Tools should not be involved with unhooking a computer

[technical.angel]

I'm not looking at the dept head position, that's just political and no tech work :P I want to be in charge of the Helpdesk. The dept head was the one who made me do all this crap, but Wednesday's her last day, and I don't think the new guy will be as.... um.... accomidating to personal PCs.

[Geek King]

...and I don't think the new guy will be as.... um.... accomidating to personal PCs.

I occasionally have coworkers try to bring in personal PCs for me to work on. I mention that I'm not allowed to during work, but I'd be happy to do the work after hours for the low, low price of $30/hr, plus expenses. Only one has taken me up on it so far (she did the price comparisons, you see ), as the rest just wanted free tech support. I mean, seriously, at least when I do work for my friends I get a free meal out of it.

[Shabo]

Lostmymind,

I'm not saying everyone needs to get a gaming rig. But everyone I know with a crap computer always complains about how slow it is regardless of what they use it for. Well, buy a nicer computer for a bit more money next time. For brand names, the only one I will tell people to stay away from is Acer because of their bad tech support. I recommend IBM, but not everyone can afford them.

When I was working my uni tech job, we did not support home machines unless they were getting a version of our office installed on it. That was it. If they wanted work done, they needed to hire one of us to go do the work outside of office hours.

I really hope your new guy will be like that Techie.

[technical.angel]

Me too, as the current boss won't let me do any side work. Which, let me tell you, SUCKS.

[Naaman]

Lostmymind,

I'm not saying everyone needs to get a gaming rig. But everyone I know with a crap computer always complains about how slow it is regardless of what they use it for.

I wouldn't agree with that statement.

First - most manufactured PCs come pre-installed with a shed load of unnecessary crap

Second - The sort of people who think they can get a good computer for £300 are going to be the people who then proceed to add even more crap that runs in the background, up to and including malware and spyware. (Back in my time on tech support the biggest problem was Bonzi Buddy)

[Salesmonkey]

Oh, please save us all from our co-workers' home PCs. The kind of person who gets ONE virus is likely the sort of clicky clicky monkey who will get SEVERAL viruses (virii?).

I had one co-worker who lived in my apt complex and came over to use my PC after she hosed her own! Now she did bring cake, which goes a long way towards forgiveness, but after she worked a while she started clicking on those "won a free ipod etc." banner ads. Not only that but she gladly exclaimed OUT LOUD that she'd won something and how lucky she was! No wonder her home machine got hosed.

At least most of my co-workers were extra thankful when I fixed their boxes. And since they carted them in, it wasn't a real problem for me. I mean, I got paid whether working on theirs or on the work machines.

[technical.angel]

The end still hasn't come. I started a virus scan shortly after 8am. It finished about 1:30. About 130 items found. The vundo virus was on it, and it seems every computer that comes in with problems recently has it. I ran the vundo removal tool, and after that, the entire world blew a gasket, and now, she's offically my lowest priority. I got to move to another PC that came in (actual work computer this time, where the ends on the SATA and SATA Power cables just BROKE. Dell's going to enjoy that call.

[Geek King]

Ug...I see Vundo and various smitfrauds all the time now. Probably because they're such a pain to remove. I usually have to use a combination of Spybot, smitfraudfix, and Malwarebytes' program to kill them. God help them if I catch one of those virus writers in a dark alley with no witnesses.

[LostMyMind]

Wouldn't hijackthis make it easier to fix? Just find the dll name and put in the autoexec.bat delete c:\blahblah\viruscrap.dll?

I personally have never gotten one of those types of trojans.

I'm with you Geek, I don't think there is a jury anywhere that would convict you either even if there was witnesses.

[katie kaboom]

I usually have to use a combination of Spybot, smitfraudfix, and Malwarebytes' program to kill them. God help them if I catch one of those virus writers in a dark alley with no witnesses.

My fiance had a virus on his computer not too long ago and we had to use spybot and smitfraudfix and it was still a major PITA to get rid of it.

I'd love to join you if/when you catch one of these fuckers.

[technical.angel]

Well, it's offically backburnered.

Why?

This.



And I don't have a clue in the world of how it happened.

[LostMyMind]

I guess the pic is too blurred, so what exactly is wrong?

[technical.angel]

The one on the bottom is the good one. The one on the top... it be broken. Physically broken.

My camera on my phone sucks.

[katie kaboom]

(Back in my time on tech support the biggest problem was Bonzi Buddy)

I'm ashamed to say i had that on my computer years ago. Damn you, you cute purple monkey(ape?)

[technical.angel]

Don't worry, Katie, I think we all fell for the purple monkey of doom.