MX Desktop PCs

The PC Medix provides high quality computers at an affordable rate. All MX Series desktops come with a 1 year manufacturer warranty that is local here to you, not in another state or country. All MX Desktops are built when you order them with the finest parts in the industry. Call The PC Medix at 208.345.3999 or visit our store location for more information.

Old Hard Drives

"Sensitive Data Left on Old Hard Drives. Surveys reveal widespread failures to remove sensitive data from old hard drives."

We pulled this title off an article from PC World. Everyday people across America fall victim to identity theft. One easy way to protect yourself against becoming a victim is to ensure that your old hard drives are either destroyed or wiped clean. Consumers are unaware of the ease of recovering data off of their discarded hard drives.

Your computer may retain vital information such as old email, passwords, credit card numbers, and in some cases your social security number and date of birth. We offer to all our clients who purchase a new computer free data wiping of their old drives. We also encourage our customers to destroy their hard drives rather than donate them along with their PC.

As always, if you have any questions, we encourage you to call and ask.

MySpace

BEWARE!!!

Here is something that avid users of MySpace should be aware of:

"Malware installed by fake MySpace navigation bars has infected several thousand PCs, according to the SANS Institute."

To read the full article go here:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,133573-pg,1/article.html

If you do end up reading the full article, it mentions that the predators of this attack only gained access to those people using Internet Explorer who had NOT installed recent Windows updates. This proves even more how important it is to make sure Windows and your Anti-Virus are up to date.

Video Cards

When choosing which components to either upgrade your PC with or add to your new PC, be sure to consider adding a video card. Almost every computer out on the market today has what is known as an integrated video card. This video card is embedded onto the motherboard of the computer and relies on the system RAM to store its video memory. While using this style of video card is ample enough for the average home user, those seeking an extra edge out of their PC or those wanting to play high end video games such as World of Warcraft, would greatly benefit from the addition of a video card.

When choosing to add a video card to your computer, there are a few things to consider. Most importantly is what connection slot you have on your motherboard. For instance, you may have an older computer that only supports AGP, or you may have a newer computer that supports PCI Express. Of course the newer the technology (computer) the faster the card will perform.

Here are a couple more important things to consider when choosing which kind of video card to purchase; what the system requirements of the game you will be playing are and the other components in your system. For example, if you spend $200 on a video card but only have 256MB of RAM, chances are you're not going to do much good.

As always, we encourage our customers to call us before making any major decisions. We are always willing to assist our customers and give them the best advice possible.

Vista

As many people may know, there is a new Windows based operating system out on the market today known as Vista. While Microsoft has worked diligently to create this flag ship operating system, there are a few things that the average consumer should be aware of before purchasing a new PC with Vista.

Check with the manufacturers of any proprietary software or any software older than a few months. Just as an example, older versions of Quickbooks and Quicken are not listed as being compatible with Vista, so too are anti-virus products older than about 6 months.

As far as with printers, some newer printers install relatively easy, where as some printers require advanced configuration, while some older printers do not work at all. Some digital cameras and their software do not work correctly if at all with Vista. You'll want to check for compatibility with the manufacturers of all your peripherals before purchasing a Vista machine.

Don't get me wrong, Vista does have its place. The graphics are amazing and Microsoft has done a wonderful job in trying to make it user friendly. One day this WILL be their flag ship operating system. As a standard, we always suggest that consumers wait until the first service pack has been realeased before choosing to purchase the new OS. These are some of the reasons why all the computers we inventory and sell are still preloaded with XP.

Maintenance 2

As I said previously in my first post about maintenance; just like your car needs regular maintenance, so too does your PC. In this post I have decided to embellish on some easy ways to keep your computer running like new.

I can not stress enough, update, update, update. Make sure that your computer is updating. Not just Windows, but your anti-virus as well. It is very important to ensure that Windows is updating when it should be. By default, your computer should be set to automatically download the Windows updates and install them throughout the night.

Your anti-virus program should check for updates constantly and should apply those updates immediately. If you anti-virus is outdated or has expired, Windows will notify you by displaying a red shield next to the clock down in the task bar. It is very important to keep on top of your anti-virus program. This will prevent costly repairs for virus removal and keep your data safe. And trust us, it's worth the $50 a year.

With that said, here are some weekly things you can do to keep your computer running top notch. First, be sure to run a full system scan with your anti-virus. This may take an hour or two, but it will ensure that every file is clean. Second, run the disk cleanup utility (CLICK on "Start", Goto "All Programs", "Accessories", "System Tools"). This will remove any temporary files stored on your computer. A lot of times, viruses and spyware will hide out in these folders.

Those are the three most important maintenance tips. Follow those tips, and you will help prolong your PCs data and life.

For more information, please contact The PC Medix and be sure to check back often for more updates.

Pins

Every wonder why your new computer only has USB? What happened to those serial or parallel ports? What about those nice round PS/2 connections for the mouse and keyboard? Ever try putting in your mouse connection wrong and bend a pin?

There is a simple answer: breakable pins. Yes, it is true that USB transfers at a higher data rate than the old serial and parallel connections; but USB has no breakable pins (well, unless you force it in). In fact, with the growth of LCD screens, you will notice that VGA connections are disappearing and being replaced by DVI. While DVI provides a better signal than VGA, the biggest benefit is that the pins are near indestructible.

If you venture inside the computer you'll find the same lack of pins. Serial ATA cables are replacing IDE cables; IDE consist of 80 pins tightly placed together. Bend one of those and good luck using the cable for anything productive. Even some newer processors are pin free and use contact points to connect to the motherboard.

As technology advances, and components become faster, smarter, and better, we see them becoming more user friendly. With the extinction of breakable pins and other various moving parts, it is inevitable to see computers that are built to last. Or at least less likely to break.

RAM

Sometimes, one of the most overlooked components and yet sometimes one of the most overly considered components is RAM. There are a lot of different myths about how much RAM you should and shouldn't have. There are a few things to take into consideration when choosing how much RAM to put into your computer.

A lot of people including computer technicians feel that the more RAM you have the better. With Vista this is may be true, however with Windows XP machines this is not the case. First off, most people don't realize that if you install too much RAM it can cause your computer to get slow or confused. Yes, in some cases you would want a ton of RAM, i.e.: video editing, graphics design, but in our experience too much of a good thing can be bad.

We always suggest having a minimum of 512MB of RAM with XP and 1.0GB with Vista. Generally we suggest having 1.0GB in order to make sure that your computer stays compatible for future applications and everything runs smoothly. Most people are unaware that on board video graphics take away from your total amount of RAM. These days that can be as much as 256MB. If you only have 512MB that leaves Windows and all your applications with only half the amount of RAM available.

As you can see, choosing the right amount of RAM can be confusing. It all depends on what you truly are going to be using your PC for. To be on the safe side, we always suggest going with 1.0GB. Worse case scenario, RAM is fairly easy to upgrade if more is needed in the future.

Have questions? Don't be afraid to ask. We're here to help...

Backup

Often enough we have customers come into the store that have a failing hard drive. Loosing your data can be very detrimental for a business and very heartbreaking for someone at home.

Most recently we had a customer bring in a hard drive that was failing. The hard drive contained all their family photos and all the baby photos of their children. Since the drive was internally damaged, we had to ship the drive to a facility that could disassemble the drive and pull the data off. This process cost our client $2500. A price that they were more than willing to pay to retrieve their priceless photos.

An easy way to protect your photos is to burn a CD every time you come back from a vacation or an activity. A CD should hold anywhere from 250 to 500 pictures. Label the CD with the name of the vacation and put it in a fire proof safe. Another upside is that some DVD players will play your new picture CD. I would still recommend keeping them on your PC for easy access, but now you have a backup of your pictures and blank CDs are relatively inexpensive.

Feel free to contact us for more great and simple backup ideas.

Educate

Anti-virus products can be the most effective way to protect YOU and your computer from intruders and from costly repairs and service calls. Not all anti-virus products are created equal. Companies like McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro spend countless dollars on developing virus definitions to protect their users from the dangers of the internet. More and more commonly hackers are developing web sites that are designed for stealing your personal information, known as "phishing".

The key to making sure that you stay well protected is through knowledge. As technology and the web change everyday, it becomes more and more difficult to stay on top of the game. However, we're here to help. Through this blog we hope to educate not only our clients, but the general public on how to protect their most valuable information and use the web for what it was designed to do.

Maintenance

Remember, just like our cars need regularly scheduled maintenance, so does our computers. There are many things that you can do to make sure that your PC stays a well oiled machine and to ensure its longevity.

For starters, always be sure that the critical Windows updates are ALWAYS installed. Yes, it is true that from time to time there can be issues with a Windows update, but it's just like getting a vaccination. The pros more than out weigh the cons. Microsoft comes out with these updates to fix security holes and other Windows vulnerabilities that could possibly be susceptible to hackers.

Check back often for more PC tips.

Coming Soon...

Please check back soon for daily tips on how to maintain your PC and keep it running like new. We will also be posting any critical information such as virus alerts and critical Windows updates. In the meantime, download our toolbar to stay connected with us. With our toolbar we're just a click away from solving your computer needs.