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Can
you fix my machine or should I get a new one?
In today's world of computers, it can be
cheaper to purchase a new machine rather than repair the old one.
To determine whether it's the right thing to do depends on several
factors. If you are having endless problems that seem to change
constantly, often it is easier to get a new working system and transfer
your data over to it. On the other hand, seemingly different problems
can have one source that can be solved quite simply. An example
would be the date and time never staying set for long. This is often
the result of a battery needing to be replaced.
Do I need to bring
the computer to you?
Not necessarily. We can often repair and
update your computer at your house or office. If you have a slow
Internet connection, sometimes it is quicker for us to take it to
our office and use our high speed connection.
Something is making a funny
noise? What is it?
When your computer makes noises that are
not normal, they can come from a couple of sources. A loud whirring
noise can come from a fan that is about to fail. It is usually the
sound of the bearings in the fan. This can cause the machine to
overheat and crash.
Another sound can come
from the hard drive. This can sound like a "thunk" repeated
rapidly several times or a grinding noise. This is when the hard
drive is failing. If you have critical files on this machine and
you hear this, switch off the machine as soon as possible. This
can mean that the only way to save your files is to send it to Drivesavers
and have them take apart the hard drive. They can often recover
files from dead hard drives but it is expensive. Prices start at
$500 and range up to $2500. The average cost is around $2000. You
can save some money is you mention my resellers' code (DS14254)
when you call them. This code save you a $200 fee if they try cannot
retrieve anything or you get 10% off the total cost if they can
recover files. Drivesavers number is 800-440-1904.
I
can not get my machine to "boot up" or start. Can you
fix it?
When a computer won't turn on or beep while starting up, it can
be a power supply which is a fairly basic component to replace.
If you recently installed some new software, hardware or a driver,
the problem can be more difficult to diagnose. Sometimes the new
hardware or software can cause a conflict with your computer and
its existing software. Another problem can be leaving a floppy disk
in the drive when booting the machine.
My
computer will start up after several tries, but it crashes or freezes
at some point.
This can be difficult to track down because it can sometimes be
a hard drive failing or a different piece of the computer. Sometimes
it is one particular program that causes the machine to crash. Your
best defense is to make notes about what you were doing when the
machine crashed and what programs you were using. If you can cause
the machine to repeat this again, this is good because a repeatable
error is easier to track down. An intermittent problem is very difficult
to diagnose.
Backups
We should all have backups of our important files. These include
emails, address books, favorite web pages, documents, and software
updates. Every person's list is different. At the very least you
should copy you files onto another media (e.g.. CD-ROM, zip disk,
another hard drive). I didn't mention floppy because these are notorious
for going wrong just when you need them the most. Would you trust
your most valuable files to a piece of plastic that cost you all
of 39 cents????
To have the whole process as painless as possible
you should have some software to automatically copy the files. A
CD-ROM is fairly standard media to use and cheap. Having multiple
copies of it is a good idea as well because they can scratch and
you can put them some where other than with your computer.
The best solution is a portable hard drive that
plugs into you computer and you press a button which triggers it
to make a complete copy of everything. Of course this is not inexpensive
but neither is losing all your customers' addresses and having to
reenter them.
Why
should I hire you?
We have several advantages over other ways to get your computer
problems solved. We save you time and energy by coming to your office
or home on your schedule. You can leave the computer plugged in
and setup so when it goes wrong, we can see it in its natural state.
We can watch over your shoulder seeing and hearing from you what
is wrong. Listening to what you want to do helps us come up with
the best solution. Our customers are very important to us. We want
to give you personalized service the way it should be. Our main
concern is to have your computer doing and behaving the way YOU
want it to.
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