Time to Call The Geek Squad? - Comments Page 3

I bought Geek Squad protection with my new computer a year ago. (2016). I used their service enough to make it worth the money. Anytime things started to run sluggish I called for a tune up. Well worth the money. I renewed it for another year.

I agree with trying local computer repair shops if you have one. We have a great one in a nearby town. They only charge $35 to diagnose and if you have them fix the problem, the $35 goes toward the cost. Prices are reasonable and they are honest. They don't try to make extra money by telling you that you need things that aren't necessary.

Carmen - If your laptop is not charging, it could be a defective power adapter. They DO fail. Try to find someone who has a similar laptop and borrow their charger. If that is what's wrong, lots of eBay sellers offer aftermarket adapters for less than $20 shipped.

I want to put in a word for the ZT brand of computers, which gives a lifetime guarantee of free 24/7 support. It's unmashed my potatoes several times a year by talking me through a repair. Once when that didn't work, the tech in India put me in touch with a higher level, in New Jersey, and whatever got screwed up was reversed.

Never heard of ZT? Neither did I until after I came across a deal at Walmart.com that offered the computer of my dreams -- 32G RAM, 2TB drive, Intel i7 chip -- for about half of what I'd pay elsewhere. Along with the computer came information about ZT, which I gathered sold mainly to companies.

A friend uses Supportrix which has fixed prices based on how many months of service you want from them. I have used them and they helped with my needs at the time. Their contact number is 1-877-787-8749. I believe they are based in India. I now use a local San Diego service run by Mark Stevenson, Point Loma Computer Consultants. The web site is http://www.myplcc.com. He will remotely take over my computer and communicate with me by phone. He charges by the hour/half hour.

my solution was to replace my Acer laptop with a chromebook. In the last five years or so I have never had a failure.

It helps to have access to a second PC, so you can so you can do online research while working on the non-working PC. Type a BRIEF description of your issue into a search engine. Do some reading. Try some of the suggestions.

If the ill PC boots, then you can run a variety of A/V and anti-malware programs. Malwarebytes is good, and so is Superantispyware. There are several good FREE A/V programs, including Avast, AVG, Avira, and Panda; are a few reliable names. You can even use Windows Defender, but it has a weak reputation in the online world. The automatic update usually does not work on FREE programs, so it's on YOU to update at least once every week.

If your PC is making odd noises, look for simple things first . . . maybe a stuck or broken fan? Maybe a failing hard drive?

I volunteer at the local Seniors Center; and as an oldster, I find it alarming how gullible some people can be. A stranger calls and tells you your PC is infected, and if you give him some information he will fix everything. Nope. Nope. Nope.

I learn much from reading these Comment Posts.

I have had PCs since 1991, did most of my own repairs & fixes, of hardware & software.
But sometimes I am stymied with a problem I cannot correct. I use them for graphics.

I now use a powerful Laptop (w/a disk drive & ports) & a large external monitor & wireless mouse & keyboard. An external disk drive & hard drive helps much. And two scanners & two printers. All wireless.

Laptops (LT) have prevented some of my fixing abilities. Don't try to fix inside, except adding RAM. They are labor intensive, so be nice to them.

So I recommend:

1. I have a Heat & Fan sensor on my desktop (PC Health Monitor). Tells me if LT is overheating. I blow out the dust thru the vents, sometimes I take the back off. Overheating is totally destructive.

2. I use local repair shops that I have learned to trust, I bring the LT in for a diagnoses. They can also do online repairs. If a new shop says to leave it, I walk. Do not leave it, do not ship it. Every PC is repairable in a shop or home or online. Or if cheap, toss.

3. System Restore! Great. but first try rebooting.

4. Do not click inside a open email (or anywhere) link. Open a email to read is usually OK.

5. I use PC Pitstop for a diagnose scan, for probably nearly 20-years or so. Tells me of problems, but they do not fix them.

6. Stay away from p**n or Pharmacy sites.

7. I have purchased additional extended warrentees for my LTs & printer/scanners, they have saved me more money than they have cost me.

8. Buy using a good credit card. The perks include extended warrentees & protections & if something is wrong with the product they usually get my money back & resolve the issue in my favor. Vendors usually don't fight the cards.

9. Have a back-up (older but still good) PC loaded with your essentials & if needed, your back-up drives will reload your items. If my main PC is down, I have the other. At this moment I have in reserve, ready to fire up, an old Desktop, an old LT, & a new cheap small LT that I use on trips along with my ext drives & thumb drives.

10. Read Bob Rankin's news letters to keep up to date.

11. Most of my products that I have owned are from Office Depot/Max. All were bargains. Like a $1600 LT for $600, last on the shelf. Came with full warrentee.

12. I only shop from brick & mortar stores, never on-line. Except for small hard-to-get items.
If you like waiting for a new PC, unpacking then, packing it up, lugging it to a shipper, waiting for the return, resending, etc, then buy on-line.

13. I use Norton 360 Virus Program, cost more but not giving Putin my money or Info.
My rants for today.

Bought a new HP laptop from Best Buy in CT. On va ation in TX, laptop started to act up. Since I had a one year warentee I went to the local bestbuy. they could not find my name as a buyer. Took my unit and called me the next day to pick it up. Charged me around $150.00. Went to pay by credit card. Didn't work so I gave him another card. Still wouldn'r work. Used my fiends card, a local bank one, and it went thru. When I got back to the house, I didn't like the fact that my two cards didn't go thru. Called both cards and found out that both cards were charged. Went back to store and complained. Manager said she would look into it. To this day I have heard nothing from Bestbuy or the Geeks. I paid my friend in cash and called my cards to stop payment. NEVER will I ever call the geeks again. A nice way to treat
vacationers

For those with Macintosh computers, Apple has a chat feature that has helped me several times. I log in on an iPad and they tell me what to do on my iMac to resolve the issue.