Rent-A-Geek - PC Repair in Clunes

Do We Cover Clunes?

Please note: WE DO NOT WORK ON MAC COMPUTERS

I simply do not like Macs or the way they are marketed & am fortunately in a position to choose not to work on them.

Yes, we do include Clunes as part of out catchment area. Our workshop/office is in Mullumbimby & while it is obviously cheaper if you drop your PC into us, many prefer for us to come out to their home or office & do the work on site.

This page was written to make it easy for people to find us for Computer repair in & around Clunes. Rather than it serving no other purpose, the page also covers a subject we hope you will find useful. (If you'd like more, they are listed by subject under 'Useful Stuff' at the top of this page).

Mouse & Keyboard basics

Mouse & Keyboard Types

While there are many variations within them, Mouse & Keyboards can be divided into 2 basic types:

• Wired (each device has a cable attached, which plugs into the PC. It provides power to the device & sends signals to the PC).
• Wireless (each device has an internal battery, a wireless receiver plugged into the PC (or in some cases a Bluetooth receiver) & signals are sent to the PC via the wireless receiver).

I would say we sell about the same amount of each. I personally prefer wireless, as it means there are 2 less cables cluttering up my desk. They have been out for a long time now & while the initial models burned through batteries at a ferocious rate, these days you can expect about 3 years out of the Keyboard batteries & 1 1/2 years out of the Mouse (with a decent brand name product anyway). As to durability, I keep a Logitech Mouse & keyboard in my garage (next to a drill press & grinding wheel). It has been dropped umpteen times & had all kinds of liquids splashed on it & it still lasted 9 years.

Keyboard

You may think a keyboard is a keyboard end of story, but there are a few distinct variations (aside from cheap & nasty). If you only spend an hour a day on the PC, the standard set up is fine, but if you spend most of your day on the computer, the other options are well worth a look.

• Conventional (wired/wireless) Keyboard.
• Ergonomic Keyboard (designed in a way that keyboard is twisted in the middle so your wrists are straight when you type) helps prevent/reduce RSI.
• Mechanical Keyboard... as you type you feel a distinct click as each key is pressed. Many users claim to be able to type faster & with more accuracy than a conventional setup.

... & a mouse is a mouse

When I used to spend 14+ hours a day banging away on a computer, I used to get a sore right wrist. A friend recommended a 'Trackball'. They are an odd kind of mouse, having the usual left/right mouse buttons & scroll), but instead of moving the mouse around on your table to move the pointer, you simply move the track ball (like a captive 30mm marble) with your thumb. It takes a little while to get used to but well worth the effort. (There's 1 to the right in the keyboard picture below).
They are available as cabled or wireless & I'd recommend not getting the ambidextrous versions (track ball in the middle), unless you're left handed. Another option (particularly useful for people who play games on the PC) is the Programmable Mouse. These have additional buttons which can be set to perform all kinds of functions (undo, open control panel, zoom in, volume up/down etc).

Keyboard in more detail

I won't list all of the 'F keys' (red '1' on the picture below). Most of their use is before the computer starts (as soon as you press the power button), to get into the BIOS to change the boot device etc, but even these vary between motherboard manufacturers. You will usually see a short list of those functions displayed on the screen on start up. (If it is actually of interest, Google "list of F key functions")
Alt keys ... the alt keys let you type all sorts of characters that aren't normally accessible on your keyboard. To use this feature press & hold the 'Alt' key (marked as '2' on the keyboard picture) & type the numeric code associated with the special character USING THE KEYBOARD NUMPAD. For example Alt + 0163 gives us £, Alt + 0128 gives us € .... Anyway there are about 380 of them so learning them isn't realistic ... although knowing they're there & to look them up as needed may come in handy. (Google "list alt codes" for a full list). The control keys on the other hand, while not essential to know, do make keyboard life much more useful (& I even have a great trick to easily learn some of them).

• Ctrl + S .... save, saves the current file. Ctrl + S every 20 minutes or so is a really good habit to get into & while computers crash a LOT less often than they used to, it still happens (& loosing an entire morning's work is not a good feeling).
• Ctrl + C .... copy, just like the right mouse when you're in a folder a file or a document, it copies the selected folder/file/text.
• Ctrl + X .... cut, as above but it cuts (takes the original away ... in other words it moves it (when you paste)).
• Ctrl + V .... paste, puts the thing you copied (or cut) into the current folder or document.
• Ctrl + A .... select all, selects everything in the current folder or document (or even web page).
• Ctrl + F .... find, uses the search tool; a text box pops up & you type what you're looking for (try it, works in web pages, folders & documents).
• Ctrl + Z .... undo, you know the feeling you get when you accidentally select a whole lot of text you didn't mean to & then suddenly it all disappears? Well, Ctrl + Z will (hopefully) put it back.
• Ctrl + P .... print, opens the print pop-up.

The control keys (marked 'Ctrl') appear twice on most keyboards & are shown with arrows marked '3' on the picture below. This is just my favorite top 8 (if you want to know them all, just Google "control key functions", but there are a lot of them).
I have a terrible memory & how I learned them was to print them out & stick the list on the bottom left corner of my screen, then when you want, you just glance at the list. Eventually, the paper will fall off, by which time you won't need it any more.
Next we have the Fn (Function) key marked '4 ' in the picture. Now these vary between keyboards, so you'll have to look at your own keyboard's 'Fn' options, but if you look at the picture you'll see the F keys 1 to 12, (The '1' arrows at the top). Next to the F number is a coloured symbol. When you hold the Fn key & press an F key, it performs the task indicated in the picture (eg Home, email, search etc). Again not something you'll probably use very often but good to know.
Tab (red 5 in the picture) moves the cursor several spaces along in 1 go (you can set how many spaces). It also lets you jump from 1 text input box on a web page to the next ... very useful. Give it a try.
Nearly at the end now - only 2, ok 3 more to go. The next 1 is Print Screen (sometimes PrtScr). When you press Print Screen the computer effectively takes a picture of the screen at that moment in time & stores it in memory (but doesn't save it). To save the image, open any picture program & 'Ctrl + V' (paste :) then go File > Save as (& give it a name & tell Windows where you want to save it). If you have never used 'Paint', you may want to have a look at the 'SyncToy, Snipping tool & Paint' link in the 'Useful Stuff' link at the top of this page.
Well, now we get to the last 1, well, last 2 .... Home & End; Home jumps you to the start of the current line (eg in a word document). 'End' jumps you to .... yes you guessed it, the end of the line.

While not the most interesting of my pages, I hope as you've made it this far that you get something useful out of it (I use all bar the F & Fn keys on a regular basis).