After a scam call or a suspicious message
This is one of the most common reasons people here get in touch, so it is worth saying plainly: if someone was given remote access to the machine, or details went into a page you now doubt, the machine needs checking properly and the accounts need securing. That means finding what was installed, removing it, changing what has to be changed, and telling you what to watch for. There is no lecture attached.
Accounts, passwords and getting back in
Locked out of an email account, a phone that no longer receives the codes, a laptop nobody has the password for after a bereavement — recovery is often possible and it is rarely as hopeless as it feels at the time. Bring whatever you have and it gets worked through step by step, with the result written down at the end.
Hand-me-down machines, set up to be usable
Plenty of machines here arrive second-hand from a relative, still carrying someone else's accounts and years of clutter. A clean start, larger text where that helps, printing that works, and only the few programs you actually use left on the desktop — that turns an unwanted laptop into a perfectly good one.
What comes in from Ashford Common most often
A good deal of security and account work alongside the usual household repairs.
- Checks and clean-ups after a scam or remote-access call
- Virus and malware removal
- Email and account access recovered
- Second-hand machines wiped and set up from scratch
- Laptops that have become painfully slow
- Printers, scanners and Wi-Fi set up at the address
- Photos and documents moved to a new machine
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