Making computers work for you...
Your computer is a powerful tool, and can be used to do many useful and exciting tasks. We can help you get the most out of your computer. Here’s a list of the services provided by Iowa PC Services:
- Computer repair – desktops and laptops
- Software setup, upgrades
- Recommendations for buying a new PC
- Networking – wireless or wired, setup and repair
- Data recovery
- Training
Computer Service & Repair
In just a few short years, computers have become an important part of our lives. We depend on our computer to for many day-to-day tasks from work to play, shopping to entertainment. But if your computer is not working properly, you may be losing time, money, and opportunity.
Iowa PC Services, Inc. provides you with all the services you need to keep your computer running its best. We’re happy to answer your questions, and help in any way we can. If you have an emergency, such as a computer that will not boot, or a hard drive that has crashed, call us for professional assistance in recovering your data and setting things right.
Networking
More and more people have multiple computers in their home, and are finding out about the benefits of setting up a network to connect these computers. With a network, you can share a single internet connection among several computers as well as share files and printers.
When your computer won’t start up, or you can’t get access your documents, pictures, music or other data, give us a call… We recover what you can’t replace!
Laptop Repair
Laptop computers are handy because they’re portable, but this sometimes means they need repair because of physical damage. One very common repair we perform is fixing a power jack that is damaged. You may find that the battery will no longer charge, and the laptop may sometimes shut down when the power cord is moved. This is a sure sign that the power jack needs to be repaired. If you are experiencing this problem, call us for an estimate. Many of these jacks can be replaced, giving your laptop new life.
One of the most common complaints we hear is of computers running slowly. We have extensive experience in making your computer run more quickly. Our process of eliminating unnecessary programs, marketing or promotional software, spyware and viruses is more fully explained on our article on slow computers.
Articles
Update your Adobe Flash Player!!
Posted: July 26, 2010UPDATE YOUR ADOBE FLASH!! Go right now to adobe.com, and click the “Get Adobe Flash Player” button. Allow the update to run, and turn off the extra freebie they offer – it’s often the Google toolbar. As of today, you need to be running version 10.1. There is an active exploit currently infecting computers with older versions of flash.
In fact, a couple of weeks ago, we got a virus on a computer in the Bailey household because of this very vulnerability. So don’t think it’s can’t happen. It can!! (embarrassed grin!)
Optical Character Recognition Software
Posted: June 21, 2010Q: I’m trying to scan a document to a Word file, I think I need OCR software, what do you recommend?
A: There are a couple of good choices for OCR – the least expensive accurate package appears to be ABBYY FineReader Express, which sells for $49.99. They have a professional edition as well, which is more full-featured, but I have always just used the express version, and been quite happy with it, as the pro edition costs $400.
You’ll notice on the ABBYY web page that they sell a product called ABBYY PDF Transformer. I don’t recommend that product, but rather a product called “PDFCreator” or “Cute PDF”. Both of these products are excellent substitutes for the ABBYY product, so you don’t need to spend the extra money.
Making Adobe Reader Safer
Posted: May 28, 2010Adobe Reader is a program that many people use regularly, but we may not realize that it has serious vulnerabilities. These flaws could allow malicious programs (virus or malware program) to infect your PC. There are two settings in Acrobat Reader that should be changed – this article will tell you how. As of this writing, this is the only way to fix the problems. Both are recommended by Adobe.
Here are the steps:
1. Open Acrobat Reader. The icon looks like this:
2. An Adobe Reader window is displayed. On the menu, click “Edit”, “Preferences”.
3. On the “Preferences” window, click “Javascript”, and then clear the “Enable Acrobat JavaScript” checkbox.
4. Next, click “Trust Manager” and clear the “Allow opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications.”
5. Click the “OK” button, and close Acrobat Reader.
