2023 May eBytes
ChatGPT vs. Bing vs. Google Bard: Which AI Is the Most Helpful?
How to Recycle Your Electronics
15 Money-Saving Tips for Laptop Buyers
The best dash cams you can buy
The Best Budget Monitors for 2023
10 Ways to Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal
How to Connect Your Android Phone to Your Windows 11 PC
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ChatGPT vs. Bing vs. Google Bard: Which AI Is the Most Helpful?
ChatGPT is seeing competition from Microsoft's Bing and Google's Bard. Here's a breakdown of how all three chatbots fare.
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How to Recycle Your Electronics
Need to dispose of an old PC, phone, or printer? Do your part by donating your used tech or getting rid of it in an environmentally safe way at Apple, Best Buy, Staples, and other retailers.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-recycle-your-technology
Also see the PCC site in info on Device Donations to Charity or Recycle:
https://sites.google.com/site/theminingpcc/deals
Avoid the Trash Heap: 16 Creative Uses for an Old Computer - Don't junk that ancient laptop or desktop. Reuse it! Turn an old gaming PC into a NAS, experiment with a new OS, build your own security cam, and explore more creative ideas.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/avoid-the-trash-heap-creative-uses-for-an-old-computer
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15 Money-Saving Tips for Laptop Buyers
With decades of experience testing and reviewing laptops and gathering insider secrets, we've learned the best ways to save money on a new notebook.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/15-money-saving-tips-for-laptop-buyers
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The best dash cams you can buy
Dash cams record footage of accidents, road rage incidents, and more. The best dash cams feature motion detection, voice controls, and 4k resolution.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/best-dash-cam
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The Best Budget Monitors for 2023
Shop wisely, and $200 or less can land you a midsize display with wide color coverage and maybe some surprising extras. Here's how to snag the best cheap monitor (or two of 'em!), plus top picks backed by our deep-dive reviews.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-budget-monitors
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10 Ways to Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal
Check out these quick tips to boost your wireless signal from your router, extend and optimize your Wi-Fi coverage, and speed up your surfing.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/10-ways-to-boost-your-wi-fi-signal
Best Wi-Fi Routers for 2023 - Figuring out what the best router for your needs can be complicated. We've tested the top Wi-Fi router brands so you can find the right one for your needs.
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-wi-fi-router
The Best Wi-Fi Mesh Network Systems for 2023 - Working from home by day, gaming and streaming by night? Defeating Wi-Fi dead zones is more important than ever. A mesh network system can help, and these are the best we've tested.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-wi-fi-mesh-network-systems
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How to Connect Your Android Phone to Your Windows 11 PC
Connecting the two lets you send text messages, see notifications, instantly grab photos, and even run apps from your Android on your Windows 11 PC. We show you how to get started.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-connect-your-android-phone-to-your-windows-11-pc ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links - News, Tips, & Downloads
Google Authenticator Now Syncs Your One-Time Codes Across Devices - The update matches a feature long offered by competing authenticator apps and password-manager services.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-authenticator-now-syncs-your-one-time-codes-across-devices
How to Make Sure iCloud Is Backing Up, Syncing Your Data - If you've felt the pain of losing all the photos, videos, and documents saved on your iPhone, or want to avoid it, iCloud is your friend. Here's how to make sure everything's set up and syncing.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-make-sure-icloud-is-backing-up-syncing-your-data
Best Wi-Fi Routers for 2023 - Figuring out what the best router for your needs can be complicated. We've tested the top Wi-Fi router brands so you can find the right one for your needs.
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-wi-fi-router
Microsoft PowerToys: 18 Ways to Enhance Windows 10 and Windows 11 - Need to rename multiple files at once, find your mouse cursor, or quickly mute your audio during a virtual meeting? Microsoft’s free PowerToys utility will give your operating system a boost.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/enhance-windows-10-with-microsoft-powertoys
Millions of Facebook users are entitled to a settlement payout. How to file a claim - Meta settled its lawsuit that alleged the company allowed a political marketing firm to improperly access user data. You might be owed some money.
Better Than Chrome: 21 Hidden Tricks Inside Microsoft's Edge Browser - Replacing the now defunct Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows, Edge offers a host of helpful features. Here’s how to get the most out of them.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/microsoft-edge-browser-tips-tricks
7 Bad Habits That Are Destroying Your PC - Want your computer to last longer? Stop doing these things immediately.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/bad-habits-that-are-destroying-your-pc
The Best Productivity Apps for 2023 - These 40 apps will make your life at work and home easier, better, or both.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/best-productivity-apps
How to Sell Your iPhone Safely and Get the Most Cash - Here's what to do before you sell your iPhone or trade it in for an iPhone 14, as well as the best places to get cash or credit for your Apple device.https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/sell-your-iphone-safely-and-get-the-most-cash
AirTag vs. Tile: Which Bluetooth Tracker Should You Choose? - Whether you've lost your keys, phone, or wallet, an AirTag or Tile can help track them down. But which one is best for you? We tested Apple's AirTag and all four Tile trackers to help you decide.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/airtag-vs-tile-which-bluetooth-tracker-should-you-choose
10 Things Every Parent With a Connected Kid Needs to Know - Protecting kids is harder today than it used to be, thanks in large part to technology. We tell you how to prepare children for the dangers they face online.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/things-every-parent-with-a-connected-kid-needs-to-know
AI could automate 25% of all jobs. Here's which are most (and least) at risk - AI can automate the most annoying parts of your job. But what if it can do your whole job?
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Ask a Question - Send any Tips & Downloads, Ask a Question, For Sale, or articles to: TheMiningPCC@gmail.com
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Q. From a PCC Member - Should I buy a laptop now or wait to get a lower price?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. I would guess that the price of laptops and desktops will continue to go down from the highs of 2019 and 2020. Only buy a Windows 11 PC and do not buy the very cheap Windows 10.
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Q. From a PCC Member - How to destroy a hard drive on a PC I plan to recycle? Hammer?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. The drives are built very strong. It would take a big hammer or first take it apart and then a hammer will work. You can also use a drill to put several holes in the drive. You can also use free software to wipe files and directories so they can not be recovered. Most people only have a handful of files or directories to delete. You can then reset the OS. Solid State drives do not work the same as hard drives. It is almost impossible to recover data on a SSD.
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Q. From a PCC Member - I heard about this website, https://thatsthem.com/, that will search for information about anyone. I typed in my email and it came up with another person with my email address. Should I be concerned?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. No. There are lots of sites and services that aggregate information like name, email, phone, address, etc. Sometimes they are good and you will see accurate info, other times they may show incorrect info because a phone number or address you had in the past was owned by someone else.
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Q. From a PCC Mac SIG Leader Mike Griffin - I have been getting questions about how SSDs technology works. Key Points:
* NAND logic gates are the most common form of solid state storage
* The quality and architecture of the NAND storage, as well as the intelligent block management and “garbage collection” in the controller can determine whether you get 1000, or 100,000 write cycles.
* Read cycles don’t affect the SSD lifespan.
* SSDs and flash drives are not the same, though they may use similar components.
* Flash drives have an external storage focus with USB interface.
* SSDs have a system and performance focus with SATA or NVMe interface.
* Spinning platter hard drives may have longer life than SSDs, but may have less reliability. See lifespan algorithm as referenced below.
If I haven’t put you to sleep yet, here are a few references for you.
Michael
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SSD Ref. Articles - MEGriffin
Comparing SSD speed, lifetime, and reliability
https://tekie.com/blog/hardware/ssd-vs-hdd-speed-lifespan-and-reliability/
What is an SSD write cycle?
https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/definition/write-cycle
Lifespan of an SSD
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. I just did a PCC Presentation on March 15, 2023 on "Solid State Drive & RAM". You can find the handout and video at: https://sites.google.com/site/theminingpcc/future-meetings/past-meeting-files
Much of the info in the links above is not accurate and the guy does not know what he is talking about for Lifespan. From my presentation:
SSD cells have a limited lifespan. A current SSD cell can handle approximately 3,000 write cycles, which doesn’t sound like much at first, but thanks to the principle of wear leveling, the SSD controller spreads write operations evenly across all cells to minimize cell death and prolong the lifespan of the drive. If you write data to an SSD 24/7, it would still take several decades for the drive to break down. For most people the PC will be obsolete before the SSD cells all die.
If you fill your SSD to near capacity the "wear leveling" will be writing to the same cells and the cells might only last you 1 year. Personally I have a 256 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD. I keep the 256 for the OS and Software which means very little updates compared to the HDD which I use for all my documents, photos, music, and video and update all the time. Understand your hardware and use it correctly.
Personally I do not trust many bloggers, I truly am a "Doubting Thomas". Most do not know much or are just trying to promote something. The website in Germany is currently down so I can not get the exact figures he used, but his estimated lifespan of 345 years is a joke based on only a small number of writes. I could claim it will last a million years based on my own made up numbers. I know how an OS and software work and they are constantly writing to a drive. Browsers keep and update GBs of data every hour, with caches, cookies, etc. Software like Word and Excel do versions, logs, temp files, and auto saves all the time. Hundreds if not thousands of writes are taking place all the time your PC is on.
I just asked ChatGPT the question and it said lots of factors, maybe 3-5 years was its guess.
SSDs are amazing and well worth having. The next versions will only get better and cheaper.
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Q. From a PCC Member - How do we know when it is time to buy a new cell phone? My wife and I both have Motorola Moto G phones, probably 5-7 years old. They both work OK.
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. If it is 5-7 years old you do need a new phone. Below are the main reasons to upgrade that I have seen:
1) Something broken like a screen or button not working
2) Battery not holding change like when new (Usually get about 1000 charges max)
3) OS no longer updated to new versions or security patches (Vendors, even Apple, limit support)
4) Can only get 5G cell data with new phone
5) Need more memory to store photos, videos, and apps
6) Better camera (Photo megapixel and video 4K 8K)
7) Newer/faster/more secure WiFi standard supported
8) Other - better screen, faster CPU, Google Pay support, wireless charge, more waterproof
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Q. From a PCC Member - I know you bought an HP desktop. I am in need of replacing this old Asus laptop but I cannot recall when I bought it. Today, I was at our local Staples store which I know from time to time has decent pricing. We do not play games on either laptop. Two HP's seem OK on pricing. Both are new HP computers in what I thought to be original boxes. The first is an HP with an Intel i3 processor, 15.6" screen, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD with Microsoft 11. The other which I prefer due to RAM speed is an HP with an Intel i5, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD, again with Windows 11. Neither are touchscreens which I don't need. The i3 is $329, the i5 is $450. I tried to get the manager to come to $400 on the i5 but he could not given competitive pricing. (He checked competitors for almost 30 min.) Wondering your thoughts on this as I need to decide by Sat.? Also unsure how to transfer from this ASUS to the new HP?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. In some cases the i3 CPU might be faster than the i5 because you need to look at the number of CPUs (2-32) and their speed on the PC. The main test of speed is if it is fast enough for doing the thing that takes the most time for you today. Example: If you edit a 15 minute video and it takes an hour to save, you may want a better CPU to save in 2 minutes. If today you do not have tasks that take lots of time, you will not notice much difference. The display boils down to resolution that it supports old laptops only could do ? x 720, yours should do at least ? x 1028 (1K), more expensive laptops support 4K. The 8GB RAM is fine for what you do. The 256 GB SSD is usually smaller than what most people have today with a 1,000 GB HDD. If you do not have much currently in your documents, photos, and videos or you plan to save and access this data from cloud drives like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Apple iCloud, you do not need much storage on the laptop. They both have Windows 11 which is great, you do not want to buy one that is not Windows 11.
The PCC meeting May 17 will be on setting up a new PC going over some of the things moving from an old to a new. You MUST have a backup of your document, photos, and video and use that to setup the new. For cloud files you do not need to do anything.
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Q. From a PCC Member - Last night we tried to get drivers licenses from AZ on the web. We could get mine without issue since I have an account online already. The DMV would not issue another account having the same email address. An option was to load their app on Yvonn's cell phone. We did that but ultimately after taking pictures of both sides of her current DL she could not get the photo required using her cell camera. We abandoned the effort and have an appointment at the DMV this morning. Now I want to be sure that app is totally erased as it has too much personal information. I know how to get rid of an app but want to be sure it isn't hanging out somewhere on her phone after getting rid of it. Would you have a suggestion?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. When you Remove/Delete the app from the phone it deletes the software and data you may have setup. The only thing it may not delete is a photo of the DL since that used the camera and that may have been saved along with other photos. Check your Photo app on the phone if you see it.
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