A customer had many pop-ups and shopping adverts popping up whenever viewing anything on the web. It was trickier than normal to remove (they had already tried several things), so some more advanced removal techniques were needed. After a bit of work and a couple of restarts, the tricky adware was sorted in less than an hour.
Recent Work
We have been busy recently…here is some of what we have been doing!
A selection of jobs done recently at Sheffield Computer Services. Laptops, desktops, printers, MacBooks, iMacs, Hard Drives, emails, power supplies, fans, passwords… Many of these jobs have been done multiple times. Quite a varied selection of jobs 🙂
- Transferred data from old XP machine to new Windows 10 laptop
- Upgraded and customer fitted an SSD into an Asus ROG gaming PC
- Callout to a nursery to fix their powerline LAN network
- Speeding up a Vista PC
- Worked on SEO for a website to improve rankings
- Data recovery from a failing hard drive and replacement and installation of Windows 7 again
- SSD upgrade for desktop PC
- SSD upgrade for laptop PC
- SSD upgrade for MacBook Pro
- SSD upgrade for iMac
- Created a flyer for a sports coaching company
- Dual booted a Macbook Air with Windows 10 and MacOS 10.13
- Diagnose faulty power supply and replacement PSU fitted
- Cleaning a laptop CPU heating sink fan (very dirty only 6 months after we last did it)
- Fixed laptop Wi-Fi connection drop out
- Diagnosed incompatible RAM on new desktop build
- Replaced a power socket using soldering iron
- RAM upgrade
- Password recovery and organisation
- Replacement LCD screen fittings for laptops
- Transfer of large about of data from laptops to USB drives
- MacBook Air tune-up
- Removed screws with completely scripped heads
- Advised on VPN theory and installation
- Hard drive removal from laptop to USB enclosure
- Data recovery off MicroSD card
- Replacement keyboard for MacBook Air
- Replacement trackpad mouse for Macbook Pro
- Recovery from a corrupted hard drive of bookmarks and emails from Windows Live Mail to a fresh installation
- Fixed lose mouse buttons on Toshiba laptop
- Fixed Windows store corruption on Windows 10 all-in-one desktop
- Cleared space on a 100% full MacBook Pro SSD
- Setup, consultation, advice on a new MacBook setup, email signatures, data store and other business ideas for a soon to launch business in Sheffield
- Replacement graphics card for an old iMac
- Power socket replacement for Toshiba laptop
- Battery and fitting for MacBook Pro
- Battery and fitting for laptop
- Replacement bottom case for Dell Inspiron laptop
- Printer setup and connection
- Fixed user profile error on Windows 7 machine
And more…
Difficult Repairs: Surface Pro 4 Replacement SSD + MacBook Pro Keyboard Change
Recently we’ve had two tough jobs in Sheffield: Replacing the SSD hard drive in a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and replacing a keyboard in a MacBook Pro. We thought we’d share a few photos and thoughts about what we did.
Surface Pro 4
We don’t often get these in for repair, and honestly don’t particularly like repairing them! They have been given a ‘repairability’ score of 2/10 due to the difficulty of doing it! The main risk this time was damage to the LCD screen on the way in…but we avoided any damage and were then able to go further inside and swap the failing SSD for a new one.
Surface Pro after after much careful work. Working again after putting everything back together again.
MacBook Pro Keyboard Change
A very common repair we do is changing a MacBook keyboard after liquid damage. Wine, beer, tea, coffee, coke, milk – can’t think of many liquids we haven’t heard split on a macbook keyboard. For repairing, it’s also a pain to do. It’s not as risky in terms of damage to other components as a Surface Pro, but it’s just a tedious because of the time it takes to do. Everything needs to be removed from the MacBook to get to the keyboard, and then there are 60 or more tiny screws on the keyboard to unscrew (and not loose).
Getting the old keyboard requires removing 60+ tiny screws. The liquid damage – you can see the rust on the keyboard.age – you can see the rust on the keyboard. The replacement keyboard fitted and the backlight placed on top – ready to put everything else back in now. The screw count for this job is high! The keyboard backlight The power button on MacBooks are attached to the keyboard – it the keyboard breaks it’s complicated to turn the system on.
Interesting job: Computer repair…and metal work skills!
Had an interesting job the other day requiring the use of a saw on a desktop PC’s case!
A customer in Brincliffe / Nether Edge rang and asked for a callout to fix a desktop PC not powering up. He suspected a power supply issue, which was correct when a burnt out ATX 4-pin 12v connector was found. Connecting a new PSU let the system power just fine and the job was to be completed in quick time. However, while the new PSU fitted into the case fine, the socket on the back of the PSU for the power cable from the mains socket was slightly obscured by the PC’s case…made of thick metal! Some DIY sawing was required! This shouldn’t have been an issue because computer components and cases should be made to certain specifications/dimensions, otherwise there would be even more compatibility issues than there currently are! … But apparently not in this case.
The original PSU’s power socket fits through a hole in the back of the case. The replacement PSU’s mains plug socket is obscued by the computer case. The new PSU is a standard design – it is the Dell desktop case that’s custom. A bit of hack sawing… …and then bending the metal back allows for the wire to get into the socket ‘Good as new’ – not so pretty but it’s round the back of the case and never seen. This wasn’t the end because we needed to cut more of the case the allow the PSU’s on/off switch to get through the case too.
Zeus Virus from PutLocker. Watch out Sheffield!
Just a quick note to say we had a customer call today who had just been infected with the ‘Zeus’ virus. It seems the likely source was a popular video streaming website called PutLocker – so watch out if you use it. The customer did the best thing and pull the power immediately, and called us. We’re in the process of trying to extract the user data, which hopefully has had the chance to get encrypted. Then we will work on either cleaning the hard drive, or wiping it completely for a fresh Windows installation (best bet to be sure any virus has gone).

Tips:
- Just got a virus? pull the power immediately, especially if it is a crypto-locker virus (as this will not give the program a change to encrypt everything).
- Use an antivirus program! Avast is a good from one and Kaspersky has been rated the best paid for one for several years.
- Backup – always backup you files. You are only as good as your last backup. Backing up to an external USB and the ‘the cloud’ is the best solution.
Image credits:
Computer glitch image from: ‘Thoth God of Knowledge‘
Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY
Computer Laptop Cleaning Issues – General Advice for Sheffield
Computers, especially laptops can get very dirty on the inside. Over months and years dust, hair and all sorts of dirt will get sucked into the exhaust, and gradually build up (generally on the heatsink and fan blades) and make cooling the machine much more difficult for the fan. Eventually it could get to the point that the air cannot be blown over the heatsink to aid cooling, or the fan cannot physically rotate anyone – when this happens the system will overheat and shut down. Too much of this can lead to a chip overheating and permanently damaging the chip, requiring new parts which can cost a lot depending on the part.
Old dirty MacBook keyboard – sure can see at least coffee and ice cream here…no tell what else is there! Dust and dirt build up inside laptop a laptop. You can see a lot of dust around the fan intake grid.
Taking apart and cleaning a laptop can be quite a challenge. Thinking back to the very first laptop I took apart…there was a lot of sweat and it took a whole evening. We’ve recently had quite a few jobs requiring us to finish a clean up job that has gone wrong, so we thought we’d give you a little advice for those that want to do it themselves (hopefully not too late if you are reading this).
Laptop heatsink with old thermal paste on chips and heatsink Heat sink and chips carefully cleaned with new thermal paste on the chips
If you want to clean a laptop watch out for the following:
- Losing screws – we see so many laptops with screws missing after a DIY attempt
- Blowing into the hot air exhaust can help, but is dangerous because if there is a big dust build up it could stop the fan from rotating can cause the laptop to overheat quickly. There is a photo of this happening below
- Static electricity – clean using non-static materials and watch static from your clothes
- Remember to replace the thermal paste. This is vital. You should not just put the heatsink back on the chip with the old thermal paste – if you do chip cooling will be irregular and inefficient it’s likely to cause overheating or worse
- Scratching chip surface and damaging it, especially when cleaning or applying thermal paste
- If you use liquids to clean make not to use too much liquid and get a component flooded and also make sure everything is dry before the system is powered up again.
- Watch out for short circuiting – so easily done with tools, loose screws, not reconnecting wires etc.
- Broken screw fixings and laptop covers: Especially with aging laptops, the plastic material becomes increasingly brittle. Take great care removing and tightening screws and separating parts of the laptop body.
- Don’t forget to connecting everything back up as it was!
Prices: We charge a flat rate for fully cleaning a laptop physically inside and out. £40 if the work is done here, £49 is the job is a callout. This price includes:
Laptop fan not working due to a dust clog up stopping it from rotating. Laptop fan working after dust removal – nothing is blocking the fan’s rotation now
- Full outside clean including:
- Case
- Screen
- Keyboard
- USB / power / VGA ports etc.
- Full inside clean including:
- All components
- The case
- Fan
- Heatsink
- Replacement thermal paste
- Putting the laptop back together again.
Laptop LCD Screen Replacement and Repair Dangers – Often the Job is More Complicated than Expected
One of our most popular services in Sheffield is laptop screen replacement. Details of services including prices we offer can be found on our Sheffield laptop screen / lcd replacement and repair page. It’s not as easy a job as many think which is why customers come to us to get the job done properly. There are many pitfalls to watch out for it you attempt to do the job yourself including,
- Ordering the wrong replacement part – many laptops have two different types of screens LCD or CCFL which can be used in the same model
- There are no ‘official’ replacements parts easily available for a decent price…which is to be expected, especially for an older models, but getting a good quality replacement without any dead pixels is important. A dead pixel is one or more pixels (of 1,049,088 on a standard laptop screen) that is defective (usually manifesting as a black dot). Some people wouldn’t even notice, others like ourselves would be infuriated with even just 1/1,049,088th of a screen being ‘dead’, so we have worked hard collecting an excellent range of top-quality suppliers which has allowed us to provide customers with 100% perfect screens. Touch-wood, this will always be the case
- Ensuring you have all the parts. Many laptop screens require a power converter. This many be the defective part, rather than the LCD screen…it’s hard to tell.
- Incorrect removal of the existing screen and installation of the replacement. To avoid damaging the bezel and LCD casing a lot of care is need to ensure that a screen can be fitted again correctly and no other damaged is caused. Remembering the first screen replacement jobs we ever did to our own machines, the process took hours…only research, experience, care and patience can ensure everything goes perfectly

- Working with the new replacement screen can be tricky. A customer came to us after attempting to replace a MacBook Air screen when they had tried to remove a layer of protect plastic but in fact started to remove part of the LCD screen!
- Scratching the screen – so easily done… A good methodical and careful technique is vital.
- Dust in the screen – especially a problem for Macbooks, Macbook Pros and MacBook Airs. Dust in-between the screen and glass panel looks terrible.

Mac Pro (Old but Still Powerful) – no Video Signal: Graphics Card Replacement Sheffield
We had an old beast of a machine in the workshop for repair today – a Mac Pro “Quad Core” 3.0GHz Intel Xeon 5160. The diagnosis at the Apple shop was a faulty graphics card but they wouldn’t work on it because it was ‘Obsolete’ being made n 2008.
Despite being somewhat old we discussed the option of upgrading the graphics card but decided to go for a straight swap because the workstation graphics weren’t being utilised much anyway. We sourced a replacement ATI Radeon x1900 XT 512MB from our suppliers and got it working again. We also checked over the OS doing all the necessary maintenance after 8 years of work.
Laptop Heatsink and Fan Cleaning / Replacement to Solve Overheating
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.

Macbook Pro – Cracked Glass LCD Screen Replacement
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.

