Yes, we are having another PC Tune-up Day. If you would like to get your PC tuned up, be sure to make an appointment to reserve a time that is good for you. It only costs $20 for members ($35 for non-members). We have a limited number of openings so setup your appointment now.

It will take an hour or so for our BPMUG volunteers to walk you through some areas of your PC to tune it up. Unless you have a special keyboard or mouse or monitor that you want to bring along, just bring “the box,” or the main part of your computer. We’ll have plenty of monitors, keyboards and mice to use in the tune-up process. If your computer doesn’t work at all or has a need for repairs, the PC Tune-up won’t be able to help. Your car mechanic wouldn’t want you to tow your broken down non-running car in for a simple tune-up, right? Likewise, we can’t take those broken down PCs and restore them in these sessions. However, if your PC seems to be a bit sluggish or is gleefully popping up one advertisement after another, or it just feels like it is time for a cleaning, sign up for a block of time and let’s go through it together.

When you bring your PC in, someone will greet you and take your PC to a table and plug it into the mouse, keyboard, monitor, and power. It will be booted up and a quick scandisk will be run. After that, one of our PC techies will sit with you and go through a list of tune-up steps.

•     Check for disk fragmentation.

•     Check the recycle bin.

•     Talk with you about the temp files on your computer and help you remove ones you don’t need.

•     Discuss cookies and help you decide whether to keep them or wipe them out.

•     Check programs such as antivirus and firewall programs and whether they are updated or not.

•     Check to see if you have a program to stop the pesky pop-up windows containing spyware and whether you want one installed.

This is the time to ask questions pertaining to your PC. We’ll spend an hour or so with you, going through your PC and answering your questions. When we finish our work, we’ll give you some instructions on things you can do later, on your own time. Tasks like running a full scandisk or completely defragmenting a hard drive takes a lot longer than the time allotted for this session, but we’ll be sure you understand how to do them on your own. We’ll let you know what we observe and what we recommend. And we’ll try to do this in non-techie terms that everyone can understand.

If you need help getting your PC out of your car, come in and ask for assistance. But remember: don’t show up without an appointment! We have a limited number of slots and we won’t be able to take any more PCs once those times are filled.