Computer Repair Blog / Compudoc Computer Repair Phoenix AZ

For a few years now, there has been a scam going around where an unsuspecting computer user will get a phone call from someone claiming to work for Microsoft.  We just recently got another phone call from a customer who got one of these phone calls and accidentally gave the scammer on the phone access to their computer remotely.  In most scenarios, the user gets a call from someone claiming to work for Microsoft.  The user is told that their computer is infected or has corruptions causing problems, and that they can see the problems you’re having from their end.   Read the rest of this entry »

 If you’re in the market for a new desktop computer, size of the desktop is something you need to think about before making that next purchase.  Desktop computers, like laptop computers have started to come in smaller sizes or form factors.  The standard desk top or tower is still the traditional size and shape.  Nowadays, we are starting to see more slim and mid tower sizes available.  Most of the smaller desktops are marketed towards business use where size is a premium in a small office space.  If you really are press for size, then a smaller desktop may be right for you.   Read the rest of this entry »

We have heard from many different places that the average laptop lifespan is only one three years.  Part of the problem is that laptop manufacturers are designing laptops not to last as long as they used to because users are replacing their laptops more frequently.  With hardware and software up grades coming faster and faster, many users will buy a new laptop much sooner than they did in the past. There are few things that account for laptop having a much shorter lifespan than a desktop computer does. Read the rest of this entry »

For the past few years, social networking websites have been all the rage. Sites like Facebook and MySpace have helped people find old friends and reconnect. With the popularity of these sites and other social networking sites, scammers and spammers have now taken notice and are starting to use social networking sites as a place to infect users and quickly spread the infection to all of their friends. Over the years we have seen many viruses on computers that got in by a user clicking on an ad or clicking on a link or attachment.  Read the rest of this entry »

Desktop and laptop computer viruses and spyware are becoming more and more prevalent. A large percent of our business in the computer repair field is virus related. Most computer users are infected and the user doesn’t even know it.  About half of the computers that come to us for any repair reason have some form of virus or spyware on them. Your computer could be infected with any number of virus or spyware programs without any notification or pop-ups.

You may be asking yourself, “How do I know if my computer is infected?” or you may think, “I have antivirus software, so my computer must be clean”.  For the first question, Read the rest of this entry »

When you are looking at the hardware of the computer, the two main parts responsible for the speed of your computer are the processor itself, and the amount of RAM. Upgrading a processor many times means upgrading many parts around the processor as well, which can get costly, and sometimes it can end up costing you more than a new computer with better specs would cost. To upgrade RAM, you simply add or replace the RAM you already have. With most computers a RAM upgrade only takes minutes and anyone can do it. There are some laptops where the RAM is not very accessible and in that case you may want to take it in to a computer repair shop. With most laptops the RAM is easily accessible, and on almost all desktop computers the RAM is very easy to get to. Read the rest of this entry »

This is one case where having too much security can be a bad thing. Having more than one antivirus client installed on your laptop or desk top computer at the same time can cause havoc to your system. To make matters worse, many antivirus clients do not uninstall correctly, and leave behind pieces that will either cause your new antivirus software to not install, or cause problems with your computer.

If you are installing antivirus on your computer, or switching to a new antivirus client, you will first want to make sure that no antivirus is still installed on the computer. You will want to check your programs and features list and Windows 7 and Vista, or the add and remove programs list with Windows XP, Read the rest of this entry »

Rogue antivirus and hard drive viruses have been going around for over a year now.  A few months back, the feds busted some rings overseas who were creating these viruses.  That seemed to cause a slowdown in the amount of rogue software infections that we were seeing in the shop.  About a month ago, or early December, the phones started ringing, and haven’t stopped!  There are several rogues going around, such as system fix, and other fake antivirus and hard drive programs.  The fake antivirus softwares will pop up a fake scanner and then ask for money to activate the software and remove the virus.  The fake hard drive virus will actually hide your files and clear out your start menu to make you think you have a hard drive failure, then it will ask for money to activate the software and “repair” your files.  Both cases are viruses and you should call us for removal, as improper removal methods will make the virus harder to repair and can even delete files that were hidden by the virus! Read the rest of this entry »

system fix rogue fake antivirus hard drive software

For over a year or so the most prevalent viruses going around are rogue security applications.  These viruses will act like a virus scanner or a hard drive recovery program.  They do this to look legit.  The only question is, did you download it?  In most cases the answer is no, if you did download it, shame on you….lol.  Usually the user is infected by going to a website that has the virus.  Other ways of infection are like most viruses, clicking on links, ads, or email links and attachments.    In most cases, the user does nothing to initiate the download.  Simply going to the infected site will do.  The virus takes advantage of flaws in your internet browser, adobe flash, adobe reader, and Java.  This is why its so important to update adobe and java software as well as doing Windows updates. Read the rest of this entry »

Scratched, dinged, marked, dropped, cracked, we can fix it.  Vertical lines, horizontal lines, dim screen, cracks and lines, we can fix it.  Compudoc Computer repair in Phoenix AZ and Glendale AZ is performing laptop LCD screen replacement.  Our labor charge is $75 and new screens typically run around $99.  We do have to order the screens so the service is around 5- 7 business days depending on shipping used. Read the rest of this entry »