PC Laptops made the offer after "Super Dell" Schanze shut down his Totally Awesome Computers business Friday.

"There are . . . 100,000-plus machines out there that need to be taken care of," said Dan Young, president and founder of Sandy-based PC Laptops. "Luckily . . . everyone's computers aren't going to blow up at once."

More than 1,000 people called PC Laptops to inquire about the program Monday, and about 100 went to its stores for free diagnostic checkups offered to Totally Awesome customers, said PC Laptops spokesman David Politis.

"The bottom line is they have been swamped," Politis said. "Phones have been ringing off the hook and, in some cases, people have been lined up outside the doors with their computers in hand."

PC Laptops has extended its adoption campaign to employees laid off by the closure of Totally Awesome Computers, hiring 26 of the 75 who lost their jobs. PC Laptops conducted more than 50 interviews over the weekend and expects to hire a few more people in the coming weeks.

In a message posted on the Totally Awesome Computers' Web site Monday, Schanze said he was "awe-struck" by his "noble competitors" at PC Laptops and urged customers to support the company.

PC Laptops has not acquired any of Totally Awesome's assets but has begun selling desktop and server computers in addition to laptops in order to accommodate Totally Awesome customers. Young said the company also is looking at some of the leases held by Totally Awesome stores adjacent to PC Laptops locations for possible expansions.

PC Laptops has six stores in Utah and last week opened its seventh store, in Henderson, Nev. It plans to open stores in Layton and St. George, and two more in the Las Vegas area, this year.

Young said Totally Awesome's Layton location would be a good spot for a PC Laptops store.

He wouldn't say whether he had signed a lease agreement for the space.

Schanze, known for his zany television ads and sometimes controversial statements, founded Totally Awesome Computers 10 years ago, eventually expanding to nine locations in Utah.

Despite declining sales, mounting legal problems and an IRS inquiry, Schanze blamed the news media Friday for his business's demise.

rwinters@sltrib.com