Archive for November, 2011
A recent survey shows 46.7% of shoppers will purchase holiday items online this year. Unfortunately, there are people out there looking to “scrooge” your holiday shopping experience. Regardless of how you shop online, keeping your online identity safe is crucial.
In part of our mission to police technology and protect the world, Geek Squad Agents have prepared tips to keep you safe while shopping online. Here are a few ways to ensure your identity remains safe while grabbing those hot deals on Cyber Monday.
Our mobile devices are replacing computers for more of our common tasks each year, and this year’s online shopping season is no different. There are a few special security concerns that come with using a mobile device to shop online. While shopping on the go this year, be sure to follow these security precautions to keep you and your digital wallet safe.
Remember, Geek Squad Agents are there for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Our primary mission is keeping your techno-stress at bay, whether that is providing you with some preventative tips, or saving the day when everything seems to be going wrong; we’re here when you need us.
-Agent Patrick B.
Thanksgiving is the time of year for family, food, football, and shopping. It’s also a time for getting lost on the way to visit relatives, cleaning up crazy kitchen messes and dealing with crowds of people looking for a great sale. Fortunately, Geek Squad is here to help you learn about how your smartphone can help.
Whether you need help getting to your crazy Aunt Edith’s house, baking that perfect pumpkin pie, scoring hot deals on Black Friday or just amusing your friends and relatives, there are a plethora of apps that can make this Thanksgiving holiday a more enjoyable (or at least a bearable) one.
If you prefer to do your post-Thanksgiving shopping on Cyber Monday, just remember to protect your personal information to ensure you’re shopping safely and securely online. If you need help securing your WiFi network or if you have questions about shopping on your smartphone, tablet or computer, contact the Geek Squad at 1-800-GEEK SQUAD, GeekSquad.com or at any Best Buy store.
At Geek Squad we know how important it is that the turkey comes out perfectly, and how stressful it can be managing a large family gathering. Hopefully these apps will help you achieve the perfect day! For help with all your technology needs, don’t hesitate to call 1.800 GEEK SQUAD to set up an onsite consultation, or visit the Geek Squad Precinct at Best Buy and other locations to speak with an Agent directly. As always, Geek Squad Agents are standing by 24/7/365 at Http://www.geeksquad.com. Every day, even on Thanksgiving, we are here to police your technology and protect the world. Just don’t ask us how long to cook that turkey for. We usually order in.
-Agent Travis
This holiday season Best Buy is launching a Holiday Gift Card Sweepstakes. Unfortunately, some nefarious people see this as an opportunity to attempt to commandeer personal information from you.
As Geek Squad Agents it is our duty to protect and serve. In an effort to keep your accounts and your personal information safe, we are providing information on how to identify and avoid phishing scams. This helpful guide will not only protect you as you participate in the Sweepstakes hosted by Best Buy, but will prepare you to keep an eye out for many phishing scams that are commonly found online every day.
Phishing sites are an Internet-wide problem. These sham websites or links may come to your attention by email, tweets or social network “posts” that look authentic. These little links will take you to a website that will look identical to a legitimate site. It could be your favorite social networking site, a website you regularly use for shopping, or even your bank’s website. However, these are fake sites designed by criminals to steal personal and account information. The fake site will commonly encourage you to login using your credentials or perhaps update your credit card. If you were to provide that information it goes straight into the scammer’s pocket.
Phishing sites also present themselves as seasonal or one-of-a-kind offers that require registration. Unfortunately, the Best Buy sweepstakes is exactly the kind of high-profile offer these scammers like to imitate.
Geek Squad has compiled some useful information on the most effective ways to safeguard your online identity:
The s indicates the site is encrypted.
We hope that you find this information useful in safeguarding yourself against phishing scams.
As a reminder, the Best Buy Gift Card giveaway will be conducted only on Best Buy’s Facebook page. As part of your entry Best Buy will only collect your email address, and will not ask for any additional information. This holiday season, if you receive information regarding the Best Buy Holiday Gift Card Sweepstakes and you would like to verify its authenticity, feel free to tweet to us @Twelpforce or by posting the information for verification on the Best Buy Community Forums.
Recently it was discovered certain 1st Generation iPod Nano’s may have a defective battery. This can lead to problems with the device. If you have a 1st Generation iPod Nano purchased between September 2005 and December 2006 you may be affected.
According to Apple:
“Apple has determined that, in very rare cases, the battery in the iPod nano (1st generation) may overheat and pose a safety risk. Affected iPod nanos were sold between September 2005 and December 2006.
This issue has been traced to a single battery supplier that produced batteries with a manufacturing defect. While the possibility of an incident is rare, the likelihood increases as the battery ages.
Apple recommends that you stop using your iPod nano (1st gen) and follow the process noted below to order a replacement unit, free of charge.”
The 1st Generation iPod Nano can be identified by its White or Black plastic front, and silver metal back. You can check to see if your 1st Generation iPod is affected by the recall by visiting Apple.com and entering the Serial Number on the back of the iPod. Apple is replacing the affected units with a 1st Generation iPod Nano that does not have the defective battery.
As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact 1-800-Geek-Squad, visit Http://www.GeekSquad.com to chat with an Agent, or tweet us at Http://twitter.com/Twelpforce.
-Agent Patrick B.
Today is Veteran’s Day. The Geek Squad would like to honor everyone who has served in the United States Military. If you know someone who has served or is currently serving in the military, please take a moment to thank them for all the sacrifices they have made for our country.
Please join us thanking Veterans around the world on Facebook and Twitter.
Geek Squad Agents understand the importance of staying connected with your family and friends, wherever they are serving. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way from it taking 3 weeks to send a letter around the world. Today’s technology provides us with many online tools – email, text, chat, and video – that allow real communication in real time. Skype, for example, is an incredible program that lets users share real time video with voice and chat from any computer with a camera and many of today’s smart phones. It is a great way for service members and their loved ones to have “face-to-face” conversations while they are thousands of miles apart.
Skype is available for free, from the following locations:
Skype for Windows and Mac OSX based computers
Skype for Android powered mobile Devices
Skype for iOS powered mobile devices.
For additional details on how to setup Skype on your PC, check out this free Geek Squad 2 Minute Miracle on setting up your account! http://www.geeksquad.com/do-it-yourself/2mm/Skype-Setup.aspx
We are committed to developing services that support members of our armed services and their families. As a special “thank you,” Geek Squad is proud to offer a 50% discount with no setup fee on our Geek Squad Online Support Plan for Veterans, and those on Active Duty status. We think they have enough on their plates. It’s the least we can do to help them stay in touch with those they love. Visit Http://www.geeksquad.com/military for details.
On behalf of all Agents, thank you for your service.
-Agent Jackie P.
Much like a majority of the United States on the eastern seaboard, a Geek Squad Service Center has also been affected by the recent heavy snow.
Unfortunately, our primary facility for digital camera and camcorder repair is currently without power. We are working hard with local authorities to restore power to the facility as quickly as possible, however it may impact our turn-time for digital camera and camcorder repair. This outage is impacting our service center’s ability to repair units, ship and receive units, and contact clients via the phone.
As always, we at Geek Squad take pride in our ability to serve our clients as quickly and efficiently as possible, and apologize for any delay this may cause in our mission. We hope the delay is minimal, and we look forward to being fully operational again as soon as possible.
-Agent Jackie P.
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