From
Mark at Compulogix ... getting IT to work! 
Dear All,
Hi! It’s your friendly
local neighbourhood all-things-PC fixer. I hope your
PC(s) and/or Laptop(s), Wireless and Wired Networks, Websites and the like are all
working well!
I have seen a fair number
of clients of late who are having problems with laptops, and every time that I found
myself pointing out some simple do’s and don’ts, I thought that I should put them
in a mailshot which may well save a lot of you some time and money. I have
finally taken the time to do the first of these and I hope it is of use to
those of you with laptops, and not too late!
But first a quick word
for those of you who might be about to change your Internet Service Provider,
or mobile phone, or buy almost anything online – the word is CashBack. Whoever you are thinking of
signing up with, key their name into a CashBack site and see what you can get back by clicking ONE link before you
then buy. Really! Sky for example are giving up to £146.45, O2 are giving up to
£121.20, Orange and Virgin over £150! This
is just money that they would give to someone else for referring the business
to them, but CashBack sites give you this money instead, and it isn’t just Broadband,
it applies to just about anything you can buy online. Tesco does it, Argos does
it, loads of companies that you may buy from – even groceries – so why don’t
you have the referral commission rather than let them they keep it or give it
to someone else? Register with the Cashback site, then before you buy anything, go there first and key in the
company name you want to buy from – or the product you want to buy – and they
may just have a link to that site or product, and you then just buy as normal
but get some money back. You really have nothing to lose. Here’s a link to get you started, or look on the Compulogix
web site Links page. Two weeks ago I got £50.50 back from signing up with the AA!
Secondly, a number of
you have been asking me about these electronic
cigarettes I use. There’s a link to where I get them from on my Links page
too but more importantly, if you are buying from them, enter the discount code
“Compulogix” and you will get 10% off – For those of you who are interested, I
use what they call the eGo-T, and whilst making absolutely no effort to stop smoking
(as far as I am concerned I haven’t stopped smoking!) I now smoke on average
less than one cigarette a day! Why the occasional one? Simple, it just means I
don’t put any pressure on myself at all by saying I have stopped smoking! But I
may well go 2 or 3 days without one! I am quite sure I could actually give that
last one up anytime if I felt the need, because it’s not as nice as the E-Cig
anyway. I suspect that in a while I will just find that I haven’t ‘smoked’ for
a week or two and that will be it. The
link to the site is here if you want it.
OK enough! – on to laptops and for that
matter netbooks!
Laptops are now
outselling the traditional towers/desktop PC’s, and are great when they are
working well, here’s the single biggest tip I have for keeping them that way.
Always place your laptop on a flat stiff surface.
It’s that simple!
One big problem with
using a laptop on a soft surface like beds or settees – even on your lap - is
that the air intakes can be easily blocked, causing the laptop’s internals to
overheat. In the worst cases an overheated laptop can even become a write-off. Help
avoid overheating by always using your laptop on a flat tray or a board,
without a high raised ridge round it, like one of these padded trays for eating
in front of the television. This allows air to circulate between the laptop and
the tray and therefore always get to the places it needs to in order to cool
the insides.
Another really good
reason to work on a tray is that external connections that stick out of a
laptop are weak points where stress can cause serious damage. For example, the
point where the charger enters the laptop is very easily stressed when the
laptop is put down on a softer surface like a bed or a settee. Stressing of the
connection can easily lead to a break inside
the laptop. This can be an expensive repair as frequently the laptop has to be
all but dismantled to get at the point where it needs to be cleaned and
re-soldered. This is not usually a job for a hobbyist, but a keen hobbyist
might not realise it until the laptop is in many pieces and becomes difficult
to put back together again. This is usually one for the experts.
Other connectors are
just as likely to cause damage if stressed, typically USB connectors are quite
robust, and applying stress to these can break the USB sockets themselves
rather than the plugs.
And one other good reason
for using a tray is that you can help avoid broken screens, because the
temptation to pick it up by the screen is largely taken away.
Of course the other
sensible thing you can do is to keep up to date with your regular maintenance
as outlined in an earlier email – which are by the way, now available on the
website (as I have just broken off this to include a link to them – I’ve called
them Newsletters) in case you want to read one of them again.
Thanks for your time;
I hope some of you found some of it useful, I’ll put more into the next email. Meanwhile
if your PC / Network / Internet / Email or whatever isn’t
running smoothly at the moment, my number is below, or if you want to ask the
odd question or have any suggestions for a topic for another email or you are
finding something particularly frustrating / problematic on the computer front,
why not send
me an email.
Kind regards.
Mark
Mark Bright
Compulogix
07968 550 938
If you do not want to be emailed by me again then
simply reply to this email saying so, and I shall remove your details from the
list.
P Please
consider the environment. Do you really need to print this email?
This
e-mail is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If you are not the
intended recipient of this e-mail and have received it in error, please return
the message to the sender by replying to it and then delete it from your
mailbox. Internet e-mails are not necessarily secure. Compulogix does not
accept responsibility for changes made to this message after it was sent.
Whilst all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of viruses,
it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that the onward
transmission, opening or use of this message and any attachments will not
adversely affect its systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the
Compulogix in this regard and the recipient should carry out such virus and
other checks as it considers appropriate. This communication does not create or
modify any contract.