repairs

Clean, repair, and optimize your Registry with ARO 2012

ARO 2012 is the latest version of a longstanding Registry cleaner and optimizer. The look is familiar, but ARO 2012 offers several upgrades over previous versions, such as improved browser cleaning and user-friendlier settings as well as new tweaks that can yield better NTFS performance, faster startups, and improved CPU utilization. ARO 2012 also backs up and optimizes the Registry. You can schedule automatic cleanings, too.

ARO 2012's installer informed us that it would scan our PC as soon as it closed. The first scan is always important with software like ARO since it establishes a baseline, and ours … Read more

How to replace a broken laptop screen

Whether it's cracked or has one too many blown pixels, a broken laptop display can stop you dead in your tracks. But with the right tools, a little technical know-how, and a bit of patience you can replace a damaged LCD.

Note: In this article, I show you how to replace the screen on an Asus UL50V notebook, which has an LED-backlit LCD. Depending on the make and model of your laptop, the internal hardware and specific steps may vary. The general process, however, should be the same.

Should you try this fix? If accidental damage is covered under … Read more

How to save a wet phone -- and what not to do

Washing machines, toilets, cups of tea, foggy weather...these are a few of our favorite things. That is, until they fill the lungs of our cherished cell phone, leaving us weeping over a soggy, lifeless metal carcass.

Dropped your handset in the bath? Fumbled your phone and plopped it in the loo? Don't panic -- just follow these steps and you'll have a good chance of breathing life back into your drowned smartphone. Just be sure to check out our list below of what not to do for some useful mythbusting.

What to do While dismantling your phone … Read more

Get back online fast with Complete Internet Repair

Lots of things can scramble your PC's Internet settings -- even good things like removing viruses, updating software, or simply surfing online. Datum's Complete Internet Repair is a free tool that can reset or repair your Internet Protocol, Winsock, and other crucial settings that hook you up to the wider world. Complete Internet Repair is portable freeware, so grab it now and keep it on your USB drive or hard drive. It's easy to use, but you have to have it to use it, so we're telling you about it now since you can't download … Read more

Broken iPod Touch: Repair or replace?

Ouch.

Is there a worse feeling than seeing your iPod Touch smack the ground and hearing the unmistakable crack of glass?

Just one: picking up the iPod and realizing the screen is shattered top-to-bottom. That was one expensive attack of gravity.

This happened to my daughter not long ago, resulting in a fourth-gen iPod Touch that, remarkably, still worked, but really wasn't usable anymore owing to the spider web of cracked glass.

As the household cheapskate, I figured it would be cheaper to repair the unit than buy a new one. After all, a current 32GB iPod Touch sells … Read more

Get IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro 5 for free

This is an update of a deal I posted several months back.

How's your system running these days? A little pokier than usual? Occasional crashes or lockups? Think there might be some malware lurking beneath the surface?

Whatever's ailing your PC, a repair/optimization utility might help. Today only, you can score IObit's Advanced SystemCare Pro 5 absolutely free. It normally sells for $19.95 (for a one-year license).

The only bummer here is that this Giveaway of the Day giveaway includes only a six-month license. Of course, that should be more than enough time to get … Read more

Wear Repair: Anti-aging undies cover you with copper

The quest for the Fountain of Youth has never really gone away. On the more extreme end, we recently heard about FaceTime face-lifts. Those make CASS' Wear Repair line of anti-aging clothing sound somewhat reasonable.

Here's the premise. Wear Repair uses copper-infused fabric that claims to improve skin elasticity, reduce age spots, and give your skin a healthy glow. It is made from Cupron fabric that is 66 percent copper.

There are mentions on the CASS Web site of clinical trials of copper-enhanced fabrics. A little digging brought up a bibliography of studies on the biocidal effects of Cupron technology over at the Cupron site.… Read more

RepairPal now rates and reviews thousands of auto shops

I have the same car now as I did when I first covered RepairPal in 2008. In fact, I've had my old Saab since I bought it new in 1995. I am not uncommon, I'm told. People are keeping their cars longer. That's what RepairPal's business is based on.

"200,000 miles is the new 100,000," CEO Art Shaw tells me. Not just because the economy sucks and people can't afford new cars, but because cars are built better now, "with precision," Shaw says. And this means that people like … Read more

New breed of plastic bleeds, heals itself

Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi have developed a new kind of self-repairing plastic that could lead to impenetrable cell phones, laptops, and cars -- or the next Terminator.

Team lead professor Marek W. Urban presented the results of the research at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society in San Diego this week, revealing a type of plastic that mimics human skin.

Though self-healing plastic isn't a new concept, Urban says the benefit of his team's plastic is its warning system and ability to repair itself over and over again. … Read more