Saturday, February 4, 2012


Special of the week!

Tune-up Special! Since you're here, why not get a tune up for your computer done today! $59.99 includes a 22 point checklist (info@callthatgirl.biz). Schedule some time today, we can do these remotely too

How to avoid mistakes when cleaning your own computer up

Posted by callthatgirl on March 1, 2011

Sometimes our clients call in and they will say, “When I was trying to clean up my computer, I think I may have accidentally deleted something because…”

1.) My computer doesn’t work (you deleted something important that keeps your computer running smoothly)
2.) I can’t run XYZ program (you may have deleted some of the program files)
3.) The screen is now much larger, and I can’t access my desktop (you possibly deleted some of the graphics software)
4.) My iTunes collection is gone (your collection was associated with another profile and you may have deleted it by accident)
5.) My computer is running much slower than usual! (new software you installed may have had spyware built right inside)

I could go on and on with possible scenario’s of things that might go wrong, but these are just a few examples of what will most likely happen if you delete the wrong system files, folders, programs, and/or profiles.

The basic computer user should probably avoid doing anything more than a “disk clean” or “defrag” on the computer. If you don’t know what these 2 things are, you shouldn’t probably do any cleaning at all. Most of our clients that say “I did the disk clean and defrag and it’s still slow”…know just enough to be dangerous. These are the types of clients that get a bit curious and will also download programs off the internet to help speed up their computer. (which can have spyware built in) These are also the types of people that may on occasion delete system files, profiles, programs, etc. Are you this type person? If so, read on! If you are not that person, you are our type of client!

Moving along…
If you are the “Google Tech” as I call it and you want to try fixing things yourself, before you start any investigation of your computer for what may be slowing it down, you should always do a full back up of your computer. Not sure how to do this? Call us, we can help with that too.

Then start with the easy stuff, check your hard drive’s available space, check for possible spyware, check your internet speed, clean up your browser (do a full reset, not just cookies and temp files), check memory, and if you’re having a problem with Firefox, just uninstall it and remove that program (easiest fix for Firefox issues). If you want to learn our entire 22 pt checklist, we do offer special training for any client that wants more of a “one on one” session, and we schedule these by appointment for a small hourly rate. This way you can learn it once, and then you can do it yourself properly the next time around! Heck, you can even fix your kids computers then too:)

Keep in mind, we get clients who are technical engineers who will swear up and down that they did everything to clean up their systems, but cannot figure out why it’s still slow. Then they hire us and find that one glitch that was causing problems, outside of normal cleanings. Please also be aware that we do a 22 pt checklist for cleaning, not just to run a program or two, as there are many ways your computer can slow you down outside of a “defrag and/or disk clean”.

To book a computer cleaning or schedule an appointment with us, fill out the form below.

 

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Defragging and what it really means

Posted by callthatgirl on January 6, 2010

Many of my clients will call and say “I defragged, but it isn’t faster”…

Defragmenting a computer or “defragging” will not speed up your computer. I think it’s an old wives tale that comes from years ago when it probably did help the computer. But in these days, a computer running slow can be from many other issues.

What does “defrag” mean?

Simply put…
It means to clean up the fragmented parts of the hard drive (fragment means scattered bits that need to be put back into place that have been moved caused by uninstallation of programs or just Windows installation issues).

If you defrag, your computer will run more efficiently, but not necessarily faster.

*For a faster machine, you can have a computer cleaning done by Call That Girl. Charges run about an hour for this service.

*You may also need to add more memory. Especially if you are running alot of programs at once.

*As well…your hard drive may be getting close to full. With music and game downloading so popular now, it’s not hard to get your hard drive to max capacity.

Buying an external hard drive for the music is a great idea! (and you can back up your data there too!)

For a consultation about your hard drive, computer cleaning or anything else in regards to defragging, please contact me at info@callthatgirl.biz.

Thanks for Bloggin with That Girl!