News, Tips & Blog
Winter storms & power supplies… Yikes! Battery Back-up’s to the rescue!
Living in Michigan for just about all of my life, as well as working in this industry since 1999, I am accustom to Winter storms, thunderstorms knocking out power. It happens. What also happens is your sensitive electrical equipment can be damaged. It’s not something to take lightly as a power surge can not only knock out your power supply, but once you turn that system back on, other items could be fried as well such as the motherboard, hard drive, etc. The best way to protect your components is with a battery back up unit/UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply). Having a battery back up unit can be beneficial in more ways than one. First off, if you have the correct sided battery back up unit, not only can it save your hardware from shorting out, but it can also give you ample time to turn off your system properly. A lot of UPS’s now a days also come with software to be able to do this automatically (shut down the computer properly). UPS’s isn’t only for computers, tv’s, cable modems, etc. My neighbor actually uses his battery back up to run his cable modem / router combo and it’s brilliant! He has wifi in his house so his whole families devices will still go on the internet (provided they have battery power still). The benefit of having the Battery back up is more than just protecting your devices. Changing out a power supply can take a few hours depending on your skill level & type of system you have. They can also be expensive. The cost of a battery back up unit can run about the same price as a power supply, so why not have some peace of mind, and save some frustration in the future? This isn’t just for home use. Imagine your small business having a power outage. The power comes back on and now 4 systems are down. The cost of Labor, Parts, and downtime will surely exceed the cost of a few UPS’s. Canton Computers has different sized battery back-up units to suite your needs. We also can special order you a larger one for your home or business. Call or e-mail Canton Computers today to protect your home and/or business now. 734-838-9700 or e-mail us at Sales@cantoncomputers.com...
read moreWindows 11 Drive update – Issues – Not really an issue
Windows Updates have been known to cause issues. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about Windows 7, 8, 10, 11… We’ve all dealt with Microsoft sending out an update and having the system stop working after. Lately, there’s been a new update that’s been causing an updated driver failure, which has a lot of us freaking out. The good news is that Microsoft stated “it shouldn’t impact your general use”. Though, you receive the error; apparently these drivers have already been installed. Not to worry… Until the next Windows Update issue....
read more$25 off any service of $49 or greater, must mention/show this to receive discount (discount ends 2-7-23)
Since it’s freezing outside, we figured we’d give out some ICE COLD FREEZING DEALs. $25 off any service of $49 or greater, must mention/show this to receive discount (discount ends 2-7-23) Purchase a gaming desktop or laptop to receive a free keyboard/mouse combo.
read moreCanton Computers – Open 6 days a week!
We are open Mon-Fri 10am-6pm & Saturday 10am-4pm. Stop by anytime or give us a ring @ 734-838-9700. Feel free to e-mail sales@cantoncomputers.com as well!
read moreWhy does Microsoft try to force you to upgrade Operating Systems???
This has been an issue with Microsoft since Windows 10 came out (actually, before that too!). Microsoft auto updating to the latest version of Windows on your home (or sometimes work) computer even if you don’t want it to. You may have a program that may not run correctly on Windows 11, or simply don’t have the time to relearn a new OS right now. So why does Microsoft constantly force us to upgrade? A few reasons. Probably the best reason is to always be up to date on security updates. Windows 11 will have the latest and greatest security patches. It’ll also have the latest features as well! This is always a plus in my book. The final reason is… Microsoft knows if you upgrade 1 system to their latest version, you’ll get used to it quickly and recommend it to others. You’ll also (probably) look for this OS the next time you are upgrading or purchasing a new system (when there are 2 OS’s available (win 10 & 11 for instance)). I generally like to wait at least 6 months before a new OS comes out before I install it on any important systems of mine (work pc, main home pc) so I’m not stuck when a major issue arises. Think of it as purchasing the 1st year of a new engine in a car. It’s not always a good idea to purchase the 1st year as the bugs haven’t been worked out yet in most cases. 6 months is generally ample time to let Microsoft work out any (major) bugs in my...
read moreNEW GAMING SECTION!
Canton Computers has always been the place to go for gaming systems. Our sales staff can outfit you for the perfect system! We have changed the front of our store. We now have a “Gaming Section” where all gaming accessories & gaming computers are all in 1 area of our retail store. We currently have an i9 desktop with a RTX 3060 video card in it for sale along with 2 15.6″ gaming laptops by MSI. Come check it out today!
read moreWait, wasn’t Windows 10 supposed to be the last OS Microsoft makes? No longer available
Windows 10 Home is no longer available. Windows 10 Pro still is for the time being. Microsoft is pushing everyone to Windows 11. Many customers have asked us, why though? I thought Windows 10 was the last OS ever to be made by Microsoft? We knew that wasn’t going to be the case. Microsoft has never followed that philosophy of sticking with an OS (forever) for an incredibly long time… Or, forever. Microsoft thought they were going to stick with Windows 10 forever, but us in the industry knew that wasn’t going to be the case. As time moves on, technology moves on. How we use our OS’s move on (see Windows 8!). They will never keep the same OS “forever”. It’ll never happen. If you had your heart set on a Windows 10 system, now’s the time to get it, with Windows 10 Pro as Windows 10 Home is no longer made (discontinued). Windows 10 Pro will be soon to follow. While Windows 11 had some issues in the beginning, it seems to be running MUCH better as of late. I run 2 systems with Windows 11 and have minor issues with one of the two. I still prefer Windows 10 as it is tried and true, however; I’m not as concerned that Windows 10 Home edition is gone now, rather than a few months...
read moreEVGA & Intel changes
EVGA recently announced they are no longer going to make video cards with Nvidia chipsets. It seems like EVGA & Nvidia went hand in hand like Intel and… Pentium, or Celeron… but wait, that’s going to be gone too! Yes, Intel is going to do away with the Celeron & Pentium names as well. I’m not sure which is more significant. In one hand, EVGA is one of, if not the most recognized video card brand manufacturer. On the other, the words “Celeron” and “Pentium” have been in the Intel family for YEARS. While these are both pretty big changes, EVGA’s changes seem like the bigger change, here’s why. Intel will still in fact make these cpu’s, the names will just be different. Plus, the majority of the world (probably) doesn’t realize that these CPU’s still exist. We all know the Core i series of cpu’s and most of our customers purchase those cpu’s except for a select few that need the more inexpensive cpu’s as their builds do not require an i3. EVGA on the other hand, is not going to be associated with Nvidia what-so-ever in the near future. If you are a big fan of their products, this may be a deal breaker going with an EVGA video card in the future due to this separation. I personally have an EVGA Nvidia card in my system right now at home and love every minute of it. I am also a big fan of Nvidia. More than likely, in the future, I’ll have to go with an Asus or MSI Nvidia card as I believe the chipset of the card is the more important choice than the maker (if that makes sense). What do you think about these changes? Feel free to connect with us on Facebook or Twitter regarding these...
read moreAs a small business, how can you save money when I.T. can seem so expensive?
It seems like every company is now moving towards a subscription based system. I’ll admit, when it first started happening, even I was a bit skeptical. But there are some really good products with really good savings out there that small to medium businesses are just missing out on. Microsoft alone has several different subscription based services SaaS (software as a service), and IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) are two growing segments in the I.T. world and they are saving companies thousands of dollars per year. SaaS (such as Office 365 for Business) can save your business money, and time. When you purchase, for instance, Office 365 for Business, you have a dedicated support team to help you with any issues. Instead of paying a company (such as Canton Computers) to constantly come out for support, or having your I.T. team support these issues when it can be handled remotely can save a lot of time, resources & money. Most I.T. personnel feel that they are overworked as it is, and more duties are constantly being added onto their plates. SaaS & IaaS are just two examples of ways you can free up your I.T. staff & save money while doing it. For IaaS, which is a type of cloud computing service which offers essential compute, storage, and networking resources on-demand. This is on a pay-as-you-go basis. If you need a server to run a website, IaaS can do it for cheaper and more redundant than purchasing your own server as you are really only paying for the contents of the server that you will need. There is no wasted cpu performance, hard drive space, etc. wasted. It is ran and managed by Microsoft (Azure), or Amazon (AWS), etc. There are hundreds of examples of cost savings when going with this newer style of platform, especially for medium to small businesses. So how do you know if this is something that your business should move towards? The easiest way is to sit down with an I.T. professional (such as the experts at Canton Computers) to go over your current IT Infrastructure, as well as any expansion or ideas you have moving forward. From there, Canton Computers can show you how we can save you money, electricity, resources, and time going with these types of services. Give us a call today!...
read moreHow Bing Points turned me onto Office 365
When Microsoft Office 365 (subscription based software) came out, most people (including I) were against it. Why not just purchase the software once and never have to purchase it again for at least a few more years? For me, the decision was easy, buy the standard software (Home & Business) and avoid paying monthly (or yearly). Then something changed. Microsoft Bing gives you points if you search with Bing. For a while, I was collecting points to get xbox rewards for my sons to use. Then one day, I had enough points for 1 year of 1TB of OneDrive storage. I figured, eh, why not. If this was on here the following year, I’ll keep getting 1TB of OneDrive storage for free for years. For those of you who don’t know, OneDrive is Microsoft’s version of “Dropbox”. Just like dropbox, cloud storage, you can get OneDrive storage for free, but it’s only 5gb. You have to pay to get 1TB of storage. One year, the reward to get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage was removed and I was in a dilemma… Do I purchase OneDrive, or transfer everything to Dropbox and pay them? Or heck, even switch to Google Drive. So I opened up Excel and did a price comparison. Currently, Google is $20 per month for 1TB of cloud storage ($240/yr) 1 user, Dropbox is $9.99 per month ($119.88 per year) for 2TB of storage 1 user or $16.99/mo ($203.88/yr) for up to 6 users to share 2GB of cloud storage. Here’s where it gets interesting. Microsoft Office 365 Personal (1 user) offers the latest Office suite (always updated) & 1TB of OneDrive storage for $69.95 per year (Canton Computers pricing) or if you broke it down $5.83 per month. Or you can go with Microsoft Office 365 Family which is $99.95 per year ($8.33 per month) for 6 users. Here’s the kicker. All 6 users get their own 1TB of storage. It’s not shared like Dropbox. The way I looked at it, I was getting the cloud storage I wanted (AND NEEDED) for cheaper than the other two services, AND I received MS Office for free. Office 365 was the clear winner here (if 1TB suites your needs). I like...
read moreAre You On Angie’s List? Then Check Out Our Reviews.
Visit Us On Social Media
