Tag: Computer Support
If your Laptop is severely Damaged, can anything be Saved?
Check out this picture of a laptop that was actually recovered from a house fire.
You are going to find this hard to believe, but the computer repair tech that worked on this laptop was actually able to retrieve all of the data off the hard drive. Not everyone would have been so lucky.
At CTG we are often asked if anything can be salvaged from a severely damaged laptop. And the answer is, each scenario can be different. You might be able to salvage a part off of a recently damaged laptop, but in the end what will probably matter most is whether your data can be saved.
We depend on our computers to keep all of our memories, taxes, personal documents, work documents, notes, calendars, emails, family weekend gatherings, weddings, videos, movie collections, just about everything we do in today’s fast moving technology world.
If your laptop was accidentally dropped, in an unfortunate house fire, stolen, or the hard drive crashes repeatedly, what would you do without your data? Starting from scratch can be pretty scary.
This is why CTG always recommends that you back up your data and computers regularly, and if you need assistance please Call That Girl today so we can assist.
Call us to schedule an appointment for a “cost efficient” 30 minute session to insure your hard drive is backed up daily, weekly, or monthly. After all, your “stuff” is very important to us.
If your laptop is damaged severely, it can still be recycled. Please visit http://www.ecyclingcentral.com to find a location convenient for you where you can drop off any laptop or other device. Typically the charge for dropping off a laptop is around $20, but well worth the good karma.
To book an appointment with CTG please fill out our contact form below or simply call 612-865-4475 today.
Scareware, Malware and Spyware
Today I got a call from a client that caught some scareware that really did scare her, and her computer to the point it almost crashed her computer. Almost. She called That Girl and we got her back up and running.
What happened? She was on the internet and just surfing around, like most of you do on Sunday mornings. She clicked on something she was going to look at and next thing she knew, she had downloaded something and it brought up a window stating she had to buy a removal program for X amount of dollars.
This folks, is scareware, but can have a back end of malware. Malware is malicious software (mal-ware). If she had started to click on the program and try to close it down, it would have downloaded malware and started to cause chaos in her computer. And unfortunately, this client did click on the pictures enough and lost access to the internet.
Sometimes, it’s worse than this! Many times it causes your windows to crash and you can’t boot your computer up normally. 9 times out of 10, if you Call That Girl, we can walk you through getting your computer up again and run some scanner tools to remove the scareware, malware and spyware that was downloaded into your system.
We are also big believers in using great protection, not AVG 2011, Norton, McAfee, Trend, WebRoot, etc. Scareware, Malware and spyware get right through this big box programs (Norton is the worst at catching it!!!) We are firm believers in buying the real time protection (Malwarebytes) of the program that we use to clean up your scareware, malware and spyware!
If you are reading and want to make sure you have protection that works, read these instructions for downloading, installing and configuring Malwarebytes. It’s one of our favorites and we are resellers of this product.
https://callthatgirl.biz/malwarebytes-installation-and-configuration
If this is too much for you to understand, please fill out the form below to schedule some time for us to help you, we can also remove your other programs (that usually don’t work!) and get you a refund if you have recently purchased Norton. They have an awesome refund page!
Call That Girl is also now supporting SuperAntiSpyware moving ahead in 2011. Watch for details!
Got any good blog ideas for 2011? Tell us!
As most of you know, I have been blogging since early 2008. I really enjoy it, it’s fun for me to do, but I want to make sure that I’m helping everyone get the most computer help they need. Have you read one of my blogs in the past and wondered, “She should blog about this idea”? Now it’s your time to tell us and help us build our blog directory for 2011.
Feel free to comment in the comment section below. I will review all ideas. Many of my blog ideas come straight from my clients, they call in with a problem and I think about whether or not it’s a good blog. Sometimes the iron strikes HOT and I’m writing the next day, sometimes the iron has to get hot and I blog about it later on.
No ideas are bad ideas here folks! Let’s see what you got.
What to do if your laptop gets stolen
First thing I would do is clap for joy that someone actually would want to steal this very old Dell Latitude that is about to croak! You would think that I have the best of the best, but you know how it goes…the Shoemakers kids always have the hand me downs. That’s how it is with Call That Girl and all our staff. We always get the refurbs, but soon here, I am getting a new laptop.
For those of you with laptops that you care about:
Prevention tactics:
Password protect your computer–don’t make it easy for the thief to get into your stuff. Even though most thieves will just want to sell your computer without caring, some will go through all your personal files and maybe even look for passwords and personal data. Like most of us, we keep log files somewhere of things we should not. It’s very common for people to have these files on the pc, but it’s not safe, but if you think you can name it so the thief won’t know, have at it. Most thieves that steal laptops want the money they can get on the street for it or to resell it. It’s the hardware they are after (from what I have heard anyway). If a cyber thief is going to steal from you, they will do it online of course.
Back up your data!!! If your laptop is stolen, at least you can get your data back and change your password asap to the data backup company. I use Mozy for all my data back up and many of my clients are on it as well. It’s a good program.
Write down all of your computer’s information NOW on a peice of paper for safe keeping and insurance purposes. Keep the receipt, model and make and if you can get it, the Windows product key (it’s on the back on the computer usually). I also like to put a personal sticker on the computer somewhere, so it it’s stolen it will make it easier to recognize. Get a good sticker too, one that is hard to pull off.
What to do if your computer is stolen:
Try to remember where it was stolen, car, convention area, bathroom, conference room, etc. Report it to the building security and/or Police in that area. Telling them it was a black Dell will not help much, but having the information that you noted about the computer will help.
The building security or Police should report it to all the local pawn shops, but I would call anyway asap! Tell them anything that would help yours stick out. This is why putting a sticker on the computer will help stand it out in the pawn store line up.
Next up, prepare for the emotional loss. I had a laptop stolen once at my old corporate job and it felt really weird. Even though it was a corporate laptop, I still felt violated. I remember getting the call early in the am, “Lisa, did you bring home your laptop over the weekend”….Me, “Um, no”…”Well, we had a break in and your laptop was stolen”. Creepy feelings set in. Then I had feelings of “where is my document that I didn’t save to the network file share…oh yeah, on my laptop desktop!” So besides the emotional loss of the machine itself, you will miss the stuff on the computer, like your pictures, data, documents, taxes, music collections, etc. Everything will be in the hands of the thief.
To close: If your laptop is stolen, call police, give them all of your computer information, call the pawn shops and change your password on your back up program. If you have software for stolen laptops (many of the newer computers give you a free trial) alert that program as well.
Additional tip: Put the laptop in the trunk of your car, not in the passenger or back seat.
If you have questions, feel free to contact us! info@callthatgirl.biz
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Gobble Gobble
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Today is just a regular blog, nothing to tell you or share related to computers. Today is a regular work day at Call That Girl too. Tomorrow is gobble day and my family is actually opting to get together Friday instead, so I have a holiday off for myself! WOO! What will I be doing? Probably enjoying mimosa’s in the morning, plotting out my winter soft remodel for the house and watching the Macy’s Day parade. Whenever I get a holiday like this to myself, I always try to remember my childhood days of waking up on Thanksgiving and enjoying the day off, listen to my mom scurry around the house getting the food and turkey ready. It was usually just a tad bit cold, like it is today already and feeling that “winter is coming” and not really being sad about it. As a winter fanatic, this is the time of year I really love, the calm before the storm.
Since I have become an adult, those days of being around the house all morning while my mom cooks are long gone. I kinda miss those days to be honest, but I also enjoy taking the day off and just showing up when my mom says to come over. The mornings off are a luxury for this enterprising entrepreneur.
One memory that is new for me is that one of my friends from college calls me every Thanksgiving and wishes me “Gooble gooble”, so with hopes he calls me tomorrow and wishes you to you, eat hearty, nap tightly and don’t break the bank on Black Friday!
Lisa
How to Install Memory (RAM) in a Laptop / Notebook
If your computer has been running slow, have you had a computer tune-up lately? If not, now is a great time for it. We have a 22 point checklist of updates, maintenance and cleanings we do, takes about an hour and it’s $75. Right now we have a sale for just $50! In our tune-up, we check your memory. Some folks don’t want to get a cleaning, but just want their memory checked so here is a short blog on checking/installing memory/RAM. Click here to book an appointment!
In our 22 point cleaning checklist, we check your computer memory/RAM and if you can upgrade, we let you know. We also tell you how to install it yourself if you like. It’s very easy believe it or not.
Let’s start with why you may need more memory first before we show you the video. For starters, you may have an older computer (5 years old) and it’s been running fine but it’s getting slow. Sure, we can do a cleaning on it, and get it faster and after our cleanings, our clients are very happy with our services, but many need to buy more memory/RAM to get that old computer zipping very fast. The cause of the slowdown is many times, these computers only have the bare minimum that came factory installed. If you have XP, to run with the big dog programs such as Office 2010, you should try to get your computer to at least 1gig of RAM or 2gig if you want your computer really fast. For the older computers, the RAM is usually very inexpensive and recommended if the computer seems stable. If you are having other problems with it, like a lot of noise coming from the computer or seeing crashes often, this is a sign of a computer that may need to go to the land of refurbished computers and I don’t recommend putting much money into them.
Vista is another culprit of low memory. Most factory shipped with just 1gig of memory/RAM and that is just too darn slow for Vista. As the complaints are high with Vista, you can help it by just adding in the max memory your computer can take.
How to check your memory, I could write up instructions, but here is a short video from Crucial (the company we buy memory from online).
How to Install Memory (RAM) in a Laptop / Notebook
How to Install Memory in a PC Desktop Computer
http://www.crucial.com has a nice scan tool that you can run and check what type of memory your computer needs. It also tells you what is installed and how much more your computer can take. It also offers a check out system for you to buy it and get it shipped right to your home/office. It’s our favorite at Call That Girl and we have had great success with Crucial.
If you need help with purchasing or installing, feel free to give us a call! This is so easy to do, we can walk you through it over the phone. No kidding!
