May 2008
Houston, We have a PC Problem – 8 Things to do right now
Eight Things You Should Do When Your Computer is Misbehaving Before you pick up that screwdriver and download one of the mini-guides you should read over these 8 tips on what to do when things start going badly. Step 1 – Don’t Ignore Problems Admit something is wrong with your computer. You can’t fix it […]
Is that Your PC I Smell Burning? –
How Power Surges Can Smoke Your PC Without The Right Surge Protector. Surge protectors are often the last thing most people buy when setting up a new computer system. Computer? Check! Flat panel monitor? Check! Printer? Check! Now to plug everything in. Oops, you don’t have enough outlets for all the different power plugs. Not […]
What’s Wrong with Your PC – A Detective Story
Computer Troubleshooting 101 Troubleshooting is really a kind of detective work. Like Sherlock Holmes, you have to use a bit of deduction, a smidgen of specialized knowledge with just plain old “mother wit” or common sense. Troubleshooting is an easy skill to pick up and learn. As a matter of fact, you probably use some […]
What Happens When You Start’er UP? –
The Power-On-Self-Test (POST) Now that you know about the 10…or 11 main parts of a modern computer system, you need to know how they work together. When any computer first boots up, it performs a POST (Power On Self Test) or system check. Basically, a POST check allows a computer to count all its “fingers […]
How to Get Started
Now that you have determined that this website is right for you we can move on. How this Website Works One of the hardest parts of repairing computers is learning where to begin. Non-technical people get all tangled up in the “hardware vs. software” thing and waste hours searching online trying to piece together odd-n-end […]
Computer Repairs – Why Do It Yourself?
Okay, you’re not sure if you should be monkeying around inside your computer. You still have a warranty, a long term service contract and everything, right? Yes, I understand. But what you don’t know if that the PC support industry is slowly dying out. Hands-on technical service is expensive to provide long term. Hint: Dell, […]
How to Use This Website…
Have you ever had any of these problems? You have a strange problem with your hard drive… You are not sure what is wrong but when you boot up your hard drive simply takes forever to bring Windows up. You keep hearing funny sounds but you don’t know what to do. Your computer is so […]
Under The Hood – The 10 “Moving” Parts of a Computer
Despite what anyone tells you, troubleshooting a desktop computer is usually a very straightforward thing. There are just 10 “moving” parts to a standard desktop or tower PC. A laptop has exactly the same parts (if you exclude the “built-in” screen, keyboard and glidepad)only miniaturized and squeezed into a much smaller case. The Ten Parts […]
How to spring clean your computer _ Part 2
PC Clean Up and Maintenance Techniques Delete all old programs Go to “Start > Programs” and use the “uninstall” tools on any old applications that you or your family no longer needs. If a program doesn’t have an uninstall program, then go to “Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs”. Remove any programs here in […]
How to spring clean your computer…
Do You Ever Degunk Your PC? “It’s like a closet…your hard drive is like a closet. You can’t keep putting all these programs in here. You have to clean stuff out every now and then.”, I kept telling him. But he would just nod and smile. He wasn’t getting it. He was an older user […]