Most people rely on their computers on a daily basis and to have your computer down for any length of time is very undesirable. Here are some things to try before you decide to take your computer in to the local repair shop.

Slow Performance
If your PC is running slow, try uninstalling some unused applications and reboot. Often PC owners will install many applications that they never use and it just takes up space. Also, many users think that if one antivirus or antispyware program is good then more are better. This is not a good idea. Remove all antivirus and antispyware apps and install just one of each.

No Power
Check the power cables, the outlet and the power strip to make sure you are getting power to the PC. If all the connections are good then the problem is probably with your power supply inside the PC and its time to take it in for repair. Also check the power supply on your PC to see if there is a burning smell. If there is a smell then unplug immediately and take the computer to a local repair shop.

Will Not Boot Into Windows
If the PC powers on but will not boot fully into Windows then the problem is usually with the hard drive. The best bet here is to take the PC ins to have it looked at. Don’t try to fix this yourself as you may do even more damage and not be able to do data recovery. When you bring the PC to the shop ask the technician about data recovery in case they are unable to repair the PC without destroying the data.

Virus or Spyware Problems
The problems that are caused by viruses and spyware these days are more than the lay person can handle. You may be able to remove one temporarily but they always leave a trace on the PC somewhere on the drive or in the registry. We suggest when these problems start that you backup your data and call the repair shop to get the pests totally removed.

These are just a few of the problems that we see every day. Of course you can contact us and we will give you a free estimate of what it will take to fix your PC problems.

Doc
San Antonio Computer Doctor
www.sacdr.com
210.491.2710

The world‟s most popular browser is about to get even more features.

Here is what you can expect to see in Internet Explorer 9.

Pinned Sites — You will now be able to pin a particular website to your taskbar for quick and easy access.

Download Manager — IE9 will come with a built-in down-load manager that can keep track of all downloads and let you pause a download to continue later.

Performance Advisor — Ever wonder why your browser is slow to load? IE9 will now tell you what add-ons are consuming all the resources.

Improved Search — Now searches can be done from the address bar so you can type www.nba.com or you can type just NBA and a search will be done for NBA.

Enhanced Tabs — Tabs can now be torn off and dragged into a new window for side by side viewing.

Hardware Acceleration — IE9 now uses the graphics processor for graphics heavy tasks like video to deliver faster performance.

Bottom line is that these features are welcome improvements to go along with IE’s already impressive lists of features. One thing to be aware of though is that IE9 is not going to work on Windows XP so to take advantage of these features you will have to upgrade to Windows 7.

The Doctor is in if you have any questions.  Call 210-491-2710 or visit our website www.sacdr.com for more information.

The short answer is yes but keep reading to find out how it will help you and what the ramifications might be. Windows 7 is the best operating system since XP and has loads of features and security enhancements. Here are a few things to consider be-fore upgrading.

1. If you still have XP

- If you still have Windows XP you are two versions behind at this point and there will be a learning curve to deal with. You must wipe out your system and do a fresh reload. There may be issues with drivers for legacy devices so this may be something that you would want to have Computer Doctors help you with.

2. If you have Vista you can upgrade to Windows 7 but only to the same version you currently have installed. For instance, if you have Vista Home 32-bit you can up-grade to Windows 7 Home 32-bit but not to Windows 7 Home 64-bit or Windows 7 Pro.

- If you can upgrade then this is something that you can do yourself. Make sure you back up your data first, however. If you cannot upgrade then you will have to wipe and reload your computer from scratch.

3. Features

- Stability is the biggest thing. This is by far the most stable operating system from Microsoft. Other features include full 64-bit support, Home Group easy networking for sharing files, improved Windows Search that will search for an item in your files and your email, and an improved taskbar.

For more information check out our website @ www.sacdr.com  or email us doc@sacdr.com

Computer forensics is the extraction and and analysis of digital evidence, whether from a desktop, laptop, CD, backup drive, server, cell phone, or any other electronic device that stores data.

Anyone who needs evidence recovered from one of these devices could use a computer forensic specialist..  Some typical cases are employers who want to check on an employee’s PC, divorce cases, and legal disputes.

The truth can be found on the digital evidence long after it has been thought to have been deleted.  Evidence can be found in hidden, chats, emails, website history, pictures, etc.

Go to our sister website at www.whoscheatingwho.com to get more information about computer forensics and how it can be of use to you or someone you know.

The latest version of Microsoft office came out in mid June and it comes with many features that will help you with your productivity. 

Office 2010 will come in 3 versions, Home & Student, Business, and Professional.  Each version will contain Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote with the Business version adding Outlook and the Professional version adding Outlook, Access and Publisher.

One nice feature that is available by default for the first time is a built-in PDF export feature.  This was only available via download in previous versions.

Graphics have been improved by adding in place image editing.  One of the best features of this is the background removal tool, which saves the foreground of a picture while removing the background, making it very fun to play with.

In Outlook, the menu bar has been replaced with the Ribbon interface introduced in Office 2007 but its best new feature is the enhanced Conversation View that lists a complete conversation in one view instead of you having to open each email individually.

In summary this version of office is not absolutely necessary but is very nice to have.  For the first time it is available in 64-bit, which will greatly improve the amount of data it can handle.  Overall, this is a welcome  upgrade.

Visit our website www.sacdr.com or call San Antonio Computer Doctor
210-491-2710 for more information.

The Idea

• Show your current location using your cell phone’s GPS to show a Google Map location of that place.
• Share a great place with friends like a party, good restaurant or a concert.
• Share your current location with friends
• Let others know which friends are at a current location with you.
• Discover moments when you and your friends were at the same place at the same time

 Pros

• Better connection with your friends.
• Instantly see where the happening places are in town
• Keep track of the places you have been over time
• Find some new restaurants, bars, or other hangouts.
• Parents could make their kids Check in when they are out so that they would know where they are

  Cons

• Major potential for abuse.
• Someone could check you in at a baseball game when you had called in sick to work
• Someone could look at your history of places and determine your future comings and goings.
• Only available in US for now on iPhone V3.2.2

 Protection

• Customize your privacy settings.
• Set “Places I Check in” to be visible by friends only
• Disable the default option “Include me in the ‘People Here Now’ list” upon check in
• Most importantly disable the “Friends can check me in” option
• Make sure your friend’s applications can’t grab your location by going to the “applications and websites” link and click “Edit Settings” to remove anything unwanted

When it is time to get a new PC don’t just throw it in the garbage.  This clogs up landfills and puts harmful waste in the environment.  Instead take your PC to be donated at Goodwill or have it dropped off at a location that does computer recycling.

One thing to make sure to do is to have your personal data taken off of the computer before you give it away.  There is a lot of information on your computer that you probably don’t want the world to know about.

At computer doctor we recycle old PCs and erase the data for you so you will not have to worry about having your data floating around for all to see.  Simply bring in your old equipment to either of our locations and we will be happy to take care of this for you.

Please call us if there are any questions about this service and about the safety of your data when it comes time to recycle.

Visit our website www.sacdr.com or call San Antonio Computer Doctor
210-491-2710 for more information.

If you ask five different PC techs this question you will likely get five different answers.  So let’s take an open minded look at this and see what the real story is.

There are free and paid antivirus solutions out there.  We will go over 5 free and 5 paid.  Most of the top performers were paid versions but there was one free solution that broke into the top 5 and one free version that took last place with very low scores.  According to an independent test of the top 10 solutions there was a clear winner.  The only one to  remove 100% of the pests was Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 2010.

Test results are shown below:

1. Spyware Doctor

2. Norton Antivirus

3. VIPRE Antivirus

4. Panda Cloud Antivirus—Free

5. McAfee Antivirus Plus 2010

6. Ad-Aware Pro 8.1

7. AVG Free 9.0

8. Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 Free

9. MS Security Essentials Free

10. Trend Micro HouseCall Free

Visit our website www.sacdr.com or call San Antonio Computer Doctor
210-491-2710 for more information.