Laptops can be vital to our day to day working life and also are often used on a daily basis at home. Many people now have laptops instead of PC’s which allows them to save space and also take it with them where ever they go.

Although laptops can be very handy they are often not the most resilient of technology and can quite easily be damaged.

Screens on laptops are often one of the components that gets damaged due to the laptop being dropped or stood on. This can make the laptop unusable especially if it has cracked or shattered through the middle of the screen.

If you take your laptop to a professional computer repairs specialist then you can expect to pay upwards of £60 for a new screen but did you know often it is quite easy to repair it yourself.

You can buy a new screen off Ebay or Amazon often for as little as £15 – £25 and just by watching a quick tutorial on YouTube, can have the screen replaced within minutes.

There are lots of different options available to you when it comes to choosing the best anti-virus for your PC or Laptop. Some computers come with a free anti-virus for the first year. Often this is Norton, but after the first year you will either need to renew or you will need to buy a different anti virus. There are some free anti virus software available that is really good, such as Avast but this will only offer basic protection. If you are after something that is a little more comprehensive then you should upgrade to the full version. AVG also offer a good paid for anti virus program that is easy to install and update.

When choosing anti virus software of course you do need to consider the price but mostly the protection it offers you. Some will scan emails, any external devices or drivers that are plugged in as well as scanning web pages and downloads.

Have you found that your computer has recently started running slow? If so, this could be for a number of reasons. If you have recently upgraded to Windows 10 then you may be lacking in memory to allow it to run along with any other programs you need. Windows 10 uses 2 GB of RAM for the 64 bit version meaning laptops that only have 2 GB of RAM will then have to reply on the hard disk drive space to run other programs.

If you have an anti virus installed on your PC the likely hood is that this will be running all the time and may take up another huge chunk of the RAM. You cannot do without this software but you may suffer with slow speeds and your computer locking up from time to time.

You do not have to run Windows 10, but if you want to then I would strongly recommend upgrading your RAM memory to as much as possibly to speed everything up.

If you are looking for a new laptop then you may find that you often get asked what spec you are looking for. Ideally the seller is trying to find out what is most important to you in terms of the technology in the laptop and what it is going to be used most for. If for example you want a laptop for gaming then a good quality dedicated graphics card is vital along with a fast processor. If you want the laptop for doing work on the go such as on a train, or as a passenger in a car then you will probably be looking for something with a long  battery life that is light and easily portable.

Before buying a laptop write down a list of what you want to use it most for then work out what sort of spec you need. You ca then easily compare similar models to find out which one is most suited to you and also within your budget.

If your PC is running slow then you may need to upgrade your RAM memory in order to get it to work efficiently. There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait ages for your PC to boot up or to do a simple task such as saving a document, but this is often the case especially in cheaper PC’s and laptops.

Many low cost laptops and PC’s have very little RAM memory to keep the costs low but with software getting more advanced and requiring more memory to run, it can be a constant battle.

Upgrading memory can be fairly easy if you know what you are doing, but if you don’t then I would strongly recommend taking it to a PC repair specialist that will be able to do it for you as you can very easily damage other components. Your PC / Laptop will only be able to take a certain amount of RAM memory so be sure to check this first prior to buying.

Often there comes a time within a business where you need to start upgrading your software and PC’s in order to keep up with the work load and increased number of staff as your company grows.

Ideally you should speak to an IT specialist company to find out what exactly you need to do, but if you would rather do it yourself then you need to be prepared to do some in depth research.

Firstly find out if your current IT set up limits your business in any way and if this limit is affecting your ability to turnover more money or is becoming a large overhead. If this is the case then it’s time to start evaluating your set up.

Firstly look at the PC’s in your office, are they using the latest software? IF not, you may find that staff members are not able to work as quickly as they would like to as their computer is slow or crashes. Investing a little in this area could end up making your staff more productive.

Networking computers is a fairly common task that many companies already use. It allows a group of people on a network to easily share information with each other.

Networking is usually done via an intranet system where all the PC’s are hooked up to a server. This server will pass the information from one PC to the next allowing each user to be able to open and edit documents.

This not only saves time but also can increase security in terms of backing up files from local PC’s to a central one in case of data loss. If sharing sensitive information this network needs to be highly secure to allow it to not be accessed by third parties without your consent.

Making sure that your server is updated regularly and that it, itself is also backed up is a vital part of data security and should be done on a regular basis.

When buying software online, you do need to be really careful that you know exactly what you are buying as many people do get stung. Many auction sites allow software to be listed without really checking if it is legitimate. If the price of the software looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

A friend of mine recently brought what he believed to be a genuine version of Windows 8. He was sent a product key to use after payment and was given a link to the download screen. At first everything seemed fine and all was working correctly but he soon realised that what he had was in fact only a trial version and therefore set to expire in 60 days.

It is very hard to try and get your money back from these types of sales, especially as often you do not have anything physical to show for it.