Best/cheapest laptop tech support provider?

the_mixer

Having problems with my laptop which is running very slow, browser keeps crashing etc. What with this and the fact that I don't know how to back up files and other basic but important things, I'm considering signing up to a tech support thing along the lines of say the 'geek squad' at PC World.

I had a year's warranty on my old laptop and during that time they were very helpful about these things but then got a new one which didn't offer the same level of support, and I missed the chance to learn it all.

I know there will inevitably be some wanting me to do it myself on here but I really don't mind spending twenty quid or whatever to have an expert guide me through it all.

itGuyUK80

Geek Squad... lol... wet behind the ears, but I am saying that from IT professional point of view...

From a consumer point of view I would recommend someone or word of mouth as cost is the not the time it is the loss of data is the true cost..

if you want to learn it yourself check out pluralsight they do have courses on Windows desktop for about £20 per month, but you could take advantage of 10 day trial to see and learn what you need before incurring any cost..

S0litaire

You might want to check local Uni's and Colleges as well. See if they have any short weekend/evening computer courses that teach you the basics of PC repair.

I find that doing something like this in a group makes things easier to learn that sitting by yourself working through an on-line only course work.

The courses tend to be from anywhere between the £100 - £200 mark but that's about the cost of taking it to someone else to repair 3 or 4 times.

Also the college/Uni might have financial support options if you qualify so it might cost you a fraction of the stated cost.

the_mixer

Cheers, but I was really looking for a cheap IT tech advice provider here and now rather than college courses or whatever. Anyone?

NiftyDigits

Run a scan for malware using Malawarebytes AntiMalware, choose to remove all that was found and then run Junkware Removal Tool and next AdwCleaner.

Then reset your Browsers

paddyrg

Ask at the college, not for courses, but for names of graduates locally who'd like to earn £20/hr??

gjchester

the_mixer wrote: »

Cheers, but I was really looking for a cheap IT tech advice provider here and now rather than college courses or whatever. Anyone?

Like anything there are people cheap for a reason, either they take shortcuts, don't do all the job or have had a bad reputation and need to undercut others.


Advice on here will be free and usually pretty good, however without its hard to do diagnosis without having the device, there are some issues that are hardware related and you don't pick up unless you see it person. Similarly you may have put files in a place that makes sense to you but not anyone else and they could be missed when doing a backup, but easily noticed if your at the system.


Its probably also worth posting the spec here, maybe the laptop need more memory in it




Ask your family and friends someone will know someone who can help. At the end of the day whats the data worth to you.

the_mixer

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Run a scan for malware using Malawarebytes AntiMalware, choose to remove all that was found and then run Junkware Removal Tool and next AdwCleaner.

Then reset your Browsers

Thanks. What is happening is my browser keeps freezing, saying 'not responding', and I also keep getting a box appearing saying 'stop plugin' and something else. It's taking forever to load pages or switch tabs now.

Browntoa

Start with reset your browser then

JimmyPage

Sadly my support contracts are for bigger Business server and Network infrastructure.

My advice if college isnt the way, and PC World for support is perhaps a no no I think, as they are paid commission to find fault with software or hardware and thus charge you lots more.

I can suggest some good people but there all up north so depending on where your based I am not sure if its practical.

Jimbo

imho

NiftyDigits,Browntoa,Dogmary They all help for nothing on here so OP would get help to fix his computer his self and learn from it. Will cost him nothing at all thanks to the guys on here spending their time helping people with computer problems.