3618 George Washington Mem Hwy, Hayes, VA 23072 
Monday - Friday 9:00 - 5:30
Monday - Friday 9:00 - 5:30
We are always adding more questions. If you have one you would like to suggest for this list, please use our contact form.
ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE ATTEMPTING AN UPGRADE.
In short, we recommend holding off until at least the summer of 2023 to give Microsoft time to work out some of the bugs.
Before you decide to upgrade to Windows 11, be sure to run the Upgrade Advisor. You can run the Advisor by going into settings, then Update and Security, and look for information about Windows 11 upgrade. Review the contents of the Advisor’s results carefully. The report will list any hardware or applications that are not compatible with Windows 11. If any of your hardware is not compatible, then we recommend you do not upgrade to Windows 11.
If you are running business software, especially software that is designed for your type of business, you should contact your software vendor to find out if the software is compatible with Windows 11.
If you decide to upgrade to Windows 11, be sure your computer is running well before you start. If your computer is already slow, has pop-ups or viruses, or experiencing hardware issues, upgrading to Windows 11 may fail and cause the computer to be unusable.
ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE ATTEMPTING AN UPGRADE.
If Frantkronics is providing your email, you will find instructions for reading your email with your web browser and for setting up an Email client on our Email Support page.
When you set up your Email account in your Email client (Outlook, LiveMail, your Smart Phone, etc), you must instruct the client to authenticate when sending email.
Authenticating basically logs you in to the Email server to identify you as the owner of the email address. Once authenticated, the server will allow you send your message. Requiring authentication prevents spam and prevents someone else from sending email as you.
Open your Email Client’s settings and look for the outgoing, or SMTP settings. You should find a setting that says “my outgoing server requires authentication”. Make sure this box is checked, and set it to either use your incoming username/password enter your current email address and password.
Unfortunately, we are not able to work on Apple products. The closet Apple stores are:
| iCommand 1315 Richmond Road Williamsburg, VA 23185 |
757-320-5800 |
Franktronics does not work on Smart Phones, iPads, or similar devices. We also do not work on any Apple products.
We do work on windows tablets and some android tablets.
Yes and No.
Many printers today are very inexpensive to purchase, but expensive to repair. If you paid less than $200 for your printer, you may be just as well off to purchase a new printer. By the time we include the cost of parts (assuming parts are even available) and labor, you’ll end up spending $100 or more to repair that printer.
If you’re not sure if its worthwhile to repair your printer, give us a call to discuss the issue and we’ll help you decide if its cost effective to repair.
Franktronics recommends a 3-2-1 Backup Strategy, such as the one described at backblaze.com:
A 3-2-1 strategy means having at least 3 total copies of your data, 2 of which are local but on different mediums (read: devices), and at least 1 copy offsite. We’ll use “kitten.jpg” as an example for this scenario. Kitten.jpg lives on your computer at home, it was a picture that you took of your cat in 2012. That’s one copy of the data. You also have an external hard drive that you use for backing up your computer. As part of its backup process, that external hard drive will back up kitten.jpg. That’s a second copy, on a different device or medium. In addition that external hard drive, you also have an online backup solution. The online backup continuously scans your computer and uploads your data offsite to a datacenter. Kitten.jpg is included in this upload, and that becomes the third copy of your data.
An onsite backup is a simple way of having quick access to your data should anything happen to your computer. If your laptop or desktop’s hard drive crashes, and you have an up to date external hard drive available, you can quickly get the majority of your data back, or use the external on another computer while yours gets fixed or replaced. If you remember to keep that external hard drive fairly up to date, the exposure for data loss is fairly minimal, as you might only be exposed to losing the files that were on your laptop that had not yet been copied to the external hard drive. Most external hard drives even come with their own software to make sure that they are kept readily updated.
Having an onsite backup is a great start, but having an offsite backup is a key component in having a complete backup strategy. Onsite backups are great if you need to get to them quickly, but unfortunately, having a backup near the device that it’s backing up (for example, having a desktop PC and an external hard drive on the same desk), means that both of those copies are susceptible to data loss – floods, fires, and theft can and do occur. Most often, if the two devices you have as your local copies are close together, they’ll both be affected if the unfortunate should happen. A continuously updated copy of your data that’s not in the same physical location as the other two is paramount in protecting your files.
There is no such thing as a perfect backup system, but the 3-2-1 approach is a great start for the majority of people and businesses. Even the United States Government recommends this approach. In a 2012 paper for US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), Carnegie Mellon recommended the 3-2-1 method in their publication titled: Data Backup Options.
I’m bringing my computer in to your shop for repair. What do I need to bring with it?
Typically, all we need is the computer.
We do not need:
Franktronics has a wide selection of universal power adapters for our technicians to use when working on your laptop. However, if the power adapter that fits your laptop is in use with another computer, repairs to your computer may be delayed. Additionally, Franktronics will perform diagnostics on your power adapter to ensure it is operating correctly.
Our diagnostics and repairs may take many hours to run. Laptops do not have enough battery life to complete all of the diagnostics and repairs, even if you bring it with a full charge.
We can usually recover data from failing or crashed systems. Franktronics utilizes numerous tools and techniques to recover your data including specialize software and hardware.
If the hard drive is physically damaged (such as a bad head crash), then data recovery may not be possible.
Another situation we’ve seen several times recently is caused by an “encryption” virus. These viruses encrypt the data on your drive. While we are able to read and recover these files, the data is encrypted, making it useless.
Data, such as documents, music, pictures, and videos, can be transferred off of the old hard drive to a new hard drive with a functional operating system. However, the programs that read these files cannot be easily transferred. Programs such as Microsoft Office are used to read documents and must be reinstalled on the new hard drive. In order to reinstall these programs the product key and sometimes the CD is necessary to reinstall the product. If the product key cannot be recovered off of the old hard drive or the product key is not available physically the product will have to be repurchased or the company the product was originally purchased from will have to be contacted.
Outlook or other email management programs will have to be set up again. This means the email address and password will have to be reentered into the email program.
Any customizations will have to be re-done. These include internet homepages, desktop backgrounds, desktop icon arrangement, etc.
I just need the hardware fixed, why do you need my password?
Often, a computer is our shop for a simple hardware fix such as replacing a laptop screen, or replacing a desktop power supply. So why do we need your password to complete these repairs?
As part of our standard diagnostics, we verify the hard drive is operating properly by running a pair of diagnostics. We also verify that the rest of your computer is working correctly. In some cases, whatever caused the original hardware failure (such as dropping it, or a power surge) may have caused additional damage. We want to be sure that when we repair your computer, it is fully repaired. We can run some of these tests without logging in to your account, but our tests are more accurate and thorough if we can log in using your account information.
Imagine spending around $200 to repair a laptop screen, only to find out later that the hard drive was damaged. That could be another $200 repair. We want you know all of the issues and costs up-front, so you can make an informed decision about your repairs.
No. Ethernet cables cannot be “split” like a telephone line. Each Ethernet cable must run directly between two pieces of equipment, such as your computer and your router.
If you need additional network connections, you must add a network switch, hub, or router.
Contact Franktronics for recommendations about which hardware devices would be best for your application.
Yes, Franktronics can design, build, and install your network – from a small home network with a few devices, up to a large business network with dozens or more devices.
Franktronics can:
A lot of unwelcome software ends up on your computer in part because of something you did or did not do. Here’s how to avoid unwanted spyware or adware:
Unfortunately, spyware and adware aren’t going away any time soon. But you can take control by deciding what gets in, what stays out, and what remains on your computer.