SOBX Tech

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Online Privacy: What You Need To Know

privacy online

Online Privacy: What You Need To Know

The Internet touches almost all aspects of our daily lives. We are able to shop, bank, connect with family and friends, and handle our medical records all online. With all of that, there are people out there that will try to steal your information. In our ongoing commitment to educating people about online safety, security, privacy, etc.  we’re sharing helpful blog posts all month in honor of National Cybersecurity Month

#BeCyberSmart when sharing personal information online to reduce the risk of becoming a cybercrime victim.

Did You Know?

  1. 64% of U.S. adults have noticed or been notified of a major data breach affecting their sensitive accounts or personal data.
  2. Roughly half of Americans (49%) feel that their personal information is less secure than it was five years ago.
  3. 58% of Americans age 50 and older are more likely to feel that their personal information has become less safe in recent years: 58% of Americans in this age group express this opinion.
  4. 69% of consumers believe companies are vulnerable to hacks and cyberattacks.

There is so much information online about this topic. To help you get right to the information you need. I highly recommend this Online Privacy information sheet that you can download or print out.

Do you need help protecting yourself online? Need to update the security on your computer? Contact us. We’d love to help!

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National Cybersecurity Month

Held every October, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) is a collaborative effort between government and industry to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and to ensure that all Americans have the resources they need to be safer and more secure online.

We are big believers in keeping our data protected and secured.

There are lots of great tips and information out there that we will be sharing all month long.  Stay tuned and we will be back with more information this week.

Feel free to read and download this information about Cybersecurity while traveling.

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Notary Public Services Available at SOBX Tech

Notary Public North Carolina

Notary Public

Did you know that SOBX Tech is a Notary Public in Carteret County? Are you a real-estate agent, doctor,  or just need something notarized?

Authorized Notary Public Duties

  • take acknowledgments
  • administer oaths and affirmations
  • take verifications and proofs

As a Notary Public, we are here to help you with any of your documents that you need notarized. A commissioned Notary in North Carolina, we don’t extend outside the boundaries of the state. Any Notarial Act pursuant to an NC notary commission fully completed in North Carolina and in compliance state law. Many of the notarial certificate forms included provide a place for the notary’s printed or typed name beneath his/her signature.

Information about notaries in North Carolina 

Give us a call at (252) 285-9592 and let us know what you need to be done. We are available during regular business hours Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and appointments only on Saturdays.

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Keeping Your Computer Virus and Malware Free

Keeping Your Computer Virus and Malware FreeMost people don’t even know that their computer is infected with a virus or malware. The Internet is a powerful and useful too. In the same way that you shouldn’t drive without buckling your seat belt or ride a bike without a helmet, you shouldn’t venture online without taking some basic precautions.

Viruses

Viruses are harmful computer programs that are transmitted in a number of ways and are designed to spread from one computer to another through the internet and cause havoc.  Most commonly, viruses designed to give the criminals who create them some sort of access to those computers that they infect.

Spyware

The terms “spyware” and “adware” apply to several different technologies. There are two important things that you need to know about them and they are:

  • They can download themselves onto your computer without your permission.
  • They can make your computer do things you don’t want it to do.

Botnets

Botnets are networks of computers infected by malware (computer virus, key loggers and other malicious software) and controlled remotely by criminals. They usually are looking for financial gain or to launch attacks on websites or networks.

If your computer becomes infected, give us a call at 252-285-9592. We will be happy to take care of your issues and get you back online within 24 hours.

About SOBX Tech

SOBX Tech is Eastern North Carolina’s leader for computer services, computer repair, software installations, and software upgrades.  SOBX Tech serves the Southern Outer Banks community and surrounding areas. Located in Eastern North Carolina, along North Carolina’s beautiful Crystal Coast, we’re happy to provide on-site service in your home or business, at no extra charge!

 

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Mac Shortcuts for Google Sites

From time to time we like to post ways to make things easier. Shortcuts are a great way to make that happen.

macbook pic

We covered keyboard shortcuts for PC users in the first part. These shortcuts will be very useful to Mac users who use Google sites.

Mac users

Basic shortcuts

Application
Open shortcut help ⌘ + /
Open shortcut help ?
Search /
More actions m
Site
Create page c
Toggle site subscription Shift + f
Manage site g then m
Share site Shift + s
Page
Edit page e
Edit site layout Shift + L
Revision history g then r
Toggle page subscription f
Page settings u
Print page ⌘ + p
Copy page Shift + c
Preview page as viewer g then p
Change page template Shift + t
Move page
(for pages besides Home)		 Shift + m
Delete page
(for pages besides Home)		 Shift + 3

Shortcuts in editing mode

Application
Open shortcut help ⌘ + /
Remove formatting ⌘ + \
Undo ⌘ + z
Redo ⌘ + y
Add or remove link ⌘ + k
Save page ⌘ + s
Cancel Esc
Menus
Open Insert menu Ctrl + Opt + i
Open Format menu Ctrl + Opt + f
Open Table menu Ctrl + Opt + t
Open Layout menu Ctrl + Opt + L
Open Help menu Ctrl + Opt + h
Text formatting
Strikethrough Opt + Shift + 5
Superscript ⌘ + .
Subscript ⌘ + ,
Bold ⌘ + b
Italic ⌘ + i
Underline ⌘ + u
Paragraph formatting
Heading 2 ⌘ + Opt + 2
Heading 3 ⌘ + Opt + 3
Heading 4 ⌘ + Opt + 4
Normal text ⌘ + Opt + 0
Align left ⌘ + Shift + L
Align center ⌘ + Shift + e
Align right ⌘ + Shift + r
Numbered list ⌘ + Shift + 7
Bulleted list ⌘ + Shift + 8
Decrease indent ⌘ + [
Increase indent ⌘ + ]

If you are someone who uses Google sites, there is plenty of useful information. We will continue our shortcut series, so there is more to come. Stay tuned.

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Keyboard Shortcuts for Google Sites

Do you use Google Sites for your website? If you love keyboard shortcuts like we do, then this will be very useful for you.
Keyboard shortcuts
This is part one of our shortcut series. We want to put out as much information as we can in different areas of technology. 

Basic PC keyboard shortcuts

Application
Open shortcut help Ctrl + /
Open shortcut help ?
Search /
More actions m
Site
Create page c
Toggle site subscription Shift + f
Manage site g then m
Share site Shift + s
Page
Edit page e
Edit site layout Shift + L
Revision history g then r
Toggle page subscription f
Page settings u
Print page Ctrl + p
Copy page Shift + c
Preview page as viewer g then p
Change page template Shift + t
Move page
(for pages besides Home)		 Shift + m
Delete page
(for pages besides Home)		 Shift + 3

Shortcuts in editing mode

Application
Open shortcut help Ctrl + /
Remove formatting Ctrl + \
Undo Ctrl + z
Redo Ctrl + y
Add or remove link Ctrl + k
Save page Ctrl + s
Cancel Esc
Menus
Open Insert menu Alt + i
Open Format menu Alt + f
Open Table menu Alt + t
Open Layout menu Alt + L
Open Help menu Alt + h
Text formatting
Strikethrough Alt + Shift + 5
Superscript Ctrl + .
Subscript Ctrl + ,
Bold Ctrl + b
Italic Ctrl + i
Underline Ctrl + u
Paragraph formatting
Heading 2 Ctrl + Alt + 2
Heading 3 Ctrl + Alt + 3
Heading 4 Ctrl + Alt + 4
Normal text Ctrl + Alt + 0
Align left Ctrl + Shift + L
Align center Ctrl + Shift + e
Align right Ctrl + Shift + r
Numbered list Ctrl + Shift + 7
Bulleted list Ctrl + Shift + 8
Decrease indent Ctrl + [
Increase indent Ctrl + ]

We will cover keyboard shortcuts for Mac users in part two. These shortcuts will be very useful to Mac users who use Google sites.

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How To Create A Battery Power Plan

battery-power-plan

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Love “How-to” posts? We’re sharing some of our favorite How To posts to help make it easier for you to work with your laptop or desktop. Our first “How-to” is a step-by-step guide is how to create a power plan for your laptop or desktop. No matter which Windows OS you have, you can create a plan the same way.

laptop-batteryStep-by-Step Guide

1 – From the START screen or desktop, right-click the battery 

Screenshot (18)

2 – Click Power Options

 

Screenshot (18)

3 – Click Create Power Plan

You can also set a power plan from the mobility center when you right click on the battery icon or from the start menu.

4 – Click a power plan and then click NEXT

Screenshot (10)

5 – Choose the sleep and display settings that you want to apply

6 – Click Create

If you need help or additional instructions, we provide one-on-one training at SOBXTech. Please don’t hesitate to contact us through Facebook, email or by phone.

About Us

SOBX Tech is Eastern North Carolina’s leader for computer services, computer repair, software installations and software upgrades.  SOBX Tech serves the Southern Outer Banks community and surrounding areas. Located in Eastern North Carolina, along North Carolina’s beautiful Crystal Coast, we’re happy to provide on-site service in your home or business, at no extra charge!

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Monthly Meeting – Crystal Coast Geek Breakfast

Geek breakfast

Our monthly meeting is Friday, July 29, from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM at Southern Bread Bakery & Cafe and you are all invited.

We’re pleased to bring the local tech community together for our Geek Breakfast, right here along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. If you’re interested in technology, blogging, work in the industry or just want to learn what’s going on in the area, come on out and let’s connect.

What’s a Geek Breakfast?

A Geek Breakfast is a monthly community-driven meeting for local (and visiting) technology-minded people. Each month attendees congregate over breakfast foods and plenty of coffee to discuss topics like social media, blogging, digital marketing, design, programming, and ways to better their communities through technology.

Who Can Participate?

Everyone, attendance is free (excluding food, beverage, and gratuity).

You’ll meet bloggers, tech lovers, and social media enthusiasts like –

Can we count on you? Will you be there? It’s fun, informal and a great way to get to know the bloggers and tech-lovers in your community.

Where?

This breakfast will be held at:

Southern Bread Bakery & Cafe
4050 Arendall St
Morehead City, NC 28557

When?

Friday, July 29, from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.

What’s the Hashtag?

Our official hashtag for this event is #GeekBreakfastSOBX if you can’t make it but would like to follow along online. Pictures, audio and video are licensed under Creative Commons and tagged using “CrystalCoastGeekBreakfast” and “GeekBreakfast” and we encourage you to add them to the Geek Breakfast Flickr Group.

What’s Next?

Though registration isn’t required, please take a moment to RSVP the Facebook Page at: Crystal Coast Geek Breakfast – May so we can get a good idea of how many people to expect.

Questions?

For more information, call Trish at (252) 226-0885 or you can post your questions on the Facebook page. We’re looking forward to meeting you, March 25, 2016 and getting some great conversations started!

About Us

SOBX Tech is Eastern North Carolina’s leader for computer services, computer repair, software installations and software upgrades.  SOBX Tech serves the Southern Outer Banks community and surrounding areas. Located in Eastern North Carolina, along North Carolina’s beautiful Crystal Coast, we’re happy to provide on-site service in your home or business, at no extra charge!

 

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XBox 360 Consoles Hard Drive – How To

There are over 84 million XBox 360 consoles worldwide. Someone asked the other day, “Why would my son’s XBox say it needs a hard drive? Well, there is an explanation for that and the reason is, not all the consoles came installed with hard drives. There are consoles that have internal memory, so when something needs saving then it would be saved internally. We are also going to discuss how to install or replace a hard drive in your console.

Xbox-360-Pro-with Controller

Original model XBox 360 Premium (2005)

The original model XBox 360 was first released in 2005. Various hard disk drives were produced that included options of 20, 60, 120, 250, or 320 GB. Inside, the console uses the triple-core IBM designed Xenon as its CPU, with each core capable of simultaneously processing two threads, and can, therefore, operate on up to six threads at once. 

Here is a look at my personal XBox and how to remove the hard drive and replace it.

Original XBox 360 Hard Drive Removal

Steps to remove the hard drive

  1. Turn off the console
  2. Locate the hard drive on the top of the console.

image3. Press the release button on the hard drive

image

image

4. Lift the hard drive off of the console.

To replace the hard drive, position the hard drive against the back of the hard drive bay and push the front end of the hard drive down until it clicks in place.

Replacing the hard drive

Replacing the hard drive

The other two consoles are different than the original 360 console.

Xbox 360 E console

The Xbox 360 E 250 gigabyte (GB) console has an internal hard drive, which is removable and replaceable. The Xbox 360 E 4 GB console has internal flash memory, which is not removable. An internal hard drive for the Xbox 360 E 4 gigabyte (GB) console is sold separately.

Insert a hard drive in the Xbox 360 E console

  1. Turn off the console.
  2. Position the console horizontally.
  3. On the right side of the console, locate the hard drive cover release near the back of the console.
  4. Slide the release diagonally (down and toward the front of the console) while pulling the hard drive door open.
An illustration of a hand opening the hard drive cover on an Xbox 360 E console
  1. Insert the hard drive into the slot, and press firmly until you hear it click.
An illustration of a hand inserting a hard drive into the hard drive slot on an Xbox 360 E console
  1. Replace the hard disk drive cover.
  2. Turn on the console.

Remove a hard drive from an Xbox 360 E console

  1. Turn off the console.
  2. Position the console horizontally.
  3. On the right side of the console, locate the hard drive cover release. It is close to the back of the console.
  4. Slide the release diagonally (down and toward the front of the console) while pulling the hard drive door open.
A hand opening the hard drive cover on an Xbox 360 E console
  1. Pull the tab to remove the hard drive.
A hand pulling the tab on an Xbox 360 Hard Drive to remove it from the hard drive slot on an Xbox 360 E console
  1. Replace the hard drive cover before turning the console back on.

Xbox 360 S console

The Xbox 360 S 250 gigabyte (GB) console has an internal hard drive, which is removable and replaceable. The Xbox 360 S 4 GB console has internal flash memory, which is not removable. The internal hard drive is sold separately.

Insert a hard drive in the Xbox 360 S console

  1. Turn off the console.
  2. Position the console horizontally.
  3. On the right side of the console, locate the hard drive cover release near the back of the console.
  4. Slide the release toward the front of the console, while pulling the hard drive door open.
A hand opening the hard drive cover on an Xbox 360 S console
  1. Insert the hard drive into the slot, and press firmly until you hear it click.
A hand inserting a hard drive into the hard drive slot on an Xbox 360 S console
  1. Replace the hard disk drive cover.
  2. Turn on the console.

Remove a hard drive from an Xbox 360 S console

  1. Turn off the console.
  2. Position the console horizontally.
  3. On the right side of the console, locate the hard drive cover release. It is close to the back of the console.
  4. Slide the release toward the front of the console, while pulling the hard drive door open.
A hand opening the hard drive cover on an Xbox 360 S console
  1. Pull the tab to remove the hard drive.
A hand pulling the tab on an Xbox 360 Hard Drive to remove it from the hard drive slot on an Xbox 360 S console
  1. Replace the hard drive cover before turning the console back on.

We don’t work on game systems, but can point you in the right direction to someone who does. 

 

 

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Meetup – Crystal Coast Geek Breakfast – May

Geek breakfast

Our monthly meetup is Friday, May 27, from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM at Southern Bread Bakery & Cafe and you are all invited.

We’re pleased to bring the local tech community together for our Geek Breakfast, right here along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. If you’re interested in technology, blogging, work in the industry or just want to learn what’s going on in the area, come on out and let’s connect.

What’s a Geek Breakfast?

A Geek Breakfast is a monthly community-driven meeting for local (and visiting) technology-minded people. Each month attendees congregate over breakfast foods and plenty of coffee to discuss topics like social media, blogging, digital marketing, design, programming, and ways to better their communities through technology.

Who Can Participate?

Everyone, attendance is free (excluding food, beverage and gratuity).

You’ll meet bloggers, tech lovers, and social media enthusiasts like –

Can we count on you? Will you be there? It’s fun, informal and a great way to get to know the bloggers and tech-lovers in your community.

Where?

This breakfast will be held at:

Southern Bread Bakery & Cafe
4050 Arendall St
Morehead City, NC 28557

When?

Friday, May 27, from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.

What’s the Hashtag?

The official hashtag for this event is #GeekBreakfastSOBX if you can’t make it but would like to follow along online. Pictures, audio and video are licensed under Creative Commons and tagged using “CrystalCoastGeekBreakfast” and “GeekBreakfast” and we encourage you to add them to the Geek Breakfast Flickr Group.

What’s Next?

Though registration isn’t required, please take a moment to RSVP the Facebook Page at: Crystal Coast Geek Breakfast – May so we can get a good idea of how many people to expect.

Questions?

For more information, call Trish at (252) 226-0885 or you can post your questions on the Facebook page. We’re looking forward to meeting you, March 25, 2016 and getting some great conversations started!

About Us

SOBX Tech is Eastern North Carolina’s leader for computer services, computer repair, software installations and software upgrades.  SOBX Tech serves the Southern Outer Banks community and surrounding areas. Located in Eastern North Carolina, along North Carolina’s beautiful Crystal Coast, we’re happy to provide on-site service in your home or business, at no extra charge!