HOME south downs sweeps Rob Mortimer <strong>Lewes</strong> 01273 470202 07788 675264 rj.mortimer@yahoo.co.uk fully certificated & insured south downs sweeps Rob Mortimer <strong>Lewes</strong> 01273 470202 07788 675264 rj.mortimer@yahoo.co.uk fully certificated & insured
What do you do when your technically capable son is at university and the computer system he has managed, fixed and periodically upgraded ever since he was 11 years old, stops working, and you are a technophobe? Some local, immediate and trustworthy help is required, and I make the call to a new computer fixing and retail company - Iconic. I explain the problem as best I can: the computer had been failing to start up first time for a month or so, but now perpetually cycles through the starting up bit, giving various options of which even the ‘start Windows with last known good configuration that worked’ does not work. I don’t tell them in my layman’s language of the computer’s repetitive sick frog sounds. “Well,” says the upbeat person on the end of the phone, “we are very busy but we will endeavour to get someone out today.” I get a call a short while later saying that someone called James would arrive at 3pm. A smartly dressed young man in black, not obviously geeky, arrives promptly, carrying a b u s i n e s s t r y o u t . . . iCoNiC Computer sales and repairs laptop bag. I express my fear that the problem “might be terminal”. He cheerily dismisses this saying “Most things can be fixed one way or another”. I lead him to the computer in a corner of my bedroom, and consider what a personal thing it is, your computer, a bit like a diary. James makes me feel at ease, as he quickly and calmly sets to work, explaining what he is doing. He asks, “Have you tried to do a Windows repair?” Errr... We move on to back-ups. I feel rather pleased with myself; I bought an external hard drive during my degree, after a stern talk from my son, and have periodically backed up my work. “Well” James says “this is very good news, lots of customers may not back up, and this can cause upset”. A diplomatic description I think. Yet he assures me that 98% of the time data can be recovered, although it can up to two days because it is a lab service. He cites a university student who did not back up, who they helped recover data. I feel quite smug at this point. “I’m going to try to see if we can repair from disc”, and he pulls another disc out of his bag: “This can fix minor problems.” However, after 5 minutes, he suggests it might be more serious, “I am going to take your hard drive out and plug it into my laptop’. Apparently the problem is likely to be a corrupted operating system, or hard drive or Ram failure. The ‘blue screen’ thing appears – something I know signifies serious computer problems, and a place my son had forbidden me to venture. It is only a short while later when he announces: “It’s looking like we need to scan the computer overnight.” The frog is definitely ill. James unplugs and takes the patient away. The next day I get the call: “I am afraid your computer has multiple sector hard-drive failure.” I realise then that it’s terminal and there’s nothing for it but to replace said frog with prince. We discuss various options and I decide to go into their shop to sort out my future computer with Josh, who is most patient and helpful. In no time at all I am sorted! Nina Murden Iconic Computers 01273 476 914 www.iconiccomputers.co.uk 1 1 3
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