Latest news
Computer won't start?
Submitted by martin on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 12:38A common question is "I can't start my computer - it won't turn on at all - can you help?".
A follow up that we're often asked is whether data files will still be OK, and generally the answer to that is yes - if you don't want it fixed, we can easily get your files back.
Generally speaking, there are two things that might be wrong:
1) The PC's internal power supply (a transformer that distributes power to various internal components) has failed. If that's the case, we can replace it for you easily.
Special Pricing for Charities
Special pricing for Charities
In conjunction with Voluntary Action Rutland, we are pleased to offer an hour of our time free to local charities, and also a 10% discount for further work. WE also sell AVG antivirus, who offer a 30% discount for charities.
We're not sure what the take-up on this will be or how it will work out, so we're starting with a trial period until February 2010, and we may enforce a cap on the number of free hours per month (I still have to earn a living!)
Windows 7
I've just transferred my main work PC to Windows 7, and also changed to a solid state hard drive.
Windows 7 is great - once you've spent half an hour changing settings to get it the way you want.
And on the solid state hard drive it takes hardly any time to boot up.
For new Windwos 7 users, I suggest you google for terms like "windows 7 tips" - and you'll find helplful pages like this one
Just before you buy a new PC
Windows 7 is on the way. It'll be launched in October, and PCs bought between now and then will qualify for a free (or very cheap) upgrade.
Windows 7 promises to be be faster to boot up than Vista, and with fewer of Vista's annoying habits - but with the extra security that makes Vista a bit less prone to viruses than XP. If you're buying a new PC - check whether it has the Windows 7 upgrade option attached.
Is DAB the future of radio?
So the BBC want to turn off the FM transmitters sooner rather than later. Never mind the absurd waste of throwing tens of millions of perfectly good radios into landfill. Digital radios are still more expensive, consume more electricity, and produce worse sound quality.
One of Those Days
Yesterday I visited two clients who both had servers that weren't working. In both cases, the problem was caused by...can you guess?.. Microsoft updates! One of them wouldn't even boot up & gave a nice blue screen error, until I removed KB968537 by manually copying back the old win32k.sys. The other booted, but couldn't be accessed by anyone.
New web site
Submitted by martin on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 14:06I've been intermittently working on copying the plain old html website, the template of which was provided for me by Computer Troubleshooters, into a Content Management System (CMS). The one I've used is Drupal, as I know it a little (I use it to look after rutlandbigband.org.uk and www.barnsdaleowners.co.uk.
It should make it much easier for me to update this site.. let me know if you find anything wrong with it.. I'm sure there's a mistake in it somewhere!
Solid State Hard drives
If speed is of the essence, solid state hard drives (SSD) (instead of mechanical rotating ones) are becoming inexpensive enough to consider. Accessing data is often the bottle neck when using a PC, and releasing it with an SSD can give some extra Oomph. The problem is that they cost maybe 5-10 times as much per GB of storage. But you could buy a 80-120GB SSD for £200-£300 that would be large enough for most people, and would ive an impressive boost to the speed of any laptop or desktop.
I think I'll be waiting a while longer before I buy one though.
