Spring is right around the corner, and for many, that means spring break travel. While we often use that time to get away from work or school, that doesn't mean we leave our tech behind.

You’ve prepped, packed your bags and are well on your way to having the best vacay ever. But to have an even more relaxing and stress-free time, take note of this advice for getting around, staying connected and capturing memories.

A premium router might not have been at the top of your family’s wish list, but it’s essential for keeping those other new devices connected to the internet and running smoothly.

Think about all those gadgets in need of Wi-Fi, from smartphones and tablets to thermostats and refrigerators.

Sometimes the key to consistent speed requires some tech feng shui.

Here are some general rules to optimize your router placement and get the most out of your Wi-Fi.

While holiday shopping is taking up most of our time lately, it's important to take a moment to consider how secure your devices are.

This week included Computer Security Day which is great time to go over our five key steps for keeping your tech safe from our Geek Squad Agents.

Smart home security cameras can give piece of mind whether you're at home, at work or on vacation. 

Want to use your voice assistance to control your home's light, music, temperature and more, but not sure where to start?

Our Geek Squad Agents can help setup your voice assistant to work with all of your smart home devices with our Voice Control Setup service.

As our lives become busier and we’re found to be spending more time on the move, we rely on our phones to be our central command for all our communications, and entertainment when you have a spare minute. Due to this it’s completely crucial that we keep our phones protected, and in working order.

Crazy about comic books? Smitten with sci-fi? Ga-ga for gadgets? Then today, Geek Pride Day, might just be for you.

If you're looking to trade in your phone, or hand it down to a friend or family member, you probably don't want to hand over your data, pics, music or apps with it. Here are the steps you'll want to take before giving your phone to someone else.

One of the things we often see when we work on clients’ computers is a covered webcam – usually with a strip of tape, occasionally with a post-it note, band-aid, or, in some more extreme cases, with paint or nail polish. It’s understandable to see a camera lens pointed at you and wonder what it’s doing. After all, how do you know somebody’s not watching it right now? This made the national news last year when FBI director James Comey, following advice he’d seen online, admitted he taped over the camera on his computer. This might very well leave you wondering if this is something we need to worry about or do in our daily lives.

So you made the jump to a 4K TV. Cool, isn't it? But are you taking advantage of everything it can do? Agent James T has some pointers.

Concerned about keeping your kids safe online? You're not alone. The Internet has a wealth of benefits for you and your family. Parents can help keep that online experience with these tips from our Geek Squad Agents.

Cleanup That Computer

Having trouble finding a particular photo from your family trip four years ago? Finding yourself with multiple copies of the same document and not sure which edits are the latest? February 13th just happens to be National Clean Out Your Computer Day.

Once you figure out how you will get video into your house, you have to figure out how you are going to watch it. In the second of his "Cutting the Cord" posts, Agent Gavin C. discusses Internet speed and video streaming services.

So you are moving in to your new place and you are wondering if you can get by without that monthly cable bill. You aren't the only one - we run into cord cutters all the time and have plenty experience sending them down that path. Agent Gavin C. put together a couple of blog posts outlining an approach. Here's the first one.

The new release of Pokémon Go is out in the world. Here are some intitial impressions for some lucky enough to have used it.

In the third and final installment of our series on Pokémon Go, our Agent Kate B tells us why players should make sure they pay attention to their surroundings while playing. Sometimes we forget that not everyone understands the desire to catch 'em all. (You can kinda tell she's a mother when you read this one...)

Our Agent Kate B has been putting the Pokémon Go app on her smartphone through its paces the last couple of weeks. We recently persuaded her to take a break from her search for new Pokéstops and give us her impressions. Here is the second of her three posts with some tips on keeping your equipment working as you play..

Our Agent Kate B has been putting the Pokémon Go app on her smartphone through its paces the last couple of weeks. We recently persuaded her to take a break from her search for new Pokéstops and give us her impressions. Here is the first of a series of three posts.

After months of development and testing, UNICORN was launched on June 21st, 2014 at 9am CDT. The goal of the mission was to put the fate of the badge in the hands of our Agents, using UNICORN to maneuver the vehicle through the Magic Castle (aka Best Buy’s corporate headquarters) and to one of three rendezvous points that would determine the fate of the Agent’s badge.

Does your computer feel slower than it used to be? Does it take longer to start up or for programs to load? If so, chances are your computer has accumulated some “digital dust” and needs a little spring cleaning.

...what about the memories we’ve captured in our photos and videos? We value those and often go to great lengths to protect them. It used to be we kept those things on bookcases or in drawers, photo albums and file cabinets. Not anymore. These days, a lot of what’s important to us are strings of zeros and ones stored on computers. Those things are a lot harder to secure and protect.

Anyone who has called upon Geek Squad to help them out of a tech jam probably noticed the badge our Agent had clipped to his or her belt. In front. On the Agent’s left side.

What most people don’t know is there is set of principles and standards surrounding the way an Agent handles their badge. For instance, according to tradition, an Agent is required to carry their badge at all times. And Agents “may not use your badge to obtain free donuts more than once a month.” The badge is a symbol of being a member of an elite band of technology warriors and Agents, as a group, take them very seriously.

We are asking our televisions to do more and more these days. As the centerpiece of our home theater systems, our TVs can go from pulling in our favorite news show in the morning to streaming that YouTube video Mom just sent to us over lunch, then playing the latest Mad Max movie during evening “wind-down” time. And anytime we are not using the TV’s screen, it serves as our connection to the music libraries available through the ever-growing list of streaming services. That is one busy machine.

The modern family home is more connected than ever to the Internet, and these days that includes everything from multiple computers, tablets, gaming systems, 4KTVs, even network-controlled lights and thermostats. Yet many households fail to realize their expanding collection of hardware – growing to an average of nearly eight connected devices each this year – strain home networks, producing sluggish connections and a real need to free their speed.

Email scammers are finding new opportunities with to trick unsuspecting victims into downloading malicious software with the recent release of Windows 10. Tech news sites are filled with stories about the new Microsoft operating system release, and many of our clients are excited to get it onto their computers. Some of our clients are reporting fake Microsoft emails from scammers that claim to have the entire Windows 10 upgrade attached.

As summer winds down, students everywhere are looking for school supplies and picking out the perfect backpack. But just having enough pens and notebooks isn’t enough anymore. Students of all ages are finding they need some tech in their backpacks too. Now is a good time to ensure all that technology is ready to go back to school as well.

Symantec’s Intelligence report for June shows a marked drop in spam received by business email users worldwide. Their metrics show businesses received a little less than half the spam they usually receive over a month. Perhaps the spammers are taking vacation days as well?

Our friends at Microsoft have developed a new version of their Windows operating system, Windows 10, which will be available for download on July 29. The upgrade will be available free to users who have Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1 installed on their machines. Microsoft is encouraging Windows users who are going to take advantage of this free update to “reserve” their copy of the system before the release date to ensure a smooth transition.

Imagine this – you are sitting at home minding your own business when you receive a phone call from an official-sounding person who tells you your computer is seriously infected with viruses. They say they will help you out and eliminate the viruses if you will provide your credit card information.

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you are familiar Agent Derek Meister’s work. Agent Derek has been a regular contributor to the blog, using his Geek Squad experience, electronic repair prowess and near-obsessive interest in all things tech to help the rest of us keep our equipment up-to-date and in good working order. Recently Derek had a conversation with the folks at Best Buy Public Relations about what it has beem like to be a Geek Squad Agent. Which led him to put his reflections in words. Here are those words.

Is the warm weather of spring making you yearn to play outside? Yes, even Agents have to stand up from the keyboard and go to get some sun every so often. And, for me, one of the best ways to play outside is to ride my bike. I’m so inspired this spring that I will be participating in the National Bike Challenge, a program that encourages everyone to track their biking miles over the summer as a way to encourage the use of their two-wheelers.

May is a very important month in the geek ecosystem. A few years ago,Agent Derek wrote about May 25th being not only Geek Pride Day andTowel Day (from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), but also the Glorious 25th of May (for Terry Pratchett fans). As if that wasn’t enough, May is also the anniversary of arguably the greatest space opera of all time. The film is so big it cannot be contained to just one day in May. Fans have appropriated another day in the geeky month to be “Star Wars Day”. That day, of course, is May the 4th.

As part of her Earth Day celebration, Ellen DeGeneres encouraged all her fans to participate in the Energy Star “Flip Your Fridge” campaign in partnership with Best Buy, Geek Squad, LG and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The campaign seeks to encourage consumers to responsibly recycle their aging fridges and upgrade to new, energy-efficient models.

The role of women in the world of technology has been all over the news lately. First there was Gamergate (women gamers and game designers being subjected to graphic insults by Internet trolls), then questions about how women are treated in the boardroom (the Ellen Pao lawsuit), and the steady stream of stories about the struggles of women trying to get recognition in the highly-competitive tech world.

Today, “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” will be on repeat at The Magic Castle (otherwise known as Geek Squad HQ). An actor, director, writer and all-around great guy, he was a force to be reckoned with.

Agent Alex has been following news about the Cryptowall, Cyptolocker and Crowti malware as part of his service as a member of our Technical Tools Team. He reached out to say that there have been some recent developments to which we should pay attention. Let’s let him tell it.

Here’s another in our series of posts from some of our more senior Agents as Geek Squad wraps up it’s 20th year of service.

With all the hurly-burly in today’s world, it is amazing that anyone has time for love any more. It seems like our work days have progressively gotten longer, business trips more frequent and our commitments more time-consuming. It can be very hard for two busy people with full schedules to stay connected. Sometimes just scheduling dinner together can seem like a lot of work.

A banana-powered piano? A video game controlled by a couple of watermelons? No, this is not the aftermath of a collision between a fruit cart and a Geekmobile. They are tools our Agents use to get young people excited about technology at our Geek Squad Academy camps.

Our team of Agents has a national reputation for our abilities to tame rebellious computer and networking technology. But not everyone knows there is another set of Agents who are more about the display than the processor, more concerned with finding the “true black” than they are about speeding up your spreadsheet program. These are the Field Agents, brave souls who are deployed to client homes and workplaces to install, tune up or debug home theater systems.

It can happen in an instant. You click on an attachment from Granny and the next thing you know you are watching your files getting locked up before your eyes. Then an important-looking message pops up on your desktop demanding you pay a substantial fee to a group you’ve never heard of using a online payment method. They make it clear – pay now or you’ll never see the precious photos of your Chihuahuas again.

Editor’s note: As we begin wrapping up our 20th year of serving the public, policing technology and protecting the world, a few of our senior Agents have been reflecting on the path Geek Squad has taken. We will be publishing their reminiscences here over the next couple of weeks.

According to a New York Times article from last fall, Android devices are a new target for “ransomware”. These malicious software apps act similarly to the fake FBI virus scams that have been attacking Windows PCs for years. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to help protect your Android smartphone or device from these scammers and their malware apps.

Still making your resolutions for the New Year? Consider adding “Back It Up Once a Week” to your list. That’s the message that the FTC is passing along in a new blog post and video as we begin 2015.

You’re online, watching a compilation video of cute kittens, and your home phone rings. A person claiming to be a representative from Microsoft tells you they detectsed a threat to your computer. The caller tries to frighten you into allowing a remote connection to your computer, showing you a bunch of warnings, maybe even some red error messages on your computer. The caller pressures you to take immediate action and buy their service because you are in imminent danger!

With the holidays nearly upon us, many of our Agents and clients will be travelling sometime during the next ten days. And it’s a good bet that at least some of those travelers will be going through Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, the third busiest airport in the US in terms of total passengers.

For many, the most important thing on their computer is their data. Whether it’s photos of family events, small business financial records or a music library, your data is usually more valuable than any other files or software on your computer.

Many parents of college kids have experienced the dread of having their child message, call or write to say that they need money. Technology now allows us many options to send our cash-strapped kids a little loot.

It’s been happening all over the country the last couple of weeks – parents wondering how to stay in touch with their kids now that they have left home for school or a job. Although it can feel scary at times, here are some tips on using tech to stay connected.

Looking to upgrade your old smartphone by exchanging it with your service provider, trading it in at a local retailer, or handing it down to a friend or family member? You probably don’t want to hand over your data, pics, music or apps with it. Here are three steps you’ll want to take before giving your phone to someone else.

Cellphone app developers are our heroes. Their whole purpose in life is to take one of the most useful devices ever manufactured and figure out a way to add functionality. They are the people who put power in our pockets.

As anyone who has worked at a Geek Squad Academy Camp will tell you, it is sometime pretty hard to get the campers to take a break from their projects and focus on something besides Lego robots or game programming for a few minutes.

In honor of Geek Squad’s 20th birthday, Commissioner Chris Askew, a number of Agents from across the country and a couple of Best Buy Blueshirts rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday, July 14.

My, how time flies when you’re having fun.

In this second post in our series about hard drives, we discuss what computer users need to do to keep the heart and soul of their computers in good shape.

One of the personality traits we look for in Agents is a certain amount humility. Oh, we can overlook a bit of trash-talking when it comes to video game battles, but we have always felt it important that Agents don’t get too full of themselves. Which isn’t easy, considering all the technological disasters we help client address. But trying to stay out on the bleeding edge of this ever-changing field is enough to keep any technologist humble.

In the United States, the vast majority of adults drive cars. But most of us don’t really know how they work. Sure, we know to fill it with gas occasionally and how to operate them, but when it comes down to how the engine engages the drivetrain, most of us are at a loss. (That’s why we all have mechanics, right?)

With the explosion of video content on the Web, many of us are using our computers, at least some of the time, to just watch TV.

Video sharing services like YouTube, Web broadcasting sites like Hulu and Netflix, and pay-for-play services like Amazon Prime and iTunes have made our computers a key source of video entertainment in the modern home.

The web can be a dangerous place for computer users and sometimes the latest news can be scary — much as is the case with the recent news around the recently discovered “HeartBleed” security bug in OpenSSL, a common form of encryption on many websites today.

I know we’ve said this before, but it’s kind of a big deal if you are still using Windows XP – Microsoft will stop supporting the XP operating system next Tuesday (4/8/14).

As we mentioned in a post last week, Microsoft will stop updating and supporting its Windows XP operating system beginning April 8, 2014.

It’s official — beginning April 8, 2014, Microsoft will no longer provide updates for that old, faithful workhorse of the masses – the Windows XP operating system.

Last week we published an blog post about how to avoid being a victim of a phishising scam. We hope you took a minute to read it. Although some think the identity theft that happens on the Internet is techie wizardry, nearly all of it can be thrwarted by just being a little more aware of what you’re doing when you’re out on the big bad Web. Skepticism is always the best first line of defense against cyber criminals.

We are taking over!

Google – owners of the the most popular website in the world (according to Alexa) – has never been satisfied being just the primary search engine to the Web. Between mapping the Earth through Google Maps and attempting to make everyone a data input via Google Glass, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have converted Google into one of the main forces driving innovation in the world.

Has this ever happened to you? You open an “official-looking” email that looks like it’s from your bank, credit card, etc. The message is dire — someone may be messing around with your account, and only clicking on a link to “correct” or “verify” your account information will save you. Hurry! Quick! Do it now! Without even thinking about it, fear of loss drives you to click on the link and supply the information requested (and breaking one of the cardinal rules of online security in the process).

Warning: it isn’t just your computer at risk from hackers. Some recently discovered issues with wireless routers from two different companies show that they too can be vulnerable to hacker exploits that can leave your data exposed to online evildoers. In one case, the affected routers allowed hackers to access data on the victim’s network, while in the other the router was used to distribute a self-replicating worm onto other users’ networks.

On February 4th, the Libary of Congress in Washington DC hosted the Digital Learning Day Expo, a conference promoting digital learning and technology education in the classroom. Geek Squad was there, presenting on the Game Programming class taught at our Geek Squad Academy camps.

Long distance relationships (LDRs) are not for the faint of heart. The late-night phone calls, frantic searching for low-cost airfares, the random text messages in the middle of the day, the joyous reunions and sad separations can take a lot out of a person. No matter how strong the connection between you and your loved one is, the miles between you can take their toll. Sometimes all you want to do is see his or her face.

Last summer, Agent Derek M wrote a post for this blog on a popular “infected computer” phone scam. It turns out that there’s a new, more costly twist on this con. Because this new twist is dangerous and more costly to remediate, we thought we would reach out and reiterate some of the points Derek made in his post on the subject last June.

The computing world changed 30 years ago. It was on January 24, 1984 that Steve Jobs stood before workers and the press at the Apple Cupertino, CA headquaters and unveiled their newest product – the Macintosh personal computer.