Tag: Small Business IT Support Minneapolis-St. Paul
Tips on how to buy a new computer to replace your Windows XP computer
Since many people are buying new computers because Windows XP will not be supported after April of 2014, here is a guide to buying a new computer and what needs to be done once you buy it. My recommendation? Buy before Christmas too.
Buy the computer is #1!
Here are some ideas on how to purchase, stay in your budget and make a good decision on a computer that will last you many years.
Mac or PC? 
Ah, the big debate! Many PC users are moving to Mac and for a reason, but should you is the question? Many of my clients have called in that have replaced their PC with a Mac to find the learning curve not so easy and the costs outweighing the PC by bounds and leaps. You cannot install your PC software (such as Office) on the Mac and you will need all new. The Mac itself costs much more and the learning curve as I said before…is a lot different, but it can be conquered! Macs are usually better hardware quality, last much longer than a PC and yep, don’t crash as much or get viruses (they can, but not as destructive).
Tower or Laptop?
If you have a nice monitor and prefer a tower, by all means just get another tower. Standard computers are $300 to $500. If you need a more robust computer, you will spend more obviously.
- A good laptop for the home is around $500
- A good business computer will run you $500 to $900.
How much memory should you buy with the computer?
I would buy a computer with 6-8 gigs of memory. If you buy less, one day you will want more. The deals are pretty good with the 6-8 so I recommend that.
What about hard drive size?
Most computers today come with 320 gigs to 1 Terabyte of data space. Get as much as you can for the deal you can get.
Windows 8 or Windows 7?
Try to find a Windows 7 computer if you can, If you buy Windows 8 you will need to have some settings adjusted for you to use it in the manner you are used to. We can help you with that of course if you buy Windows 8
Dell, HP or other brand?
Dell and HP are the most common computers sold today. If you want to spend more, you will get a better quality hardware computer.
Do you have your software ready?
Many of you bought a computer years ago and it already had Office on it. You did not get it for free, many people think so. You did pay for it and it probably came preinstalled with your computer. You need to find your disks and license keys. If you do not have these, you need to contact whoever you bought the computer from to get a copy if you don’t want to buy the new Office 2013.
If you need to buy new software, Microsoft has some handy packages for you to get software at a low price. But they changed their licensing to one computer per install. Not two as it used to be.
Want just basic word and excel for free? Try Open Office, it has the look and feel of Microsoft products without the extra cost
Buy it!
Now, with all the awesome online deals, you can just buy your new computer online…or should you? I’ve been very disappointed lately with some of the new laptops out there with the touchpad on the left side (due to the fact they added on calculator keys to the laptop keyboard). I bought a laptop with the touchpad on the side and I hated it. I could not get used to working “off” my usual and needed the touchpad in the middle. This may bother you as well.
I do recommend you go to a store that sells computers and touch and feel them. Be sure you don’t have heavy glare in the screen, the keys are ok for you to constantly be typing (some are horrible and float, my fingernails got stuck using!), and be sure it’s not too heavy (laptop only of course) if you will be traveling often or carrying it around.
If you find a good laptop in a store and it has my recommendations, buying it at the store may be best, then you can also return it fast too if you need. Returning online is a pain, but you can get better deals too.
TIPS!
- If you have wireless in your house, get a computer with wireless already installed on both laptop (standard) and your tower, not standard, but worth getting!
- Buy the extended warranty if you have a business computer, usually these are good deals and with your business needing to stay running, the warranty may have next day or same day assistance.
Budget!
Stay within a budget that works for you. If you can get financing that is a great deal, go for it. Never buy a computer from a rent a center or retail location that has huge interest rates.
Set it up
Setting it up at home by yourself may be something you want to do or you can hire us to help. Or you can do it yourself and call us if you need help with certain iss
Here is how we can help. Once you get your new computer up and running, you will need the following done to insure you can get back to work quickly or without hassle if you don’t know how to do it.
- Install a Windows 8 start menu
- Transfer your data
- Set up your printers
- Set up your Outlook/Email
- Install your software (new or old)
- Set up your antivirus
- Remote the junk preinstalled
For more tips…
To read a blog published awhile back on buying a desktop, click here
To have us assist, please call 612-865-4475 or email info@callthatgirl.biz and we can help you do the purchasing as well as everything else. You will save money by having us help you even with the buying, did you know most people OVERPAY for their computers?
Subscribe to the Microcenter newsletter, each week they have some good deals! Here is this weeks specials.
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Minneapolis IT Support
If you have a small business and are looking for a fast and responsive company to assist your company with all or just some certain aspects of your information technology needs, Call That Girl offers a no contract, no fee personalized helpdesk for you and your employees and your IT needs. Looking to move off using servers? Now is the time, the cloud products we offer can easily move your infrastructure from hardware to software, more reliable and a one time set up fee.
In short, here is what you really need:
- Online Backup
- Antivirus Protection
- Remote Support Helpdesk Services
- Onsite assistance for hardware, networking, printing and new computer add/changes
- Email Management & Outlook help
- Instant Communications
- File sharing
- Smartphone assistance
- iPad and Tablet Application Support
If your company is excited about moving to the cloud, call us for a consultation. Should just take about 15 minutes to see if we can assist you and then we will formulate a proposal that fits your IT budget and we offer financing.
Call That Girl offers home and office onsite visits, remote support and has local retail stores for tech support and computer repairs including iPhone and iPad screen repairs and replacements in the Twin Cities area, the western and southern suburbs of Minneapolis, Edina, St. Louis Park, Bloomington, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Golden Valley Plymouth (any western suburb actually!) and St. Paul and eastern suburbs and Rochester. We offer fast and responsive technical expertise and troubleshooting for home and business computer problems. In addition, we also offer other IT Services including cloud application help, hosted exchange, Google apps, virus and malware removals, tune ups, data backup and recovery, printers, smartphone and iPhone help, hardware parts, screen replacements, laptop repairs, Outlook, synchronizing email and much more! If we don’t have it on this list, go ahead and ask…we may support it!
9 Great Tech Tips from Call That Girl
Here’s a list of some good tips I’ve come up with over the years that everyone should know!
9 Great Tech Tips from Call That Girl
- Test different laptops in the store before buying one online
- Updates can be found in the lower right corner of your screen in the system tray
- If your phone gets wet, turn it off and pull the battery out immediately! Turn it upside-down and place in rice to absorb the moisture.
- More often than not, Googling and doing a repair on your electronics yourself only costs more in the end.
- Your Outlook email files are saved in a hidden PST file on your computer that CAN be recovered, transferred and backed up.
- Most people keep very important and private information on their computers, so put a password on your computer for a little extra protection!
- Macs can in fact get viruses, so use caution on certain sites and links.
- Do the updates on your computer regularly, and not just your anti-virus! Viruses can sneak through outdated programs such as Java.
- If your cursor seems to jump around the screen a lot and messes up the document you are working on while typing on your laptop, your wrist may be bumping the mouse pad. Turn it off if you don’t use it.
7 hidden costs of a new computer
Let’s say you bought your computer a few years ago and it’s not playing nice right now. So many things are going wrong that you decide it’s not worth fixing and just buy new. For some people, it’s an easy choice. Pay $150 or more to try to fix the old clunker or invest a few hundred bucks and get a brand spanking new computer! Seems like a logical choice? New is just a few bucks more so why not? For the average home user, all they need to do is just plug it in and go. Or not? Not so much lately. With all the technology advances, getting a new computer can cost you a few bucks if you need us to help you after new software purchases. Here is a list I have outlined. I have started with home users, but most businesses will need all of the items in the list done. Our costs are listed in parenthesis. Of course, when we help you we just knock out each issue and it’s billed per hour. The average new computer set up is approximately 2 hours for a home user at $198 or a business at $297.
Home users
- Printers, if your old one is so old…the regular software may not work on a new Windows 7 computer. You may need to buy a new printer or have us help find the right software for you ($39 to $79)
- Itunes (special help with getting your iPhone/iPod set up $39-79)
- Transferring your data (documents, music, internet favorites and pictures) from old to new computer ($39-$59)
- Antivirus. If you already are paying a service from a Big Box company, you should be able to call them and get it reinstalled on your new computer. You may need to buy a new license.
- Software for word, spreadsheets, etc. Find those old installations disks!
- Replacing any software that you “borrowed” from a friend, usually cannot be replaced at this point. You will need to borrow that CD again to install it and it may not be compatable. You may need to buy a version that works with Windows. Many old software programs just do not work at all with newer computers.
- Getting your computer on the network and sharing with other computers in the home/office
Business. Same list as above, but add on
- Quickbooks/Peachtree/ACT set up
- Outlook PST file set up and email configuration
- Online back up solutions or external hard drive computer back up configuration
- File sharing solutions (such as Dropbox)
- Smartphone synchronizing wth Outlook and computer
Speed up that job search with a faster computer, 50% off for the unemployed!
Four years ago the economy left thousands of people without jobs, so I organized Project Link It Forward to help the struggling unemployed learn how to use LinkedIn to connect and network themselves towards new positions. I myself was an early adopter of the social networking site for professionals and realized that most people didn’t really understand how it could be helpful, thus came the idea for Project Link It Forward. I set up a free class that people could take to learn the ins and outs of LinkedIn and how they could utilize it in their job search. Within a week the class had filled up completely! I really feel for the unemployed and Project Link It Forward was a great way for me to give back, although I had no idea what a success it would be. Today the economy is improved, but still weak, and many are still searching for a way to bring in an income for their family. LinkedIn continues to be a great tool for those on the hunt for a good job, but they’re going to need a working computer to do that! So… Call That Girl is offering 50% off on in-store services until the end of the year to those of you (or those that you know) who are unemployed. All that we ask is that you bring along some sort of proof. That can even be just showing us on your LinkedIn profile that you are in transition.
Come on in so you can get back to the job search!
Please share with your friends on other social networking sites! Our offer is open to all of the unemployed!
IMAP vs POP email and why you need IMAP if you’re on a smartphone
With just about everyone wanting email on their smartphones and wanting it to just “work” right, IMAP is your answer. Many folks are setting up their smartphones with POP and their email doesn’t match up, meaning…they will delete an email on their phone and it’s still on the computer. Everyone wants that email GONE when they log back into their computer. That’s the point of deleting it, right? Not if you have your email set up for POP, it will stay there!
Here is an explanation of IMAP and POP
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Synchronizes your email, your deleted email, your folders and sent items. So that means, if you are on one computer or your iPhone/Droid and delete emails, they are deleted on your computer as well.
POP (Post Office Protocol): Just downloads your email to your computers and smartphones and does not synchronize anything. This is a problem for those with Gmail because they are constantly having email that doesn’t make sense or is hard to manage.
Changing your email to be managed via IMAP
Gmail users: When you log into your Gmail inbox on the website, you can change your settings by going to the settings and selecting “forwarding and IMAP” and turning on IMAP. For instructions from Google, click here.
Go Daddy users: You will need to call Go Daddy and get IMAP set up on your account. Once you have it set up, they can send you instructions on how to set it up yourself. It’s easy, but make sure you have a backup of your Outlook PST first! Safety first folks. Here are some instructions I found online on how to set up IMAP for Godaddy after you have upgraded.
Others: Call your email hosting company and request their information.
For those on Outlook who need help, feel free to fill out the form below this blog to set up an appointment to get your email configured for IMAP. It’s a good idea to also get your old email backed up too, or imported into your IMAP if you are using POP, those emails will be missing when you set up IMAP.
I know this may be confusing to some, but once you are set up on IMAP…your email life is so much easier to manage and it’s a one-time set up, nothing to do after we get it done.
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