Our computer courses offered through JCSD Parks & Rec catalog are live. Classes will be held at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Click here for the link and more information: http://www.eastvalecomputer.com/jcsd-computer-classes.html

What does USB stand for? Universal Serial Bus….Now you’ll be a real hit at parties.

And you thought just TALKING to a tech in India was bad enough? Cool, now they full  have access to your PC from India. I’ve know, as well as most techs, that very little WORK done is done by the uber-nerdy, cool looking “American” techs you actually hand it off to. Yes, the article is from 2007, but the same applies I am sure.

For the Video series, what’cha want to see covered on the first one? I want to keep these short, under 5 minutes each with some very short ones about 30 seconds. I was going to cover the top 10 questions and address those in a more detailed fashion. Here are a few things I am planning in no particular order.

good, quickie backup methods
does defragging REALLY work? If so, how often should I do it.
how to measure power consumption
effective virus removal tools
what the hell do firewalls actually DO and do you need them?
how to speed up your computer
Why Norton and McAfee suck
what does RAM do?

stuff like that

If you have any suggestions, add them in the comment section.

If you know me much, you’ll know what I think of hard drives. They suck. They fail frequently and always seem to know when you have not backed up for a while. Here is a tool I use to monitor my drives. I have 4 drives in my system and this tool tells me the Temperature and if any drive is acting up. When I get a rogue drive, I ditch it. Here is the link. Check it out for yourself. http://www.hdsentinel.com/

OK, well maybe not quite. If we did any work for you and you want to hit us up with a testimonial, let’s hear it! You can add your name and link to your testimonial. Here is the link

We sprinkle the testimonials around the site in rotation.

NOW the Facebook advertising is taking off. I made a few tweaks to the strategy and facebook is the #1 source of traffic for eastvalecomputer.com. eastvaleresidents.com is a very close second. Farmville page sends the MOST traffic.

We get lots of questions. One reason is we are trusted, also we usually are in each home about an hour. Most of the time the customers are there with us, taking in what we are doing and asking away. We love it! the more questions we get asked, the more we are in tune what our customers want or are curious about.

Here are the biggies, in order with short answers.

1. Is it better to leave my computer on or shut it down each night?
   There are two conciderations. Money and the computer itself. Here are a few quick things. Power useage is averaging (per my own analysis with this cool tool) about 30 bucks a month leaving on 24/7. Shutting off at night, for round numbers sake will save $15.00 per month. So there is your money part. It’s easier on the components to leave on all the time. Light Bulbs pop when you turn them on for a reason, the surge of power on weak filaments. Plus your internal temp remains the same. It’s really a matter of preference.
2. What brand of PC should I buy? I recommend dell, but Dell, HP and Gateway are my top three.
3. Why is my computer so slow? Mainly startup apps, viruses, programs that never get uninstalled, temp files, etc. Defragging does not help really if you have other issues. You’ll never see the diference. Get it tuned up by us and you’ll be happy :)
4. Do pictures or music slow down my computer? No. there, now tell your husband.
5. How do I keep viruses off? Don’t be so damn click happy. Watch your installs and do not get tricked into buying Antivirus or anything else from pop-ups.
6. Can you come over NOW? Sometimes yes. The benefits of being in the same neighborhood as 80% of our clients. We’re usually 10 minutes away, but we get busy too, but we try.
7. How do I keep my kids off bad sites? Start here. OpenDNS Rocks!!
8. Was that your wife I spoke to? No, our Answering Service. AAHEM, I mean Office :)
9. Do you have a location? No, mobile service. We come to you as it should be.
10. Did you go to school for computers? Nah, self taught. I dod take a DOS class once and didn’t learn a thing. I learn every day, every job, every customer. the best school I say.

We peeled off the blog from Eastvale Computer.com to Tumblr because it is easier to blog, plus, it allows blog posts to go to our Facebook Page too, killing two birds with one stone. It also posts to Twitter, so that’s three birds. Cool!

I can quickly post to either Eastvale Computer Services blog or mikenava.com with just a drop down or even email. I know me. If it’s difficult to do, I will not do it and it’ll fade. Blogging should be light and fun for an individual or business, not a chore.

Besides, Tumblr is cool!