Ponywagon Computers

Providing on site services to your home and business in San Luis Obispo County.

Call for an appointment.

First, call 805-440-2142 to schedule an appointment. When you do, we’ll ask what type of computer(s) you have and we’ll spend some time examining your computer's problem and try simple fixes (if possible) to resolve the issue. This will save you money. If the problem cannot be resolved over the phone, we will then set up an appointment. In the case of you needing equipment, such as a wireless router, we’ll also ask if you’ve picked up the equipment or if you need us to bring it. Either way is fine with us.

Before we arrive, be sure to...
Before our arrival we recommend you have a list of all of the computer issues you’d like us to address. We would also like for you to back up any essential files, documents, pictures, etc. before we begin. If you need help or want us to back your system up, please have a list ready for us. It’s also much more efficient for us to get this list at the beginning of the appointment since, for example, if you want a data backup on one computer and a virus removal on another, it makes sense for us to start the backup first, since this procedure can progress on its own once initiated, while the tech works on your second computer.

Once we're there...

Upon our arrival, we’ll review your computer concerns and our Terms and Services Agreement. You’ll be asked to sign the Terms and Service Agreement before our technician can begin work. The technician will then begin to diagnose the issues you are experiencing. The technician will tell you what they’ve found, what’s involved in fixing it. Unfortunately, providing time estimates is very difficult. For example, if your computer is loaded with spyware, causing it to run extremely slow, it’s difficult for a technician to estimate how long it will take to run anti-spyware scans to rid your computer of these irritants. Our average spyware cleaning visit lasts about 1.5 hours; however, if you’ve never run an anti-spyware scan before, it can take longer especially with today's large hard drives.

Conclusion

At the end of the visit we will either ask for payment or make an additional aapointment due to the number of projects needing completion or the problem could not be resolved within the time alloted.. We currently take business & personal checks and cash (credit cards are coming soon). A receipt with a summary will be provided by either e-mail or postal mail.

Popular Computer Services
The following is just a short list of computer repair, networking, security and wireless services Ponywagon Computers provides:

- Desktop support including: upgrades, anti-virus, SPAM filtering and pop-up management
- Install and configure software or hardware based firewalls and routers
- Deploy secure wireless networks
- Backup and disaster recovery planning and support

Our Guarantee
It’s our number one goal to satisfy you, our customer! To help us accomplish this, we need your help.

Specifically, for you to communicate with us your goals, frustrations and expectations of what you anticipate the outcome of your computer repair experience to be. We will do the same in return – to communicate with you in plain English what’s wrong with your computer, what’s involved in fixing it and how you can expect the computer to perform after we’ve completed our work.

For example, it’s unreasonable to think your computer will double in performance simply by adding more memory. This simply is not the case. In fact, in some instances you may not notice any improvement. Of course, we need to set your expectations in the beginning to help you understand why this could be the situation.

A Word About Windows Millennium & 98
If you want us to clean your Windows ME or 98 computer, we cannot guarantee the work unless you allow us to rebuild it, i.e. remove everything from the hard drive and take your original CDs that you got when you purchased the computer, and reinstall them.

Why? Because these two operating systems are not resilient enough to sustain the aggressive anti-virus and anti-spyware scans we need to run in order to clean your computer. Overall, we can clean your computer without having to rebuild it, but nine times out of 10 there will still be an underlying level of corruption that has taken place, and therefore, you will eventually receive error messages, etc. Unless we rebuild it, the latter is bound to happen.

In many cases, it is quicker to rebuild an older computer than it is to clean it. This is not a scam, it’s fact!

My Computer is Slow!
The most common reason for your computer suddenly becoming slow is because of the gross rampant use of spyware. Unfortunately, when you’re surfing the Internet, junk commonly referred to as spyware or Malware is automatically downloaded on to your computer unbeknownst to you! Over time, this junk slows your computer down. The only way to stay ahead of this problem is to run frequent anti-spyware scans, or purchase an anti-spyware program that’ll head-off incoming spyware and run automatic scans.

PLEASE NOTE: We are currently averaging 2 to 3 hours to clean up computers that are grossly loaded with spyware. As a rule-of-thumb, if you’ve never run an anti-spyware scan, then the longer it will take to clean your computer.

Business Hours
Our normal business hours for on site computer repair are Monday through Friday 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. We do offer emergency on site visits during hours outside of normal business hours. However, we do charge a higher rate for emergency calls.

Service Areas
We provide on site computer support to homeowners and small businesses in San Luis Obispo County.

Payment Options
Once you're satisfied, we ask for payment at the end of your computer service visit. We accept business & personal checks and cash.

Popular Questions

"May I drop my computer off?"
You can, but...One of the things that makes Ponywagon Computers unique is that we come to your home or business. We do not have a traditional retail location. We have found that if your computer is having a problem, sometimes it's not the computer itself, but a loose connection in the back of the computer, or an accessory like the printer. Other times it's something inside the computer. When you disconnect everything from your computer and take it somewhere, the problem may go away because the computer was jostled or the loose cable is no longer loose (since you removed it). By us coming to you, we have a better chance diagnosing your problem rather than taking it to a retail outlet and the technician telling you there's nothing wrong with it, when you know perfectly well it was giving you fits at home! There are times when a broadband connection is need for software installation or service pack updates. If this is the case, we will ask to move the unit so the work can be completed at a faster pace. Broadband compared to dial-up is like the hare versus a tortoise. However, if you insist on dropping off your computer before we can visit you, then call us and we’ll make special arrangements.

"Why is my computer so slow, it’s not even a year old!?"
Your computer is most likely loaded down with spyware and viruses. We’re be happy to help and try to figure out how it got in.

"But I have updated anti-virus software!?" That's great!! However, this will not help protect you from spyware. Anti-virus and anti-spyware are two completely different things. You need an anti-spyware program such as Super Anti-Spyware and Javacoolsoftware's Spyware Blaster to rid your computer of spyware/popups. Also, don't be fooled by paying top dollar for top antvirus protection. There are free versions out there that are just as good. Let us know and we can help you set it up. If you want to do it on your own, we'll let you know where you can find it.

"Why can’t I get this spyware [popups] off my computer?"
It’s true, in some instances you won’t be able to ultimately remove certain spyware off your computer unless you rebuild it. What’s more, there’s no guarantee that once you rebuild your computer that the spyware won’t return. Unfortunately, the spyware advertisers [discount prescriptions, casinos, mortgages and home loans, etc.] are winning right now and the anti-spyware software developers are having a heck of a time keeping up with them! Sadly, there is no immediate solution in sight.