GALLERY
Over the years in this computer business, I have taken many photographs the projects I've worked on. So below I'm sharing a handful of them that some may find interesting, even quite shocking in some cases.
Hardware
The most common cause of overheating laptops is dust, fluff & debris trapped in the heatsink/fan unit. This stops the hot air from escaping freely, the fan permanently spins at full pelt & often breaks as a result, causing heat damage to other components.
Dealing With Overheating Laptops
Before
Although tower PCs, due to their larger size & air space, don't generally suffer as much from heat damage, they can accumulate even more debris. But, a good clean out soon helps it run at a cooler temperature. Heat shortens component life.
After
PCs Get Dusty Too
Laptop Component Swap Out
After
Before
This laptop needed a few things replacing including the keyboard, palmrest & junction circuit board. It worked out that the best way to achieve this, was to buy a used full palmrest assembly & swap out the internal components. The job was a success - happy customer.
Laptop Screen Replacement
This was a screen replacement on an ASUS VivoBook 14". My client's son came back from Uni with his laptop screen damaged, and he didn't know how he'd done it.
Please ignore the time difference between the start & finish - I disconnected the battery before starting, so the clock was wrong after. It just aint a 2 minute job.
Lid/Screen Assembly Off
Before
Screen Out Of Lid
Job Done
Bespoke Gaming PC
Built this one in 2020 for a client who's teenage son was getting well bored during lockdown. Nice piece of kit including monitor, keyboard & mouse.
Small Bespoke PC
Built this small form factor PC for a client who wanted a tower PC but didn't have much space.
Scams
Ransomware
Typical symptom of accidentally downloading & installing a piece of ransomware that I've dealt with many times. The message stays on your desktop & won't go away until the ransomware is removed.
This actually happened to a client of mine quite a few years ago. Not only did the ransomware "tattoo" the desktop, it also took a mug- shot & displayed it within the ransom message. Although I soon got rid of it, I can tell you my client was pretty shocked by it.
Scam Emails
Fake Inland Revenue email with an attachment that would lead to a webpage whereby the unsuspecting person could enter their personal details or download malware.
Fake PayPal. Notice that the when mousing over the 'Log in Now' link, the address isn't even https which guarantees it is a scam.
Devastating Scam Email
This email may look nothing worse than those above, however it caused devastation for a family after the recipient clicked the link & followed the instructions. The effect included identity theft, malicious phone calls and a large amount of money being stripped from their bank account. I was able to make the computer system clean and safe to use and get them in contact with the Fraud Squad.
Ransom Attacks
Syslocked
This machine ended up getting 'Syslocked' after a scam phone call that was followed by the client allowing the assailant remote access to the PC. Fortunately I was able to get the machine booting up again without any loss of data.
Cryptolocker Virus Infection
Probably the most malicious type of ransom attack around, this client was unfortunate enough to be a victim of the Cryptolocker Virus. It was probably let in by a member of staff opening an email attachment & it very quickly spread to the company's server share. The data in the shared folder became scrambled & unuseable, but fortunately, due to a backup system I'd installed some months earlier, I was able to recover the data from before it happened. Although they lost 3 days worth of work (which they were able to redo) it could have been 7 years worth had the backup system not been in place.