Laptop Repair Cardiff

No matter what your problem, no matter what make/model of laptop/computer/desktop we can fix it and get you up and running again.  Give us a call today – based in Cardiff we are here to help!

Laptop Repair Cardiff write handy helpful blog style articles we hope the following one saves our readers a bit of cash when trying to speed up an old computer system and breath some fresh life into those silicon chips.

Without any further ado here’s the best ways to speed up an old computer.

Backup all your important data, pictures, music, word docs to a backup device.  Then take your system discs and wipe your computer restoring it back to the factory defaults.

This will remove most of the junk on your system then it’s just a case or restoring your data and the programs that you use.  Once you’ve done that defrag your hard drive with a free tool like Ultradefrag.

This will arrange your storage in the computer or laptop so it uses it with more efficiency.

You may also want to invest in additional RAM for your computer.  Go to a website like Crucial and check the price of additional RAM for your computer.  Currently 4GB of RAM will be a minimal amount.  This amount changes ever few years – usually doubling!

You might also want to think about getting a decent broadband supplier and a new fast wireless or hard wireded modem.  It’s quite possible your computer is not really that slow but it’s actually your internet that is slow or someone in your house hold is using all the bandwidth.

Of course we can help with all these steps so if you’re not sure on something give us a call at Laptop Repair Cardiff and we can lend a hand for a reasonable price worth paying.

One of the most annoying things about Windows based computers and laptops is the amount of junk software that comes with them.  We mainly to computer repair in Cardiff however sometimes we will also sell customers computer or laptops if we can’t fix the problem.

One of my pet hates is the software that comes preinstalled by the manufacturer.  I call this stuff bloatware and most of the time it’s pretty useless.

Most customers coming to us in Cardiff want to use their computer for tasks without the interruptions of warnings and diagnostic messages.  For some reason a lot of the bloatware also seems to load at startup and sit in the system tray or reside in the background using valuable system memory.

I’ve never really understood why laptop and computer makers provide this software with their systems however it must keep a small army of people employed to keep developing and supporting it.

Anyway the best way to remove the bloatware is to go into control panel and add/remove programs.  Newer systems running Windows 7 this is called “Programs”

Simply go through the list and remove anything that you don’t use.  Be careful not to remove important programs like system drivers.  This is probably where Laptop Repair Cardiff can help as we know what to remove and what not to.

There is also MSCONFIG that allows you to disable things from starting up in the background.  This is pretty useful when you have an older machine with lots of programs running and you are not sure what to remove.  To get to MSCONFIG

Click start> type run in the search box > type MSCONFIG in the run box

Navigate to the startup tab and untick the required entries.  Again we can help here.  Best of all about MSCONFIG is that you undo the changes o if you make a mistake and next time you startup and something is not running properly on your computer just go back in to enable it.

Hope these tips help some folks out in Cardiff

 

Here is some further reading on what may be classed as bloatware notebook review

Our company name has been the same for some years now.  “Laptop Repair Cardiff”, this name pretty much what it says on the tin – we fix and mend laptops and computers in Cardiff.

However we also fix Apple products.  Most people don’t know this but depending on the fault you may find it’s cheaper to get it fix by us than Steve Job’s crew (especially if it’s out of warranty).

We’ve been doing iPad screen repairs as well – here’s a list of our Apple services in Cardiff:

iPad screen repair

iPad data wipe

iPad networking

Macbook

Airbook

Apple Mac

Hard drives, motherboards, CPU’s, fans faulty OS installations.  Bad disks reinstall and upgrade’s of OSX you name it we’ve can usually cover it.

Little known fact about Apples (apart from iPads)  that they are just like a normal PC under the bonnet and have exactly the same or similar main components as Laptops and Computers.

However you’ll probably be charge 3 times more for the Apple experience and a nice looking shiny aluminium casing, worth every penny I’m sure   Until it breaks – then that’s when you call us.

Big brand computer retailors for example PC World have a great selection of computer/laptops/tablets.  However where they fail is upgrade options.  You’ll find most of these bigger types of shops are more geared towards offering you a complete new system.  In these hard times whilst money is tight not everyone has the option of a brand new computer or laptop.

Laptop Repair Cardiff offers a wide range of computer upgrades for your desktop PC or notebook.

The best bang for buck upgrades can be had for very little outlay.  Our top upgrade is system optimisation also known as the computer MOT.  We’ll collect your computer and analysis the areas that may be making it run slow.  As part of this service we will identify the bottlenecks in your computer.

Some of the most common items that can make a computer or laptop run slow are:

 

Anti-virus software.

Choose the wrong anti-virus software and it can really slow down your computer.  Eating up valuable system memory and clogging your system with “bloat ware”.  What’s worse you may have two anti-virus software programs installed on your computer after a recent upgrade.  These programs will fight against each other thinking that the other is actually a virus.  This can really make your computer run like treacle.

 

Random Access Memory

One of our cheapest upgrades at Laptop Repair Cardiff is memory upgrades.  The price of RAM (random accesses memory) sticks has come down a lot over the past few years.  You can grab a 4GB stick for as little as £30 depending on what system you currently have.  Double up and you can have 8GB of RAM for £50!

Of course if you don’t have enough RAM in your system your hard drive will become a type of virtual memory.  The computer will use your hard disc drive to write/read data and this will slow down your system as the hard drive is not intended to be unitised as a virtual RAM device.  Here is the recommended amount of RAM for different operating systems.

• Windows XP – minimum 512MB RAM, recommended 1GB
• Windows Vista – minimum 1GB RAM, recommended as much as possible!
• Windows 7 0 minimum 1 GB RAM, recommended 4GB

These figures are what I’ve personally experienced with Microsoft Windows operating systems.  Of course we can also do RAM upgrades on Apple Macs as well – the more the merrier.

Hard Drives:

Another component in computer systems that can slow down daily tasks are hard disc drives.   The hard drive in your computer holds the software and files that you access.  Over time this data becomes scattered across your hard drive.  Due to this scattering effect the hard drive takes more time to load data into the system.  This has the knock on effect of slowing down load time whilst booting the computer/laptop and loading programs like outlook, word, games etc.

Windows has a built in tool to defragment the hard drive.  This defragmentation cleans up the disc and puts all the data into a nice orderly arrangement which can be read quicker by the computer.   Part of our system optimisation we implement a script that runs a defrag of your hard drive each time the computer is turned on using a specialist defragmentation tool.

Start-up Programs

This is my pet hate.  A lot of software companies now implement a small program to run at start-up to complement their software and make it run faster.  However when you’ve got 20 of these start-up programs running in the background it can really slow down your system.  There’s also the fact that most of these behind the scenes programs are rarely used and not really required in the day to day operation of most users.  We run the inbuilt utility to disable a lot of these start-up entries this can really help speed up a system and even free up system memory if your computer is running slow.

Computer and laptop repair and maintenance Cardiff are proud to offer upgrades and system MOTs on all makes and models of computer systems.  So get in touch for a quote – well worth the money.

 

I’ve written about virus removal in the past and why you should have well anti-virus software installed on your laptop or desktop computer.  However it is also important that your computer is kept up-to-date.

Starting with Microsoft Windows XP edition “windows updates” became a common standard routine practice for IT professionals.

You can find the “windows updates” settings within the security settings in control panel.  Basically updates are rolled out by Microsoft usually every other month or so.  They patch known security flaws within the Windows operating system that become apparent.

You see virus writers and hackers are always looking for ways to hack and break into computers.  Microsoft and the hackers play a game of cat and mouse.  When a security flaw is found by a hacker Microsoft are usually alerted to it and then the patch is made to fill the hole.  These come in the form of Windows updates.

Most computers and laptops are set by default to download and install Windows updates automatically whenever there are new updates release.  You may be prompted to install the updates.  I would suggest you do a backup of any important files or folders prior to installing any updates.

So updates have known to cause conflicts with other software installed on computers or laptop.  This usually results in the operating system not booting up (starting) correctly.

Occasionally we get customers that bring their laptops in for repair.  After an initial inspection and a quote for the repair it becomes apparent the laptop is not worth repairing.  This usually happens with older laptops 5 years +.  If the laptop has a motherboard fault it is sometimes cheaper to buy the same model used from a supplier.  However in most cases we offer to recover the data off the old laptop and the customer decides to purchase a new laptop.

Then we are asked at Laptop Repair Cardiff, “what is the best laptop?”  Well that’s quite a general question.  A lot depends on what you’re looking to do with a your laptop and if you are mobile a lot of the time or use it mainly as a desktop replacement.

The other question we get asked is “what make of laptop has the least failures” We to be perfectly honest all laptops manufacturers have their good and bad point.  Sony VAIO laptops rend to have very good external design and look great but you’ll pay a lot more for a Sony and if it does fail parts can be that bit more costly.  The same is true for Apple powerbooks and the like.  However you’ll usually pay 3 times as much for a Apple product compared to its Windows based cousin.

HP also known as Hewlett Packard have some good designs however we have seen a lot of HP laptops in recent years due to a faulty Nvidia graphics chip which was defective on many models.  We tend not to recommend HP for this mistake and the way the treated customers after acknowledging the fault.

A good all rounder is Dell, you’ll usually get a good price for a Dell laptop and there are many models to choose from.  The main drawback is that Dell is really an online company so support is limited if you have a problem.  This is changing though as bigger computer shops like PC world and Tesco’s are now starting to stock and sell Dell laptops in store.

I do have a soft spot for Acer, now back in the day I would never touch Acer however as we’ve been doing laptop repairs in Cardiff for quite a few years now Acer is one brand of laptop I hardly have to repair.  And for that reasons I can recommend you take a look.  Our laptop power jack engineer completely disagrees with me on this though and hates acer with a passion due to the lack of suppliers for spare parts.

There are of course many other manufacturers of laptops and I’ve only covered a few here.  As stated earlier the question “what make/type of laptop is best” is a very general question.  My best advice is to go into a few computer shops and check out the look and feel of the laptops.  You’ll find apart from the specification on the laptop the parts inside are all very similar.

There are lots of different reasons why laptops can fail.  One of the most common failures is when a laptop is dropped accidentally or something is broken off the laptop.

There are a lot of different components inside a laptop and if one of these fails due to accidental damage then it is quite possible the laptop will become unusable.

The main components in a laptop are;

The hard drive – this provides the storage area on your system where the operating system (usually Microsoft windows) is stored.  As well as storing your data.  If this fails your laptop will not start-up properly and you can lose data.

The motherboard – this is the logic board that the main components connect to in a laptop.  If this fails inside a laptop it can be quite a costly repair as laptop motherboard are hard to source and great knowledge is required to complete a repair as opposed to a replacement swap out of the board.

The laptop screen: we often see screens failing usually due to accidental damage however sometimes the backlights fail.  These are easily swapped out for new screen.  We do offer a laptop screen repair service.  Which is a good deal compared to our competitors like PC World.

Laptop Charger: these also can fail.  A new charger can be sourced for around £30 however you can also purchase universal chargers for around £65 which will work with all types of laptops.  We have specialist equipment to test if a laptop charger has gone.  Sometimes you’ll find that a laptop does not power on.  In this case the first thing to check is the laptop charger as it may have failed.  Once we have tested this component we can identify if it is indeed the charger that has failed or a main board failure.

Laptop RAM: if this fails (which it rarely does) then the system will not start up.  Occasionally the RAM can be come loose and all that is required is for the memory modules to be re-seated into position.

If anyone of these components fails inside your laptop the whole system will be unusable.  We offer service and repairs on all the above components.  Our engineers have many years experience in the field of IT support and laptop & computer repair.

A bit of fault finding and we can usually have your system up and running within a few hours depending on the fault that we manage to pin point.  One of the main jobs a laptop repair engineer has is to actually pin point the exact reason why a component has failed or why the laptop has stopped working.  Once this has been found there is a set procedure for all faults.

Viruses are on the increase.  We have seen a lot more computer viruses into our workshop recently.  The infections seem to be targeting users email inboxes.  When the virus takes action it spreads to all contacts in your email inbox and your friends and family can end up with the same virus.  Then the virus latches on to their inbox and carries out the same steps.

There are a number of similarities with repairs we’ve been working on.  The viruses are known as root kits and are really hard to remove from your computer without even with the proper set of tools.

We worked on one laptop last week for 5 hours before the machine was completely cleared.  Luckily we offer a fixed price service so no matter how long it takes to remove a virus off your computer or laptop you have only one fee to pay.

We are now refining our process for virus removal and hope to distinguish quite quickly what type of virus is on your system and how nasty the infection is.

If the virus has taken over your machine complete we are now performing “nuke and paves” this is the term referred to in the laptop and computer repair industry for when the system files/data/music/pictures are backed up and the operating system is complete re-written to the hard drive.  This wipes the system clean taking it back to factory settings and is the only way to 100% guaranteed the virus has been completely removed from your laptop or computer.

Our customers are advised to upgrade their antivirus product.  The most common anti-virus products are also the worst: AVG, Macfee, Norton are three names to avoid at all costs.  If you are running these antivirus products consider upgrading to Kaspersky antivirus.

You can purchase and download Kaspersky anti-virus here.  We recommend the package priced at £29.99 it is well worth the money.  We’ve seen a number of viruses install key loggers onto computer systems that allow hackers to capture everything you are typing.  This allow them to gain access to your online bank/facebook & email accounts.    So if you’ve got information to protec then this really is worth the money.

We’ve been getting quite a phone calls from customers with cracked laptop screens.  Luckily a laptop screen is not an expensive item to replace.  You’ll find we come in at under half the price of PC world for the same repair and will also usually come in under the cost of the excess on your home insurance to.  Replacement screens start at £40 – average is £70 plus our replacement costs for fitting and sourcing the correct screen for your laptop.  So give us a call here at Laptop Repair Cardiff for a quote today, or alternately email us.

One of the main laptop repair service problems is when the power jack stops working on a notebook computer. Sometimes they are called the Power connection, power connection or power socket. All of these names refer to the principle power port on a netbook.
The laptop DC jack port might stop working for a number of reasons. Often we get potential customers visiting us that state that the notebook power jack seems to have failed when in reality it really is the power charger and absolutely nothing to do with the notebook computer itself.
The electric power jack failure may be due to the following reasons:

Snapped off: the electricity wire might have been boldy ripped from the laptop.

Worn out: with time plugging and removing the electricity cord to the netbook wears down the laptop dc jack connection and the soldier joints may become loose

Dropped the netbook: maybe you have dropped the notebook computer and the power connector has slipped within itself.

These are just one or two of the reasons power jack could have failed. Fortunately nearly all Dc ports are extremely affordable to change, the price of a new jack is only a few pounds based on the model of laptop.

The main cost whenever replacing a Power jack on a notebook computer is the time needed. The entire notebook has to be stripped down and taken apart to access the key motherboard that houses the notebook computer Dc port. This entails typically between sixty minutes to 2 hrs worth of labor. Once the notebook computer has been dissembled it’s a case of de-soldering the old Dc jack and exchanging with a brand new Dc port.

The brand new Dc port is then analyzed ahead of re-constructing the laptop. When all tests are accomplished it’s then a case of putting the netbook back together. This practice is time intensive and as part of the process we often give the interior notebook computer elements a good clean as dust may build up over the years and having a internally clean laptop computer can result in lengthier life expectancy which is an additional value service that we provide.

As mentioned the leading expense whenever it concerns fixing a notebook computer Dc port is the time involved fortunately this specific repair is provided at a fixed price. Presently there are a handful of models of laptop where it could cost a little more to repair the Dc connector but this is due to the accessibility to components. You will discover several models of Sony VAIO laptops and also acer’s fall into this particular group however it a small percentage.

As stated at the start of this post we occassionally get potential customers visiting us when they believe that there jack port is on the blink however after some preliminary testing the laptop charger is at fault. We use top notch multi meter’s to calculate the voltage from the laptop wall charger, if we don’t get a regular current from the battery charger then we replace the wall charger – this usually cures the issue. The additional advantage of screening both the Dc port as well as charger is the fact that exchanging a laptop battery charger is really a much easier and less costly choice.