PC World Healthcheck

[JP Justice]

PC World (that's a big computer store, for non-Brits) offers a PC diagnostic and healthcheck for about £30. Is it worth doing? Anybody tried it?

[SR-71]

A very good PC periodical called PCFormat was brave enough 2 tell the truth about PC World (and there health check). Which wasn't very complimentary. Although the Health check is good for beginners, If U have a good idea how 2 maintain your system then save your money. However U could tell that PC World got all stropy as the next month PCFormat's guts had gone and published a very bum kissy article/advert. Me thinx PC World had a nice little chat with there solicitors.

Nuff Said


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ICQ# 91029795

[This message has been edited by SR-71 (edited 05 February 2001).]

[JP Justice]

Thanks a lot SR.

By the way (and I am of course an old f*rt)

Is English your native language?

Cheers.

[Flyswift]

JP Justice.

I wouldn't take my PC's to them. I 've heard all they do is open the case, extract any dust, clean the case, and run scandisk. Very extensive !


It would by £30 down the drain.

[Airbanda]

Would that be PC as in pricey computers!

Lost any residual faith in them when new scanner went u/s with lamp jamming and drive belt skipping over cogs irregularly and for no evident reason.

Took it back to be told, without any apparent irony, by staff member who looked about 13 that there was no such thing as an intermittent mechanical fault!

Quite worrying to draw inference form Sr's post that a reputable mag might allegedly feel constrained from fair reporting by the sheer weight of this company's advertising budget.

[ExSimGuy]

I wonder if PC-World advertises in the mag concerned ;)

JPJustice - SR's first language is "bad language" - English is only his second (and for reasons not disclosed here, I'm entitled to say so - but don't anyone else knock him or I'll be after you :) )

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What Goes Around . . . . .
. . often makes a better landing

[AquaPlane]

JP-J,

PC World's healthchecks are pretty awful to be honest. You'd be far better off spending your £30 on Norton Utilities and do a much more extensive healthcheck yourself in about 15 minutes. Every subsequent check is then free...!

You might want to lift off the lid (provided it's not a laptop) and blow the dust out. There's not much more you can do, bar making sure the cards are seated and the fans are clean. Computers are pretty much solid state bar the disk drives, blow out your floppy drive and the hard disk drives are all factory sealed and dustproof units anyway.

Aq

[Scallywag]

Your time and effort would be much better spent here... http://www.pcpitstop.com/

And it's free !

[Delta Wun-Wun]

PC World do not need your money.Going back a couple of years when I was looking to buy a PC.I wondered into one of their stores.Found a system that did everything I required , but I wanted a different Printer.Asked the assistant if I could order the system but with a different printer.He said that was not allowed,as the package came with that printer.I said that I didnt mind paying the extra.He said that they were the same price! Needless to say I went somewhere else. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/confused.gif http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/confused.gif

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GET THE BLOODY NOSE DOWN!

[Airbanda]

Thanks to scallywag for the pitstop link. Identified and cured my long standing problem with slow downloads. Can recomend

[Ausatco]

There is another good performance test site at http://wintune.winmag.com . There is a link to a downloadable off-line version of the test which is pretty good, but it only tests one HDD. (You can test all drives in the on-line version)

Also there is a link to www.browsertune.com (http://www.browsertune.com) which is self-explanatory. IE5.5 fares well. You get lots of advice and background on any changes to your browser configuration recommended by the test. The first two tests are quick - about 5 min. The third,full test took me about 2 hours on line.

Cheers

AA

[aisleman]

Have they brought their fees down? The leaflet I have quotes 39.99GBP for the 'healthcheck'.

Also, what if they find a problem? Do they then charge the 50GBP fee for repairs too? (1st hour, then 25GBP per hour thereafter).

As mentioned above Norton Utilities is a good investment to sort out usual problems - I can't see why you would need a healthcheck from them on top of that (or instead).

My company charges for repairs at 40GBP ph, which includes the healthcheck/valet etc...which I think is more sensible since at least you are working on a problem (if it ain't broke don't fix principle).

Aisleman http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif

(can we have an icon with an umbrella? - may be more suitable for the UK at the moment)..!

[Hew Jampton]

Ref the pcpitstop link above, have you seen their Bulletin Board System at http://support.pcpitstop.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

Can't think where I've seen it before!

[Mooney]

It didn't work for Garry Glitter! He took his down to PC world for a health check and ended up inside one of HMP's finest! :)