Here is a sure fire easy way for you to improve your pc performance and speed too! It's called a PC Tune-Up, usually this will set you back $49 if you have it professionally done, but you can do the same thing for free! In about only 15 to 60 minutes tops you will improve your PC speed and performance!
The first thing you want to do is free up your disk space by running a Disk Clean Up. Just go to Start>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Clean Up. This will remove all temporary files you have accumulated.
Next you will want to check your Task Manager and see how many apps are running in the background and how much system resources they are using. Do you need them all running? Probably not. You can remove them from your start up menu. In fact it is also a good idea to remove/uninstall any programs you have not used in a very long time. You can do all this in one program that you can download for free! It's called CCleaner. Next you will want to clean up your registry files too! Often when you uninstall programs they leave behind some files in the registry. These unused files will slow your PC down.
Next you should scan for any possible viruses or adware with Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials. Both free programs!
Almost done! Next you will want to run a defrag which will reduce wear and tear on your hard drive and prolong it's life by keeping all your files closer together instead of scattered all over the place. This will also speed up your pc! Depending on how big your hard drive is it can take any where from 15 minutes to 1 hour. Reboot and enjoy your tune-up! You will notice a significant improvement. You should do a PC tune up at least once every other month, or once a month without defrag.
This is all they do in a shop and charge you $49!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Things You Should Not Say To A Tech
I've been involved in tech support, help desk, in many ways over the years. The following may sound harsh, but is not intended to. It is rather a glimpse at the other end of the phone when you call for support. I had to train agents how to talk to the general public. Now I will train the general public how to talk to our agents :)
Please don't feel you have to explain to the tech you are not computer savvy, we already know that. And we hear it way too often that it gets rather annoying.
Small talk is not needed or preferred. It is distracting and takes longer to get our work done if you insist to talk about stuff we really don't care about. Trust me, no matter how well the agent may sound convincing, we train them to sound convincing, they really don't care! Just let the tech get his work done and you will be off the phone sooner too!
Learn to listen to what the tech asks you and tells you. Don't assume you know. Feel free to repeat what they ask or tell you so we both know you understand. This is welcome and often needed.
Do not start explaining your whole story from the beginning to end as soon as the tech asks, "how can I help you". WAIT for the tech to ask you specific questions, and if they don't ask the question you expected, it prolly didn't matter! You should simply identify what the immediate issue is, for example,
"I can't get on the Internet." then shut up.
All you have to do next is simply follow the techs que and answer what questions they may have!
Do NOT start talking about what you were doing before it happened, what you did when it happened, how many people you talked to, how many times you were disconnected, transferred to the wrong person, what kind of equipment you have, how much you do or don't know about computers. Honestly, we don't care! Just wait for the question and answer that only. You will find your time on the phone is shorter and more pleasant!
When should you ask to speak to a supervisor?
Well if you follow my advice the only time you will need to speak to a supervisor is to commend how well the tech did, we call them kuddos calls. I had to take sup calls from angry customers and listen to them complain and whine. It was pathetic but part of my job. I had to sound like I cared too. Trust me, we don't care. Your best bet is to just try to make your call as fast and successful as possible. The best way to do that is to let the tech control the call flow, NOT YOU.
Please don't feel you have to explain to the tech you are not computer savvy, we already know that. And we hear it way too often that it gets rather annoying.
Small talk is not needed or preferred. It is distracting and takes longer to get our work done if you insist to talk about stuff we really don't care about. Trust me, no matter how well the agent may sound convincing, we train them to sound convincing, they really don't care! Just let the tech get his work done and you will be off the phone sooner too!
Learn to listen to what the tech asks you and tells you. Don't assume you know. Feel free to repeat what they ask or tell you so we both know you understand. This is welcome and often needed.
Do not start explaining your whole story from the beginning to end as soon as the tech asks, "how can I help you". WAIT for the tech to ask you specific questions, and if they don't ask the question you expected, it prolly didn't matter! You should simply identify what the immediate issue is, for example,
"I can't get on the Internet." then shut up.
All you have to do next is simply follow the techs que and answer what questions they may have!
Do NOT start talking about what you were doing before it happened, what you did when it happened, how many people you talked to, how many times you were disconnected, transferred to the wrong person, what kind of equipment you have, how much you do or don't know about computers. Honestly, we don't care! Just wait for the question and answer that only. You will find your time on the phone is shorter and more pleasant!
When should you ask to speak to a supervisor?
Well if you follow my advice the only time you will need to speak to a supervisor is to commend how well the tech did, we call them kuddos calls. I had to take sup calls from angry customers and listen to them complain and whine. It was pathetic but part of my job. I had to sound like I cared too. Trust me, we don't care. Your best bet is to just try to make your call as fast and successful as possible. The best way to do that is to let the tech control the call flow, NOT YOU.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
How To Remote Access For Free!
Remote Access is a easy way to access any computer remotely from any location. For example, you could remotely access your home computer from work to bypass Websense. Or to run certain tasks or applications while away. You can also use remote access to trouble shoot a friend or relatives computer. There are many ways to remotely access your computer. My two favorite ways are both FREE!
There are two very popular services available, LogMeIn and Team Viewer. I will review each now.
LogMeIn is perhaps the most popular and there are two versions available, free and paid. When you signup you automatically get the pro (paid) version for a free trial and if you do not elect to keep it it reverts to the free. The nice thing about LogMeIn is it's very easy and straight forward to use and has a lot of control options. The only negative is you must have at least XP and activeX installed. It won't work on ME.
Team Viewer is all free and offers more then enough control options for remote access and trouble shooting and can run on any platform. It's not as easy to get started using. but once you get the hang of it is easy. While it will work on any windows version ME and higher, you will need win2000+ to do auto updates.
I suggest giving them both a try as they serve well as a backup for each other. Use the one you prefer and keep the other as your backup!
So what can you do with them? Just about any thing you want! They both work very well, not jerky or chopping. Very smooth! You can get system information, trouble shoot, share files, transfer files, run apps, programs, reboots, all remotely. Being able to share and transfer files makes it possible to run many trouble shooting tasks. Or you can simply use it to bypass websense at work :)
There are two very popular services available, LogMeIn and Team Viewer. I will review each now.
LogMeIn is perhaps the most popular and there are two versions available, free and paid. When you signup you automatically get the pro (paid) version for a free trial and if you do not elect to keep it it reverts to the free. The nice thing about LogMeIn is it's very easy and straight forward to use and has a lot of control options. The only negative is you must have at least XP and activeX installed. It won't work on ME.
Team Viewer is all free and offers more then enough control options for remote access and trouble shooting and can run on any platform. It's not as easy to get started using. but once you get the hang of it is easy. While it will work on any windows version ME and higher, you will need win2000+ to do auto updates.
I suggest giving them both a try as they serve well as a backup for each other. Use the one you prefer and keep the other as your backup!
So what can you do with them? Just about any thing you want! They both work very well, not jerky or chopping. Very smooth! You can get system information, trouble shoot, share files, transfer files, run apps, programs, reboots, all remotely. Being able to share and transfer files makes it possible to run many trouble shooting tasks. Or you can simply use it to bypass websense at work :)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
When Should You Pay For Tech Support?
Many ISP's provide very good tech support but they all have a limit and when you reach that limit you will either be advised or offered "Extended Tech Support" which is fee based. Generally a ISP will only offer free tech support for basic Internet issues, connectivity, some browser and email support. After that your on your own. Beware of ISP's that push extended tech support because you may not really need to pay the price they are asking for. Often they are simply not trained to address pc issues or their job may be to push the fee base support. Generally the fee base service you are asked to pay for is not really very advanced any way and may even be out sourced to some foreign country!
If your computer is totally out of whack, uncontrollable mouse functions, pop-ups, warning messages, and you are unable to access safe mode, it's probably time for help! If you have your original OS and Utility disks that came with the computer if all else fails you can simply reinstall your OS.
If your up to it you can also try some support forums, I recommend this Support Forum for those willing to try it on their own, your really not alone!
There will be times you may have to pay for real tech support, never pay for over the phone or remote, take your computer to a trusted repair shop in your area! Such cases may be when you have exhausted all other alternatives or when you really have no idea what to do next such as in the case of a black or blue screen, or no power at all to the computer. Still even these issues can be tackled on your own if you have the time and drive to try it!
If your computer is totally out of whack, uncontrollable mouse functions, pop-ups, warning messages, and you are unable to access safe mode, it's probably time for help! If you have your original OS and Utility disks that came with the computer if all else fails you can simply reinstall your OS.
If your up to it you can also try some support forums, I recommend this Support Forum for those willing to try it on their own, your really not alone!
There will be times you may have to pay for real tech support, never pay for over the phone or remote, take your computer to a trusted repair shop in your area! Such cases may be when you have exhausted all other alternatives or when you really have no idea what to do next such as in the case of a black or blue screen, or no power at all to the computer. Still even these issues can be tackled on your own if you have the time and drive to try it!
Newbies Guide To Removing Virus Adware Spyware
I hear this all the time, "how (why) did I get a [virus] [adware] [spyware] when I had a antivirus program running?
Truth be told, at best all you can hope for is to REDUCE your chances of getting attacked. No one can make the claim of ELIMINATING or Guarantee you won't get attacked. Sorry but that's a fact.
The reason for this are many. There is the fact that it's almost impossible to keep up with all the new viruses, adwares and spywares that get released everyday. I've read claims from the thousands to tens of thousands of new malicious software introduced every day! Of course the good folks behind the antivirus programs work hard to keep up with as many as they can and provide thousands of new definitions a day to combat this but it really is a never ending battle between good and evil. Other reasons will include user errors! Not keeping updated with the latest definitions or windows updates! Opening suspicious email attachments and or clicking on the wrong link at the wrong site! So what do you do when you do get attacked? Well you can stop your whining and actually do some thing to fix your problem. The following assumes your a total noob, or in other words, "not computer savoy" (if I only had a dollar for every user that identified themselves that way I'd be rich by now!).
Most times you won't actually have a real virus and it will be a simple adware. While annoying adwares are not typically harmful. Of course if you called your ISP and they need to sell you "advanced tech support" you might hear otherwise. Adware simply has a different mission then a virus. Adware will usually try to scare you in to believing you have 500 trojans and worms and need to click here to remove them. What you see is fake or a simulation. You may see pop-ups that indicate a security alert, virus detected and you may actually see a simulation of a scan being performed checking on your C: drive, even if you have a mac and don't have a c: drive lol. That's because it all for show! Now a actual virus has a different mission, it's mission is to destroy your computer as quickly as possible. A spyware is the sneakiest of all. It does not want you to know it's there! It mostly works in the background, gathering and distributing information and or using your computer as spam server. More on those later!
So what can you do now? Well if you only have a adware there is a very good chance you don't have to spend a dime and will be able to remove it yourself! If you can access the Internet you can download some free programs that have a great success rate at removing adware, spyware and even actual viruses too!
I recommend starting by going to Malwarebytes and downloading the free version. It's lite, fast and easy to use and has a very good success rate! The only difference between the free and the paid version is the paid version can schedule regular scans for you. This will actually solve most of your problems! But if this does not work, do not worry yet. Next go to Super Anti Spyware and download their free version! Honestly these steps will resolve most adwares and spywares, however if you actually do have viruses on your computer you may need some help.
In a nutshell, if your able to get on the Internet, have control of your mouse, and your computer does not crash or freeze, you have a good chance to resolve your issue by yourself for FREE! If however this is not possible. Do not worry. It is still possible to resolve with out spending a dime, IF you want to try it. It may require going in to safe mode, or system restore. I will cover those in another post. This was for very basic help for the Newbie minded only!
Truth be told, at best all you can hope for is to REDUCE your chances of getting attacked. No one can make the claim of ELIMINATING or Guarantee you won't get attacked. Sorry but that's a fact.
The reason for this are many. There is the fact that it's almost impossible to keep up with all the new viruses, adwares and spywares that get released everyday. I've read claims from the thousands to tens of thousands of new malicious software introduced every day! Of course the good folks behind the antivirus programs work hard to keep up with as many as they can and provide thousands of new definitions a day to combat this but it really is a never ending battle between good and evil. Other reasons will include user errors! Not keeping updated with the latest definitions or windows updates! Opening suspicious email attachments and or clicking on the wrong link at the wrong site! So what do you do when you do get attacked? Well you can stop your whining and actually do some thing to fix your problem. The following assumes your a total noob, or in other words, "not computer savoy" (if I only had a dollar for every user that identified themselves that way I'd be rich by now!).
Most times you won't actually have a real virus and it will be a simple adware. While annoying adwares are not typically harmful. Of course if you called your ISP and they need to sell you "advanced tech support" you might hear otherwise. Adware simply has a different mission then a virus. Adware will usually try to scare you in to believing you have 500 trojans and worms and need to click here to remove them. What you see is fake or a simulation. You may see pop-ups that indicate a security alert, virus detected and you may actually see a simulation of a scan being performed checking on your C: drive, even if you have a mac and don't have a c: drive lol. That's because it all for show! Now a actual virus has a different mission, it's mission is to destroy your computer as quickly as possible. A spyware is the sneakiest of all. It does not want you to know it's there! It mostly works in the background, gathering and distributing information and or using your computer as spam server. More on those later!
So what can you do now? Well if you only have a adware there is a very good chance you don't have to spend a dime and will be able to remove it yourself! If you can access the Internet you can download some free programs that have a great success rate at removing adware, spyware and even actual viruses too!
I recommend starting by going to Malwarebytes and downloading the free version. It's lite, fast and easy to use and has a very good success rate! The only difference between the free and the paid version is the paid version can schedule regular scans for you. This will actually solve most of your problems! But if this does not work, do not worry yet. Next go to Super Anti Spyware and download their free version! Honestly these steps will resolve most adwares and spywares, however if you actually do have viruses on your computer you may need some help.
In a nutshell, if your able to get on the Internet, have control of your mouse, and your computer does not crash or freeze, you have a good chance to resolve your issue by yourself for FREE! If however this is not possible. Do not worry. It is still possible to resolve with out spending a dime, IF you want to try it. It may require going in to safe mode, or system restore. I will cover those in another post. This was for very basic help for the Newbie minded only!
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