BITS

BITS Established since 2006 to provide computer support services to local companies and individuals (Apple, Microsoft, Android).

We sell used laptops and can advise / build desktops as well as replace broken iPhone screens. Laptop and desktop computer repair (hardware, software updates & virus removal). Training to use email & Office as well as iPad and Android tablets.

20/04/2026

Plusnet have transferred their email management to a third party called Greenby, "free for the first 2 years then £15 per year". Given the experiences of the people I've helped, it hasn't been managed well. I've recommended my clients to vote with their feet. Get yourself a free email address such as gmail (google) or hotmail (microsoft). I know it seems like a lot of hassle, but it'll give you the flexibility to move away from plusnet broadband - or at least to threaten to - so you can negotiate a better broadband deal.

Nintendo Switch Lite consoles are challenging to repair. So, always get a screen protector and control covers when it's...
12/07/2025

Nintendo Switch Lite consoles are challenging to repair. So, always get a screen protector and control covers when it's new as scratches and wear are expensive to resolve. For example, this one only had a scratch on the screen but the owner wanted it replaced. Cue many screws, of different lengths. Adhesive holds the lcd and digitizer, so you'll need isopropanol and patience to remove them without damage. In addition, a very delicate ribbon cable that will result in a black screen if it's damaged.

Fake Samsung Solid State Drives are hard to spot. Recently I've seen a few of these. Usually, the first warning sign i...
27/04/2025

Fake Samsung Solid State Drives are hard to spot. Recently I've seen a few of these. Usually, the first warning sign is a "too good to be true" price but it's getting harder. Now, the packing and drive label looks genuine. I've found the only sure way is to get the seller to test with Samsung Magician software. The interface should have a genuine marker and the health be readable. The fake ones don't have the genuine word and health comes back as N/A. So, if they fail, they're not covered by Samsung 5 yr warranty. Looking at the ones I've seen most seem to be Walram or Netac SSD's with firmware w0302a0. These perform OK, but they have no warranty.

Macbook servicing isn't for the faint hearted. I recently had a customer with poor quality sound from the speakers. Af...
03/02/2025

Macbook servicing isn't for the faint hearted. I recently had a customer with poor quality sound from the speakers. After the usual software tests it was confirmed as a hardware issue. To replace the speakers requires a total strip down - removing the fans, hard drive, secondary board & motherboard (see the pic).

Windows 10 is coming to the end of active support - as Corp Jones says, "Don't Panic". Although security updates might ...
24/11/2024

Windows 10 is coming to the end of active support - as Corp Jones says, "Don't Panic". Although security updates might not be released it'll take another year or so after October 2025 for apps like your browser of antivirus to become unusable.
Computers with processors older than gen 8 aren't supported and there's a security gadget called TPM (Trusted Platform Module) that's needed. Don't get drawn into older "Windows 11" machines as they might not have true support for future updates.
Basically, talk to BITS in Crick before your next move...

Some of my clients have seen a Windows Update kb5034441 failing multiple times with "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE"...
22/01/2024

Some of my clients have seen a Windows Update kb5034441 failing multiple times with "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" .
I've just had this issue on a Microsoft Surface Go 2 and resolved it more safely than the official MS workaround and certainly more satisfying than simply hiding it.

When I look at the partition map I see my recovery partition is 600mb with only 89mb free - not enough to install, this update (needs 250mb).

Luckily the RE partition is the last one, after the main C:. This means I could install the free version of Easeus partition and use it to shrink the C: by 250mb. Then I expanded the RE partition by the same 250mb.

Once I had rebooted, the update installed fine.

Solid State Drives (SSD's) are the main upgrade I recommend for a slow laptop or desktop. Not all SSD's are equal thoug...
27/06/2023

Solid State Drives (SSD's) are the main upgrade I recommend for a slow laptop or desktop. Not all SSD's are equal though. Most desktops and laptops come with a SATA interface. A traditional mechanical hard drives can transfer data up to 150 MBps (Megabits per second). A SATA based SSD can reach 550 MBps so you get a threefold improvement in speed. However, it's worth checking if your machine can support a PCIE interface - then the transfer rate climbs to 3500MBps. Latest generation PCIE SSD's can reach 12,000MBps but your machine needs to support 5th generation PCIE.
Talk to BITS here in Crick about your next upgrade - diagnostic is free...

Why I can't recommend Apple products.Over the years I've repaired quite a few electronic items. I don't mind a challeng...
13/05/2023

Why I can't recommend Apple products.
Over the years I've repaired quite a few electronic items. I don't mind a challenge - miniscule non standard screws, the use of adhesive. With Apple, though, they are heading to a dark place as far as serviceability goes. As an example, from 2018 both the Macbook Pro and Air do not have upgradeable RAM or hard drive - they are soldered onto the main board (pic). If you don't have a backup, data recovery is not feasible (without spending almost £1k). So, you'd have to buy an external drive or subscribe to Apple iCloud for backup.
In addition, their product quality is worsening. Time was they were pretty robust but now I'm seeing overheating failures and poor workmanship. For example, I took apart an iPad 7th generation, removing components carefully. However, one of the digitizer FPC headers just broke - close up reveals dry solder. Great, now I have to buy my customer an iPad and restore her files..
Final rant is aimed at iPhones - now the battery and lcd have integrated chips, which if not transferred via microsoldering and programming, resulting in messages/warnings and loss of functions.
Looks like Apple are focussing only on the short term bottom line. (cheaper manufacturing/more repair income/poor service) - for the older reader, this is the British Leyland approach - history wasn't kind to that companies poor quality strategy..

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) in windows can be challenging to sort out. Recently a newer machine with UEFI (Unified Exte...
24/02/2023

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) in windows can be challenging to sort out.
Recently a newer machine with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) just wouldn't start with a Blue Screen showing the unhelpful phrase "an unexpected I/O error has occurred... \windows\system32\winload.efi".
When I started the system using a recovery USB and opened a CMD prompt, then went into DISKPART I could see the C: drive was the wrong one - should have been another volume. So I used remove letter and assign letter commands to swop them around.

Finally I exited DISKPART and used the recboot commands to repair the EFI partition.

What caused this? Probably a power loss that damaged the boot partition and made the computer think that a large backup drive was supposed to have windows on it (ie it was lettered C:)

One for the tecchies. I got a Lenovo Ideapad laptop where the owner had been locked out of his Microsoft (MS) account. ...
30/01/2023

One for the tecchies. I got a Lenovo Ideapad laptop where the owner had been locked out of his Microsoft (MS) account. Every time he put in his password he got a message that it was wrong, despite the fact he'd reset it on the MS site.
I first went into the MS site on another pc and found a message that his login had been blocked due to too many attempts - fine - I unblocked it. However, this still didn't help.
I'm afraid when this happens there's corruption of the user profile and the only options are to:
1. Do a clean install of windows with a new user - the old user files are available via explorer. In this case I couldn't do this as the Lenovo had a power fault that made it cut out when booting from anything other than the hard drive.
2. Create another admin user so that you can access the locked accounts files and copy them back. That way you don't lose apps. In this case you need to know the password to access command line via troubleshooting menu. I didn't so I had to remove the hard drive, connect it to another machine, change the security permissions of system32 folder, then run an elevated command prompt to get the accessibility icon in the login screen changed to the cmd prompt. Once I'd put the drive back into the Lenovo I could click on the accessibility icon and put in the commands shown in the picture (first to create a user, 2nd to make that user an admin).
This is the 2nd Lenovo I've had with strange power problems so I can't recommend them as a make.

Address

28 Bucknills Lane
Crick
NN67SX

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 1pm
Saturday 10am - 1pm
Sunday 10am - 12pm

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+447946614986

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