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It's Spring Cleaning Time for Your PC! Do you have a “dirty” computer? Chances are, you do. Dust, dirt, hair and other things can get inside your computer, causing anything from minor nuisances to reducing the lifespan of the components inside. But how do you know your computer is dirty if you’ve never looked inside? Here are some symptoms to look out for: Computer Slow Downs Slow downs are usually a dead giveaway that not everything is running smoothly on your hard drive. Over time, the constant adding and removal of files leaves gaps on the disc, where data is overwritten to make room for new applications and files. This is called fragmentation. As part of a tune-up, NEPA Geeks will make sure the hard drive is “de-fragged,” allowing it to work quicker without putting more wear and tear on its sensitive components. Excessive Heat Heat is extremely bad for your computer, and the inside of your computer can be like an oven if vents are blocked and fans aren’t working properly. Irreparable damage to the video card, CPU and memory chips can occur within minutes, leading to costly service and repairs. If your computer gives you odd errors, doesn't boot properly, or sounds like a jet engine taking off, there might too much heat inside. At NEPA Geeks, we will clean out the dust, hair and whatever else might have managed its way into your computer before it’s too late. We’ll make sure the heatsinks are free of dust and that vents are wide open for good airflow. Weird Noises You might not realize it, but there are a lot of moving parts inside your computer. Spinning fans can buzz if dust and other debris touch the fins. Additionally, they buzz when the ball-bearings begin to wear down. NEPA Geeks can replace fans before they fail altogether, allowing your computer to overheat. Hard drives might not look like it, but they have moving parts, as well. Inside is a spinning disc and a “read/write” head that scans the disc and writes or reads data. It looks like a needle on a record! Over time, these parts wear out, leading to buzzing and other noises. Other sounds, such as beeps and clicks, might indicate problems that aren’t immediately obvious or noticeable, but can lead to data loss or permanent damage to the computer’s components. Give NEPA Geeks a Call And there you have it! If your computer is running slower, hotter and making weird noises, it’s definitely time for a spring cleaning! Call us at 570-235-1946 or visit our Contact Page...

NEPA Geeks Carbonite Online Backup NEPA Geeks is now a Carbonite authorized reseller. Now you can purchase Carbonite’s automatic online backup service for your home or work computer through us. We can even bundle it with our Geek Care Managed Services Plan! Subscribers in more than 100 countries rely on Carbonite to provide easy-to-use, affordable and secure cloud backup solutions. Carbonite has backed up more than 300 billion files, restored nearly 20 billion files, and currently backs up more than 350 files each day automatically. You’ll never have to remember to back up again! Carbonite offers automatic, continual and secure online backup for your home or business computers so you can rest easy knowing your irreplaceable files are protected. Once installed, your files will be backed up automatically to the cloud – no hardware required. File Access Anytime, Anywhere Not at your computer?  No problem! You can get to your backed up files from any computer connected to the Internet or even from your smartphone or iPad® with Carbonite’s free app. And, with Carbonite’s Anytime, Anywhere Access, you can view your files anytime – whether you’re at home, or on the go! Protect your files with Carbonite today! Visit this link or more information on how you can start backing up the files on your home or work computers, contact us today by calling 570-235-1946 or visit our Contact Page...

Apple Users Beware of Find My iPhone Exploit We are warning all customers with iPhones and iPads to immediately back up their devices either to their iCloud account or personal computers. Several news outlets have reported that hackers are using a Find My iPhone exploit to remotely lock-up iPhones and iPads. The "Find My iPhone" feature is a safety mechanism that allows a user to lock-down and erase sensitive data if their device is lost or stolen. However, in the wrong hands, this feature can be used to disable devices and, in the case of this attack, demand a ransom to reactivate it. The hackers are using a classic attack known as "phishing" to set up sites that look like legitimate Apple websites. Users enter their email and password into sites, not knowing it is a fake. Then, hackers use this information to access and lock the devices using the "Find My iPhone" feature to demand a ransom in exchange for unlocking the device. Back Up Before Its Too Late Again, if you haven't done so already, backup your data to iCloud or your computer. Users should bring their devices to the nearest Apple store if they've been compromised. It is important to set up your iCloud account and backup your data immediately. Doing so is the only way to get your photos, pictures and music back after a hardware reset. For more information on this attack, visit BGR.com or ArsTechnica.com. Stay protected from exploits like this. Call now at 570-235-1946 or visit our Contact Page...

Attention Windows XP Users On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will be ending its support for Windows XP. This means that Windows XP will be left open and vulnerable to any future attacks. In the past, hackers found security holes and exploits that would allow them to  stealing your valuable information. In the past, Microsoft protected you with security patches. From April 8 on, however, these patch updates will no longer be released. That means any new holes or exploits will remain forever. If you are a home user, your personal information -- along with anything else stored on your computer -- could become accessible to anyone knowing how to exploit these security holes. As such, it's very important that you upgrade to any operating system later than XP. This includes Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you run a business that has computers running Windows XP, it could mean the end of certain security certifications. Running a computer with XP will soon become a liability. If your business relies on storing the information of customers and clients, this data could be easily available to hackers capable of exploiting new found security holes in your systems! A quick call is all it takes to make sure you have everything you need to keep your computers running safe and secured. Call us at 570-235-1946 or visit our Contact Page...

According to CoinMap.org, NEPA Geeks is the one of the only computer repair shops (if not the ONLY computer repair shop) in North-East Pennsylvania that accepts Bitcoin for computer repair. Well, as far as we can tell, based on the screenshot below: [caption id="attachment_2018" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This map shows businesses in NEPA that accept Bitcoin, including Centerline Guitar Repair Shop in Hazleton.[/caption] If you've never heard of Bitcoin, it's an open source peer-to-peer payment network and digital currency that was introduced in 2009 and has been steadily increasing in popularity and worldwide acceptance as a legitimate currency. One of the facets of Bitcoin that make it so attractive to businesses and merchants such as ours is the low transaction fee associated with transferring funds. Typically, the transaction fee is lower than the 2 to 3% charged by most credit card companies. This reduced fee helps us keep costs low, which we then pass on to customers and clients by keeping our rates for repairs low. All in all, if we can keep the regular cost of doing business down, it's better for everyone, and that's why we've decided to incorporate Bitcoin as a method of payment. We accept Bitcoin for computer repair, web hosting, iPhone and Android repair, and even game console repairs. The cost of parts and all of these services, and many not even listed here, are easily paid for using Bitcoin. So, if you're one of the many early adopters of this brave, new, digital frontier, we'd be more than happy to assist you by allowing you to pay in the currency of your choice! (Litecoin also accepted!) For more information, stop in or give us a call. We're always here to help....

Because we care about our customers, we want you all to be on alert for a new strain of malware going around. It's called CryptoLocker, and it extorts money from victims by encrypting their files and holding them for ransom. [caption id="attachment_2006" align="alignright" width="300"] Image source: GrahamCluely.com[/caption] What is CryptoLocker? It's a nasty piece of malware (or ransomware) that encrypts the files on a victim's hard drive, rendering them unreadable. Photos, documents, PowerPoint Slides, etc...

Shop small and save big on repairs this Small Business Saturday As part of Small Business Saturday, NEPA Geeks are extending an offer to save 20% on all repair services. To redeem the offer, just bring your broken computer, phone or video game console into the shop on Saturday, November 30 to receive a 20% discount on the service charge to repair it. That's all there is to it. Cracked screen? Overheating XBox? Viruses and spyware plaguing your laptop? We'll take care of it, and you'll reap the savings. Small Business Saturday is an effort that is sponsored by American Express and began as a way to show support to all small and local businesses in cities and towns across America. We're just one of the many shops that are taking place in this great cause that helps stimulate the economy, create new jobs and improve the community. Over 100 million people shop at independently-owned and operated businesses each Small Business Saturday, and we'd be very honored if you chose to shop small by bringing your computer or cell phone to us for repair. As always, computer diagnostics are free, and our technicians are always willing to make house calls if you can't bring your equipment to the office. For any questions or problems you might be having, just give us a call at 570.474.5100 and our address is 108 N. Mountain Blvd. Suite B, Mountain Top, PA 18707. We can also be reached at staff@nepageeks.com For more information on Small Business Saturday, visit ShopSmall.com....

This Saturday is the 2nd annual NEPA BlogCon, and the NEPA Geeks are very proud to be a part of it! If you haven't heard of NEPA BlogCon, it's an annual, day-long conference set to take place at the Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, PA on October 5, 2013. Along with discussion of how to become a blogger (or a better blogger) there will be plenty of chances to meet and mingle with many of the other notable bloggers and blogging personalities that live and work throughout North-East Pennsylvania. Not only will we be attending the conference, one of our technicians, Dale Culp, will be giving a presentation on the importance of setting up a domain name for marketing and branding purposes. So, if you happen to be there, be sure to sit in on his presentation. And, afterwards, meet up with the Geeks to talk more about how our hosting services can help take your blog to the next level! In the meantime, the NEPA Geeks "geek blog" has been nominated for a NEPA BlogCon Blog of the Year award! However, we can't win the award without your help...

[caption id="attachment_1855" align="alignright" width="226"] The BBB plaque on our wall.[/caption] One of the backbones of a good business partner is trust, and we work extremely hard to be worthy of that trust. From ensuring that we use only quality parts when replacing and repairing your electronic equipment to making sure our customers are satisfied with the work that we do at a fair price, trust goes into every step of the process. Recently, we've taken a much larger step towards building trust with our customers by becoming accredited with the Better Business Bureau. As of June 17, 2013, NEPA Geeks is a fully accredited business with the BBB. What this means is that we are being held to a whole new level of accountability. By becoming accredited, we've put ourselves out there as a name that can be trusted and a business that works hard to keep that trust. The standards for becoming a BBB accredited business include honest advertising, transparency, a vow to honor all promises, responsive service, integrity and the utmost of security when it comes to safeguarding your private information. Of course, these are standards we've held ourselves to long before becoming accredited, but now you know that we take these issues very seriously. When it comes to computer repair, web hosting, cellphone repair, or any of the many services that we offer, wouldn't you rather work with a business that pledges to keep and honor the practices and standards set forth by the BBB? We think so. And that's our promise to you....

This week, we are extremely honored to be the NEPA Blogs "Blog of the Week" and featured on WBRE's "PA Live!"   Each Tuesday, NEPA Blogs features a different blog that either caters to news and information about North-East PA or is maintained by a blogger located in North-East PA and presents them on WBRE's "PA Live!." Both Jason and I are proud to share this distinction as we each strive to provide a useful service to the community as well as building a successful business. Be sure to watch "PA Live!" at 4 pm on WBRE to see our blog! Update: Just in case you missed it when the segment aired on TV, the video is now available on the PA Live! site....