With more and more ransomware infections coming through our door, we are noticing that they are becoming more and more difficult to clean. Our normal quarantine and removal methods are getting overtaken and backdoor removal methods are being thwarted.

Fear not, though… We haven’t met an infection we couldn’t cure, and that means curing the virus without touching your software or data. These new infections are no different… If you do come down with an infected system, give us a call and we’ll get you back up and running in no time!

Bottom Line:

Protect yourself! Get Anti-Virus software, preferably AVG, and keep it updated. We also recommend running Malwarebytes every 2 weeks (or more, depending on your PC usage) and keeping it updated, as well. Don’t use Internet Explorer or Firefox, either… use Chrome. It’s VERY safe and fast.

Be careful of malicious sites, also. For example, make sure when your clicking a link in an email, it’s to a reputable page, and watch out for pseudo-sites.

e.g. foxnewsc.om vs foxnews.com

Notice the first address is not legitimate, and tricksters often hide their web addresses like this.

The post Outbreak: Ransomware Infections appeared first on $69 Temecula Computer Repair.

As a local computer repair company who provides computer repair in Temecula, we often have to wipe a hard drive when we refurbish computers or part-out broken systems. If you don’t feel comfortable wiping a drive yourself or need assistance with reformatting your Windows PC, please contact us to get your free diagnosis today!

WARNING: This process will erase all information on the drive AND make it unrecoverable except by a professional!!!

Here’s How:

1. Plug in the hard drive or flash drive you want to erase completely. (You can do this by installing the drive internally or through a drive docking station.)
2. Open “My Computer” through the Start menu.
   

   “My Computer” (Example in Windows 7)

3. Right click the drive you want to wipe out and click “Format…”.
   

   Right Click > Format

4. Click “Restore Device Defaults” then make sure “Quick Format” is checked then click “Start”.
   

   The “Format…” Window

5. Once the process is complete… The drive is empty!

That’s it – thanks for reading!

What other things would you like to learn about from our blog? E-mail us at info@69pcrepair.com and let us know!

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As a local computer repair business in Temecula we often get asked if we know good ways to download songs for free online. And yes! We do. And it’s safe! There may seem like a lot of steps but it’s very, very easy…

Here’s How:

1. Visit YouTube.

2. Search for the song you want to download.

3. Find a good video with quality audio. (Usually the official music video is perfect.)

4. Copy the website address. (Ctrl+C)

5. Visit VidtoMp3.

6. Paste the website address (Ctrl+V) and click “Download”.

7. After loading, click the link to get your download link.

8. Finally, click “Download MP3″.

Done!

Free and easy! Your welcome

The post How to Download Any Song for Free – Safely! appeared first on $69 Temecula Computer Repair.

In today’s age of viruses, malware, identity theft, ad-ware  and spyware, it’s more important than ever to maintain a secure system, especially while browsing the internet.

Anti-Virus

Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people bring us computers with bad viruses because they didn’t have virus protection. The first thing you should install on your new computer is anti-virus software. There are great free anti-virus programs out there that offer top-of-the-line protection.

A Safer Browser

Your browser has a lot to do with security, from maintaining an updated list of malicious websites, to automatically scanning downloads for viruses. We recommend Google Chrome as a web browser because it is fast, secure and reliable. Internet Explorer really can’t compete, and as has fallen behind even faster in recent years.

Google Chrome Webpage Blocker

The image above is exactly what you would see if you accidentally sent your browser to a malicious site. Chrome has a database that blocks any site if it’s reported as being malicious.

If your accustomed to Mozilla Firefox, like many PC users, Chrome is very similar in design and usability. If you don’t feel comfortable using Chrome, Firefox is still a strong alternative.

Removing Those TOOLBARS

Toolbars on your browser may seem helpful, and some actually are, but many are completely malicious. They often get installed with other programs and piggy-back onto your system without you even realizing it. If you like using a toolbar, we recommend the toolbar that comes with AVG Anti-Virus because it doesn’t slow you down, and also helps to keep you safe online.

If you have toolbars you want to remove, you should first uninstall them from your system through “Add/Remove Programs” then make sure they are uninstalled from your browser by finding your browser’s add-on settings and removing them.

Read What Your Installing

This could be one of the most important topics to touch on. We know it’s customary to quickly click “Next” and “Agree” over and over when installing a program until the installation starts. You should always brush over the page you are agreeing to because some programs piggy-back other unwanted programs that can compromise security, add unwanted browser toolbars, and even slow your computer down.

Have you ever asked yourself: “When did I install this?”

It probably got installed WITH something else you actually wanted, and you didn’t realize it was being installed. Often times, programs called “Downloaders” are the culprits of these unwanted installations.

Conclusion

Overall, being aware and vigilant will keep you secure, but should you ever have issues, call a local computer repair company and they can help you out.

In our next post, we will talk about shopping securely online.

The post How to Browse the Internet Securely appeared first on $69 Temecula Computer Repair.

As a local computer repair company, we’ve run across many anti-virus programs, most of which claim to be free. Most of our customers prefer free software but most think they will get a less secure anti-virus program if they don’t commit to a monthly or yearly subscription. This is not true.

The only truly free anti-virus program we trust to protect our customers and even our own PCs is AVG Free. AVG Free has never let a threat get past on our systems, and has corrected virus disasters where Avanti, Avast and even Norton have failed. AVG uses little resources while running, the scans are fast, and the extra tools are invaluable.

A good anti-virus program can keep your computer up to speed and can protect you from even the most deadly viruses out there. AVG Free protects from spyware, malware, adware, and of course viruses.

Keep in mind we have no affiliation or commission agreement with AVG – this is not a biased advertisement. We honestly have been using AVG for years and have NEVER had an issue with it.

So to answer the question of “What is the best free anti-virus?”. The answer is AVG Free.

The post Best Free Anti-Virus Software appeared first on $69 Temecula Computer Repair.

According to a Land of Droid blog, cyber thieves are even starting to hide malicious software that automatically sends text messages to contacts in your phone, similar to the spam emails that are so prevalent nowadays.

It is important to protect yourself and your mobile device, and we recommend doing so with AVG Mobile Anti-Virus. This FREE app can be found in the Google Play store and also the App Store. The app runs seamlessly and you won’t even notice it’s there. It actively protects your device from downloaded threats by scanning downloads and text messages and also allows you to manually scan your device for malware.

It also includes an invaluable tool – the lost phone GPS tracking and remote locking feature. This FREE feature gives you the ability to remotely lock down your tablet or smartphone and enable GPS tracking in the case of a lost or stolen device.

We give the AVG Mobile Anti-Virus App 5 Stars, and we even use it on our mobile devices!

We also recommend AVG Free for your PC security needs.

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Buying a brand new computer will obviously solve the problem, but a better idea is to ensure your computer is cleaned out, running efficiently, and upgraded. Local computer repair companies call these services “tune-ups” and they are actually very effective. In this list we will discuss 6 easy ways to increase your computers speed and push back your new computer purchase by a long ways.

Hey you may even be able to dust off that old system (literally) and use it as a second computer for picture storage, kid’s homework, or maybe just another PC around the house to browse the internet with.

1. Dust it Off – Especially Laptops!

This simple task can work wonders. The reason why is because dust blocks air-flow which means
your computer heats up very quickly and cannot be cooled efficiently. Overheated components slow your computer down considerably, and can even lead to system crashes and hardware failures.

Open your tower or laptop and blow the dust away with a can of compressed air that can be purchased at any big box retail store, or you can use a shop-vac with a blow feature. You’ll be surprised at how much dust your system has built up over the years. We recommend doing your dusting outside…

2. Clean it Out

If your computer is old, chances are your hard-drive has a relatively low capacity… Which also means that it’s probably pretty full… Full or nearly full hard-drives increase boot-up times, seek times, load times, heck just about ANY time it takes to do anything! The reason why is simple – the more on your drive, the more it has to search to find what it’s looking for.I tell my customers to keep their hard-drive under 50% capacity for best results.

• Uninstall old games
• Uninstall old programs you don’t use
• Delete duplicate photos – Users often upload the same set of photos off your camera every time you plug it in (this happens a lot)
• Transfer photos & videos to an external hard-drive, flash-drive or even CDs
• Run a third-party program like AVG PC Tune-Up to remove unnecessary files
• Install a new, or another hard-drive (see #5)

3. You Don’t NEED Toolbars

Almost everyone has them, whether it’s a search toolbar, a coupon toolbar, or a special recipe toolbar, and nobody needs them. They are the supposedly “helpful” sections that get added to your browser right below the address bar. Toolbars in your browser are almost always useless and almost always slow down your browser load times.

Delete them! First delete them trough Windows Control Panel and if they aren’t listed there, find the programs in your hard-drive and destroy them yourself.

4. Scan for Viruses/Malware

It may not look like you have one but there is always a possibility you have some kind of virus or malware, spyware, adware, etc. that hinders your computer’s performance, especially online.

Do a simple virus scan after you update your virus software to eliminate any potential issues. We recommend AVG Anti-Virus 2013. We also recommend using Spybot Search and Destroy to get rid of any adware or spyware that may be hindering your system performance.

5. Upgrade, Upgrade, Upgrade!

Yes, upgrade! Upgrade that old thing! It’s never very expensive and the results can be pretty potent. Start with memory, then try the hard-drive, and even your video card if you play games or watch videos.

Try doubling your system memory and you will be very impressed at how much faster your system is and how much smoother you can multitask. You CAN have 2 hard-drives and no, it’s not complicated. Install a second 250GB or better drive and you’ll never need another place to store photos, videos, music, etc. A video card is a great idea if the computer is used for watching videos or playing 3D games.

If you don’t feel comfortable completing hardware upgrades yourself, a local computer repair company can do the work for you for a modest charge.

6. Improve Your Boot-Up Time… Drastically

There are some programs on your computer, perhaps many, that are set to automatically start when you boot up WIndows. This is the leading cause of slow bootup on systems we see.

To edit the programs that are allowed to run immediately at startup, take the following steps:

Windows XP:

• Open your Start Menu
• Click Run…
• Type “msconfig” and hit OK
• Click the tab labeled “startup”
• This window displays a list of programs that run when your computer starts. Begin un-checking programs you don’t need started immediately, which is usually most – if not all.
• Restart your system and behold!

Windows 7/Vista:

• Open your Start Menu
• Type “msconfig” and hit Enter. (You should be typing into the search box at the bottom of the Start Menu.)
• Click the tab labeled “startup”
• This window displays a list of programs that run when your computer starts. Begin un-checking programs you don’t need started immediately, which is usually most – if not all.
• Restart your system and behold!

We hope you saw some improvements using these tips and we will continue to provide more tips and tricks on maintaining your PC and keeping things run smoothly.

If you live in the Temecula area and are interested in any hardware upgrades or a system tune-up, please contact us with any questions or to set up an appointment.

The post 6 Ways to Increase Your Speed and Avoid Buying a New Computer appeared first on $69 Temecula Computer Repair.

As with any computer or laptop issue, if you are unfortunate enough to obtain a virus or malware, remember our computer repair services can help you get back up and running in very little time for very little money.

What the FBI Virus Does:

Once infected, this virus works by freezing your system and displaying a warning message than cannot be closed. You will be unable to use your system as most victims report their systems being completely locked-up.

The FBI virus will proceed to tell you that your I.P. address has been flagged as being in violation of one or more (explicit) federal laws that you must pay fines for in order to be exonerated. Generally, it asks for $200 through PayPal or MoneyPak.

What to Look Out For:

Most viruses want something from you, whether it’s personal information or money. The FBI or Reveton virus looks like it just wants your money, which is actually the good news, believe it or not. The reason why is that you know immediately if your computer has been infected and you can shut-down your system before anything further happens.

As with most viruses, stay away from weird websites that don’t carry any reputation, and don’t download illegal videos, music, or files from any websites, as viruses are often carried in these downloaded files and also on their respective websites.

If You Think You Have the FBI Virus:

To prevent further harm to your system, and possible identity theft, if your system ever gets infected with any type of virus, you should immediately save your files if possible and turn off your system until a local computer repair company can look at your system.

In order to maintain a safe computing environment, you should perform full system virus scans often, as well as have background virus protection running at all times. Also, try not to download files unless it’s from a verified reliable source.

The post A Scary New Virus: The FBI Virus appeared first on $69 Temecula Computer Repair.

951-303-5247

$69 Computer Repair in Temecula, CA – A Little History

Temecula is a great place for small family owned businesses to begin and grow in a welcoming community full of opportunity  I grew up here in the heart of Temecula and knew that I would one day want to own my own business here with my family and loved ones. Ronald Reagan once said Temecula is a town that has a “can do” spirit. That is true when it comes to our families, our community and our businesses.

Temecula computer repair is my specialty. Little did I know at the age of six when I was tearing apart radios and other electronics that it would carry into adulthood. I began by fixing, of course, my closest friends and families computers. Tearing each computer apart and being mesmerized on how I was able to magically fix them and make them run BETTER than before. I was hooked. Next were my coworkers. “Hey do you know anyone that can get rid of this virus?”  I thought… “yes I can”, and this is were my business idea began. I started my very own Temecula computer repair business called $69 PC Repair.

Although there are several Temecula computer repair companies out there along with Best Buy and Staples, I was dumbfounded when I found out the outrageous prices these businesses charge. I knew I could do better. I opened $69 PC Repair with my loved ones in mind in a community I have grown up in and will continue to grow in. I hope that I can serve my neighbors with great service and respect as I continue my venture in Temecula computer repair.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding getting your computer fixed with us.

Thank you,

Gavin D. Johnsen
Owner and lead technician of $69 PC Repair

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