How to Wipe a Hard Drive

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By Marco Horn /  Tim Fisher

How to Wipe a Hard Drive

To wipe a hard drive means to completely erase the drive of all its information. Deleting everything does not wipe a hard drive and formatting does not usually wipe a hard drive. You’ll need to take an extra step to wipe the hard drive so the data cannot be easily reconstructed later.

When you format a hard drive or delete a partition, you’re usually only deleting the file system, making the data invisible, or no longer actively indexed, but not gone. A file recovery program or special hardware often recovers the information.

If you want to make sure that your private information is gone forever, you’ll need to wipe the hard drive using special software

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hard-drive

Wipe vs Shred vs Delete vs Erase: What’s the Difference?

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By Marco Horn /  Tim Fisher

Wipe vs Shred vs Delete vs Erase: What’s the Difference?

You can delete a file without erasing it, erase a drive without wiping it, shred a file without deleting it, and wipe hundreds of files at once…that were already deleted.Confused?
I’m not surprised! These four terms—wipe, shred, delete, and erase—might sometimes be used interchangeably but they shouldn’t be.
Each word implies something different being done to a file, folder, or even space that looks empty, on a hard drive, flash drive, or some other storage device

Here’s how these concepts differ and why it’s important that you understand exactly how they do:

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Why Your Laptop Is Running so Slow?

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By Marco Horn /  Tim Fisher

Why Your Laptop Is Running so Slow?

Tips to speed up your laptop so it runs like new again Is your laptop running slow?
No matter whether it’s old or new, a Windows PC or a MacBook, using a slow laptop isn’t an enjoyable experience.  If you’re looking for ways to make your laptop run faster by upgrading it with faster storage and RAM, or by removing items that could be slowing you down, such as malware, viruses, and even anti-virus apps, or you just want to streamline your laptop for optimum performance, then this is the place to start.
We’ve gathered these laptop performance-related tips that can breathe new life into your old laptop, or make your new one really take off.

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5 Simple Fixes for Most Computer Problems

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By Marco Horn /  Tim Fisher

5 Simple Fixes for Most Computer Problems

You may have already decided that the computer problem you’re dealing with is too hard to fix yourself, or at least not something you’re interested spending your time doing.
Try these simple fixes before calling tech support.

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Cooling PC

11 Ways to Keep Your Computer Cool

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By Marco Horn /  Tim Fisher

Your computer contains a lot of parts, almost all of which create heat when your computer is on. Some parts, like the CPU and graphics card, can get so hot you could cook on them.
In a properly configured desktop or laptop computer, much of this heat is moved out of the computer’s case by several fans. If your computer isn’t removing the hot air fast enough, the temperature can get so hot that you risk serious damage to your PC. Needless to say, keeping your computer cool should be a top priority.
Below are eleven computer cooling solutions that anyone can do. Many are free or very inexpensive, so there’s really no excuse to let your computer overheat and cause damage.
You can test your computer’s CPU temperature if you suspect that it’s overheating and that a PC cooler or other solution is something you should look into.
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new laptop

Should You Upgrade or Replace Your Laptop?

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By Marco Horn /  Tim Fisher

Deciding whether to upgrade or replace a laptop is a big decision, and it can be complicated to know when or even if you should. You need to consider if the labor is worth it — if it’s cheaper to replace or rebuild, and whether or not you actually need to do it.
The different components on a laptop are not as easy to replace as are the ones in a desktop computer, but it certainly is possible to upgrade a laptop if you have the patience and proper tools. That said, some of the suggestions below involve using external hardware to supplement for outdated, missing, or damaged internal components.

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How to Fix It When Attachments Are Not Showing in Outlook

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By Marco Horn /  Brad Stephenson

Attachments are one of the most commonly used features in the Microsoft Outlook email app, but it can often be hard finding the attachment function, seeing attachments in Outlook emails that have been sent to you, or knowing when an Outlook attachment has been uploaded to a message correctly.
These kind of Outlook issues can affect small and large attachments and a variety of file types.
Instructions in this article apply to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010; Outlook for Office 365, and Office.com.

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What to Do When Your USB Ports Aren’t Working

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By Marco Horn /  Jeremy Laukkonen

When your USB ports suddenly stops working, the problem can always be tracked down to either a hardware or software failure. Some of these problems are the same across both Windows and Mac, while others are unique to just one or the other.

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Cleaning printer

How to Clean a Printer and Scanner

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By Marco Horn /  Jordan Baranowski

One of the best ways to keep printers and scanners working at optimal levels for longer is by giving them regular cleanings. If you notice streaky, blurry, smudged, or otherwise distorted images when printing documents or scanning images, here’s how to clean a printer or scanner yourself before opening up your wallet for a costly fix or replacement.

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Should You Ever Disable a Windows Service?

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If you have ever searched for ways to make your Windows computer faster, you’ve probably run across several that suggest turning off or disabling certain Windows services. Other websites say it’s dangerous and you should never mess with Windows services. So, who is correct?

 

Well, the argument can be broken down into whether or not you know what you are doing. If you don’t know what a Windows service even is, then you really should not disable any service before researching it's function. If you have some basic understanding of services and programs, then it’s OK to disable only non-Microsoft services.

As a general rule, we never disable any service that comes installed with Windows by default or that is from Microsoft. If you think a service is unnecessary and might be slowing down your computer, you should Google it and then try to uninstall the program or Windows feature that is creating the service in the first place.

 

However, when you disable non-Microsoft services, your chances of messing something up on your computer are greatly reduced. Most of these third-party services don’t necessarily need to be enabled. They are usually there to check for updates in the background or something similar.

 

Windows Services Location

 

First off, there are two ways to view all the services on your Windows PC. You can go to Start and type in services to open the desktop app or you can type in MSCONFIG to open the system configuration utility.

 

 

Go ahead and click on the Services tab and you’ll see a list of all services with checkmarks next to each one. If you uncheck the service, it will be disabled the next time you restart the computer.

 

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