Tech Tip: Looking to change your Wireless plan? Mid November is when the holiday deals start. A great time to start shopping around

I have been involved in the mobile phone industry for in some way, shape or form for many years.  Either working directly for a wireless provider or providing consulting and analysis on the industry.  One thing I have learned is that the holiday season is the best time to shop around for a new phone and plan.

The Christmas and holiday season has always been the busiest for retail in all forms, and the wireless industry is no exception.  Even in the day past when giving a phone as a gift was very difficult due to contracts and phone subsidies, it was still a huge business time.  With family plans, unsubsidized phones, tablets and prepaid services, giving phones has become big business.

But if you are already on a contact, how does this help you?

This is the time when wireless plans also get very aggressive as providers look to increase their subscriber numbers before the end of the year.  Even if you are on a plan, even in contract, shop around at different providers and look for a deal that would work for you.  Now you can use this as leverage when contacting your existing provider.  It doesn’t always work, depending on where you are in a contract, but if the saving you can make switching can offset any cancellation penalty, then it may be worth pursuing.  Plus you would get a new phone if you switch, or get your old phone unlocked to take with you.  (If its not unlocked already)

Use this time to either shop or negotiate for the best package for your needs.  Remember, if its been over a year since you last changed your wireless plan, there is a good chance that your needs have changed.  It is at least worth a few minutes of your time to check it out.

Tech Tip: Sync Chrome on your Phone and Desktop

Most Android phones still come stock with the generic browser, however downloading Chrome for Android has a lot of advantages. Apart from running fast and having browser tabs, you can sync the pages you are viewing with your desktop client. Chrome for both desktop and mobile allows you to sign in using your Google account. By signing in, you can view web pages on your mobile phone, and then open up your desktop browser and find the same link without having to copy and paste into your browser.

To access browser tabs from your phone on your desktop, open up Chrome on your computer (Assuming you are signed into your Google account) Scroll down to “Recent Tabs” and open up the sub menu. You should see Tabs from your computer that were opened, but you should also see a section with your Mobile phone, followed by open tabs. Select the tab you want and instantly you will find the webpage you were looking for available to you.

Its a small feature, but very useful.

Tech Tip: Stop your computer from booting up slowly

Tech Tip: If your computer is booting up slowly, check to see what programs are launching at startup. You can probably turn some off

When your computer starts up, it needs to pre-start some programs to allow them to be ready to boot up when called upon. Some of them are required, but others are there for no other reason than to be ready. Some programs will run in the background, even if not called upon, just so they will start up faster when you do click on them.

One of the easiest ways to see whats booting up is to look in the start menu at the different file folders, and look for a startup file. Click on that to see some of the programs that are running at launch.

You can also press Ctrl-Alt-Del and then select “Start Task Manager” to view what programs are running. You can look through the “Applications” and the “Processes” tab to see what programs are running. If you find programs that are running that don’t need to be, you can disable them to help speed up the computer. Beware though not to shut down programs just because you don’t know what they are. You can cause some major problems if you shut down the wrong program.

Tech Tip: Cloud computing is great for syncing files, but always back it up on a physical drive for when you don’t have internet access

Cloud computing has come a long ways since it first became popular a few years ago. Having all your files available in a central location means easy access to all your files and no space requirements. That is how things like Google’s Chromebook operate, using only the cloud to store your files.

The one thing to remember with cloud storage is you need to have an active internet connection to access them. Internet hotspots along with mobile broadband allow us to connect almost anywhere, but there are still times when connections are hard to come by, or your local internet connection may suffer an outage. Always make sure to keep important files backed up on external storage drives so you can work on them when needed. The great thing about USB drives is how portable they are. Keeping your files a USB drive as a backup will make sure you don’t lose those documents and can always reference them when needed.