When your computer breaks, the best thing you can do is take it to an expert for a professional computer repair. However there are repair tasks you can perform yourself if you have all your files safely backed up. It is important to stress though, that if you don’t already have your data backed up or you have already lost important documents stored on your hard drive, you should not attempt to do anything about it yourself. In these cases, contact an expert who can either carry out a computer repair without risking your data or perform data recovery if required.
New Jersey data recovery specialists see more than their fair share of customers who have tried to retrieve lost data with a home repair. The usual result is that the DIY repair doesn’t work or worse, that the drive gets damaged making professional data recovery the only option.
Here’s a quick guide to 7 computer repair tasks that you can do yourself if you have your data backed up or if data loss isn’t an issue.
Get Rid of Malware and Viruses
Perhaps your antivirus software has displayed a warning message on your screen, telling you a virus has been detected. Maybe your computer is displaying virus symptoms such as running very slowly. In these cases you can download free or paid software from the internet and try to remove the virus yourself. The problem may be malware rather than a virus and again, this kind of nuisance can be removed by the right software. In the worst cases, you may have to reinstall your computer operating system, but this is still something you can do yourself, particularly if you don’t risk losing data that’s not backed up.
Reinstall Windows Operating System
If you’ve tried to removing a virus without success, or if your computer has just become very slow because of too many programs running on startup, the best way to deal with the problem is with a Windows reinstall. You can do this yourself if you have your Windows installation CDs or a factory restore partition if you have one on your computer. Make sure all your hard drive data has been backed up elsewhere though. A windows reinstallation does not allow your data to be retained. You’d be surprised how many people fail to realize this. NJ data recovery service providers often get visits from users who have performed a Windows reinstallation, only to find that while Windows is running beautifully, all their documents have disappeared.
Remove Unnecessary Software
Many new computers come loaded up with software, much of it useless. Commonly known as “bloatware” these applications just slow your computer down and take up precious hard drive space. To find and remove these bloatware items, just go to the “Uninstall” utility in your Windows Control Panel. There you will find a list of all your installed programs. Check through the list and uninstall any programs that you don’t use or that were packaged with your new computer. Obviously if you do make use of any application, you shouldn’t uninstall it.
Build Your Own Desktop PC
Although this isn’t technically a computer repair, if you are thinking about buying a new desktop PC for improved performance, it’s surprisingly easy to build one yourself instead. Desktop computer components can all be purchased online and they really aren’t difficult to install into a computer casing. There are a number of benefits to building your own desktop PC.
1) A home build is cheaper than buying a new computer.
2) You can tailor your home built computer exactly to suit your own needs.
3) You can obtain high quality components. When you buy a computer it’s hard to know if all the components are of a good quality.
4) You learn a lot about computers through a home build project.
Install a Bigger Hard Drive
If you are constantly struggling to find enough disk space for all your movies and music, it’s very simple to install a new hard drive. You can purchase one of a size that will be able to hold all your files with room to spare.
Upgrade Your Computer Memory (RAM)
As time goes by, computer programs get bigger and more complex and require more RAM to run. If your computer is struggling to run some of your newer programs, it’s probably time to upgrade the RAM. Another reason to do this is if your computer starts displaying the blue screen of death. When the screen turns blue and your computer shuts down, the cause often turns out to be a bad memory module. Fortunately installing new RAM is an easy computer repair task. The memory modules just snap into place on your computer motherboard. The most important thing is to take precautions against any build-up of static electricity while putting the RAM in place.
Defragment Your Hard Drive
A fragmented hard drive is not damaged. It just needs a tidy-up. As your computer writes files to your disk drive, they tend to get scattered all over the space on your drive. So when you are opening a file, it can take longer than necessary, because all the pieces of the file have to be found and put back together. Defragmentation is like a refiling process. To find your defragmentation tool, just click on your Windows Start Button and type “disk defragmenter in the search box. The tool is very easy to use and will prompt you for each step. Don’t be surprised if the defragmentation takes a while though. You can still use your computer for other tasks while the utility is running.
Leave Hard Drive Problems to the Pros
Unless you really don’t care about the files stored on your computer hard drive, don’t attempt any repairs if your drive starts to make clicking noises. The drive could well be getting ready to fail. The best thing to do is take the computer or even just the drive to a New Jersey data recovery service. This will ensure your drive is repaired without data loss. If the drive can’t be repaired, the NJ data recovery service will at least be able to get your files off the drive. Dave’s Computers is a well-known, reputable computer repair and data recovery service provider. You can call them up any time on 908-428-9558.
by David Molnar
