I was the lead technician at Circuit City and their computer repair department was called Fire Dog. While they were going out of business I was launching mine and to make it an easier transition I just switched the name from Fire Dog to Dog On Fire.

Absolutely! If there is something you think other people would want to know about then please shoot me your ideas. I’ll try to write something up on it and then post it to the Blog.

Yes! On my About page you will see options to Follow, Like and Share on Facebook. Doing those would help a lot, as well as reviewing me on Yelp. You can find a link to Yelp on my About page as well.

Easy! I’m always looking for more testimonials! Please email me with what you want to say and I’ll post it as soon as possible! Optionally, you can include a link to your website and a picture of you or your dog!

Yes they are! My most common services are Optimizations and Virus Removals – each of those services will typically be $10 less expensive!

In extreme cases, where the Virus Removal service takes longer than the allotted hour, the price caps out at $129 no matter how many additional hours are needed.

With In-Home Support, if I need to take the computer with me to fix a hardware issue, the In-Home Support charge will apply to the services rendered. Basically, what this means is that the price that you would have paid before my switch to Dog On Great is the same price you will pay now, PLUS you get free pickup and drop-off.

If you have any pricing questions, feel free to email me and I can give you my best guess on what it will cost to fix.

You can no longer drop your computer off to me, but that’s OK! If it still turns on I don’t need you to drop it off, I can work on it remotely. If it’s not turning on or there is some other hardware problem I can come to you. If it can’t be resolved on site then I will take it with me and return it as soon as possible. Click on Support above to get the process started!

At this time I do not work on Apple products, but please check back in the future!

No, unfortunately your computer needs to be able to access the internet in order for me to do remote support. At that point we would need to do In-Home Support and I can either fix it while I’m there or take it with me and return it as soon as possible.

Most issues can be resolved within 30 minutes as long as you provide me with detailed notes beforehand so I can do a bit of background research and develop a plan of action. Virus/Malware/Spyware issues will take longer and there is a special Remote Support option to account for the extra time required. In the event that the Remote Session is going to go over by a considerable amount of time you will have the option of buying an additional session. I cannot guarantee that I will be able to complete your Remote Support request in the allotted time but I will always try my best.

No! Feel free to shoot me an email and I might be able to open up a special time slot to help you.

You can get the Remote Support Instructions by clicking Here.

Absolutely, I require the change to be submitted at least an hour before the appointment time. Send me an email and let me know the date and time you want your Remote Support changed to.

Absolutely, I require the cancellation to be submitted at least an hour before the appointment time. Send me an email and let me know you want to cancel and I’ll refund the charge.

Yes! If you would like to purchase the bulk Remote Support option please email me and I’ll explain in detail how your Remote Support sessions will be handled. To give you a brief idea of how it works, I have 3 tiers of 10, 20, or 30 sessions and each session is 30 minutes. 30 sessions are $600, a savings of 50% off. 20 sessions are $520, a savings of 35% off. 10 sessions are $320, a savings of 20%. All Remote Support bulk packages roll over to the next year. I am only offering the bulk options you see posted here.

I can do many different services In-Home. Virus Removals, Networking, Hardware Upgrades, and Software Installs to name a few. Send me an email if you’re wondering if I can do In-Home Support for your issue.

I typically will not do Hard Drive installations if you also want me to install the Operating System. I’m incredibly thorough when it comes to OS installs and it takes HOURS. I will gladly take the computer with me, do all the installs, and then return it as soon as possible.

No way! I charge $129 for the first hour and $49 for each additional hour. Most service calls take an hour or less – I’m rarely at a location for more than 2 hours.

With In-Home Support, if I need to take the computer with me to fix a hardware issue, the In-Home Support charge will apply to the services rendered. Basically, what this means is that the price that you would have paid before my switch to Dog On Great is the same price you will pay now, PLUS you get free pickup and drop-off.

If you have any pricing questions, feel free to email me and I can give you my best guess on what it will cost to fix.

If you decide not to repair the computer after I have come out, you will only be charged the In-Home Support charge of $129.

I do In-Home Support twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. If I take your computer on a Tuesday there is a great chance that I will have it completed by Thursday assuming I’m not waiting on parts. If I take your computer on a Thursday there is a great chance you will have it back by Tuesday.

Absolutely, I require the change to be submitted at least an hour before the appointment time. Send me an email and let me know the date and time you want your In-Home Support changed to.

Absolutely, I require the cancellation to be submitted at least an hour before the appointment time. Send me an email and let me know you want to cancel and I’ll refund the charge.

Phishing is the creation of a webpage and/or email to dupe the user into thinking it’s from the party the phisher is pretending to be. Lots of scammers will send out banking or amazon phishing emails to try to get usernames, passwords, and any other information they can gather to either charge items or steal identities.

No. It is never real. No legitimate person will call you to tell you your computer is having problems. I won’t even call you to tell you you’re having problems. You need to have the problems and then contact me. Don’t contact them, immediately restart your computer either by clicking Start –> Power –> Restart, hitting “ctrl”+”alt”+”del” and then clicking on Power –> Restart, or holding down on your power button for 10 seconds and then turning the computer back on. If you still see a message asking you to contact someone after your computer restarts then please fill out a Support request at the top of the page and I will get it handled for you.

You have some sort of malware that is causing that. Your DNS settings could have been altered, or it could be a plugin in the browser. Please click Support at the top of the page and fill out a Support request and I can remove all of the infections for you.

The worst infections are the ones you don’t know you have. The ones that are very obvious are usually trying to extort money from you, trick you into giving them passwords and logins, displaying constant popups, and installing random software that you don’t recognize. A sudden slowdown is usually a good indication that you might be infected, but it could also be hard drive failure or corruption. I will be able to tell if it’s an infection or something else entirely by analyzing logs and looking at locations where malware typically hides.

Most popups are coming from websites that are trying to make money by displaying “popup advertisements”. You can stop them by installing software and it will work on 99% of them. Sometimes however, the popups aren’t originating from the website your visiting at all but from an active malware infection in your machine. Popup blocking software will not stop that. You will need to remove the infection by licking Support above and filling out a Support request.

It depends on lots of different needs that you might have currently or will develop in the near future. In general, shooting for an Intel i5 (current Gen or 1 Gen back) will be a great pick for people who want to browse the web, stream videos, emails, gaming, photo manipulation and light video editing. If you are trying to save a buck and do not plan on doing much more with the machine other than web browsing, emails and light photo manipulation than an Intel i3 (current Gen or 1 Gen back) would suffice. If you are a high end user who plans on doing video editing or heavy photo manipulation then go for the i7 (current Gen). If you are buying a laptop for someone younger who might abuse it to the point where it will only last a year and all they will be doing is school work then saving money by going with an Intel Pentium (current Gen) processor would be OK.

It depends on lots of different needs that you might have currently or will develop in the near future. In general, shooting for 8GB of RAM should be adequate. If you are using demanding software such as Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign, Premier or any 3D modeling software then you might want to think about increasing it to 16GB. On a budget 4GB of RAM will suffice.

It depends on lots of different needs that you might have currently or will develop in the near future. If this is for a home office I would suggest a desktop so you have a set space where you can focus. You would obviously need a laptop or tablet as well for travel. If you are a gamer then a custom built desktop would be ideal – the same amount of FPS cannot be matched by a laptop and especially not by a tablet. If you are a typical user, a laptop or laptop/tablet hybrid might work best for you. I’m weary of recommending laptops that fold 180° because it puts a lot of pressure on the hinges over time, but a detachable screen should work quite well. A Microsoft Surface is a great device if looking for something in-between a laptop and a tablet.

It depends on how much memory you currently have and what type of software you are running. If you currently have 4GB of RAM and want to start running Photoshop or some other demanding piece of software, then yes, I would recommend an upgrade. If you’re wondering if a RAM upgrade would be beneficial send me an email outlining how you use the computer, the computers brand and model and the current amount of memory installed.

In general, no. Even if it was possible, there is a good chance it wouldn’t be worth it. Usually when there is a new processor out it requires a whole new motherboard, which usually requires new RAM, which will also invalidate your Windows license if it’s OEM.

Absolutely yes! It’s possible other components might need to be upgraded as well, but if you want to do any sort of gaming or video editing work I would recommend a graphics card install.

Absolutely yes! If it’s a laptop you can purchase something called a USB Hub from my Store above. If it’s a desktop you can either purchase a USB Hub from my Store above, or purchase a USB expansion card. Please check my store for availability.

Absolutely yes! Please email me or include in the In-Home Support notes what product you were wanting to purchase.

Unfortunately I only have the two shipping options via USPS right now. Please keep checking back because I may add more options in the future.

I try to ship items the same business day I receive the order. If not, I ship the next business day, assuming it is not a holiday.

I can no longer take cash or check. Everything is done electronically by card.