by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Most who know me will know that I spend a considerable amount of time utilizing social media. I still will. It’s essential to the work I do and is a significant method for keeping in touch with those I care about. However, starting tonight, I’ve decided to go about it in a different way. I’m minimizing my mobile notifications for Facebook and Twitter – specifically, the SMS (text) ones… and yes, I can feel the shock coursing through the veins of anyone who knows me personally, as they read that statement.

SMS is Outdated and Unnecessary
Why the heck am I getting both text alerts and push notifications for the same exact things on Facebook? I receive several types of push notifications. Two of those include email and Facebook – and I get Facebook alerts in my email too. This means I am getting three notifications for the same updates (email, Facebook app, and SMS). Why? This is a bit excessive. At first, it was a precaution to be sure I don’t miss anything important. However, there hasn’t yet been a time when any of those methods has failed. Besides, with push notifications coming directly from the Facebook app, SMS is actually quite outdated, not to mention unnecessary. Why would I choose text alerts when the push notifications get me directly to the update in the Facebook app? The text notification leads to the mobile web version of Facebook, which is not how I prefer to access Facebook. I prefer the app because the features are better and it loads faster.

Text Alerts Are Annoying
My poor loved ones have to hear the constant annoyance that is my text alert going off literally every second sometimes. This is ridiculous and I’m putting an end to it. In fact, it’s even starting to annoy me and I’m the one who set it up that way. Yes, some of the notifications are important – some. But as I mentioned above, I’m already getting them via my mobile device in other ways. So the SMS is really just an unnecessary annoyance and distraction. Text messages that happen all the time are not cool and neither are those that wake people up in the middle of the night, unless they are an emergency. I don’t need to receive a text message every time a friend or business updates their status on Facebook or tweets on Twitter. I check those that matter via apps or my laptop anyhow. Seeing them more than once is annoying and takes time away from more important things.

My Family Deserves More Attention
I am a mother first before anything and these notifications can be a distraction. I’m not the type to ignore my kids. But glancing at my phone less is something they’ll likely appreciate. The same could be said for my lover, friends, and other family. I’m sure everyone in my life wouldbe very happy if there were fewer reasons for me to glance at my phone during fun activities. I still get things done and if you ask any of them, they’ll tell you I’m very loving and attentive. However, it’s just the principle of the matter.

I’m Hoping for More Productivity
I added so many notifications to increase productivity. Those who know me will also know that I am extremely productive. They’ll probably also be shocked if I can increase that and wonder how I can do that with fewer notifications. If you remember what I said above, you’ll remember that I am getting the same notifications more than once. Therefore, this should actually save me some time. If I’m being honest, I actually don’t look at every notification. However, I do sometimes look at the same ones in more than one place. So taking these away will end that possibility.

My Cell Phone Battery Dies Too Quickly
More notifications equal less battery juice. The whole point of a cell phone is having it available for use at any time. That becomes less possible if I am on the go and for some reason am unable to charge my phone for a lengthy time period. My cell phone battery often dies quickly because I have so many notifications coming in every direction. Cutting off most of the SMS alerts will help remedy a great deal of that issue. Twitter and Facebook notifications come to my phone so often that if I stop receiving text alerts for even five minutes, I know that my phone is having issues and I need to restart it. It’s cool to have that indicator, but at the same time, that’s just too much. In addition to reasons stated above, I need my cell phone to keep its juice.

Certain SMS and Mobile Alerts Are Staying
Because some people do rely on me for emergency situations, certain alerts will still come to me via SMS. However, most will not. For instance, Twitter DMs will stay for people I follow back because those people rarely DM me unless it’s important and about work. I need those SMS notifications, as I do not receive push notifications for anything Twitter-related. But Twitter notifications for specific people and companies will likely go away. I really don’t need to know every time every entity I follow posts to Twitter. But I do need to know when someone needs assistance.

In short, I’m cutting off many of my mobile notifications for family, life, and business purposes. Therefore, if you notice me slowing down on responding to less important things, that could be part of it. I love all of my friends on both sites. But there’s a point where too much is just…well, too much.

**Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi

I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

If you've ever forgotten your Windows 8 password, you'll know that the only way suggested to recover it is through a second administrator account or a password recovery disk. If your computer is connected to the internet, all you need to do is reset your Windows Live password via another device. But what if you aren’t connected to the internet when the password is lost, don’t have a recovery disk, and don’t have a second admin account on your Windows 8 device? Well generally, you might just be f*cked… until now.

Think I’m about to suggest reinstalling Windows 8 completely? Heck no! You’d lose all of your important files. Plus, I’m a nerdy geek and I like my stuff to stay how I want it. So you know I found another way to reset the password on my Windows 8 laptop when I needed to. What happened is my laptop was out of commission, due to a hardware issue. I had taken it in for repairs after it sat unused a few months (yeah I have more than one laptop so I was okay without it) and forgotten the password.

At first I went into panic mode when I got it back and couldn’t get in. But then I said to myself, “You’ve got this. You know you do” and of course I was right. So what did I do? Well, I thought about it myself for a second after the usual help suggestions were a no-go. Aren’t they always useless?

Here’s what I did to reset my Windows 8 password on a laptop without a password recovery disk or second admin account. I first went to my Microsoft Live account and reset that password from another computer. But without being connected to the internet, what good would that do? It wasn’t going to detect the changed password.

Ah, but see I am creative. Don’t forget that when I have my bad moments, okay? Smart people have smart phones, right? Well, sometimes. In my case, that happens to be true. My Smartphone is always connected to the internet either via its internal connection or the home Wi-Fi connection. This time it was connected to the home W-Fi. So how does that help me? There’s this little thing I pay extra for called USB tethering. You plug your phone into the computer via USB and enable tethering and voila, you’re online on the computer, too.

From there, it was cake. Once online, I could then log in using the new Windows Live password I had just reset. There were no lost files, no having to reinstall Windows 8, no calling expensive repair people. Yup. I got into my locked Windows 8 laptop after forgetting the password and all it took was some quick guesswork that is probably common sense to some, but may be helpful to those who may not have thought of using these steps.

Here’s hoping my nerdiness helps someone else who had the same issue I did – and for goodness sakes, make two admin accounts on your computer if you don’t have a Smartphone with tethering enabled. You’re welcome.

**Photo Credit/Copyright: Lyn Lomasi

I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)

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