Tech tips from ChezvousPC

29 October 2018 10:24

Slow computer? Fancy a bit of a speed boost? - a ‘new’ type of hard drive called a solid-state drive might well be the answer. SSD prices have dropped and they are now a viable option for the home market. If your machine is a few years old, the hard drive might be slowing, and can probably be replaced with a much faster SSD at an affordable price. Give us a ring if your PC or laptop is a bit slow, and we’ll see if it might be the answer for you!

It feels like we’ve mentioned this before, but we are still seeing a lot of scam calls, which can be very convincing. If you get someone calling you from ‘BT’, ‘TalkTalk’, ‘Microsoft’, ‘Openreach’ etc, and you aren’t expecting it or 100% certain they definitely are who they say they are, PLEASE question it! Tell them that you are very busy, could they call you back in 10 minutes, and then give us a ring on 01822 855822 to check. If they are genuine, they won’t mind waiting and if they aren’t, that quick phone call might save you thousands (yes, thousands) of pounds, which other local people have had stolen from their accounts.

Beware also, cheap USB sticks from Ebay! Last month two customers had problems with large capacity USB sticks used for backup. Although the unbranded USB sticks were sold as 64Gb or 128Gb - on testing, the 64Gb stick was actually 16Gb, and the 128Gb stick was only 8Gb! Unfortunately, your computer cannot tell the capacity of a stick when you plug it in, so if it is told it has 128Gb of storage, it will attempt to use it as such – resulting in a backup of corrupt files and little else. Branded USB sticks (we recommend Kingston) are not that expensive, and are more than worth the few pounds extra, especially if you are intending to use them as backup. Better safe than sorry in this case!

TIM, Tim and Carol – ChezvousPC

For help with any home or business IT needs, give us a ring on 01822 855822 or visit chezvouspc.com