A few weeks ago, we received a message of recognition from Apple. We’re proud to say we’ve been named a Premium Service Provider thank to our commitment to customer service and technical expertise.

In order to become a Premium Service Provider, you must first become an Authorized Apple Service Provider. If you are getting any Apple products serviced, it is always best to go through an Authorized Dealer for the following reasons:

• Coverage under Apple Care Warranties
• Only authorized details can obtain parts directly from Apple
• Apple audits everyone to ensure businesses are operating legitimately
• Apple provides specialized training to technicians for best possible service

So What Does it Mean to be a Premium Service Provider?

According to Apple,  “Premium Service Providers consistently deliver exceptional repair support and customer experience that meet Apple’s exacting standard for high-quality repair and prompt service.”

There are over 200 authorized Apple retailers around the world and only 6% of them are awarded this distinction. You can see why we’re very proud of our staff and our customers for creating such a terrific atmosphere at our shop.

As a locally-owned business, and the only Authorized Apple Dealer in the Durham Region, we know we have a responsibility to provide only the best service to our customers. We always appreciate hearing feedback and are always happy to help.

Thank you to Apple, to our staff, and of course our customers for making it possible for us to receive this wonderful distinction. We can’t wait to see you in the shop and show you our terrific technical support firsthand!

January is the time of the year where we can start fresh. It’s the time we promise ourselves to exercise more, eat better, be nicer so we can live a longer happier life. However, rarely do our resolutions revolve around the machines we love the most – our Macs!

Getting extra longevity out of your computer means taking extra good care of it. While some might say the average computer only last 4 years, you could get much more as long as the right upgrades and care is taken. Here’s some things to start trying this year.

Resolution 1: I will back up my hard drive at least once per week.

You might hear this a lot from us, and other computer repair shops, and teachers, and techies. Well guess what, if it didn’t need to be said we wouldn’t say it. By far, the biggest problems we encounter is lost data. Regular backups mean you don’t lose precious photos, files or other documents. Set up Time Machine and use it at least once a week on two different hard drives.

Resolution 2: I will try to fix my old laptop before throwing it out and buying a new one.

It’s no secret, laptops cost a lot of money. Especially Macs. However, these computers are built to last if you treat them well. If your machine encounters a problem, don’t immediately write it off. Apple service providers are very willing to diagnose the problem for little to no cost. You might find a solution in an upgrade that will lengthen the life of your computer and save the environment from another laptop in a landfill.

Resolution 3: I will clean up my files in the Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall

A new computer brings with it a fresh slate, ready to organize files in perfect alignment. But as the working year progresses, the files slowly become disorganized and your work flow suffers. A quarterly clean out of your files will free up space on your hard drive and save you tons of times in the long run. Also be sure to take advantage of the searchlight and smart folder features to more easily store and find important files.

Resolution 4: I will clean my computer regularly (once a week)

While your computer is more useful than a lot of the objects in your home, they all have one thing in common: dust collection. Yes even with Apple’s tech advancements, they’ve yet to come up with a way to keep dust off your keyboard and smudges off the screen. To avoid dust build up, regular wipe downs of your computer with a damp and lint free cloth help keep things sparkly and running smoothly.

Resolution 5: I will start using a new password for better security

When’s the last time you changed your password? If it’s been a while – you might be at risk. And heaven forbid you’ve been using the same password for all your accounts. As hard as it is to remember things, there’s free password storing services making managing passwords easier and safer.

Resolution 6: I’ll be wary of downloading nasty things from the internet

If it’s sent to you in a text message, an email or messenger – don’t click it right away. Even friends who get hacked might inadvertently send you a nasty link that phishes your email or downloads malware or spyware on your computer. With all the links there are to click on these days, be extra critical.

If you want to get your new year started right. Why not bring your computer in for a checkup and clean up? We’ll be happy to assess your computer’s health and give you our suggestions for making it last for many years to come. Just send us an email or reach out to us on Facebook to set up an appointment.

By now you’ve heard about the new line of MacBook Pros. Which means you’ve also heard about Apple’s leap toward OLED TouchBars and USB-C and leap away from older USB ports, MagSafe adapters and SD Card Slots.

Of course, the internet had something to say about this. Many point out the first round of new technology requires buying a new slew of adapter and dongles to make their old accessories work on their new computer.

The dongles and adapters could prove annoying at first. But historically, Apple usually gets rid of certain technology just before the technology becomes obsolete. The floppy disk was an old input that lasted for about 15 years, until Apple got rid of it for more efficient technologies. Back then, people complained they needed to get rid of their floppy discs. Eventually, CDs proved the better method, and now no one will ever go back to floppies again (eventually the same thing happened to CDs too).

This “Apple Death Chart” from the Verge shows the average life of computer inputs is about 10-15 years. You’ll see USB ports have been around for 18 years . So by Apple’s standards, the USB input is long overdue for an upgrade. USB-C seems to be the solution Apple is going with.

Why USB-C is Better in the Long Run:

To set the record straight, USB-C is just the name of the connector shape. The underlying USB technology determines how fast it will be. So you could have a USB-C connection that supports up to USB 3.1 (like the new MacBook Pros), or a USB-C connection that only supports up to USB 2.0.

The beauty of USB-C is that the shape is tiny and versatile. Manufacturers now have one universal standard that is the perfect size to fit on any device. Gone are the days of different USB cords for the printer, your tablet, your phone and your other devices.

But the best part? There is an identical and reversible port on each side. So there’s no need to flip or twist cords finding the right way to plug them in.

It’s Multi-Purpose

Old USB ports could only give about 2.5 watts of power to a device. This could be enough to charge a small battery, but those big laptop batteries need closer to 60 watts. USB-C ports can provide up to 100 watts of power which is more than enough to charge our laptop.

USB-C can also be easily adapted to work as an HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort output. And it is also compatible with Apple’s Thunderbolt technology (no adapter necessary). So essentially you have a better USB port, that also charges your computer AND supports other inputs/outputs.

Makes More Room for Awesome Stuff

In computer design, even saving a couple millimeters can be crucial. This new tiny and multi-purpose port saves space, because you no longer need multiple bulky USB, SD card and charging ports. That means more room for speed, storage, and new features like OLED TouchBars.

Remember, Waiting is Always an Option

You don’t always need to be on the cutting edge of technology. While you wait for everyone else to get on the USB-C train (which will happen very soon), keep using the USB ports and SD Cards you love by boosting your computer’s life. A new hard drive, more RAM and a well kept computer means you can get that new MacBook Pro when it costs less and the rest of the world is ready for it.

Apple makes great computers. There’s no joy quite like opening a fresh laptop and clicking around new applications, typing out big long documents all while listening to music, streaming YouTube clips and syncing your iPhone to iTunes – with no loss of speed.  

But like all of us, as computers get a little older, they start not being able to do the things they used to. Suddenly, even dragging your mouse around becomes a drag because it moves slower than a snail while you’re just trying to read your email. However, unlike us, a little professional tinkering on the inside of a computer can make the machine work as good as or better than the day you bought it.

Clean Out Your Digital Clutter

Imagine you’re working in the kitchen preparing dinner. However, you haven’t put all the groceries away and there taking up all your counter space. If you try to work with the extra food lying around taking up space, you’ll have to constantly move things out of the way and the task of making dinner is going to take a longer time.

Just like a full counter, a full hard drive means your computer has to do extra work to access the things it needs. Reformatting your hard drive or simply cleaning out old files can be a quick solution to speed it up again. You want to make sure your computer has about 20% of free disk space for swap files, so your machine has some space to move things around and work more efficiently. Just always be sure to make at least two backups before trying this!

Clean Up Your Computer Parts

Does your computer feel hotter than a freshly-microwaved pizza pocket? Is it noisy enough to get people working around you to stare you down because they can’t get their work done? If so, it might mean your computer needs a little cleaning inside.

Hot and noisy computers can be a sign that internal parts like the fans and hard drives are working extra hard because there is dust and other dirt clogging up the parts. Just like a well-oiled car, a well-cleaned Mac will run much smoother if it doesn’t need to worry about working through dirty conditions. This may not speed up your computer, but it is good for computer health and will make sure the things that affect speed, like RAM and Hard Drives, last longer.

Upgrade Your RAM

RAM stands for Random Access Memory and it can be thought of in terms as your computer’s Short Term memory. Basically, every application you open, means your computer needs to remember more things are going on and juggle the tasks. Computers with more RAM are better jugglers, able to toss around multiple applications like a Cirque de Soleil performer.

If you find your computer slows down when you have multiple applications open, or certain high-requirement applications open (like photo or video editing software), you might consider getting more RAM for your machine.

Upgrade Your Hard Drive

Hard Drives work really hard to keep accessing your files when you need them and saving every new thing you put on them. The more popular hard drive in Macs is a hard-disk drive (or HDD for short). These drives have tiny moving parts that spin and make sounds if you listen carefully enough. However, all that spinning and whizzing around means parts eventually start wearing down or stop working entirely.

If you notice things are drastically slowing down, it can be a sign that the hard drive is failing. Mechanical hard drives slow down greatly as they start to fail. This is a good time to back up your computer and bring it to a professional. They can asses your hard drive, confirm the problem and help you avoid losing data.

Upgrading to a solid-state drive (or SSD), will get rid of the moving parts of an HDD. This means your hard drive can last longer and work faster – speeding up computer processing greatly. While these hard drives are more expensive, they are cheaper than buying a new computer and will ensure your machine lasts a much longer time.

There’s plenty of ways we can tell which of these options will the most cost-effective way to improve your Mac’s slow performance. Give us a call, send us an email, reach out to us on Facebook or come into our store today and we’ll see what we can do!

You may have been excited to see the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus get unveiled at last week’s big Apple event. But before you empty your pockets to get a little more umph in them, you might want to try these tricks to speed up your current phone. After all, there’s a new phone every year, and you don’t want to upgrade until it’s totally necessary!

Upgrade to iOS 10

One of the big draws of the new iPhone 7 is the new operating system which has all kinds of cool new features and updates. But the new operating system isn’t just limited to the iPhone 7 models, you can get it on your old phone too! Chances are, Apple has already sent you a notification to upgrade. If not, you can upgrade right now by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

You might be hesitant to upgrade your older phone for fear of the new operating system slowing it down (this seems to happen with every iOS upgrade). But don’t worry! It seems the iPhone 5 and later phones are able to run the new OS with very little noticeable slow down.

Though be warned! The new operating system will not work very effectively and cut off support for any iPhones before the iPhone 5, any iPads before the 4th generation, or any iPod Touch before the 6th generation. Make sure you backup before you upgrade, so you can restore your phone to a previous operating system if needed.

Clean Up Your Phone’s Junk

After years of having the same phone, it’s possible it’s getting pretty jammed full of apps, text messages, photos, music, videos and other digital garbage. Take an afternoon to backup everything on your computer or a hard drive (you should be doing this fairly regularly anyway), and then go nuts scrolling through and deleting anything that’s not totally necessary.

Start with unnecessary apps, photos and videos as these usually take up the most memory, after that you can move to your text messages and delete those. You might also want to go into Safari and delete your browsing history and cookies.

Your old phone may not have as much storage space as the new iPhone 7, but as long as you leave about 1 GB of wiggle room, you should see improvement in your phone’s performance.

Get Rid of the Unnecessary Design Quirks

One of the big pros of the iPhone is the easy to read and pretty displays. However, each little fun design point on the phone takes up a little bit of processing power, so older phones might need to sacrifice some beauty for a little better performance. Fortunately, there’s two design quirks most people can do without.

Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion and turning the “Reduce Motion” setting on. This will turn off some parallax effects on notifications.

Another change increasing contrast by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Increase Contrast and turning the “Reduce Transparency” setting on. This will change the transparency of menu backgrounds also saving performance.

Both these changes should improve the speed of your phone and will help reduce battery use.

Restore from Backup

It might be the case your old phone just isn’t handling the new updates very well and needs to be restored to an older version (though this is unlikely to be the case with the iOS 10 upgrade). If you’ve been diligent with your backups, you can restore your phone to an older setting by plugging it into iTunes and selecting “Restore Backup.”

Do a Factory Reset

If you’ve tried the above suggestions, and you still don’t notice much performance improvement, it could be time to start from ground zero. A factory reset will essentially put your phone back to the way it came out of the box (minus the inevitable wear and tear on the hardware inside).

Make an Appointment

We help with iPhone repairs now. If any of the above suggestions haven’t made a significant improvement on your device, it might be time to check the inner hardware components for damage and functionality. We can diagnose any problems with the guts of your iPhone and whether it’s worth fixing. Worst case scenario, we give you permission to treat yourself to a shiny new iPhone!

Hopefully you found these tips helpful! If you need help with any of these steps or want us to look at your phone give us a call, send us an email (info@alarytech,ca), reach out on Facebook, or just drop by (337 King Street West in Oshawa). We’ll be happy to take a look!

UOIT may have given you a laptop, but there’s students out there – or students at Durham College – who decided to roll with Apple instead. This blog is for you! While your machine may be working great, it’s likely there’s a few things that can be done to get it working before the first semester starts.

Back It Up

Okay it’s not really a tune up tip. However, before you start doing tune ups, make sure you have one, and hopefully two backups. When tuning up a computer keeping a backup is just the easiest way to make sure all your files stay safe. You should always keep back ups throughout the school year just to keep those midterm notes from disappearing when you need them most.

Full Clean Up (Inside)

After first year, your computer is likely junked up with tons of music, photos, and maybe some regrettable essays. But there’s also a chance that some malware and other malicious software could be lurking in your computer. At best, malware is slowing down your computer and at worst, it’s stealing important personal info.

Full Clean Up (Outside)

Now we don’t blame you. Residence rooms are small, and after a first year crammed in a residence room, some KD or Cheetos dust was bound to make its way on your keyboard. Fortunately, there’s professional people who know how to clean up keyboards, ports and monitors safely (and to gently remind you to not eat food over your laptop).

Spec Your Computer Right

If you happen to be buying a MacBook for the first time, you want to make extra sure you don’t go for the cheapest option right away. Make sure you know what you’ll be using your computer for to ensure you have enough hard drive storage, enough USB ports (or USB ports at all), and enough RAM. If you plan on gaming or watching high quality movies, you might want to consider adding a little extra umph in your hardware.

Upgrading Hard Drive to a SSD

Maybe you have an older MacBook and it’s running slow. It could be because your old disk hard drive is starting to lose to some of it’s juice. One upgrade that seriously helps speed up your computer is an upgrade to a SSD (soild-state) drive. These drives are more expensive but you get way more bang for your buck and it could save you from having to spend that precious OSAP on a brand new computer.

And that’s it! If you’d like any of the services on this list we’re happy to help you out and give you our student discount. Just come into our store anytime (337 King St. W in downtown Oshawa), no appointment needed!

We’re also happy to answer any additional questions about your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter. You can also send an email to info@alarytech.ca. Best of luck with your studies this year! We hope to see you soon.

Did you know all this already? If you have experience repairing Macs, we could be looking to hire you. Email us a careers@alarytech.ca,

Here’s one PSA we can’t make enough to our clients: BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER. Apple computers are wonderful machines, but they are by no means perfect. Yet for some reason, people think everything on their Mac will last forever. If the problem is motivation, here’s 6 reasons why you should back up your computer today.

It’s Easy

Apple makes it really easy to back up your hard drive. The process is automated using the built-in software Time Machine.. The whole process of backing up takes 10 minutes or less and saves you a mountain of time if you ever lose data. Here is a simple video to show you how

You Have Very Important Stuff on There

I don’t know if you’ve looked at what’s stored on your computer these days, but there’s plenty of important things you don’t want to lose. Whether it’s important files or documents, or photos from your vacation, losing these things can prove devastating. You insure your home, and you insure your car in case anything bad happens. Just consider a back up as insurance on your data.

External Hard Drives are Very Affordable

Considering the importance of things you have saved on your computer, an investment in an external hard drive is well worth it. Chances are the most external storage you will need will not exceed 1TB. These hard drives are sold in all places electronics are sold and you can get peace of mind for only $60-$90 (or less if you go with less storage). Guaranteed, you won’t get insurance this cheap for your car or home.

Hard Drives Aren’t Going to be Around Forever

If you’re not convinced of how easy it is to backup your data, consider this: some hard drives have up to a 30% failure rate. That means, even if you treat your computer like it’s the Holy Grail itself, your hard drive could still stop functioning completely with no warning and take all your precious files, photos and data with it.

Hackers/Viruses/Theft

We all fear the hackers and bad people of the world who try to take things that aren’t there’s. However, if you have a spare copy of everything hackers or thieves can take, there’s no reason to fear or give into pricey Ransomware demands if you’re ever unlucky enough to be targeted. We can fix viruses, but we can’t always recover data. In this case it’s better to have AT LEAST TWO backups – with one disconnected from your computer at all times.

It Makes Our Lives Easier

Okay, this reason is a little selfish. But we’ve had so many instances where a repair or restoration of a computer is made easier when we have a complete backup of a person’s computer. In the end, having this will save us for feeling bad of not being able to save your data and could even save you some money from IT labour fees.

There’s People Who Will Help You

Yes, computers can be scary sometimes and you may not know where to begin. But you also don’t want to lose your data either. At our store, we can help you back up your Mac or iPhone for you or show you how to do it yourself. So honestly, what are you still waiting for?

Time to start paying for things like it’s 2016!

First things first: 

Apple Pay only works on iPhone 6, and later models. If you want to use Apple Pay to make in-store purchases you must have one of the following devices:

4 Benefits of Apple pay: 

Get your Mac running faster with a little Spring cleaning. For the month of May, we will professionally tune up and clean your Mac for a discounted price.