WeldonPC: Tech Briefing — Week of October 25, 2026

Good morning, Northeast Ohio, and welcome to the week ahead. It's shaping up to be a pleasant stretch outside, with some interesting moves in the tech world and a few lessons from our repair bench worth passing along. Here's what to know before Monday gets rolling.

7-Day Weather Outlook — Northeast Ohio

• This Afternoon: Sunny with a high of 67°F, dropping to a crisp 45°F overnight. A good afternoon to get outside.
• Monday: Mostly sunny, high of 68°F, low of 45°F. An easy start to the workweek.
• Tuesday: Mostly sunny but a touch cooler, high of 64°F, low of 46°F.
• Wednesday: Partly sunny and warmer, high of 70°F, with a milder overnight low of 51°F.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny and the warmest day of the week, high of 72°F, low of 51°F.
• Friday: Mostly sunny, high of 71°F, low of 52°F. A comfortable end to the week.
• Saturday: Partly sunny, high of 71°F, and the mildest night of the stretch at 55°F.

Top Consumer Tech Headlines

• 1. "Updated Google privacy policy says your Gmail might be used for advertising." Anyone with a Gmail account may want to read the updated policy and check their privacy settings. (Ars Technica)
• 2. "I hope Apple's touchscreen MacBook takes some lessons from this Lenovo laptop." This opinion piece looks at what a touchscreen MacBook could borrow from an existing Lenovo design. (The Verge)
• 3. "Now you can watch Instagram Reels on your Apple TV." Instagram's short videos can now be watched on the living-room screen, not just on a phone. (The Verge)
• 4. "Google's AI search changes upended online publishing." This report examines how AI-driven changes to Google search have shaken up the websites that depend on search traffic. (The Verge)
• 5. "NASA updates lander plans for Moon landings, finally solves long-festering Orion issue." This is a space story rather than a gadget story, covering revised Moon lander plans and a fix for a long-running problem with the Orion spacecraft. (Ars Technica)

Tech Stock Trends (Past 5 Business Days)

• Microsoft (MSFT): -1.7%. A modest decline over the five-day period.
• Apple (AAPL): +1.4%. The only gainer in this group for the week.
• NVIDIA (NVDA): -2.8%. Down for the period, a steeper dip than Microsoft's.
• Alphabet (Google) (GOOGL): -7%. The largest decline of the five companies listed.
• AMD (AMD): -4%. The second-largest drop in this group over the week.

Most Common Issues on Our Bench Last Week

It was a steady week on the bench, right in line with what we usually see.

• Viruses, malware & security led the bench again by a wide margin. The good news is that these were mostly same-day fixes with quick turnarounds.
• General IT support kept us busy as well. Some of these turned into longer, ongoing projects rather than one-visit jobs.
• Hardware repairs & upgrades covered a handful of machines. These included a few of the week's longest projects.
• Software installs & updates came in as a couple of quick jobs, mostly wrapped up within the day.
• Printers & scanners brought us one stubborn case that took longer than we'd like.
• Passwords & account lockouts came down to a single quick fix that had the customer back in business fast.

Prevention tip: Most of the infections we cleaned up started with a click on something that looked routine, such as a fake shipping notice, a pop-up claiming your computer is infected, or a "required" download. When a message pressures you to act right now, close it and check the request through a source you already trust.

How-To of the Week

Give your PC a 15-minute security checkup. It's a simple routine, and it heads off a lot of what we see on the bench.

• Step 1: Open your system settings and install any pending operating system updates, then restart. Many attacks rely on holes that updates have already patched.
• Step 2: Update your web browser. Most browsers have an "About" page in the menu that checks for updates and installs them automatically.
• Step 3: Review your browser extensions and remove anything you don't recognize or no longer use. Unwanted add-ons are a common source of pop-ups and redirects.
• Step 4: Run a full scan with your antivirus software, not just the quick scan, and let it remove or quarantine anything it flags.
• Step 5: If the scan keeps finding threats, or your computer is still slow and showing pop-ups afterward, WeldonPC's virus and malware cleanup service can find what's hiding and get your machine back to normal.

Enjoy the sunshine this week, and remember that WeldonPC is here to help whenever your technology isn't cooperating, whether at home or at the office.