Protecting Personal Information

Many of our clients ask us about destroying or erasing an old hard drive when they upgrade to a new computer. It has become more popular to donate or find another use for an old PC to help lessen ones carbon footprint on the earth. There are many programs that claim to erase a hard drive that have both paid and free versions. They use reformatting multiple times to erase and clean the hard drive so that any old information becomes unusable. A popular program for this is called DBan.

Other clients have found it safest to physically destroy their old hard drives. By removing the hard drive from your computer and hitting it a couple of times with a hammer you insure that your data is irretrievable.

If you have a new computer and are concerned about data protection you should consider data encryption. Windows 7 offers a safe easy way of turning on file encryption. When you encrypt a file or folder, you are converting it to a format that can't be read by other people. A file encryption key is added to files or folders that you choose to encrypt.
For further information call or visit us at www.alohacomputers.net

Blue Screen of Death Error

I visited a long time client yesterday that gave me an idea for my information post. Now this user like many of our clients is a beginner user and started having trouble with her desktop computer. Inevitably she got the blue screen of death and not knowing what it would take to fix it since it was called the blue screen of DEATH she decided to purchase a new laptop. Now a BSOD does not occur just before your computer is going to combust rather is can appear for all sorts of reasons. This error shows when Windows detects a hardware or driver error which will not allow it to continue operating properly. In other words, it happens all the time, for all sorts of reasons.
At the very bottom of the screen there is a stop error message that tells (in code of course) why your computer is refusing to start.
It your confident and comfortable working with your computer write down the stop error at the bottom of the screen and either call a repair shop or search for that error of the internet. Most of the time the stop error is reasonably specific and you are able to find out whether is a silly software update change or if it is something more serious like your hard drive has failed. A simple reboot or disk check can often quickly fix these errors and allow your computer to reboot normally. I guess the underlying theme would be to ask a question about the error and for goodness sake don’t buy a new computer unless you KNOW you need a new one!

LCD Replacement VS New Computer Replacement

Over the last few weeks the shop has gotten inundated with questions in regards to LCD laptop replacements. We have heard "My dog stepped on my laptop" to "the shipping company moving my household goods and re-delivered it this way" to "one plane ride and opps". No matter what reason each customer asked if it is cost effective to replace the LCD in their laptop.
Having done hundreds of LCD replacements on the last few years we weigh the age of the system and the cost of the screen. Most LCD cost between 80-150 to get to the islands. Labor for replacement is $75.00. So most of the time LCD replacement is under 200.00. An easy fix to get you back in touch with the online world!

Please call or email us for more information.
Aloha Computer Consulting and Repair, LLC
67-096 Kealohanui St #C (across from Waialua Library)
Waialua Hawaii 96791
808-372-2667 or 808-237-4558
info@alohacomputers.net