Find yourself with a new Window 8 or 8.1 computer and wish you could take a chainsaw to it?
Are you tired of living in the land of apps when all you really want is a desktop?
Isn’t it great to have a touch screen designed interface on a device sold without a touch screen!
Do you just wish they left well enough alone and you could hop back to an experience you are familiar with?
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Windows 8/8.1 optimization and tweaking package promo.
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[av_two_third first av_uid=’av-58n9fj’]Computer Doctor of Hampden is offering a special package which will optimize the performance of your computer and return your desktop to its rightful place, and give you a real start button! Don’t worry your Apps will still be around just not in your face as much. While we have your system in the shop we will do a free hardware check and have a look at your security software.[/av_two_third]
The last thing most people think about when they unpack there shiny new Windows’s computer is… “Man, I really need to get a great security package on this computer before I start using it on the internet”. The fact is most people fly through all the initial prompts during setup and end up agreeing to everything in a mad dash to the desktop, and yes there really is a desktop in Windows 8!
I mention antivirus software because we have been seeing a recent trend of Windows 8 viral infections. While the actual virus that cripples the machine varies in each case, the one unifying thread is the fact that their Norton Antivirus 30 day trial had expired within the last 7 day.
One problem with the bundled antivirus is that it will disable the native (poorly rated) Windows Defender. That leaves folks wide open for malware infections.
If you are plagued with pop ups, stymied by internet searches brining lousy results and being redirected to the last places you want to be, chances are you may have a malware problem. Many times Computer Doctor can remotely connect to your computer clean the infection, optimize and tweak the performance of the computer, clean out the garbage software, fix the issues with your web browsers and install a new antivirus solution without the computer ever leaving your home or office.
Summer is in full force as I write this. Even in Bangor Maine temperatures have been in the high 90’s. Just as we need to keep ourselves cool in this heat, our electronics need to be protected from the heat also. Laptops run hot enough as it is, as prices have dropped so have the quality of the components. Please check out this great post from Lifehacker that goes into more specifics on how to keep your laptop cools and prevent heat related failures.
Key thinks to remember:
Keep your laptop out of the direct sun (especially when using them or transporting them in vehicles)
Try to use your laptop on a hard flat surface to help with airflow.
Do not block cooling fan inlet or outlet.
Let you laptop cool down before using it if it has been in a hot car for a few hours.
Shut down your wifi/bluetooth if not needed to decrease heat.
Common heat related symptoms:
Slow startup and shutdowns.
Poor battery life.
Bulging battery.
Abrupt total shut downs.
Please keep your data backed up to another device, a USB drive or online storage like google drive or drop box are cheap insurance! Enjoy the heat!
Every year people line up at an obscene time of day to save a few dollars on whatever they need or want and to burn off a few calories after the Thanksgiving feast.
Often the door buster deals are the cheapest computer you can imagine, special models are sometimes put together just for these blow out events. Here at Computer Doctor of Hampden, we see these computer come in all year round, you may be lucky and have one fail during warranty but more often then not they fail catastrophically shortly after the warranty expires. Now some people look at computers and laptops as throw away devices, buy cheap and get a new one when it dies. That is great as long as you have an excellent back up plan, I recommend a combination of local and cloud based back up plans.
For those that plan on keeping their computers for a few years here are some suggestions, avoid the cheapest of the cheap, avoid Acer,Gateway, HP and Compaq laptops that you are paying under $400 for. We have a pile of these failed computers and laptops, we are seeing both motherboard and hard drive failures increasing as prices decrease. Cheap hard drives and poor cooling systems are a recipe for failure. If you do find yourself drawn in to these cheap computers, try to get one with an intel processor, they tend to run a bit cooler and make an investment in a cooling pad, for ~$20 you can help extend the life of your bargain basement laptop.
The prices are way down on laptops and the failure rate is rising just as fast. The cost cutting is evident, I have seen sturdier plastic used in KFC sporks. They flex, snap and shed their bits of plastic and no one blinks. “Well I did get it at Walmart for $198.00 on Black Friday”
Thats just great, and if your only use for your laptop is to surf the web, have at it. Here are the caveats, cheap laptops have cheap hard drives, if you live on the web and all your data is stored in a cloud by all means run fast and cheap and replace it every 14-16 months.
If you use outlook or quickbooks or have a huge iTunes collection and 137 gigs of pictures of your uncle Wally’s trip to Disney in 1993, then please back it all up!
Back it up now and in 2 places, send it to the ether using one of the online back up services and then put it on a local external hard drive and keep it where your laptop doesn’t live.
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Are you tired of living in the land of apps when all you really want is a desktop?
