Part time computer maintenance job

[Kaido]

OMG you are the problem. Factory restores should be at Geek Squad/etc.

Most that really want this level of detail will not give you their computer.

Cool story bro.

 

[Kaido]

Most that really want this level of detail will not give you their computer.

A lot of it boils down to where you want to put your time. It can take hours to fully clean a computer infected with viruses & spyware, especially when you have to research things like rootkits, how to remove the Moneypak virus, etc....it's faster just to backup & wipe it a lot of the the time, then you know that it's perfect from scratch & can be done in a fixed period of time, usually a couple hours (hour for backup, hour for factory restore from CD or partition), rather than spending 5 or 10 hours fiddling around with repairs. And you can bottle their old HDD in a ghost image so they don't lose anything.

At any rate, side jobs like that (backup & restores) paid for college for awhile, back when I was going full-time...I knew it usually wouldn't take me more than 3 hours or so, and the customers knew that they'd only have to pay $100 (unless there was a piece of hardware that needed to be replaced, like bad RAM or a bad HDD or a new CMOS battery). I just checked Best Buy's website - Geek Squad charges $129 just for an in-store computer tuneup, which doesn't even include a full wipe:

http://www.geeksquad.com/services/computers-networking/computer-tune-up.aspx

So sure, you can noodle around with the computer forever, or you can just nuke the whole thing & give them a fresh start in a short period of time for a fixed price. Worked pretty well for me :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

Especially on old systems. If the laptop or desktop is older say 4 or more years old and this is your "average" user, there may not be anything you can do for them. Sometimes your answer will be you need a new system.

That's pretty much what I recommend these days. I don't even recommend buying a desktop anymore, since laptops can act as super-slim desktop replacements:

1. Can operate with the lid closed without overheating these days (Celerons are 7.5w)
2. Has VGA/HDMI for monitor/TV hookup & USB plugs for keyboards/mice/printers
3. Has a built-in UPS (internal battery)

I've had extremely good luck with Toshiba's C55 series of budget laptops from Best Buy. The modern Celeron chips are entirely different animals & work great for basic tasks. The base model goes for $249 with decent specs: (Windows 8, 500gb HDD, 4GB RAM, DVD burner, 15.6" LED screen, card reader, Wifi & LAN)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba-...lack/5236179.p

You can get them in strong configurations for a higher price as well - Pentium chips, i3 chips, 750 or 1TB hard drives, touchscreens, etc. Throw on StartMenu8 & Windows Defender and they're good to go!

 

[alkemyst]

A lot of it boils down to where you want to put your time. It can take hours to fully clean a computer infected with viruses & spyware, especially when you have to research things like rootkits, how to remove the Moneypak virus, etc....it's faster just to backup & wipe it a lot of the the time, then you know that it's perfect from scratch & can be done in a fixed period of time, usually a couple hours (hour for backup, hour for factory restore from CD or partition), rather than spending 5 or 10 hours fiddling around with repairs. And you can bottle their old HDD in a ghost image so they don't lose anything.

At any rate, side jobs like that (backup & restores) paid for college for awhile, back when I was going full-time...I knew it usually wouldn't take me more than 3 hours or so, and the customers knew that they'd only have to pay $100 (unless there was a piece of hardware that needed to be replaced, like bad RAM or a bad HDD or a new CMOS battery). I just checked Best Buy's website - Geek Squad charges $129 just for an in-store computer tuneup, which doesn't even include a full wipe:

http://www.geeksquad.com/services/computers-networking/computer-tune-up.aspx

So sure, you can noodle around with the computer forever, or you can just nuke the whole thing & give them a fresh start in a short period of time for a fixed price. Worked pretty well for me :thumbsup:

The thing is as a tech you should know what the latest cleaners are and how to implement them, also you should not be sitting at a customer site for all those hours unless they are truly willing to pay for that.

Grab the box, get it home and let it run while you do something else.

 

[Tim]

Aww you guys, don't argue! The new me is saying that we should all just get along.

 

[alkemyst]

Aww you guys, don't argue! The new me is saying that we should all just get along.

Who is arguing?

 

[Tim]

You and that guy! Now kiss and make up.

 

[Kaido]

Aww you guys, don't argue! The new me is saying that we should all just get along.

Discussing differences in technical support approaches is a Good Thing...you can get an idea of different paths that you may want to take.

alkemyst has a good point - it is good to learn the tools as a technician. However, it's situation-dependent. For example, if it's a VP's computer or something, you typically don't want to nuke their computer from scratch because they have everything setup a certain way, so using spyware & virus removal tools is great. But in my situation, where I do it on the side, it's not worth my time to mess around with that - in 2 or 3 hours, I can clone their hard drive for backup, do a fresh install, put on updated antivirus & antispyware tools, and they can be golden - (1) no leftover weirdness (sometimes fixing viruses/spyware is like spraying bugkiller on wood with termites...still leaves structural issues), and (2) it's good to do a fresh install every once in awhile anyway. That way, I have zero time invested in fixing issues & they get a perfect system out of the deal for a set price. So both ways are good, it just depends on what you want to do in a given situation.

 

[Kaido]

Oh, and another little trick - if you do have to do a factory restore, keep a small SSD drive handy. Install the OS to the SSD, then do the updates & other software so the install goes twice as fast as on a regular HDD. Once completed, clone the SSD over to the stock HDD & expand the partition to fit. Makes it a bit more zippy when you're pressed for time!

 

[BUTCH1]

Just make sure to update Adobe :sneaky:

That is so LOL, "Google Ultron" LOL, hard to believe people are that dumb but after reading that it's proof they really are.

 

[Kaido]

That is so LOL, "Google Ultron" LOL, hard to believe people are that dumb but after reading that it's proof they really are.

Don't forget Part 1! :awe:

http://imgur.com/a/iJD8f?gallery

 

[highland145]

Aww you guys, don't argue! The new me is saying that we should all just get along.

Oh, you're new here. I've turned over a new leaf myself. I'm the Pres of the Welcoming Committee and I hope you enjoy your stay. This is a great place with wonderful and interesting people. In the past, I would have asked you to DIAF or some other equally nasty post but after a few warnings I've seen the error of my ways.


Oh, and how many ipads do you have to give away?

 

[Kaido]

Oh, you're new here. I've turned over a new leaf myself. I'm the Pres of the Welcoming Committee and I hope you enjoy your stay. This is a great place with wonderful and interesting people. In the past, I would have asked you to DIAF or some other equally nasty post but after a few warnings I've seen the error of my ways.

At first I was like but then I saw your sig and I was like

:awe:

 

[Tim]

Oh, and how many ipads do you have to give away?

Unfortunately there weren't any underneath the leaf when I turned it over. Da fuck, right?

 

[Freejack2]

Unless you know the people and you don't think they'll cause you any legal troubles, you'll want Errors and Omissions insurance.

The reasons are multiple but an example is your computer gets infected and you upload some file to their pc's that's infected and it infects all their laptops causing them all to be wiped. They might sue you for damages and without E&O insurance they'll take you to the cleaners.

 

[highland145]

At first I was like but then I saw your sig and I was like

:awe:

Nothing like giving myself a position of under importance.

Unfortunately there weren't any underneath the leaf when I turned it over. Da fuck, right?

QFT. That's messed up. There are the usual suspects...esquared...:sneaky: