Something is broken! The laptop is whirring. The computer won’t power up. In either case, you’re staring at a blank, blue screen. Yet you can’t live without your computer. You need to find a computer repair business. But what should you look for? This article will help you make your choice.

If a computer or laptop doesn’t do what we want it to do, we move into panic mode. You may want to run out and buy a new one. That’s going to be expensive and may be unnecessary, especially right now, as a global computer chip supply shortfall is ratcheting up prices and extending delivery timelines.

The next option? Find a repair shop to take a look at your home computer. Here’s what to look for.

#1 Good reviews and high ratings

Look up the business online and see what kind of customer feedback it gets. Don’t fall for a single five-star review, though – that could be the owner’s cousin. Look at the number of stars, as well as the number of reviews used to reach that ranking.

It’s also worthwhile reading some of the reviews. You’ll see what other customers are saying about problems resolved (or not) at that repair shop. Customer testimonials can help you sort out which shop is best suited to solving your current problem.

#2 Comparable price estimates

Ask for an estimate before you commit to working with a particular repair shop. You may not get a full picture. The repair team will typically charge you a diagnostic fee first to gauge the problem. Then, they’ll be better able to estimate the overall cost. They should be able to explain any large price jumps from their original estimate.

This is another reason to check out the reviews. You might see several people complaining about the cheaper initial estimate luring them in. Then, they get hit with a whopping bill after the fact.

#3 Go with relevant experience

You may not know the difference between a Dell and an Apple, but your repair person should. Prefer someone with experience addressing problems with your particular brand. This can save time and money. If the repair person is more familiar with that type of device, they may troubleshoot more efficiently.

#4 Location matters

If you go with a big-box store, you risk someone who doesn’t know much about computers shipping your device to a central repair hub. That means it can take longer. Your device could also be at further risk of damage while en route. Plus, you won’t get an accurate estimate for repair costs upfront.

If you select a local computer repair shop, you can get to know the individual working on your computer, and you know the device will be worked on in that store. Plus, if you ever have future issues, you can return to working directly with that same individual again.

Professional Help MattersSure, you might have a family member or friend who thinks they are a tech whiz, but that doesn’t mean you want to entrust your computer to them. Instead, work with a seasoned IT pro who can reliably address computer or laptop issues.
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A computer repair professional will be customer-oriented. That means they’ll know how to meet your needs courteously. They’ll keep you informed and be upfront about pricing. After all, their business reputation rests upon your satisfaction. Can your cousin Edgar or friend Sal say the same thing? Contact us today at (888) 234-WDIT(9348).

If you’re in the market for a new computer or laptop, you’ve likely noticed a few things. Technology is more expensive, and there are long waits to get the devices you want. This article will explain the current computer and laptop supply-chain issues. Then, we’ll offer reasons to consider refurbished devices to meet your needs.

There are supply-chain issues for everything from pool floats to personal computers.  The pandemic placed added pressure on shippers and also increased demand for electronics, as people spent more time at home. At the same time, there is a shortage of key components.
Every computer or laptop (and so much more electronics) needs a chip. These computer chips are in great demand, but there’s a supply shortfall. The American Department of Commerce described the shortage as “a major supply and demand mismatch.” In the US, the median demand for chips was as much as 17% higher in 2021 than in 2019.

It doesn’t help any that extreme weather shut down a major computer chip plant in Texas. Meanwhile, a Japan-based manufacturer experienced a fire. It's also difficult to get new chip plants up and running. The factories are expensive and workers need to be highly trained.

Yet you can’t get a PC or a laptop without a computer chip, and the problem is unlikely to be resolved this year. Some people predict it could take years for supply and demand to rebalance, which could mean you’re going to be paying a lot more for your next, new device and be waiting a long time for it. On the other hand, you might see this as an opportunity to reconsider buying a refurbished device.
Reasons to buy refurbishedA refurbished PC or laptop is a pre-owned device with data wiped and drives restored; it's been reset to factory settings. The PC or laptop is evaluated, cleaned, and repaired before resale. In some cases, the device is upgraded, too.

Buying a refurbished computer or laptop can be the smart way to go. Here’s why.

#1 Access to quality

As you are buying a pre-owned computer, you’ll be able to pay less for better technology. A common complaint about new computers? They are outdated before you even get them out of the box at home. By going with a refurbished unit, you can take advantage of the quick turnover in models. You can get a top machine without paying the “new” price. By buying refurbished, you could afford more memory and better screen quality or processor speed.

#2 As good as new

In most cases, big corporations cycle out their computers every few years, and you now get to buy a good-as-new computer or laptop and make big savings. Refurbished computers are sold when they have been tested and cleaned up. So, you may not get that new computer smell (is there such a thing?), but you’ll get a fresh experience with a refurbished unit.

#3 You’re helping the environment

Buying a refurbished device is the green way to go. Repair is an alternative to computers and laptops languishing as waste. The computer is fixed up and recycled for another user, either by the original brand manufacturer or another computer outfit. Dell, HP, and Apple have high standards before a computer or laptop is resold as refurbished.

# 4 You can protect your refurbished purchase

If you’re worried about taking a risk on a refurbished computer or laptop, buy a warranty from the seller. You can typically buy a full one-year warranty. This protects your purchase should any issue occur in that timeframe.

Need help choosing the right computer or laptop for your home? Our experts can help you find the best device for your specifications. We can consult on your new or refurbished purchase. 

Contact us today at (888) 234-WDIT(9348).

Ready to be the next TikTok breakout? Or perhaps you want a video of your cockatoo “singing" “Amazing Grace” to go viral. Or you may make company promotional videos while working from home. There are many reasons you might be looking for the right home computer to do video editing. This article will help.

Yes, you can make edits on a phone or tablet, but if you want to do your videos justice, invest in the tools to meet the high demands of video editing. Consider processing power, memory, storage space, and graphic cards.

Know your CPU

Whatever your goal with your video editing, you can count on needing a lot of processing power to do the job well. Essentially, you want to get the best computer processing unit (CPU) you can afford.

Some video editing software makes use of multiple cores. You might think of this as one person with many arms to complete tasks. Meanwhile, single-core video software has one arm. If you’ve only got that one arm, it’s best to make it as strong as possible, which requires the highest processing speed you can get.

Adding titles, visual effects, and sound effects require more of your processor. It needs to compile, encode, and compress all your efforts into the final video cut. So, CPU performance matters.

Make memories with RAM

You may be wanting to edit only home videos to share with friends and family. Whether it's that or you’re creating commercial quality videos, consider memory (RAM).

Think of RAM as the amount of desk space or elbow room you have to do your tasks. Whether you have one or many arms, you’ll need more room to complete a bigger project.

At a minimum, you should be starting with 16GB if you plan to do any video editing. If you are going to be working with long videos or very large files, you should consider 32GB or even 64GB.

Storage savvy

Storage is easily overlooked but very important to video editing.
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A solid-state drive (SSD) is essential for video editing. Old “spinner” drives work a bit like a record player. The “needle” needs to physically move to the location where the file is on the platter, which slows things down a lot. SSDs are instantaneous, using flash memory to store data. This makes your work go a lot faster.

The downside? SSDs don’t have as much storage space as old spinners. Generally, we recommend an SSD for working on the video files, and then moving the file to an old, large storage spinner for storage.

Give a graphics card a look

A graphics card is not required but can be useful when editing video. If you’re using beginner- or intermediate-level editing software, you may not need a dedicated graphics card. However, there is a performance gain when you have a good graphics card for video editing. The free DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro both do well with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards.

Build with an expert
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The best way to get the right personal computer to meet your particular video editing needs is to work with a PC builder to customize a computer to your specific needs. You can talk about the types of videos you’re editing and the software you use. Our team can optimize a system to suit you and your budget. Call us at (888) 234-WDIT(9348) today.

When you’ve upgraded to a new computer, the old one is a bit of an albatross. You paid good money for that desktop or laptop, and you want to continue to see return on investment. Plus, disposing of that technology feels wasteful. It’s not as if a computer is going to compost itself! To help, we’ve provided seven solid ideas for how to repurpose your old, extra computers.

#1 Turn it into a Kids’ PC

Make the computer available exclusively to your young ones. You can set the device up with parental controls software to:

• limit the sites they can access;
• control when and for how long they can use the computer;
• restrict them from downloading without your approval;
• monitor their activity.

You can also isolate the device from the family’s home network to further restrict their access and cut the risk of malware infection.

#2 Make a PC for Seniors

Or, accommodate those at the other end of the seven stages of man. Turn the computer into one geared for older family members. Optimize screen display color contrast for those with poor vision. Make the text size bigger. Set up the use of voice commands. You might even use puffy paint on the keyboard to make common keys easier to find.

#3 Convert to Storage

Storing documents, videos, photos, and music on your computer takes up a lot of room. So, turn that extra computer into a media storage device to keep your new computer in top shape. Think of it as an external storage device with much more capacity than a thumb drive.

Backing up your documents and media to the cloud is always an option. Yet, you may have more that you want to store than you want to pay the fee for storing.

#4 Share a Printer on the Network

If you have a printer that connects via a USB cable, you can generally print from that computer only. You can turn your old computer into a print server that shares the printer over the network. This way, any computer on the same network can make use of the printer.

#5 Donate

If the computer is in decent condition, donate it to a school, library, charity or other non-profit. Of course, before doing so, you’ll want to clean it up:

• Back up and then delete all your files.
• Consider “zero filling” your hard drive so data cannot be recovered.
• Reinstall the operating system so it is usable by the recipient.

#6 Sell Parts
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You could continue to see value from that extra computer by parting it out. This is a good idea especially when the computer is no longer working and can’t be held onto as a backup (just in case). In some cases, parts sell for more than complete computers.

When you’re looking for that new computer or coming up with ways to repurpose your old one, our IT experts can help. Contact us today at (888) 234-WDIT(9348)!

​Most technology you buy in stores comes with a warranty of some sort. It might be included or an add-on. Still, it is unlikely to last the lifetime of the device or software, and it seems inevitable that your desktop will die immediately after the warranty runs out. Don’t worry, you still have options.

Murphy’s Law of warranty says that you will have no problems with your computer or printer while it’s covered. Then, as if waiting for the most inconvenient time to go bust, the technology fails just after your warranty ends.

After the frustration of looking up that warranty plan to see the expiration date a few weeks ago, your first response might be to take that device back to the store. You’ve noticed they have a service desk, and that’s where you made the purchase. But the technicians on-site are likely to send your laptop to the manufacturer repair. That could be far away, which negates the convenience of taking it down to your local store. You could wait weeks for your item to get to the repair center. Then, it stills needs attention and returning to your store.

Also know that many manufacturers charge a premium for outside-of-warranty repairs. Now that you’re one or two years into a relationship with the products, they hope you’ll decide upgrading is easier. They actually have a planned lifecycle for computer hardware and plan the warranty end accordingly.

Of course, if you are within days of your warranty's end, ask if the manufacturer will continue to cover the technology. Sometimes it actually will. The manufacturer may also use this opportunity to sell you an extended warranty.

Some help with manufacturer warranty
Our first piece of advice? Be proactive about technology issues. Don’t put off getting something looked at. You may discover you could have saved money by having it checked out under warranty.

Check your eligibility by visiting the manufacturer’s website and typing in the product serial number to check the warranty. Quickly find the page by searching the manufacturer’s name and “check warranty status.”

It’s a good idea to keep track of when your warranty is set to expire. That way, you’ll be more likely to request service in a timely manner. Don’t believe us? Have you ever planned to take an item back to the store only to leave it until the return window has closed?

Small business computer repair shops specialize in repairing out-of-warranty devices. They can run diagnostic tests to determine the problem. Then, they'll help you decide whether it’s worth the cost of repairs. If so, they can fix it at a competitive rate.

Plus, you get personalized service. There’s also the peace of mind that comes from knowing where your computer is at all times. You're not worrying about it shipping around the country to a manufacturer’s repair shop. The timeline reduces, too, as the IT experts are on-site at a convenient computer repair outfit.
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We can help keep your computers and other technological devices up and running. Contact us today at (888) 234-WDIT(9348)!

The pandemic has changed the world. More people have been pushed online in new ways, and for senior citizens this can be particularly challenging. Even registering for a COVID-19 vaccination requires going online in many countries. Plus, social gatherings and other appointments have gone virtual. Don't add to a seniors' social distance. Here's how we can help seniors with their technology needs.

Think of all that has moved online in 2021:

• telehealth
• scheduling services
• service appointments
• church, club, association, and neighborhood meetings
• shopping
• selecting and reserving library books

It’s not that these things weren’t using technology before, but there were other options. Now, seniors may need to get online to take part in weddings, funerals, or baby showers. Thus, it’s essential that they have the right tools and know-how to log in and connect virtually.

Another problem? The senior is stuck at home and can’t go out to get computer help the way they might have done before. Meanwhile, family members may not yet be able to visit to help out.

How We Help Seniors with Technology

Socially distancing can have an especially negative impact on senior citizens, and factoring in a technology barrier doesn’t help. A managed service provider can help seniors tackle tech challenges. With their coaching, the senior can connect confidently and securely.

To stay in touch with family today, the senior has many online channels available. They can get on Facebook, use FaceTime on a mobile phone, start a video call on their desktop, or send an email. They also might play online games with family members, or join a watch party on a streaming service such as Amazon, Hulu, or Netflix. The list goes on and on.

All this requires technology in the home. Deciding on what kind of computer to get or upgrade to can be daunting, not to mention the challenge of setting it all up and connecting it to other devices in the home … or installing a router … or making sure the software is up to date and patched to lower the risk of malware or hacker attack.

Then, once the technology is installed, the learning curve doesn’t flatten out entirely.

In our digital environment, there are so many more devices to connect to one another. Maybe the printer is wireless and connects to the phone, or the router provided by the cable service isn’t giving a good enough signal throughout the house. A residential IT expert can help with that, too.

Our IT team can also suggest software solutions to make life easier for seniors online. We can recommend ways to integrate all the technology to simplify the environment. We know about changing default passwords for cybersecurity, and we can also set up password wallets. This can help forgetful seniors who might otherwise repeat access credentials across accounts.

Connect with Our Residential Support Team

You can rest assured that you or the seniors in your life have the IT help needed to stay connected. We’re able to explain, coach, and troubleshoot at any time. As we’ll get to know the technology, we can often help faster, too, plus we can do a lot of our work remotely if that makes the senior feel safer.

Some seniors fear technology. We get it. We can address concerns about going online. We will reassure with the right precautions and by setting up a secure system. Our experienced techs are always happy to help. Contact us at (888) 234-WDIT(9348)!

A laptop can hold your life. If you’re working from home, it’s essential to your income. For students, it’s where you keep all your notes and essays. Plus, there are the personal photos and videos. And you sometimes use it to stream your TV shows, or to video chat with friends and family. You may even make music, create art, or be writing the next bestselling novel on your laptop. So, you want to keep it in great shape. Here are five tips to protect your laptop.

#1 Don’t drop it

Or throw it, or stand on it, or expect it to withstand any serious impact. OK, that’s pretty obvious. You also don’t want to use your laptop in the bathtub or at the pool. Even a simple water spill on a laptop can damage the circuitry. If you do get your laptop wet, immediately turn it off and unplug everything attached to it.

#2 Open carefully

Laptops are getting thinner in every iteration. Some now even have foldable screens. The thinner and more flexible screen may look sleek and cool, but it’s also less rigid, which makes it more prone to damage. Especially on lower-cost laptops, the screen can flex if you open the computer up from just one side.

Yet, many of us hold a laptop in one hand and open the lid with the other. This can cause the screen to twist. Use both hands to open the laptop. Or get into the habit of opening your laptop from the center to avoid flex.

#3 Don’t bedazzle your keyboard or screen

Alright, maybe you weren’t planning on putting faux rhinestones on the screen or keyboard. Still, reconsider any decorations you have thought of adding. Even a keyboard protector (to prevent dust or spills getting into the circuitry) or camera privacy sticker could damage some of the new super-thin laptops. It’s just that there is now so little clearance between the keyboard and the screen.

If you really must have your stickers, put them on the protective sleeve that you get for your laptop.

#4 Disconnect carefully

Your laptop needs a consistent power source. If you damage the power cord connection, you’re done. So, make sure you pull the power cord out straight. Yanking it out sideways could damage the port.

Also be aware of where your power cord is connecting to the wall outlet. If you leave the cord trailing along the floor, someone could trip over it, or it could get caught on a rolling chair. This could not only damage the charging port but even pull the entire laptop onto the floor. That brings us back to #1, don’t drop the laptop!

#5 Keep it cool

No, you don’t have to store it into a refrigerator (please don’t!), but heat isn’t good for your laptop. You’ll want to keep your computer away from external sources of heat.

Again, as the laptops get thinner, they are more vulnerable to internal overheating. Ensure that the laptop’s intake ports are unblocked so that air can flow through and cool the circuitry. You might also blow dust out of the vents using canned air.

Also, avoid placing your laptop on very soft surfaces. A soft, uneven surface is more likely to block the internal fans. This leaves your device unable to regulate its temperature. You could even buy a laptop cooling stand, which provides extra fans to improve air circulation.

Average laptop lifespan will vary between two to five years. Keep your laptop on the longer side of that by taking these tips to heart.
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If something does happen to your laptop, give us a call at (888) 234-WDIT(9348). Our IT experts are here to help you find the best laptop for you, upgrade and secure your laptop, or fix your laptop when you need it.

Video gaming is an entertainment for all ages. The main demographic is 18–34 years, but those 34–54 are another big segment – even larger than the under-18 group – although the youngest group may spend the most hours gaming, especially during a pandemic. Regardless, PC gamers of any age want the most powerful, fastest computer they can get.

It’s difficult to beat the Boss Level of that favorite game if your computer is lagging. The horror! If you’re serious about gaming, consider the ideas in this article to achieve your next personal best.

The gaming industry is moving to Triple-A titles. Think Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. These AAA video games are the equivalent of blockbuster movies. They take months to years for massive teams of people to develop, everything about such games is ambitious (even the price!). The graphics and animation are more immersive, the storylines offer hours of content and encourage open exploration, and the games have a grander scale and improved sound design, too.

All that requires more from your computer. Depending on the age of your computer, you may not need to replace it to power the latest, greatest games. Or you could upgrade to a more powerful video card. Adding more random access memory (RAM) might also take a computer up to the Triple-A level.

Troubleshooting the Home-Gaming PC

Whether you're trying the Triple A game or not, you may run into other problems. A screen locks up, a system crashes, or you see weird graphics or wonky textures in a game. You shoot an opponent with a direct hit, and he takes the win. Any of these problems can ruin your gaming experience.

Various issues cause these headaches for home gamers. Regrettably, they can be difficult to diagnose. The problems might be tied to:

• overheating – modify your power settings, and make sure the computer is getting enough air flow;
• driver issues – games crashing could mean the latest video drivers aren't installed;
• file corruption – reinstalling the game could help;
• an unstable internet connection – consider moving to a wired Ethernet connection.

Running too many programs on your PC can also cause games to run less smoothly. Close out other programs. Free up disk space if you can. Also, putting the game’s graphics on a lower setting can make them less resource-intensive.

Build Your Own Gaming PC

If you decide it’s time to get a new gaming PC, a popular option now is to custom-build your own. Our experts can do that for you! When you customize your own gaming PC, you get a computer that matches exactly what you’re trying to do.

Don’t settle for a sale computer using lower-quality parts and offering limited upgradability. Avoid buying a brand-name computer pre-loaded with bloatware. Instead, our technician can help you pick the processing and other parts to personalize your system, even down to the color of the fans or console lights.
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Our IT experts can bring your PC up to speed, get you back in the game at full power, and build you the perfect customized PC. Contact us today at (888) 234-WDIT(9348)!