Tech Talk – Data Recovery 2022
Tis that time of month where I look back over the moth and see what the predominant repair or issue was. I must say it has been a busy month. Laptop screen replacements and battery replacements seem to be the norm these days. A few data recoveries from laptops that had stopped working. Which is a great topic to go over.
Did you know and some may that if your computer stops working for the most part all of your data can be retrieved and transferred to another computer. A service we offer. We also have more extensive scans we can perform when you have file problems on the hard drive itself. One may wonder what costs are associated with this type of service. I can tell you the average data retrieval in Toronto would cost you approximately $800.00 and up, we do offer that at a quarter of the price. You may have a hard drive that has physical damage to it, some will spin up, but you hear a clicking noise, and some may not spin up at all. This is a bit more complex if you are looking to recover your data. Your drive would be shipped to a clean room where they take the drive apart and rebuild it. Cost wise now you are getting over the $2500 cost, this of course would only be used when you absolutely need your data and cost is not a factor. I have managed to pull files off drives that made the click noise but it’s a very rare event.
Just remember if your computer stops working your information is not lost.
Tech Talk – Back to School 2022
Happy end of summer and back to school season once again and our monthly Tech Talk. This month with the kids heading back to school we all face more expenditures and well with the rising costs of pretty much everything we are looking to cut costs and save where we can.
Let’s focus on a few areas we can save $$$$. First, a lot of you are searching for new computers when you may in fact not need them. If you have last year’s computer or maybe one that is two to seven years old that still works but may be running slower than it first did when you got it. For these systems, we can go through and make them almost as good as new for a fraction of the cost. We can give these a tune-up to reduce the load on your computer and remove any unwanted viruses or malware that are keeping your system from running at its best. Let’s face it a slow computer is extremely frustrating to say the least and the last thing we all need is more frustration.
For those that find themselves in the position where a new computer is a must, well you have a couple of options. Back-to-school sales offer great deals on new, big thing here is not to be oversold on a system you may not need. Purchase for your needs. If a $400 computer will do what you need don’t get talked into the $1000 Cadillac. Another option would be to purchase a refurbished computer. These can be a fraction of the cost of new and most companies offer some type of warranty in the event of a hardware issue.
Right now, we are offering a Back-To-School Special on our Computer Tune-up so drop by with your computer and we will do the rest. No appointment is required, and we offer a 24-hour turnaround.
Tech Talk – dealing with a slow computer
This time of the month when I review the repairs over the last month and talk about the most relevant repair for the month and or tips on usage. Causes of a slow computer, why do computers get slower over time.
There are many reasons this happens but let’s try to outline some of the major ones that may help keep your system running faster and longer.
One of the main reasons computers slowdowns is TSR’s (terminate and stay resident). These are programs you install on your computer that start up when you turn your computer on and stay running in the background. You may not even know they are running; these can take up valuable resources on your system, taxing RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory), CPU (central processing unit) as well as hard drive resources. One way to prevent programs from starting up with your system has to do with how they are installed; during the software install, there may be a check box that says allow software to run at startup. You can uncheck this box unless it’s an antivirus program that should start with the system. When installing software most just click through all the boxes without reading what they are allowing the software to do. Take note and slow down the clicks this can help you immensely and can even help you with unwanted software being installed (most freeware software you download from the internet comes with other applications within the install that you may not want at all). Again, these load your startup applications and slow your system down and may also contribute to viruses and malware infections on your computer. That leads to another reason for slower systems, a computer with viruses and malware will slow your system down to a crawl. You can run a few different applications to try and rid your system of these. Keep in mind free antivirus applications do not always find the culprits. But they are better than nothing at all. Windows has Windows defender built-in which for a standard user is sufficient while for the power user or gamer you will want something a bit more robust. Those with older systems that have gone through thorough tune-ups and still have a computer running slow may have a hard drive that is coming to the end of its life cycle and may want to look at having a new drive installed or upgrading their computer. Hard drives have come a long way over the last ten years, one from 10 years ago had moving parts in them, while the new drives contain no moving parts. This makes for faster start-ups and a faster running system overall.
If you find yourself with a computer that you want to throw out the window literally due to it running slow, bring it in and we can start with a tune-up and cleaning and get you back in the game