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Battery technology has come a long way recently.  We’re all familiar with the standard “Coppertop” nickel-cadmium (NiCad) battery that can be purchased at any gas station or grocery store.  We use these batteries for remote controls, wireless mice and other household uses.  These types of batteries were developed more than 100 years ago.  Though these batteries can be recharged, the rate of charge decreases over time because of something called “memory effect.”

“Memory effect” in batteries is seen when you go to recharge your battery.  If your battery is only partially discharged when you are recharging, the battery “remembers” only a part of its capacity.  This phenomenon affected our decision whether or not to run the battery out of our laptop before plugging it in to be able to recharge it fully, and to prolong the memory capacity for recharging.

The introduction of lithium ion batteries has gotten rid of the “memory loss” problem that our previous generations of batteries were limited by.  Lithium ion batteries are now used in many of our portable consumer devices (such as laptops, tablets and smart phones).  This means that instead of waiting for your laptop to run completely out of battery power before going to plug it back into the wall, you should instead keep your laptop plugged in while it is on and only unplug your laptop when you need it to be portable.

Lithium ion batteries are also better at keeping their charge when not plugged in, do not require the maintenance that NiCad batteries do, are much lighter in weight and have one of the best energy densities of any battery technology.  And best of all, lithium ion batteries are friendlier to the environment because they have no heavy metals.

Have questions? Feel free to contact the experts at Christopher’s Computers. Not only can we service a dead battery but we are the leading Asheville Computer shop for general PC sales and services.

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Your data is irreplaceable.  You’ve spent time collecting and sorting your information: pictures, work documents, music and videos.  Remember to check your data backup systems on a regular basis. 

If you are a business, daily backups should occur.  For less active computer users, weekly or monthly backups should be double-checked.

It’s a smart idea to have 2 backup systems in place.  We suggest having one physical backup of your data, such as burning to disk, or copying your data on a separate hard drive.  You can also have cloud storage for your data.  Services are available from companies such as Carbonite or Mozy.  We also like to use a free service called “DropBox” to share and store information in the cloud.

Call Christopher’s Computers if you have any questions about how to check your backup systems.

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• check that your data is backed up
• blow out the dust from inside of your case
• update your critical software
• make certain that you are protected on the internet

When your computer goes down, Christopher’s Computers helps   solve complicated computer problems with swift and professional repair   options.  We take time to relay to you what is going on with your   computer while it is in our shop.  Offering the most   valuable and viable computer solutions that we would use ourselves, our   ethical standards are extremely high.  We know that your computer is of vital importance to   you, and we have a 48 hour turn-around guarantee for repairs*.

*Special order parts may take longer

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If you use one of these passwords or one very similar please change it immediately.  These are not secure and if you use something like these you are simply asking for trouble.

This list indicates the top 25 worst passwords and how they have changed from last years list.

1. password (Unchanged)
2. 123456 (Unchanged)
3. 12345678 (Unchanged)
4. abc123 (Up 1)
5. qwerty (Down 1)
6. monkey (Unchanged)
7. letmein (Up 1)
8. dragon (Up 2)
9. 111111 (Up 3)
10. baseball (Up 1)
11. iloveyou (Up 2)
12. trustno1 (Down 3)
13. 1234567 (Down 6)
14. sunshine (Up 1)
15. master (Down 1)
16. 123123 (Up 4)
17. welcome (New)
18. shadow (Up 1)
19. ashley (Down 3)
20. football (Up 5)
21. jesus (New)
22. michael (Up 2)
23. ninja (New)
24. mustang (New)
25. password1 (New)

Fixing your password issues is simple.

Longer is better!The longer your password the more difficult it will be for someone to guess, or a computer to ‘crack’
Consider using a string of words.  Even a group of words from a song or poem with something added to it.

For example “itwasadarkandstormynight1065”
if you were born in October 1965 would be a memorable password; however it being 28 characters long will be almost impossible to hack.

A password like this is much more easy to remember that one like “S@fh!l” that has special characters in it but is only contains 6 characters.

If you would like to check the strength of any of your passwords head over to http://howsecureismypassword.net/ to check the strength of yours.

Incidentally that website says that our first example :”S@fh!l” would take a computer 22 seconds to crack; while our second example “itwasadarkandstormynight1065” would take a computer 298 septillion years to crack.

Longer is better.

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Simply Put – Because we are Geeks.

We spend hours each week researching to find out what is the ‘latest and greatest’.  What is the best value for your dollar.  And what you just shouldn’t waste your money on.

To bring you the very best from among the dizzying array of options available.

We sell what we would buy ourselves!

When you purchase your new computer from Christopher’s Computers you can be sure you are receiving the very best possible computer for your money.

All of the computers that we sell carry a full one year manufacturers warranty on every part.  We stand behind every Computer that we sell 100%.

If you have questions we will answer them.  If you need help with your new PC we are here for you.

Here find some kind words from several of our happy customers who purchased computers from Christopher’s Computers :

I recently purchased a computer for my business that Christopher’s Computers built and it is awesome! They are very professional, dependable and reasonable!  I would highly recommend them for any computer needs!
~Jackie Teague, owner, Design Avenue Home Furnishings.

 

Christopher’s Computers has been my IT support for the past three years.  Their quick and punctual professional service is of a singular standard.  Christopher’s has provided me not only with IT support but I have purchased excellent performing hardware from them.
I feel the hallmark of Christopher’s Computers is that they quickly and completely fill those areas of expertise that I lack.  The best, most economical and quickest way to get back on line or upgraded.
~B. Connelly  Weaverville NC

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We have worked on many computers and had their owners tell us that they have no idea where certain software installed on their system came from.

Our advice when installing anything on your computer is this:

Read first.
Think about what you are reading.
Then click.

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