Learning your new iPhone – An iPhone Manual or Video Guide?

Posted on May 1, 2017 by TechGuru

How to learn your new iPhone

I often get asked what is the easiest way to learn how to use your iPhone. My answer: it depends. There are a lot of variables to consider. Some people have never used a smartphone in their life. Some people have never used an Apple product in their life. Others are switching from a Samsung or Motorola smartphone. I’ll break down my recommendations here so if any apply to you, you can evaluate the advice.

The iPhone is your first “smartphone”, and you have no idea what you are doing.

The first scenario is quite common, and finding help for these people can be tricky. What do I mean by your first “smartphone”? By smartphone I mean a phone that utilizes a touch screen for the majority of its features and that can browse the internet and download apps. Older flip phones do not count. So what are you to do in this scenario? It depends on how you like to learn. The two options I would recommend are either to get a book that teaches you how to use your iPhone, or watch a video course on how to use your iPhone. I have found that many seniors prefer to go the book route, whereas many baby boomers seem to prefer the video.

If you want to learn via a book, I would recommend the iPhone Manual for Beginners. The book is very successful at teaching people how to use their iPhone and contains detailed illustrations to help the learning process. It also works as a great reference manual for when you need a quick review.

If you are looking to learn by watching a video, I would recommend How to Use the iPhone for Beginners. The video is about 30 minutes and covers most of the important aspects of the iPhone.

You are switching from a Samsung or other smartphone to the iPhone.

If you fall in this category, learning to use your iPhone will be much easier. The iPhone shares some similarities with other smartphones and you can pick up on these pretty quickly. Most people in this category probably won’t need a book or a video guide. You can most likely figure out the iPhone slowly over time. However, if you feel the need for a quick course on the iPhone’s ins and outs, I would recommend the video guide How to use the iPhone for Beginners.

You just got an iPhone, but you have experience using an iPod or iPad.

Lastly, if you find yourself in this category there is no need to seek outside assistance in learning your device. Upon using your iPhone, you will quickly realize that the iPhone is almost identical to the iPad and iPod touch in terms of how it works. So if you have used those devices in the past there will be very little adjustment needed. If you think you still need some assistance with your iPhone, subscribe to my newsletter on the right. I send out weekly emails with tips and tricks for using your iPhone, including my monthly recommended apps.

Computer Running Slow? Try these tips to get it fast again.

Posted on February 25, 2017 by TechGuru

We’ve all been there. One day you turn your computer on, and it takes forever just to get started. Next thing you know, opening a program takes several moments longer than it did just a few months, days, years ago. Even worse, with internet speeds getting faster and faster, your internet just seems to be getting slower and slower. Why is that? Is your computer just getting old? Should you buy a new one?

We asked Joe Malacina, CEO of No Limit Enterprises, a tech company to break it down for us. Here are the results:

Computer Age

Computers nowadays should last you a long time. It is normal to experience a slight slowdown in speeds as the years go by with your computer, but these should barely be noticeable. In fact, any computer built in 2010 or later should last ten years without missing a single beat. There are exceptions of course, but for the most part a decent computer should last you a very long time before things start slowing down.

Why is my computer Slow?

For the vast majority of cases, your computer just needs a good cleaning, and I don’t mean with a cloth. Over time our computers start accumulating a lot of useless programs, and outdated software. When this happens, your computer usually keeps trying to run the software when its so old that nothing can even run it. This uses valuable resources that your computer could be using to run smoothly and efficiently. So what you need to do, is browse through your computer and cleanup all the old junk.

Secondly, spyware and viruses are infecting more and more devices every single day. So a good virus and spyware scan can clean up a lot of junk.

How do I get my computer fast again?

There are several things you can do to get your computer running like a cheetah again. The first thing you should do is make sure your computer’s operating system is updated to its newest version. Some older computers won’t be able to do this, but most can. Next, run a virus scan and delete any viruses that appear. You can also cleanup your startup programs. This will get your computer booting up faster than ever. I also recommend deleting obsolete programs and utilities.

A Step-By-Step Approach

Going through the steps in an article might be a little confusing, so we searched around for a comprehensive guide to cleaning up your computer and making it fast again. After reviewing several websites, the best one we could find was on Infinity Guides. They have a Clean Your Computer Easy Guide that shows you how to clean up your computer in less than 30 minutes. We ran through the guide ourselves and afterwards, we were impressed with the results. We found that our computers booted up 20% faster on average, and programs loaded nearly 40% faster. Our internet browsing also improved quite significantly, and we learned some helpful tips to keep our computer fast.

Here is a link to the Clean Your Computer Easy Guide from Infinity Guides that we recommend.

How to Use the iPhone 7

Posted on February 25, 2017 by TechGuru

The new Apple iPhone 7 is here, and the phones have been flying off the shelves at Apple Stores and retailers across the world. We have everything you need to know about the new iPhone 7.

iOS 10

iOS 10 is simply awesome. Our favorite feature is everything you can do from inside the Messages app. iOs 10 has added many additional features to messaging on an iPhone or iPad. One of our favorites is the new preview that appears within a message when you paste a link. try it out for yourself. Sending a link in a message will automatically populate a small preview of the link along with a short description.

The new sending effects for messages is pretty cool too. Just hold down on the send icon to see all the new sending features. You can now send text messaged with special effects such as fireworks and lasers.

The New Home Button or lack thereof

Here is something that might take getting a little used to. The new iPhone 7 doesn’t have a home “button.” Let me clarify, the iPhone 7 has what looks like a home button but it does not actually depress like a button should. Instead, when you press it you will get vibrational feedback from iPhone 7 that feels like you’ve pressed a button. It seems Apple did this to shore up some room inside the phone.

Still No Manual with the iPhone 7

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus do not come with an instructional manual, but there are still plenty of resources available to you to learn how to use your new iPhone. We recommend checking out Apple Video Guides. As always, they have a new guide out that covers everything about the iPhone 7 to help get you started.

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Learning your new iPhone – An iPhone Manual or Video Guide?

Computer Running Slow? Try these tips to get it fast again.

How to Use the iPhone 7