Computer Mechanics, Computer Repairs Perth Western Australia

Trouble Shooting

Recommended Software

Spyware Doctor Starter Edition

  • Detects and removes spyware, adware, trojans and keyloggers
  • Includes Smart Updates and scheduling to protect your PC
  • Download

Avast Home Edition

  • antivirus Home Edition represents the best FREE antivirus protection currently available on the market.
  • This edition is FREE OF CHARGE for non-commercial & home use only. Both of these conditions should be met!
  • Download

Spybot - Search & Destroy

  • Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications.
  • Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies.
  • Download

Ad-Aware 2008 Free

  • Improved Threat Detection(Spyware, Adware, Trojans & Hijackers, Fraud Tools & Rogue Applications, Password Stealers & Keyloggers)
  • Enhanced Rootkit removal system
  • Faster Updates & Faster Scans
  • Less Resource Usage for optimal computer performance
  • Lavasoft ThreatWork submission tool
  • Compatible with Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit)
  • Download

CleanUp!

  • Removing "MRU lists" (storing a list of your Most Recently Used files) for various applications
  • Emptying the Recent Documents folder
  • Deleting entries from the Run and Find Computer dialogs
  • Emptying Recycle Bins
  • Emptying various temporary folders
  • Removing unneeded registry entries
  • Optionally resetting the high scores for Windows games;
  • Download

Checking RAM

7 Jul 2004 12:55:27

Too many programs running at the same time can slow your computer. If you’ve got an old computer you probably don’t have enough RAM (short term memory). In this case you may be able to improve things without having to upgrade your computer. Check with Computer Mechanics. Lots of programs load things into memory but you mightn’t really need them. If you hold down Ctrl-Alt-Del keys and then choose the Processes tab you’ll see what’s using up RAM (CPU cycles). You can highlight a program you don’t need and click End Process to stop it. Things like RealJukebox from Real Media are candidates for removal. If one of the programs is using 99% of the CPU, that’s the problem. Don’t close anything unless you know what program it controls.


Another trick to improve performance here is to defrag your hard drive. This more efficiently allocates space in the computer’s long-term memory and makes programs load quicker. To defrag your hard drive, make sure you can see the desktop, then double click on the My Computer icon. You should be able to see a heading that says “hard disk drives” or similar. Right click on the hard disk; it’s probably called “C” or “local disk C” then when the menu comes up, left click on the word “properties”. Then select the "Tools" tab. Choose the Defrag option.

Defragging your drive is easy but once it starts it’s SLOW; leave it to run overnight.

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Help Desk

Tips and Tricks

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Infographics

I love this stuff. If you're interested in how to present information with great visuals, visit Infosthetics; it's the best aggregation of infographics EVAR.
Mon, 06 Sep 2010

End of Yellow Pages

If you never use your Yellow Pages or White Pages because you're always using this thing you're using now, you can go here and tell Telstra/Sensis to please not deliver those door stops.
Wed, 01 Sep 2010

Google Priority Inbox

Google's doing that thing they do again; improving their products. Gmail is introducing Priority Inbox, giving you the ability to automatically prioritise your email based on which emails you've previously read and/or replied to. If you need a web based email account, Gmail is the go.
Tue, 31 Aug 2010

The Arc Touch mouse

The rumoured new Microsoft Arc Touch mouse. Looks very sexy but not yet released. Funny comment on that blog: "I too have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of yet to be released hardware."
Tue, 31 Aug 2010

Pretty desktops

Smashing Magazine invites designers to contribute monthly calendar designs that people can use as desktops on their PCs. Lots of elegant choices for September, though many designers seem confused about what season it is. Includes a number of Ramadan desktops for our Islamic readers.
Sat, 28 Aug 2010

MS Office GAME

Ribbon Hero is the Microsoft game that sneakily trains you in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Do challenges, compete, share on Facebook. No, we don't know why you'd want to share it on Facebook. But then we're not big on Farmville either. Versions of Officer earlier than 2007 won't handle it. You'll have to Read the Manual.
Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Laptop bags

Engadget U.S. reviews a range of the cheap and the fabulous laptop bags - in Australia, you can get Kata bags and the LowePro CompuPrimus at Quality Camera. The Case Logic Slimline ships from Deals Rebate but the Timbuk2 bags aren't available locally.  
Tue, 24 Aug 2010

3D laptop

Gamers! 1600 bucks gets you the latest in 3D laptopery. The Toshiba Satellite A665 comes with NVidia Active LCD Shutter Glasses. See, I don't even know what that is but it sounds SO GREAT.
Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Cheap eBook

The Laser eBook lets you listen to music while reading your eBook, is colour and has video. But it doesn't have wi-fi; you have to download your books to a PC first. $150. Cheap. Via The Australian. More.
Sun, 15 Aug 2010

Best Windows laptops

Electric Pig journos chose the Dell Studio 15, the HP Envy 15 (15 is big this year), the Samsung Q430 & 320 and the ASUS EeePC1201N as the best value laptops on the market. They're a UK site but all those models are available in Australia. You'll need to check the local prices of course.
Sun, 15 Aug 2010

Hacking into mobiles

An American security guy has demonstrated how he can intercept mobile calls on the GSM mobile phone network using relatively cheap hardware. Scary stuff since that network is the world's most popular and is predominant in Australia. Newer network technologies (3G) are not vulnerable. *Going back to pen and ink*.
Sun, 15 Aug 2010

Biz card transcription

Networkers of the world, pay attention. Here's how it works. You take photos of the business cards you collect at the conference/function, then send them to CardMunch. They have people transcribe the contents (guaranteeing accuracy) into a web based address book you then sync with your phone. Time saver, much. Via Mashable.
Wed, 28 Jul 2010

Upgrade essentials

Here's what you need to know about upgrading from Vista to Windows 7. Actually, you don't need to know all of this, pick the relevant bits. But FIRST, this applies to everyone: back up before you upgrade. If you don't know how, call us because things can and do go wrong during upgrades.

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Mon, 26 Jul 2010

Review Asus EeePC

Engadget do the best reviews. Here is their thorough look at the new ASUS netbooks. Having used an iPad for a month or so now I'm can tell you the web browsing experience falls well short of a netbook.
Mon, 26 Jul 2010

Searching in Outlook

Most of us know that you can click on a column heading in Outlook to sort the column into alphabeti order. Do you ever used the Advanced Find option? Click on Find, then Options, then Advanced.

 

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