Some people may not be familiar with the term Solid State Drives (SSD). Wikipedia defines a solid state drive as being a storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently. A solid state drive differs from traditional hard disk drives in that they do not … Read More
How much longer can I keep running Windows 7?
With the End-Of-Life date coming soon for Windows 7, It's inevitable that the beloved Windows Operating System is dying. It has that all too familiar terminal illness called End-of-Life. Microsoft has announced that it is pulling the plug January 14, 2020 on the version of Windows that most of us … Read More
What makes a strong password?
With all the data breaches we see on the news these days, it can sometimes be scary to trust companies with your sensitive information. However, in many cases, sensitive data is gained by an attacker taking advantage of users implementing weak passwords. Today, we will look at some examples of … Read More
USB4 is coming in 2020 – What’s the difference?
Earlier this month, the USB Implementation Forum (The industrial group that helps standardize and implement USB technology) finalized the specs for USB4. This means that it's just a matter of time before you begin to see USB4 devices rolling out, which are expected in 2020. While a lot of the … Read More
Five Things to Consider When Purchasing a New Computer
With the Windows 7 End-Of-Life coming soon (January 14, 2020), a lot of users will need to upgrade Operating Systems. For the majority of users, that typically means getting an entirely new PC altogether. When shopping for a new computer, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options. … Read More
Are Apple computers immune to infections?
"I've got a Mac so I don't have to worry about viruses". Have you ever heard someone say that before? Being in the tech industry, I know I have heard it many times. It either makes you roll your eyes or maybe consider replacing the ol' PC with a sleek to new Apple. But what makes an Apple computer … Read More
Ultimate Google Search Tips and Tricks Cheat Sheet
We've done a few posts in the past regarding tips and tricks using Google, such as "5 Google Search Tricks You May Not Know", but as you know, there are hundreds of things that Google can do. We would like to share some of our top Google Search Tips and Tricks in this "Cheat Sheet". Please note … Read More
Security Alert – Update Warning for Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
At SandStorm IT, we typically suggest doing all updates (especially Operating System) as they become available to avoid security vulnerabilities, In the latest batch of Microsoft updates, there were some "known issues". In this security alert, we'll cover "What's the issue?", "What versions of … Read More
Bad Battery Life on your device? Here are a few things to check.
Smartphones are the new way of life in today's day-to-day life. We can do anything we need to do on a computer from a handheld device. But, what happens if your device's battery life doesn't last? In this post, we'll discuss a few things that you can look at to extend the battery life of your … Read More
How often should I physically clean my computer?
Most PC components have heat sinks which basically distribute heat evenly along a larger surface area to allow to the faster dissipation of heat, much like the radiator in your car. You'll often notice these on the CPU (Typically the largest heat sink), video card, motherboard, RAM and other … Read More