IT Insights Blog

The IT Insights blog is taking the day off, in honor of the U.S. observance of Independence Day. We will be back on Wednesday, July 5. Until then, why not check out the holiday-themed Independence Day quiz at CertMag.com?

In my last blog, I bragged about my nascent IT repair skills and offered three reasons why Average Joes should tackle computer repairs themselves. What do you do, on the other hand, when your best-efforts just aren’t good enough? Or when you don’t have time to tackle the job? Or maybe you just don’t want to deal with it.

For those among who us regularly attend professional or collegiate sporting events, the world was jolted earlier today by a tiny reduction of its bluster and braggadocio. Studio musician and songwriter Gary DeCarlo departed this mortal coil at the age of 75, taking with him a small pinch of the infectious glee that accompanies the casual and typically unrepentant public revivals of his most famous creative work.

It's a great feeling to take a certification exam, get a passing score, and receive your official documentation, whether paper-and-ink (as has been the tradition for decades) or digital (as is fast becoming the new norm). Getting a certification is no small accomplishment, and anyone who completes the long process should feel justifiably proud of their efforts.

Several years ago, unbeknownst to me, I downloaded a rootkit to my home computer. It was a nasty little bugger and I soon ended up unable to access my files. Not being a techie, I hauled my desktop to the local store where I had purchased it. This particular establishment had given me a guarantee that they would fix, free of charge, any computer they sold.