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Hints and Tips:
The hints and tips below come from my experiences and also from the experiences of my customers.  Please feel free to email me any questions you have or something that you found helpful that others might benefit from as well.  I will post it here.  The Links page of my site contains a few sites that also may provide you with some helpful hints or tips.  If in doubt, Google it!!!  These are also listed in my blog.
                                                                                                      Thanks for visiting,
                                                                                                                                     Chris
August 20

Slow Computer May Need A Makeover

     Lately I have found more and more people hanging on to their older(5+ yrs old) machines.  Nothing wrong with that as a lot of them were made better back in the day.  The issue that seems to be arising more and more is the speed of these machines.  I can say to get more memory, a larger hard drive, change out the motherboard and processor, defragment the hard drive, remove the programs that you don’t use, and use cleaning programs to get rid of the large amounts of unnecessary files.  Some of those may not be cost effective right now in the economy we are in.  I myself have a few older computers with the same problems.

     The other day I decided I had enough and was not going to invest anymore money into one of my old towers.  Instead, I backed up all of the files that I wanted to keep and completely wiped my hard drive and reinstalled the operating system.  Now it runs just like it did when I first got it.  I didn’t load it with a lot of programs I didn’t need or use like what was on it before.  I put what I needed and that is all.

     Sometimes, especially after a bad virus, trojan, or spy-ware, this makes sense.  These invaders can cause real havoc on your computer, and cause loss of files that make your computer run.  Now in my previous blog, I mentioned that you should routinely back up your computer.  This is still very true.

     Just make sure to follow the instructions that came with your computer to reload it or contact a technician for assistance.




7:31 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

February 08

Ipod USB Cable
Have you had problems with your computer not starting up?  Try removing your Ipod USB cable from your computer.  I have had a few customers with this problem recently.


7:12 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

December 02

Spyware

Did you know that not all anti-spyware programs remove every type of spyware?  Its true.  Even the ones you pay for miss some spyware.  I have found that it is a good idea to have at least an additional 2 programs installed, not that run at start up(which you can define at installation), but ones that you can have scan on your own time.  A few of the free ones I use(did I mention I like free?) are Malewarebytes, Spybot Search & Destroy, Windows Defender, and Comodo BoClean. 


10:24 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

October 09

CMOS Battery, what is it?

     If you have ever opened your computer's case, you may have notice a small coin size battery on the motherboard.  This is the battery that holds your system settings and time, and is usually held in by a clip.  These ideally will last for 10 years, but I have seen those that haven't.  This usually depends on where you keep your computer and how much you use it.   You can get these batteries at Walmart, Walgreen's, and pretty much anywhere else you can find batteries.  Normally it is a size CR-2032, 3V Lithium, look at the battery to be sure.  They run about $1.50 to $3.00.

There are other types of these batteries too. A barrel type 2 pin 3.6V battery that is soldered on to the motherboard, a 4 pin 4.5V alkaline battery that is attached to the power supply with Velcro, or a PS2 6V computer clock battery.
 
A few things you might notice when your battery has reached the end of its life is that you will have to keep resetting the system time, the computer might shut off randomly while using it, your Bios settings may be cleared, or just a dead battery message when you are booting up.

Most people do not keep their computers for more than 5 years, so generally, this is not a problem.  If you plan to keep yours for more than 5 years, you may consider changing it out at 5 years or a little earlier to avoid any serious problems later.






10:59 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

September 22

Did You Know?

original creation:  09/13/2008


     The average life span of a hard drive is 300,000 hours.  That equals out to about 34 years.  That would be nice if the rest of your PC would last that long.  I found this out while researching about burn in tests.  The question on a site one user had was, "Won't this shorten my PC's life?"  For those who don't know what a burn in test is, it is a series of tests that fully test every part that makes up your computer, from the video card to the 3.5 inch floppy drive.
     This is a good test to run when you buy a new PC, experienced some force of nature(i.e.  flood, lighting), or, for people like me, after making any changes or upgrades to your equipment.  The great part about this type of test is it gives your PC, especially a new one during the warranty period, a chance to stretch its legs.  From researching, a new PC would show an error with in the first hour due to it being the first time it has really been run other than the quality testing from the manufacturer.  There was a time that computer manufacturers and dealers would do this, but now the rate of failure is so low, it is almost 0%.    Most computer technicians will run a burn in test for 2-6 hours and provide a certificate once completed showing how your PC performed.



8:16 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)