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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?)

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.

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.

If experience has taught us anything, it’s that computer-related scammers are persistent. By the time law enforcement catches on and alerts the public, the con-artists are already on to their latest scheme to separate you from your hard-earned cash.

It’s that time of the year again – time to take a good hard look at yourself and resolve to be better next year. And yes, time for magazines, TV news shows and blogs to suggest a New Year’s resolution for you. Yeah, irritating, we know. But this is one you should pay attention too. It’s not that hard and could save you a lot of grief when the inevitable happens.

Getting a new phone is fun. Whether you bought it for yourself or it was given to you by a loved one, firing up a new handset is one of the true joys of our wireless world. At some point, all phones seem restrictive after you use them for a while. A brand new phone frees you to get some new wallpapers, better ringtones and those cool apps your old device couldn’t handle. Then, of course, there is the wonderful new phone smell…

So, you’ve done it again. You waited until the eleventh hour to take care of those hard gift decisions. Yeah, you figured something would jump out of some TV or online ad, it would be the perfect thing and your problems would be solved. No such luck.

As the holiday shopping season ramps up, a lot of us are on the lookout for good deals on gifts for family and friends. With all the shopping available online these days, maximizing your gift budget is as easy as firing up your smartphone and hitting your favorite shopping site.

OK, I know. You’re probably saying “not another post from some obsessive-compulsive techie on how a clean computer is a happy computer.” And yet here we are. Why? Because while it’s been said many times before, it’s still just as true. Well tended devices and accessories last longer.

Each time I return from getting my teeth cleaned, I swear it will be different this time: I’ll develop better dental health habits – brush after every meal, floss at least once a day – in order to avoid the uncomfortable gum scraping (and guilt-inducing “tsk-tsk”) from my hygienist.

Touchscreens are the input device of today. They’re everywhere – ATMs, gas pumps, desktops and (of course) our pockets.  The touchscreen is an intuitive, elegant and effective interface whose usefulness in the modern information society is shown by its prevalence in the world around us.

The news media is currently abuzz over an announcement by Karsten Nohl of Security Research Labs, indicating that there’s a new phone hack affecting some SIM cards. What does this mean to you, and what do we know about this latest threat? 

Sharing your living space with our four-legged friends can be tough on your tech. Maybe it’s their lack of opposable thumbs or limited understanding of the alphabet, but it seems to me that my cat just doesn’t understand why I spend so much time at my desk staring at screens. (I should be petting them, after all.) Flop around on my keyboard, chewing on the antennae of my wireless router, or attacking my printer every time I print something out.

With the explosion of social media outlets over the last decade, we seem to be spending more and more of our lives online. Social platforms make it easy and fun to stay connected with friends and family, share the latest cute picture of your cats playing with a ball of twine or check in from your new favorite restaurant. Mobile technology means that you don’t ever have to disconnect from your online network. If you’ve spent any time with teenagers lately, you realize some of them never do.

My father told me to aim for the stars so that you can reach the treetops, and at least you’ll get off the ground.

As most PC users (and readers of this blog) know, Microsoft released an update to their Windows operating system last November. The new version of the market-leading OS marked a significant departure from the old way of doing things, employing a less hierarchical organization and touch-friendly interfaces instead of the mouse-and-keyboard /point-and-click world of the past.

The digital age has revolutionized everything around us — including cooking dinner. Whether you’re a novice in the kitchen or a skilled chef, there are a number of smartphone apps, online resources and gadgets that can make your time in the kitchen much less frantic, and much more productive and fun.

Saving digital files used to be so easy — just hit “Control-S”, and “Bam!” — your spreadsheet was saved. If you wanted to take the file with you, you just burned it onto a CD, and you were off.

I was raised to believe you could do anything you wanted with effort, time and persistence. It didn’t matter if you were a girl. It is the dream of every child to play in the dirt. We geologists get to do it for real. We don’t explore places; we explore time, way back in the past. It’s written in the rocks.
-Adriana Ocampo

Reserve your right to think,
for even to think wrongly
is better than not to think at all.

-Hypatia of Alexandria

You’re never too old, and if you want to,
as my mother said, you can do anything you want to,
but you have to work at it.

-Annie J Easley

In 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid propellant rocket. In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite in space. In 1969, the Americans put a man on the moon. And on December 1, 2012, Geek Squad sent an Agent’s badge into low orbit.

So you splurged over the holidays and bought a brand-spanking-new laptop. Or you decided to pool all those gift cards and upgrade your home computing hardware. Let’s face it – you needed to put that old desktop that was still running Windows XP out to pasture. Feels better, doesn’t it?

Security experts have issued several warnings about security holes in recent versions of the Java software from Oracle. Java is used in web browsers across operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, and is primarily used by websites to display dynamic content on your browser and some downloadable applications.

Choosing the “right” tablet to give as a gift can be challenging. Before you plunk down your hard-earned cash on one of the many tablets out in the market, here are some things to think about.

It’s hard to believe that the light that we see twinkling down to us from our night sky is actually light that is thousands, millions, and billions of years old. When we look at the stars, we are looking at the past.

Happy Birthday, Android!

One of the cool things about Windows 8 is this: if you have the right hardware, you can kiss your mouse goodbye. The new Windows OS is specifically designed to take advantage of all the benefits of a Touch interface. While the OS still lets you use and keyboard and mouse if you wish, let’s take a look at how Windows 8 helps you use your Touch interface effectively.

In part one of our Holiday Light Show series, we showed you how to set one up using computer hardware with a light controller. In part two, we covered how to control it using specialized software. In our final segment, there are a few extra items to consider before settling down with a big bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters to arrive.

Breaking news, readers: Disney just announced that they are acquiring Lucasfilm from George Lucas today, to the tune of $4.0.... While George Lucas will be staying on as a consultant to the Star Wars series, he announced “It’s now time for me to pass ‘Star Wars’ on to a new generation of filmmakers.”

Windows 8 is finally here — and everywhere you go, people are talking about it. Most electronic retailers are now carrying Windows 8 devices (laptop & tablets) pre-loaded & ready to use, and people are beginning to purchase them and take them home.

As you may have heard, this is a huge week for Microsoft. In an effort to integrate the mobile computing experience into its operating system, Microsoft is releasing the most comprehensive reworking of the Windows OS since it put out Windows 95 in, well, 1995.

In the first article on building your own computerized holiday light show, we discussed the specialized light controller and PC. In this article, we’ll talk about the technological glue that holds those devices together – the software. You will need two software tools (a sequencer and a scheduler) to create your display.

Ah… portable electronics — the joy of modern technology. The most appealing thing about touchscreen phones, notebooks, netbooks and tablets is their portability. We take them just about everywhere we go. We toss them in our backpacks, our purses, and our pockets. And sometimes… they pay the price.

While holidays may bring out our creative side, they also bring out our crazy side. Few things bring out both like holiday decorating. As a Geek Squad Agent I love to use technology, which in this case means one thing – a computer-controlled holiday light show. Here’s a break-down of how to to put together this year’s Halloween show.

If you get excited at the thought of new technology releases, you are probably keyed up for the release of the new Windows operating system on October 26. Windows 8 is the first major overhaul of Windows since the launch of Windows 95. I was lucky enough to go get a pre-release copy of the system and take it from me, it’s a big change. And change isn’t always a bad thing.

Wedding season is over and baby season is rapidly approaching. While diaper cakes are unique and a new parent can really never have enough bibs and binkies, choosing a baby shower gift that is unique and useful can be challenging. Here are five ideas for shower gifts that are sure to please any new mom (or dad).

Did you know that on average, college students pack on more than 10 lbs in their first year of school? Dorm food and irregular eating schedules seem to be the culprits behind this trend. As your student continues to settle in this school year, consider outfitting your college-bound kid with four fantastic tools to help them make healthy eating choices as they adjust to life away from home.

So you’re sitting there, innocently using your computer, when a window flashes on the screen, bearing the logo of the FBI. You’ve been locked out of your computer for breaking some not-too-specifically-identified copyright law. The solution on the screen? Pay a fine to the “FBI” to “unlock” your computer and use it again.

For many parents, sending their kids off to college can be bittersweet. Fortunately, technology can help offset the feelings of separation by keeping family and friends in touch despite the distance.

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

With international athletes converging on the UK this summer in their quest to be best, we’ve reached out “across the pond” to our fellow Geek Squad Agents in Great Britain to help us with a tech tip series for Americans attending the festivities in the UK. Read on!

On Monday, July 9th, thousands of internet users could find themselves without internet when the FBI finally shuts down the DNS-Changer malware.

Not a lot in our lives these days is more personal than those  cool slabs of connectivity in our pockets – our phones. No matter what systems power our devices – IOS or Android, RIM or Windows – we each make the device ours in countless ways by adding everything from apps to maps, from tunes to tweets.  It’s how we talk to the world, how we listen, how we play – and how we work.

At forty community-based camps this summer, Geek Squad Agents volunteer to teach youth tech basics in a fun and inspirational way; five camps tailored for military bases as part of national Joining Forces initiative 

Summer time is nearly upon us, the hot sun & blue skies bringing thoughts of road adventures.

Ah, Mothers. Where would we be without them?

‘Tis the season to give the gift of portable concert halls.

Getting in shape with the aid of technology!

May 25^th has several holidays that Geek Squad Agents enjoy — including Geek Pride Day, Towel Day (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), the Glorious 25^th of May (Discworld) and the anniversary of Star Wars’ release.

As flowers emerge from a long winter’s nap, the promise of new, useful technology is already in full bloom.

An important part of the life cycle of your electronic devices is ensuring that when the time comes, you dispose of them safely and properly. Modern electronics can have all kinds of dangerous and hazardous materials. Today, Agents Nicole and Ish give us tips and tricks to help you ensure you dispose of your devices safely.

Face the facts: filth is everywhere. We spend a significant amount of time in our ongoing  battle against filthiness.  Shower, scrub, soap (lather, rinse repeat) as we sluice the dirt away from floors, counters, dishes, and windows.  Don’t our electronic devices deserve the same care and attention?

“Macs don’t get viruses.” A common thing we hear around the Geek Squad – and a common misconception.  One that is playing out at this very moment, as a large portion of Mac users in the United States are at risk of being infected with the Mac Bot-Net infection.

April Fools! Yes, April Fools’ Day is finally here and what better way to prank someone than targeting the technology they love so much? And who better to prank that those lovely children of yours?

Modern smartphones are amazing. They are also an expensive investment. To safeguard our investment we buy cases, screen protectors, and protection plans.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen an uptick in reports of phone scammers, some claiming to be Microsoft technicians or in a few cases, even claiming to be associated with Geek Squad.

Did you feel the pillars of heaven shake yesterday? Did hell freeze over? No, that other unthinkable event has happened: the Founding Father of Geek Squad – Robert Stephens – is moving on.

After two decades of service to Geek Squad as Chief Inspector and to Best Buy as Chief Technology Officer, Robert Stephens has announced his decision to move on to his next adventure.