Tag: Saint Paul Computer repair

Backing up your stuff! It’s easy!

So many of you out there have told me shyly…”nope, I never back up my data”

Well, it’s pretty easy these days, not that it was ever that hard, but it can be confusing. What do you back up? What is that important that if your computer crashed, you will be crying for days over it being lost?

Pictures? Family, friends, travels??? Yep, those are VERY important! Most people never back up those pictures.

Music? Yeah, all those hours of downloading your cd’s to the computer would be gone too.

Word, Excel, Quicken and your email? Your emails may be the most important, but anything you have saved in Word, Excel, would be gone.

How do you back this up easily?

First thing I would do is purchase an external hard drive. I bought a 250 gig hard drive for $85. You probably don’t need 250 gig, but you may…it can depend on how many pictures and music you have on your hard drive.

But for safety sake, I can say that 250 gig is all you may need. I can assist you on figuring out if you need more.

Second thing you do, is install the hard drive. It’s usually as easy as just plugging in the cord to the computer, but each hard drive has a set of instructions.

Third thing, figure out where all your stuff is on your computer. Many people just keep it all in the “my documents” folder. I tend to be a bit more scattered and have my own way of managing files, but either way…you know where your stuff is right?

Go find that stuff, right click on it and make a copy.
Then go to the new external hard drive in the “my computer” window and right click “paste”

It’s really that easy. If you need more assistance, please feel free to call me for a consultation. Backing up your stuff can be easy and you should do it!

When they say “it’s your hard drive”

So you get the “blue screen” or “blue screen of death”…what do you do now?

If you call someone, you may get this answer, “It’s your hard drive”

Or is it…

I’ve troubleshooted many of these errors. Sometimes simple troubleshooting is all you need to do.

First I would start by turning off your computer.
Then unplug all your cords including monitor
Let the computer sit for 20 minutes

After 20 minutes, only plug in the ac/dc for the computer and monitor and turn it back on.

If it turns on and goes to the Windows start up screen, you may have a bad keyboard, mouse or USB external port issue.

Once it comes back on, if all seems ok…turn it back off.

Plug back in the keyboard and mouse. Turn it on again.

If it blue screens, it’s more than likely your mouse or USB port. If the end of your mouse has a circular end, it’s probably not the issue. If it has a 1/2″ thin metal end, it’s a USB mouse and could be the issue. Try another mouse if you have one.

If your computer turns on fine again, then test your USB plug-ins. (camera, webcam, printer, etc)

If then all seems ok, go in and back up your information/data right away.

Again….if anything at this point fails, it could be a hard drive issue. I don’t always think it’s a bad drive if it blue screens. Sometimes your computer just has a bump in the road and needs to be “reset”. The troubleshooting tricks above often help figure out what may be causing the issue.

USB ports can fail if you plug in a camera or another “external device” meaning…printers, cameras, webcams, etc.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. 612-865-4475

Defragging and what it really means

Many of my clients will call and say “I defragged, but it isn’t faster”…

Defragmenting a computer or “defragging” will not speed up your computer. I think it’s an old wives tale that comes from years ago when it probably did help the computer. But in these days, a computer running slow can be from many other issues.

What does “defrag” mean?

Simply put…
It means to clean up the fragmented parts of the hard drive (fragment means scattered bits that need to be put back into place that have been moved caused by uninstallation of programs or just Windows installation issues).

If you defrag, your computer will run more efficiently, but not necessarily faster.

*For a faster machine, you can have a computer cleaning done by Call That Girl. Charges run about an hour for this service.

*You may also need to add more memory. Especially if you are running alot of programs at once.

*As well…your hard drive may be getting close to full. With music and game downloading so popular now, it’s not hard to get your hard drive to max capacity.

Buying an external hard drive for the music is a great idea! (and you can back up your data there too!)

For a consultation about your hard drive, computer cleaning or anything else in regards to defragging, please contact me at info@callthatgirl.biz.

Thanks for Bloggin with That Girl!

🙂

Laptop vs. Desktop computer

So you’re looking to buy a new computer, but unsure which to buy?

Laptop vs. Desktop computer

They used to say, the laptop was only good for those that travel, but those days are long gone! Welcome to the new world of “in house” traveling!

Now you can take the computer to your kitchen, deck, bedroom and basement! No more sitting at the computer desk.

My recommendation? You will need to purchase a wireless router. The Linksys or Belkins seem to be the most popular.

What kind of laptop should you buy? Any basic laptop these days has wireless capabilities and if you are a basic user, there is no need to spend $1200 anymore. I am recommending to users buying a 2nd computer to look at the Acer. The lowest end model is running around $400 at Microcenter (with about $30 in memory upgrade needed to run Vista)…a deal you really can’t beat!

For more information on buying a 2nd computer and wireless set up, contact me at info@callthatgirl.biz or call for a consultation. 612-865-4475

Vista? Should I downgrade to XP?

Many of my clients have purchased new laptops that has Vista preloaded on it. Many of you have software that is not up to speed with Vista. Should you downgrade or try to get your software up to speed?

Here are my thoughts…
I have been using Vista since last January. Yes, Vista is buggy and does things that really bother me. I am also a technician and can fix my own problems (and enjoy trying to fix those problems:). You the customer…can usually only get so far until you decide it’s not worth using Vista.

First thing you may want to consider is making a list of problems are you experiencing since the upgrade to Vista. Some problems are just “configuration issues” that I can assist with. Some problems are seriously the Vista operating system and you may need to go back to XP if your work depends on it.

Second thing is check to make sure that your software is Vista ready. Even though it installs (usually you will get an error during installation that tells you if it’s not Vista ready) it may need to be updated on the company website. Check with the software company website and verify. You also may need what is called “a patch” to make it work on Vista. You can also google the issue and see if others on the net are experiencing the same issues.

Third thing is Call That Girl (612-865-4475) for a phone consultation. I do offer short conversations for free to give you an idea if you should consider staying on Vista or downgrading back to XP. If a home visit is required, we can discuss that. I can also assist via the phone if need be.

Please post comments or questions about Vista! thanks and…

Have a good Wed!

Lisa