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Buying a new computer
And if you don’t set it up correctly, you can open yourself up to having some real problems down the road.
I’ve been setting up new PCs for close to three decades, and during that time I’ve developed a simple step-by-step procedure that’ll have you up and running with your new computer as quickly a possible while avoiding the mistakes that come back to haunt so many others. [Read more…]
Does this scenario sound familiar? You buy a new computer, take it home, set it up and begin using it.
Everything works just fine for several months, but then one morning it just refuses to boot into Windows. Try as you might, you can’t get the system to come up. Oh well, time to send it on for repair, right?
But then a question pops into your mind: Is the computer still under warranty? You know you’ve had it close to a year, but is the warranty still in effect? Did you spring for the extended warranty when you bought it? No problem, you’ll just get that information right off of the receipt.
Uh-oh, you can’t find the receipt! What to do now? [Read more…]
Question from Cameron G.: Rick, I have a 7 year old HP desktop PC that’s served me very well over the years, but I decided to replace it after reading your post about Microsoft ending support for Windows XP early next year.
A good friend of mine says I can save a lot of money by buying the parts and building my new computer from scratch, and he even offered to help me. But I’m skeptical about about actually saving any money that way because I looked into it a few years ago and the numbers didn’t seem to add up.
What do you think about it? Can I really save money by building a PC from scratch instead of buying one outright? And if so, do you have any tips that might help me save a few extra bucks?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]