Opening your personal computer to clean up hardware or check some of the components can be dangerous to its health. Motherboards and components such as memory, video cards, sound cards, and hard drives all contain small Integrated Circuits which are very susceptible to Static Electricity. Static Electricity is the spark you see when you touch a doorknob after walking across the floor. The problem with static electricity is if you touch a component in your computer when your body is charged up then there is what is known as an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) across the components. ESD causes pitting of the surfaces of the components which may not cause an immediate failure but can lead to failure in the long term and cost a lot of money in replacement costs. Below are some precautions to follow as well as tips to remember when working on your computer.

1. After turning off the computer, unplug the power cord to make sure there is no power to the motherboard.

2. Since there are capacitors in the computer which can store a charge for short periods of time, it is a good idea to wait a few minutes after unplugging the power cord before working on the computer.

3. Get a grounded wrist strap from an electronics supply house and connect it to a ground before handling the parts, such as memory, video card, modem, hard drive, etc, inside your computer. If a grounded wrist strap is not available then touch a safely grounded object such as a metal pipe to discharge any static electricity that may have built up on your body.

4. Hold components by both edges and try not to touch the IC chips, leads, capacitors, or circuitry as these are miniature electronic components and may be damaged.

5. Place components on a grounded anti-static pad or on the bag that came with the components whenever the components are separated from the system to prevent static discharge. Remember, avoid dropping your hard disk because cylinder of the hard disk is very sensitive and it may never work again if dropped.

6. Dont ever touch the non-serviceable. When you come across labels that say “No serviceable components inside” don’t take it as a challenge because its a serious statement. Remember some parts of a computer are just not meant to repaired and this label is usually seen on the power supply which isn’t a good idea to try to repair. Replacement is best.

Remember that you are responsible for protecting yourself from injuries and from causing damage to your computer. A common incident is loss of stored data due to a hard drive crash. These are some simple things to remember that will protect you, your computer and most of all the data stored on your computer.

You’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised when it comes to putting the Dell3010cn color laser printer to work. Starting with its fairly good color printing capabilities, it can be quickly integrated into small networks or joined to a solo PC with little or no muss or fuss. Plus, it’s comparable in price to some black and white printers of like performance. And Dell 3010cn toner cartridges are just as easy to find and use as the printer itself. In fact, the 3010cn may be ideal for the small office printer segment.

Vital Statistics. Though it weighs about fifty-five pounds, the 3010cn is still within recognized standards for printers in this market segment. Plus it offers color print features normally found in printers costing a bit more than this particular device. Its size (somewhat larger than a square foot), is also the proper for many a small office or home business.

Does it Print Well? Spitting out print at the rate of 25 pages per minute, the Dell 3010cn chugs along well enough for most any purpose. When you print strictly in color, you can expect about 5 pages per minute, which is okay. Also, its 600dpi print quality serves most needs adequately. Additionally, it can print over 45,000 pages before needing any meaningful maintenance, which helps keep down printer costs. Storage of paper ranges from 250 all the way up to 900 sheets of paper, depending upon optional configurations.

Compatibility. The Dell printer works well with MS Vista, XP, 2000 and also in a network with NT 4.0 or MS Server 2003. It also comes with Ethernet 10/100 or USB 2.0 ports, which are the standards for today’s computer data interface ports.

How Much Memory? The 3010cn comes with an installed 64MB of memory that can be upgraded to 576MB. With such a wide range, the unit should be able to handle most any print job.

Warranty Packages. 24/7 on-site service calls are covered for the first year. After that, an additional 48 months can be had for a nominal fee. Home-based users get the non-business version of the same plan, also for an extra fee when extending it out.

What Toner to Use. The printer uses standard Dell3010cn laser toner cartridges. The installed ones will kick out approximately 2,000 pages before needing replacement. There are higher-capacity optional cartridges on the market for an additional cost. If you use the printer wisely and casually, it could be a few years before you need to replace toner. Because of all that, costs per page of printing could be lower than expected, especially in comparison to other printers in this segment.

I want to share some valuable information with you. Recently I was asked the question below:

“I have been doing some reading on all the reasons why lenders would sell properties at big discounts…

Dean, what would be a lender’s main concern which would get them to sell mortgage notes at deep discounts? I feel that since we’re trying to get into the minds of the LMREP, it would be more advantageous to all, if we could sell our services to their main concerns”.

This was my reply: You need to be clear (both in your language and the way you think) about the difference between properties and mortgage notes. In your question, you mentioned both of these.

If you used this same language when making your call to the bank rep. I can guarantee that they would probably brush you off. In their minds, you are probably just a some knucklhead that doesn’t know the difference between a deed of trust and a deed. You can bet that you won’t be getting further repsonses from them.

A Tip For Buying Mortgage Notes

Just a word of caution to bone up on your note lingo before you talk to the banks:

You get one chance to make a good first impression, when you’re talking to the key person/gatekeeper when buying mortgage notes.

How is that for wisdom?

A list of reasons:

Instutional-Level – Why Sell Mortgage Notes?

a) banks in the process of merging, or posting quarter/annual financials and needs to get assets off its balance sheet. Quick way is to sell the notes

b) maybe a relationship already exists between the bank and the borrower, or some situation like that.

c) the bank may not want “bad press” and might be under to pressure not take aggressive recovery actions like foreclosure against the borrowers. An example would be minority first time home buyers.

d) although the banks have no problem starting the foreclosure process, a lot of them do not want to carry our the actual foreclosure. When buying mortgage notes, you may see a lot a week away from foreclosure proceedings.

e) the loan can be negative equity, and the banks dont want the recovery action/expense. (small loans amounts might never be foreclosed on because the expenses are too high, this is a fantastic opportunity in buying mortgage notes)

f) bank wants to “price” a part or all of its non-performing book, in which case it sends out loans to bid to see what the market would pay for them.

Individual Reps- Reason to Sell Mortgage Notes

a) loss mitigation rep is “sick” of dealing with a particular borrower. Never follows through on reinstatement promise/swears at loss mitigation rep/ticks rep off

b) they cannot get in touch with borrowers

c) foreclosure processes in their state are too long

e) the rep doesn’t want to go above their head to get an approval for a write off or mortgage note sale. So they sell at their authroziation level or at the direct managers.

f) in order to meet quotas, they may sell off a couple mortgage notes so they can get their bonus. (this usually happens in banks)

I hope you found this information useful.