Be careful about sending your computer in for repair...

[Mahone]

Computer Repair Shops Illegally Accessing Personal Data From Customers' Hard Drives, Sky News Investigation - Sky News Video Player

This kind of thing is surprisingly common. I don't think you have PC World in America but they are well known (and hated) in the IT community in the UK as incompetent and extremely expensive. They basically rely on people who have no clue about what they are talking about coming to them, so it's not surprising to me that PC World misdiagnosed the problem - it seems the backstreet store was considerably worse though because they actually tried to steal data including bank account details.

[Seanette]

I'm fortunate enough to have a pet tech in residence . What I can't figure out, DH can.

[miztrniceguy]

gosh...i took mine to a shop the other day, should i be worried?

oh wait...the hard drive is brand new, and i was just having them check over the computer i just built from scratch, making sure i did everything right before firing it up. i think i'm safe.

[Mahone]

gosh...i took mine to a shop the other day, should i be worried?

oh wait...the hard drive is brand new, and i was just having them check over the computer i just built from scratch, making sure i did everything right before firing it up. i think i'm safe.

Lol. Theoretically, no, you aren't necessarily safe. If some repair stores are willing to try and log into online bank accounts using cached details, some would likely go to lengths to install trojans on your computer in order to steal these details while you are using the computer.

I am so glad that I have no need to use computer repair stores - I'm paranoid enough as it is, there is no chance I'd give my hard drives to any random computer tech to look around. Plus the costs of doing even the most basic of jobs are astronomical.

Edited July 22, 2009 by Mahone

[Hemidakota]

Excellent post

[miztrniceguy]

if the hard drive is blank, and i run drivescrubber again before i install windows i am fairly certain i will be safe. drive scrubber runs 3 passes, then a final pass all zeros. i dont bother with the DoD 7 pass wipe. i do this any time i think i may have gotten a trojan or virus.

[DigitalShadow]

Not too long ago there was a similar scandal with Best Buy's "Geek Squad" I believe. They even used a server to share with the other employees the "spoils" of what they found on customers' hard drives.

If my PC is so broken that I can't fix it myself, I don't trust some teenager with an A+ hardware certification to do any better.

[pam]

Luckily I too have my own computer tech person. He's actually a senior exec at Novell. Pays to have contacts.

[Mahone]

If my PC is so broken that I can't fix it myself, I don't trust some teenager with an A+ hardware certification to do any better.

That's a bit stereotypical, but don't forget the spots and long greasy hair. They don't call them PFYs for nothing you know

[pam]

I don't think that's what DS meant in his post.

[DigitalShadow]

That's a bit stereotypical, but don't forget the spots and long greasy hair. They don't call them PFYs for nothing you know

Stereotypical, but oh so true :)

[DigitalShadow]

I don't think that's what DS meant in his post.

Nah, Mahone was right. There was a bit of a negative sarcastic tone in my statement. Wasn't 100% serious though :)

[Mahone]

I don't think that's what DS meant in his post.

It wasn't the primary point no, but it was still stereotypical in that he made the assumption the guy who'd be repairing his computer would be a teenager. I'm not taking issue with it though by any means, I find the whole list of IT guy stereotypes quite funny mainly because I come across people in my line of work who meet the stereotypes so well. I meet one or two of them as well, but definiately not the spots or long or greasy hair

[pam]

It's funny because we get a lot of customers wearing the "geek squad" badge and driving the cars for the geek squad that come into my store. And the majority of them are teenagers.

Edited July 22, 2009 by pam

[Dravin]

Wait, I could be getting paid to perform Google level (look-up a problem/program online) tech support?

[Mahone]

Wait, I could be getting paid to perform Google level (look-up a problem/program online) tech support?

LOL, all people who work in I.t use google to work out solutions to some problems regardless of their position on the ladder. Unfortunately due to how big the field is and how often it changes, we constantly have to learn new things and will often be asked to support some previously unheard of piece of random software. That is when google comes into play. Like it the building I help support, we have probably over 400 different applicational software packages installed across the network - it'd be impossible to be familiar with them all. That is where google would come into play if you are asked to fix problems with any applications you are not familiar with.

There are five people in my department, I am the youngest at 23 (also the geekiest according to them) and the oldest is the network manager who is around 40.

[Dravin]

Oh I'm not disparaging Google as a tool, or even those who use it in the course of their jobs, just the thought that I with access to Google have all the qualifications I need to get paid to do tech support, if some of the rumors are real (and some of them surely are).

[DigitalShadow]

Wait, I could be getting paid to perform Google level (look-up a problem/program online) tech support?

LOL, all people who work in I.t use google to work out solutions to some problems regardless of their position on the ladder. Unfortunately due to how big the field is and how often it changes, we constantly have to learn new things and will often be asked to support some previously unheard of piece of random software. That is when google comes into play. Like it the building I help support, we have probably over 400 different applicational software packages installed across the network - it'd be impossible to be familiar with them all. That is where google would come into play if you are asked to fix problems with any applications you are not familiar with.

There are five people in my department, I am the youngest at 23 (also the geekiest according to them) and the oldest is the network manager who is around 40.

In all the tech related fields, it is far more important to know how to quickly find and apply information that you don't know than it is to simply have memorized all there is to know about one thing. Without a good understanding of the underlying concepts involved though, the information you find googling will be fairly useless.

Edited July 22, 2009 by DigitalShadow

[DigitalShadow]

Oh I'm not disparaging Google as a tool, or even those who use it in the course of their jobs, just the thought that I with access to Google have all the qualifications I need to get paid to do tech support, if some of the rumors are real (and some of them surely are).

I'm sure there are some companies who could use someone who is tech savvy and can use google to troubleshoot simple problems. Just the other day, someone in our art department couldn't for the life of them figure out how to convert an animated gif into a video file of any format. 2 seconds of googling took me to a free application that would do it, but it makes my brain hurt that someone who has enough knowledge to make an animated gif could not use even the simplest google-fu.

[Dr T]

Last time I sent mine in for something I took my hard drive out first.

[DigitalShadow]

Last time I sent mine in for something I took my hard drive out first.

Then they open your computer, point to where your hard drive should be and say "Here's your problem! That will be $200."

[Mahone]

Then they open your computer, point to where your hard drive should be and say "Here's your problem! That will be $200."

Haha, exactly. But $200 for a hard drive? Geez.

[Moksha]

Ya know Pam, we have enough computer geeks here that we should have a sticky thread for computer help questions. Put some of these young diagnosticians into troubleshooting mode.

[Moksha]

I put a new power supply into my computer last week that I purchased from Newegg.com. Crossed my fingers and hoped that would solve my problem. It did, but I would have appreciated consulting with somebody here about it.

[Dr T]

Then they open your computer, point to where your hard drive should be and say "Here's your problem! That will be $200."

Hahahaha, no, it was the a/c plug in thing that was broken and the local place couldn't fix it (they tried) so I had to send it in.