repair

iPad 4 hard to fix and wastes space, says iFixit

Anyone attempting to repair Apple's 4th-gen iPad will face a rough job, according to the folks at iFixit.

Examining the innards of the iPad 4, the fixit site found that the unit is glued shut through adhesive. Taking apart the tablet required iFixit to apply heat to soften the adhesive and then pry it open with guitar picks, which fortunately didn't damage the device.

As with the iPad 3, the battery is adhered securely to the rear case, making it hard to reach and difficult to remove. But that's par for the course, as Apple specifically designs … Read more

Wise Disk Cleaner does Windows

Downloading files, installing and uninstalling software, and other daily activities create messes that take up space and impact performance. Wise Disk Cleaner is a housekeeper of sorts, making sure that things are tidy and functioning at their best.

Wise Disk Cleaner has an attractive, well-organized interface that arranges its features in four tabs. The Common Cleaner is a quick scan that gets rid of the most obvious junk, while the Advanced Cleaner digs a little more deeply to find more space-wasters. The Slimming System feature gets rid of unneeded Windows files, such as music samples and Windows update uninstallation files. … Read more

Leave Wise Registry Cleaner to the experts

The Windows registry is often considered forbidden territory for newbies. Only the most experienced users are encouraged to peer into its contents. Wise Registry Cleaner claims to offer a tool that even the least experienced can use without fear of wreaking havoc upon their computer. While the tool is indeed easy to use, it doesn't offer anything extra to help put new users at ease with their registry.

Wise Registry Cleaner presents a simple, easy-to-understand interface with three tabs at the top that walk you through its cleaning features. We started with the program's main selling point, its … Read more

Four ways to fix an unresponsive iPhone home button

No matter how anal you are about keeping your iPhone safe and intact, there is still a chance your home button will eventually suffer the effects of normal wear and tear.

The iPhone 5, which features a change to the anatomy of the home button, may solve this problem, but previous iPhone models are still susceptible to this common phenomenon.

If you're still within the provided one-year warranty and your phone doesn't show signs of accidental damage, head on over to Apple. As long as you're covered by warranty, the company will replace your phone or perform … Read more

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