Dotcomputer: Albany, GA computer repair, support and maintenance

Data Security

2011-11-16T01:20:00.005-05:00

School...work...play... all of the above. Our computers have become an integral part of our daily lives in the 21st century. They are our calculators, our messengers, our televisions, and our teachers. With so much added responsibility to these devices it's no surprise that we keep our most precious items in digital format on them as well. Pictures, videos, and music comprise some of the most difficult to obtain, expensive, and sometimes even priceless data stored onto a computer for all of us. Though this is true, many of us fail to have any backup solution to ensure that these items are "safe" and able to be restored in the event of a system failure or data loss.
Below I have listed a few key points to address when selecting a backup solution as well as a few options that seem to work well.

1. Storage Amount - You've got to make sure there is enough backup space with your backup solution of choice to hold the data that you would like backed up.
2. Scalability - The question here is as follows: Can the solution be changed to adapt any change in my backup needs? Will the solution allow you to add more storage later on? Will it allow you to add another computer? Will it allow you to add other computing devices such as cellular devices?
3. Backup Type - There are two main types of backups. The first is a full backup of the entire system. This would copy EVERYTHING. The other type copies files and settings in the documents and settings locations listed inside of each profile of windows. On a more technical note, traditional backup solutions do not backup programs at all. There are solutions out there that will image, take a snapshot, of the entire hard drive of the computer, but this is not normally the case.
4. Security - Does the solution scan the data to make sure that viruses and spyware aren't backed up? Beyond that, it is important to make sure that your data is encrypted or at least password protected so that personal items stay personal.
5. Cost - The cost of each solution has to fit into your budget. A regular backup solution is important to have, so the cost of your solution must be one that you can afford to maintain.

Speed Up Your PC

2011-11-10T19:16:00.002-05:00

We all have sooooo much going on in our lives that it is simply impossible for us to "please wait" as older versions of Windows will certainly suggest that we do on a fairly regular basis. Why should we though? We spend our hard earned monkey money on these "super" computers and they should do super things at super speeds. Besides no one wants to wait after having to work all day or when we just don't have the time.
Most of us have the need for speed, but don't know where to begin to get there and stay there. Here are a few things to do to stay fast in the computer world.

1. Future Proof Your Purchase - Buying just what you need in a computer to handle the tasks, workload, and software of today is great, but to stay fast now AND later you should buy something that is a step above what you need. This will allow your system to handle to growth of the internet, third party programs, and the installed operating system without you having to do costly upgrades so soon. They will need to be done to stretch out your pc's lifespan, but time is always money and you can save some for a little while longer if you take heed to this step.
2. Maintain the System - Just like anything else that we use in life computers accumulate junk, trash, old files and programs over a period of time. Every now and then (every 6-8 months) a system tune-up needs to be performed. A good tune-up service will defragment the computer's file system, remove junk files and temporary files, remove unnecessary start up programs, and make performance tweaks and adjustments to the operating system also. This is also a good time to make sure that your computer has all of the latest updates for all of its software.
3. RAM it Up - Adding more RAM (Random Access Memory) or Memory as most people refer to it is similar to short term memory for the computer. The more of it you have the more things your computer can do at once without having to slow down to do them all at the same time. If you're having any difficulty multitasking or web pages or programs are loading up very slowly then this may be the ticket for you. This is a relatively quick upgrade that can be done in most repair shops within an hour or two and shouldn't break the bank either.
4. Add Standalone Graphics Card - Most computers come with integrated graphics cards today mainly because most of what we use them for isn't very labor intensive from a graphical standpoint. The performance issue with this is that integrated video cards SHARE your RAM with the rest of the entire system. For example... If your computer has 256MB total RAM and 56MB of that is shared with your integrated graphics card then you only have 200MB to run the rest of the computer. This is a really big deal on older systems because they may have already been upgraded to the maximum the system will take in RAM and adding a stand alone video card will free up the remainder of the system memory.

These are just a few things we all can do to make our computer experiences fast and stay fast. Any and ALL of the services mentioned above are offered here at Dot-computer. Please contact us for more information regarding upgrades by visiting our 'Contact' page.

Lionel Jackson
IT Professional 7 years
Sales Consultant 7 years

Repair or not to Repair

2011-10-31T00:03:00.005-04:00

We all come to our homes to greet our window to the worlds, the desktop or laptop of choice, in hopes that all is well and nothing has gone awry since our last peek into the world wide web.

However, our dreams of perfect pc times are shattered when we least expect it by blue screens of death (BSoD), error messages, no power, pop ups, and the light. Simply put our baby is broken or at least sick and we know that something must be done to make it right. We all need our pcs right?
School work, work work, games, small business venues, and much more demand that this now broken thing be fixed, up, and running like greased lightening and FAST. Sooooo off to the local repair shop we go. Let's hope that we get one of those free pc checkup things or at least a good hint at what is wrong with our pc for the sake of putting all of our money into the "fix it" pot instead of wasting some in the "find out what's wrong with it" pot, and we do from time to time. The average cost of repair however is $200 USD!!! Doesn't sound like it's worth the cost to repair it if it's not relatively new or if it was inexpensive to procure to begin with but here are a few things to consider before you make that decision.

1. How much will a new PC that fits your needs cost? Often time, what is cheap isn't right for us. Just because it is on sale and fits into our budget doesn't necessarily mean that it is a good buying decision. Remember the right pc should last you around 4 years with maybe one significant upgrade around year 2 or 3.
2. Will the stuff on my old pc work on my new pc? Not a really big issue if you're a simple user who just uses the pc for email and Facebook, but for those of us that use multiple programs for pictures, music, video, and productivity will need to see what programs will install onto the new pc AND that we have the original software to install it on the new computer. Most common issues that people run into are with Microsoft Office $150 USD), security software like Norton Antivirus or AVG Internet Security, ($50 ~ $100 USD). Some of these titles ARE NOT transferable between machines and MUST BE BOUGHT AGAIN.
3. Is there any data on my computer that needs to be copied over? Most computer places have a data migration service that will copy your documents, pictures, music, and video over to external media such as DVDs or a new hard drive. This, however is an added expense.
4. Will the things that I have connected to my pc work with the new one? Printers, cameras, cell phones, scanners, etc. All have specific system requirements and may not work with the new pc.

The nit and the grit is that there is at least $200 of add on items that most customers must purchase with a new computer. This should be addressed before making the decision to repair our broken computer or to leave it be and upgrade to a new one. Your technician can help you make a sound decision and if they won't or can't, then you should probably work with someone else.

Lionel Jackson
IT Professional 7 years
Sales Consultant 7 years