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Sheffield Computer Services

PC & Mac, Laptop & Desktop Repairs, Websites, IT Tuition etc. in Sheffield. Screen replacement, upgrades, heating issues, internet/wifi fixes, troubleshooting etc. - Drop off & Callouts - Let us know your problem and we can probably help!

Sheffield Computer Services

Some photos of recent PS5 HDMI port socket replacement work in Sheffield

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Here is a gallery of some HDMI socket repair work for the PS5 (PlayStation 5) we have recently done.

For full info on our PS5 PlayStation 5 HDMI port / socket replacement repair fix service click here

For full info on our PS5 PlayStation 5 HDMI port / socket replacement repair fix service click here

Sheffield Computer Services Expands with New Heeley Office

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PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sheffield Computer Services Expands with New Heeley Office

SHEFFIELD, UK – To meet growing demand from customers in the city’s central and inner areas, Sheffield Computer Services has opened a new office in the heart of Heeley, Sheffield (S2 postcode).

The company’s main workshop remains at its base on Sycamore Street in Mosborough S20 5AW, which will continue to offer rapid, priority turnaround for all repairs and services. The new Heeley office, located at Unit R7G, Riverside Block, Sheaf Bank Business Park, Prospect Road, Heeley, Sheffield (S2 3EN), is designed to offer a more convenient drop-off and collection point for clients needing it in S2 and the surrounding suburbs. Customers can be met at the location, often at the front door or the car park.

Efficient Two-Location Model

The Heeley branch operates by appointment only and will host scheduled drop-off sessions, allowing the team to serve multiple customers at once. This model allows the business to increase its capacity without compromising the fast service its main workshop is known for.

“Opening a second location in Heeley is a significant step for us,” said Nathaniel Moody, owner of Sheffield Computer Services. “We’ve seen consistent demand from customers across Sheffield who want local, reliable IT support. This new office allows us to serve the S2, Sheffield city center, and surrounding areas more efficiently while maintaining the transparent pricing and high standards we’re known for.”

Comprehensive IT Services Now More Accessible

The Heeley office provides access to the company’s full range of services, including:

  • Desktop and laptop repairs (hardware and software)
  • Drop-off and callouts to fix IT issues
  • Serving residential and business customers
  • Gaming laptop maintenance (including specialist cleaning and thermal paste replacement)
  • Screen replacements for laptops and mobile devices
  • SSD, RAM and other upgrades
  • System performance tuning
  • Apple Mac and MacBook diagnostics and repair
  • Wi-Fi and home networking solutions
  • Smart home consultation and setup
  • IT tuition and one-to-one support

By Appointment Only – Contact Details

The Heeley office is by appointment. To arrange a drop-off or collection, residents and businesses should contact the company in advance.

Free parking is available on nearby streets, with paid visitor parking within the business park.

About Sheffield Computer Services

Sheffield Computer Services has been providing professional IT repair and support to Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Worksop, and all surrounding areas for many years. The company is a Sheffield-based business now operating from two locations to serve customers better. It is a member of the UK Computer Services Association and holds an ACRBO accreditation. The company is rated 5-stars based on 295 and counting Google reviews at its main workshop.

Media Contact

Nathaniel Moody, Sheffield Computer Services
Main office/workshop: 8 Sycamore St, Mosborough, Sheffield S20 5AW ~ 0114 4070128
Heeley office: Unit R7G, Riverside Block, Sheaf Bank Business Park, Prospect Road, Heeley, Sheffield S2 3EN ~ 0114 4070129
Email: contact form via website
Website: sheffieldcomputerservices.co.uk

 

 

 

PS5 Playstation 5 HDMI socket port replacement; pads and trace repair; and APU liquid metal refresh

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We have been busy repair PlayStation 5s (PS5s) including APU liquid metal refreshing and replacement; HDMI port replacement; HDMI connector pad trace repair; thermal putty replacement; and entire machine cleaning including fan, heatsinks and case.

For full info on our PS5 PlayStation 5 HDMI port / socket replacement repair fix service click here

Ps5 / PlayStation 5 case / fan / heatsink cleaning photos

= Better cooling + no overheating + quieter running

  • Thick dust on the fan intake guide at the top of this PlayStation 5. We remove this guide to get access to the cooling fan.
    This fan intake guide on the top of the PS5 is coated in dust. It has to come off before we can reach the cooling fan, so it’s one of the first parts we clean when servicing a console.

Ps5 HDMI port replacement images

= Fixes some no display issues

  • Part way through trace repairs on a PS5 HDMI socket's connector pads. This is a tricky repair requiring micro-soldering techniques.
    Part way through trace repairs on a PS5 HDMI socket's connector pads. This is a tricky repair requiring micro-soldering techniques.

Ps5 APU (CPU) liquid metal refresh / replacement

= Better cooling + no overheating + quieter running

  • A view of the whole top side of a PlayStation 5 motherboard, as seen during a service at our Sheffield workshop. The chip in the middle is the APU, which generates most of the heat. It gets incredibly hot, so liquid metal is used to carry that heat across to the heatsink.
    This is the full top side of a PS5 motherboard on our Sheffield workbench. The APU in the middle is the chip that produces most of the console’s heat, and it runs incredibly hot. Liquid metal sits between the chip and the heatsink to transfer that heat away efficiently, which is why we check it on every service.

For full info on our PS5 PlayStation 5 HDMI port / socket replacement repair fix service click here

Proactive Business Computer Repair: How We Shielded a Sheffield CNC Business from Costly Downtime

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At Sheffield Computer Services, we specialise in more than just fixing problems—we build resilience for local businesses. A recent callout to a Sheffield machining company perfectly illustrates our approach to business computer repair and IT support for industry.

The Challenge: A Critical CNC Machine Down
Our client, a specialist producer of high-quality machined parts for the construction sector, faced a crisis. The dedicated computer controlling their vital CNC milling machine had failed. The issue stemmed from cloned hard drives—a sensible backup strategy for proprietary, decades-old software that is incredibly expensive and nearly impossible to reinstall if lost. After cloning, neither the original nor the backup drive would boot, halting production.

Our Business IT Support Solution
This wasn’t just a standard computer repair job; it was a mission-critical recovery. Our technicians successfully repaired both hard drives, restoring the machine to full operation and securing a verified, bootable backup. But we didn’t stop there.

During discussions, we learned the system had previously suffered a motherboard failure. Recognising the risk of future downtime, we proposed a proactive plan. We sourced an exact replacement industrial motherboard, CPU, and RAM. By sourcing globally and avoiding time-critical premiums, we secured the £700+ component for just £300, delivering significant cost savings for our business client.

Beyond the Fix: Building Operational Resilience
We built, configured, and tested a complete replacement control computer at our workshop. The client now has this unit in storage, turning a potential weeks-long disaster into a simple swap that could have them back running in hours.

The Value for Your Business
For an industrial business, downtime isn’t just an inconvenience—it means missed deadlines, lost revenue, and strained client relationships. As the business owner noted, outsourcing just one specialist job can cost hundreds. A prolonged computer failure could cost thousands.

This case highlights our core service: proactive business IT solutions. We provide:

  • Emergency business computer repair to get you back online fast.
  • Specialist hardware support for industrial, CNC, and legacy systems.
  • Proactive downtime prevention through strategic planning and hardware sourcing.
  • Cost-effective IT solutions that protect your bottom line.

Is Your Business Protected from Unexpected IT Failure?
Don’t wait for a critical system to fail. Whether you rely on specialised machinery, bespoke software, or simply need reliable everyday IT, we help Sheffield businesses build robust, resilient operations.

Contact Sheffield Computer Services today for a consultation. Let us design a support and prevention plan that safeguards your productivity and your profits.

Call us on 01144070128 or 07552380585 if you need help.

 

Photo by aluminum Zheng ji on Unsplash

Windows 10 Support ends 14th October 2025 – can’t upgrade to Windows 11? Here are some options.

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Windows 10 Support ends 14th October 2025. If your PC is stuck on Windows 10 and can’t upgrade to Windows 11 because of hardware requirements, here are some options. 

Buy a new PC 

Perhaps the best thing if your machine is quite old, slow or seen better days. Plus you’ll probably get better features like battery life, screen resolution/size/quality, USB-C socket etc. 

Ignore the end-of-support deadline

If the machine isn’t connected to the internet there’s nothing to worry about – it’ll keep doing the same just as it does now.  

If it’s connected to the internet, it’ll gradually be exposing more and more security risks so wouldn’t be advisable to use the machine for anything requiring a password – most definitely your email, shopping or banking. If you don’t do these things and don’t store data that’s you’d miss if it was gone, that machine can still be used because if it gets hacked then there’s not going to be a problem.  Otherwise, you put all accounts, your identity and data at risk.

Upgrade necessary components 

For a laptop this won’t be possible, but for a desktop PC it’s usually possible to upgrade components. To officially allow Windows 11 to be installed and supported upgrades usually required are a new motherboard and CPU, and often new RAM, but the rest of the existing machine can be reused (such as case, fans, cooling systems, graphics card, keyboard, mouse etc) 

The upgraded components can be picked up for quite cheap either low-spec new or second hand, or more can be spend for better components. 

Get Windows 11 installed bypassing requirements 

It’s possible to bypass the hardware requirements to get Windows 11 on a machine if officially won’t go on. Microsoft usually block updates for Windows 11 if it finds the required hardware isn’t there so going this route isn’t much better than just ignoring Windows 10 support deadline and staying on that because you will still be in a situation without the latest security updates. 

Install an alternative operating system (OS) 

This is something we’ve done for customers quite a bit over the years every time Microsoft’s ends support of an OS. If you just want a machine for casual access to the web, email, some document work and storage for photos you don’t need to run Windows, but an alternative free OS such as Linux is a good option. We often put Ubuntu Linux on customers PCs which is a well-developed and supported OS that’s easy enough to use and runs on old hardware much better than Windows. We just had a customer’s machine that originally shipped with Windows Vista and we put Ubuntu on (as well a cheap RAM and SSD upgrade) and the machine runs so much better (probably than if ever did). 

Pay Microsoft for Extended Security Updates (ESU)

When Windows 7 support ended, many businesses and the public sector paid Microsoft to continue supporting it. This time, Micrsoft is allowing normal home users to extend their support too, and it’s estimated to cost somewhere around £25-30 per year (for a maximum of two year). When that ends, you’ll be in the same situation again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image Credit: Windows image by Bolly Holly Baba @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmot/

Save Future Computer Troubles and Problems – Our Recommendations

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Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

Just had a thought to let customers (and everyone) know a brief list of things we wish we could tell everyone to do with their computer! Knowing or doing these things could have saved many of our customers a lot of time, effort, heartache and money.

Don’t encrypt your hard drive / SSD

Unless you really need to. Encryption keeps all data on the machine locked with a hard to break code. We don’t recommend it unless you have special reason to keep it away from anyone – most people don’t need their photos and PDFs encrypted, and it makes things impossible to recover if you don’t know the encryption key. If you do encrypt make sure you know or can access your encryption key.

Don’t work directly from a USB stick

We often get customers in need of data recovery from a USB stick. It’s not a good idea to open the file directly from the USB stick and work on it and save to it: They are really designed just for storage, so what should be done is have the file on your machine, and then when need to back it up or move it, copy it to the stick. Then copy it from the stick to the other machine and carry on working on it. There’s much higher risk of corruption working to/from a stick and also high potential for a connection issue, corruption or just breaking the stick in socket.

Backup your data (to local storage and in the cloud)

Now is a good time – the best time. Always have a backup = A least two copies of anything important (on two separate physical devices or places). We recommend customers to have a local backup to a USB stick or hard drive, and to use some kind of cloud storage. Doing this means you can know for sure you have a backup in your hand, and there is also a backup off site in case of something happens to all the physical devices on your site (like fire or theft).

If things feel hot, get it checked out.

If your machine is hot to touch, something is probably not right and will likely leading to overheating issues. Fresh thermal paste, cleaning of heat sinks and fans and ensuring decent airflow should hopefully sort any overheating issues. If using a laptop for heavy work we recommend using a laptop cooling pad which will blow air over the base of the device to aid cooling. Oh, and don’t use a laptop directly on duvet – this will definitely lead to increased heat (at least put the laptop on a book or tray).

Don’t update drivers

If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Unless something is broken or there’s promise of much greater performance, functionality or security, you’ll probably not need to update a driver. Also, we see all sorts of ‘driver update’ programs on customer machines and are very doubtful to the benefit of any of them – a lot of the time these programs come with adware, pop ups or worse and take up system resources, so recommend not to bother with these programs. Windows tends to take care or drivers itself and hard to control what it does, so usually best to just let Windows do its thing. If really wanting to update drivers only download from the official Website for the hardware.

Avoid standby mode

Standby has often caused problems such as screen staying black; irregular behaviour after waking from sleep; or losing data when power lost during sleeping. With the speed of machines these days switching on doesn’t take so long. If you want to save a session of work with programs and documents open, try hibernate which is slower than sleep to action but doesn’t require power while hibernating. If using sleep we recommend to at least switch off / restart the machine regularly (daily or after a lot of use is good).

Restart the machine regularly

As a machine is used there are often changes or updates that need processing during the shutdown or start-up processes. If this never happens, when the restart process finally happens the long list of jobs will at best take a long time or worse go wrong and then it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the cause was. Also ensure Windows system restore is active and has enough space allotted (recommend 20-30GB at least) so it’s possible to restore the system to an earlier point in time before the problem occurred.

If you have a Mac, use Time Machine

This is one of the best systems in computing – Time machine on a Mac backs up the whole system (user data, programs, settings) to a USB or network storage device. If it’s set up and plugged in / connected the backup happens automatically. It’s a brilliant system and really should be used.

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

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Wishing all everyone and all our customers Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 
 
Just had a thought to let customers know a short list of things we wish we could tell everyone! Knowing or doing these things could have saved many of our customers a lot of time, effort, heartache and money. 
 
Don’t encrypt your hard drive / SSD 
 
Unless you really need to. Encryption keeps all data on the machine locked with a hard to break code. We don’t recommend it unless you have special reason to keep it away from anyone – most people don’t need their photos and PDFs encrypted, and it makes things impossible to recover if you don’t know the encryption key. 
 
Backup your data (to local storage and in the cloud) 
 
Now is a good time. Always have a backup = A least two copies of anything important (on two separate physical devices or places). We recommend customers to have a local backup to a USB stick, and to use some kind of cloud storage. Doing this means you can know for sure you have a backup in your hand, and there is also a backup off site in case of something happens to all the physical devices onsite (like fire or theft). 
 
If things feel hot, get it checked out.  
 
If your machine is hot to touch, something is probably not right and will likely leading to overheating issues. Fresh thermal paste, cleaning of heat sinks and fans and ensuring decent airflow should hopefully sort any overheating issues, before any permanent damage is done. 
 
Don’t update drivers 
 
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Unless something is broken or there’s promise of much greater performance or added functionality, you probably not need to update a driver – it can lead to problems such as worse performance, crashes or failing to load the OS. Also, we see all sorts of ‘driver update’ programs on customer machines and are very doubtful to the benefit of any of them – a lot of the time these programs come with adware, pop ups or worse and take up system resources. Recommend not to bother with these programs, or if really wanting to update drivers only download from the official website for the hardware. 
 
Avoid using sleep / standby mode 
 
Or, at least switch off / restart the machine regularly. Sleep has often caused problems such as screen staying black, or irregular behaviour after waking from sleep, or losing data when power lost during sleeping. With the speed of machines these days switching on doesn’t take so long. If you want to save a session of work with programs and documents open, try hibernate which is slower than sleep to action but doesn’t require power while hibernating.  
 
Restart the machine regularly 
 
As a machine is used there are often changes or updates that need processing during the shutdown or start processes. If this never happens, when the restart process finally happens the long list of jobs will at best take a long time or worse, go wrong and then it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the cause was (and fix it). 

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Useful Windows and Mac keyboard shortcuts for general use, system navigation and web browsing.

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Useful Windows and Mac keyboard shortcuts for general use, system navigation and web browsing.

Useful Windows and Mac keyboard shortcuts for general use, system navigation and web browsing.

Found a good article detailing useful keyboard shortcuts at XDA here. Save time instead of using a mouse to do the same. Quick summary of commands for Windows or Apple Mac below.

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Basics

Ctrl + C — Copy selected text or item
Ctrl + V — Paste copied text or item
Ctrl + X — Cut selected text or item
Ctrl + Z — Undo the last action
Ctrl + Y — Redo the last action
Ctrl + A — Select all items in a document or window
Ctrl + F — Open the Find dialog to search for text within a document or webpage
Ctrl + S — Save the current document or file
Ctrl + P — Print the current document or page

System navigation

Ctrl + Shift + T — Reopen the last closed tab in a browser
Alt + Tab — Switch between open applications
Alt + F4 — Close the active window or application
Windows Key + D — Minimize all windows and show the desktop
Windows Key + E — Open File Explorer
Windows Key + Tab — Open Task View to see all open windows
Windows Key + I — Open Settings
Windows Key + S — Open the Search bar to find apps, files, or web results
Ctrl + Shift + Esc — Open Task Manager directly
Ctrl + Windows Key + Left/Right Arrow — Snap windows to the left or right of the screen, or switch between virtual desktops
Ctrl + N — Open a new window or document
Ctrl + R or F5 — Refresh the current page or window
Windows Key + Up Arrow — Maximize the current window
Windows Key + Down Arrow — Minimize the current window or restore it if it’s maximized
Windows Key + P — Open display settings to project to a second screen or manage multiple monitors
Windows Key + “+” — Open the Magnifier tool for zooming in on the screen
F2 — Rename the selected file or folder
Ctrl + Shift + Esc — Open Task Manager
Ctrl + Shift + Delete — Open options to clear browsing data in most browsers
Ctrl + Right/Left Arrow — Move the cursor to the beginning of the next or previous word in text editing
Ctrl + Backspace — Delete the previous word in text editing
Shift + Delete — Permanently delete selected items (bypasses the Recycle Bin)
Alt + Enter — Open properties for the selected item (file, folder, etc.)
Windows Key + “+” or “-“ — Zoom in or out using the Magnifier
Windows Key + Space — Switch between different keyboard input languages or layouts
Windows Key + V — Open the clipboard history
Windows Key + Ctrl + D — Create a new virtual desktop

Web browsing

Ctrl + T — Open a new tab
Ctrl + W — Close the current tab
Ctrl + Shift + T — Reopen the last closed tab
Ctrl + Tab — Switch to the next open tab
Ctrl + Shift + Tab — Switch to the previous open tab
Ctrl + L — Highlight the full address bar
Ctrl + R or F5 — Refresh or reload the current page
Ctrl + F — Open the Find tool to search for text on the page
Spacebar — Scroll down one screen length on the current webpage
Ctrl + Shift + N — Open a new private or incognito window (works in most browsers)

Apple keyboard Shortcuts

Basics

Command (⌘) + C — Copy selected text or item
Command (⌘) + V — Paste copied text or item
Command (⌘) + X — Cut selected text or item
Command (⌘) + Z — Undo the last action
Command (⌘) + Y — Redo the last action
Command (⌘) + A — Select all items in a document or window
Command (⌘) + F — Find a word or phrase in a document or webpage
Command (⌘) + S — Save the current document or file
Command (⌘) + P — Print the current document or page

System navigation

Command (⌘) + Space — Open Spotlight Search to quickly find apps, documents, or perform web searches
Command (⌘) + Tab — Switch between open applications
Command (⌘) + N — Open a new window or document
Command (⌘) + W — Close the current window or tab
Command (⌘) + Option + Esc — Force quit an application
Command (⌘) + Q — Quit the current application
Command (⌘) + T — Open a new tab in a browser or Finder window
Command (⌘) + Shift + N — Create a new folder in Finder
Command (⌘) + Option + T — Show or hide the toolbar in Finder
Command (⌘) + Option + D — Show or hide the Dock
Command (⌘) + Shift + 3 — Take a screenshot of the entire screen
Command (⌘) + Shift + 4 — Take a screenshot of a selected area of screen
Command (⌘) + Shift + 5 — Open the screenshot tool for selecting screen capture and recording options
Command (⌘) + Control + F — Toggle full-screen mode for the current app
Command (⌘) + H — Hide the current application
Command (⌘) + Option + M — Minimize all open windows
Command (⌘) + Option + W — Close all windows of the current application
Command (⌘) + , (comma) — Open the preferences or settings window for the current application
Command (⌘) + Option + Space — Open Spotlight in Finder for file search

Web browsing

Command (⌘) + T — Open a new tab
Command (⌘) + W — Close the current tab
Command (⌘) + Shift + T — Reopen the last closed tab
Command (⌘) + Option + Left/Right Arrow — Navigate to the previous or next tab
Command (⌘) + L — Highlight the full address bar
Command (⌘) + R — Refresh or reload the current page
Command (⌘) + F — Open the Find tool to search for text on the page
Spacebar — Scroll down one screen length on the current webpage
Command (⌘) + Shift + N — Open a new private or incognito window (works in most browsers)

 

 

Full url where info copied from: https://www.xda-developers.com/boost-workflow-keyboard-shortcutshttps://www.xda-developers.com/boost-workflow-keyboard-shortcuts

Image credit: Image by Racool_studio on Freepik

Do you need an antivirus program on a Windows computer?

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We get asked this question a lot, “Do I need an antivirus program on my Windows machine?”

We usually say yes taking the approach of better to be safe than sorry.

However, there are good arguments for and against additional  antivirus software to the build in Windows tools. Here is a good article written by Wired.com which discusses the topic well

https://www.wired.com/story/do-you-need-an-antivirus-program-on-windows/

And a quick AI summary below:

The article from Wired suggests that Windows Defender (also known as Microsoft Defender) is generally enough for most users on Windows, especially with the advancements it has made in recent years. It offers robust protection against malware, spyware, and viruses, and is built into Windows, so it doesn’t require a separate installation.

Key points on why Windows Defender might be sufficient:

  1. Good Protection: Windows Defender provides solid, real-time protection and frequent updates.
  2. Integration: Since it’s built into Windows, it works seamlessly with the operating system without causing performance issues.
  3. Low Maintenance: It’s easy to use and doesn’t require much intervention from the user, making it a low-maintenance option.

However, there are some potential reasons users might still want to consider third-party antivirus solutions:

  1. Advanced Features: Some third-party antivirus programs offer additional features like VPNs, password managers, or more advanced ransomware protection.
  2. Heavy Internet Use: If you’re someone who frequently downloads files from less reputable sources or engages in higher-risk online activity, you might benefit from more extensive protection.

For everyday use, though, Windows Defender is likely sufficient for most Windows users.

10 warning signs your SSD or hard drive is about to die.

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Two things we always recommend to all computer users:

  1. Always keep and backup of your data to cloud and/or local USB drives.
  2. Ensure your have access to recovery or unlock keys if you drive or data is encrypted. Or, disable encryption completely if you don’t need it before it makes life more difficult when things go wrong.

We found this article describing 10 Warning signs your storage drive is about to die: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2374411/is-your-ssd-about-to-die-xx-warning-signs-you-shouldnt-ignore.html and recommend to check it out.

Some ways to recognise a failing drive:
-Windows fails to boot properly
– Freezes or crashes
– Your PC feels slower than usual
– File system repair errors

Hope this helps, if your having these sorts or issues please get in touch and we’re sure we can help.