Having Computer Problems? No Time For Computer Maintenance Chores? Need A Home Network Installed? |
Don't Worry. Just Ask Bob Cochran. |
Are you having computer problems ranging from the very small to the more complex? Are they preventing you from enjoying your computer? Ask me, and I'll fix it for you! Do you want to spend more of your time using your computer to do things, but have all those pesky maintenance chores to do? Buy one of my convenient maintenance plans, and I'll do the work for you! Do you want a wireless network installed, but don't know who to turn to? Ask me, and I'll install it for you! Would you like a larger hard drive installed? Ask me, and I'll get it done for you quickly. |
Just email Bob Cochran on cochranb@speakeasy.net or telephone me on 301-474-5494 for quick, courteous service. I serve Greenbelt, Maryland and the neighboring communities of College Park, University Park, Takoma Park and Beltsville.
Also these Maryland counties: Prince Georges and Montgomery
Other counties at extra charge.
You don't need to take time off from work. I do all my work in the evenings and on weekends during the day.
Is your computer booting very slowly? Hard drive unexpectedly crashed? Or do you have some other hardware problem? Email or call me, and I'll look into the problem and correct it for you at very reasonable prices. I can fix it right there at your home or office. Click here to learn more, then email me on cochranb@speakeasy.net or call me on 301-474-5494!
Yes, I can help you with your Windows or Linux software problems, too. Click here to learn more.
Do you want to get your business on the internet and take orders on the internet without spending a fortune? Have me set up and support a LAMP Server for you. LAMP stands for Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP, the set of web "engines" and "languages" you need to get a web-driven business shopping cart application running. For more information, email me on cochranb@speakeasy.net or call me on 301-474-5494.
I can install new computer hardware for you, or set up new computer systems. Click here to learn more.
Put my software installation skills to work for you! Click here to learn more!
Enjoy the very latest and greatest in computing ease. Purchase one of my reasonably priced maintenance plans, and you'll always have the latest operating system updates, the latest security updates, and the latest driver updates for your hardware, too. The best part is I do the boring work for you! Click here to learn more!
Enjoy the many benefits of a home network. I'll set it up for you from start to finish. Click for home networking information.
I give attractive discounts to students, seniors, and disabled individuals.click here for pricing details.
Some software programs are tough to install. Take Microsoft Office XP. There are dozens of installation options to consider, and sometimes there are issues with migrating custom settings from earlier versions of Office. Then there are operating system upgrades. If you wish to upgrade from Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Windows 98 Second Edition to any flavor of Linux or Unix, Microsoft Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000, you really need a specialist right there who can assess your system and perform the upgrade as smoothly and quickly as possible. Why risk a system crash you aren't sure how to fix? Why not have me do it? I have the tools needed to ensure smooth software installations: resource kits, manuals, and a great deal of experience with software of all kinds. As you can see from the table below, my fees for software installation are quite reasonable. There is one catch: it is sometimes not possible to install certain software without doing a hardware upgrade. And in some cases you may need a hardware upgrade plus updated driver software in order for a certain software package to work well. For example, sometimes you may need additional memory, a game controller, or a larger hard drive. Or to get a video-intensive program like PhotoShop to work properly you may need a larger drive and updated video drivers which have to be downloaded from the manufacturer's web site. I can often counsel you about system requirements for a proposed software package before you buy the software. Then you can decide whether you want to go ahead with both the original software purchase and a hardware upgrade if required. |
| Software Installation Pricing | ||
| Software Item | Notes | Cost |
| Install Linux or Unix | Linux can be added to your computer as a second operating system. So can many flavors of Unix. Or, a Linux distribution can be installed as the only operating system on the computer. If you have always wanted to dabble with Linux but was afraid to install it, now is your chance. And the cost is so reasonable! Price includes making a full backup of any existing operating system partition prior to the upgrade. Installation can take one day to complete. Linux can turn your old computer into a quite capable web, email, or database server. For sophisticated requirements, however, you may still need to upgrade your hardware. An operating system upgrade may require a newer, faster computer than what you have. Or you may need a larger hard drive, more memory, or both these things. Hardware upgrades can extend the time needed to complete an operating system upgrade. Special pricing is available if you opt for installing Red Hat Linux, since the technician is training for certification as a Red Hat Certified Engineer at this time. | 30.00 |
| Upgrade to Windows XP | Existing operating system is upgraded to Windows XP Professional Edition. Price includes making a full backup of the existing Windows partition prior to upgrading to the new operating system. Installation can take one day to complete. An operating system upgrade may require a newer, faster computer than what you have. Or you may need a larger hard drive, more memory, or both these things. Hardware upgrades can extend the time needed to complete an operating system upgrade. After operating system is upgraded from the original CD, software will be registered and then activated with Microsoft and any required "Critical Updates" will be downloaded and installed from the Windows Update web site. Customer pays for new operating system software plus any hardware required for the operating system upgrade to succeed plus the installation fee quoted here. | 75.00 |
| Upgrade To Windows 2000 | Existing operating system is upgraded to Windows 2000. Price includes making a full backup of the existing Windows partition prior to upgrading to the new operating system. Because Windows 2000 has strict hardware and software requirements, successful installation of this operating system can take days or weeks of advance preparation before the actual installation can be accomplished. An Windows 2000 operating system upgrade may require numerous software updates to system BIOS and drivers; a larger hard drive; more memory; installation or removal of certain hardware options, or all these things. You may even need a newer, faster computer. Some types of hardware such as PC cameras are not supported or may not be supported in Windows 2000. Many software drivers such as sound drivers may need to be upgraded separately. All these upgrades can extend the time needed to complete an Windows 2000 upgrade successfully. After operating system is upgraded from the original CD, software will be registered with Microsoft and any required Service Packs will be downloaded and installed from the Microsoft Windows 2000 web site. Customer pays for new operating system software plus any hardware and updated driver software required for the operating system upgrade to succeed plus the installation fee quoted here. | 75.00 |
| Install Other Software (Microsoft, Adobe, or Symantec products) | Install non-operating system software of customer's choice by vendors listed at left. Register software following installation and download and install any required patches. Installation takes roughly 3-4 hours to complete for straightforward cases that do not need additional hardware or supporting software (such as updated drivers.) Price includes full backup of existing hard drive prior to installing new software. Additional hardware may be required for installation to succeed. Customer pays for software plus any needed hardware plus the installation fee quoted here. | 60.00 |
| Install Other Software (titles not covered above) | Install non-operating system software of customer's choice which are not Microsoft, Adobe or Symantec titles. Register software following installation and download and install any required patches. Installation takes roughly 3-4 hours to complete for straightforward cases that do not need additional hardware or supporting software (such as updated drivers.) Price includes full backup of existing hard drive prior to installing new software. Additional hardware may be required for installation to succeed. Customer pays for software plus any needed hardware plus the installation fee quoted here. | 75.00 |
You were working away at your PowerPoint presentation, making good progress, when POW! Windows crashed on you. Or for some reason, Windows just won't boot. Or your Linux software is crashing on you. Or you have a persistent software problem of some type which is preventing you from using the software. Now what do you do? Send me an email (preferred, but not always possible) or give me a call, and I'll come out and get it back up and running for you. And the price is right: |
| Software Crash Recovery Pricing | ||
| Software Title | Notes | Cost |
| All Windows Software Titles | Diagnosis and correction of software crashes for Windows software. The time needed for correction of the problem is variable and cannot be guaranteed. Fully correcting the problem may require additional hardware and/or software. A full backup of your hard drive may be required prior to attempting correction. The backup is an extra cost item. Customer pays for any additional hardware and software plus one of the fees quoted at right. | Cost depends on the time I am contacted and whether emergency service is requested. I do not perform daytime, weekday service calls. I am available on weekdays from 6:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. and 24 hours a day on weekends. If visit is not an emergency and can be scheduled 3 days or more in advance: 35.00. If you contact me on weekend daytimes between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and require an emergency visit as soon as possible: 75.00. If you contact me between 6:30 and 9:00 p.m. daily and require an emergency visit as soon as possible: 100.00. If you contact me between 9:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. and require an emergency visit as soon as possible: 300.00. If a full backup of your system seems necessary, an additional 45.00 will be charged. If you fix your software problem while I am en route to your location and you no longer need help, you will be charged half the normal fee. | All Linux Software Titles | Diagnosis and correction of software crashes for Linux software. The time needed for correction of the problem is variable and cannot be guaranteed. Fully correcting the problem may require additional hardware and/or software. A full backup of your hard drive may be required prior to attempting correction. The backup is an extra cost item. Customer pays for any additional hardware and software plus one of the fees quoted at right. | Cost depends on the time I am contacted as explained above, except I charge 25% less for working with Linux software. If you fix your software problem while I am en route to your location and you no longer need help, you will be charged half the normal fee. |
Did your hard drive just crash? Has the monitor fritzed out unexpectedly? Was a cable damaged or cut? Or maybe the family pet knocked over the computer box? I can fix these problems for you, and restore your system to full functionality. My prices are very reasonable and are shown in the table given below for hardware installation prices. You pay for the new hardware plus the fee listed in this table. Save yourself from having to do the messy job of extracting the old parts, figure out a myriad of jumper settings in the new parts, install software drivers and so on. I'll take care of all those details quickly and smoothly for you.Special note for hard drive problems: if your drive crashed and you do not have a recent backup of the files on your drive, you will lose all your work. The best I will be able to do is send your crashed drive off to a specialty shop to have them attempt recovering your data (at extra cost). Meanwhile to get your system running again I'll install a new drive, restore the operating system, and restore commercial software titles. Purchasers of my maintenance plans may recover their files, depending on the plan they purchased, the date and time of the most recent backup, and the time of the crash. For pricing see the table below for I Want To Add New Hardware To My Computer. |
I install computer hardware from mice to motherboards. All you need to do is tell me what type of hardware you would like and when you would like it installed. I do all the rest of the work: locating the parts you want, obtaining and installing them, and configuring any software that is required. For example, suppose you would like to replace your present 8.4 Gb hard drive with a much bigger 100 Gb drive, and you would like the new drive to become the new drive C:. No problem! Once the new drive is obtained, this can be done in a day. (Really complicated drive replacements take longer.) With this service, you pay for all the parts plus the fee listed in the table below. The most common hardware replacements are covered. If you don't see your exact need listed, just ask me for a quote. |
| Hardware Installation Pricing | ||
| Hardware Item | Notes | Cost |
| Add or Replace Card | Add or replace an adapter card such as a SCSI or graphics card. Installation takes one hour to 90 minutes to complete. Price includes any software installation. Customer pays for the adapter card plus the installation fee quoted here. | 20.00 |
| Replace Hard Drive | Existing primary drive is replaced with a new, usually larger-capacity drive. The old drive becomes a second hard drive, or is removed. Price includes making a full backup of the old drive prior to installation of the new drive. Installation takes a few hours to one day to complete. Customer pays for the new drive plus the installation fee quoted here. | 50.00 |
| Add Hard Drive | A new hard drive is added as a second or third hard drive to provide additional disk storage. Primary drive is not replaced. Installation takes a few hours to complete. Customer pays for the new drive plus the installation fee quoted here. | 75.00 |
| Add Memory (RAM) | Additional memory (RAM) is added to the computer. Installation takes 15-45 minutes to complete. Customer pays for memory plus the installation fee quoted here. | 10.00 |
| Add Peripheral | This involves adding devices such as CD-RW drives, scanners, tape drives and cameras. This might involve adding an adapter card required by the device such as an SCSI card. It also might involve adding software such as Adobe PhotoShop, depending on customer needs. Installation takes from one to several hours to complete. Customer pays for the device and any other required hardware or software in addition to the installation fee quoted here. | 35.00-75.00 |
| New Computer Setup | Set up and configure new computer systems. This includes initial downloading and installation of operating system updates and antivirus definitions. Installation takes at least 4 hours to complete. | 50.00 |
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If you have questions or need a service call, the easiest way to reach me is by email. Just click my name below to send me one: Robert L. Cochran (cochranb@speakeasy.net) I may also be available on the following instant messaging services: AOL Instant Messenger: BobCochran (no spaces in screen name) MSN Messenger Service: cochran_bob@hotmail.com My service area is within Prince Georges and Montgomery counties, Maryland. Other counties are possible at extra charge, please email me to inquire. Payment terms: Individual or business customers purchasing maintenance subscriptions may pay by check, cash, or money order. New customers needing all other services may pay by cash or money order. Extra-cost hardware or software must either be provided by the customer at the time of service, or be paid for by the customer in cash at the time it is decided to install these items. Established customers may pay by check. The check must be imprinted with name and address details. |
I do high quality, dependable work. My goal is to ensure your satisfaction with that work. If for any reason you are dissatisfied, please discuss your concerns with me. I will make every effort to resolve the matter satisfactorily. I want all my customers to be completely satisfied. |
Payment terms for students: 25% off for students with current student identification cards. For seniors: 30% off if you are 60 or older. Disabled persons: 25% off. |
The diary of a novice C++ programmer. |
| (Last updated 12/01/2004) |
I do not support passage of legislation which would permit software patenting in the European Union. It will ultimately harm both you and I, even though we live here in the USA. If you would like to learn more about why software patenting can harm you, please visit the NoSoftwarePatents.com web site. 