After The Repair

By George Harding Sept. 2006

Before The Repair

By George Harding Oct. 2006

If we repaired your computer first of all let me thank you for giving us the opportunity. Please don’t hesitate to call for tech support for anything you may not under stand regarding your computer. I would like to point out a few things that could present themselves when you get your computer home.

Let’s start with setting up your machine when you get home. Based on the conversation in which our technicians explained what your repair consisted of you may not be able to plug printers, scanners, and cameras without loading the software provided by the manufacturer. Most devices now are connected via a USB cable which requires you load the software and it will prompt you to connect the device. Plugging the device in first can cause problems you don’t need. The exceptions to this rule would include external drives that you can plug in without loading software, Windows will recognize these devices.

If the major reason we worked on your computer was virus or spyware related you should see a boost in performance. In some cases we may have installed software that delays the boot time, but otherwise performance should be enhanced. This can sometimes be an indicator when your computer slows down it could be time to scan your system just to be safe. Remember not to rely on the antivirus or antispyware to do everything on their own. You still need to scan on a weekly basis to make sure the protective software isn’t compromised. Run the updates yourself on occasion to make sure all is fine. Remember to install the Windows updates as prompted as well. These are important to prevent security holes in the first place.

If we performed a clean install or we spoke about format and reload then you will notice icons missing from your desktop. We talk to you before we load the computer and find out what software you need and what is simply not needed. This saves space and helps performance in addition to just looking organized. If you don’t see something you need let us know, we can usually correct this over the phone. You should also have been involved in what data you needed returned to the computer if we did a reload. We can put back most items though it is probably in the default locations such as pictures are in “my pictures” and not
a folder on the desktop. Try to use the default locations if possible, it not only makes finding your files easier but in the event your drive needs a data rescue it is much more successful if you follow this rule. A damaged hard drive isn’t always a farewell to your data but some of the recovery techniques can fail if you have personal files all over the hard drive.

People who have dialup connections need to leave the computer connected to the internet for an hour or two each week to give all the available updates a chance to load in the background. If you get on, check your email, then disconnect you will never give Windows a chance to update and may even put your antivirus at risk for lack of updates. We can tell you what to look for to make sure your software is updating if you need help.

Many computers we see have been compromised because the subscription period has expired. Most antiviruses are good for one year after install but some expire much sooner. There are several internet service providers that provide antivirus and antispyware that are valid as long as your account is active. These are usually free and do fine to provide protection for most users. Firewall software is also available through these service providers but require a little more interaction than an antivirus. If your antivirus warns you that is about to expire don’t hesitate to call us, we may have timely information on various problems that are being noticed by others. What we have faith in one year might change the next if circumstances arise. We may be able to help you avoid a problem.

Please don’t feel that your question is silly, if you need help call, let us help you avoid a problem before it gets out of hand or causes you ill feelings because you didn’t understand. As our home page states, “We support our customers, period.”

If you plan on bringing in your computer for repair you need to know what we need to ensure a timely and cost effective repair. No matter if you have a notebook or a tower the requirements are basically the same.

We will ask you questions regarding your internet account, it is helpful if you have your username and password committed to memory. If you’ve forgotten your password, we may need you to contact the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to get this information. The reason we need the password is to setup your email or whatever software provided by the ISP. Examples of this would be an antivirus provided by some ISP’s. If we know your account information we can setup the free protective suite provided if necessary. We do not store this data anywhere, so your privacy will not be compromised. If you feel uncomfortable giving out this info you can always change your password when you get your computer back home.

You will be asked to provide whatever software came with your computer. In the case of most vendors this is in the form of restore cd’s or dvd’s. If you don’t provide this software and your machine needs reloaded it can result in the loss of some programs that were originally provided and extra efforts have to be made in order to obtain the software. Since bench labor is billed by the time involved, extra effort means higher costs. These disks are also your proof that you own the software on your system, without proper licensing and key codes we can not reinstall your software. If you buy an antivirus online we might need the username and password or account number you used during the transaction. Most of the time we can rescue this software but in rare cases your documentation can mean the difference between keeping your investment or buying something new if your ISP does not provide anything. Some machines have a restore partition on the hard drive rather than restore disks. This is efficient but risky as well. If you have a hard drive failure and the restore partition is damaged you may have to contact the vendor to purchase the software disks separately. This is usually a $20 or $30 charge to have these shipped to you. Some vendors have software on the machine that enables you to create your own restore disks. You should always read the information provided when your computer is new to see if this is an available option. Toshiba and Sony are known to do this. If you bought your computer from us we will provide you with these disks when you purchase your system from our store.

Something of vital importance is how you use your computer and what information you have on your system that needs retrieved. We cannot always determine what software you use on a regular basis so we need to know if you have Quicken, QuickBooks, genealogy, or other programs we might not ask you questions about. The vast majority of time we can recover nearly if not all your data, the first task we perform with your repair is backing up the hard drive to help ensure this is done. Some proprietary programs need to be brought to our attention. For example point of sale software or database programs.

There really isn’t a silly question when it comes to getting your computer repaired. We will attempt to get every detail we can but sometimes your questions can help us to help you, so don’t hesitate to ask. Ninety percent of all repairs we deal with are the result of viruses, spyware, or some other problem that deals with software. It is important not only that you know what happened to cause you to need to have your computer repaired but what you can do to prevent this from happening again. We are here to help you have a wonderful time using your computer and avoid the frustrations.