tl;dr – Prevent access to Registry editing tools, Prevent access to the command prompt, and Remove Run menu from the Start menu.
3 Security Settings to Help Protect from Scammers
The Easiest Security Issue You Can Fix
tl;dr — One of the most common security issues we encounter is everyone in the store uses the computer as a full Administrator account.
Review of pecron Solar Generators
tl;dr — Great price and a lot of bang for your buck, but the ‘smart’ features/app control struggle. If you don’t need app functionality it’s a great value.
We really want to like pecron. They offer more battery power and more output for a much better price than the competition. Their units also have WiFi, however, their inability to remain connected and accessible via their mobile app makes them extremely unreliable for monitoring.
Review of OUPES Solar Generators
tl;dr — OUPES devices are purchased as-is, they do not have any firmware update system in-place. Flawed battery level design.
Through our power station journey (EcoFlow, BLUETTI, and pecron) I decided to give OUPES a look. Similar to pecron, they have a lower-cost and greater battery capacity offering — it’s just their app doesn’t work. 😐
Review of BLUETTI Solar Generators
Review of EcoFlow Solar Generators
tl;dr — Great devices, best app experience, but high premature failure rate.
With The Computer Peeps being based in Florida, hurricanes (and storms in general) are something we live with. During the last two hurricanes toward the end of 2024, I knew it was time to implement extended runtime generators.
Windows Security Tip — Disable Start Menu Web Search
We’re Breaking Up — With Chrome
It’s not them, it’s us. Jk, it is them.
tl;dr — Google Chrome’s stance on adblocker plugins/extensions greatly increases consignment/resale stores’ chances of encountering malicious content when searching the Web. Thus, The Computer Peeps no longer recommend Google Chrome as an option for browsing the Web.
Using EcoFlow Power Stations In Your Consignment/Resale Store
Losing power in the middle of the day can have a real impact on business. Losing power for an extended period of time can really impact business. After the last two hurricanes that hit Florida, we’ve been on a mission to prevent extended power outages.
In summary, we’re starting to use and recommend EcoFlow power stations as battery backups for computers, routers, and more.
Liberty5 and LibertyREACT Backup Error
Summary: The official backup utility for Liberty5 and LibertyREACT (through at least version 6.0b) appears to have an issue that leads to the automatic backup saying it completed successfully, but no database backup was created. This appears to be triggered by the implementation of the 7Zip compression utilized to compress the backup.