Repairing Your Computer
We see a lot of people that have misconceptions about computer repair, what needs done, how to do it, and how long it takes.
Many times people come in on a Thursday thinking they will drop their computer off and get it repaired before they leave on vacation Friday morning. While you may expect that we will make a few clicks in some secret check box to fix your problem, it just isn’t so.
Repairing a computer is a process, not an event.
- We spend hours, sometimes days just backing up each system before we work on it.
- Virus cleaning has to scan every file on the computer, twice. Most computers have hundreds of thousands of files on them.
- Hardware diagnostic tests can take hours to run; a full memory scan can take days.
- I recently spent four days trying to recover a single deleted file from a hard drive.
- Often there are multiple problems which cause us to spin around in circles trying to isolate your problem.
So when we don’t get to your computer as fast as we thought we would, have mercy. Please understand that the computer in front of you may be taking an exceptionally long time to finish.
Let me take a moment here to give you some do’s and do not’s that can prevent more extensive repairs then would have otherwise been required.
- Don’t delete files off the computer to increase memory. I’m addressing this issue first because many people know that memory effects speed, and they are confused by the memory in the hard drive and RAM. And so when the computer begins to slow down, they attempt to speed it up by deleting files on the hard dive, and very often they delete things that cause issues for the operating system.
The hard drive is a storage device that holds data when the computer is turned off and the computer reads that data when it is needed. Data stored on the hard drive generally does not affect performance, unless the hard drive is too full to hold the data you are asking it to process. Check the free space on your hard drive (highlight the C: drive in My Computer (just “Computer” in Vista) and the free space will be displayed. A good rule of thumb is if there is more than 10% free space, the hard drive is not the issue.
- Don’t ignore the problem and hope it goes away. I am always amazed by the number of computers that arrive in such bad shape they barely run, and yet the customer will not bring it in until they have trouble connecting to the internet, or when it stops altogether.
When you see an error message at boot up, the operating system is warning you that something needs repaired. Ignoring these messages will eventually lead to failure.
- Do back up the data on the hard drive. I know I harp on this subject, but if your computer fails, and you bring it in and tell me “I have everything backed up”, you just cut your repair cost by as much as 50%.
- Do perform regular maintenance. Dumping your Internet cache, emptying the recycle bin, and defragging your hard drive may seem complicated to you, but once you learn how it is fast and simple.
When the Internet cache is full, the hard drive will slow down as if it was full, even when it is not.
The Internet cache, and the files in the recycle bin will slow the process of backing up your system and running antivirus scans both for you, and for us when you bring it in for service. Since you are paying us by the hour, time is money.
If you have Vista, the system will automatically defrag, but with XP we recommend Defraggler. It is a free program that makes defragging simple and can be scheduled to run when you are away from the computer.
~ Steve