SOLUTIONS FOR EVERDAY COMPUTER PROBLEMS
Del.icio.usBy Jeffrey Litvinoff
www.computerstorehonolulu.com
PTC Consulting
How’s your computer running? If you are like most people,it’s not running as fast as new and may be doing weird things. Windows pop up when you are online, your home page has changed or it’s running incredibly slow. Strong signs that you have a virus or spyware. To stop these problems you need antivirus and spyware programs both running. They need to be updated on a weekly basis. If you see something free online saying “click here to speed up my computer “or “click here to get a free virus check,” do not open them. They may be a virus or spyware. Some spyware will pop up a window on your computer saying you are infected. They want you to go to their website and purchase software to fix your computer. This is a fake. If you buy theses fakes, they will get your name, address and credit card number. Another computer problem is having messages saying running out of virtual memory. This may be a sign of a full or failing hard drive. Computers get full of junk. Temporary files that were created at every website you visited. Orphan files left over from programs that you uninstalled. Files on the computer often get disorganized and cause the hard drive to work harder finding the files it needs. This is fixed by defragging your hard drive with the tools supplied in Windows. Computers are like cars, they need maintenance. If you neglect them,they will fail and cause you grief.
What about the hardware? Most hardware problems are caused by bad power. If the power to your computer dips or shuts down all of sudden, it can cause major damages. Power supplies, hard drives. Motherboards, memory, and processors can be damaged by sudden power changes. What is needed to prevent this is a UPS. A UPS is basically a surge protector with a battery built in. Power shuts off, the UPS kicks in. UPS come in many different sizes and power capacity. Most UPS have info on the box telling you which to choose.
Another big problem is when your computer fails and you need the data. Moving your hard drive to another computer as the primary hard drive almost always fails. The operating system (Windows XP) will crash because you have different hardware. In my opinion, this is done on purpose. They want you to buy new software every time you get a new computer. Or at least make you install the software you have with the serial numbers so that it cannot be installed on several computers. Now you can copy your data (word files, pics, emails, music, etc) to a new computer but not the programs. Even if you are the legal owner of these programs and have lost the serial numbers or disc, you need to buy them all over again…or maybe not. We at PTC have discovered a technique to copy an entire hard drive to another computer and keep all the data and PROGRAMS. It’s not something we can teach, but it is a definite service that we can offer. It works best if staying with the same operating system. So if you have an HP computer that had a bad motherboard and had Windows XP installed, we could install it onto a DELL computer also running Windows XP. Now if you wanted to transfer to a Vista based computer, the computer will need Window XP Drivers. Drivers are needed to run motherboards, video cards, card readers, network cards, etc. Not all model Vista computers have available Windows XP drivers, so you must choose the right model or manufacturer. Most DELLs have Windows XP Drivers.
There will always be computer problems and PTC will be here to provide you with the solutions that will make you smile.
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How do you prevent infections? Stay away from risky or suspicious web sites. Make sure you have both antivirus and spyware software. Do updates every day. Do not open unknown files or email. If infected turn off computer and have it cleaned. Continued usage will further infect your computer. Your local computer store in Honolulu is PTC Consulting LLC Located at 311 Keawe Street and phone number 524-SALE (524-7253). They are experts in cleaning infected computers and recovering your data.
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