(Photo by Steve Rawley)
Please don’t let your computer problems wash you out to sea.
A disclaimer: I am not giving this advice as a paid representative of the school district.
But I do often get asked, by my students, friends and family members, How do I fix my computer at home? So here are some tips (which I borrowed freely from my husband, Computer Guy):
1) If your computer is more than six months old… Buy a new computer.
2) Gah. I do not care for that advice, being a fan of the reduce/re-use/recycle school of thought.
3) Make sure you’re running a good virus protection program such as Windows Defender. (It is free to download.)
4) You might want to buy some additional memory for your machine. (Runs about $40 or so?) Crucial.com is a good analysis tool to see what kind of memory your computer needs.
5) If all else fails, and if it’s a Windows machine, you can try re-installing Windows, but you will need to save your data first. (Also, you will need to have your original Windows disks). Save your data to an external hard drive (they run about 100 bucks, and it’s good to have an extra on hand to do your back-ups, anyway.) (You do do regular back-ups on your machine, I hope?) If there’s not too much data, you might be able to use a thumb drive (or two) to save your info. (These are inexpensive now — I usually pick them up at Fred Meyer for $10. You can find them in the check-out line, or in the home electronics section).
6) We got rid of Microsoft at our house (thank you, 29 viruses from the Cartoon Network website) (yes, I said it, 29 viruses! We’re not immune over here) and swapped to Linux, using Ubuntu, a free, open-source Operating System. It took me awhile to get the hang of the word processing feature, but now I would not switch back for anything.
7) PS this is not a ad or endorsement for anybody or anything, I just feel your pain when your computer crashes.
Hope this helps a little? Have a great week! Eight more days until spring break for us, woooooooooooooooot!
— Mrs. R