Computer Maintenance

Advice on keeping your computer running well, how and when you should perform maintenance to your computer or laptop.

My Computer/Internet Doesn’t work…What Can I Do?

I quite often receive phone calls and emails from people telling me that they have problems with their Internet and they don’t know whether the problem is with them (i.e. their computer / laptop / tablet) or with their Internet provider (i.e. Movistar, local wireless provider etc.) – this month we attempt to give you some tools that should help you identify where the problem is and therefore be able to contact the appropriate person with a little more confidence. Read this entire article »

How Changing Your Hard Drive Can Speed up your Computer…

Few things in “modern” computing time have made as much of a dramatic difference to the speed of computers as solid state hard drives. Computer technology and speed increments over time, we know that. I’m regularly asked “Why is my computer slow?” and of course the answer is “it depends”, it depends on a number of different things but it normally comes down to only three – the type and speed of the processor, how much RAM the computer has and the type of hard drive. It’s this last part that we are really interested in exploring this month. Read this entire article »

Why Does My Keyboard Keep Changing?

Ever since Windows 8, we have have been able to select the lanaguge that we would like our computers and laptops to display. Before that, in order to legally change the language of your Windows computer it was necessary to reinstall the operating system with a version of the language that you wanted. Read this entire article »

Speeding up your computer…. (Part 4 of 4)

This month we finalise the series in which we have reviewed various ways that you can speed up your computer, we have already covered identifying and replacing the hardware in your computer and this month we will look at the software options you can use to get the most out of your computer. Read this entire article »

Speeding up your computer…. (Part 3 of 4)

This month we continue with our audit of your computer, trying to help figure out how you can get the most out of it for the least cost. Last month we looked at the version of your operating system and the amount of RAM in your computer, this month we look at your CPU and storage. Read this entire article »

Speeding up your computer…. (Part 2 of 4)

So, last month we installed Speccy, a small piece of software that will help you understand what hardware you have inside your computer with a view to reviewing this information to get the best speed out of your system.

This month we will review the information you found and see if there are any quick wins to speed up your computer. Read this entire article »

Speeding up your computer…. Part (1 of 4)

This month and over the next few we will look at ways in which you can squeeze extra speed out of your computer, both ways that you can do yourself at no extra cost and the most effective way that you can figure out where to spend your money.
Read this entire article »

Easily update the programs you use regularly…

We all have programs on our computers that we want to keep up to date and either don’t have the time or feel a little nervous about updating them because we are afraid of what might happen. Alternatively, perhaps you have a need to install a bunch of useful programs after you have refreshed your computer? If either of these describe you, then I have the easy and safe answer for you – Ninite!

No, thats not a typing mistake, and I’m not wishing you a great nights sleep – it’s the name of a company that you can use to update or install your critical applications, nice and easily. Read this entire article »

Windows 10 Anniversary Update

This month we look at what is causing some issues for people all over the Costa Blanca who are running Windows 10 but not managing to get up to date with all the Microsoft updates.

We use our computers regularly, and expect things like Antivirus, Malware and Windows updates to simply happen in the background. Our only involvement usually is to get annoyed when we want to close our machines and get the “installing 1 of 10 updates” message, meaning that we can’t be sure that everything will be fine the next time we come to turn on the computer to check our email or get up to date with Facebook. The point is that we rely on the computers to just look after themselves and most of the time this is fine, however back in the summer Microsoft released a large update and its size is causing some people a real problem. This month I show you how you can be sure that you are on the latest update and what to do about it if you’re not. Read this entire article »

Got Business Premises? Then get a Facebook Router!

If you have a business here on the Costa’s then you should already know about the power of Facebook, especially if you market to the ex-pat market here as most brits here on the Costa Blanca are very familiar with Facebook, they use it for everything from finding local businesses, rating the service that they have received to catching up with friends and family here and back “home” in the UK.

I would go as far as to say that retired people here in Spain are much more “teched up” and familiar with how technology and Facebook work than their peers back home; of course this ability, I think, comes from the need to use technology to keep in touch that wouldn’t be necessary back in the UK. Whatever the reason, if you’re a business owner then you should know that your core customers use social media. Read this entire article »