How to Extend the Life of Your Computer

According to a November 2016 Pew Research study, 77% of US adults own a smartphone. While it may appear that smartphones are dominating the space, the same study shows 78% of US adults still own a desktop or laptop computer. Our own website, over the last 90 day period, echo the findings of this study with 46% of our visitors accessing our site on a desktop or laptop computer and 40% reaching our site on a mobile device. That said, we felt it a worthy post to share some tips on how to extend the life of your computer.

Let’s start by thinking about your most recent computer purchase. You walked into the store, looked at many overwhelming options, maybe spoke with an associate who discussed features and capability, made your purchase, went home and started using your new computer. Did the associate give you any information on proper use? Did they make any recommendations for how often you should shut your computer down? No? That is a common scenario. They didn’t intentionally send you home uninformed, they weren’t informed either. Many computer sales associates are just like you, they are users and only provide the information they are trained to provide. So let us fill in the gaps and help you extend the life of your computer.

Desktops

 

In order to extend the life of your desktop computer, it should be shut down daily. A good rule of thumb is to shut it down after 8 hours of use. This means the computer should be off, not “asleep” or in “hibernate” modes. Why? Because the computer is still running and generating heat in these modes. Turning the computer completely off allows the computer time to cool off and prevents excessive heat from harming the parts inside the computer that can lead to costly repairs.

Laptops

 

Unless it is on a cooling pad, a laptop should not be run for more than a couple hours without being shut completely down. Laptops generate a considerable amount of heat due to how compact they are. The cooling fans inside them are smaller and there is less space for heat to escape. The batteries and ac chargers for laptops also generate heat which add to the possibility of heat causing problems. To address this, we recommend if you are going to use your laptop plugged in, take the battery out. This reduces heat and saves the battery because it isn’t constantly charging. When teh laptop is not in use, unplug the charger. This advice also applies to all-in-one computers which are what we like to call laptops on steroids.

If you have a standard hard drive, do not move your laptop while it is on. A standard hard drive looks like an old record player on the inside. When you move, set it down a little too hard, the cat pounces on it or you drop it tripping over the cord, kid or animal, it jars the drive. Each time that happens, bad sectors are created. Overtime those sectors can’t be repaired and cause the hard drive to go bad resulting in the possibility of lost data and a $250 repair.

A Few Recommendations that Apply to All Computers

 

Do not put any computer in sleep/hibernate modes. These modes turn off processes that make your programs and features work properly. There are times when you “wake the computer up” that these processes don’t come back on and may break your program or features. While restarts usually correct these problems, there are instances when a restart doesn’t correct the problem and a more extensive repair is required. You may wonder why the feature event exists if it can cause problems. Our answer is two-fold: (1) developers are practical users, and (2) the makers are in the business of selling computers. If it breaks because of such features, you are likely to buy another one.

It may surprise some to discover that computers draw dust, crumbs and pet hair. As mentioned above heat can harm your computer. This dust acts as an insulator to hold in heat. Using canned air in short bursts once every month to every few months is a good practice in keeping dust at bay. If you need help with this, you can contact us for information on how to do this properly or schedule a time to bring your computer into the shop for a quick cleaning.

Finally, just like your car, every computer needs maintenance. Why? Because accessing the internet, downloading programs and apps, uninstalling those programs and apps, playing games and even updating your computer causes “build up” of files and pieces of files that can slow your computer down. Clearing your cache, cookies and defragging your computer can help, but may not cover all bases when trying to improve performance. Computer Tutor can recommend and even perform regular maintenance to keep your computer running like it should. Contact us for more information.

Scam Reminder & Don't Forget We Are on Twitter

               I know many of you have heard me more times than I can count, but I continue to get calls from people who have been taken advantage of, so I will continue to try and remind people.  None of the major companies, like the phone company, Microsoft, Ebay, your bank, Fedex, or anyone else like that, is going to send you an email asking for you to update your account information.  If you get something like this, DELETE IT.

                Microsoft is not going to call you and tell you that your computer is sending errors to them, neither will any antivirus or antimalware company.  If you get this call,  tell them you don’t have a computer and they will generally hang up.  If they persist, go to the marine section at Walmart and buy a compressed air horn, they cost about $7, and put it by the phone, the next time they call, let them have it. :)

                If you are on your computer and a popup comes up and says you have an error or an infection and there is a phone number on there, IT IS A SCAM, I promise.  DO NOT call the number,  just leave the web page, shut down your computer if you can’t leave the page, and don’t go back to that page for a couple of days… it’s not your computer that is infected, it’s the web page your visited. 

                And, as many of you have experienced, we have been truly blessed with plenty of business, but this makes it difficult for people needing help.  I do my best to prioritize the benches in the shop and with the exception of warranty, emergency service, and prepaid customers, it’s first come first serve.  This means there are systems that have actually had to wait over 2 months to get on the bench.  Unfortunately there are no other service people in the area that I trust enough to send anyone to with a recommendation, and this frustrates those who have to wait, as well as me when I know there it work that needs to be done.  I find it hard to leave the shop.  Those of you who know me well, know this bothers me, and it bothers me that some of you may want a status update, but don’t want to call and bother us trying to find out where your system is.  With this in mind, we have opened a Twitter account and are doing our best to keep everyone apprised of the activity in the shop and where they stand on the waiting list.  

Mandy Haga has even manage to put our Twitter feed up on our website www.computertutorit.com   this will give you the latest 4 updates.  If you have a Twitter account and want to follow what’s going on, we are @computertutorit    

                We really do appreciate your business and are doing everything we can to keep you informed and get your computer repaired as quickly as possible.

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Windows 7: Getting Scarce

          First,  if you’ve been thinking of getting a new computer and putting it off, and you prefer to buy one from us, now might be the time to make that move.  I don’t say this to try and spur sales, to be completely honest, we have plenty to setup and work on right now, but what I call one of the worst changes we’ve had to suffer thru in years is about to take place.  Most of you know how I’ve ranted and raved about the problems with both Windows 8 and now 10.  In the past when Microsoft goofed up and came out with something that was less than desirable, we’ve always been able to stay with what worked until the they fixed it.  For instance eons ago they have something called Windows ME  (short for Millenium Edition), it was pathetic and we stayed with Windows 98 SE, until they came out with Windows XP.  Then they tried Windows Vista, another bad flop and we kept XP for 13 years until they came out with Windows 7.   Then they came out with Windows 8, which we nicknamed Windows Hate, because everyone hates it…. So we stayed with Windows 7, then there was hope that Windows 10, which we hoped was going to turn into something worthwhile, and although it has some good points compared to Windows 8, it’s unreliable and unstable and causes way too many issues and problems…. So we have said, nope, not selling it, we nicknamed it Windows Shin, because it’s like getting kicked in the shin when you sit down to it and it doesn’t work.  

                If you think I’m just being resistant to change, do a search on the web for class action suits about Windows 10.  

                Well, they still haven’t fixed Windows 10, and Windows 7 will be what we stick with until at least 2020.  We hope that between then and now they will either fix it or come out with something more reliable.  So if you have a good working computer with Windows 7, don’t panic, as long as it keeps running you’re ok for a while…. But… if you need a new computer, Windows 7 is getting harder to get, and unfortunately that means more expensive.   A perfectly good example is the desktop systems that we normally stock.  An I3 system with Windows 7 Pro, this system was $622 plus tax.  Within the last couple of weeks we tried to order another one and were no longer able to get it, so we had to order one with an I5 processor, this system is a lot  higher.    These won’t be available for long.  I still refuse to sell Windows 10 systems until there is simply no other option.  They are too problematic and unworthy as far as I’m concerned.  If someone gets mad at me, I don’t want it to be because I sold them what I consider a problem waiting to happen. 

                Once these systems are no longer available, we may be able to get some small form factor systems for a little while, I don’t like these, but they are still better than Windows 10, then after they are gone we will purchase a Windows 10 Pro system and do an inplace downgrade to Windows 7,  this will add about $90 to the price of a system.  This may sound ridiculous, but I don’t sell computers to pay the bills, I sell them as a service. If I sell you something I prefer to be able to know I’ve sold you something that will be as stress free as possible.   

                The Windows 7 desktops have gone up over $100 each since I started drafting this notice.  The Windows 7 laptops are still available, but the numbers are dwindling.

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Follow us on Twitter

Computer Tutor is now on Twitter! When you visit our website you will see that our blog feed has been replaced by our new Twitter feed. Here you will find information on current repair statuses and other news. Click below or on our home page to follow us!

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Malware Information

Malwarebytes, the company behind the malware protection we provide, has compiled an interesting "infographic" based upon studies they performed between June and November 2016. It shows the alarming rate at which these types of infections are growing in the US as well as globally. Take a moment, click on the link above and review the information they have discovered.

On a related note, we have had some users complaining about slow/lagging connections after the installation of the new Malwarebytes Version 3.0. Malwarebytes is aware of the situation and working on a solution that will be released in a future update. The only suggestion for correcting this in the meantime is to go back to the older version. The issue with this is you lose the anti-ransomware protection with the older version. Please call us if you have questions or need help with this.

There have also been issues with web protection not turning on which generates an error that "Protection Layers have been turned off". The recent update should have corrected this problem, but if you are still see it, there is a manual fix. If you would like help correcting this issue, please contact us.