Tag: Computer support St. Paul Minnesota

To blog or not to blog, that is the question!

I get asked this question often, “Should I start a blog”….and you have to ask yourself before you set up a blog (free or not), what do you have to say and tell people about? Are you good at writing stories? I feel I’m a good storyteller, but don’t have the best grammer/spelling skills. Did that stop me from writing a blog? No. Have people corrected my grammer/spelling in the comments area? Yes. Do I care? Not really. I do this for fun. Oh and the big question I get…does my blog make me money? Not really. It’s a marketing tool that I use for the business. Just like advertising, I have the blog. Blogvertising, good idea, but it doesn’t pay off necessarily. Giving value to people does though.

Example: My website gets 3000 hits a month (give or take) and I have wrote up 172 blogs. When people call, they always have a way that they were referred to me, usually via LinkedIn or a friend. Normally, they always say, I read your blog. I don’t count the blog as the way they found me, but the referral source. The blog is what probably helped nudge them to call me for a repair, they read my work, the value I give to people and how helpful I am.

I have not been so good on the blogging as I used to be, but I have committed to getting back on it. I have been super busy with the release of the eBook about social media, but I am excited to get back on and find things for everyone to learn about.

That’s all I had to say today! Have a good day folks!

Lisa

Latest Virus Outbreak Info

Just since Friday, I have received four calls concerning the “AV Security Suite” virus. I have been able to fix all of these remotely and over the phone, so there is still no need to bring in your computer to a shop. Just give us a call and we can have it done in about an hour and a half!

After we repair it, we can also install a lifetime license of our AV protection software.

Call for details! 612-865-4475

Thinking of buying a laptop? Read this first

I get many folks asking me what laptop they should buy, which one is the best, etc. All models of computers/laptops end up in my shop, so they all break at some point. My opinion? Follow these simple rules and you just bought the best laptop!

1.) Figure out a budget. Remember that with a new computer, you may need to buy new software. The Office suite can run up to $300 for the full package, so keep that in mind.

2.) Make sure you buy a laptop in person. Buying online gives you no sense of how the computer feels, weighs or views in bad/good/extra light.

3.) Go to a store and make sure to check out the next few things…

• Keyboard. Play with the keys and make sure you can type ok and see the keys. Some laptops today have the shiny look and feel and it’s hard to view and use those! It’s even hard for me and I can type 100 wpm!
• Weight. Pick up the laptop and make sure you can carry it without problems. Many folks end up buying 10 ton weight laptops and they are very hard to drag around.
• Screen. Check out the screen and make sure there is not too much glare. If you plan on working outside, many screens have too much glare and you can’t read the screen in natural light, even too much overhead light can be bothersome.
• Screen width. Many folks hate the wider screens. It is not an issue for me, but for those with the regular monitors, it’s quite a change. Test opening some stuff on the computer and make sure you like how it looks.
• Memory. Try to get 4 gig of RAM if you can. For Vista users, your computer will work like a dream. 2 gig is fine, but isn’t that great. My laptop came with 2 gig and I can’t upgrade at all! Find out if the computer can upgrade too. I’m stuck, but luckily I use a lot of internet windows, so it’s not that bad.

That’s the quick and dirty…many folks also ask about the processors and hard drive space, etc…my answer is you’ll be ok probably if you can find a computer that fits your needs with the list I gave you. Those are much more important. Of course, if you need a 320 gig hard drive, then you will of course find one that has that. Most folks today are fine with 160 gig hard drives. One of my computers at the office has a 20 gig hard drive and I am just fine!

Happy Thursday!

Lisa

Call That Girl’s Guide to Social Media eBook is on sale NOW

YAY! It only took seven months of writing and editing and even more editing and writing. I am finally done folks!

• $10!
• 29 pages
• All my secrets to marketing
• Worksheet style learning 

To purchase or read more about the book, click here. —–>>>BUY NOW

Looking to share files? Try Drop Box

I LOVE this tool! If you have a few documents that you need to share on two+ computer sytems, this is really the LIFESAVER. I have a few documents that I use daily and with 4 computers, it was hard to keep up with. I used to email them to myself back and forth. Very time consuming and many were large, so it took awhile to email and whatnot.

Last winter I heard of Drop Box and installed it, but wasn’t sure how to really use it. Then a colleague asked me if I was using it and I was “yeah, but not”….he said “DO IT” and then I did it and LOVE it! OMG.

I only share the important files, but I can see this becoming a tool that I really need to use. I found it you can allow many users access by allowing their email accounts into certain folders, so they have limited restrictions.

It’s cool, so if you have two+ computers needing the same files and are not on a network, this is a great solution! Test it out with their 2 gig no fee test. If you need more, you can purchase more then. Here is a link that gives me some more free space if you try it out, I get no money, just space.

https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU1NzkwNjE5

Comment below if you have any questions,

Lisa

Software repair versus hardware repair

This past week, this was our client work load…Norton causing computer crashes, usb ports going wonky, Microsoft Security Essentials disappearing, two new computer set ups, Belkin router set up issues, viruses, gotomeeting.com not working,  slow computers, Macintosh training and a few Outlook calls. Most of these problems, with the exception of the usb ports going bad were all software repair. Even the usb ports issue was somewhat of a software issue because the port issue caused the operating system to crash, and I had to fix that first to figure out what was wrong with the computer. I got it fixed to the point I could get the user’s data and find out, the usb ports were crashing when plugging in power related external camera’s or hard drives. Keyboards and mice were fine.

Many people are quite shocked to learn that we are a software business, but it makes sense when you figure 90% of computer related problems are due to software not working right.  Hardware is also so cheap to just replace, many folks don’t want to pay $200+ to fix a motherboard (the hardware inside your computer) when getting a new computer is just about that cheap. Is that the way to go? Sometimes, on older computers I would say yes.

There are many things going on inside your computer in regards to hardware. Many years ago, hardware was easy and fairly cheap to replace. These days, some issues are not so cheap to fix as some of things inside your computer are working together. If one thing breaks, you must replace many things.

Why we are staying out of hardware…because there are enough hardware repair businesses out there. I am good at software, the market is there, the software problems are there, so why not do what I do well and focus on that. My competition doesn’t understand how I can survive off software, but in all reality, it makes sense.

What is software? Any programs on your computer that you use to enjoy your computer time. Your internet, office programs, cameras and printers, Gmail, Hotmail, antivirus, Firefox, Facebook..the list could go on and on.

A few answers for you…

• Yep, most viruses are software related (we can fix these, even remotely)
• Yep, most computer crashes are due to software (we can usually fix these, not all remotely)
• Yep, if your internet works, the chance we can fix your software problem remotely is GOOD.
• Nope, if your computer doesn’t boot up at all, it’s probably a hardware issue and needs to go to a repair shop.
• Yep, feel free to call us and ask us what we think before you take it to a shop 612-865-4475

Please consider Call That Girl next time you have a computer glitch or something is going wrong. If the computer boots up, it’s something we can tackle!