Imagine taking your car to a dealership for service, then finding out that no one at the dealership actually does work on cars. Instead, they call up someone in another country who does the work, while the guys you thought were working on your car sit back and watch. Crazy right?
The sad thing is that this model has been adopted by many of the big-box stores for computer repair (we won’t mention them by name, because we wouldn’t want to call out Staples and Best Buy on their practices (wait… whoops…))
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Tags:
PC tips,
PC Tips'n'tricks,
Security
Let me start this off with a disclaimer, I am not a Mac fanboy. I have worked for 15 years with PCs, and the last time I used a Mac was in the computer labs at college over a decade ago. For many people, they represent a perfect computer. They are fantastic at many tasks, but I am not a user who needs one. For decades Apple advertisements, Cult-of-Jobs members and in-store "geniuses" would boast that Macs were invulnerable to viruses and malware. Unfortunately for Mac users, they are discovering that’s simply not the case. For every operating system, there are security holes that can be exploited in order to install malware. As the world found out in the past few months, Apple's OS X is no exception.
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Virus removal,
Macs,
OSX,
Viruses,
online safety,
Security
Looking for an easy speed boost for your PC without spending any money? Windows uses a decent amount of resources just displaying graphical goodies like shadows under the mouse cursor and pretty buttons. Try the following steps to reduce the amount of memory and processor speed that Windows itself robs you of with some of its graphical goodies. You can enable or disable the listed features in the menu as you go to fine tune what things you want to see or not.
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PC tips,
PC Tips'n'tricks,
Windows Tips,
Speed up my computer,
Windows Tweaks
At Northampton Computer Repair we are always being asked questions from non-techi people about their computers and how they can accomplish task that might seem simple to techi but to the uninitiated can prove dauting. So here are 5 custom tweaks for Windows that we have been asked how to do. After reading the article let us know if you have a question that's been bugging you and we will gladly answer all.
1 – Create Icons From a Photo: Browse to http://icofx.ro and download & install icoFX. Choose File > Import Image and select a picture you would like to turn into an icon. If it’s bigger than 245×256, enter its dimensions here or cancel and resize it in our usual graphics program and import it again. Choose Icon > Create Icon from image. Now supply the resolution and color depth of each of the icons that you want to generate. Click OK. You can now edit and save each one individually.
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Operating System,
PC Tips & Tricks,
PC Fix,
PC tips,
Windows Tips,
Customize Windows,
Windows Tweaks
If your PC is running slow,
defragmentating your hard drive can have an explosive effect on all of your computers performance. The Windows defragmenter utility is perfectly capable of keeping your hard drive in order but if you want to squeeze even more performance out of your computer try
Puran Defrag Free from
puransoftware.com.
Tags:
slow computers,
Keeping your PC working,
Hard drives,
Defragmenting,
Puran Defrag,
PC tips,
Windows Tips,
Speed up my computer
No matter what level of security software you have installed on your computer, it can’t protect you from the headaches you’ll encounter if you click on an unsafe link. These links will appear to be shortcuts to funny videos, shocking news stories, awesome deals, or “Like” buttons, but are really designed to steal your personal information or hijack your computer. You can also get these links from friends who can unknowingly pass on unsafe links in emails, Facebook posts, and instant messages. These links are also found on websites in ads and search results. Here are some ways you can check to see if these links are safe to open or not.
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Tags:
Keeping your PC working,
Viruses,
online safety,
Scams,
PC Tips & Tricks,
Protection,
Fake Antivirus,
PC tips,
email,
Security,
Malware Prevention
Time to change your background?
Do you hate the background on your desktop? Have you ever wanted to change it but just did’tn not know how? Well it’s simple and here’s how to do it quickly and painlessly
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PC tips,
Windows,
Windows 7,
Customize Windows
As a technician, one of the most problematic phrases I run in to is:
It’s gone and I don’t have a backup.
Each time I hear this, it makes me cringe, knowing that this tech solution could be an uphill battle. Regular backups can help save you trouble, stress, and more importantly, if you are a business, money.
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Hard drives,
Backing Up,
Storage,
Hard Drive Recovery,
Data Backup
THE BEST INTERNET CONNECTION
So how do you choose an ISP for your business? All Internet connections are not created equal. There are differences that go beyond just the price like the types of connections, the bandwidth and equipment and or installations fees. Making these decisions can mean the difference between a bad experience with your ISP or a joy to use. Following are some tips and what to look for when choosing your Internet connection for a business or home use.
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Tags:
How much does it cost,
ISP,
internet service provider,
Free business software
