Global PC Consultants Newsletter
What do you do when your computer/laptop is in a need of an immediate repair? October 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
-- What do you do when your computer/laptop is in a need of an immediate repair?
To our customer
This is the beginning of the series of our weekly newsletters to all our valued customers. You must remember us since the time we fixed your laptop/desktop/network, maybe ipod or pda or any other electronic gadget that you probably broke, stepped on or spilled the wine or coffee on. We proudly came to the rescue and delivered quality service to you without any unnecessary delay, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are your computer and laptop “doctors”: Arthur, Rev, Ivan and Edwin.
Every week/month we will email you a new topic discussion, or just a suggestion on how to keep your computer virus free, spam free, and in good working condition. Our newsletters are designed to be educational and, if followed correctly, could benefit both the computer and the user. You are more than welcome to post your discussion topic or a question you might have on http://www.tristatetek.com/forum/ board. By following our suggestions and learning a few helpful tips you can avoid calling us for service and SAVE your money. You can always email us for technical issues you encounter or post your questions on our bulletin board. Feel free to call us anytime, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and remember: CONSULTATION IS ALWAYS FREE.
What do you do when your computer/laptop is in a need of an immediate repair?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hello again from Global PC Consultants, formerly TriStateTek. Today we want to cover an important topic. What do you do when your computer/laptop is in a need of an immediate repair?? Here are few tips and suggestions we would like to share with you. We hope you can find it useful and helpful. Your feedback and comments are always appreciated.
That's a very good question, because you never know when your computer is going to have problems and you won't have much time to waste looking for a place to go to get it fixed. You're obviously going to want to look for a place that will fix your computer in a timely manner and you'll want to find a reputable place. Before you go looking for a repair shop, you'll want to answer a couple of questions first to get a game plan on what you should do.
Read on...this and more articels on our Blogger
First of all, is your computer still under warranty? If your computer is, you're going to want to contact your computer's manufacturer and they will give you information on where you should take your computer to be repaired. If you have a complete warranty, it will often cover the parts and/or labor if authorized by the repair center. Next, what if just a part of your computer needs to be fixed and you're not sure if that particular component is under warranty or not? Most hardware devices that you purchase separately from your computer will have their own warranties, so you should have different paperwork for each part if you opted to get the coverage when you bought it. Any part that was already included in your computer when you purchased it will run under the same warranty as your whole computer. So, if you've answered both of those questions and you're still out of luck, what should you do next? You can do a search online for computer repair shops around your area. Most of those sites also offer customer feedback, so you can read some reviews from other people who have gone to the same shop. That's one way you can decide if that particular place is going to be worth your time or not. You can also look in the yellow pages in your phone book for places to go.
You're just going to want to look for a local repair center to take your computer to. We have two conveniently located offices, 248 West 35th Street, (22 floor) and 319 Broadway, (4 floor). If you're not sure what's wrong with your computer, we can pin down the problem and do what needs to be done to fix it. All estimates are always FREE. And it’s done while-u- wait. Why take your laptop or computer anywhere? We can bring the shop to you. We are open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. We can have an engineer at your door within 2 hours, after you placed a call. Our engineers are fully equipped to handle any disaster. We can take apart your laptop or desktop right in front of you, and do whatever is necessary to get you up and running. All our engineers are equipped with laptops, digital volt meters, soldering gun, cables, hard drives etc. Very convenient option for a busy New Yorker. Give them a call, explain your problem on the phone, see and get a feel of the tech on the other end of the line. Do you know that 20% of all computer problems can be solved over the phone? If the engineer is willing to spend 10 minutes on the phone with you, there is a chance you don’t have to take your computer anywhere, and you can consider yourself lucky. Global PC Consultants employ engineers, not sales staff, you can always be sure, when you call us, you will get a tech to answer the phone. All engineers are trained to provide a full phone support and if the issue can be resolved over the phone, we will take all the necessary steps to do so. And the best part about it - it’s FREE.
Half of our clients have a remote services setup, so when they call we can easily access their desktop and fix the problem, for the most part. Most of the times it’s a free or low cost service, since there is no need to send the tech or for you to come to us. Another convenient option for a busy professional. Did we mention FREE pick up and deliveries? Yes we do, free pick up and deliveries in the city. Why come to us, we pick up and delivery within 2 hours, and you can have your working computer next day. We are full service shop, and we stand behind our work. All repairs are guaranteed.
We launched a new gadget repair division. If you have a broken IPOD, PDA, cell phone, mp3 player, psp, camera or any other electronic gadget. We are the guys that can fix it for you, and we make it reasonable enough for you to fix your unit vs. buying a new one. Also, if you're completely sure that a part of your computer is unfixable, you may just want to think about buying a brand new part or a computer/laptop. It could often cost less than having it repaired at a computer shop. Our computers are very important in our lives today and I know that it's hard to live without them, so if you think your computer needs some fixing, don't waste any time. Check into getting it repaired as soon as you can, so it doesn't get any worse with time. Thank you. Sincerely, Arthur Zilberman Senior Engineer 212-920-4833 (direct) 866-877-9855 (toll free) Global PC Consultants LLC 319 Broadway, 4 floor New York, NY 10007 arthur.z@globalpcconsultants.com

What are restoration CDs and why do we need them?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you buy your new computer, printer, scanner, ipod, pda or a digital camera you usually receive multiple cds , bundles of different little boxes together with your package. A lot of people put them away and pay no special attention to them. After some time passes, they are forgotten alltogether lost. Why do we need them? Why are they so important to keep? All disks inside the package are drivers cds supplied to you by manufacturer of the product. These are sets of programs or files designed to act as a translator or a communicator between your peripheral (printer, scanner, digital camera, etc..) and Windows. For example, there are 50-100 manufactures of mouse and keyboards and every company makes their hardware or electronics differently. As a result, they supply a code which will be able to operate their hardware accordingly. But one thing they all have in common: they are all based on Microsoft Windows. Usually if you look inside the CD’s content you will see folder or directories labeled Win98, WinME, WinXP and Win2000. These are the drivers for different operating systems. Depending on which version of Windows you are running, the “Windows installer” would find the correct set of drivers and install it for you. So, before you plug in any peripheral, by definition of user manual, you must install drivers (or Cd in this case) before plugging in any hardware. Once the drivers are installed, you may plug in your new computer toy. Windows “plug-n-play” function will locate drivers for it and you are now on your way to start using your new computer gadget.

What are restoration CDs and why do we need them?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes there is a need to reinstall your drivers, for whatever reason it might be. Maybe you accidentally unplugged your devise while it was on and active (printing, for example) and your current drivers became corrupted, or you downloaded something from the internet and it was conflicting with your scanning software. Both programs are not working now. You will be now looking for the CDs that came with your peripheral. Engineer will need those disks as well on their arrival. Therefore, it will be the first thing they ask for.
You can also download it from the internet, but if takes too long if you have a dial up connection. You may be out of luck as well if you don’t have one at all or if its not working. You always want to make copies of your restoration CDs that came with your pc or your laptop. It contains an exact image of your hard drive. And, if you ever need to reformat your hard drive due to the hardware failure, corrupted software or a virus, you can always rely on your restoration cds. You will have your software installed the same way you received your computer, brand new in a box the day you bought it. If the cds are lost, you either will have to call manufacturer and go through a long verification process, and still get charged $50 to $100 for another set of CDs, or you will march to the local store and buy copy of Windows, Office, Anti virus and etc for your own money and be very upset about the whole situation. So KEEP the original CDs in the safe place and NEVER discard them. Make copies and store them separately. You rather be safe then sorry!