Author: Steve

computer upgrades around walsall

Laptop and Computer Upgrades Sutton Coldfield

Steve

computer upgrades around walsall

Is your computer running slowly, windows taking a long time to load, computer unresponsive and sluggish?

Computers and laptops slow down over time because as your software updates and adds more features to your computer, it is also asking your computer to do more, with the same amount of resources.

Also as time goes on new features will come out that you may want on your current machine, wireless networking is a good example; the latest version of wireless devices are “Wireless-N”, which is considerably faster, more stable and has a wider range than the previous generation, “Wireless-G”. An upgrade to the latest wireless hardware is usually very cheap and can be hugely beneficial.

By keeping your computer well maintained (see our PC Health Check Service) you can make your computer work efficiently and minimise the negative effect of your computer slowing down, but at some point you are going to want to upgrade your computer to restore it to its original, responsive feel. There are a number of different upgrade options available to most computer users and your particular requirements will depend on what you want from your computer.

The upgrade services we offer can add any items to your laptop, desktop or home network including:

  • Memory upgrades (RAM).
  • Processor upgrades.
  • Wireless cards / adaptors.
  • Bluetooth
  • Video / sound cards
  • Batteries
  • Monitors

Upgrading your computer will also prolong its lifespan, enabling it to be a useful, usable computer for much longer.If you were considering buying a new computer why not see what kind of upgrades we could offer for your old machine to get it back to being a fast and pleasurable machine to use.

 

 

computer network installations west midlands

Computer Installations

Steve

computer network installations west midlandsInstalling a new PC can be a confusing and time consuming task.

All your programmes have to be loaded, emails configured, networks added, printers, phones, ipods … the list is seemingly endless.

Whether you have purchased a computer from us or from elsewhere, we offer a complete service to get you up and running in no time. We tailor our service to your individual needs but a normal installation would involve:

  • Check your computer is correctly set up
  • Connect to the internet and any wireless networks
  • Install your printers, scanners and any other devices
  • Ensure your security software is installed and doing its job correctly
  • Remove unwanted “bloatware” (software included with your computer that you do not want on your computer, a frequent cause of computer slow downs)
  • Offer advice on free programmes that you may find helpful or beneficial
  • Transfer data from your old computer (if required)

Whatever your set up is at home or at work, from a home theatre PC connected to your HDTV, to a office environment with multiple servers and workstations, we aim to offer a complete service. To talk about your particular requirements just contact us for a free, no obligation quote.

 

Kaspersky Internet Secuirty Image

Three of the best Anti Virus packages for your PC

Steve

Kaspersky Internet Secuirty ImageThe huge choice of security packages to keep your PC safe whilst browsing can seem daunting at first.

Here is a quick round up of some of the best paid anti virus and PC security software.

 

Kaspersky

Kaspersky are one of the biggest names in PC security for the home and office. They are a market leader and offer a huge range of products suitable for protecting your PCs at home, work, or even your mobile. They are tried and tested and always perform very well in comparisons with their competitors. With their latest Internet Security suite costing only £39.99, and their basic anti virus costing £29.99 we would suggest that the extra cost is well worth the raft of extra features available to users of the full Internet security suite, best of all Kaspersky offer free trials of their software so you can try before you buy.

Try Kaspersky FREE Today! Click Here.

Avira

Avira have won a number of awards this year for their security software which regularly scores a perfect detection rate, simple to use, zero “false positives”, and most importantly of all for some users, low performance overheads. This means that even older computers with less processing power can run the latest Internet Security suite from avaira without any slowdown affecting their normal computer use.

Avira Security Suite

AVG Technologies

AVG have long been the leader in basic free antivirus but in the last few years they have extended their line to offer a more complete Internet Security solution which is very well priced and comes with a huge array of features which make it particularly easy to use. One of the features some find the most useful is the AVG desktop widget which shows a small, unobtrusive widget in the corner of your desktop reassuring you all is well or advising you if any action is required.

Avg is also remarkably discreet, not bothering you with annoying messages and scanning your machine only when it senses you are not actively working on it. This means an end to your computer coming to a grinding halt whenever a virus scan is scheduled. Combine the awards, vast number of features and ease of use with the current discount being offered and this would be a good choice for any machine.

AVG Internet Security 2012 – 20% off!

Privacy Policy

Steve

ASC Computer Services takes your privacy seriously. This privacy policy describes what personal information we collect and how we use it.

Routine Information Collection

All web servers track basic information about their visitors. This information includes, but is not limited to, IP addresses, browser details, timestamps and referring pages. None of this information can personally identify specific visitors to this site. The information is tracked for routine administration and maintenance purposes.

Cookies and Web Beacons

Where necessary, this website uses cookies to store information about a visitor’s preferences and history in order to better serve the visitor and/or present the visitor with customized content.

Advertising partners and other third parties may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors to our site in order to display advertisements and other useful information. Such tracking is done directly by the third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies. Any affiliate linking from this website may be controlled through the use of cookies. We do not capture or store personal data on this website.

Controlling Your Privacy

Note that you can change your browser settings to disable cookies if you have privacy concerns. Disabling cookies for all sites is not recommended as it may interfere with your use of some sites. The best option is to disable or enable cookies on a per-site basis. Consult your browser documentation for instructions on how to block cookies and other tracking mechanisms.

Google Advertising

Any advertisements served by Google, Inc., and affiliated companies may be controlled using cookies. These cookies allow Google to display ads based on your visits to this site and other sites that use Google advertising services. As mentioned above, any tracking done by Google through cookies and other mechanisms is subject to Google’s own privacy policies.

Ebay advertising

Any advertisements served by Ebay or linked through to Ebay from this site may also be controlled using cookies. These cookies allow Ebay to log you in, track and count visitors or may be used for affiliate tracking. Any tracking done by Ebay through cookies and other mechanisms is subject to Ebay’s own privacy policies.

Registered trademarks

We are not connected with Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, or any other company mentioned in this website. We respect their individual copyright and trademarks and do not attempt to sell their products as our own.

Contact Information

Concerns or questions about this privacy policy can be clarified by contacting ASC Computer Services

PC health checks

PC Home Health Check

Steve

computer health checkOver time your computer will start to slow down and become less responsive and enjoyable to use and this is why we offer our Computer Health Check to address some of the following complaints:

When you initially purchase a computer, it normally comes supplied with a few choice programs and a fresh installation of the latest operating system. Once you have owned that computer for a few years you will have applied numerous updates to the operating system, installed many new programs, added all your family photos and videos, and generally made use of the machine you bought. All of this means you are asking the same machine to do more and more operations with the same amount of resources it had initially, it is no wonder the computer seems slower than when you first bought it. By a process of cleaning out unused files, updates, programs and more we can bring your computer back to running much happier.

Our computer health check service involves a thorough inspection of your computer to ensure that it is running at its most efficient. By tidying up files on your computer, removing items no longer used and helping to organise your information more efficiently we normally see a huge increase in the speed, efficiency and responsiveness of computers. Having a faster running PC is not strictly necessary for some simple computing tasks, but having a machine that is smooth and responsive enables you to enjoy using it much more.

We are able to offer any service customised to your needs, but a general heath check for your machine at your home will normally take approximately 1 hour.

Cheap Website Packages

Starter Website Package only £295 inc hosting

Steve

Cheap Website PackagesWhen first deciding to have a website the vast array of options and choices can be confusing. You have to decide on a domain name, website design, website functions, target audience, hosting packages, security, email and many more things. Our starter website package will get you up and running with a simple design and basic functions, suitable for most websites, which would include the following:

We are able to offer this service for the excellent price of just £295 inc VAT for the complete service tailored to your needs. To talk to us to discuss your requirements please contact us.

Dropbox – the best free online storage software

Steve

In these days of people regularly using or owning more than 1 computer keeping the files you need close at hand is more important than ever. Introducing Dropbox, easily the best file syncing software available for free.

Dropbox is a simple and elegant solution to keeping your essential files to hand. The programme is installed on as many computers as you wish to use and you create yourself an account. Once you have done this the dropbox folder will show on your machine in My Documents (windows computers) and can be used in the same way as any other folder on your machine.

The beauty of this is that any file which are placed inside your Dropbox will be synced to your online Dropbox account this has 3 main functions:

  1. Backup – the online storage offered by Dropbox is fully encrypted and is not viewable by anyone but yourself or people you have decided to share the files with so it can be used as free online storage to protect your important files
  2. Sharing – your Dropbox folder is automatically synced to as many machines as you have installed the programme on. If you have a work computer and a home computer and need to move files between the two, simply add a file to your Dropbox folder at work and by the time you get home the file will be waiting for you on your home PC ready to work on. You can also elect to share a portion of your Dropbox folder with other Dropbox users, so when you put your holiday pictures in your Dropbox folder they can automatically appear on your relatives computer.
  3. Viewable Anywhere – if you require access to your Dropbox files when you are out and about you can log into your account on any computer connected to the internet and view and download your files. You can also install the Dropbox app for many mobile devices including Andriod, Iphone, Ipad and Blackberry so you can have access to your files anywhere.

Dropbox is available for free with 2GB of online storage (up to 100GB available via subscription) and you can earn extra free storage (up to a max of 8GB) by inviting your friends to use Dropbox too. Dropbox is available for free download for Windows, Mac and Linux via the download button below.

Click to download

 

Domain Names Explained

Steve

Domain names are the addresses of your website on the Internet, having a good domain name can mean the difference between a busy, popular site and one that is not so well know or as visible in search results.

Your domain name will follow the format:

www.yourdomainname.com

Here is what each part of the domain name means:

WWW – this means World Wide Web and indicates that this is a website, you cannot change this.

YOURDOMAINNAME – this is the address of your website and will often include a descriptive element to let people know what your website is about.

COM – these were previously used as indicators of where the website is hosted i.e. .com is USA (or worldwide) and .co.uk would indicate your site is based in the UK. This is now not regarded as a indicator of location as there are many options you can choose irrelevant of location i.e. .info, .biz, .eu.

When choosing a domain name you need to decide on a few things:

Availability

There are a limited number of possible domain names and plenty of these are already in use. You cannot use the same domain name as any other website and companies called domain registrars manage this. They will often have a search bar where you can input the name of a website you are considering registering, be warned though if you have a great idea for a domain name and you constantly check if it is still available with a domain registrar, others will be able to see a lot of queries relating to your domain name and, knowing that someone wants that domain name, they may register it before you. Subsequently they may try and sell it back to you at a much higher price.  Our advise would be not to set your heart on one particular domain name but rather work out what you want your domain name to tell people and then look at lots of available options when you decide to have your website built and not before.

Content and competition

You must also decide what your domain name should contain, for example if you wanted a website for a window cleaning business you could spend a lot of money and get a domain name like www.windowcleaner.com, this would get excellent traffic to your site but that traffic would not be targeted to your needs, for example people in America may well find your site but if you only work in a 5 mile radius of London then that is not much use. Alternatively you could go for a name like www.camden-window-cleaners.co.uk, this is much more targeted and as such there will be less competition for visitors searching for ‘window cleaning camden’, or similar. Again you could choose to go for something like www.fredtheladderman.co.uk but this does not include any useful, descriptive, words and quite difficult to read and remember. Our advise would be to think like your target audience, what do they need from your site? what are they searching for to find you? If your site has wide and general interest, try and find a niche that will allow you to stand out.

Com or Co.uk?

Good question! This, again, will depend on what you offer and how you would like to be seen by your audience. For commercial sites having the slightly more expensive .com suffix will suggest that your business is global, if not in practise then in appearance anyway. Equally some domains will be more suited to a .co.uk if they wish to express to their audience that they are based in the UK. Successful sites which may have competitors looking to impersonate their site will want to have all the available suffixes for their domain name (i.e. yourdomain.com & yourdomain.co.uk & yourdomain.biz…)

Whatever your requirements we will be happy to help you choose and purchase the right domain name for your purposes.