What do I need for Netflix (or ONLINE TV)?

What do I need for Netflix (or ONLINE TV)?

This question relates to the internet speed from your provider as required to run Netflix, to avoid "fits and starts".

First check your internet speed at Ookla speed test.

Tap or click here to do so.

You will find a number for your throughput in so-called Mbps or megabits per second.

Then check to see Netflix requirements for various resolutions of your picture.

Tap or click for this information.

If your internet service in substandard for the picture quality would like, you can always subscribe to Netflix to receive DVDs in the mail.

Get the Latest Postings

You may now have the latest snrtech postings sent to you by Email---just add your Email address in the box at right!!

How Internet Works

Very few understand how internet works, including techies, so that wrong assumptions are often made when things go wrong.

So tap or click here to find out in less than 5 minutes.

So internet works like the post office.  Like letters, packets are sent and received.   The packets are actually sent one way and sent back to be sure they are perfectly correct.    If not the packets are resent.  

When they are resent too many times without being accepted at the destination, the computer gives up and records a timeout.   This has been a persistent problem here, but at this moment our service here is running very well indeed.

A chain is only as good as its weakest link, and anything can go wrong at any time, so that the internet provider needs to monitor service continuously.   That too often does not happen.   It can be done automatically, however.

The provider can actually check remotely whether your own system is working, and you can check the lights on the router.

Usually the problem is elsewhere and only the provider can fix it by checking all the hardware between your system and the destination of your packets.    Sometimes it is like finding a needle in a haystack and may require high level expertise.

Organizing Google Docs Files

Ever wondered how to organize files in Google Docs/Drive?

(In Google Docs, click on the upper left menu, and click on Google Drive at bottom.  Click again on Drive to display folders.  Then the process is mainly setting up folders and dragging and dropping files into them.   I initially started with the files and set up folders as I went through them.   You can view the files in List or Thumbnail modes, the latter providing a page view.)

Organizing Google Docs Files  - from Google...

Organize your files in Google Drive

To organize your files in Drive, you can create folders to make files easier to find and share with others. You can use Google Drive on the web, Android, iPhone, or iPad. Your changes will sync automatically.

Create a folder

1. Go to drive.google.com.
2. On the left, click New  Folder.
3. Enter a name for the folder.
4. Click Create.

Move a file or folder

You can move an item from anywhere in Google Drive: the main window, the left panel, or search results.

1. Go to drive.google.com.
2. Right-click the item you want to move.
3. Click Move to…
4. Choose or create a folder, then click Move.

Drag to a folder

1. Go to drive.google.com.
2. Click and hold the item you want to move.
3. Move the item over the folder and release it.

Tip: Use the left panel to move items into any folder in Google Drive.

Save an item to multiple folders

1. Go to drive.google.com.
2. Click the item you want to move.
3. On your keyboard, press Shift + z.
4. Choose the folder you want.
5. Click Add here.

How to Save Photos Sent from Text Messaging

Someone may send you a photo using text messaging (MMS) as an attachment.

To keep it takes two steps: 

1.Download attachment by tapping on it.

2. Then, in order to save downloaded photos sent from messaging you need an additional app called SaveMMS.   Click here for it.

That same app can automatically always save photos attached to MMS messaging.

Separately, to be sure that your photos are always backed up in a safe place, you should always set them up to automatically back up in Settings.

They will then always appear in your Photos regardless of whether you have erased them on your phone, as long as they are in the cloud.

How to Fix It

If the solution to your computer problem is not right here on this site, when you do a search at right, you might not think to ask YouTube.

YouTube is loaded with videos on just how to fix it, whatever the problem might be.

Just formulate your question and search.   That is all there is to it.

If you have misplaced your instruction manual, another thing you might do is simply to search Internet for that manual and download it.   (I keep instruction manuals for everything in my Kindle document library.   I often get and read the instruction manual before buying any product.}

Then, after I get something fixed, I keep my notes for future reference (and to help others) in Evernote.   

If I need  to contact a manufacturer, I set up an online text chat as opposed to voice communication, if that is possible.      

eBay and Craigslist

eBay and Craigslist can be a senior’s great friend, WITH CARE!

The secret is to care about whom you're dealing with, research the items, and the buyers or sellers, and be completely upright, honest, and in your dealings.

Nobody can do it for you.  There are plenty of videos and help pages to show you how to do it, but you have to do it yourself.

Injecting a third-party exposes to all kinds of communication problems, such as undervaluing or overvaluing an item.     

So is it worth it?    Absolutely!

If you ever needed a hard to find part, or an item no longer sold in the stores, or something inexpensive from overseas, eBay is your source.   Paying through PayPal make it safe. You pay when the item ships and you are anonymous.

Or someone may want those things you no longer want or can dispose of locally.  You are also paid when the item ships.

Is eBay reliable?   Certainly eBay itself does everything possible to produce the quality of transactions, such as providing the history of a particular seller or buyer.     But then it is up to you to go further by communicating with the buyer or seller to get an idea of who you're dealing with.    And read the offering very carefully indeed.

With Craigslist it is easy to establish a communication without anyone knowing who you are.   All communications go anonymously through Craigslist until you feel comfortable with the person you are dealing with and make a more direct contact.

You can always meet them in a public place. If you do need to go to a specific address, you can scout it out ahead of time and go there with someone else or simply meet first in a public area.

Also,  with Craigslist, you will need to have cash on hand to complete the transaction.    I have never bargained with anyone on Craigslist. if the price is not what I want to pay for the item as described,  I pass it up.

On eBay, on the other hand, I look for items where I can make an offer, and often do so on the most recently listed items.

It has often been enjoyable to deal with buyers and sellers.   One woman who bought two bikes drove up in a red truck and, and getting out, explained that she didn't need any more bikes, but she couldn't help herself renovating them and giving them to others.

In another case,  I was looking for a piano, having sold my old Baldwin Acrosonic years ago and missing it.    After talking on the phone with the seller, we drove to an immaculate  Mennonite Farm where a piano mover had a few pianos stored in a winterized  barn.     

There was a lonely Baldwin Acrosonic which showed few signs of ever having been played but quite a few vacuum cleaner bumps. I bought it on the spot for cash, delivered.   It was so sad to see it unwanted and unplayed.   

In all my buying, I have fared as well as buying direct from the most reputable stores, such as JCPenney and L.L.Bean.

Wherever there is a problem I have bent over backwards to rectify it,  so that everyone will know it is safe to buy from or sell to me.  The buyer is always right.