Brian's Computer Services

You have reached the official website for Brian's Computer Services. Unfortunately, I'm out of business. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve Long Island's technology needs for nearly two decades.

If you need immediate computer help now, I would suggest trying the Geek Squad.


Tech Advice

I'll leave with with these two important tech tips.

#1 Turn it Off and On Again. If your device is behaving erratically or badly, just turn it off, wait 15 seconds, and turn it back on again. This will fix your problem more often than not, whether it's a computer, a phone, a TV, the Internet, a Fire stick, or any other electronic device.

#2 Be Skeptical. Whenever you get a call, a pop-up, an email, or a text claiming to be from any important business or institution about something that sounds urgent, ALWAYS assume it is a scam.

Scammers are always trying to steal our identities and money. They will claim to be anyone and everyone in attempting to convince you that they can be trusted to take it. I've heard it all over the years:

First of all, Microsoft does not even have a tech support center. You immediately know they're lying because they're claiming to work for a fictional business entity.

More generally, no legitimate business or government institution would ever call or message you with an urgent-sounding claim like that. This is a scare tactic used by scammers looking to trick you into handing over your identity and your money.

The ONLY time you'll get called or messaged by a legitimate institution or business is if YOU called them FIRST and they need to get back to you. You will otherwise only ever receive mail in the mailbox if they want to reach out to you first.

If you received such a call and are still concerned that it might be real, never NEVER ever call them back at the phone number they leave for you. Always ALWAYS independently find and call the phone number you KNOW for sure is their legitimate one. For instance, if it's about a credit card issue, then locate and call the phone number printed on the back of your credit card. Or if they're claiming to be your bank, then locate and call only the phone number from the bank's actual website, or from a business card you got from someone at the bank.

And the same holds true for similarly threatening pop-ups on your computer. Never call the phone number they provide: instead, immediately call the Geek Squad or a competent technician you already know and trust to check out your computer for viruses.