Refresh Computers Tech Talk
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Refresh Computers Tech Talk
Your EV As A Hurricane Battery
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Your car might be the biggest backup battery you own, and hurricane season is the perfect time to think about it. We dig into how EVs can support real storm prep, from simple vehicle-to-load power you can use right now to full vehicle-to-home systems that can keep essential circuits running when the grid drops. We also talk vehicle-to-grid programs, where some setups can even send power back during high demand for utility credits, and why the numbers matter when you compare EV battery capacity to a typical home’s daily energy use.
Of course, it’s not magic. We walk through what bidirectional charging is, why V2H is not plug-and-play, and what an electrician needs to do at the panel to make it safe and seamless. We also weigh the practical tradeoffs: conserving power, choosing the right circuits, and avoiding the gas and propane scramble that shows up during major storms.
Then we switch gears into “refurbished” computers and why that word has gotten muddy. We explain what professional, in-house refurbishing looks like, why business-class machines can be a smarter value than a pricey big-box laptop, and why a fresh SSD is often the difference between “painfully slow” and “feels new.” From there, we cover the quiet Microsoft move that extended Windows 10 Extended Security Updates out to 2027, what ESU does (security only), how to enroll, and why Windows 11 is still the long-term answer for app support. If your hardware can’t upgrade, we also touch on Linux options like Zorin OS, plus the one rule you can’t ignore: back up everything first.
We close with a weekly tip you’ll use forever: the fastest way to open Task Manager on Windows (Control + Shift + Escape) and how to shut down frozen apps or scam pop-up pages without making things worse. If this helped, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find practical tech advice that actually saves time and money.
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Welcome And How To Reach Us
SPEAKER_00Hey there, and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with Adam Littlefield, a technician at the Refresh Computer Superstore. And 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 over at Refresh Computers.net or stop in 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. to 7 p.m., which means if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now, Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Greg, and thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. As Greg said, my name is Adam Littlefield. I'm one of the technicians over at our Refresh Computer Superstore over in Longwood. We're located at 820 East State Road, 434, over in Longwood. So if you have any computer concerns, you want to bring one by, you can always bring one in. We're open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. We have tons of great technicians there, tons of guys that I personally trust with a lot of our systems that come through every day because they're just really smart people. You know, we we talk a lot about tech on this show, and I want to talk a, you know, just a tiny bit about some of the great people we have over at the store. So I just wanted to get that out there. Just give my appreciation to everybody out there, and I'm sure Dave has his as well. I know he's still enjoying his road trip at the moment, and he's graciously trusted all of us to be running the store for him. So I'm happy to say the roof is not on fire. That's good. So far, so good. So today we've got a lot to talk about. We're gonna be talking a little bit more about EVs and why they're kind of the best storm prep that you might have sitting in your driveway right now. Um I know we've talked a little bit about it in other shows and previous couple weeks now, I think. So if you missed any of those, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on the podcast link in the top right corner. You can listen to this show, a bunch of other shows going back years, and we have tons of information throughout those, and it's actually kind of a good catalog to see how things have been progressing as of late. We're also gonna really be talking about, you know, the word refurbished and what it actually means because there's been a lot of usage of it and it's kind of been abused now. It's got a a bad rap to it for some people, so I want to talk a little bit about that, get that cleared up. We're also gonna be talking about Windows 10. You know, Windows 10 has been a big thing in the spotlight, so we'll get into that and what Microsoft has silently done in the background that not a lot of people have heard about. And then we'll finish off this show today uh with just one of our uh weekly tips that'll help you just use your computer a little bit better.
EV Batteries As Storm Backup
SPEAKER_01So, starting off with the main one, that EV that may or may not be parked in your driveway, that is actually one of the biggest batteries you have right now available to you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, think about it. The entire base essentially of a lot of those vehicles are made out of just connected upon connected lithium batteries. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you've got a huge battery there, and a lot of EV producers now, not just Tesla, not just Rivian, you know, we've got other brands like Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, GM, just to name a couple of them. You know, there's so many brands that are making EVs, and all of them have a little bit different support of what you can use them for. But the main thing is that there are some that support full house charging. So, pretty much what is full house charging? So, give you an idea, is hurricanes blowing through and the power just cuts out. You know, some of us around this state, we do have the the ability to have a backup battery installed to our house. So you can kind of imagine some of these EVs are actually like those giant backup batteries. I know, for example, um Tesla, they produce the power wall is what they call it. Those can hold about 13 kilowatt hours of power, while as an EV can hold around 60 to 100. To give you listeners an idea, the average Florida home uses roughly around 30 kilowatt hours a day of power. So if you if you look at it that way, you know, a fully charged Ford F-150 Lightning, for example, could run your house for about four, almost five days, depending on what you've got running on it.
SPEAKER_00And that's saying 30 kilowatt days average. Right. So if imagine during the storm, you're probably trying to conserve in general, anyways. So you're probably even using even a little bit less. That just stretches that battery life that much more.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. You know, there that is a great way to put it, is a lot of these large batteries give you this estimate that it could run your house for X amount of hours or X amount of days, but it also depends on what you, the homeowner, keeps on that circuit. Right. I know that when you get a full house battery setup or what's called V2H installation, that's vehicle to home, that basically has to set up certain circuits that will power when the power does go out.
SPEAKER_00Things like you don't want this happening while the power actually comes back on and all those different kinds of checks and balances for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you know, a lot of uh installers I've seen now do provide ways for you to make it so you can have essentials on that V2H system. So, for example, your central air conditioning, maybe your refrigerator or freezer, those kinds of items. So I do know that you can also get additional, you know, plugs added, so you can run maybe a couple stand fans throughout the storm, just little things like that. So, you know, talking about that from the uh Ford F-150 Lightning, like I mentioned, I know Tesla's Cybertruck and a limited amount of their Model Y performances that they released have this capability for V2H approach, so they can actually power your whole home. Not all EVs support this, you know, they don't all run on a higher voltage system that lets them push that much power. So it is still a good idea to charge them all the way to full because when you're not using V2H, that vehicle to home, you can use what's called V2L, which is vehicle to load. So what that is is instead of your whole house getting power, you can now get a choice of a couple items just on regular 120 volt outlets.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, and a lot of one of the main advertisements that were out there for the F-150 and something that my friend that has his Cybertruck utilizes for his job is those outlets during actual work hours. So you can have a portable kind of workstation for a lot of those power tools and things like that as well.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And a lot of EVs now actually have these outlets built into the plug into the car. You don't even need to have any adapters. So you can plug in, you know, maybe a fridge, a fan. You know, some people may need a CPAP machine for sleeping. That's also another use. You can either even use some lights straight into the vehicle, no special equipments. You can do it pretty much right now. Then again, when we're we're getting back to the vehicle to home or V2H, like I was talking about, that is the whole house grid. So when power is dropped from the grid, that will automatically take over for you. I've seen most of those systems are seamless as well, so you don't notice like a small drop out and then uh a drop back in, basically.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, think of it kind of like when you have those whole home generators that are connected. A lot of those are propane RAM, but you think of those, that they kind of they pick up immediately once that once that switch is hit.
SPEAKER_01Right. And another way that you can actually manage this is you know, there are some of us that have the ability to go through some of these storms and not have an outage at all. Some vehicles actually do provide what's called vehicle to grid ability. Basically, what that means is the power that's in your EV plugged into your home, if the grid the grid does need it, you can sell that power to the utility company during high demand and actually get a little bit of you know credit on your next power bill, or I've even seen it before, cover someone's entire power bill.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you see it a lot with uh a lot of the people that have the solar panels on their roofing as well. That's a big key to a lot of those programs.
SPEAKER_01It is. And you know, that's that's a great way to put it as well, because with solar panels, for example, you know, it depends on what kind of system you have. Most solar panel systems I see can run about 80% of a household on their own power. But you know, during the time that you're not needing that additional power, you are selling it back to the grid, and your meter is running backwards. Right. So it's kind of the same thing with this vehicle to grid. So that's that's the highest level that you can do with that battery.
What V2H Needs To Work
SPEAKER_01So talking a little bit about the the home version of this battery backup in your in your driveway, there it isn't really plug and play.
SPEAKER_00You mean I can't just plug it into any random wall outlet and it takes over for me?
SPEAKER_01I absolutely wish. I'd be I think that would be the optimal way to do it, but we don't we don't have that ability. Electricity doesn't work like that. So it's not plug and play. You do need a special bi-directional charger. Usually an electrician has to tie that into your whole electrical panel as well. So there is hardware money that would have to be laid out right now, and it it can be sometimes several thousand dollars to get that installed. However, you do maybe want to think about down the road how that is gonna benefit you.
SPEAKER_00And especially if you're someone that's in the market for an EV right now, maybe you uh have thought about trying to get into the EV market and you're looking at one of these vehicles we've talked about. It might be a good time to invest in that upgrade to your panel because while you're installing the new charging system and things like that, you've already got the electrician on site, you might as well take that next step, right?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And that's a that's a really good way to put it, I think, is you already have someone there that's installing the electrical work for you know infrastructure on that. Might as well just have them put it in on the panel as well, since they're already there and everything's kind of gutted. So talking a little bit about the vehicles that supported this, I did mention, you know, things like the Cybertruck, the F-150 Lightning, the modern Model Y performance, some of the new 2026 ones, you know, we do have a lot of EVs from GM, like their Silverado, their Equinox, the Blazor, Hummer. Um, I think I've even seen some Cadillacs now that are fully EV. They do not support this full vehicle to home integration. So they, while they do have outlets on in the trunks or maybe in the back bed of some of the cars, you can use adapters for some of these as well. They're not going to be full integration like you have with these larger systems. They can still provide, you know, a little bit of what's the word I'm looking for here, a little bit of intermediate power. I'll put it that way, you know, charging uh phones, fans, things like that that you can just use on regular outlets, but not this, not this whole home backup.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, really the only one that I've saw that I saw that was really pushing the whole home backup was the F-150. Right. And now that's the first one on the list that's been discontinued. So we'll see if Ford continues that with their mid-size truck that they're that they've been teasing here coming up in 2028.
SPEAKER_01And and that's something that I really kind of question right now with the the discontinuation of the Ford F-150 Lightning. I do remember reading a lot of reports that it wasn't, you know, the best-selling model that Ford is producing. I don't believe it's the last one that I was reading on that list. Right. So it is uh it has to be some sort of costs that I think the the truck was bringing. But you're right, the Ford F-150 Lightning was the biggest push to get you know proper V2H integration into more of our homes. So to see that that vehicle itself kind of killed off, I don't want to see V2H, you know, take that entire hit as well.
Real Hurricane Prep Tradeoffs
SPEAKER_01So, you know, we've we talk a lot about hurricane prep, and we haven't really seen too many storms either. You know, we are building up with this big El Nino.
SPEAKER_00I'm finding as much wood as I can knock on in this studio right now.
SPEAKER_01Just knock on everything you've got around you, Greg. You know, we haven't had too many big storms. I I remember I saw the one that uh kind of built up into the Gulf a little bit. It must have not gotten too big because there wasn't too much news after that about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, luckily, just a little bit of light flooding there through Louisiana and the Texas coasts, but over here in Florida, not much impact. So we got lucky on that one. But like we say, it only takes one, and the next one could be the one, so you always want to make sure you're ready for it.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And that's you know why we kind of have such a large segment today on just kind of prepping yourself for hurricanes, storms in general, is because you know, we've talked about it in a couple shows, and we talked about having smaller batteries that can help, you know, charging your phone, keeping you safe. But there are a couple things you can do to take it further, you know, what we've been going over. If you've missed anything from the beginning of this segment, because there's been a lot of information we're going over, please. I would urge you to go to refreshcomputers.net, check out the podcast link, and kind of listen back to it. You know, there's a lot of good information here about what you can be doing to further prep yourself. And end of the day, you know, you may be having to put a little money up front, but it could save you thousands and thousands of dollars down the road to be prepped like this.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And I think uh and it's a question that really comes to mind for me, especially as someone who's currently in a gasoline-powered vehicle that is maybe in the market to eventually transition to EV, right, would be using one of these kinds of systems, this V2H idea of being able to power my house if there's an issue at home. I know a lot of the times we see gas shortages and even propane shortages during those storms. So, really, you're kind of apples and apples three days with my truck or trying to drive around the state trying to find gasoline for my generator at home. Yeah. This might lead me to just get the EV truck to make some things a little bit less of a headache for me.
SPEAKER_01And that's something that I always remember, you know, back with larger hurricanes when I was a kid, like hurricane uh ooh, I want to say it was Hurricane Katrina, if I remember correctly. The the struggle for everybody going out to get gas, gas stations having gridlock because there's so many people trying to get in and out. You know, there's no chance to even refill the tanks because they're so busy. This is something that does kind of give you a little bit of ease of mind that you just leave your vehicle plugged in at home, set the app to charge it to 100%, and that's it. You know, you can you can go running out in another vehicle, going to pick up sandbags, water, whatever else you need to be spending your valuable time with. Um, we're
Break And What’s Next
SPEAKER_01going to a break now, so once we get back from this break, um, we're gonna be getting a bit into about the word refurbished, what it kind of means now, and what it's supposed to mean, or what it means to us. So we'll be getting back to you after that break.
SPEAKER_00You'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 Adam Littlefield, the 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.
SPEAKER_01And now, back to Adam.
What Refurbished Really Means
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Greg, and thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers, a I believe a almost 26-year-old company in it right here in Central Florida. We provide tons of repairs, sales of refurbished desktop and laptop computers. We also have our famous free tech support hotline. You can give us a call at 407-478-8200 anytime within our business hours. You'll get connected to one of our technicians. And if you have a couple questions, we can answer them right over the phone, give you a couple ideas of you know, maybe what's going on, troubleshooting steps, and kind of see if it's something that maybe if you have to bring it by us, we can see that. Remote in, we have tons of options for you know repairs. I also mentioned we do sell refurbished desktop and laptop computers. And a lot of these user computers, actually, all of them, if I think now, are Windows 11 compatible. And that's such a big thing right now with Windows 10 support just kind of being dropped. I know Microsoft extended a little bit, but there's a lot of money to be saved right now buying refurbished. And if you're a regular listener of our show, you've probably heard us mention once or twice about AI and about how the there's been hardware shortages because of that. If you're a computer enthusiast, you already know exactly what I'm talking about, and your knuckles are probably white, just clenching your fists because of how bad that they've gotten. So I'm gonna talk a little bit about you know the computers we have and what refurbished actually means to us.
SPEAKER_00Especially coming back into the back to school season. We're a week away from back to school at this point. So yeah, this is a great time to try and save some money along with that tax-free holiday.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. We're in a nice tax-free holiday until August 20th, I believe. So any computers that are purchased under $1,500 are considered tax-free at the state, so we don't charge any tax. These are computers that we professionally refurbish in our store as well. So we don't have a warehouse out in another state. We don't ship anything out. What we do is everything in-house, we have guys in the back that go through, they replace the CMOS battery in the system, they test the hardware for laptops, including, you know, things like the battery, keyboard. We do a full slew of tests on these computers to make sure that they're going to be the best that they can be. A lot of these systems are business class models that brand new out of the box, they can last about six to eight years. And when we go through and put all of this refurbishing work into them, they can last you about six to eight years. So, what we go through not only and do you know all these hardware tests, but we physically clean them out. You know, we always we talk about how dust can really get your computer just kind of heated up and you know, really start bogging things down. So we go through, we get that all cleaned out. We we put a lot of care into these machines. And the biggest part that I would say we put into them is a brand new solid state battery or solid state drive, not battery. So solid state drive, brand new one of those in there. That's kind of what everything's going through the computer almost every time it's turned on. So you want to have a new drive in there to prevent, you know, things like possible data loss, the computer running slow. If your computer's running slow right now, I can guarantee it's almost probably the drive that's causing it.
SPEAKER_00Especially if you're still running on an old disk drive as your primary drive for your computer anymore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we don't we don't put any of these mechanical disk drives into our computers. We put solid state drives in them. So we really just try to get them as fast as they can be, get just some real-world performance that a lot of our customers are making off with just fine. They save a bunch of money. You know, a brand new computer from a lot of these big box stores will run you $1,500, $1,600, and it's gonna last you the same amount of time that a laptop or desktop from refresh computers will last you at a fraction of the cost. You know, we've got Windows 11 computers right now, I believe, starting for around the $300 mark. And that's very, very competitive for what's going on in the market right now.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And especially when you consider the vast majority of people are writing up Word documents, accessing the internet, maybe playing a YouTube video or two. 99% of what you do on these PCs is what you can do on that fifth that $1,500, $1,600 machine that you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Right. And you know, with this being a uh back to school season, kids are going back to school early, or not earlier, but come in the coming weeks. You know, we are going to be seeing an uptick in a lot of virtual schooling. I've noticed has been on the uprise. So if this is if this is the time that you may need to be replacing your computer, if you're on a Windows 10 machine, especially, give a give us a call or go to our website at refreshcomputers.net. Our website has our entire inventory that you can check out there. We have an order process as well. Um, we're also offering $300 or more free shipping. So if you need to purchase a system, now is gonna be the best time to do it. Um, I think we're going to another break, but once we get back, we're gonna be talking about a little surprise Microsoft gave that uh they didn't really tell anybody.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but we'll figure it out here in just a little bit. 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 Adam Littlefield, a technician from the Refresh Computer Superstore. And 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 ahead and use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website over at Refresh Computers.net or stop 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. to 7 p.m., which means if you're listening to the show here on Saturday, you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now back to Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Greg, and thank you, everybody, for tuning into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. Um, if you're just tuning in now, we did talk a lot about some storm prep in the beginning of this show. It was a lot of good information, especially if you are an EV owner.
SPEAKER_00Rest in peace, F-150 Lightning.
SPEAKER_01Yes, the F-150 Lightning, rest in peace. But if you missed any of that, go to our website, refreshcomputers.net, click the podcast link in the top right corner. You can listen back to the beginning of the show in its entirety. No ads. You can listen to our podcast as well on most platforms that podcasts are really available now. So if you don't want to go to our website, you can always check out other platforms. We're available almost anywhere. So
Windows 10 ESU Quietly Extends
SPEAKER_01in this segment, I want to talk a little bit about Windows 10. You know, we've uh we've been talking about Windows 11 a lot, why it's the time to upgrade and it It is still the time to upgrade.
SPEAKER_00It is definitely still the time to upgrade.
SPEAKER_01It is, you know, we are we are kind of getting to this point with Windows 10 now that, you know, I I kind of was a couple months ago, I think I used the term beating the dead horse. Yeah. I I think that's still kind of what Microsoft is doing right now. This horse is very much buried. This horse is like you can see one hoof. Yeah. This this horse being Windows 10, of course, you know, when we had uh talked about its support being ended back in October of last year, Microsoft did actually come out with a program that was providing extended security updates. They called it their uh ESU program. Pretty much gave one more year of critical security patches to your computer if you're on Windows 10. Gave a little bit of time just plugging up some holes that some bad guys could be using until you can upgrade yourself to a Windows 11 machine. A stopgap measure.
SPEAKER_00That's all that's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01And that's all it's supposed to be. It's all it's it was ever meant to be. You know, it's it's kind of like if you're sailing a ship and you plug in the 80th hole, it is time to move on to the new ship. I'll say it. I'll say it outright. And Microsoft actually did something back in June that I can almost guarantee not a lot of our listeners heard about with this extended security program. They actually pushed it out another year to 2027. From what I've seen of probably the 500,000 people I've talked to in the last month or so, I have had one, and I mean one person ask me if it was legitimate because they got an email about it. So it it seems to me Microsoft isn't really pushing the word out that they're doing this, and I I think it's almost intentional because the article where they talked about the 2026 extension, they actually went back and just did an admin edit and changed it to 2027.
SPEAKER_00Not just an edit. That's all they did. They didn't repush the article, they didn't bring it back to the top of your Microsoft questions. No. Right. They made one single admin edit and moved on.
SPEAKER_01They just moved on from it. That's it. It's to me, it this looks more like a reprieve. This isn't, you know, them resurrecting Windows 10. They're not bringing it back. They are just extending another year of supports. And, you know, I used I used the term jokingly earlier of beating the dead horse, but it is kind of, I believe, where we are getting to.
SPEAKER_00So this is like a Frankenstein horse at this point.
SPEAKER_01It is, you know, we've got we've got skeleton horse now trying to rise up from it. It's not a rescue. Windows 10 is still officially ex retired. They are not pushing any content updates, bug updates. The clock just got moved up a year or deck back a year for updates on security.
SPEAKER_00And that's specific. Security updates only. Like you mentioned, no bug updates, no additional patches to the actual program. Right. It is only for security concerns.
SPEAKER_01And you do still have to be enrolled in this extended security updates program, which is not something that automatically was done. You have to be enrolled either with, I believe, a Microsoft account set up with OneDrive, so it's got cloud sync. Um, I believe you can use some Microsoft reward points from their app. I'll tell you, I've never, I have no idea about the Microsoft points. I don't know how you earn them. Not something I've never messed with, but that's how you can get an extension. Or I believe it's actually a uh one-time fee of about $30.
SPEAKER_00But that's only if you don't want to sync your account. Right.
SPEAKER_01If you don't want to sync it. So, you know, the good thing is the enrollment can cover up to 10 devices on that same account. So, you know, you can cover your household with that in in one shot. But the problem again is, and I'm gonna reiterate it again, beating the dead horse of Windows 10. You know, Windows 11 is the only supported version now. It's it's something that as far as Microsoft has put out there, it's going to be the version we're gonna have for a long time now.
SPEAKER_00And it's the only thing that people are going to be making these newer updates as well as security moving forward, things like your internet browsers, things like your programs that you use on a daily basis. Right. All of those updates are going to be focused towards Windows 11 security updates and vulnerabilities, not so much on Windows 10 moving forward.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And there's also the question of app support. A lot of applications on Windows are not developed by Microsoft. They are developed by just individual software companies that guess what? When they see the drop of support on an operating system, they're gonna stop providing support for that operating system. It's the natural flow for software that, you know, when something like that gets dropped, you as a software developer, you probably drop it a little bit later too. And something major I've been seeing actually are things like Quicken, QuickBooks. Those are two names, just a name off the bat, that are now requiring Windows 11 for their latest installations. TurboTax being another one. I know we uh just finished the turt season a couple months ago. And if you were you were one of my customers rushing in, hey, you know, I I need a Windows 11 computer, I can't file my taxes. That's where we are headed. So while this clock has been moved, it's it's not it's not the saving grace for for that Windows 10 computer. It really is time to go more towards an upgrade.
How To Enroll Or Upgrade
SPEAKER_00Now, let's say I do still have that Windows 10 computer and I'm not sure if I'm enrolled in these updates.
SPEAKER_01What can I do, Adam? So the best thing I would suggest, first off, on the taskbar on the bottom, there is a search box. You can go down there, type in the word update. It normally should bring you to the update settings area. When you open that up, there probably will be a red message at the top stating that Windows 10 support has been dropped. Security patches are no longer being sent. Even though they are being sent with extended security updates, the main thing you want to look for on that page is there will be a line that'll say that your system is eligible to be enrolled in the extended security updates program. You click on there. Normally, what it'll ask you is to log into your Microsoft account. From there, it'll walk you through syncing files, and that'll be the free way to go through and do it. Sounds like a lot of steps. It is a lot of steps.
SPEAKER_00Are you guys able to help me out with that?
SPEAKER_01We are definitely able to help you out with that. And that's something that if you call our free tech support hotline, 407-478-8200, we can walk you through it over the phone, how to do it. Or better yet, you can bring your system by us, bring any login information, passwords you might have, just come to our store and we can kind of help you get logged into it. If it's something that we can just go through and get done, you know, I've seen us get it done in as little as five minutes. It's something that we click, click, click, that's it. We don't even charge for that normally. Um, if it is something that we have to get a little more involved with, we may charge a nominal fee for it. But again, you know, that is sometimes vital if you cannot replace your system. Right now, we are in the middle of the tax-free holiday season. I do want to keep putting that reminder out there as well. A lot of my customers I've had right now have been holding on with these extended security updates because they just they haven't been able to find to find the right time to upgrade. And if you are a parent, if you are a teacher, if you are an employee and you've got a little bit of free time and you've got a system that that does need to be upgraded, now, and I stress I can't stress this enough, now is the best time to do it. You know, we are running the ta the tax-free holiday season in the state of Florida until the 20th. This is the time that if you've got that Windows 10 computer, don't look at this extended security update being extended another year as a gift. It's it's just a band-aid.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_01And that's kind of uh the uncomfortable part is you can only wear the band-aid so long. And the longer you do wear it, I will say the the harder or the more it hurts taking that band-aid off.
SPEAKER_00No, especially considering all the talk that we've had about a lot of these parts that moving forward are gonna continue to increase in price for newer computers as well as refurbished computers. You guys are a business. Exactly. You've got to be able to make some money. So these prices are probably going to be the best that they will be for a while, and you're getting an additional 7% off thanks to the state of Florida. Better take advantage of it today.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. You can't you can't beat the opportunity that's kind of laid out here right now. And I know Microsoft has no care in the world of a free tax holiday in a state like Florida, you know. But end of the day, if you as a consumer look at it like this, you're gonna be saving some money. And saving some money, especially on buying a nice refurbished computer from refresh computers, it's gonna have you good for the next six to eight years. You know, Dave always likes to have the joke that if you go buy a machine from a big box store, you've got a $1,600 computer that'll last you the same amount of time as one of our machines will. And now you've got that big old box, that computer came in from the big box store that you would have to throw away.
SPEAKER_00And something that we talked about before was coming in to get that free diagnostic done on your PC to see if you are eligible for those Windows 10 continued upgrades. Right. But while you're doing that, you can double check to see if the PC is even available to be upgraded to Windows 11. Yeah. Because maybe you just missed out on that opportunity earlier this year.
SPEAKER_01And that is a very good point, Greg. I actually had a uh customer come in just yesterday. Their computer was running super slow, wanted me to take a look at it. I go through, diagnose it, and it was it was drive failure. That's what it was. I go through, get the drive replaced, and notice at the same time that his his system supports Windows 11. He didn't even know that it supported Windows 11. All he was wanting to do was replace the drive, get the system working for another year, and then replace it once Windows 10 support was fully dropped in October. So it there are a lot of systems out there that can move to Windows 11. And me, I don't generally understand why they aren't pushing a little more harder to let you know that you can upgrade to 11.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, especially if you're someone that hasn't gone through that upgrade process. Don't tell me about the free continued band-aid. Tell me that I can upgrade to Windows 11. That's what we're all looking for.
SPEAKER_01And that's the thing is with Microsoft, most upgrades from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is free to do through the system. So it's it's not about having to pay Microsoft a fee to be able to upgrade your computer. You can do it for free right through your updates area already. The area I was detailing earlier, if you missed those steps of how to get to that area, we will have that dictated into our summary of our podcast. So go to refreshcomputers.net, click the podcast link, and view this show and follow those steps to get to the updates area. Because, you know, you may go there to enroll your system for these extended security updates. You might be surprised it'd be a nice to see a nice little inviting blue banner at the top that says that Windows 11 is ready to install. Because sometimes it is just sitting there waiting.
SPEAKER_00Now, as we mentioned, there will be people that that banner does not pop up for. They're really attached to their current machine. They do not want to move on to another option. There is one other option, and we've addressed it in a previous podcast. As Adam mentioned, you can check out all the old podcasts there at refreshcomputers.net. You might want to look this one up.
Linux As The Last Lifeline
SPEAKER_00Maybe you could load Linux onto that system, right?
SPEAKER_01Right. And Linux is a very interesting option. It's not for everybody.
SPEAKER_00It's not for everybody.
SPEAKER_01It's a learning curve. However, I have actually seen there are a lot of forks of Linux now that actually emulate how Windows works, the UI, how everything looks. So it can almost turn into a very similar machine for you without much trouble, I would say. I know one of the big ones that are out there right now is called Zorin OS. If you are somebody that's interested in Linux, give Zorin OS a look. Just look it up. If you have any questions, bring your bring your computer by us. We can actually take a look at it, see if that's something that could maybe support being moved over to Linux if it doesn't support Windows 11. Because even with Windows 10 support, you know, being dropped, even though they did silently extend the security updates, that system doesn't mean it's it doesn't mean that system's useless. You know, it is still a good piece of technology. And I've seen Linux able to run on you know the bottom of the barrel machines, the bottom of the bottom of the barrel. So it is something to consider, but again And again, that's more for like the hobbyist.
SPEAKER_00And if this is something that you have a lot of valuable, important information on, before you do this, back up all of your information. Everything. So because this could uh you could be uh very much regretting the option, and I would almost hate offering it to you at this point of moving over to Linux if you don't back up your device.
SPEAKER_01It is it is a scary move, and if it's something that you think you might be interested in, again, I urge you to come by our store, talk to one of our technicians, we can give you exactly we can give you a lot of smart tips on what you can expect if you were to move over to that, and we'll we'll play a little bit of devil's advocate and tell you why you shouldn't do it. Because at the end of the day, there are pros and cons to everything, especially moving over to a new OS like that. Um, we're gonna go to another break here, and when we get back, we're gonna be uh getting to you with one of our weekly tips that uh make using your computer just a little bit easier.
SPEAKER_00You'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, sitting here with Adam Littlefield from the Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. And don't forget to check out the website at refreshcomputers.net. And now back to Adam.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Greg, and I want to say thank you, everybody, who's tuned into this episode of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers.
Frozen PC Fix With Task Manager
SPEAKER_01We're towards the end of it here. This is our last uh weekly tip segment that we have. We had a bunch of other information-filled segments before, so if you missed any of that, go to I I suggest go to refreshcomputers.net, click the podcast link in the top right corner, listen to this show going back, you know, the three segments we had before this. We have a bunch of other shows there as well that have tons of information, and it's it's kind of interesting to see how things progress just throughout the years with technology. And with this segment, we're gonna be giving a nice little weekly tip of what you can do with that frozen computer. Um, I can I can almost guarantee you that everybody out there, at least once you've had your computer freeze up on you, and it's been in the middle of a super important project that you've got a deadline the next day, and it's just it makes you want to pull your hair out, and you just you give your computer a little salute, you know, just that it g you give it a little salute, and I'll tell you what, that probably won't do anything. No, you need to add the other two fingers to do that. You need to add two more fingers. You can get you can give the computer a three-finger salute. And what you can do with that, what I mean is you can actually use on the keyboard control, alt, and escape. Those three keys right there. You press those, and what that brings up is the task manager. Normally, when the computer's frozen up, it's the browser stopped working, you got a little spinning wheel trying to click on it, maybe it grayed out, said it's not responding. When you open up Task Manager with this shortcut, you can select the browser, any other programs really, and just select an end task, just like that.
SPEAKER_00Now you see, I've always been a control alt delete guy. Right. But this one just jumps straight to task manager, huh?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this one just jumps straight to task manager, and control alt delete still is the old-fashioned combo you can do with it. You don't have to call me old, Adam, but yes. I'm being friendly with that one. But you do control alt delete, you've got task manager in the list that comes up. Same idea. Control shift escape, it it just goes there a little faster. So opening up Task Manager with that combination, it's not just for, you know, closing down a program that's frozen. It's not just about being able to close it out as well. You actually do get a bunch of information there to show if a program's maybe hogging up the memory or the processor. The processor basically has what I describe as a bunch of lanes in it. And when you've got one program clogging up all those lanes on that highway, everything else that your computer is trying to do will come to a screeching halt. And it's it's a pretty noticeable cr screeching halt too.
SPEAKER_00It also kind of gives you an idea of what's adding up as well. So if you look up if you're trying to find out what all those startup programs are, this gives you a great avenue to kind of see what's going on from that as well.
SPEAKER_01Right. So, with doing that, you know, like Greg was saying, it gives you just a general idea of everything that's going on. You know, you get to see a little bit more of what's going on running in the background as well. So if there is a runaway program that you closed four hours ago and your computer is still running just very, very bad, you can open it up and you may see a process was left open from that program that you were running. If you are a Mac user, you can do command option and escape. What that opens is a box called forced quit. Basically, pick the frozen app, click force quit, and that's it. You're done. Easy as that. So that was a a good little
Escaping Full Screen Scam Popups
SPEAKER_01tip. This especially, I would say, is very useful right now for any pop-up spam ads that we have been seeing right now. There are a lot of them that take over your full screen, flashing icons, a beeping noise, and a probably a phone number to call. First, first tip, don't call that phone number. Never. Give it the little the little three-finger salute that that control shift escape, close out the browser. When you reopen it, it may ask you to restore the pages. Don't do that because it's just gonna reopen that that scam ad that popped up. So I I believe we're getting to the end of our episode here. So I want to thank everybody again for tuning into this episode. If you missed any of it, go to refreshcomputers.net, listen to that podcast link, to this show, any others. Um, we're gonna have a fresh new show tomorrow about a lot of AI stuff, um, data centers, all of that. It's gonna be a lot of fun. So um, until then, this has been Adam Littlefield. I'll be speaking to you guys again tomorrow.
