This article deals with some Questions and Answers relating to the Microsoft virus phone scam.
I had promised in an earlier article to post some Questions and Answers about the scam where a caller claims they are from ‘Microsoft’ and you have some kind of virus on your computer. So here it is. (more…)
The ‘Microsoft’ Phone Scam. If you receive a phone call claiming to be from ‘Microsoft’ or someone claiming to work on their behalf, telling you that you have a virus on your computer which they will help you fix over the phone, It Is A Scam.
Hang up the phone now!
Do not let them have remote control access to your computer and do not give them any money! (more…)
It has been a couple of years since I wrote my original article on the phone scam calls from companies claiming to be Microsoft. The response to the article has been phenomenal, to date over 60,000 people have read the page, over 250 have commented on it and over 2,000 people have Liked it on Facebook, not to mention the other social media networks that have picked it up.
It’s now mid-2012 and I had hoped that by now this kind of thing would be dying off, but the truth appears to be the complete opposite. This scam is more prevalent now than ever before. (more…)
This article explains why it is important to shutdown your computer properly.
In our repair shop, we are sometimes asked by customers if there is any harm in shutting down their computer by just pressing the power button for a few seconds, rather than going through the Windows shutdown procedure.
As far as the customer in concerned, the end result appears to be the same, the computer shuts down. In fact, from their point of view, holding the power button for a few seconds appears to shut down the computer immediately, whereas a proper Windows shutdown takes maybe 20 to 30 seconds. So is it a good idea to do this?
To get straight to the point, it is a very, very bad idea to shutdown your computer by holding the power button. (more…)
In our repair shop, customers often ask about their laptop batteries and how to get the best performance out of them. A lot of people don’t realise that the laptop battery, much like the battery in any other device, is a consumable item. After a couple of years it will not hold charge for as long as it used to, or maybe it just won’t charge at all.
There will come a point in time where the laptop battery should really be replaced, and your local laptop repair shop will be able to advise and supply a replacement when the time comes.
In the meantime, there are a few tips and tricks listed here that you can employ to get the best out of your laptop battery and to prolong its useful life. (more…)
Laptop ventilation is extremely important to the health and well being of your laptop.
Ever think your laptop is heating up too much? Do you, like most others, use your laptop on your knee? If so, the laptop is likely not getting essential laptop ventilation. This can lead to expensive hardware problems for the laptop and even health problems for you.
Q. Why does a laptop get hot?
A. Laptops are precision pieces of equipment. Just imagine that a bunch of very clever engineers had to design a way of cramming all the equipment of a desktop PC into the tiny space of a laptop body. When the laptop is on, the CPU is generating heat, just like your desktop PC. The difference is that the removal of this heat has to be handled differently. (more…)