Following on from How to clean your PC: Part one Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a given that from time to time your PC will get dusty, even in the most tidiest of houses. That’s why we have created this step by step process for you to keep your PC working in tip-top condition.

Equipment needed:

• Microfiber cloth
• Can of compressed air
• Handful of cotton buds
• Antibacterial wipes

It’s not just your home that needs a good spring cleaning. Your PC and peripherals accumulate dust and grime and require on-going attention just like any other frequently used appliance. You need to clean the keyboard, mouse, and screen, of course, but you shouldn’t neglect the interior, as well. Dust build-up inside your PC’s case can lead to overheating and component failure. Follow our simple cleaning schedule to keep your machine spick-and-span.

Step 1: Once a week: Clean your keyboard

Studies have shown that more bacteria live on each square inch of a typical office desk than on the same area of a typical office toilet seat. The reason: The bathroom gets cleaned with disinfectants fairly regularly, but most PC users dust their desks and keyboards only occasionally, at best. This neglect can turn your keyboard into a Petri dish, especially if you often eat near your PC.

To help keep your desk area germ-free, clean your keyboard once a week. Start by holding it upside down and gently shaking it to dislodge any crumbs. Large particles like food debris can make keys unresponsive. Next, take a can of compressed air (available at most electronics retailers) and use the straw-like nozzle to blow out dust from between the keys. These steps should extend the life of your keyboard and keeps it working like new.

The scarier thought, of course, is what you can’t see: germs thriving on your keytops and mouse surface. At least once a week—and certainly more often during cold and flu season—gently wipe the keys with a moist antibacterial wipe. It’s best to do this when your PC is off, so you don’t corrupt any programmes you may have open as you press all the keys. Let’s not forget to wipe down your mouse, too.

In addition to your keyboard and mouse, it’s also wise to clean your monitor once a week using a microfiber cloth. If that doesn’t do the job, use a slightly moistened, soft cloth. Avoid cleansers that aren’t specially formulated for LCDs; stick to water, as polish smears the screen.

Step 2: Once a month: Clear the fans

When it comes to your PC’s case, dust and pet hair that make their way inside are more of a concern than surface dirt. Proper airflow within the chassis is critical to maintaining an optimal operating temperature, and dust can build up in the various fans (case, power supply, CPU (processor), and in some models, GPU (graphics card)), causing them to slow down or seize up altogether. If that happens, the resulting excess heat can cause the CPU to automatically drop down its speed to avoid overheating. Eventually, components might fail altogether.

Once a month, with your PC off, turn the case around and clear any dust you see around the air intakes. Use a cotton bud to clean the fan blades and other areas you can’t reach with a cloth. You might be tempted to hit them with a blast of compressed air, but don’t: This will only force the dust deeper into the fan mechanism and PC case, and could damage the fan.
No matter how dusty your PC may be, resorting to your household vacuum cleaner is not an option. The static electricity generated by these appliances will do more harm than the dust itself. Also while you have the PC out for a clean, just wipes over the cables with a soft cloth, no doubt they too will be dusty.

Remember to do this clean on a weekly basis and your PC will last that extra bit longer.

Thank you for reading.

Regards,

L.A.C

Are we getting better at creating award winning systems? Well, we  are doing our damnedest best to! The G6 Apollo recevied a better than average review from Computer Shopper’s Senior Staff Writer Kat Orphanides. Although the review was good, we still believe that you get an excellent system for £699.

Continue here for the full review…  Read the rest of this entry »

For the majority of people these days, the internet has become an integral part of life, whether it’s business related, speaking to family a distance away or researching, shopping etc.
This is why it is important to find the best solution for you.
Downtime could mean money!
Here I will explain solutions for you, which you may want to act on immediately.
There are multiple ways to connect to the internet for PC’s and laptops and I will be discussing your options now.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ginger6‘s latest installment from a magazine review comes once more from the Senior Writer Kat Orphanides at Computer Shopper/Expert Reviews.
She gave a fair review of our system, however we once again got pipped to the post. This will only make us more determined to get the formula right and create award winning computers time and time again.

“The G6 GTX460 Destroyer might sound like something you’d find at an arms fair rather than a PC shop, but it’s actually fairly plain looking with a case that’s more functional than flashy. Its Blu-ray re-writer adds a touch of class, though, and will be handy if you want to make large backups or author video productions to high-definition discs.” notes Kat.

Retrospectively we can see why we didn’t win the category since majority of systems we were competing against for the £999 price point were gaming rigs, however, if you’re after a well-rounded multimedia PC that is suitable for the whole family then this would be the package for you. Bare in mind that the system comes with keyboard & mouse, 21.5″ BenQ monitor and Creative Surround Sound speakers, so ideal for family life.

Kat’s full review can be found here

In today’s technological world, anti-virus is an essential piece of software when you’re buying your PC, viruses and malware are becoming more sophisticated at damaging your PC. Usually, getting anti-virus is an after-thought or it may be a case of ‘I’ll get a free trial off the internet’, the thing with that is you have to be connected to the internet, and that’s where the threat is.

Just yesterday a colleague of mine opened up an email from a client that unbeknown to him, contained a virus and instantly wiped his hard drive. Even though he had anti-virus software installed somehow it still managed to do quite a lot of damage.
To his annoyance and dismay this meant a lot of man hours have disappeared and many more will have to be done to replace the work that was lost.

I hear quite often, and I hold my hands up when I say i’ve done this too, Read the rest of this entry »

The reviews are going from strength to strength here at Ginger6, firstly we received a respectable review from Computer Shopper/Expert Reviews and now we had received confirmation that our latest review scored 8/10.
As a team we are pleased with the score we achieved, however we know we must not become complacent in this ever-changing industry.
This machine the G6 Fusion GTX460i was originally built for a previous group test which we narrowly missed out on the top award. We knew what a good quality PC this is, therefore we asked other review editors for their expert opinion and glad to say they spotted the great features too, so we sent it to Micro Mart for their opinion.
Freelance Reviewer Tom Bushnell says “The Fusion GTX 460i system is an example of how the right combination of components can come together to create a great computing experience. It’s all the things you want and none of the things you don’t…”
“I particularly enjoy how quiet this system is. This is often understated in reviews…yet the GTX460i is quieter than plenty of heavily overclocked systems i’ve examined in the past…”
To read Tom’s full review you can find it in issue 1155 dated 28th April – 4th May 2011.

Ginger6 are stepping up their game and in doing so we are going to be putting in more system reviews than we have ever done, this is to show you, how Ginger6 can cater to your IT Hardware needs.

The latest review has gone to Computer Shopper and Expert Reviews who gave us a respectable 4/5 for our G6 Fusion GTX 460i System.
Expert Review Senior Staff Writer Kat Orphanides comments, “If gaming is your main priority, then this is the PC for you. Both its monitor and its graphics card are a cut above the opposition. Its Core i3 processor might not sound that impressive, but a hefty overclock makes it a serious contender. We certainly don’t expect it to struggle with any games in the near future… Ginger6 has opted for a Core i3-540, overclocking it to 4.2GHz. It’s still fantastically powerful compared to processors from a couple of years ago”
You can read the whole review here on Expert Reviews

Keep your eye on this section to find more great reviews in the months to come…

It does exactly what it says on the tin. Custom built PC ‘s are just that, you customise your own specification to your needs & build your own PC and then there are the store bought PC’s, which are generally for the masses and not specific to the requirements you have that need to be fulfilled.

Advantages of Custom Built PC Read the rest of this entry »

As with any of other item of value, research must be done to make sure you will be happy with your purchase and comfortable with the budget you have set.
I would suggest using Google, computer forums, word of mouth, social media and each company’s website, e.g. Ginger6. From these mediums you gauge a feel for the type of systems they specialise in, how good their customer service is, if they ask their customers what they want to PC to do for them.
Most websites will have testimonial pages, however the draw back to this is it’s biased information. Yes testimonials are helpful, although…have you ever seen a bad review on their website?
Companies who have an absolute 100% record can seem too good to be true. Therefore, I would always have a look around a few forums and search engines to see if they really are that good.
If they are, bonus!

Forums and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc are an excellent way of finding this information out. People are more likely to voice their honest opinion using this medium.

Click here for Ginger6’s Facebook page
Click here for Ginger6’s twitter page

Another easy research tool… your mouth. Ask friends, family members, friends of friends and so forth if they have heard of the company you’re interested in buying from. You will soon gauge a feel for what the company is like from their first-hand experience, if they have brought from there. Alternatively, seek information from independent review sites who are unbiased.
Ginger6 uses an independent review site called Trustpilot to collect testimonials from their customers. Click here to find Ginger6 customer testimonials

Due to a few Bank Holidays in April & May and the knock-on effect of short working weeks, there will be slight changes to delivery dates for anything ordered on Next Day Delivery.
They are as follows:

Orders taken before 5pm on Thursday 21st April will be delivered on Tuesday 26th April
Orders taken on Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th & Monday 25th April will be delivered on Wednesday 27th April

Due to the Royal Wedding on the 29th April also being classed as a Bank Holiday, the delivery times will once again be slightly amended as seen below:

Orders taken before 5pm on Thursday 28th April will be delivered on Tuesday 3rd May
Orders taken on Friday 29th April, Saturday 30th April, Sunday 1st May and Monday 2nd May will be delivered on Wednesday 4th May.

We ask for your kind patience over this period. All PC System orders will be given a courtesy call regarding delivery.
If you have ordered an item and are concerned about the delivery timescales, please contact Ginger6 Customer Services on 01902 714 533 or email sales@ginger6.com for more detailed information.

The most important stage of choosing a new PC is deciding exactly what you want it to do.

A PC is just like a vehicle, terms are used to describe how fast, powerful, efficient your PC can be, e.g. overclocking – to tweak more power, power consumption – can it handle multi-tasking but still be energy efficient?

The best way to decide how to choose a PC is to ask yourself this question…
“Would I buy a finely tuned sports car to plough a field?” Answer would more than likely be a firm no. Therefore you have to ask yourself exactly what do you want your new PC to do for you.

Start off by making a list of all the things that you will be wanting to use it for, internet, emailing, playing games, photos, video, design, accounts, the list could go on and on.

Next, list what factors are important to you, i.e. speed, noise, design, size, energy efficiency etc.

Then you need to be aware of Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome!
Here is where you’ll find the latest and greatest news about how well Ginger6 are doing in reviews.
Over the past couple of months there has been a strong push from the marketing team to get noticed by top review magazines such as PC Pro, Custom PC, Computer Shopper, PC Format etc, to win reviews and to prove to you that we too can create award winning PC’s and still deliver excellent customer service.
Have a browse at your pleasure.

Take a look at our latest information >

With the help of Wolverhampton College, Ginger6 has successfully appointed an accountant apprentice. Adam Wright, 17, who is studying Accounts, Economics, Business Studies and Mathematics A-levels, beat 4 other candidates to the post.

“Hearing what qualifications the other candidates had in the group interview was intimidating, but made me want the job more.  I am proud I have got myself a full-time job and won the apprenticeship.” says Adam.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am thrilled to tell you we have passed ISO9001:2008 Quality Management Systems certificate, which is an internationally recognised accreditation.

By beginning the ISO9001 process, continual quality standards have to be met which means improving customer service overall. Read the rest of this entry »