Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Printer errors and slow computers…very common problem for many users lately. I have seen folks not only calling that their systems are slow, but they are getting odd errors too. For the most part, we can remove the problematic printer issues to make the system faster and get rid of the errors, but let’s review a few things for you folks.
All printers install HUGE software programs with the printer. So understand this, you go out and buy a new HP or Canon printer. You put in the disk and the install isn’t difficult, but you have to babysit it for almost 45 minutes! How annoying! Next up, the printer installs fine, works like a charm, but you can’t figure out how to scan/fax/etc because the software is not easy to understand.
Question…are you buying an all in one printer to save money or because you need all of those functions? I am highly recommending the following:
If you just need a printer, shop around. Buy something affordable, ink is cheap to replace and won’t cost you a bundle to get repaired. Usually a home user can get away with a $75 dollar printer. Our rates to fix a printer is the standard $75, so trust me…I don’t put too much time into troubleshooting a cheap printer!
To save you problems, if you don’t need the fancy software, skip installing it. Just plug the printer in the computer and then do a “add a printer” function and hopefully your comptuer will find it automatically (most do, especially the newer ones).
What does Call That Girl have for printers? haha…Ask my interns, I don’t allow printing! They get antsy and irritated I think, but that makes them do things electronically…save and share files. I have found too many scrap print jobs in my day to know that printing is not necessary for everyday things. We do have an old Lexmark in the workshop for scanning (but haven’t in months) and a nicer HP that my friend Mary borrowed us many months ago, but it hasn’t worked right since I re-did the wifi network and is almost out of ink, so I gave up on it and went back to my “no printing” policy. Seems to work fine, we are still a “No print” company!
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As most of the Minneapolis/St. Paul readers of this blog know, our choices of getting high speed internet are limited to pretty much 2 corporations in town. Comcast and Qwest. As a residential computer repair tech, here is how I see the choices being made.
According to my website statistics, in the past month out of almost 4000 visitors, 1800 are cable users 951 are DSL. This also includes visitors from around the world too, so it’s not just local stats, but interesting nonetheless.
Now, on to my latest Comcast rant. According to their press relase dated Jan 20th, 2010
Call That Girl has a problem with this press release. Norton/Symantec is far from “Award winning” in our computer repair shop. Norton/Symantec is one of the antivirus programs that I see in the shop BY FAR more than any other. Not only are they not catching the latest Malware viruses, but the program is so slow for some users, that they call us to figure out why it’s slow…only to have me SHOW them, their Norton/Symantec is killing their computer. Of a slow painful death. I also have to add, I call it far from ROBUST. Sure it has all the bells and whistles, but it doesn’t work.
Mind you, I also wasn’t a fan of the McAfee product they used to give away either, but if I had to make a choice of one over the other…I would probably chose McAfee.
To close, I will add that Qwest used to (not sure if they do now) offer Windows Live One Care, but they probably won’t be in the future, as it’s being discontinued.
http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-in/default.htm?mkt=en-in
Microsoft’s replacement product though is is quite nice. Read my blog a couple down for a review on that.
If you are here and want to start your own computer repair business, check out my blog series about How to start a computer repair business
I’ve been playing around with and testing the new Microsoft antivirus program “Microsoft Security Essentials” and so far, I have to report…nothing but great results for the “home/basic user”.
This is a free AV program for those that have purchased any of the Microsoft operating systems. While it installs, it does a validation of the license. Keep in mind, this product is to replace their not so lucky in life product “Windows One Care”. So if you are about to change AV programs, One Care is not that easy to remove. You may need a special remover tool.
What I like about Microsoft Security Essentials so far
In my repair shop, on a weekly basis I get computers in that have the big boxy AV programs and they are failing left and right. I have found that the free ones do just as well or better than those that are costly.
To download this program, go to http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
For another review, http://www.pcworld.com/article/167246/first_look_microsoft_security_essentials.html
I hope that helps some of you out there that are looking for some free software to fight those pesky intruders!
Check out my map from my Google stats, I have been watching this lately and am really enjoying see how far I am reaching across the globe. Green means someone from that country has been to my site here.
195 countries in the world, I have 76 on the list, I have a way to go…to really be around the world. It can be done!
Happy Friday everyone!
Today’s blog is about how to troubleshoot your wifi/wireless router. Many things can cause your router to go offline. I’m going to guess that you are surfing along and get no connection or you come to your computer, there is no connection. You didn’t do anything and it’s not working! GRRR, yes, it’s irritating. But try these simple tricks before you spend time calling the internet company or calling a paid technician to help.
I have a Linksys router and it has 3 lights on when it works. 2 lights means it is not working. All routers have different lights and what they mean. Some have 5 blinking lights (Qwest).
Try those quick steps before you jump into your internet connections and start messing with the settings. Some basic users have gone into their network connections and deleted some very important things, so leave that to the technicians.
Computer support for seniors
Call That Girl enjoys helping the seniors with their computer issues, bet you didn’t know that did you? We have even been referred a few because working with seniors, sometimes takes a special touch. A regular geek sometimes misses the mark with these folks, such as:
Call That Girl has solutions for all of the above, not only are we “software specialists” we are “people specialists” and know hard to read each client to give them the best support possible.
Our favorite method of support (Internet remote-in) works exceptionally well with the seniors and if they need to bring in the computer to our shop dues to crashes, viruses, etc…we have contracted with http://www.bontime.com to pick up and deliver the machines. No heavy lifting!
Senior care referral (awesome!!)
Mary Chapa, owner of Eliza One, Inc is a senior care coordiation company that supports seniors with medical needs around the metro area. If you have a senior parent has needs a special hand going to their appointments or just needs a friendly nurse to chat with on the phone, please consider using Mary’s business, she’s great with the seniors and she knows her stuff! Here is a short list of her services:
Services Include
Senior computer training
If you have a senior parent or friend who needs special training with computer related technology, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Cell phones, Facebook and cameras… please contact Modern Inconveniences! They specialize in senior training!
Thanks again everyone making building my business, the best experience I have ever had! I love what I do, and love everyday. I never know what’s happening next.
