Repair words, in plain English
The words that come up when something needs fixing, explained without the jargon, each with the page that deals with it. The ones marked "How we work" are our own terms, in the same words as our prices and terms.
The glossary, A to Z
A
- Activation Lock
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A security feature on iPhones, iPads and Macs that ties the device to its owner's Apple Account while Find My is switched on. Until it is turned off, nobody else can set the device up, which is why you sign out before you sell or give one away.
B
- Backlight
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The light behind an LCD screen. When it fails, the picture is usually still there but far too dark to see, which is exactly what the torch test checks.
- Backup
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A second copy of your files, kept somewhere other than the device itself: an external drive, a second computer or a cloud account. A copy on the same drive as the originals is not a backup, because one failure takes both.
- Battery health
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How much charge a battery can still hold compared with when it was new. Phones show it as a percentage; a Windows laptop can produce a battery report that compares the two figures.
- BIOS , also called UEFI
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The small program built into a computer's main board that starts the machine before Windows loads. Newer machines use a version called UEFI. Its settings hold things like which drive the computer starts from.
- BitLocker
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Microsoft's drive encryption for Windows, often switched on automatically. If the computer suspects something has changed, it asks for a 48-digit recovery key before it will start.
- Blue screen , also called stop code
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The error screen Windows shows when it stops itself to prevent damage. The stop code printed on it, a line such as CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED, points towards the cause, so it is worth writing down or photographing.
- Boot loop
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When a device starts, fails and restarts again and again without ever reaching the desktop or the home screen.
C
- Call-out How we work
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A visit has a £50 call-out, the same wherever we come out to, agreed before we travel. It is the first £50 of your job, not an extra on top: if you go ahead, it is part of the price you pay, and if you do not, it is all you pay, because it covers the journey and the time spent finding the fault.
- Card hold How we work
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A £50 hold on your card confirms the visit: nothing is taken unless we come out, and we release it if you cancel before we set off or we cannot make the visit.
- Charging port
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The socket the charger plugs into. Ports wear, fill with pocket lint or work loose, and a device that only charges with the cable held at an angle usually has a worn one.
- Clean room
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A dust-controlled laboratory where a mechanically failed hard drive can be opened safely. Opening a drive anywhere else lets dust onto the surfaces that hold the data.
- Cloud storage
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Space on a provider's servers, such as OneDrive, iCloud or Google Drive, kept in step with your device. It is a good second copy of your files, as long as you know what is actually syncing.
- Compatible part , also called aftermarket part
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A replacement part made by someone other than the device's maker. Quality varies from part to part. Our quote says so whenever only a compatible part is available for your model.
- Corrosion
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The chemical damage liquid leaves on a circuit board. It carries on after the spill has dried, which is why a spill needs cleaning, not just drying out.
D
- Data recovery
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Getting files back from a drive or a device that has failed, been wiped or will not start.
- Diagnosis How we work
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The diagnosis itself happens on the visit, with the machine in front of us, and that is what the call-out pays for.
- Drive , also called storage
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Where a computer keeps everything: the operating system, your programs and your files. It is either a hard drive with spinning parts or a solid-state drive with none.
E
- Encryption
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Scrambling data so it can only be read with the right key or password. It protects a lost laptop, and it also means files cannot be recovered by anyone, us included, without the key.
F
- Factory reset
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Returning a device to the state it left the factory in, which wipes your apps, settings and files. Back up first.
- Factory Reset Protection
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Android's version of Activation Lock. If a phone is reset without its owner's say-so, it asks for the Google account that was on it before it can be used again, so remove the account before resetting a phone you are passing on.
- Firmware
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Software built into a piece of hardware, such as a router, a printer or a drive, that runs it underneath the operating system. Updates fix faults and close security holes.
- First opinion How we work
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Tell us the fault and you get a first opinion, free: what it sounds like, whether it is worth doing, and what it is likely to cost. A photo of the screen or the machine helps.
- Fixed quote How we work
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You get one fixed quote, agreed in writing, before any work starts. No hourly meter, and you can say no.
G
- Genuine part
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A part made by, or for, the device's own maker. Our terms say we fit a genuine part wherever one is available for your model.
H
- Hard drive , also called HDD
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A drive with spinning platters and a moving read head. It is cheap for the space it gives, but slower than a solid-state drive, and clicks, freezes and vanishing files are its usual warning signs.
- HDMI port
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The socket that carries picture and sound from a console or a computer to a television. A bent or loose one stops the picture reaching the screen.
M
- Malware
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Any software written to do harm: viruses, ransomware, spyware, and the fake warnings that push you to ring a number.
- Mesh Wi-Fi
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A home network made of several units that work together to cover a larger house, instead of one router trying to reach every room on its own.
- Motherboard , also called mainboard
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The main circuit board that every other part plugs into. A fault on it is the most involved repair, which is why the cheaper causes, the charger, the port and the battery, are ruled out first.
N
- No Fix, No Fee How we work
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If we cannot fix the fault we quoted for, you pay nothing for the repair. No Fix, No Fee covers the repair, not the call-out.
O
- OLED and LCD
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The two main kinds of screen. An OLED screen lights each dot itself; an LCD screen needs a backlight behind it. They fail in different ways and cost different amounts to replace.
P
- Parts and Service History
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A page in an iPhone's settings, since iOS 15.2, that lists parts that have been replaced and whether iOS could verify each one as a genuine Apple part.
- Phishing
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A message pretending to come from someone you trust, written to get you to click a link, sign in or hand over details.
R
- RAM , also called memory
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The working space a computer uses for whatever is open. Too little shows up as a machine that slows down when several things are open at once.
- Recovery key
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A long number, 48 digits for BitLocker, that unlocks an encrypted drive when the normal sign-in cannot. It is usually saved in the Microsoft account the computer was set up with.
- Remote session
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Help given over a secure link to your computer: you approve it, you watch everything, and you can end it at any moment.
- Router
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The box that connects your home to the internet and usually runs your Wi-Fi.
S
- Secure Boot
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A setting in a computer's UEFI that lets only trusted software start the machine. Windows 11 requires a PC that supports it.
- SSD , also called solid-state drive
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A drive with no moving parts. It is far faster than a hard drive, and on an older computer that is slow to start it is often the upgrade that makes the biggest difference.
- Stick drift
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When a controller's thumbstick moves the character or the camera on its own, because the stick's sensor has worn.
T
- Thermal paste
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The paste between a processor and its cooler that carries the heat away. It dries out over the years, and a laptop that runs hot and loud may need it renewing along with a clean.
- TPM , also called Trusted Platform Module
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A security chip, or a feature built into the processor, that keeps encryption keys safe. Windows 11 requires version 2.0.
- TRIM
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A command a solid-state drive uses to clear away deleted data in the background, which is one reason deleted files are usually harder to get back from an SSD than from a hard drive.
W
- Windows 10 end of support
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Microsoft stopped routine security updates for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. A computer can still run it, but every month without updates leaves more known holes unpatched.
A word we have not covered?
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