The Legend of Computer Zorro

Zorro (Spanish for Fox) is the secret identity of Dave Woolsey, a gringo and master computer swordsman living in the Baja Norte, Southern California region. He defends the people of the land against spyware, malware, trojans and other villains, and is not only much too cunning and fox-like for the bumbling bad guys & hackers, but delights in publicly humiliating those same foes by righting their wrongs, while riding on his trusty horse Exterra.

Archive for March, 2010

Computer Repair Services: Four Steps To Customer Decisions

Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 4:00 am  
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When deciding to go with your computer repair services, a customer cycles through four steps: awareness; interest; evaluation; adoption. The strategies you use at each phase will encourage the prospect to take the steps to the end.

Step One: Awareness

Prospects you encounter might know about your computer repair services, but might not know much information about them beyond that. Your strategy in this initial stage should be to educate the consumer about the details of your business using flyers, brochures or websites. Providing a description of your services that is both exciting and informative will help bring you closer to a sale.

Step Two: Interest

This is the next level of customer curiosity. At this stage, a customer has already heard your commercials, seen ads or heard about you from friends. But he still needs more information about your services, so you should at this point provide more specific information about your computer repair services.

Step Three: Evaluation

At this stage, the potential client has complete information and has to evaluate whether your computer repair services are right for him. You can make this decision simple with the right strategy. One of these strategies is to offer a guarantee for services that will give him peace of mind in case he is not satisfied with any of the work you do.

Step Four: Adoption

The moment a customer decides to use your computer repair services you need to use strategies that will make him a long-term client. You need to create customer loyalty by providing superior service and the building blocks for a trusting relationship.

You have to understand the behavior of your customers in order to offer the best computer repair services. If you know the four steps of the decision-making process and implement strategies that will be appealing to prospects, you will get repeat business and optimize customer satisfaction.

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Computer Repair Were to Go and How to Save

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 2:19 pm  
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You should read this whole article because we offer some great computer repair advice and show you some ways to save a few bucks when the time comes.

Face it at some point and time your computer will take a dive. Whether you own a Mac or a Pc your computer’s hard drive will crash, your operating system will crash or some other hardware will go out on your system. Of course when this happens it won’t be at a time when you don’t need your computer for something important. It’s going to happen at the most inconvenient time. Murphy’s Law at it’s finest right.

Types of repair you can consider with pros and cons.

In-Home Repair is more and more common. The nice thing is you get your computer fixed on the spot and don’t have to unplug it and take it to a shop. The downsides are many companies charge extra for same day service and the bill is normally a bit more then taking your system some were.

Computer Shops

Many people like this option because it is more affordable then having a personal tech come out to fix your computer. It is cheaper but the draw back is people in shops are not always as professional as personal in home techs. The other draw backs include longer turn around time and having to unplug your system and take it to the shop and then pick it up when it’s done and lastly re-setting it up again.

Online Repair Shops

This last option is becoming more and more popular. You can have your system repaired on the spot with out an appointment and for a far cheaper price then even going to a local computer shop. The down sides are they can not repair hardware issues and unless you have DSL or Cable they will not be able t o help you. For software issues like mail, computer tune-ups and virus and spyware removal this is for sure the better way to go.

If you do have a hardware issue or an issue an online computer company can not fix then instead of looking in the phone book try Craigslist or the local newspaper. Many people do computer repair as a hobby and offer very low prices. If you go this method be sure and ask questions about their experience and or certifications. Also call around for prices. Never go with the first company you call unless you are very satisfied with their knowledge and price.

Do Computer Repair Classes Make Sense For You?

Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 4:42 pm  
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There is a lot to know if you plan on repairing computers for a living. Even if you simply plan on moonlighting with a computer repair business, the amount of information you are expected to know can be daunting. Computer repair classes may make sense for you if you have both time and some money to invest in some training.

The first thing you’ll want to determine is what kind of training you will need. Do you need advanced training or are you looking for simple techniques? Knowing what kind of training you need can reduce the time it take you to find the right class for your training needs.

How much of a budget have you set aside for training? Most computer training takes money. The more advanced the training, the more money it will cost. The cost will also depend on whether you follow a course of study. For the computer repair industry, compTia’s A+ certification is the one most recognized. Most computer training centers will offer a course on A+ certification.

Other training that makes sense for a computer repair technician includes computer networks including compTia’s Network+, Microsoft’s MSCE certification and CISCO certifications. You could also benefit from computer security certification like compTia’s Security+, MCSE security, Cisco security and even an ethical hacking cert like CISSP training.

Know what you plan on focusing your energies on. If you plan on working for someone else, know what area you plan on concentrating on. If you plan on owning your own business, you should also know what your area of concentration is going to be. Don’t take the MSCE certification if you intend to focus your business on Linux based products. While this may seem obvious to some, I’ve encountered people who were confused on this issue.

Bottom line, choose a computer training firm that has been around a while and is known for their thoroughness and expertise. There is nothing worse than paying big bucks for computer training that fails to prepare you properly for the field. Do some research, ask some people in the industry. In the end, if you’ve done your homework, you’ll be fine.

Computer Repair Minneapolis – Learn About Computer Hard Drives and How to Repair Them in Case of Failure

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 7:29 pm  
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One of the most important components of your computer is the hard drive which is used as a permanent storage device to store data. The data is stored in a digitally encoded form on magnetic platters. It can be manipulated by using the read-write head which is a small electro-magnetic coil, located very close to the magnetic surface. Hard disk drive along with the media on which actual information is stored comes as the same package. Computer repair Minneapolis provides information on how to repair your hard drive in case of a failure.

There are two basic functions of the hard drive: read and write. These operations are performed by the head which has the ability to reach every sector of the hard disk to sense or record data by discharging electrical impulses. The hard disk platters are constantly and rapidly rotating in order to allow the head to read and write data quickly. Rotational speed of a hard disk is one of its important parameters which can be increased to decrease the access time.

To install the hard drive on the system three interfaces have to be used. The first one is the IDE connector which is to be attached to the motherboard in order to access data from the hard drive. Each IDE connector is designed to support two drives; one primary and the other secondary. The second unit is the power connector which is used to connect the hard drive to the power supply. Normally there are indicators on the hard disk as well as the cables to connect them properly and in the right direction. This is an important step which can be used while troubleshooting in computer repair Minneapolis. The third and the last interface is known as the jumper block. A single jumper is a pair of electrical contact points which can be set to use the hard drive as master or slave. Today, the plug-and-play technology allows us to use preset jumpers.

If you are not being able to access your hard disk properly, the first thing to check is whether the BIOS is detecting your hard drive. BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System and it stores information on how to operate the basic hardware and software for your system. BIOS setup can be entered seconds after the computer is turned on by pressing a special function key. If the newly installed hard disk is not listed, there might be a hardware problem. Since the hard drive is constantly in motion you can hear the low spinning sound if it is working properly. If there is no sound, your hard disk might not have been installed properly. Check the jumper setting again or see if the cables have been connected properly. If you can hear a sound but it seems like a scraping sound, do not attempt to open the hard disk yourself in order to correct the problem. Instead, take it to a professional and have it checked thoroughly to locate a mechanical problem.

Hardware failures in the form of physical damage to the platters are difficult to correct. In such a situation you might not be able to recover data stored on your hard disk. In case of minor defects, computer repair Minneapolis allows us to recover some of the data by placing the media on a special drive designed for recovering data. If you have important data on your system you should copy it to some other location like a tape drive or a CD to prevent possible data loss in case of hard disk crash. Storing data on several partitions located on the same hard disk will not solve your problem. This is a preventive step which must be taken in order to be on the safe side.

If you are interested in manually repairing your hard disk, you will have to learn some basic debugging. This can be initiated by using an MS-DOS command “debug”. To use it properly you need to have a strong hold on machine language, also known as assembly language or machine code. There are proper instructions written in machine language to delete partitions on a hard disk or perform some other functions.

Before attempting to use computer repair Minneapolis shell commands, remember that not all operating systems are designed to operate in the same manner. Older versions of Windows do not support more than 32GB hard disk. The same is the case with file systems or file allocation tables. A partition which is more than 4GB in size will have to use FAT32 instead of FAT16. In order to repair your hard disk properly or to recover data, you will have to learn how these systems work.

You can also lock or unlock a partition in order to prevent it from losing data or becoming corrupted. In some cases the hard disks come pre-locked and may prevent operations like fdisk and encounter problems when you try to install software or another operating system. Simple lock and unlock DOS commands can be used to take the appropriate action needed to start repairing your hard disk.

 

Computer repair Minneapolis also allows us to recover lost or deleted data. This can be achieved by trying some basic troubleshooting steps before attempting to use other methods. See if your deleted files are still in the recycle bin. If they are not there, check if you have a backup partition which is kept up-to-date manually. In case you don’t have a backup, either on the same hard disk or on some other medium, then you can use a special software program such as Undelete Plus to recover your deleted files. These types of software are available as freeware on the internet and you can download and install them easily in order to retrieve your accidentally deleted files.

 

 

Computer Repairs – 8 Tips for Emergencies

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 1:50 pm  
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In the ideal situation, you buy a computer, install it and use it smoothly. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Everybody will receive some error messages sometimes or some unexplained failures. Should you call in a computer technician immediately or are there a few things that you should try by yourself to solve the problem? It depends on the case. When you see a message saying that you have a motherboard failure, it is definitely time to call in the IT and not try to solve it on your own. A few smaller issues, though, could probably be easily solved by you.

In the best scenario, you buy a computer with everything needed installed on it and you can use it for a long time without problems. However, this is usually not the case. We all have to deal with unexplained errors and failures every once in a while. Should you call in a computer technician immediately or are there a few things that you should try by yourself to solve the problem? This depends on the problems that are occurring. Some minor problems can easily be solved by the users, while an error message saying that there is a motherboard failure definitely needs the attention of an IT expert.

1. When you receive messages that your computer does not have enough memory to run an application, it does not always mean that you need to buy more memory. Some programs that use memory do not give it back when done. This is one of the many design limitations of Microsoft. Use the Task Manager to close ‘hidden’ programs and free memory for programs that are in use.

2. Memory errors are also often created by misinterpretations of the operating system. Run a virus checker that is up to date and see if this solves the problem.

3. A very common and often occurring problem is freezing of the computer. The applications are not responding anymore and everything runs in slow motion. The main reason of this is poor maintenance. Learn to use Ctrl+Alt+Del. This is not going to shut down everything completely as in the old days. Instead, it makes the Task Manager appear. Here you can see all the applications that are running. Find the one(s) that don not respond and choose ‘end now’.

4. Another simple solution for common problems as slow motion and freezing is rebooting. By shutting down and restarting the computer, programs are closed properly and fresh copies of the files that are needed to run the operating system are reloaded.

5. This is a good option to save time, but does not solve all the computer problems. The reason of freezing will not be solved or changed at all. After a crash, you should always run ScanDisk on the computer, so it will find and solve basic problems. ScanDisk can normally be found in the Start Menu under Accessories and System Tools. However, Windows XP named it differently. From ‘My computer, right-click on C: and click on ‘Properties’. On the ‘Tools’ tab, you will find ‘error checking’ and ‘Check Now’

6. Another thing that should be done regularly and definitely after a crash is Defragmentation. When you use a computer longer, the files become spread out over the whole hard drive. The computer needs to work very hard to find them back. The defragmentation function puts related files close to each other and speeds up the computer considerably. This function can normally be found right next to the ScanDisk.

7. If your computer crashes before you saved your file, it does not mean that you have lost the file. AutoRecover might have saved it for you. This is, when it was turned on. In MSWord you can turn on AutoRecover by clicking on ‘Tools’ and ‘Options’. Click on the ‘Save’ tab and checkmark AutoRecover. Was it not turned on when your computer crashed, you might find the file back in one of the temporary files. Click on ‘Start’, ‘Find’, ‘Files and Folders’. In the box ‘named:’ you type *.wbk and ‘look in:’ C:. Find the file by checking the time that is was created and the size. If you have found the file, change the file name to end with .doc and then double click on it to open it in MSWord.

8. Having connection problems? Or does it seem that the internet is down? Try other sites first, to see if the problem lies with your connection or with the website that you try to visit. Restarting the browser or the computer does also solve many problems that look as if coming from the connection.

Your computer crashed, but you never saved the file. Now what? Your file is probably not lost. If you have AutoRecover turned on, it will have saved the file for you. In MSWord, the AutoRecover can be turned on from ‘Tools’ and ‘Options’. Check AutoRecover on the ‘Save’ tab.

In the case that AutoRecover was not turned on when the computer crashed, all is not lost yet. The file could be recovered from the temporary files. Go to ‘Find’, ‘files and folders’ in the Start Menu. Search in C: for a file named *.wbk. When you recognize it from the time and size, you can change the extension to .doc. Do this by right-clicking on the file and choose rename. Now you can open de document in Words again.

Have you tried all things that you can think of and your computer problems are still not solved, then it is time to call in the experts. The best computer repairs services will come to your house or office and repair the computer onsite on the same day. When they arrive, try to help them identify the problem by keeping records of everything that you have tried and the results of it. When possible it would help the technicians if you made a screenshot as a record. The screenshot shows the exact error message, with the code numbers and this is very helpful information for the computer repairs expert. It also captures all the applications that are open at the time of the error. Make a screenshot by hitting the Print Screen button and paste this into Microsoft Paint (open this from ‘Programs’, ‘Accessories’). You can print the screenshot out to save you and the IT expert time and money.

Finding the best approach to computer repairs in Brisbane and across Australia can be especially challenging. Follow these tips and advice first so you are well prepared before you contact a same day computer repairs service in your local area.”


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