Viruses are known to plague millions of computers each year. They can cause a lot of frustration and annoyance because your computer is not acting the way it should be; it is the difference that you notice that can prevent any further damage done to your computer. It is important to keep a look out for any indication that your computer is infected, so here are 10 simple signs to help you notice a computer virus:
Your computer is really slow. Like really, really, REALLY slow.
Nothing responds when you click on an icon and/or your software applications do not work correctly anymore.
The system reboots, freezes up, or crashes for no reason.
Your antivirus security program and/or firewall is suddenly disabled.
You can’t access your disk drives or hard drive.
You are suddenly unable to print
You start seeing strange pop-up windows stating that you have a virus or that your computer is infected. (Usually the name of the virus program/scanner is something you have never heard of and you can’t seem to close the annoying window).
You start seeing pop-up advertisement windows at unexpected (random) times.
You have major problems trying to install or download software, especially an antivirus software.
You seem to have suddenly lost the icons on the desktop and/or all other program files in our folders.
If you are experiencing any combination of these symptoms on your computer, the best solution is to bring it in to Computer Doctor. We have seen the nastiest of viruses out there, and we are confident that we can nurse your computer back to health. If you have any concerns about your computer at all, please give us a call at 862-7019, we would love to take care of any computer issues you may have! You can take 15% off a Virus Removal and Tune Up service by mentioning this article before November 18, 2016!
No matter what type of shopper you are– the early bird who has everything wrapped up before Thanksgiving, or the mad-dasher that goes to grab everything the night before, it is easy to lose track of everybody on your gift list. There is the challenge of making sure that nobody gets the same present twice, especially if the same lists are circulated throughout your family. Here are a few tech tools that you can use to organize your holiday gift giving.
Keeping track of what you want to get for somebody, or what you have already purchased for others is challenging, particularly in large families. What good is planning ahead if you forget what you bought and where you hid it last month? How can you really keep your budget in mind when you are just wandering the store shelves aimlessly buying random gifts? If you have an iOS device, you can get the Santa’s Bag app. This gift giving app helps keep track of what everyone wants, how many gifts you have bought for each person, how much money remains in your budget, and even whether or not you have wrapped the gifts yet. You can add recipients as you go, as well as input what they want or what you think they want into a “gifts and ideas” list. You can set a certain budget for each gift recipient, sort out what store you will be buying the gift from, and set the status of wrapped or unwrapped, and add a gift location so that you don’t forget where you hide it!
A great gift giving app for those who do not have iPhones is the Christmas Gift List for Android. This app tracks ideas for what you want to get each person. The Christmas Gift List app also has quick click icons that let you update the status to bought, or from unwrapped to wrapped. Much like Santa’s bag, you can set personal budgets for each recipient- and see how many gifts you still need to buy at a glance. There is additional room for notes about each gift such as how you wrapped it, how large it is, and what color it is. This app is great for keeping you on top of your holiday gift giving.
The apps mentioned above are great for staying on track of your own gifts, but for those who need to coordinate with friends and family to avoid gift overlap, consider using Google Sheets. Google Sheets will help you form a complete gift giving spreadsheet, with each recipient having their own tab. The only downfall of this system is that users will
be able to see when a gift from their list has been crossed off. The best thing about Google Sheets is that it is free and can be accessed from any device that has an internet connection. All you need is a Gmail account, and family members can see who has added what. As soon as an item is purchased, it can be removed from the wish list so that no item is gifted twice. Although Google Sheets was designed to be more of a tool for school or business, it is surprisingly effective for use as a gift giving organizer.
Of course, there are some families that are spreadsheet challenged. For those families, there are several online wish lists that are good for beginners. MyRegistry allows you to add gifts from any online store, as well as sync any existing registries you may have at places like Amazon, Target, Walmart, Macy’s, and more. You can also use the smartphone app to scan bar codes of items that you find in physical stores. After you have compiled your list, you can share it on social media, a custom link, or allow people to search for it using your name. People with whom you have shared your list can update an item to show you when it is purchased. If every member of your family signs up for a MyRegistry account, everybody gets what they want and nobody ends up with three of the same gifts. MyRegistry is probably the most comprehensive tool for organizing your gift giving, but it does not work unless everybody is on board.
No matter how many people are on your holiday shopping list, staying organized can be a challenge. When it comes to gift giving, it is best to stay on top of things and not wait until the last minute, but no matter what your holiday shopping approach is, these tech tools will surely help organize your gift giving.
At the Computer Doctor, we can help you give the best gifts to your loved ones. We have an iMac in the shop, as well as two laptops ready to go– one of which is touchscreen! A newly refurbished computer by a certified and trustworthy technician is the perfect present to give this season.
Call us at 862-7019 or stop by and visit us at 50 Main Rd N in Suite B in Hampden, ME to check out our selection! If you mention this article, you will even receive 15% off!
Although Macs are well known for their dependability and relative long life, they can still get bogged down and benefit from . Here are some services we can do for your iMac, MacBook, or even Mac Mini to prolong it’s useful life.
Memory Upgrade
It is very common for a laptop or computer to only have 4GB of RAM. If you upgrade to 8GB of RAM, that would be comfortable for most people’s computers and would noticeably speed up your Mac. If you need storage for huge amounts of data, such as video editing or graphic design, then 16GB would be ideal— but that would be too much unnecessary space for your thousands of pictures from vacation or a few videos of your children blowing out candles on their birthdays!
Hard Drive Replacement
A Solid State Hard Drive will revolutionize your experience on your Mac. It will feel much more responsive, and even if you have a small amount of memory, swapping to a Solid State Hard Drive will also help because an SSD is especially fast at the transfer of data from the memory to the hard drive— much faster than an ordinary hard drive. An SSD is nearly 100x faster than an ordinary hard drive, and can even extend the battery life in a laptop as well!
Solid State Hard Drives have no moving parts, so they are much more reliable because over time the ordinary hard drive parts will wear down and fail with use. SSDs also generate no noise and significantly less heat than an ordinary hard drive does.
Utilize Your Additional Storage Options
Computers perform badly when their main storage drive is full. A common rule is to leave at least 10 % of your drive free—so consider adding additional storage and offloading files you don’t use often to it. This might be external storage, such as a USB flash drive or external hard drive. Getting those extra files that you don’t need on-hand off of your hard drive will free up some extra space and make your computer run more efficiently.
Update your Operating System
It is highly recommended to install the latest Operating System on your Mac for the increased security and features. Technologies such as App Nap— a feature that pauses apps not being used and reduces power usage— and compressed memory in OS X 10.10 Yosemite can actually improve performance on weaker hardware, such as your original hard drive.
Updating your Operating System can be tricky. The newest version of OS X for Mac is El Capitan, but we have seen some issues with completing the upgrade and computers not rebooting quickly afterward. If you tried to update your operating system and there was a problem with the install, then we encourage you to bring your Mac to us to get it back on track. If you bring your computer in to the Computer Doctor in Hampden for us to update your operating system, then you will receive $10 off if you mention this article!
The benefits to updating your OS X definitely outweigh the drawbacks— that is, if you have a newer Mac. If your Mac model is older than 2008, then it might not be the best idea to update it to the newest operating system. We’ve heard horror stories of older Macs completely grinding to a halt under the strain of the new OS X, and there’s definitely a danger with older Macs that newer operating systems will demand too much. At the Computer Doctor, we have every Mac operating system since Snow Leopard came out in 2009. We can install any of the operating systems that have come out in the past 6 years directly onto your Mac, and we will advise you which one would be the most efficient for your computer.
Apple has produced a line of outstanding products, and at the Computer Doctor we have found Macs to run better, quicker, and be more dependable than other brands of computers. If you bring in any Mac computer, laptop, or mini on or before November 28, 2015, then you will receive 10% off any service if you mention this article!
Come see us at 50 Main Road North in Hampden, Maine; across the street from the Circle K in the same building as Rivertown Family Eye Care. You can also call us anytime at (207) 862-7019.
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internet connection. All you need is a Gmail account, and family members can see who has added what. As soon as an item is purchased, it can be removed from the wish list so that no item is gifted twice. Although Google Sheets was designed to be more of a tool for school or business, it is surprisingly effective for use as a gift giving organizer.
your list can update an item to show you when it is purchased. If every member of your family signs up for a MyRegistry account, everybody gets what they want and nobody ends up with three of the same gifts. MyRegistry is probably the most comprehensive tool for organizing your gift giving, but it does not work unless everybody is on board.
Memory Upgrade
A Solid State Hard Drive will revolutionize your experience on your Mac. It will feel much more responsive, and even if you have a small amount of memory, swapping to a Solid State Hard Drive will also help because an SSD is especially fast at the transfer of data from the memory to the hard drive— much faster than an ordinary hard drive. An SSD is nearly 100x faster than an ordinary hard drive, and can even extend the battery life in a laptop as well!
