Posts categorized “Computer Repair”.

Customers often ask why computer viruses are made or why an anti-virus sometimes isn’t enough.  This brief interview will help answer that.   I submit any undetected viruses to F-secure because in my experience they take their job very seriously.  I remember there was a time when Norton wouldn’t allow me to submit a virus without a 24 hour delay.

I remember dealing with Mikko Hypponen in Dec 2005 when I ran into a seriously dangerous wmf exploit.  This was one of those very rare situations where a picture file virus was possible.  You didn’t have to open any file,  just viewing a website that had one there would be enough to infect you.  When I reported the exploit to F-secure, Mikko Hypponen responded to me directly.  Mikko can really get the word out quick!  Word about the exploit was all over the internet within a few hours.  Chances are you never even heard of the wmf exploit of 2005 and you can thank Mikko Hypponen for that!

There are many people out there that feel in-home computer repair has an advantage over remote computer repair.   In my opinion in-home computer repair only has a few advantages.  For example if i’m at a customers house I can resolve issues caused by hardware failures.  Repairing boot issues is of course much easier when i’m there in person.  When I am repairing a computer remotely I can take as much time as I need to get the job done right.

Some customers have questioned the amount of time it takes me to do some of my services.  Just because such and such company came to your house and resolved a virus in 15minutes doesn’t mean they did a good job.  I can remove most non rootkit viruses in significantly less time than 15minutes!  I can’t however guarantee your other 300,000 files on your less than stellar hard drive are virus free in 15minutes.   It’s just not possible to be completely sure without lengthy in-depth checks.  Do you really think a computer repair technician that comes to your house can dedicate the time to do the same amount of lengthy checks?  Only if they charge by the hour!

There’s a lot of low quality computer repair technicians out there that will just give up after a few minutes and recommend you reinstall windows.  Do you know how many clients I have had to walk through a reinstall because I couldn’t repair the issue after successfully connecting to their machine?  ZERO.  I hope this isn’t coming off as bragging because it’s not that not resorting to reinstalling makes me a great computer repair technician,  it simply means I am not an amateur you might find in the corner of a certain large electronics store.

There have been reports of well over 4 million people infected by TDL4.

The biggest signs that you have a TDL4 infection is if you get script errors like the following when you don’t even have a web browser open:

You may also hear sounds in the background from websites that you can’t even see.  This is because the virus is hiding in the background browsing websites.  If you are experiencing these issues please get an expert to take a look as soon as possible.

Step 1:  Visit a deal website such as dealnews.com or slickdeals.net

Step 2:  Remove any laptop that does not have Windows 7 64-bit unless you know what you are doing.

Step 3:  Decide if you want a laptop with a decent video card or not (I recommend a decent video card as you never know when you’ll miss the multimedia benefits of having one).

Anything in the “1. High End Graphics Cards” or “2. Midrange Graphics Cards” at the following website: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html should be suitable for most users.

Step 4: If the price is over 400 dollars (or 700 dollars for one with a decent video card) then remove it as its not likely a good deal.

*Take note that some laptops have other features that I do not take into consideration when searching for a “good deal.”  For example I do not look at weight, appearance, and battery life.

Step 5: If you are searching for a laptop with a decent video card it probably means you want something with a powerful processor to handle multimedia applications.  Try to avoid any laptops that aren’t Intel (yes I realize AMD has some good ones but i’m keeping it simple) if the intel processor says Celeron then try to avoid it.  Look for Intel’s that say one of the following:  i7, i5, i3, Core 2 Quad,  Core 2 Duo

Step 6:  Aim for a laptop with at least 4GB of ram.

Step 7:  I try to avoid rebate deals but if its too good to pass up make sure you have a copy of the rebate form prior to making your purchase.
That about sums up my quick list of steps to take when searching for a good deal on a laptop.  Don’t forget to take things into consideration that you might be interested in.   For example screen size, battery life, weight, dvd burner, etc.

Welcome to the Computer Repair Tech blog!  I should be updating the blog very soon with useful posts!