While I’m extremely disappointed to have to say this, Sunbelt Software has released another update that has caused problems with VIPRE.

At the moment, their chat and phone representatives are utterly swamped due to the problems. After getting through, I was told that a bad update was released last night and that it would be “fixed shortly”.

For now, it appears that they have turned off the update service in hopes of containing the problems.

If you have problems, restart your computer and it should help the situation. In about 2 hours, hit the “Update” button in the software and it should download an update (as long as they fix it by then).

Justin

vipre, sunbelt, slow, lockup, 100%, no updates, latest update, last night, won’t update, windows, off

I’m really too busy to write out a story this morning, but sometimes you just have to take a step back and take a deep breath – just as my wife told me this morning as I ran out the door.

To the class of 2010, party hard, enjoy yourselves and pay attention to the following video. While it was not an official speech, it’s one of the best “speeches” I’ve heard, and I listen to it at least twice a year. Listen, learn.

To my Niece, Brianna: The whole family is proud of you. Work hard, play hard and enjoy life to it’s fullest. If you ever need advice, feel free to make an appointment
Justin

I make no bones about it when I say that I talk with a lot of people in the industry. Many times, we see patterns before the media does. If we each notice 5 computers that come in at the same time, we can quickly work together on how to fix it.

Well, one of those technicians that we talk with on a normal basis was interviewed in his hometown. The message is so strong that I figured it would be best just to repost the story from the News Website (watch the video).

The screen shots, the messages and the advice in the video is spot-on.
Justin

That’s right!

We received our notice about a day ago, along with our “special” window decal, allowing people to see what we’re about.

According to the news out there, less than 1% of businesses listed on Google Maps got this decal. While it’s mostly a marketing piece for Google, we’re still happy!

This news has turned a long and busy week into something to celebrate. We’d like to thank all of our customers for helping to make this happen!
Justin

We received a call yesterday evening, just before closing up the shop and I wanted to share a little bit of info in case anyone else has this type of problem.

The caller stated that they had a DV series HP laptop and they had just cracked the screen. Unfortunately, it happens. We have a nice cracked screen on our wall to show what happens and how flimsy these screens really are…. The caller wanted to know if it was replaceable.

The call went downhill and only lasted about 2 minutes from there, mostly due to information I gave out. Instead of simply stating “YES!” and having the customer bring it by, I was open and honest:

The screens cost around $100 for this model (retail, we probably could be able to do it for less depending on the model and what exactly is cracked), then add the $70 labor fee on top of that since we have to pull the screen area completely apart. The caller was looking at $140-$170 worth of a bill for a laptop that could be several years old.

On top of this, I mentioned that the DV series of laptops tend to overheat and I don’t know if it would be worthwhile to put money into a computer that has a horrid record with “frying” itself. The caller stated that their laptop did have a history of overheating. We talked for a few more seconds and we got off the phone.

In that 2 minutes, I may have lost a decent amount of money, but overall, the caller may have saved money that they could put towards a new computer. Sure, I could have taken the money, only to have the machine possibly fail anywhere from 2 weeks to another year out, but we’re talking a quarter of a new laptop, just to replace the screen… Not worth it, in my opinion.

Now, I know it’s hard to say that, especially in this economy, but we’re talking bang for the buck. Have we replaced screens, motherboards, etc. when it would have been better for the customer to just buy new? Yes, but we look at each situation and try to determine what is ultimately better for the customer and their situation.
Justin

We’ve been busy here lately, but we caught something while recycling a machine for one of our clients. It seems that a “competitor”, who has since changed his business name, was shaving the OEM stickers off machines so that he could re-use the license to charge the client more money while spending none of his own. The client had XP, the machine says “Vista” but the sticker says “XP” as well – typically not a problem, until you read which type of license he used.

What to watch out for... Arrows show the differences in sticker vs actual Manufacturer. Circles show damage from "shaving" the sticker.

If you have a machine custom built, or ordered through a local company, always inspect the stickers. This machine was a ACER and it had an eMachine’s XP sticker on it. I’ve attached a picture so you can see what I’m talking about. The circles point to the sticker damage from this individual removing the sticker. If you see something like this, don’t buy the machine – period. Microsoft has every right to disable Windows, and does so. For Windows Vista and 7, this becomes more of an issue because they both check in with Microsoft every 6 months to ensure that your license hasn’t been copied/installed somewhere else.

Note: A Vista/Windows 7 machine sticker looks like paper, with a hole, that has a security thread through it.

I take great pride in knowing that we provide some of the highest customer service scores in the area (Angie’s List Honor Roll, plus all our other reviews). I cannot stand it when individuals like this take advantage of customers to save a buck here and there. There are other ways to save money, and we do it all the time with customers. If it eats into our profit margin, so be it – the customer is happy and that’s what matters.
Justin

Over the past month, I’ve known about something going on, but have been quiet. Well, after receiving several of their old customers, I felt I’d share with anyone else out there that may attempt to visit their old computer company…

Northwest Computer Support has officially closed it’s doors to consumers.

That’s yet another competitor to us that has closed their doors to consumers this year. Unfortunately, the economy (and weather) has caused a slow down for a lot of companies across the US. Some of these companies were just barely hanging on. While NW Computer Support remains open, they’ve switched their focus to the more lucrative business environment.

So, if you’re an old customer of NW Computer Support, please feel free to give us a call – we’re here to help.
Justin

[Update: Northwest Computers hasn't closed it's doors, they've "moved" to a new location. The old building is no longer accepting customers. See the comment below.]

This is not really computer repair news, but it’s worthy of mention on a computer website.

If you’re like myself, you may have Verizon services like DSL or FiOS at home. If, you were like me yesterday, you got home to a Comcast letter stating that Verizon is leaving the NW – and to switch while theres still time!

Well, yes, Verizon is leaving. A new company called Frontier is taking over operations. This is just like when Verizon came to our area – they took the lines over from GE…

Your FiOS and DSL services will stay running, as long as there’s no huge fiasco with billing. If you have more questions, feel free to read this article.
Justin

PS: To the specific technician in a specific call center in a specific town that sends us customers: Thank You….

Yesterday, when I woke up, I heard about a new project that was trying to cause turmoil for FaceBook, MySpace and other “Social Networks”. At the time, I had never heard of Diaspora, but I watched the videos and it made sense. The New York Times covered it, then a few other sites, including one called Slashdot, covered it.

These four teens in New York set up a donation request on Kickstart, asking for $10,000 to fund a summer full of coding. They hoped to get the majority of the framework done so they could start helping the masses with privacy fears and such. Well, they reached that goal by mid-day 8. I hit Kickstart on day 10 and it had just hit $20,000… Ok, so there are a lot of disgruntled people out there that really dislike what Facebook is doing – good, I’m not the only one. Well, I watched that number sky rocket yesterday, then it kept going and going and going. This morning, upon waking up, people around the world have donated over $95,000 to this project (edit – OVER $100,000!!!), and that number is still going up. Oddly, right now, the average donation is $42 and change. It’s interesting because according to a great book (later a movie), and an older inside joke with geeks, is that 42 is the meaning of life…

If you’re interested in seeing how what Facebook has done with your privacy, check out this handy little page (click on the different years to see how your profile has leached out). If you’re interested in contributing to a global cause that thousands of other people agree with, check out their donation project on Kickstart.

If this project doesn’t have Facebook worried, they’ve made the first mistake in the art of war: Know thy enemy.
Justin

If you have a website that uses WordPress, make sure you’re running the most recent version. GoDaddy and other web hosting companies are scrambling at their installations due to a malware attack.

This typically happens when a web hosting company is using a customized version of the software and hasn’t upgraded it yet. Unfortunately, many companies just take too long to patch their systems. We see this with some companies that like to wait for months before running Windows Updates on their servers. The key is to test on systems before doing anything and a lot of places are failing to do that.

So – if you’re using GoDaddy or another hosting provider, check out your blog, as you may be infected. Link for help.
Justin