PC Made EZ Computer Repair - Mesa, Gilbert

Windows Parental Controls & how to set them up – PC Made EZ Computer Repair

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:02:17 +0000

We all want to raise our children right and protect them from bad influences and less than desirable individuals. Doing so is part of being a great parent raising exceptional children. We teach them “stranger danger”, to be polite, to share and to be respectful of others; yet many parents forget one very important way to protect them from potential predators and inappropriate content, setting up parental controls on their computers.
The two most recent versions of Microsoft Windows (Windows Vista and Windows 7) have parental controls built into the operating system and it is actually quite easy to configure. First and foremost it is recommended that you setup a specific account on your computer for your child. Doing so will not only keep them from potentially causing trouble with your own account (deleting files, getting a computer virus, etc), but also provide them with their own account to use, play games on and most importantly work on their school assignments. To setup an account for your child simply follow these steps:
*Note, make sure to setup the account as a standard user and NOT an administrator.
1. To open User Accounts, click the Start button, click Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, and then click User Accounts.

2. Click Manage another account. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Click Create a new account.

4. Type the name you want to give the user account, click an account type, and then click Create Account.
Once you have an account created for your child you will want to setup the parental controls. Parental controls allow you to setup time limits for the specific account, prevent access of certain websites, use of certain applications and keep your child from accessing adult content. To setup parental controls follow the steps below:
*Note, make sure to be logged in with YOUR account not your child’s.
1. Open Parental Controls by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, and then, under User Accounts and Family Safety, clicking Setup parental controls for any user. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

2. Click the user account that you want to set Parental Controls for. If the standard user account isn’t set up yet, click Create a new user account to set up a new account.

3. Under Parental Controls, click On, enforce current settings.

4. Once you’ve turned on Parental Controls for your child’s standard user account, you can adjust the following individual settings that you want to control:
o Time limits. You can set time limits to control when children are allowed to log on to the computer. Time limits prevent children from logging on during the specified hours. You can set different logon hours for every day of the week. If they’re logged on when their allotted time ends, they’ll be automatically logged off. Hey, they should be outside playing anyways right?

o Games. You can control access to games, choose an age-rating level, choose the types of content you want to block, and decide whether you want to allow or block unrated or specific games.

o Allow or block specific programs. You can prevent children from running programs that you don’t want them to run.

Windows Vista has built in Web Content filtering allowing you to choose which types of online content you wish your child to be able to access and which they are prevented from accessing. Windows 7 on the other hand requires you to setup Windows Live Family Safety which is part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. The Windows Live Essentials suite can be downloaded directly from Microsoft’s site. After you have this all in place (it shouldn’t take more that 10-15 minutes) you will have successfully setup Parental Controls on your PC. The best part…it is all free! Hopefully you find this bit of information to be valuable and helpful.

To repair or to replace, that is the question

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:06:48 +0000

In recent weeks we have seen several computers essentially ‘give up the ghost’. Now granted they have not been completely dead as the phase would lead you to believe however some major component has in fact failed causing the computer to cease working. When this situation rears its ugly head it will more than likely put the owner of said offending computer into a bit of a pickle; having to decide between repairing their current computer or replacing it with a new one. In tough economic times like these the decision may seem obvious…repair it. However let’s take a step back and objectively look at the situation as it is and do a little cost-benefit analysis.

Say you have a computer which is 5 or 6 years old and has never been upgraded with additional RAM, larger hard drive, better video card and so forth. It is basically as it was when you joyfully plucked it from its cardboard cocoon the day you brought it home. Now say this computer’s hard drive has failed and needs to be replaced. You could decide to replace it and everything would be back to working great again OR you could simply give it a proper burial and go purchase a shiny, brand spanking new one. With those two options in mind let’s look at the cost-benefit. To repair your new one you are at the very least looking at the cost of a new hard drive (about $90-$120 at today’s costs). Then you have to take into consideration the install costs, and the cost to reinstall the operating system (Windows). Once everything is said and done you are into it for about $250 or so.

So, you could spend $250 and have your computer back up and running great but it is still the same old computer you had before. Albeit a tad faster as it has a fresh install of Windows on there, but still the same old pc and potentially prone to more failures and subsequent repair costs . Now, consider the following. A new inexpensive computer would run laps around your old one simply due to how technology advances over the years (Moore’s Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore’s_law). So, you could spend say $500-$600 for a new computer, it would have the latest operating system, Windows 7, far more storage capacity, more RAM, better video card and be much faster. In this example, unless you just don’t have the money it is more financially sound to simply replace the old one.

Now, say you have a computer which is a year and a half old. You bought it at your local retailer for around $600 or $700. You run into the very same situation where the hard drive has failed. It is still a relatively new computer, running Windows Vista or Windows 7, has plenty of RAM, processor speed, many of the latest technologies and works great (with exception of the dead hard drive in this scenario). Again, you could spend about $250 for a repair or $500-$600 on a new one. In this instance, due to the relative youth of this computer it is far more beneficial to repair it and continue to use it for several more years.

So, before you decide to scramble to your local electronics store and buy a new computer…or repair your old one, do this little exercise in your head and see what the better solution is for you. If you do decide to repair it we are here to help. Happy Computing!

P5V62WJX7WMU

PC Made EZ | Computer Repair in Mesa & Gilbert AZ | Get rid of junk paper mail

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:29:26 +0000

No big blog here. Just a quick FYI to our blog readers. Are you sick of paper junk mail in your mailbox every day? Well, with this new app you can simply use your smart phone to rid yourself of it once and for all.

Check it out! https://www.paperkarma.com/

Don’t have a smart phone? Then read this: http://www.pcmadeez.com/http:/pcmadeez.com/blog/2011/02/smartphones.html

PC Made EZ | Gilbert / Mesa AZ PC Repair | Computer Care & Maintenance

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:44:07 +0000

Let’s face it, computers get dirty over time. As we use them the keyboards on desktops and laptops become filled with dust and debris and laptop screens become covered with fingerprints and such. What many people may not realize is that the insides of computers get caked up with dust, dirt and pet hair. Part of keeping a computer running properly is maintaining the insides as well. As a computer runs, one more more fans are constantly running to pull in cool outside air, pass it over the components such as the processor, memory, video card, power supply and more in an effort to keep them cool and running optimally. The same goes for a laptop as they have small fans which run to keep the processor and graphics chipset cool.

Over time dust, debris, pet hair and even insects can get sucked into the PC and ultimately build up all over the insides causing the computer to operate and elevated temperatures, negatively effecting performance and potentially causing premature hardware failure.

So, part of maintaining your pc is to periodically dust out the guts. Living in Arizona where we have tons of dust it is especially important to do this every 6 months or so. This is relatively easy to do with a few simple tools (phillips head screw driver and canned air). Most desktop computers either have a few phillips head screws or a thumb screw securing the side panel in place. Simply unscrew these and remove the side panel to reveal the nasty mess inside. Then take some canned air and use it to blast the dust out (do not touch the insides with any tools or your hands. Also do not invert the canned air…keep it right side up). We recommend you do this OUTSIDE otherwise you will be blasting it all over your office or livingroom…never a desired thing. Make sure to dust out all fans, especially the one over the processor/heat sink. You can also blast some air into the back of the power supply (usually located towards the top of the desktop and is where your power cable plugs into) to make sure it is dust free as well.

Nasty computer internals!

Power supply location

Computer heat sink / processor & fan

canned air

As mentioned laptops need to be kept clean as well. The heat sink / fan on a laptop can accumulate dust and such as well and should periodically be cleaned. Additionally it is always a good idea to keep the screen clean and free of fingerprints, keep the chassis clean and keyboard free of debris. Using some canned air you can blast the dust out of the vents and also any debris from the keyboard. An excellent product we recommend for cleaning laptop chassis and screens was actually developed by a local Apple repair shop. It is called Apple Juice and can be found here. Not only does it do a great job at cleaning laptops, it is non-toxic and smells like Apples (the fruit not the computer!). This stuff also works great on desktop LCD screens as well.

example of laptop cooling vents

Hope all this info helps with keeping your computer running top notch. Just a side note…we clean EVER computer that we work on regardless of the computer service. So if you have your computer repaired by PC Made EZ it will have its internals dusted out, and case/chassis/screen cleaned before we deliver it back to you…at no extra charge! As always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask by emailing us, calling us or posting it on our Facebook page. Happy Computing!

PC Made EZ | Mesa, AZ Computer Repair | Discusses Anti-Virus Protection

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:57:35 +0000

There is not a week that goes by in which we do not encounter several computers either running outdated anti-virus applications or simply none at all. Also from time to time we come across a computer with two or more anti-virus applications running at the same time. In either case, the computer is not properly protected and as such prone to virus or malware infections; thus causing the customer to inevitably have to schedule virus or malware removal services. Granted we appreciate the business and oddly enough enjoy performing a virus or malware removal service (I know…crazy right?). We would simply prefer our customer’s computers to be properly protected in the first place. So…what should YOU do?

Well first and foremost here are a few pointers:

Have a good anti-virus application on your pc (free or pay for…either way).
Setup your anti-virus / virus removal application to proactively monitor your pc so as to prevent infections from getting through in the first place.
Make sure your anti-virus application is updating its virus definitions daily. You want it to know the latest and greatest virus and malware infections so it can stop them from getting on your pc.
Do NOT run more than one anti-virus application. Contrary to what some may believe, running multiple anti-virus or anti-malware applications is not a good practice. What ultimately happens is they both essentially fight with each other, thinking the other is a virus.

Basically that is all. Now, what anti-virus is the best? It comes down to personal choice and budget. The two leaders are McAfee or Norton, followed by Kaspersky, Trend and may more. Cox customers provide a free download of McAfee to their customers via their website. Century Link (formerly Qwest) provides Norton to their customers for free. If you don’t like either we recommend two good freebies. Either Microsoft Security Essentials (provided by Microsoft) or Avira. Both can be downloaded and installed for free and will actively protect your pc from infection. With all that said you are never 100% protected…say maybe 90%. However that is far better than 0% if you ask us.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns or if you are the unfortunate recipient of a virus or malware infection, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can schedule you in for a virus / malware removal service and have your pc running like new again.

PC Made EZ Computer Service Mesa, AZ | Top 10 Computer Technologies

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:39:40 +0000

So I had a customer the other day ask me a very good, yet out of the blue question; “what do you think are the main computer things or technologies a person should have?” I answered with a few basics however it got me thinking about what I feel every person should have along the lines of computer or computer related technologies (hardware and software). So after much thought I have come up with a Top 10 List of computer related technologies a person should have. Without further ado…

Top 10 Computer Technologies All People Should Have

High Speed Internet – (Cox cable, Qwest DSL, etc). This is a MUST if you actually want to use the internet. Dial-up just won’t cut it…yet many people still have dial-up.
Anti-Virus software – EVERY person should have a good, robust anti-virus application on their computer which provides real-time protection, auto updates and scans. Cox and Qwest provide free software to their customers. There are also several good free applications out there like AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials. For some good info on the types of malware infections out there today and how to recognize them check out: http://tinyurl.com/3sraje8
Firewall – A firewall is either a physical device or software put in place to help prevent intrusions into your computer. Most good anti-virus applications have firewalls built-in as does Windows. Also many wireless routers can be purchased with an integrated firewall feature. Having a firewall can help prevent virus and malware infections as well as hacking attempts
Wireless Network – With the way technology is today, be it laptops, desktops, tablets or smartphones, EVERYTHING can connect to a wireless network. I feel every home or business should have a secure wireless router/network in place allowing them to share files, devices such as printers, and so forth and also allow you to access the web on your tablet, smartphone or laptop without using a 3G or 4G cell connection. Free yourself from the cords and get a wifi network setup! Good info on wireless networks: http://tinyurl.com/3suoljg
Multi-Function (all-in-one) printer – A good all-in-one printer which allows you to not only print, but scan, copy and even fax is a great tool for any household or small business. Being able to print as well as scan photos, make copies of important documents and so forth can be a huge advantage, especially to students or home businesses. Good brands to go with would be HP, Brother and Canon.
File Backup – We run into people all the time who do not backup their important files. Sadly some do not heed our recommendations and implement some sort of solution to make sure their important documents, family photos, music and so forth are properly backed up and secured until it is too late. Considering cloud backup solutions are extremely affordable (about the cost of a latte a month) secure and automatic, we feel they are the best solution. Don’t risk losing your files…check out this bit of info on data backups: http://tinyurl.com/6ys7cnv
File Sync – Having the ability to synchronize all of your important files between multiple pc’s can be a huge benefit as not only does it provide a redundancy solution for your data but also allows you to have access to all of your files on multiple computers or devices. What a file sync solution does is basically synchronize your files between as many computers as you need. More info on a good and free sync tool is here: http://tinyurl.com/4yak39b
A good password – This is often overlooked by many people and I just can’t understand why. Many people do their banking online, pay bills online, have an email account or social media account like Facebook…however most use simple passwords which can easily be cracked. Having a difficult to crack or guess password is extremely important to protecting your data and personal information. We recommend the following for a good secure password: At least 8 characters in length, contain at least one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one number and one special character (@, #, $, %, etc). Also, if your bank account or email account has a password reset feature which asks “security questions” to reset your password, make sure those security questions are not common knowledge about you. It should be something more private so it cannot be easily guessed by a would-be hacker.
Two email addresses – Yes, two email addresses. Why you ask? Well one should be used for important things such as banking and other finances, professional relationships and family emails. The other should be used for mailing lists, online rewards programs, online prize entries…basically junk stuff. Keeping the two separate helps you manage the junk mail but also puts a bit of a divider in place between things which are important to you and random shenanigans.
Smart Phone – Yes, we know this is not necessarily considered standard computer technology however when you think about it a smart phone, for all intents and purposes, is a small handheld computer. Being able to not only take calls and text, but also keep tabs on your email, banking and social media while on the go can be a huge benefit and advantage to anyone. In short we feel smartphones help make your life better by allowing you to do many things while on the go. Anything that can help streamline our busy lives is a must have. We recommend Android or iPhone phones, though Android has exceeded iPhone for market share now. Good info on preventing a virus on your smartphone can be found here (yes smart phones can get viruses) : http://tinyurl.com/3uqu749

So there you have it. Our Top 10 must have computer technologies. I know…quite a bit of reading however I promise this knowledge is worth having. As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us via our website or Facebook. Happy Computing!

Jason Grosso

Owner – Lead Tech

PC Made EZ – Your Personal IT Department

www.pcmadeez.com

www.facebook.com/pcmadeez

What Computer Should I Buy? | Arizona Computer Service | PC Made EZ explains

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:49:38 +0000

Lately we have been getting a lot of requests from customers inquiring about getting a new PC as their current one is old, outdated and just not fast enough anymore. Getting a new PC for many people can be a very daunting task as they just don’t know much about new computers. Many people just don’t know what would be best for their specific needs and walking into an electronics store and seeing 40 different computer models laid out before them can cause one’s mind to simply overload. If you happen to be one of these people who want to get a new PC but just do not know where to start, fret no more! Lucky for you we are going to break it down to human language and explain the computer options out there and what would be best for you.

First and foremost when looking to purchase a new computer you need to ask yourself three questions. One, what will you be doing with it? Two, do you want a laptop or desktop? Three, most importantly what is your budget. Once you have answered these questions you can begin your quest. There are hundreds of different computer options out there and finding the best fit for you may seem very intimidating. Yet in all actuality it really comes down to a few options as most laptops and desktops manufactured by all the available brands are pretty much the same internally. For example, you can easily find 3-4 laptops with nearly identical specification made by different companies. The main difference between these systems is physical appearance and aesthetics. Once you decide what specs you need then just find a few that fit those requirements and decide which one you like the look and feel of the best. Whether it be a laptop, desktop or all-in-one desktop (screen and tower all in one nice unit). So the big question is what sort of power and specs do YOU need from your new PC? Take a look at our little breakdown below of what we personally recommend.

Basic user (email, internet, word processing and music):

Processor – Intel Core i3
Ram (memory) – 4GB
Hard drive – 300GB +
Optical drive – DVDRW drive
Video card – integrated basic video card with shared video memory
Operating System – Windows 7 Basic or Home Premium

Middle range user (all of the basic user needs plus photo editing, basic gaming, video streaming)

Processor – Intel Core i5
Ram (memory) – 6GB
Hard drive – 500GB +
Optical drive – DVDRW
Video card – integrated video card with dedicated video memory
Operating System – Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Power user (all the needs of basic and middle range user plus advanced photo editing, intense gaming think World of Warcraft or the like, heavy video streaming and music play/storage, media server use)

Processor – Intel Core i7
Ram (memory) 8GB +
Hard drive – 1TB +
Optical drive – DVDRW + Blu Ray
Video Card – separate dedicated video card with at least 1GB video memory
Operating system – Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional 64bit

Hopefully our little guide will take some of the confusion out of purchasing a new computer. However as always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask by emailing us through our website, calling us, or simply posting a question on our Facebook page.

Happy Computing!

-Jason Grosso

Owner – Lead Tech

PC Made EZ – Your Personal IT Department

www.pcmadeez.com

www.facebook.com/pcmadeez

480-720-5656

PC Made EZ | Computer Repair Services |Mobile phone security time!

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:31:23 +0000

Over the past few months we have been dealing with a TON of malware and virus infections on customer’s computers due to either lack of security on their computers or unsafe web browsing. Granted we have been able to fix each and every infected computer we have received we still feel bad for the customer in the end because it could have been avoided in the first place by securing their pc with a good anti-virus application and practicing safe computing habits. See our recent blog on malware & virus protection.

Well as the rate of PC infections seem to be climbing a new threat has popped its ugly head up…malware for your mobile device! Yep, that’s right…your Android, Windows or Blackberry smartphone could get infected with Malware which could prevent you from using your phone, delete your files or even steal personal info from your phone. So, what does one do to prevent this? I’m glad you, a smart technology user, asked that question.

A company called ‘Lookout’ offers just such a product designed to prevent and clear malware and virus infections on Android, Windows 7 and Blackberry platforms. We gave it a whirl on our resident Android phone (it works the exact same on Blackberry and Windows 7 mobile) just to see how well it functioned, and we were quite impressed! First and foremost for us was to see if it would prevent a known malware application from getting onto our Android. So, throwing better judgment to the wind we attempted to install a known malware app and sure enough…Lookout stopped it from being loaded, warning us it was malware. Nifty indeed! We then tried to browse the web on our trusty Android phone and go to a website which we knew contained some serious shenanigans in the form of pop-ups, malware and all sorts of undesirables. Well…Lookout stopped us, popped up a message warning of the potential for bad things to occur and thus saved our phones backside not to mention our sanity. So we knew it would block potential infections…but that’s not all Lookout does for you. It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries! Just kidding; though it does do a lot more than simply protect your phone from a malware or virus infection.

Lookout knew there was more to a great app for your smartphone then simply preventing a malware or virus from getting on it and stealing your info. They realized that in today’s age our smartphones are like tiny laptops which we could not do without. I’ll admit…without my Android I’m pretty much up the creek without a paddle. So, the smart folks over at Lookout decided to include a few extremely handy, and dare we say cool features. Not only will it protect your phone from infection Lookout also provides backup capabilities. Meaning, you can backup all of your important data, including contacts, photos, music, call history and more to a secure off-site location. If your phone goes to its technological grave you can simply replace the phone, login to your account on Lookout’s website and restore the files to your new one. Yet…just like an old school Ron Popiel infomercial there’s more!

Just say you can’t find your phone in your house. Well you can login to your Lookout account online and tell it to locate your phone via GPS and send a signal to it to “scream”. Meaning it will make your phone sound a siren, helping you locate it between the couch cushions. Or, say you lose your phone during a night of crazy partying and heavy drinking with friends (it happens to us all), or it is stolen from you. You can locate the phones whereabouts online and see its current GPS location. Once you have that info you can decide to remotely lock the phone so some nosy jerk isn’t rooting around in it for your info, or you can remotely wipe the data from it so the little thief who stole it from you can’t get access to your personal info and files.

Now, how cool is that!? Want to know more? Simply head on over to Lookout’s website to check it out. They offer a free 14 day trial of the Premium service (includes all the previously discussed features). After 14 days if you do not sign up it will downgrade to simply protecting your smartphone from infections for free. Or you can decide to sign up for the Premium service for a mere $29.99 a year! In our humble opinions it is $30 well spent!

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us via our website or Facebook page. Happy Computing!

www.pcmadeez.com

www.facebook.com/pcmadeez

How to detect and remedy malware – PC Made EZ – Computer Repair

admin — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:58:11 +0000

In the world of Windows computing there are some nefarious folks whose only goal is to take advantage of non-tech savvy people for their own personal and monetary benefits. These less than desirable vermin are the creators of all sorts of computer monsters known in the industry as Malware. So what does this mean to you dear reader? I’ll tell you.

The latest influx of Malware, which we are seeing a big spike in, are known as ‘Rogue Security Software’. They essentially infect a person’s computer via several methods, pop up on your screen looking like a legitimate anti-virus or anti-malware application, appear to scan your computer and then display a fear inducing message stating your computer is infected with all sorts of nasty bugs. Now is when it becomes interesting. The malware will then state that to perform a virus or malware removal you need to pay to upgrade or register and then it can proceed with the malware removal. Heed this warning: If such a thing pops up on your computer…DO NOT pay a dime. If you do you will, for all intents and purposes, be paying for a virus. How can you prevent your computer from being infected? Well, your best course of action is to practice safe computing (avoiding questionable websites, deleting spam emails, not clicking on suspicious links and so forth) staying up to date with Windows updates and also have a good up to date anti-virus application on your computer.

So, how do you know if you have been infected? Well for starters you will see something similar to what I described above. Secondly you may notice your computer acting odd, a message incessantly popping up stating you are infected and maybe even preventing you from getting to the internet. If you do have an infection you can attempt to clear it off with your antivirus application or some anti-malware applications such as Spybot or Malwarebytes. However, if that does not work may I advise you contact your local trusty computer shop…say, us for example, to perform a malware removal service on your pc. We have the expertise to get these nasty malware and viruses removed from your pc and get it back to you working like new again.

For your education and so you can be in the know I have included some examples of these fake anti-virus applications below. As always…if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us. Happy Computing!

Jason Grosso
Owner – Lead Tech
PC Made EZ
480-720-5656
www.pcmadeez.com
www.facebook.com/pcmadeez

Windows Live Mesh – File Sync Glory! – AZ Computer Services

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:19:21 +0000

Do you have multiple computers? Have you ever wanted to sync your files between them; including documents, pictures, music and even your internet favorites? Have you wanted to be able to access your home computer while out and about? Do you have a PC and a Mac and want to sync files between them as well? Well, want no more as you can have all of this…for the low low price of FREE. That’s right, free!

Microsoft has recently introduced Windows Live Mesh, a new and improved version of Windows Live Sync. Windows Live Mesh allows you to synchronize your files (documents, music, videos, photos and more) between multiple computers; even Mac computers. It will also sync your internet favorites and Microsoft Office settings between multiple computers as well. As if all that were not convenient enough, Windows Live Mesh allows you to remotely access your other computers which have Live Mesh installed. How cool is that? You can have all of your files on every computer you own, whether it is PC or Mac and remotely access one computer with another…say in the event you are traveling and need to get on your home PC. Never again will you be without your all-important files no matter where you are!

So, you may be wondering how you go about getting this. Well, you simply need to get a Windows Live account (which is free) and then download and install Windows Live Mesh onto your computers. Once done you can easily synchronize files and data between multiple computers and you are all set. We have been using it since the Beta version came out and so far we love it! Having files accessible on multiple computers makes our live much easier! We definitely recommend this, especially since it does not cost a dime. As always, if you have any questions or need help feel free to contact us either via out website or on Facebook. Happy Computing!

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Windows Live Mesh Download