Helpdesk - Second hand computers

This is helpdesk, let’s look at what you need to know when buying a second hand computer.

Here’s what you need to do to find out if its working:

If battery life is important, you need to spend a few minutes on the computer with it unplugged, and then take a look at the remaining time that it displays.

Always test a computer near an internet source, if one is not immediately available, visit a coffee shop with wifi or use your phone as a hotspot, everything should work as expected.

You will want to know if the sound and display works properly, opening a youtube video is a simple way to test it.

You should try all the keys on the keyboard, faulty keys are common and expensive to repair.

You should always take the time to test a computers’ memory, a memory test will take you roughly 15 minutes, depending on the speed and size of available memory.

To start a memory test, first press start, and type memory, then click on the top option.

We also recommend doing a hard drive test, although these take much longer, and will require a power source.

To do a hard drive test, click on the yellow folder icon at the bottom of your screen, click on ‘this pc’, find the drive in the list that has the windows icon, right click it and click properties. Click on the tools tab and click check. You’ll be given the option to scan the hard drive for defects.

If the computer does anything unexpected during these tests, anything at all, thank the seller for their time, and continue looking for another computer, you’re sure to find one that is in fully working condition.