Computer Issues

byAndyT1

122 followers

7 years ago

I've seen this kind of post a few times now and decided to share this on a blog so more of you can take advantage of it.
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I had a computer business for 24 years. Fixing computers scares most
people because they don't understand what goes on in there, but I can
assure you it is not a big deal.

Keyboards on notebook (laptop) computers are a very easy fix. They
pretty much just pop off, unplug it and reverse the procedure with the
new one. On occasion, there are one or two screws that have to be
removed to fix it.

I very highly suggest an external keyboard that plugs into a USB port
(socket) since they are made to be tougher and don't normally break down
as quickly.

External hard drives are absolutely worth the money. They take a little
bit to get them set up correctly but after that, it is plug and play.
As Dale said SSD (Solid State Drives) are much faster, but cost more.
Since it is a backup hard drive, speed is not a major factor unless you
are storing thousands of photos on it. External drives can and will
save all your work so when your computer dies, you don't lose all your
information. Set up the External drive to back up your entire computer.
Use an incremental backup. That way it only copies files that have
changed since you backed up last. Have it run a 3am or a time you are
asleep so it doesn't slow you down. If you don't have one, go get one.
What size? A terabyte at least. (1TB)

ALWAYS set your external drive as a backup so that as soon as you plug
it in, it's making copies of your stuff. That is what it was designed
to do and you won't be sorry.

Speaking of external;

External HDD/SSD
External Monitor
External Keyboard
External Mouse

Get a nice 4 port USB HUB and connect all of these to it. When you take
your computer somewhere, just unplug the hub and use the built-in
hardware. When you get back to your desk, just plug back in and your
computer will run a backup and you will be back on the heavier duty
stuff to make your notebook last as long as possible without issue.

Do you have Windows? Get some maintenance software. I use System Mechanic by http://IOLO.com. It works and prevents all kinds of issues that Windows is known for.
Set it to run Active Care all the time and forget to worry. Just keep
it updated. System Mechanic also has a Pro version with Anti-virus
built-in.

Windows also requires a good anti-virus program. I use Kaspersky, but
there are other good ones. Norton used to be awesome but it got huge
and slow, McAffe I avoid because the algorithm they use is not very
good.

Do you have Apple? It is NOT immune to viruses and hacking no matter
what you have been told. There simply is no such thing as immune to
hacking or viruses. Invest in a quality anti-virus.

The problem with a temporary computer is it will have your information
on it when it gets returned, and you have to add software to do your
work because it doesn't come with it. I would rather purchase a cheap
one to use in the meantime as a backup and keep it around just for that.
I have my wife's computer set up to replace mine and vice versa. That
way, even if one goes down, we can still operate.

I hope this helps.
Andy