Here we are referring to what's inside your computer that you may not know about.

Before we start, here are a few IT terms to help. Please note that for simplicity, the explanations are not as detailed as they could be:

A program is a series of instructions given to a computer that allow it to function.

The CPU is the "brain" of the computer and is responsible for following the instructions in a program. People also call this the processor. There are three common processors in use, but many more exist. The most common are made by Intel®, AMD® or ARM®.

The RAM inside a computer is its short-term memory. When you turn off the computer, it usually loses any information that is stored.

Information that is processed by your computer is often referred to as data. Your computer can store, retrieve and process data very quickly and efficiently, sometimes millions of times faster than we could do it ourselves.

The power supply converts the mains power to a level that can be used by your computer. There are very different types of power supply and they vary greatly in quality. The quality will affect reliability and power efficiency. If your computer won't switch on, a faulty power supply may be the cause. Do check that if it has a switch near the power cable inlet that the switch is on before concluding that your power supply is damaged. Also, check the cable and mains socket too.

If a power supply is faulty, it may still power the computer, but the computer may not work reliably. Power supplies are rated in a way that indicates how many (and what type of) components inside your computer can operate reliably. If you attach too many components the computer may become unreliable, or may not start.

The motherboard is a major component inside the computer. It houses the processor (the CPU), the computer's RAM, the computer's basic control software and various devices to control other components such as hard drives and other storage devices, USB ports etc.

Motherboards are usually very reliable, but they rely on programs that control the computer. Sometimes the people who write the programs make a mistake and this is known as a bug. Occasionally, manufacturers release updates to the control programs and these can help make your computer work more reliably. If you are not sure what you are doing it is often best to let a knowledgeable person help you update these programs.

The graphics card is responsible for drawing images on your screen. Not all computers have a separate graphics card. Sometimes the functions are built into the CPU. A PC intended for gaming or computer aided design will often have a dedicated graphics adapter so that it can draw images on your screen more effectively and can manage certain very mathematically intensive tasks more efficiently than a built-in graphics adapter or the CPU alone. A good graphics adapter can add hundreds of pounds, sometimes thousands, but many people feel that it is a worthwhile investment.

If your PC is not displaying an image correctly, it could be a setting on your graphics card, or a connection between the card and monitor that is faulty. Sometimes changing the connection can help, but troubleshooting a failed graphics adapter can be quite hard because you see nothing on your screen.

The RAM (or memory), as mentioned earlier, is your computer's short-term memory. It is used for storing programs and data. The RAM in a computer talks to the CPU at a certain speed. This speed has to be matched accurately, or sometimes it becomes unreliable. Occasionally temperature changes can cause the connections between the motherboard and RAM to break down, so if your computer is crashing sometimes re-seating the RAM modules can help. Be careful if you don't know what you are doing, because the static electricity that you produce can permenantly damage RAM in particular, though other components can also be sensitive to it.

The hard drive is used when your computer needs to retain information when it is switched off, it needs somewhere to store it. There are two common types of hard drive inside a computer - these days you will often see an SSD hard drive and on lower cost PCs, a hard drive with a spinning disk is used. The former is generally regarded as being more reliable and it is certainly much faster than the latter. If a problem develops with your hard drive, you can lose data and your computer may not start. Backups are important and should be taken of any important information that you could not afford to lose.

The short answer is "no". Put the phone down and do not continue with the conversation. Contact your helpdesk if you are concerned.

The longer answer is that this is a scam call. Microsoft® or any other large software company is not going to call you to tell you that your computer is faulty. Someone is hoping to panic you into allowing them to access your computer so that they can install software that lets them control it as if they were sitting at your keyboard. Once they do this, they can do whatever they want. This includes accessing your photos, videos, documents and other sensitive information. They could do this at any time after they have installed the software to remote control your computer and in a way that you will not notice.

Often, they will make it look like your machine is showing lots of errors and will offer (at a cost) to install software for you. This software may be malware and cause more problems for you.

The company may also use your credit card details to defraud you further and take additional funds from your card account, or sell the details to other fraudsters. They may also determine ways that allow them to pretend to be you, so that people who trust you are more likely to trust them.

If you are unsure about any call, hang up. Do not then just pick up your phone and call your helpdesk because it sometimes is possible for the fraudster to hold your line open and when you pick up the phone, they may make it seem as though you are calling someone else, but you are in fact still communicating with them. This may become more difficult for fraudsters as phone providers modify their systems to prevent it, but it is best to be safe rather than sorry for the time being.

It does not matter how intelligent we are, we can all have a tendency to pass over the obvious. So, let's consider the basics first.

Is it your computer, or the screen that is not working? Are both not working? If both are not working, do you see power indicators lit or not? If the power indicator is not lit on the monitor, but the computer power indicator is lit, check the monitor first. Don't press the computer power button yet, because you may shut it down improperly.

Watch the monitor closely. Is the power indicator flashing? This often means that it is in standby mode to save power. Moving the mouse, clicking a mouse button, or pressing the CTRL or ALT key on the bottom left of your keyboard may wake the computer. Wait for 20-30 seconds before doing anything else.

If there is still nothing, check the monitor cable is plugged in firmly at both ends. If either connector is use, push it home but not too forcefully. If you still have no image on the screen, your computer may still be working, but sending a signal to the monitor that it does not understand. For example, someone may have changed a setting on the computer and the computer and monitor are now mismatched. This happens less often these days, but it still can occur.

If you have another monitor available, you could try plugging it in, if you are confident about what connections to make. If not, this may be the time to call your helpdesk. You could also read on and follow the instructions, but from this point on you may risk losing work or data, so proceed with caution, or call an expert.

You could now press the power button on the PC briefly. What happens? It may cause the computer to shut down, but there could be a delay of a few minutes. Wait patiently and if nothing happens, you may have no option but to power down the computer more forcefully. One way to do this is to press and hold the power button on the PC for more than four seconds. Once shut down, restart the computer. Do you see anything on the monitor? If nothing shows after 20-30 seconds, you probably should call your helpdesk and ask their advice.

If the monitor light is flashing but the PC has no power indicator lit, check the back of the computer to see if there is a switch near the power connector. If there is, is it on? If not, turn it on and try starting your computer. If it is on, check that the cable is firmly plugged into the PC and follow it back to the wall socket. Is the socket on? Can you check another device in the same socket to check that it works? If it does, do you have a spare power cable to try? If you do, try a different computer power cable. If at this point the computer still does not start, but you know that the socket is supplying power and the cable is working, you should call your helpdesk.

Since so much of our lives is now very closely tied into information technology, knowing that you have an adviser you can trust is vital to the success of your business. Most of us are very optimistic about human nature and we are generally very altruistic. This is with good reason. The majority of IT providers really are there to help and will be there for you.

You can probably determine the answer to this question yourself by asking your provider a few key questions and noting not just their response, but how they respond. Are they offended? Do they avoid any of the questions? Are their answers brief and insincere? Do they answer enthusiastically and in detail? How do you feel about the type of response they have given you?

Below is a guide to the sorts of questions we feel are important to ask. These are followed with our own answers.

How long have they been in business and what was their primary motivator? How do they ensure that they are up to date? How can they ensure a continued stream of income when by doing their job right, they should be minimising how much you have to call upon them? What qualifications do their key employees have? What interests do the key employees have outside work? Given the choice between replacing or repairing a piece of equipment, what would they choose and why?

We have been in business for over thirty years. Most of our clients have relied upon our services for over fifteen years. As individuals we are constantly reading about technological developments and spend time assessing how they may help our clients. Our reading is broad and in depth. Much of our time is spent working with different solutions so that we can familiarise ourselves with the relative strengths and weaknesses.

Our service agreements help to keep a very fine balance between cost and utility. Rather than providing services for a fixed cost, which may lead to some providers passing responsibility onto other vendors, we are happy to step in and assist because we know you are fairly compensating us for our time. We also strive to provide the best service as possible in the shortest possible time.

When deciding between replacing an item and repairing it, a balance has to be struck between the time involved in carrying out the repair, whether software will continue to operate or not, and whether or not a replacement would be the most sensible option. It will also relate to an item's age. We generally recommend that key equipment is replaced on a three year cycle, with rotation of older equipment into areas of lower priority for a business. This is always tempered with our clients' own budgetary considerations.

When a computer stops responding to its user, people often say that it has crashed. Usually a crash is actually something a little more obvious. On Windows®, you may see a blue screen with lots of text. On Linux®, you may see what is called a kernel panic and the computer may restart or halt. In most situations, this indicates a hardware fault, which may have been caused by a faulty component in the computer, or perhaps a power spike or other environmental issue. In this instance, restarting your computer may actually help you.

There is a distinction between a computer crashing and a computer not responding. If your computer stops responding, read the FAQ as to why you should not just restart your computer when you have a problem. In this instance, we would always recommend you contact your helpdesk who will be able to advise you of the best course of action.

A computer runs programs. Programs are written by people (mostly). The programs that humans write have to be converted into a form that a computer understands. Whenever a program is written, the programmer uses one or more computer languages to provide instructions to the computer. Common languages are C, C++, Java, Objective C, PHP and Javascript. In reality there are hundreds, if not thousands of different computer langauges.

A programmer writes what we call source code and this is converted into a machine readable language, called machine code. Sometimes this is done every time the source code is processed by the CPU. We say that the source code is being interpreted in this instance. Sometimes this conversion it is done once and the result is then used without having to repeat the process. We call this process compilation.

In both cases, the program that the programmer writes can be made to be extremely difficult for humans to read. The general term for this is obfuscation. An obfuscated program is difficult to change if you do not have the source code.

Closed source programs keep the source code secret and known only to the person or organisation who wrote the software. This means that in all practical senses, only they can maintain and change the program.

Open source programs make the source code available to everyone. This means that anyone who agrees with the terms and condtions attached to the use of the source code can read, amend, correct and enhance the program. Micro Data Systems Ltd always provides the source code to programs that it writes for its clients. We sometimes release this code under a traditional open source license. Sometimes we make the source code available under a more commercial license. The type of license we use will depend on client requirements and how the software is constructed.

It’s a common joke that the first question your helpdesk asks you is "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" but in all honesty this is not always the best course of action. We refer to turning a computer off and on as "power cycling" a computer.

A computer that has stopped working completely, and by this we mean the mouse pointer does not move, the keyboard is completely unresponsive often is suffering from a serious problem. We may be tempted to think that the only course of action is to power cycle the computer. However, this really is the last course of action and you do risk losing data. There is another FAQ that covers why you may lose data, if you are interested.

On a number of occasions we have observed data corruption or data loss due to just "power cycling" a computer. Also, on occasion we have seen a computer suffering the above symptoms come back to life so that work can be saved and the cause of the problem be investigated.

If you have no choice but to shut down the computer, on a Windows® computer you may try pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL together. This may bring up a menu that allows you to control the computer, but it may take a short while to respond, so if you try this key combination, do wait for a short while. If there is no response, power cycling the machine may be the only option. Before you do so, call your helpdesk for their advice and tell them what you have tried already.

If you happen to be using a GNU/Linux based operating system, there are several key combinations that you can use. There is a FAQ later on that covers this.

If your computer mouse is moving, it is unlikely that your computer has completely stopped working (crashed). With Windows®, pressing CTRL + ALT + ESC may bring up something called the task manager. If it does, your computer is working and just restarting may correct the temporary problem but it does not answer why the computer experienced the problem in the first instance. In this situation, we would invite clients to call so that we can properly troubleshoot the reason for the misbehaviour, rather than just ask the customer to restart the computer. There may be important information we can gather rather than just simply fixing the symptom (and not the cause).

Your hard drive is a key component in your computer. It is responsible for storing information that you later will want to retrieve. If it is failing, you need to know about it. You should always have one or more backups of your information, because hard drives do fail. Aside from this, viruses, malware or human error can cause you to lose information.

If you ever see an error when saving a document, image or spreadsheet etc, if you don't understand the message, make sure that you contact your helpdesk. It could be that there is a problem with your hard drive.

It is possible to ask a hard drive to verify its own condition and provided it is working sufficiently reliability, you can obtain an indication of its overall status. Many hard drives in current computers are able to run a SMART diagnostic and there are programs that can help you with this. It is a good idea to check your hard drive regularly to make sure that it is working as expected.

Your computer may also have a system that records differerent problems, called a system log. Reviewing system logs can be very effective in determining when a hard drive is failing.

If your computer is slow to start or starts unreliably, check out the hard drive as this could be the cause.

Older hard drives may make different sounds indicating that they are defective, or starting to fail. Modern SSD drives won't, so using diagnostic tests and reporting tools is far more important with these.

For a computer to be useful, it needs to run programs. One of the most vital parts of any computer is the program that makes all of the different parts of a computer able to communicate with each other and also controls other programs that the CPU is processing. We call this key program an operating system.

There are many operating systems in existence but probably the three most significant ones are Microsoft® Windows®, Apple® OS X® and Linux®. For the remaining part of this text, we will omit the registered trademark symbol, but please note that the names used here are registered trademarks of parties unrelated to Micro Data Systems Ltd.

Linux is also called GNU/Linux because for a computer to be useful, it must also run other programs. Linux is actually what we call a kernel, that is a central program that manages the components inside your computer and the programs that run. The GNU part refers to many different programs that make the kernel itself useful.

Most people refer to GNU/Linux as just Linux and there is quite some debate as to whether or not this is fair and proper.

You may have heard of Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat Linux, Suse Linux, Core OS and a host of other versions of Linux. These are all called distributions, which are basically packaged versions of the Linux kernel together with other programs that create a working computer.

What does this mean to you? Well, there are many reasons for considering a GNU/Linux distribution. Privacy is one, control over your hardware is another. Some people use it because it has no direct cost attached to it. We at Micro Data Systems Ltd use it extensively because we prefer the reliability and security over the alternatives. If you would like help with a Linux implementation, let us know!

It is quite possible that some people don't know what Microsoft® Windows® is or that there are alternatives available. Apple® OS X® users may be the same.

These days, devices are tracking us more than ever and there is malicious software that can make our computer work for someone else, not just us. In the worst case, this kind of software can also gather personal details that can be used to defraud you.

Undoubtedly there are people who do not worry about such tracking. For those that do, there are alternatives that may well be more suitable.

When you buy a computer, it is likely that it will already have Microsoft® Windows® installed. Apple® systems will always have OS X® installed. Whilst these may well be essential to your requirements (you may run programs that require them), many people could consider an alternative that is more open, user friendly, and that does not treat the user as a commodity whose information can be gathered and shared just because you ticked a box saying you agreed to the software license.

If you have ever lost work to a software update, alternatives put you more in control and are more usable than ever.

Whilst the alternatives may not suit everyone, there is choice and we can certainly help you make the choice, should you be interested.

These days, it is less common to suffer from distorted images on your computer display, particularly if you are using one of the newer ways of connecting the display to the computer.

If you have a connector between your computer and display that is blue, this is commonly one of the older styles of connector. It may be that your image is distorted because the cable is faulty or not connected correctly. It could also be that the display needs to be calibrated for the signal that the computer is sending to the display. In this instance, its best to read the instructions for your display but often there is a menu option to automatically calibrate the monitor. Trying this may help.

If you are using another type of connector, the computer and display will often communicate with each other to determine the best settings. If this has not happened, you should look into how you change the settings for your operating system. With Windows®, you will commonly right click on the destop and choose the display settings option, or something similar.

Irrespective of the type of display, your computer displays images of a certain size. The image is made up of lots of tiny dots and the number of dots is important. We call this the display resolution. If your computer is not outputting an image at the same resolution as your display supports, this can commonly cause the image to appear stretched or out of focus. By making sure that you tell the computer to match your display, you will see clearer text and images and they won't be distorted.

If you find the text too small, you should look into changing the size of the text and icons. On Windows® 10, you right click the desktop and choose the personalise option.

Malware is an abbreviated form of the two words "malicious" and "software". It encompasses a wide variety of software that will generally find its way onto your computer and its sole purpose is malicious in intent. Often it is to gather your personal details to enable fraud, such as theft of bank details. Sometimes it will make the contents of your computer unreadable and attempt to force you to pay a "ransom" to make it readable again (this is called "ransomware"). It may make your computer carry out tasks that benefit a third party, making use of your computer's CPU and ultimately your energy supply.

Whatever the type of malware, it usually finds its way onto a computer with the owner's permission. This is not to say that the owner is aware of the giving of permission. Occasionally you may install a program that appears to be helpful, or you may visit a website that tells you that your computer has problems and offers to run a check if you just download some software. Sometimes, a security problem with your web browser or operating system allows malware to be installed. This is one reason why people use anti-malware or anti-virus programs.

Sometimes malware will force your computer to display adverts, or it may make your computer think that it is connecting to a legitimate web site when in fact the web site is a fake. This may lead to you giving a fake web site personal details, such as banking information.

Your provider will be able to advise you on the best way of avoiding the installation of malware. Do make sure that you follow their advice closely.

Often your email software will not show you images in emails. It may just show a blank space. Sometimes it will say that it is doing this to protect your privacy.

When you view an image in an email, often there is some additional information attached to the image so that when your email software retrieves the image, it allows the sender to know that your email account received the email and that you have read it.

For emails that you subscribe to, that is not necessarily a bad thing. It allows legitimate senders to know that you are reading their emails and that you may want to continue doing so.

However, if the email is from a spammer (someone who sends emails to you without your consent), it tells them that your email address is active. They can then send you more emails and sell your email address to other spammers, who will start sending you unwanted emails.

Before discussing problems sending emails, it's worth mentioning that if you ever receive an email that appears to be from your service provider and it tells you that your quota is nearly all used up, or that there is another reason that you need to make a change to your email settings, do not click links in the email. Always access your mail account directly, because it is possible that the email you received is attempting to gather your email details. Whilst many people think that email accounts are not very important, they are one part of your online identity that is a gateway to someone taking over your digital life and acting fraudulently. If ever you are unsure, check with your provider.

Generally, when you are unable to send an email, the error message that you receive will usually provide guidance on what went wrong. If the message mentions that your user name or password is incorrect, or mentions that there was an authentication error, whilst you may not have changed your password, the provider may have done so. In this instance, you can try re-entering your password but if this fails, try going through the password reset process that your provider recommends.

Occasionally, a network problem could prevent you sending an email. This could be that the system handling emails is unavailable for some reason (it could have stopped functioning, it could be overloaded or its connection to the Internet may be functioning badly). In this instance, you will often receive a "timeout" message. Timeouts are when one computer attempts to connect to another, but the destination computer fails to respond. In this instance, checking that you have an Internet connection can help. It is sometimes the case that security software may block your connection, so checking if this is the case may identify the cause of the problem. Don't just blindly disable your security software, if you are not sure how to check if it is blocking outbound emails, it's best to contact your helpdesk.

It is possible that for some reason your internet provider has blocked your mail server. Occasionally mail servers can be used to send unwanted emails and a variety of actions may be carried out by your provider, one of them blocking sending of emails. Also, if you have malware (software that you are unaware of that is operating without your consent) on your PC, it may have been sending emails and your service provider may have blocked your PC to prevent this from happening. Occasionally, service providers block the pathways that are used to send emails unless the emails are to and from their mail systems. In this instance, you may need to request that they alter your Internet configuration to allow such emails to pass through.

You may have configured your email software incorrectly, or your provider may have changed some of the settings to make the connection to their servers more secure. Contacting your provider is often a good course of action, as well as checking the news pages on their web site may help you pinpoint this as being the cause of a problem.

There are many other reasons, but the above are quite common ones that we encounter.

The image on your monitor is made up of lots of tiny dots. These dots are called pixels. When describing the image, we refer to a measurement called pixels per inch, or PPI for short. Sometimes you will see the term dots per inch or DPI. For the purpose of this explanation, they are similar (but the usage is often quite distinct).

Displays are classified by their native resolution. This is a number of pixels across the display and down the display. Common resolutions are 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1980x1080 etc. If two monitors have the same resoluton, but one is larger than the other, then typically the larger display will show text and icons bigger than the smaller display (there are reasons why this may not happen, but let's keep this already complicated discussion as simple as possible).

Your operating system will probably let you choose a resolution for your monitor. The lower the resolution, the larger text and icons will appear. The higher the resolution, the smaller the text and icons will appear. A display will only support a maximum resolution and telling the computer to use a higher value may work, but the image will start to become unclear. Using a lower value may work, but it depends on the quality of your monitor.

Recently very high resolution displays have become more common. Often these are very small laptop displays. On these displays, the computer will often scale the text and icons to make it larger for you. If this is not happening, or you have changed a setting, it may result in text and icons you can hardly read. Check the display settings of your operating system and see if it has options for scaling your display. This is often better than changing the resolution, which with todays displays generally should be left the same as the maximum that the display supports.

If your mouse is an optical mouse it will have what looks like a lens and probably there is a glowing light underneath it, check that there is no fluff or dust obscuring the lens. This can often be the cause of erratic behaviour.

If your mouse has a ball underneath, it is often the case that the ball or the rollers are dirty and need cleaning. Check online about the best way to clean your mouse.

Often the surface that you are working on does not allow the mouse ball to move consistently, or allow the sensor to pick up movement correctly in the case of an optical mouse. In this instance, using a quality mouse mat may help.

If your computer is very busy running lots of different programs, this can affect the responsiveness of your mouse. In this instance, a little more RAM in your computer or running fewer programs may help. Also, if your computer has a virus or malware infection, it is possible that the computer is busier because of this. Scanning viruses or malware may locate a problem piece of software.

Finally, if your computer has been compromised, it is possible that someone is attempting to control it remotely because they think you are not using it. If you are concerned about this at all, do contact your helpdesk.

Links in emails are intended as shortcuts to allow you to quickly view information related to the email that you are reading. Unfortunately, they can also direct you to fraudulent web sites that are there to encourage you to install malware or gather your details. Often links will look quite genuine, but if you look carefully they may have letters transposed or dots in different places to the official site to where you think you are being directed.

Our advice is to always go to your browser and type the web site address (called the URL) into the browser directly. If you are going to click on a link, be aware that it could be fraudulent or intended to track your online activity.

Ransomware is a type of software that is installed, often unknowingly by the user, that makes your information unreadable and then attempts to force you to pay to gain access to it again. Often, if you do pay, you still lose your data.

Often, emails, web sites or scam phone calls attempt to trick you into installing malware. If you download software that is meant to be paid for, but has been "fixed" so that a license key is not required (something called "cracking"), running it may well install ransomware, or another kind of malware.

Occasionally a web site will tell you that you require a "plug in" to view some of its content. Most commonly this could be a plug in called "Flash". Whilst there are many legitimate web sites that use flash, we would recommend finding sites that do not rely upon it any more.

Avoiding downloading software from unknown sources, or installing plugins can reduce the chance of ransomware or malware being installed on your computer. Keeping your operating system up to date can also help. Finally, running your computer as a non-administrative user and not just giving permission to any program to make changes to your computer can help greatly.

Finally, regular back ups of your important information that are not on the same computer or connected to the computer, ideally with some form of version management (so that old versions of files are maintained) can help you recover the situation if ever you do fall foul of a ransomware infection.

Probably, but without looking at the email in more detail you cannot be certain. Even when you know how to read all of the information that allows you to see where an email originated, you cannot always be certain without knowing additional details.

Always treat emails like postcards in that anyone can read them, if sent using the most popular providers. It is possible for other people to read emails that you send unless they have been securely encrypted (packaged so that they are unreadable).

It is possible to electronically sign emails and this allows you to be more sure that the person who claims to have sent the email really did send it.

Any email that asks for personally identifiable information, or asks for money to be transferred, bills to be paid, etc should be treated with suspicion. Always check with the sender via another means that it really was them making the request.

Computer storage devices are quite sensitive and over time can become unreliable. You may not immediately notice that this is happening. Also, certain issues can cause data to be erased over time, without your knowledge.

The short answer to this question is "probably", but there are no guarantees. This is why backups are essential and it is important that backups are not stored on devices that are permanently connected to your computer, since they may also be affected by the problem that caused your initial data loss.

This is a situation where it's best to contact an expert before you lose data to ensure you have good backups, and where you definitely call an expert if you have lost data, since attempting to recover it yourself could make the process more difficult for a professional.