September 2020
I recommend the Orbi's.
Good morning. You set up our Apple airport years ago with WiFi extenders. Time Warner Cable wants to replace our modem and wants us to get a new router that our current set up will not handle faster speeds. It is super slow. Do you have a recommendation? I am worried about replacing and messing everything up since we are HEAVILY depending on WiFi right now- like everyone else. Is this something you can help us with or do you have a recommendation? I know you primarily deal only with Apple products. Thx so much.
___________
Yes, the Apple airports are basically obsolete at this point. Specifically the expresses. The towers are still fine but regardless, you'll be looking to upgrade your wifi network soon. I recommend looking at the Orbi system by Netgear. There are several different models depending on square footage but in general, I've had very good success with the Orbi's.
I am not currently entering homes due to the COVID situation and only working remotely. Wifi networks cannot be setup remotely so that would only be onsite for me. I'm watching every day to see when NC moves to phase 3 at which time I will be considering starting on-location sessions once again.
One of the common mistakes that people make when replacing networks is that they leave pieces of the old system and that can confuse things. Another mistake to watch out for is what you name the new network. I prefer to use a new name. The password can stay the same but changing the network name eliminates the potential for other mistakes like conflicting names. (SSIDs)
Bottom line:
Orbi by Netgear=best
Velop by Linksys is also good.
___________
Yes, the Apple airports are basically obsolete at this point. Specifically the expresses. The towers are still fine but regardless, you'll be looking to upgrade your wifi network soon. I recommend looking at the Orbi system by Netgear. There are several different models depending on square footage but in general, I've had very good success with the Orbi's.
I am not currently entering homes due to the COVID situation and only working remotely. Wifi networks cannot be setup remotely so that would only be onsite for me. I'm watching every day to see when NC moves to phase 3 at which time I will be considering starting on-location sessions once again.
One of the common mistakes that people make when replacing networks is that they leave pieces of the old system and that can confuse things. Another mistake to watch out for is what you name the new network. I prefer to use a new name. The password can stay the same but changing the network name eliminates the potential for other mistakes like conflicting names. (SSIDs)
Bottom line:
Orbi by Netgear=best
Velop by Linksys is also good.
Can I bypass the iPad passcode?
Found an old IPAD and do not have passcode. Can you help with this? The IPAD belongs to someone with a memory issue and the pass code had never been written down.
___________
Depends. If you can't get past the passcode to open the iPad, it CAN be bypassed but it would require completely wiping the iPad and restoring it from scratch. The next obstacle comes in if the iPad had previously been logged into an AppleID. If it was, then after the iPad has been completely erased and restored as a brand new device, you will STILL see a message asking for the previous owner's AppleID password before it can be used by the new owner. This is Apple's way of deterring people from stealing iPhones and iPads and it has been very effective. So effective that some owners can't even get into their own devices. I see this a lot with family members passing one down or donated devices.
___________
Depends. If you can't get past the passcode to open the iPad, it CAN be bypassed but it would require completely wiping the iPad and restoring it from scratch. The next obstacle comes in if the iPad had previously been logged into an AppleID. If it was, then after the iPad has been completely erased and restored as a brand new device, you will STILL see a message asking for the previous owner's AppleID password before it can be used by the new owner. This is Apple's way of deterring people from stealing iPhones and iPads and it has been very effective. So effective that some owners can't even get into their own devices. I see this a lot with family members passing one down or donated devices.
Was it actually Apple that called me?
19/09/20 Filed in: scams
I got a phone call from someone identifying themselves as a representative of Apple security. He told me that my iCloud account had been compromised. He said that there were too many logins. Then he said that the attempted log ins had come from various parts of the country. He then offered to switch me to the Apple security division and they would try to get the problem straightened out.
I declined and said that I would work on it myself. I hardly had that out of my mouth before I heard him hang up.
I think it unlikely that Apple would call me individually, and I found no message on the computer when I checked later in the evening.
Does this sound like a scam? Any other reports like this?
___________
Yes. Very likely a scam. I do hear a lot of this type thing. Glad you didn’t interact with them.
I declined and said that I would work on it myself. I hardly had that out of my mouth before I heard him hang up.
I think it unlikely that Apple would call me individually, and I found no message on the computer when I checked later in the evening.
Does this sound like a scam? Any other reports like this?
___________
Yes. Very likely a scam. I do hear a lot of this type thing. Glad you didn’t interact with them.
Where did my documents go from these folders?
04/09/20 Filed in: iCloud Drive
It is really weird that so much of the documents are missing from this level of folder…any ideas about what I did wrong? If this happened when I cleaned up the desktop why are the parent folders still in place but all the contents gone?
I am perplexed...
___________
1. The screenshot you took is a little too small for me to make out some of the details. However,
2. It looks like you are looking at an iCloud Drive folder. I have seen this behavior before. Check to see if you have an iCloud Drive “Archive” folder in your home folder and if you do, check to see if the documents you are looking for are in the Archive. This can happen when iCloud Drive is disabled then re-enabled.
3. Cleaning the desktop would not effect folders that live in other places. Even if you had aliases pointing elsewhere and tossed out the originals, you would still see the abandoned alias file. So that’s not what happened. I’m guessing this is related to iCloud.
4. Check at iCloud.com to see if you can locate those documents via a web browser.
5. Do you have a time machine backup that we could use to recover these files. I LOVE time machine and it usually saves the day.
I am perplexed...
___________
1. The screenshot you took is a little too small for me to make out some of the details. However,
2. It looks like you are looking at an iCloud Drive folder. I have seen this behavior before. Check to see if you have an iCloud Drive “Archive” folder in your home folder and if you do, check to see if the documents you are looking for are in the Archive. This can happen when iCloud Drive is disabled then re-enabled.
3. Cleaning the desktop would not effect folders that live in other places. Even if you had aliases pointing elsewhere and tossed out the originals, you would still see the abandoned alias file. So that’s not what happened. I’m guessing this is related to iCloud.
4. Check at iCloud.com to see if you can locate those documents via a web browser.
5. Do you have a time machine backup that we could use to recover these files. I LOVE time machine and it usually saves the day.
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