At Trust In Me Computers (TIMC), we're good at helping people like you find good solutions, for their businesses or personal use. A good solution, a wise man once said, is worth its weight in rubies. However we provide good solutions at an affordable price. If we can solve your computer problems at a reasonable price for the work we do, we have a chance to gain your trust and return business. Make sense to you? It does to us too. And if you need emergency service when the chips are down, call us to ask about our Agreement for After-Hours assistance.

Recently we were asked to work on a Notebook computer. It wouldn't run at all, but its hard drive contained vital information. The Notebook's owner had taken it to two other companies, both of which told him it would be impossible to recover his data. One of them told him to just throw it away and buy another. Thank goodness he called us first. He brought it to us and within an hour we had it repaired completely, by installing a $10 part with a soldering iron and ten cents worth of solder.

If you're having trouble with your computer running slowly or you think you may have a virus on your computer we'll use the latest software to remove it and then go on and clean up your Windows Program Registry files to speed up your operations.

Some of these additional things we do because they benefit your operations, without you even knowing that these problems exist. We'll even run the "Mystery Programs," CHKDSK and DEFRAG that most people don't know about but will improve your system's operation.

We can even install "Security" programs for you to eliminate some of the concerns so you won't have to worry about having future problems that can literally drive you crazy.

What we want is for you to avoid the kind of problems that stop you dead in your tracks while you try to find someone to fix them. The best way to solve problems is to prevent them.

If you're interested in learning more about our software data recovery solution please call us so we can tell you what we can do.

Not all hard drives can be saved by customer engineers with software. Drives do die, and with them important data and family pictures. There are several data recovery companies in the U.S. which have complete Clean Room Facilities. They can make an effort to get your drive running or open it up to try to read the data from the individual disks themselves.

If we examine your drive problem and find that you are in need of these kinds of services, we can handle the packing and transportation of so we can be your contact point with the people who have the facilities to recover your data.

If your drive is clicking or it sounds like it's having a good day at the beach then it's going to be something for specialists in data recovery.

We understand that your digital data is very important since all of us store business records, tax info, family photos, videos and important e-mails on our computers today. If you want to deal directly with data recovery specialists, we can give you the names of three for you to contact.

Our charges

Our minimum charge is $50 for trouble shooting and diagnosis, plus an estimate of parts and labor costs to complete the repair. Our diagnostic charge is payable at commencement of work. If we discover and cure the problem while diagnosing it, our minimum charge is all you pay. If you want us to pick up the equipment, we charge for travel portal to portal, both ways at reasonable and actual costs for travel plus time at our minimum rate.

Minimum Rates

When we have located the source of the problem, we'll call you first before commencing repair or purchasing parts. We want you to be involved in making a decision to proceed with repairs. You should understand that our quotation is an estimate based on our experience and the labor time we expect to consume on your behalf.

We charge $25 per hour at our office to solve your PC problems. If you wish us to work on equipment on site at your location, computer at your home or office, our rates are $50 per hour from the time we leave the office until the time we have resolved your problem at your location and returned to our own, minimum charges, two hours. Labor and travel costs to obtain parts, diagnostic tools and software are charged at our minimum rate.

When we require parts unavailable locally and which we must obtain from the manufacturer or wholesale distributor, we will charge for the part and our cost to obtain it. We will seek your authorization before ordering parts.

Our charge for data recovery services average about $100, plus the cost of the medium, such as a thumbnail memory, hard drive or compact disk, to which we can back up your recovered data. Some data recovery work consists of installing recovery software on a second system which is connected to yours. The processing of data recovery may take as much as 24 hours or even up to a week for it to finish. Our labor costs are for diagnosis and the task of loading software on your system or another which will run the software, in unattended mode. We do not charge for sitting near and watching the process, therefore no hourly rate applies.

If you wish to buy a new computer, there are a few things you should consider before making a purchase decision.

We have seen occurrences where a computer is needed to operate a business but the owner buys one that is intended only to run exotic computer games.

A business needs a completely different hardware configuration that's meant for office-oriented tasks such as word processing, email, internet research and accounting. An altogether different kind of system is needed for playing video games, working with graphic or processor-intense applications such as engineering or landscaping, Computer-aided Design (CAD), or recording/creating music.

If you're going to use this PC for operating a small business then it's going to be extremely important that it should be a much sturdier machine, long-lasting, upgradable, and can be maintained at low cost. It should have an easy to use backup method, and the backup medium must be removable so it can be taken away at the end of every business day. A business system also needs an alternate source of electrical power in case of brown-outs, power loss or electrical spikes or dips. This most necessary device is called an Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS. Buying a cheap UPS is about equal to buying none at all.

For home use most people are converting to online banking, accounts payable, and access to online entertainment and information. These systems also need a backup method using a removable medium. You don't have to take it to your safe deposit box, but you can hide it behind some old and boring books. This won't protect you from fire, but may protect you from a burglar.

Check out our article on Securing your PC

We hope that by now you've taken the time to consider the first three important questions for a buyer. There's another vital question, probably the most important of them all

For some people this question will always overrule the three previous ones. The hard rule of life is this: No one needs a cheap doctor; no one needs a cheap lawyer; no one needs a cheap racehorse. At TIMC. our PC's are not the cheapest PC on the market. It's that Rule again. Cheap is not equal to Good. Cheap always comes with the highest price, lack of service; down time; repair costs; no parts; no support, no help, no plan to take care of you. That's where the high costs are hidden. Consider the Yugo car. The oldest one in America died before the age of two.

The real marketplace for the wise buyer has systems that last from three to seven years. They can be repaired; upgraded with memory, data storage and software as fast as it becomes available in the market. For this kind of system, you will always pay the highest purchase price but the lowest overall price. Talk to us; we're smart, helpful and worth it.

These four direct questions and your answers can help us provide you with the PC you need and the services you should expect.