If you use a computer for business purposes and it breaks down suddenly you will need to repair it as fast as possible. There are many valuable information related to your business that are stored in your computer and without it you might have to face heavy losses in your business. Similarly, in a home setting, a broken personal computer is no fun either. In fact, today in this hi-tech world it is simply impossible to imagine a single day without logging on to check email or playing a favorite game.

Your computer might not be working properly due to some virus attract or due to downloading of some program which has actually wrecked the functioning of the system. There might also be some hardware problem too. If you are an expert in computer hardware you can do it yourself, but if you don’t have any knowledge about it, it’s better to consult some expert to do the computer hardware repair for you. It is not at all advisable to try to repair your computer yourself or your might end up having a a useless box.

While looking for home computer repair services, make sure to find the most cost effective, reliable and professional home computer repair service provider available in your locality. For instance if you have a computer and you’re living in Ontario, you must look for a home computer repair dealer to handle the technical problems your computer might be facing. These technical problems are aware of latest software and hardware problems and know the right solution for it. These people are experts in their respective fields as they have gone under training by either computer manufacturing companies or at some reputed professional training colleges.

Technical experts know all about repairing computers, and laptops in a comprehensive, methodical, systematic and effective manner. Look are a reputed computer repair professionals within your locality and tell them in details about the problems you are having with your home or business computers. Either you have to take your computer to a repair center or some experts will come to your place to rectify the computer problem, in a proper and cost-effective manner.

Brain Tech is a leading providing of business computer repair services of high quality. All the technicians working here are experts at computer hardware repair, maintenance and bug fixing.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) –
As iPad commanded the technology world's attention, Google continued working quietly on tablet computer software that could run rivals to Apple's latest creation.

Pictures of what a Google tablet might look like were featured at a Chromium developers web page on Tuesday along with talk of how touchscreen controls could work based on the Internet titan's Chrome computer operating system.

The images were posted online two days before the January 27 event at which Apple unveiled an iPad tablet computer that will begin shipping worldwide in March.

“You may have seen our Chrome OS tablet concepts from last Monday; in the video, some floating hands interact with a touch surface,” Google Chrome lead designer Glen Murphy wrote in a personal blog post.

“We only used one hand image instead of showing the full range of gestures, but I did make a larger set.”

Google made images and video of Google tablet gesture control capabilities available online for developers to consider.

The “concept user interface under development” could signal another front on which Google will battle with Apple, which uses its own custom software in the iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Macintosh computers.

The website focused on Chrome OS software and did not indicate whether Google would make its own tablet or opt to let others tend to the hardware.

Google's mobile Android software is built into iPhone competitors, including the Internet firm's own Nexus One smartphone released in January.

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If you are a parent, you need to learn about this. If that means taking a course or buying a book, then do it. It is very hard to protect your kids if you don’t know what they are doing. The next articles discuss how a predator works and how easy you can make it for them. Then, after we thoroughly scare you we will show you how to set up protection. But, this week we will start with the 10 essential tips to safeguard your children.

1- Don’t forbid Internet use. In all probability they will defy your ban on the sly.

2- Filtering software won’t block all the dangers kids face online, but it is a good start. Visit web sites with your child wherever possible.

3- Understand the technologies. Take a class, read books, try the sites yourself. The more you know the better you can talk to your children.

4- Real important, place the computer in a common room. Kids won’t expect privacy there.

5- Talk to the parents of your child’s friends. Most kids use computers at a friend’s home.

6- Teach your kids the “embarrassment rule”. Never post anything they wouldn’t want everyone to read.

7- Tell them to be careful about what they post regarding other people. Predator friendly info is often left by friends posting comments.

8- Let your child know that it’s important to tell you if he or she is ever approached online or receives inappropriate content.

9- Look for red flags that your child is in danger, such as minimizing a browser when you enter the room or type phrases like POS (Parent over shoulder) into chat windows.

10- If you think there may be a problem, report it to the authorities, and also to your Internet service provider.

Keeping your child safe online requires constant vigilance. The high number of missing and exploited children attests to the fact that internet predators can be a real threat. In the next article we will discuss how a predator can find out information about your child, including where your child lives.

Copyright 2006 Computer Guys Live Inc.

About The Author

Chris Kaminski has been working in computer repair and web development for the last 20 years. Kaminski is CEO and head technician for Computer Guys Live Inc., an online computer repair company based in Asheville, NC. He writes informative weekly articles about internet safety and computer technology. Visit http://computerguyslive.com for more tech tips, online computer repair and internet safety information.

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Every day we save a lot of data in various files on our computer during the course of our normal work routine. The whole operation does not require much of intervention and the work that we save gets stored easily. You will realize the importance on data only when you are not able to access it for some reason. Hard drive crashes are the single biggest cause of non availability of data in a computing environment. Only a hard drive data recovery professional can help you out and try and get back the data that is located on the damaged hard drive.

One of the most common mistakes that some of us make is to try and see if the drive is working properly after the problem is detected. The hard drive is a complex piece of electronics and banging your palm against it is not going to make everything all right. On the contrary, you will be further reducing your chances of getting a full data recovery if you continue to persist with your amateurish efforts at getting your hard drive to function again.

Therefore, the first thing that you have to do is to find out a firm that specializes in data recovery and ascertain the credentials of the firm. This is very important as you are planning to engage a firm with specialized skills to complete the task of data recovery. It is easy to ascertain the capabilities of the firm offering the data recovery services if you make a detailed study of their website. Most of the hard drive data recovery companies have very detailed sections in their website that attempts to explain their methods to their prospective clients. While perusing the details regarding the data recovery options, you can find out the reliability of the firm by looking at the level of technical details in these pages.

The data recovery firms that are reliable know that their clientele may not have the necessary technical background to understand the data recovery methodology in depth. They will therefore explain the whole process in an easy to understand language with plenty of examples. This is probably an indicator of the level of concern that the hard drive data recovery vendor has for its prospective and existing clients. The contract packages and the terms of service must also be similarly enumerated in a clear format so that it becomes easy for you to make a choice from among the many that are on o
1000
ffer by the vendor.

When selecting a vendor make sure that they have the requisite experience in recovering data from all brands of hard drives. This is the best indicator that you would have of the depth of expertise that the vendor’s team has in data recovery operations of a similar kind. With the information and details that you have gathered from the vendor make your final assessment and hand over your hard drive to the firm that you think will handle the hard drive data recovery job in the most efficient manner.

By: Brian John

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Mark Sand is the author of this article on Data Recovery.
Find more inform

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This guide deals with troubleshooting a PC that won’t boot to the point where it at least starts loading an operating system (hardware related problem). This article is intended for a person who has a little knowledge of PC’s and is comfortable opening up and working inside a PC. If this isn’t you, then I recommend taking your PC to a qualified PC repair shop. This is meant as a general troubleshooting guide and by no means covers every scenario that can occur, any omissions or mistakes were not intentional and will be updated as necessary.

Now let’s get started..

Keep it Simple

First and foremost, I cannot stress enough that when it comes to troubleshooting PC’s, KEEP IT SIMPLE! You will save yourself a lot of time and effort if you start looking for the simplest and most obvious solutions first.

With that being said here is a list of a few things you should start checking first..

1. Check the Power Cable

(reason: ensure the PC is getting power and that the problem isn’t simply a bad power cable)

Is it plugged into the back of the PC tightly?
Is it plugged into a power source?
If it is connected to a power bar — is the power bar plugged in and turned on?
If possible try a different power cord and/or power bar
Is a breaker blown in the building? Try a different wall plug

2. Check the monitor

(reason: make sure the monitor is still working. When you boot a PC you expect to see something on the monitor, if you don’t, one may think their PC isn’t working when in fact there is something wrong with the monitor)

Is the power cable plugged in tight to the back of the monitor?
Is the power cable plugged into a power source?
If it is connected to a power bar — is the power bar plugged in and turned on?
Is the monitor turned on?
Is the monitor’s video cable plugged tightly into the video card on the PC?
Are the contract and brightness settings of the monitor adjusted correctly?
If possible try a different monitor.

3. Visually check the power supply

(reason: a PC may boot to a point with a failing power supply but can quickly overheat causing it to the PC to stop functioning)

Does the fan turn when the PC is turned on?
Does it feel hot to the touch?
Do any lights come on when the PC power button is pressed?

4. Check the keyboard

(reason: a PC needs a keyboard to boot, most times if there is a keyboard problem a message will be displayed on the screen, however this may not always be the case and the computer may just stop booting)

Is the keyboard connected to the PC?
If possible try a different keyboard.

5. Check the floppy and CD drive

(reason: when a PC boots, by default it will try and boot from the floppy or CD drive first. If there is a disk in either of these drives even if it is not a bootable disk, the PC may try to boot from the disk. Most times an error is displayed when it can’t boot from the disk but this isn’t always the case)

Is there a disk in the floppy drive?
Is there a disk in the CD drive?

A person may think that it is a waste of time to check such simple things and want to skip the above checklist. I cannot count how many times I have been called to troubleshoot a PC only to find that a power bar was turned off or there was a disk in the floppy or CD drive. Take the time now to check the easy things— I guarantee you it will save a lot of headaches and frustrations.

Advanced Troubleshooting

When a computer is first turned on, the hardware runs a Power-On Self Test (POST). If errors are encountered during this POST test, they are usually indicated by a beep or in the form of a code displayed on the screen. With this error code you can determine what part of the system is having problems and find a solution. You have probably heard a beep code in the past and just not realized it. You know the one or two short beeps your computer makes when you first turn it on, that is a beep code indicating everything checks out OK. With some PC’s it may seem like there isn’t any beep code, what is probably happening here is there is a problem with the internal speaker inside the PC, it is either not present, not functioning any longer or not connected properly to the motherboard. If this is the case in your instance, check to see a visual code is being displayed on the monitor, if nothing then skip ahead to the next section.

To check for an error code on your PC, turn the computer on and listen for any beeps or look on the monitor screen for a code. As I mentioned, one or two short beeps indicates everything is OK, if you experience any different sequence or length of beeps, write down what you heard, (e.g. 1 long beep followed by two short beeps) or write down the error code on the screen. Error codes vary from PC to PC depending on the manufacturer of the motherboard inside the PC. It would be beyond the scope of this guide to include every manufacturer error codes as some may be missed and some may change as new technology is introduced. Performing a search on the Internet using your favorite search engine will find many sites specific to your PC. They will have a list of codes, what they mean and potentially how to fix them, look for the code you wrote down previously. The hardware generally checked by the POST test is the motherboard, CPU, power supply, memory and video card. If the error c!

ode indicates a problem in one of these areas, make sure all cards in the PC are seated correctly in the motherboard slots and that the power supply cables are connected snuggly to the motherboard. If all of this has been done and you still receive an error code then chances are the device has failed and will need to be replaced.

If the POST test doesn’t reveal the source of the problem the next step is to open up the PC.

Staying with the theme of keeping it simple we will want to try and start the PC with the minimum hardware required to boot a computer. All you need to boot a PC is the motherboard, memory, some sort of media (floppy disk, hard disk, CD, etc.) and a video card. What we will want to do is remove or disconnect any unnecessary hardware.

Leave one form of media drive connected to boot with, preferably the floppy drive if available, and disconnect all other drives.
Remove all cards except for the video card.
Remove all memory except for one stick
Insert bootable media (floppy disk, CD, etc.) and power on the PC

If the PC doesn’t boot with the minimum hardware then the problem may lie with the video card, memory or the motherboard. Try using a different stick of memory if you have one as well try using a different video card. Friends and family can be great sources for this, ask to borrow their video card or memory from their PC, just make sure to return it when you are done. If swapping the memory and video card don’t work then you more than likely have a problem with the motherboard and it will need to be replaced.

If it does boot.

Turn it off
Insert or connect one hardware device that was previously removed
Try booting again.
Repeat these steps until the computer no longer boots.

Once the PC doesn’t boot again the last hardware device that was connected is the problem and should be replaced or permanently removed.

If you get to this point and your PC still doesn’t want to load an operating system then it is time to have a qualified computer technician look at the problem or purcahse a new PC. You gave it your best shot but sometimes a fresh set of eyes can see something that may have been missed.

About The Author

Copyright © 2005 by Keith Park all rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy this article if it is published unchanged with all links and Resource box information kept intact.

Keith Park has been in the IT industry for the last 7 years and is the author of the website TechCorner PC Resource Zone. For more articles and resources go to http://www.techcorner.ca/computers

Also check out http://mgrcentral.com/computers/default.aspx?studentid=1575219 for even more computer resources.

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