What about Norton or McAfee products?

Every day we confront issues with Norton or McAfee products, and gladly remove them.  Both of them do a mediocre job (at best), both are terrible resource hogs, taking several of the top ten spots for resource hogs, both can create all kinds of problems.  We’ve seen internet connections broken, printer/file sharing broken, email boxes corrupted, infected computers supposedly “protected” by Norton or McAfee, very slow computer performance, etc.

When we’ve removed these products for our clients, the problems go away.  Both Norton and McAfee are very poor quality products and should not be installed on your computer.  Vendors push these products because it’s another way to upsell a client and make money.  Websites push these products because Norton especially buys advertising from them.  Rogers cable is offering Norton as well.  It is fundamentally the same (and thus as bad) as the retail version. 

Fortunately, there are far superior alternatives.  On every new system we sell, and every system we repair (by request), we put top-rated AVG 8 Free on them.  This is a vastly superior product to either Norton or McAfee and is 100% free.  It detects and removes viruses and spyware, in many cases items that Norton or McAfee either miss completely or fail to remove.  AVG 8 updates itself and scans your computer daily, fully automatically.

Finally, AVG 8 is much easier on resources than either Norton or McAfee.

• It’s free
• It’s far more effective
• It causes far fewer problems
• It updates daily
• It’s fully automated

If you are within 60 days of your Norton purchase, I would encourage you to return your product to Symantec for a full refund and download/install top-rated AVG 8 Free.   Your computer will thank you. 

Please note that simply using the uninstaller for either Norton or Mcafee will not work to get rid of these pests.  Both vendors have released special tools to “fully” remove these products.  Even then, several traces of the product are left behind.  We recommend to have a professional fully remove these products from your systems.

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Welcome to our new staff

I am very pleased to welcome Brad, who brings with him a love of the industry and plenty of Linux and desktop/gaming experience.

Please join me in welcoming him to our team.  Come in and say hello.

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Why you should call us first for your computer repairs

Today we had a gentleman come in with a Gateway.  He explained that he had it at a shop in the south end who told him that he needed a new hard drive, one fellow there said he could recover the pictures, the other two said that they couldn’t as it was “hard”.  He explained to me that he’d had it there for two months, and finally gave up and went to get it, after having purchased a new laptop to replace his tower.

As he left, I put it on the bench and within an hour his corrupted hard drive was repaired.  His computer was booting back into Windows again, he hadn’t lost any of his thousands of files and music, and all he paid was one hour plus GST.  All he could say was “that’s amazing!”.

That made me smile.  A happy client is what we’re all about.

Yesterday, we had a lady that called us up in frustration.  She spent hours on the phone with Sympatico.  When they couldn’t help her, they sent a tech out.  The tech replaced the modem, phone cables, etc, and finally said “your three computers are broken”, left his work order and left.  She called us in.  The router was defective.  We replaced the router, configured her wireless and set her computers back up.  Within the hour we were finished.

Obviously thrilled, she asked what computer she should buy to replace her (very) aging desktop.  She had explained that a local big box retailler couldn’t even tell her if a DVD/RW burned CDs, so she had opted against buying a machine.

After answering all her questions, she ordered a new machine.

These two clients are two reasons why we invite you to call us first for all your computer repair, sales and service needs.

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Interac at last!

To serve you better, we are very pleased to be able to start offering direct payment (Interac) as a payment option.  Interac is available for all computer sales, repairs and services offered at our Bayfield St. location.

We still offer payment by cash, cheque or money order.  In the works is payment by Paypal, as well as the possibility of Visa and Mastercard acceptance.  Stay tuned to this blog for the most current updates.

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Value Added Reseller vs. Retailer

I realized today that some people may not know the difference between a Value Added Reseller (VAR) and a Retailer.

A VAR is a vendor that adds services to the product.  Typically a VAR is a highly experienced technician that also resells parts.  The idea is that you’re not just buying a part, you’re buying your own personal IT department and superior service.

A retailer is just looking for that sale, perhaps commission, and provides little or no support after the sale.  This type of vendor looks to sell in large volumes.  Some examples are Future Shop, Tiger Direct, Newegg, etc.

We are a VAR.  Our products are priced at times a little higher than retailers, sometimes the same, sometimes cheaper.  However, in all cases we support our client after the fact.  When a client buys a product from us, they’re also buying our experience, expertise and service.  When you need us, we’re there for you.

Before you buy your next computer or part, evaluate what your needs will be after the sale.   This will assure that your long term needs as a consumer will be adequately and cost-efficiently met.

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Speed up your Windows XP/2000 browsing

This is a great tip that’s been circulating around the internet:

To speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn’t search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here’s how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn’t require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

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Thank you Scott

Today Scott called in urgent need of a good, fast, reliable computer.  Discouraged by the 10 day wait period to have his laptop repaired by the manufacturer, much needed for his business, he desired a regular PC for his main computer to guarantee up time and rapid repairs.

When he called, he asked how long it would take to build him one and deliver it.  He hypothesized two or three days to delivery.  Was he ever surprised when the answer was “tonight”.

At 9:00 PM we delivered his new PC, built with Asus parts and a dual core AMD X2 processor, set it up, configured his email and wireless and showed him the variety of installed software.  He was delighted.  What made me smile was the big smile on his face and comments of “amazing service”.

Thank you Scott for your business.  There’s nothing like a happy client, indeed they are the reason we’re here.

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Why not Western Digital Caviar SE hard drives?

This issue has come up a lot recently and this is a good place to explain.

Since 1999 we’ve sold thousands of hard drives, at one point a large number of them were Western Digital.  At the peak of our volume, we were losing about 30% of them within the first six months of deployment.  That is an absurd failure rate.  Not long after that we dropped them altogether.

Today we repair them.  Many large companies use them, such as Dell, MDG and even HP.  As such, we find we repair at least one corrupted WD Caviar SE drive a day, if not more.  Currently there are two of them on our bench, one corrupted beyond repair, and six dead Caviar SEs heading for recycling.

We’ve found Caviar SE drives to be infamous for two problems.  Serious hard drive corruption and the now famous “click of death”.  Data is the most valuable asset a computer has.  The hardware can be replaced the same day.  Data can cost thousands, even hundreds of thousands to develop.  Hard drive recovery can cost anywhere from $500 to $3500.   Because data is so valuable, despite the fact that 70% of Caviars may make it past the first year, it’s a price we’re not willing to propose to our clients.

Why do computer repair or sales companies use Caviars?  They’re readily available and they cost about $2.00 less per issue than drives such as Seagate, and a fair bit less than the Caviar RE or Raptor, which are enterprise class hard drives that can withstand substantial usage.

A hard drive indexes very much like a card catalogue at the library.  The card tells you where the book is, then you go to the appropriate section/shelf to get your book.  When the cards get scrambled, you will probably not be able to find your book.  Caviar SEs are very well known for scrambling their catalogues, causing Windows boot failures, etc.

For an extra $2.00, we feel it’s to our client’s advantage to offer them a superior drive.

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What to look for in a computer repair company

Not long ago, CBC aired a story about an “undercover” investigation they carried out on several well known computer repair companies, such as Nerds on Site, Geek Squad, etc.  The results were appalling.  Misdiagnosis (with a fee of course), huge repair bills for simple problems, and attempts at selling the client an entire machine for a RAM problem.

It reminded me of the problem facing car mechanics, how they’ve all been painted with the same brush as “crooks”.

So when you need a computer repair and you’re looking for a trustworthy company, what do you look for?  Here are a few suggestions that might help in your search.

1. Search  Google for “computer repair scams” and “computer repair fraud” and read through some of the links
2. Search Google for the company and the word “complaint”, such as “MDG complaint“.
3. Read the Testimonials on their site.  If a company has them, they’ll be eager to display them to add a sense of credibility.  One sentence “testimonials” with a first name should be questioned.
4. Ask the company how long they’ve been in business.  A company with a lengthy tenure will be happy to tell you.
5. Ask them for an address and search for it on Mapquest.  If it turns out to be a house, you may wish to question what guarantee they offer that they’ll be there for you the next day.
6. Beware of “low rates”, “lowest rates”, “no overhead”, etc.  A good repair technician can most often fix the same problem in half the time, without formatting and losing all your data. As such, a good technician charges market rates because they are worth it, regardless of overhead.   If they don’t, typically it’s because they either question their ability, marketability or are trying desperately to attract clientelle.
7. Look for gimmicks such as “yelling” at you with oversized type on their website, intimidation tactics such as telling you you are in “danger” if you don’t use them, conning you for your contact information to give their “top secret” information that you can’t live without, etc.  A good, reputable company doesn’t need to use gimmicks to get your business. 
8. Watch for signs of “anger” on their website or in their advertising, such as criticizing or “attacking” other vendors.  While it may seem innocent on the surface, you yourself may end up being the target in the end.
9. Look for vendors that are all too eager to tell you how great they are, yet forget to tell you what’s in it for you.  While it’s nice to be confident in your abilities, as vendors we can’t forget that our clients are the reason we are here.  Vendors that seem focused on themselves and trying to convince you that they’re the only solution to your problems are typically only in it for the money.  The lack of passion will be reflected in their work and customer service.  You may very well end up getting the short end of the stick.
10. Beware of “lowest prices”.  There are no corners to cut in the computer industry, either in repairs or sales.  The more you slash prices to try and be the cheapest, the more something else has to suffer.  Typically that’s quality and/or service.
11. A+ Certified.  This is a gimmick.  To achieve an “A+ certification” all you have to do is read a book and write a test.  Anyone that can memorize can pass it, even with the most basic computer skills.  It is not a measure of skill, rather it’s “paper smarts”.  There are no real world application benchmarks applied to this “certification”.
12. Ask how many years experience the tech has had.  The best techs have been at it most of their lives, because it is their passion.  A former factory worker, truck driver, taxi driver, etc. probably doesn’t have the passion or drive, nor the knowledge to fix the problems right.  Typically they are laid off and came to the industry viewing it as a “cash cow”, or “saviour”.  There are numerous college courses out there paid for by Employment Insurance to place these individuals back in the workforce, and the “land of opportunity” aka computer repairs, sales and service is a common destination.
13. Finally, you may wish to ask them for references.  Expert repair technicians and reputable vendors will have many satisfied customers, some that are more than eager to share the experience they’ve had with the company.

Armed with these tools, you should be able to avoid most of the pitfalls that exist when facing the daunting task of choosing your next computer repair technician.

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