More than one antivirus on a computer at Leamington Spa in Warwickshire

Next today we are on Northumberland Road at Leamington Spa in Warwickshire we are here because the customers computer is running slow.

The issue here is that Lavasoft have released a program called Ad-Adware Pro Security and if your using Ad-Aware the malware remover they will offer you this product as a trial, the thing to remember is that you most probably already have an antivirus program installed on your computer so the options are to uninstall your current antivirus if your thinking of taking or not installing the pro version. If you do accidentally install two antiviruses on one computer it will slow the machine down substantially.

Email Problems in Leamington

For our first job today we are with a customer in Leamington Spa, the issue here is that the emails are not sending from the customers computer.

Update:- This one looks like its an issue at Tiscali as the customer is a professional client we have recommended and ordered Web hosting and a .co.uk Domain name, this will give the customer the option to easily change broadband supplier at a later date.

Moving computers in Kenilworth

This afternoon we are at a customer in Kenilworth to help them reinstall their computer systems after a house move.

This required a Wireless USB Adapter to get it all working now, But it seems we may be back in the next few weeks to setup a wireless access point system as at the moment the wireless only Covers 1/3rd of the house

Preparing to change ISP in Warwick

For the next job today we are at a customers in Warwick to prepare for changing the internet service provider, the email account has been with Tiscali for a long time but now it seems Spam Filters are beginning to block the email servers IP address range so we have set the customer up with a Gmail account so they can make sure that they don’t loose any contact and in a few months when they are happy all working fine we can go back in and order a new internet service provider.

Computer repair at Halford in Warwickshire

We are now in Halford in Warwickshire at a customers to repair a non booting Toshiba laptop computer.
image

Update to rectify this we went to the last system restore point which gave us a working computer, then reinstalled the windows updates one at a time with a reboot each time to make sure still working.

Computer repair at Welford on Avon near Weston on Avon, Luddington, Long Marston, and Binton in Warwickshire

This morning we are with Avon Energy Assessors Ltd at Welford on Avon near Weston on Avon, Luddington, Long Marston, and Binton in Warwickshire to perform a repair and some maintenance on the customers laptop computer, the main problem being with Microsoft Outlook 2007 being slow to load and Suggesting exit issues, opening in safe mode, sync not finishing , this required updating to service pack 1 and a hot fix loading, in addition to this we also updated the IBM Thinkpads drivers and various other program updates.
image

Laptop computer repair in Leamington Spa

This afternoon we are back at a customers in Leamington Spa to examine a Dell Studio XPS to evaluate if we can repair or requires parts this machine requires smaller than usual torx screwdrivers similar to Current mobile smart phones.

Update as suspected the screen is glued to the front bezel and will break so if you even going in to check the cables the LCD will shatter.

Fibre to cabinet news

2 small pieces of news worth knowing in the Warwickshire area.

The first is that BT will be doubling the speed of its fibre connections on the 10th of April 2012, now i doubt it will be exactly double but certainly will be faster so always helpful you can check availability here http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=29019 .

The next one is also in April Sky are releasing a Fibre Product the website to go to for this is https://fibre.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/broadband-options/sky-fibre-broadband/

Setting up a wireless router in Warwick

Good morning this morning we are in Warwick trouble shooting a wireless router installation, it seems one computer out of the devices here is not finding the wireless Router and we need to establish why.

Update Turns out the wireless router installed was set to auto and had choose channel 13 and for some reason the wireless card was set to US so was only able to see up to channel 11, reset to UK and all seems well plus removed a search bar from the computer.

Wireless printer installation at Warwick

Good morning today we are starting in Warwick to setup a HP wireless printer on a replaced wireless router for a customer.

This needed the HP wireless inkjet printer setting up to work with the BT router which required the printer to be attached via a USB cable to transfer the settings details (some of the HP Wireless printers allow you to enter the details directly on the LCD), and Then reconfiguring the laptop and 2 net books to work with it.

Laptop computer repair in Leamington Spa

Dentists this afternoon so our last job is a laptop repair in Leamington Spa the computer is a Dell Studio XPS. It has a fault on the screen unfortunately to repair it we need smaller Torx Screwdrivers than are currently in our Kit I.E. Smaller than T5 Torx so we have ordered a few sets of the smaller sizes and will be back here in a few days time.

Onsite computer repair at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire

For the next job today we are in Stoneleigh to maintain a computer for a customer, the main issue is checking the Antivirus on the PC and its reported to be running slow.
Update: The main thing effecting the speed of this Dell Studio laptop was the web control software supplied that was hogging resources so we removed this and other programs by editing the registry.
image

We also gave the customer some tuition on an Apple Macbook Pro.

Onsite computer repair in Coventry

This morning we are in Coventry repairing a computer for a customer, the fault described is that the machine is not booting and the date is reading as 2003. We suspect it just needs a replacement battery so will be taking a selection of standard batteries.

image

Update : as suspected to repair the mesh computer it needed a new battery this one required a CR2032.

Laptop data recovery at Kenilworth in Warwickshire

This afternoon we are in Kenilworth to attempt to recover a customers missing pictures from a laptop Computer.

Update Unfortunately the customer had done a factory reset on this machine and it might have been possible to retrieve some of the photos using another machine and running a recovery program but it would have taken a good 60 to 90 minutes to run the scan to find out if any thing survived, this time the customer said not worth recovering and asked me to reinstall the software and missing updates and antivirus.

Virus removal and computer maintenance near Kineton

This morning we are at Combrook Near Compton Verney between Wellesbourne and Kineton in Warwickshire to remove a root kit virus called “Smart Fortress 2012” this is going to be a scam to take money for a so called antivirus that claims you have thousands of virus’s or registry issues – standard scare tactic should be removable by editing the registry and running a Malwarebytes Scan.

Update : This malware was more trouble to remove than the previous version we had to run system restore and choose a date earlier than when the virus arrived, followed by a check on the registry and a full Malwarebytes scan.

Further Update : it turns out this arrived via an email claiming to be a Federal Express missed delivery and the customer had opened an attachment

Hoax Microsoft and support telephone calls

We are still getting a lot of customers complaining about hoax callers claiming to be a support agent for Microsoft and been past you details, Microsoft do not call customers unless they have a contract with you which unless your a huge corporate you will not have one.

The important thing to remember is that if you did not call them do not pass control off you computer to them, they could delete items from your computer when you tell them your not paying them, or install programs with out your consent to give them access when ever the machine is on.

The best way to subvert these phone calls it seems is to get a phone that shows the numbers calling you and if you don’t know the number and your not expecting a call let the answer machine get it , or if you don’t have one of these phones just say you don’t have a computer or say thank you i will call my computer man and hang up, Never give them control.
image

Antivirus update and computer checkup at Kenilworth in Warwickshire

This afternoon we on Ferndale Drive at Kenilworth in Warwickshire, we are here to do some maintenance on an old Desktop Computer running Windows XP and a Netbook PC connected to a BT Infinity Wireless Router.

On the Desktop Computer we updated the antivirus to a current Version , reinstalled the wireless Adaptor and checked the startup files and Edited the Registry.

Its worth noting that on installations of BT Infinity that I come across with the Router sat on top of the Openreach Modem seem to generate a lot more heat and appear to get speed issues so I would recommend that the modem is wall mounted to combat this or at least separate on the area that they are situated in.

Harddisc data recovery at Leamington spa

Today we are in Leamington Spa at APNA Partaap Driving School (07855)791060, to Attempt a data recovery on an out of warranty Western digital harddrive.
The harddrive was dead with no power and the customer happened to have a spare identical drive so we swapped the control board which surprisingly was the correct board and gained power to the drive,
Unfortunately this then showed us the read arm was broken some how as it made a clattering noise when starting up.
The only way to recover this drive is with expensive specialist equipment.
So the customer has been referred to www.apextechnology.co.uk

Onsite computer repair Leamington PC running slow

This morning i spent an hour cleaning up a computer on the Welsh Road between Cubbington and Offchurch.
It had an update software from Macrovision running and this was holding a large percentage of the computers resources, Slowing the PC down and increasing the fan noise.
We disabled the updater and various other applications and left the Dell computer running well.