I'm happy to admit to have never taken the back off a computer and (much to the amusement of all my mates and - it seems- anyone under the age of about 12) I'm terrified of what might happen if I try to start now.
I want a couple of things doing (more memory adding, a multi USB slot putting in the front). I'm assured that they're really simple things to do (I'm fed up of being told that by friends in the pub), but I have no intention of doing them myself and wondered if anyone knew someone who was local, good, quick, and cheap.
If I was still in SE1 I'd have done it for you for free - I know you don't want to be told it again, but it really is a breeze and would take someone about 10 minutes. You really do have to try quite hard to bugger up the inards of your PC, so I wouldn't get too concerned.
I know there are quite a few techie sorts in the forum, so I'm sure you'll find someone who'll help you out free of charge if you've got the parts ordered already. If you've not got the memory yet, a good site to look on is Crucial (www.crucial.co.uk) - the only reason being that you can check what memory you need by simply putting in what machine you've got - this way you'll be sure not to get any polarity clashed with your existing RAM, and you can make sure you get the right speed too to optimise performance. Let me know if you need any help sorting out the hardware.
I'm no IT hero, but have been known to blow up my own pc once in a while.
JR is right, it really is a piece of yellow liquid.
Am happy to take a quick peek, and give you my pennies worth. I might even have enough spare parts to help you out here and there.
Nothing personal Jai, and no snub against your very generous offer. In fact, I was touched to get such friendly and helpful responses from you and JRH. Shows what a nice msg board this is.
It's just that I really don't know anything about computers, don't really want to know either, and have a (no doubt illogical) feeling that because of my ignorance it's safer to take it to a "real" business.
Also, due to the disorganised way I generally carry on, I'm really looking for somewhere where I can go on the spur of the moment and just get it done. I generally think of something that needs doing, go through the preparations, and then forget about it for weeks, only to think of it again when it's least likely that I'll actually have time to get it done. This causes all sorts of uncertainty in my life, which is fine by me, but I was loathe to pass it on to you (if I arranged to go round to a shop, and ended up doing something else instead that would be somewhat rude, but not half as bad as standing up someone who'd offered to help out of the goodness of their hearts).
I found an excellent place just opposite Waterloo Station on Waterloo Road. The entrance is in the side of the last building facing onto the park that used to be full of winos. It also has an internet cafe and stalls inside with lots of computer/mobile phone stuff. A couple of young guys run it and they are superb. Very knowledgable and helpful. Go and talk to them - they will also look at your PC free of charge, then they will tell you what's wrong, if they can fix it, how much it will be and how long it will take. I think they are first class.
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