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!
If you manage to get your screen get rotated, its easy to fix on a Windows PC: Simply press CTRL + ALT + [an arrow key] until things return to normal.
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Should I get an anti-virus for my Apple Mac is a question we don’t get asked often…but one that perhaps should be asked more often.
Macs, be it an iMac or Macbook, have long had a reputation of being immune to virus’, and for good reasons, including:
Things change, and now many of the above points are far less true. Macs are still pretty secure, but the massive increase in popularity has attracted attention of virus writers. Users of Macs now include not just experienced computer users, but everyone. Ultimately, a computer is only as secure as operations completed on it by the user.
The graph from Kaspersky above shows the increase in Malware in Macs over time. It shows that there in a vast increase in Mac infections over the recent years.
It seems fairly obvious that anything to help keep you Mac secure would be a good idea. Sheffield Computer Services recommends getting an antivirus program for your Mac.
Two anti virus programs that consistently score well in tests are:
Why not get some protection? None are 100% perfect, but certainly better than none. Prevention better than cure. Etc. Etc.
What ever you do, make sure you keep backups of your files and programs. Either copy things manually to a USB stick or hard drive, or use ‘Time Machine’ (set up via the settings panel) to do it automatically for you.
If you need some help setting things up, just get in contact with us on 01144070128, 07552380585 or help@sheffieldcomputerservices.co.uk.
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Just a quick note to let you know that if you have an iPhone and you’ve upgraded to iOS9, watch out because if you have slower wifi internet speeds than mobile internet speeds, the phone will default to the fastest. So, it might default to mobile internet (3G), which could cost you a lot! Read more here: http://metro.co.uk/2015/09/28/how-to-turn-off-the-new-iphone-feature-thats-burning-through-your-data-allowance-5410918/.
Safe surfing,
Sheffield Computer Services.
A lot of people worry about privacy and modern technology spying on you. This isn’t surprising when there are regularly stories of blue chip companies getting hacked, the government spying on everyone, and Facebook seemingly knowing more about you than you do!
There has been some alarm with the default privacy settings in Windows 10 so we have written this little summary/guide to help you if you are concerned. Do remember that often the reason behind a company or service getting information is to provide a more personalised, less generic experience, such as being able to offer local search results rather than UK results and adapting to your writing style and preferences.
If you have any problems with Windows 10 please contact Sheffield Computer Services and we’ll be glad to help
There are two ways to change privacy settings in Windows 10. The first is during setup on the ‘Get going fast’ screen. You can choose ‘express settings’ or ‘custom settings’ – custom settings is where privacy settings can be changed. Don’t worry if you selected express settings because you can change setting after setup is complete by using the method discussed below.
To change privacy settings from within Windows 10 there are a few different areas to visit.
First click the windows button, type ‘privacy’ and press enter, and then maximise the screen that appears. When maximised you should see the settings window with ‘privacy’ at the top; general, location, microphone etc. on the left; and various settings you can switch on/off on the right.
Below is a very brief summary of these privacy settings. If you have time it’s worth checking out a full guide such as this at wired.com and howtogeek.com.
‘General’
‘Location’ – ON/OFF
‘Speech, inking and typing’
The rest of the areas on the privacy settings page after fairly self explanatory and may or may not be relevant depending on you device (desktop, laptop, tablet) and how you use it (if you use modern ‘apps’ or stick to traditional ‘applications’.
Cortana Settings
There are more privacy setting for Cortana, the personal assistant assessable by clicking the circle next to the Windows button. To get Cortana’s settings, click the circle, then click the third icon down on the left (looks like a rectangle with a circle in it…), and then click settings.
It’s worth having a look around the ‘control panel’ and ‘settings’, both access by clicking on the Windows icon and type either phrase and pressing enter. You can always change a setting back. Just be careful not to do something like restore, refresh of format your PC when you could lose data.
With the imminent release of Windows 10, we’re readying ourselves for calls from customers experiencing problems. Our advice, as with any major update, is to wait for a few weeks (or even better months) before making the jump. If you like tinkering with the machine go for it; but it the computer is used daily for work or other important tasks – and it’s working well – hold off on the upgrade until an problems are ironed out.
FREE?
Windows 10 will be free to anyone with Windows 7, 8, or 8.1. For customers on Vista or XP, the upgrade will be around £99 – probably not worthwhile because your hardware is likely to be fairly old…go for buying a whole new machine which will come with Windows 10. However, if you have a good PC running XP or Vista we are offering a special price or £80 for an official Windows 10 license and installation.
If you do upgrade from 7, 8 or 8.1, you will need at product key (located on the side or underneath the machine). Until the day or release, this can’t be confirmed, but it’s likely to be true which means if your product key on the underside of your laptop is worn off, you won’t be able to complete the Win10 installation.
A good upgrade
Microsoft infamously does a good operating system and than a bad one…we’re due a good one. MS have been working with the community and developers for the past year to get as much feedback on Win10 as possible, and have actually listened. There will be issues, but the signs and reviews so far show that it could the best modern operating system Microsoft have done since XP.
We will be upgrading on day one…but only some test machines because some of our customers will be too. We’ll hold off upgrading to Windows 10 on our workstations for a month or two.
Help
Of course, we’re here to help, if you have problems upgrading, or would like us to do it for you to ensure everything will work fine. Give us a call on 01144070128 or 07552380585 or contact us online – we’ll be glad to help.
A customer bought us this HP laptop that was overheating. The usual cause of overheating is a clogged up heatsink and/or fan – dirt, hair, crumbs etc. block air flow so the fan cannot cool the heatsink which takes heat away from the CPU.
In this case the laptop was getting extremely hot, too hot to hold for long, and the fan was working, loudly at top speed.
As you can see from the pictures below, there was a lot of dust and dirt. We dismantled the laptop, removed the dust (and changed the fan at the customers request), and then the machine worked at normal temperature, fan speed and sound levels.
The left mouse button was also broken…so we fixed that too while the laptop was dismantled.
A fairly regular job that comes to us…replacement of the cracked glass on a MacBook Pro after a knock. This one was particularly tricky because the glass was completely fractured. It took a little long than usual, but this sometimes happens. The customer was happy with the work and price done, and we’re sure they’ll try to avoid it happening again.
Broken MacBook Pro glass panel… This is a tricky job: The glass is very securely attached and shatters very easily. This job took a little longer than usual because the glass had broken far more than most other breaks we see which meant removing many tiny bits of glass rather than fewer larger bits (easier).
This was an interesting job! The customer had unfortunately managed to get some of those small silica gel balls (the kind put in packaging to absorb moisture) into the headphone and microphone jacks of a laptop. We weren’t sure what the outcome would be, hoping it wouldn’t require replacement of jacks. Thankfully, after dismantling the laptop and carefully using a thin wire to poke at the balls through small holes at the back of the jacks, we were able to get the balls out without any other damage. These types of jobs are always interesting because they provide a new challenge!
We’ve just had a customer who owns multiple domains and has email address for each of these. They had been set up with another IT company who had let the customer down too many times. We transferred the services to Sheffield Computer Services and got the email settings reconfigured without any loss of the customer’s data, and we charged a much more reasonable rate for the services then the old company – £150 per year saving!
A fairly new and high specification laptop was bought to us because the SSD drive was too small (60GB) and causing problems because of the lack of free space. The customer had bought an 120GB replacement drive and we cloned the old 60GB drive to this. It was a fairly simple job, and we charged £27 for the work (including a student discount).
Below is a video of a different machine, showing the difference in speed booting up when using a SSD compared to a normal drive. More information on this post: ‘SSD upgrade – highly recommended’
Give us a call for the latest SSD drive prices – they decrease in price per GB and increase in speed all the time, so there’s always a good deal.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss a similar upgrade, prices for SSDs constantly change.
