Computer Support, Design, Print and Business Telecoms - ABC Service, Tavistock, Devon

December Newsletter

Jan 26, 2023

We have seen a wide number of clients lately who have taken phone calls supposedly from various internet providers or banks. Please, if they tell you your PC, Tablet or Mobile phone has a problem DO NOT let them on to the device. This is a scam. I cannot stress this enough….a number of people have had thousands of pounds removed from their bank account because they have literally handed the thieves all the information they need. No antivirus will block this. Your computer will not block this if you give someone “genuine” access to your PC. Additionally, if you receive a text message from a courier (any courier) saying you need to pay money, customs charges etc…do not click the link.

Economy of repair

We have seen a spike in repairs for devices as we are finding that decent devices are still costing a lot of money and in most instances is still cheaper to repair your current device. However, devices that are past a certain age point will not be worth repairing. Pop into us or your current local IT shop to devise whether it’s worth repairing or not.

Buying a gadget or gizmo this winter

When buying a gadget (whether laptop, desktop, phone etc) consider all of it and future use too. What is the device going to be used for? Yes it can do this work now but are you likely going to do other work in the future? Really plan this into your purchase, yes a device may cost you more but better to buy once at a higher cost than buy twice which will ultimately cost you more in the long run.

When buying a laptop or desktop for example, we highly recommend going for Windows 11, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage (SSD) and an Intel i3 processor as a minimum. The Pentium Gold is not as good as it may sound and will definitely be a bottleneck for your device.

When it comes to mobile devices, we recommend a minimum internal storage of 64GB. It does not matter if you can expand the storage or not, if you purchase anything with 32GB or less your storage will mainly be filled by the Operating System of the device itself and could pose serious update problems in the future or limit the apps or games you have on the device significantly.

Buying a branded item is highly recommended. This makes it easier for parts in the future especially on laptops and generally means that a lot of connections are standard inside including for SSD upgrades. There are a few online Laptop building companies who make their own branded laptop items. Please be aware that these are incredibly difficult to get parts for and if you are to use an online company to build your laptop, make sure you take out extended warranties etc (but check the terms and conditions first!). If you are getting a custom build tower this is generally fine but check exactly what is going in it.

However, if you are looking for a custom build PC definitely drop us a line. We give you a full list of parts, prices etc and they are built 1) as they should be and 2) to ensure upgradeability

Accreditations

As a business who supports thousands of clients we take security very seriously which is why we are Cyber Essentials Certified and also maintain Trading Standards Approved.

Archie’s Corner

Archie has definitely been more active lately now it is coming into the Winter months, trust me he loves Winter time and is hoping it will snow! All of the Archie the Husky range in the window is produced on-site here in Tavistock. Archie the Husky postcards are coming soon for those visiting the area.

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