Every Sunday I peruse through the hhgregg (appliances & electronics megastore) insert that is in the local newspaper. This past Sunday the insert showed a total of 28 different TV screens and 15 different computer monitor screens.
Of the 28 TV screens, 17 were LED screens, 4 were Plasma screens, and 7 were LCD screens. Of the computer monitor screens, 12 were LED screens and 3 were LCD screens. Whew! That’s a whole lot of screens!
How does one know which screen type to choose? Which screen is better for you and your viewing particulars?
This concise, two and a half minute video should help you to better understand the difference between LCD and LED.
Professor Randy says:The type of screen makes all of the difference! Don’t buy a new TV or computer monitor without first carefully researching the screen type. Your viewing enjoyment is at stake!
The very first thing that I do when I repair a computer is to check the state of the Hard Drive. I didn’t always do this and I had to learn the hard way. You can imagine what it’s like to start cleaning and optimizing a computer (remove junk files, remove unneeded programs, install needed programs, scan for malware, defragment the hard drive, run chkdsk, etc.), only to find out that you are dealing with a defective hard drive. Since the drive is in a bad state it could die at any moment, especially if it continues to be stressed by any or all of the aforementioned.
These are the two great software tools that I use to check the state of a hard drive:
CrystalDiskInfo is “a HDD/SSD utility software which supports S.M.A.R.T. and a part of USB-HDD”. It’s incredibly easy to download, install, and run. It will immediately tell you whether the condition of the hard drive is BAD (red color), CAUTION (yellow color), or GOOD (green color). If CrystalDiskInfo reports a yellow caution or worse, you had better stop what you are doing and back everything up as soon as possible. It’s only a matter of time before your hard drive “goes south” (although it could still function for weeks or months).
To give myself a second opinion I download, install, and run SeaTools by Seagate.
“SeaTools is a comprehensive, easy-to-use diagnostic tool that helps you quickly determine the condition of the disk drive in your external hard drive, desktop or laptop computer. It includes several tests that will examine the physical media on your Seagate or Maxtor disk drive and any other non-Seagate disk drive”.
After running CrystalDiskInfo and SeaTools I have a very good idea as to whether the hard drive is very defective, somewhat defective, or not defective at all. I can then communicate this information to the client and proceed accordingly.
Professor Randy says:Don’t do any kind of computer repair without first checking the current state of the Hard Drive. By doing this you will avoid a lot “heartache” further on down the line! Use these two simple tools to give you a better idea of what’s going on with your drive.
This is part 5 of a series. You can see parts 1,2, 3, and 4 by clicking on the numbers.
How would you like to copy the entire contents of a hard drive and then transfer this exact image to another hard drive? Or how would you like to copy the contents of your hard drive and then reload this exact image back on to your machine whenever you needed to, thus restoring your computer to the state when it was working great?
That is exactly what the FREE program Clonezilla will do for you!!
As a computer repair tech I cannot live without Clonezilla. Do you know how cool it is to tell a client that you have an exact image of his hard drive in case anything goes wrong? What if a client wants to upgrade to a larger capacity hard drive but wants the exact same things (operating system, files, apps, etc.) on this new drive? What if a clients machine is so messed up that it is time to restore the machine to the state when things were all working smooth?
Clonezilla will do all of this for you and more. FOR FREE!
When I used Clonezilla for the first time I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t know if I could understand the Linux interface (no nice graphical user interface like Acronis True Image Home). I found this great tutorial by Pablo Garcia, followed it to a “T”, and worked my way through Clonezilla without a hitch! Thanks for the help Pablo.
Clonezilla will “save your bacon”, endear you to your clients, and make your repair work much less troublesome.
Professor Randy says:Why pay for expensive cloning software when Clonezilla will do the same thing and more for free? Give Clonezilla a try and you will never pay for cloning software again!
The other day a client wanted me to diagnose her Dell Latitude D620 laptop. Her screen images were very fuzzy and blurry, and she asked me to take a look.
The first thing that I did was to hook up the laptop to an external monitor. The screen image was crystal clear on the external monitor so I knew that we were dealing with a bad laptop screen. When the new screen arrives (ordered from http://www.ebay.com/sch/dvdsuper999/m.html), this is how I will install it. This is one of the best screen replacement videos that I have seen:
Randy The Tech Professor says:You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Computer repair methods and procedures have already been perfected by great technicians. Seek out these technicians and you will also be able to go where they have gone.
Professor Randy quotes George Washington Carver:“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
In part 1 of this series I talked about my favorite Junk File Cleaners, and in part 2 I told you about the incredible USB Drive Adapter. Then in part 3 I told you about my favorite way to backup and restore data. Today I would like to tell you about a great website that I use to install applications. You just won’t believe it!
Every time that I install or reinstall an Operating System, I have to then download and install dozens of the most common software applications. I used to do this by going to my favorite free software site (filehippo.com), to download and install each application one by one. This method was effective but quite time consuming. Then I found Ninite (ninite.com), and things will never be the same!
Ninite installs everything for you. Just go to the above mentioned ninite.com and check the apps that you want to install. Download the Ninite installer and it will automatically mass install all of the apps that you have selected with a speed that will amaze you!
How Ninite Works:
Ninite tries to behave exactly like a technical friend you’ve asked to install a few apps for you. This means that the Ninite installer always installs the latest version of the app, regardless of when or where it was created. Ninite:
Says “No” to toolbars or other junk
Always installs the latest version of an app
Installs the right 32-bit or 64-bit version for a PC
Installs apps in the PC’s language
Skips apps that are already up-to-date
Upgrades an app if it’s out of date
Now how can you top that? I can’t repair computers without Ninite.
Professor Randy says:Don’t continue to manually install your applications! Just walk away and let Ninite install all of your apps while you attend to other matters. This great program is going to save you a lot of time – once you try it you will never go back to installing your apps one by one.
In part 1 of this series I talked about my favorite Junk File Cleaners, and in part 2 I told you about the incredible USB Drive Adapter. Today, my favorite way to backup and restore data: Fab’s AutoBackup.
If you don’t know about Fab’s AutoBackup then you are in for a real pleasant surprise. Fab’s Autobackup has literally changed my computer repair life! Let me tell you why.
Many of my clients buy a new computer and they want me to transfer all of their personal data from their old machine to the new one. At other times when a clients hard drive goes bad, I have to install a new one, format the new drive, and then reload the OS and all of the data back onto the new drive.
Still, there are times when a virus has infected a computer to the “point of no return”. The only solution is to wipe the original drive, reinstall the Windows Operating System, and then restore all personal files that were backed up before the “nuke and pave” process (clean install).
I used to have to do this manually by hooking up the original hard drive to the new machine (or to the machine with the new hard drive), and then restore the files piece by piece. But then I found Fab’s AutoBackup!
“Fab’s AutoBackup is a small portable application. It allows users to choose what to back up from their Windows system (documents, music, videos, emails, browser settings, and more) with simple check boxes and paths fields. After the format, Fab’s AutoBackup can restore all the files back to where they should be”.
Fab’s is just so great! It’s a French program and costs about $7.00 USA. It works with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. I backup my clients files to an external hard drive and then simply restore them to the new machine/drive after the operating system has been installed/reinstalled. No more manual copying and pasting files from old folder to new!! Fab’s will organize the files into the proper folders and transfer the data to it’s proper place. It’s just a great piece of software.
Professor Randy says:Fab’s AutoBackup is fabulous! If you are a computer repair tech or simply a user who wants to backup and restore precious personal data, you owe it to yourself to check out Fab’s. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed!
