Fix My Computer

PC Health Checks in Preston

Many of our customers ask the question, "so what is a computer health check?" or, "What exactly is computer maintenance?"

As always, we try to answer simply and plainly. First and foremost it's essential that computer users think of their machine, be it a PC or Laptop, as an appliance. Like all appliances they need servicing to ensure they continue to function safely and efficiently, ideally twice a year as you would with a car - the "full annual service" and the "interim service." As with cars, servicing and correctly maintaining your PC ensures it continues to perform well and is "stable" - i.e. not crashing [pardon the car reference pun, not intentional], not over heating and just generally doing what it's meant to do without freezing for no apparent reason. Usually the typical PC will develop hundreds of little faults from general day to day use, installing and uninstalling programs and updates, damage from viruses, knocks, bangs and pennies being posted in the conveniently place slots of the computer casing. The last is one of the most common causes of hardware failures and in extreme cases electrical fires. Even dust build up in the casing causes problems due to the heat not being able to dissipate properly, the list is endless and we haven't even touched on the other, more malicious types of damage caused by viruses, spyware and other nasties...

So read on to discover what we off in your PC health checks...

PC Health Checks - Interim Service

Like with any interim, a series of essential checks are performed - we tend only to recommend this option if you haven't installed new hardware into the computer [physically inside, like a new graphics card] since the last check, or if you've had a full system over haul in the last eight months. The checks aren't as aggressive on the interim because everything should normally be fairly stable - if you have any specific gripes with the PC just let us know and we'll do a full diagnosis if needed.

The interim PC Health Check comprises of:

• Canned air clean with anti-static wipe over
• BIOS checks to ensure hardware performing within acceptable limits
• Start up and system wide virus check
• Driver and program updates
• De-clutter and cleanse of un-needed junk files and fragment left overs
• Hard drive optimisation
• Registry, short cut and error fixes
• Security check
• Recommendations made regarding system and security improvements
• System Re-checked once any required PC upgrades are done

Page Tags: PC Health Checks in Preston | Computer Health Checks in Preston | PC Repairs in Preston | Computer Repairs in Preston |

Computer Health Checks - Full Service

In keeping with the car theme, as it's the best way to describe what a computer health check in Preston actually is, here's a full break down of what the "Full PC Service" is. Remember this is a minimum and we quite often have to perform additional tasks due to hidden and not yet apparent issues.

• Canned Air is used to "blast" away dirt and dust build up
• Anti-Static cloths are used to physically clean problem areas
• P.O.S.T. testing - checks all the hardware is reporting in "A OK"
• Hardware Power checks, is the correct amount of power going to each part of the PC?
• BIOS Checks to ensure all the basic settings are at their optimum levels
• Temperatures checked to ensure heat dissipation from the CPU and mainboard is within limits
• Pre-start up virus checks are done - this is even before the computer loads windows
• At start up all devices are updated with correct stable drivers to get maximum efficiency
• Program updates are performed to increase stability and security
• Your computer is "cleansed" of rubbish build ups of files that are no longer needed
• The hard drives are optimised for maximum performance
• Registry, broken links etc are repaired
• System "stressed" to check for faults
• Security improvements made where possible
• You get a report of recommendations and ways to improve you PC further by simple, low cost upgrades only if necessary.
• Any further PC upgrades done and rechecked.