Given a screwdriver and $50 and I can have a new hard drive installed in my Mac and everything pretty much back to normal in a hour or so.

But you do need the screwdriver.
Kosmo @ The Casual Observer´s last blog ..Advertise on The Casual Observer

I just got a brand new car because the water pump failed :/

No, just kidding :)

Replacing a hard drive definitely isn’t as difficult as a retail store would have people believe. But it pays for them to make people think its ultra-difficult and requires special skills.

Using Google, people can fix more than they think. Computers truly aren’t that complicated when it comes to basic fixing and problem solving.

Having that computer guy friend/family member will help you on the more complex problems. Best part is you can pay him with Chipotle or a 12 pack of beer :) MUCH MUCH cheaper than the Geek Squad prices!

Excellent! Thanks for pointing that out.

For my readers, the difference is:
“Activating the full version unlocks realtime protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating. ”

Realtime protection is, as the name implies, the ability to keep it running so it can detect problems as they occur. Proactive versus reactive. The scheduled scanning is nice so you can have it scan every night at 2am while you are sleeping, thus not interfering with your computing.

Learn the basics of maintaing your computer, learn how to fix (basic) error meassages on your own, etc.

Most importantly, get someone in your cicle of contacts that knows more than you–hopefully an expert.

Using Geeksquad or any of those other companies is a complete waste of money.

My “computer guy” has saved me so much money over the years that I’ve lost track.

Another hint–if you get an error message that you can’t fix or you don’t what it is, just “google” the error message. Most of the time you can figure out a fix.

This is a great post!
David/Yourfinances101´s last blog ..Sledding and Fixing Your Finances