you know, that virus pop-up. And the second one being, you know, some data recovery. You know, maybe your computer's not turning on.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

That virus popping up, it can be scary, especially if you're not if if you're somebody that's a little bit not as computer savvy. Right. It's it's it's a scary moment when something threatens you there on your own computer.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

And you know, a lot of these pop-ups now aren't even real viruses, Greg. They are just pop-ups to scare people into calling a number. And it's why I've kind of coined the name scareware on them, because they're not something that's, you know, on there and and immediately locked down your computer, like they say has happened. A lot of times it's just a scam trying to ring you for some money and they're you're they're trying to have you call them. So first thing I would say, if you get a if you get a pop-up that says your computer is infected, you know, demanding money, don't panic, don't, don't pay anybody. These are scare tactics. It's not a real infection. That number right there is a scam, especially, and I mean this, especially if it uses a large tech name like Apple or Google or Microsoft, because I will tell you what, those are some very, very large companies, and I bet you they don't want people calling 90, you know, 99 times a day because they they have a virus or something pops up like that. So those are always a scam. If you think it's a scam, you can always bring your computer by our store. Um, again, we are closed today. So if you ran into one today, bring it by on Monday and we can take a look at it, make sure that there's nothing that got on there. We do also have some some flyers that I've made up that I we can give out that'll kind of walk you through how to get yourself out of those scams from now on. Um, just kind of educating a little bit to make sure that you know you're aware of what is and isn't a real problem.

Data Recovery When A PC Dies

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Now, what is a real problem, and it happens time and time again, is you know, I've I do have those customers come in that the computer, their computer does not turn on at all, and all of their files are on there. And I mean everything, their whole life is on there. I've had a gentleman come in before who had the last 25 years of his business on one computer, and that's a long time to have files on there, and it's a long time, a lot a lot of business that may be lost. Luckily, we can actually recover a lot of files. You know, a dead computer does not automatically mean dead files. Most of the time we can remove the drive out of there. The data's completely recoverable, photos, the documents, the schoolwork, the the unreproducible content we can get off of there. Even a drive that's been dropped or clicks, bring it in. Sometimes, you know, we can still remove and get files off of that. But if not, we've got really, really great references that we can actually refer you to. A company that we trust called DriveSavers. We we can give you a pamphlet that kind of outlines what they'll be able to do for you because drive recovery, it's it's a multi-step process, and there is there is some dedication you have to get into when it's the serious failure. And that's kind of where drive savers comes in. But as far as refresh computers, if there's ever a question on if the the data is recoverable, always bring it into us. We're not gonna charge you to say, you know, hey, the drive's dead. You know, we we can pull it out of there, test it, and sometimes we are the bearer of bad news, sometimes we're the bearer of the best news. I've had some people start crying because I've been able to recover, you know, pictures of their their their children as uh babies. Right. So again, and as far as I can stress this enough, I'm gonna stress it further: back up your files.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Always back up.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Always back up your files, OneDrive, Google Drive, anything that's important to you, lock it up like you would lock something up in a in a safety bank vault. Um, we're gonna be uh going to a break here, but when we get back, we're gonna be talking about some smart home gadgets and how they can actually help you lower your power bill.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580.

Smart Thermostats For Lower Bills

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Hey there and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes, sitting here with Adam Littlefield, a technician from the Refresh Computer Superstore. 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 like feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website over at RefreshComputers.net, or you can 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. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. And now for Adam Littlefield.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Well, thank you, Greg, and again, thank you, everybody, tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. If you've missed any of this show, we've had a couple segments that have been going on. I would suggest going to our website, refreshcomputers.net, check out that podcast link, and listen back to the the beginning of the show because we had a lot of really great information about, you know, how you can protect devices for yourself and your kid and you know also some some services that may be saving depending on you know any data loss that you might have had. I would suggest going back and listening to that. It was a some great subjects and a lot of good information to have. In this segment, we're gonna be talking about you know some smart home gadgets that actually can help lower your power bill. And you know, living in Florida, that's almost one of the biggest things I think right now is just how try how we can figure out to lower our power bill. The last couple of weeks has been blistering hot. And I'll tell you what, I know my power bill has gone down because I have a smart thermostat at home. Right. That's one of the biggest, biggest things I can suggest that are gonna help bring your home into the smart home category is getting a smart thermostat.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And they're really great and handy to have and fairly easy to set up, whether you need to have a technician. come in and have that set up or do it yourself.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah. A lot of the elect the electric thermostats, smart thermostats actually can use the pre-existing electrical wiring of an old thermostat unit. And then you just have to connect it to your Wi-Fi. That's it. Now it's it's a quick setup like that. I have mine through Nest. So mine actually I let mine access my device location services. So when I leave home, my air conditioning will automatically set itself up to 80 degrees. Normally normally 78 to 80 around there. And then it also knows when somebody's going to be on their way home. So the house will be cooled around 5 p.m. So you know it's it's it's nice for that because you can actually control when the house is air conditioning and when it isn't because nobody wants to air condition an empty house all day. You don't want to have to pay for that.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

And it's nice to know because it also it adjusts based around the weather outside as well. If when you have it set up for these uh for the for the local area setup, right? It'll know that it's oh well today in a Popka it's going to be rainy and overcast. Not going to be as hard for me to cool the house today. That's that's good news for your AC unit.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

It gives the AC unit just a little bit more information than your your normal thermostat will. And the major thing for this and I'll tell you what there's probably a lot of fathers out there that'll love this because I know it's always the the joke that fathers hate when the thermostat is touched that these smart thermostats actually let you nudge and check them through your phone. So you can actually check it, see you know if somebody's cranked the AC all the way down to 68 or you know maybe you forgot to close a door on the back patio and there's a a warm draft coming in. You can kind of see some of that information through this thermostat and it it's you know a I wouldn't say a cheap upgrade but in the long run it does pay for itself. The amount of money that I've seen savings from it it's it's unbelievable. It's one upgrade that almost any of us benefit from. If you've got central AC this is the one thing I would suggest doing it because it is going to save you a bunch of money.

Smart Plugs And Vampire Power

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Now this is the the more of the quiet money waster you know AC makes a lot of noise but these things are kind of a you know how do I want to put this this is kind of a explaining phantom power or vampire power. I'm sure a lot of listeners you've probably heard of this before you know when devices are sitting in standby like your TV, the whole setup that little red light is on when your TV is off. Right. Means it's not really off right exactly it's in low power mode your gaming consoles, the coffee maker all of this you know just constantly sips power around the clock. These they sip that power because some of them have internal systems that they keep in check kind of like your computer does with that little clock battery. We've talked about that on the store the this the show before most desktop and laptop computers have a little coin cell battery that keeps timing. So even when power is lost those settings aren't lost. These devices in your house are the same way. Now over time they can you know start to add up on how much they are pulling over time. So what I would suggest is look into getting some smart plugs. You know they let you cut power to those devices on a schedule or from your phone modularly so you can do just one at a time. So they're truly off not just pretending to be off this you know you can put the entertainment center on one and shut down that whole stack overnight. Now it is something to think about you know that if anybody that still uses DVR services through cable like Spectrum, this is something that would impact that if you set your DVR to be powered off overnight and you had a show that you wanted to record, it's not going to be able to because it's disconnected. It's turned off from its power source. Good point. So there is a a little bit of checks and balances you should do here kind of consider what device may be doing things in the background that you want it to be doing. Another one I would say kind of just leaving it alone would be your printer. Leaving the printer on power all the time is going to save you a bunch of headaches. Because I'll tell you what the amount of times I've seen nothing more than a simple printer restart just powering it off and powering it back on throws a wrench into so many people's setups because now the printer wants to be reset up all of a sudden. It's little things like that. And you know for these smart plugs $10 or $15 you know they're the easiest way to kind of dip your home your toe your toe into that smart home system but you don't want to get the super cheap ones either. You know you don't want to get the ones that advertise themselves as like five bucks and you get a pack of five of them. You know those are the ones that tend to cut corners around safety and um around efficiency too. But the biggest thing as well is they also kind of cut out some features. So you may not be able to control it from your phone. You know you may only have the ability to walk up and click a button on the side to turn it off. To me that kind of defeats the purpose of it at that point. Just unplug it. Yeah yeah you have to unplug it either way another thing I can mention as well and this is something I've retrofitted my house with recently is LED bulbs.

LED Lighting And Smart Tech Myths

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yep. They use way less power than your traditional incandescent bulbs and the savings are actually kind of noticeable. These LED bulbs they last a lot longer so they they cost a little bit more than a regular incandescent but I'll tell you what I can't remember the last time I've had to replace a light bulb in my house Greg.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

I cannot remember the last time the early days of the LED bulbs were a little uh a little fishy a lot of people would say they weren't exactly the most the most reliable there in the early days but they really honestly have come a long way over the last few years. These LED bulbs are very reliable at this point.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yeah and there's actually smart LED bulbs as well that can now tie into whole home systems. So they can have they can tie into your motion sensors for example the sense if somebody's home location services and they can actually turn lights on and off based if you know it's needed in that room or just needed because somebody is at home. So you know the value is a little more in convenience you know you can set a schedule you can dim LED light bulbs way better than you can with incandescent and you can also you know have them set for you know turning off the uh the lights that the kids ended up leaving on at home you know checking that through your phone that's something that you can see live.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

So also a lot of fun around the holidays a lot of them you can change the colors of we have a couple set up on our outdoor uh lamps so that way you know for the for I think for Christmas it was red and green and things like that. So a lot of fun to have those setups as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah and these lights too you know they like you were saying Greg they come in a bunch of different colors adaptively so you can change it through an app. There are also some that are just multi-shade that have a button that you can click that changes it from a a bright white to like a soft yellow to like a deep almost like orange. You do get some options with how these light things up and that's good because you can also use LED bulbs for things like exterior lighting. So if you've got an exterior flood lamp and that has a motion sensor you can have that using a more power efficient LED bulb projects a better color to actually you know save you a little bit of money in the long run. So talking about all of these that are going to help you save money let's talk about some of the money wasters you know the things that look like they're gonna help but you know they end up just costing more than they they actually help you. You don't need a smart refrigerator, a smart oven, smart washer or dryer to save you money. The premium you pay on those features rarely come back to you. I know I've seen on some washer and dryers that do a smart integration, you know, they may be able like a dryer can check the uh the humidity level inside of the tumbler to see if it needs to produce more heat or produce less that's not going to save you a lot of money for the feature for that feature's cost that you're gonna be paying.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

It just sounds so extra when you say it like that. It does. It's a washer and dryer can we just let it wash and dry.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Exactly but I'll tell you what it is pretty cool sometimes to have a dryer you know cut itself off 10 minutes early because it knows the drying cycle is done. It can sense that but having Alexa integration to your microwave for example I don't understand the the point of that well it's because it needs to let you know that your bean burrito is perfectly heated in the center. Okay that's that's a very good point to scalding hot. Yeah now if I want to set the now if I want to set the microwave though you know I still gotta have to walk up and put the food in. I can't have anybody do that for me do do that for me yet anyways you know with all this talk of robots that we've had. Not just yet. Another thing that I would mention is smart speakers. You know the smart speakers they're they're fun and handy and they're just more of a convenience. There's no smart speaker system that you can purchase that's really going to save you money. Speakers when they're idle don't really use a lot of power to begin with. They're they're a low use item that mostly is just sitting there idle waiting for some sort of input from like a sound system from a phone computer anything you know that that can output sound to them it's waiting for that. That's it. So that's a big thing is sound systems nowadays are getting very complex. You know a lot of them now come with large amplifiers larger subwoofers leaving those plugged in leaving those powered on it's not gonna it you're not gonna see a a return on your power bill by unplugging that sound bar that you have in front of the TV and also the main thing I would say too don't do it all at once. You know it's start with the thermostat and maybe a couple plugs and see what you actually use before you start growing out from there. You know it's it can actually be a a big waste of money to put every single device on a smart plug when you don't really need to kind of just do one thing at a time and that kind of lets you progressively see you know knocking your power bill every single time and you see that gradual drop drop drop instead of a hard drop which may climb over time. Yep.

Smart Home Security And Guest Wi-Fi

SPEAKER_01 31:58

So I've got a a couple cautions I want to put out there as well because with smart devices they can be security issues. They are considered endpoint devices and a lot of the times I've seen that these gadgets are just one more thing that can compromise your Wi-Fi network. I know yesterday's show we did talk about setting up a guest network and this is exactly something that I would suggest setting up on a guest network your smart plugs your cameras use some decent passwords on that as well to protect those because while you have all this nice convenience for your house you don't want somebody that can get in through there and cost you your security as well. I've also seen just very random I don't want to call them pranks but they're not scams. They're just people that find very vulnerable devices like these in people's homes and they'll they'll do something crazy like crank the uh crank the heat up to 85 you know while you're at home or crank it down to 60 degrees as low as the the air conditioning can crank just to mess with people. People do it it's you know people are out there trying to have fun but there are malicious people out there too that can use these devices to hop to another device that might be on that same network. That's why I will never have a smart oven. You don't and I'm sure you don't need a smart oven either so again just keeping all of this in mind this is this was a big segment so if you missed any of it go to our website refreshcomputers.net we're gonna have all of our summary going through this segment of what's going to help and what doesn't help because again there is money to be saved everywhere when it comes to technology but you don't want to buy too cheap and you don't want to overpay either. What's one of those smart home gadgets that you use every day Adam oh the one I use the most I would have to say I have nanoleaf LED panels. Oh they're very bright wall panels that I have just in my main like bedroom office area and those light up the whole room better than a ceiling fan does.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

My son is a very big fan of our Amazon Alexa. Yeah he talks to her all the time and then also has her play his favorite music as as as I activate everybody's devices around around town he loves to hear Taylor Swift on his Amazon in our house. So there's a there's one of those options for you. Coming up we're gonna have more conversations on some phone and laptop tips that you can do to just throw it up on your big screen TV. Love that for you coming up next you've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's news and talk.

Cast Your Phone Or Laptop

SPEAKER_00 34:50

I'm Greg Rhodes sitting here with Adam Littlefield a technician from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407 478200. And don't forget to check out the website over at RefreshComputers.net and now back to Adam.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Well thank you Greg and thank you everybody for tuning to this uh Sunday edition of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers my name's Adam Littlefield again I'm one of the re the Refresh Computers technicians um I'm gonna be there on Monday at 9 a.m so if you guys have any questions, tech questions or any questions about this uh episode, please give us a call tomorrow. Our number is 407-478-8200. We can answer you know any tech questions you may have or questions from the show. In this last segment I'm just I want to go through another quick tip about being able to you know cast from your phone or laptop onto your TV. This is something that not a lot of people are really aware that their devices are able to do you know it's TVs aren't just needing a cable still anymore. A lot of smart TVs now let you cast from your phone or laptop and you can do a bunch of things like your vacation photos you could throw up a recipe video while you're cooking you can put a school project up on the big screen a workout class in the living room you know you don't have to worry about plugging in your phone or plugging in the computer trying to figure out settings for that. As long as you've got a smart TV, a Roku, a FireStick, an Apple TV, you already have what you need to be able to do this. On iPhones and iPads I know this is done exclusively through AirPlay. So you'll want to make sure the phone and TV are on the same Wi-Fi. Open your photo or video and tap the share button look for airplay and then your TV name should pop up and from there it'll jump right up to the big screen. Android it's the same idea. Theirs is called casting in apps like YouTube or Google Photos look for a little cast icon um kind of looks like a little screen like a TV with a little uh waves beside it tap that and choose your TV you do also have the option I know on some TVs if they're equipped with Google TV you can go to the YouTube app and hit the share button and you're you'll actually have the option to share directly to your TV from the app. So that'll automatically bring up the YouTube app within your TV to play the video rather than streaming it over over Bluetooth or the casting services. Same thing with a Windows laptop as well as long as the laptop and TV are on the same network if you hold down the Windows key and hit the K button a little panel will slide out on your screen on the laptop it'll find nearby TVs and you can pick yours right there and your laptop screen will appear right on the TV. And I think by default it'll mirror it so you know it will be a copy but you can also extend it and use your TV as almost a second monitor if you wanted to on a Windows computer.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Love to do that especially with football season coming personally I like to watch a lot of football games and maybe do a fantasy draft on the side so to be able to have both of those kind of going on at the same time makes it really easy for me able to do it with the the two separate options. This is one of my favorite tips that we've given so far because I love to do this. If I'm watching something on my phone and I want other people to see it like some of those fun videos things like that makes it really easy just to throw it up on the big screen instead of trying to pass your phone around things exactly it's convenient.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

It's extremely convenient and that's kind of what it's built for.

Fix Casting Problems Fast

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Now I I will say it does sometimes come with its challenges sometimes you'll go to hit it and it just says won't connect and most time most of the times and I mean that nine times out of ten that just means your phone and TV are on different networks often time one may be on a guest network like we talked about previously and your another device isn't. So getting them on the same network will help a lot and that'll help especially if you're having connection problems and maybe your phone's Wi-Fi is turned off as well that's something to check as well having the Wi-Fi turned off basically negates any ability for the for your device to be able to communicate out. So

Tax-Free Reminder And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_01 38:46

I believe we are getting to the end of our show just a reminder back to school is starting tomorrow August 10th and I know Orange County is going back on August 11th so not not too much time anymore for any upgrades any accessories but if your kid or yourself still are needing anything for school or for work the tax season is going through August 20th the tax free holiday season that's any device or accessory computer device or accessory under $1500 you'll be saving you know a good amount of money within this tax free holiday season. So we're getting to the end of the show my name's been Adam Littlefield once again and I'll be getting back to you guys again next week with another exciting episode of Tech Talk