Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Yes folks, you have to clean inside your computer (not if you have a laptop, but we’ll touch on that later).
Clean inside my computer????
Yes, I said it! Do you know what the inside of your computer looks like? It’s a metal box with parts all over it connected by a huge board called “the motherboard” or (fatherboard as the ladies like to call it).
If you are interested in seeing what’s going on and how many dust balls are in that box, let’s take off the cover or “shell” as geeks call it and find out! (reminder…if you have pets, expect A LOT of dust and fur!)
1.) Unplug all cords! This machine must not be connected to any power.
2.) Take your computer outside
Usually there are clips on the side that snap and you slide off half the case, it’s not just as simple as opening a box, but it will slide open.
For other models, you may have to unscrew some of the exterior screws. Sometimes half the cover comes off, other times the whole thing will come off and there you will be seeing your computer naked!
Most people I have seen clean out their computer, just get a vacuum and suck all the dust balls out. (even I do that usually…) But…there are some concerns with that. Electric static can zap your computer and fry some of the pieces. So for you “Average Jane/Joe”…I just recommend just hand grabbing all the big pieces. Then after you have them out, get a can of “Dust Air” and start spraying air on all the dirty components.
You will especially want to get the back area where the power fan is, and where you plug in your internet cords, monitor, etc. Those are very dusty! (as they are so close to the fur and dust in your house).
After you find it all clean and good to go, put the cover back on and plug it all back in. Your computer will may or may not run faster or better, but I have seen some really scary fur balls in one of my computers and I feared fur fire LOL. Never know….it was a huge furball.
LAPTOP USERS
Nope, you can’t just take it all apart and dust it out (ok, shouldn’t…it’s a pain to put it together)…but you can clean the keyboard and I do recommend that. Why? Because the keyboard is a part of the “machine” unlike a regular computer that has it detached. Keeping your keyboard clean will help keep your laptop working especially after warranty. Just get a can of dust air and give it a good “spraying down” and then check for huge crumbs and what not. A cookie crumb can cause a key to stick and give you hours of drama….so just check that out on occasion and you’ll be in great shape!
If you have any questions about this or want Call That Girl to do a regular computer cleaning and show you how to dust out your computer, call 612-865-4475 for an appt.
Not really a computer tip and trick, but this is a good topic for those that “try to fix their own computer problems”.
Example: I am not a good web designer. I have dabbled in it since the 90’s, but when it came to starting up Call That Girl in 2007, I said “No way Jose!” am I doing my own website! I knew to outsource that right away. I called up Scott who I worked with many years ago and asked him if he was still doing them. He was thank goodness and I gave him my specs and a week later, up was my site for $200.
I would have wasted more than a month to do what he did and not as good as he did it. While he was off doing my site, I was starting to build my network, going to networking events and plotting my marketing empire. I did not have time to waste on website building.
In my world, I am finding many folks who are trying to play “Google Technician”. They get a problem and Google it trying to fix it. Some have good results, but many do not. They call me up after many frustrated hours and I often fix their problem in just 15 minutes. Most of these folks are worth more than what we charge an hour and they are wasting their bill time trying to figure these things out.
(((Lisa scratches head)))
This is perfect time to call us and at least ask if we can fix it affordably. Our minimum rate is $25 for 15 minutes. Not bad for something easy for us and not so easy for you is it? Most computer repair technicians play “Google Technician” after we have tried to fix your issue without success, but the difference between “us and you” is that we know the systems and how to easily put those fixes in place, quickly.
I will close by adding, please be careful “deleting” anything! I have seen some folks make their problems worse by deleting sytem files or the registry to fix issues. Be careful out there.
Happy computing!
Lisa
Happy Holidays
One hour of technical support or computer cleaning for $50 (Regular price $75) We are open this weekend, so you don’t need to take time off work!
Rules:
The computer cleaning includes:
This is great if you…
You get a full hour, so start a list of questions and email to book an appointment!
Many of my clients are not backing up, yep…I know. I keep going on and on about this, but I can never stress how important it is!
If you are not doing a daily, weekly or monthly back up, here is an easy solution for those extremely important files:
Email them to yourself!
I do this on occasion “just in case” and I do daily back ups!
I keep copies of my emails on my server for 5 days, so that gives me ample time to get any emails I need. If you are using hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc…then those are kept on their servers until you delete them.
Let me know if you have any questions about doing this, email me at info@callthatgirl.biz
Call That Girl has finally tested and beat up Windows 7 enough to do an overview and give you all some thoughts on it. We were a bit disappointed with Windows 7 as we hoped it had the old look and feel of XP (Or even something brand spanking new!), but in fact, it is the opposite. Just more Vista appearances and workability.Please keep in mind that this was wrote for the “basic to average” users of computers. This is by far not a technical review!
We have determined 3 major factors in the change from XP/Vista/Windows 7
Speed
Look/feel
Internet Explorer 8:
Extra info! (For the Vista users)
Extra info! (for XP users)
Extra info! (for everyone)
I hope that helps everyone get a good overview of Windows 7 in a basic nutshell. Please remember with any upgrades or fresh installs to back up everything! Call That Girl can help with this and any installations/upgrades. We can also help with little questions if you move forward on your own.
Many of of you added on high speed internet years ago, you pay the same each month…but you are still paying for the lowest upload/download packages they had offered at that time. Times are changing and the packages are must faster now (for the same price you are paying for the old package!)
Why is this? Because they ware not going to upgrade you unless YOU ASK THEM.
I have recommendations to many of my clients to call Comcast or Qwest and find out what package you are on and see if you qualify for the upgrade for free, most are finding they are qualified.
It will take a call and going through the drama we all hate when calling large corporations, but this one may be worth it. Ask what package you are on now and see if there is another package for the same price. They may ask if you want to pay $10 for a bit extra. I tend to find many of my clients are taking the extra package because so many people are downloading right now, it’s worth the speed.
I’m usually just fine with what I pay for. I don’t need to download at Superman speeds. Hope this helps and gives you a bump on your internet speed!
