Views and opinions here may not necessarily be those of SPB Computers Ltd.

 Workshop Overhaul - 28/08/11   

When we designed our workshop 10 years ago, the desktop computer was king. Bulky, beige and shelf filling, from home desktops to Business servers, we had to find room for our own servers and Sale PC's as well as a huge amount of customer PC's, all waiting to be repaired, being repaired or waiting to be collected.  Progress being what it is, the beloved desktop has given way to the laptop, smart phone and handheld. Smaller neater, and easier to store! It's even allowed us to get to the walls and paint them....  

Before....                                                         After.....

 Apple Repairs

Saying that though, we at SPB have seen a definite increase in Apple related repairs and it’s been very interesting taking a proper look inside these fabulous machines. Apple Computers up to and including the G4 were a very different computer to the windows based PC's and laptops we see every day and our diagnostic tools didn't work on them. The newer Apples however contain all the same stuff as the PC equivalent so we can offer a wider range of Apple repairs. 

Sainsburys in Penrith. 17/09/11

It's difficult knowing what to expect from what will be Penrith's 7th and largest supermarket. Seven! I'm not sure even we in the IT industry can eat that much. Nevertheless, the powers that be have decided it's in our interest to have them.  Being a small business we are told Sainsburys will bring more people in to the town and a "trickledown effect" will ensue. Lucky us. Whilst this may well be the case what they don't highlight is that Sainsburys job is to make sure their customers go to Sainsburys and nowhere else. In fact their overriding legal responsibility is to feed their shareholders' dividends, which they don't make by herding the masses past the two lions and into the "old town" and why should they? They are a business, in business to make money. Whilst we don't believe a megadomed supersized Sainsburys is good for Penrith, it's certainly better than having it on the outskirts and for us personally, the more places that sell cheap unsupported laptops the better! What we hope is that shopkeepers take up the challenge of a town killer sized supermarket to adapt, bring back service and unique specialist goods and turn it in to an opportunity. Make Penrith and its independent shops a place people want to come and spend time in. Preferably without getting a parking ticket. 

 Phone call from Microsoft telling you your Computer has a Virus?

“I’m calling for Microsoft. We’ve had a report from your internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer.”

This is a scam. What they do if they can convince you to keep talking is open a program called the windows event Viewer. This is where the computer keeps its logs of running services and tasks and where people like us look to help with fault finding.  under normal curcumstances its jam packed full of info, error reports, warnings and Critical errors. To the untrained eye it can look like your computer is about to explode but in reality its just the normal grinding of cogs under the bonnet that every computer does. When you are sutiably alarmed they will direct you to a website which allows them complete access to your computer and then put on a show of "fixing" it. They then charge you £185 and have access to all your stuff. Microsoft say.... “Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer, If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Tech Support, hang up. We do not make these kinds of calls.”