Part of any business owner’s job is to “shop” around. While we’re not like a lot of other companies that will call a list every month with some crazy story and request pricing, we will check websites and a few other odds and ends. On top of this, our customers report back all the time about what our competitors say, do and what they charge. That’s right, our own customers, through shopping for the right price, will tell us exactly what the competition is doing and charging.

I have two words that describe us: “WE’RE CHEAP!“. Several close competitors are charging nearly double what we would for simplistic jobs. On top of this, I have personally diagnosed customer problems right in front of them and sent them on their way, with no bill.

This happened most recently with a couple that had brought a desktop in that wasn’t connecting to the internet. I’ve worked around the internet since..lord knows when. I’ve supported it, worked on networks, etc. Unless something is really bad, those types of things can be fixed with just a few settings. Well, I plugged the computer in, fired it up and instantly got online with no problems. It turns out that the network cable they were using at home was bad. They said they had another and left quickly and happily knowing that they didn’t get charged for me to plug in a machine and do nothing. Other places may have taken this machine and charged money to “fix” it…

We charge $70 an hour for home users (including home based businesses) and $90 an hour for businesses (2 or more people). On top of that, we have several discount programs. Are you a Bethany Village Business Tenant? DISCOUNT! Repeat customer? DISCOUNT! We don’t play around… We gave over $1,000 in discounts during the first quarter of 2010… We’re serious when we say we want to save you money!
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 few weeks, we’ve ignored a lot of the competition – big and small “box” stores, but this is one of those things that we just have to comment on.

Staples has recently been touting a “Free Tuneup”. Well, we’re here to share exactly what this means…

The free tuneup by Staples means that they have a quick look-see at your computer. It also mean they don’t actually fix anything that they find…. That happened to a customer of a Protocol16 partner company in NY.

Our partner had a customer that decided to take advantage of the “free tuneup”. Oddly, when she went to retrieve her computer, she got told that she had a huge amount of viruses and that her computer wasn’t worth fixing. Read here about the customer experience.

On top of that customer experience, Staples specifically says what they do:

We’ll boost the speed and performance of your PC by removing trial ware, adjusting key settings that may be slowing it down, and disk defragmentation and cleanup. When done in store, a PC Tune up also includes removal of dust and dirt buildup. Source (note: click “Details” under the Free Tuneup Heading).

That say’s a lot about how things go with them. They specifically say that they’ll look at your computer, but they won’t do anything other than a “defrag” and removal of “Dust and dirt buildup”. WOW – now that’s SERVICE! Sorry, if we take the time to bring your computer in and you have a virus or something nasty, we typically try to work it into the price for you. Windows crashing a lot? We’ll solve that issue, remove any malware/spyware/virus issues and we’ll solve your failed Windows Updates without trying to sell you a new computer.

Give us a call and see what Protocol16 can do for you…
Justin

In a huge blunder more than a week ago, McAfee caused computers in many corporations, including Intel, to reboot and reboot…and reboot. The computers are stuck in a reboot loop after McAfee’s Enterprise software decided to mark a specific Windows file as a virus.

While this story was started the day this happened, we were too busy fixing the problem for many customers. On top of that, nearly all of our customers converted to VIPRE Antivirus, due to the continuing problems McAfee has caused.

In fact, this is a direct quote from one of my personal friends that still works for a certain part of the government:

Concerning the M1 virus (Mc Afee’s update), we had approximately 2,300 machines adversely affected by it and the majority of our 270′s requiring extensive intervention or reimage.  So yes, we got hit.

That’s right, even the government had problems with McAfee! It’s time to switch from a program that has problems to one that doesn’t. VIPRE has only had one problem since I’d started touting it as the Antivirus Package to use. That happened a few days ago – it required rebooting the computer and updating the virus definitions (the “thumbprint” of viruses) – that’s it. Not a “hosed” Windows install, no constant rebooting computers, no slowness, etc.

Slow computers, annoying downloads, even though you tell it not to? Yea, we thought so… So far, out of all the customers we’ve switched over, only one has had unique problems, and that’s due to a scheduling issue on the overnight virus scan. Contact Protocol16 to switch to VIPRE for less.
Justin

Google has officially released the new Beta for Google Chrome. Let me say this real quick: IT’S FAST….

I’m writing this story inside Chrome and, so far, I have nothing but respect for the programmers of Google. It loads fast, the auto-search feature is much faster than before (then again, I’m on a commercial connection) and a few other neat features like full interaction with Flash.

One thing that has me a little concerned is that the browser interacts with your search results. This means that your search results will differ in Chrome vs Firefox or Internet Explorer. For most people, this is good – for people that work with websites, not so good. Over the next coming months, we’ll see how this “feature” plays out.

If you’re interested, feel free to download Google Chrome Beta directly from Google.
Justin

This morning, I had a customer issue where their computer screetched to a blazing halt and was “thinking” way too much.

After some quick research, I found out this was due to the following:

The issue started with definition 6272, released 5/6/2010 at 5:53:19 PM EDT.  The issue is caused by a virus detection (Virus.VBS.Redlof.f) that causes a loop condition on the system, resulting in high CPU usage. (Sunbelt Software)

The fix is simple:

1. Ensure the Enterprise Server has received definition version 6275.
2. Stop the following processes on any unresponsive agent machines:

1. 1. SBAMsvc.exe
   2. SBAMTray.exe (if tray icon is set to be visible)
   3. sbamui.exe (if agent interface is open)
   4. SBPIMSvc.exe (4.0 Agents only)

1. Restart your enterprise agents.
2. Update any outdated agents within your console to the latest definitions.

For the full article, click here: http://support.sunbeltsoftware.com/Default.aspx?answerid=2015

MioNet is a program that is bundled with a lot of the Western Digital MyBook’s. It sits in the background and takes up memory, not to mention annoys you. Well, the folks at MioNet are pretty sure you’ll never get rid of their software because it seems like there’s no easy way to remove it… Well, there is!

Go to Start, Run and type in:   C:\Program Files\MioNet\ARPMio.exe

Hit Enter and wait for the program to load. Once that loads, you’ll be given the option to uninstall the program.

With the economy the way it is these days, as well as all the kids about to get out of school, please be careful who you call to fix your computer.

Today while enjoying my first day off in a month (and you see that I’m still “working”…), I discovered two sub $10 “technicians” on Craigslist. This is downright scary folks.

In almost all cases, it’s worth more to go get a regular job than to charge that amount. That can only mean a few things are happening:

1. It’s a scam. Some places require that you pre-pay, and one of these ads did so as well. You pre-pay for an hour or two and *poof*, your money, and perhaps your credit card info disappears as well.
2. It’s a teenager that can’t spell (as already noted in one of the ads), that will show up and cause more damage and more severe problems. They may show up and remove hardware, reformat your computer (technobabble for “erase”), or just show up to see what is in your house to steal (all actual things that have happened to people). This is just like people “shopping” for homes that want to see what there is to rob.

Any valid computer repair shop will be more expensive than the kids and other non-businesses out there. We have insurance to work with, fees for licenses, rent for our shops, etc. Now, what you get in return is someone that has, more than likely, seen your issue in the past, has experience in your problems and actually cares about YOU – the customer. Almost all computer repair shops maintain employees with certifications. I personally am certified to work on Microsoft Servers and Windows Vista with certifications coming for Windows 7 and Small Business Server 2008.

As always, if you have questions, please let us know.
Justin

Hot on the heels of a similar email, this one comes with the following text:

SMTP and POP3 servers for justin@protocol16.com mailbox are changed. Please carefully read the attached instructions before updating settings.

This comes attached with a nice file that looks like a PDF, but is actually a front for 2 scripts (we call them “payloads” in the industry) that download some nasty stuff.

Stay away from this file, delete it and just move on. This file is so new that most anti-virus packages are not catching it yet. If in doubt, feel free to call.
Justin

Today’s post is brought to you by the physical security side of me. There are days when I just don’t feel like waiting for the coffee maker, so I stop at a local coffee shop on the way in to work. Today, I noticed something next to me that just made me shake my head. While I love Beaverton, it’s not a perfect place with no crime. I’ve lived all over the world – I have yet to find that “perfect” place.

Anyway, when I pulled up to the coffee shop, this is the exact view I had while stepping out of the Protocol16 truck.

This laptop was left in a vehicle, where it could have been easily snatched by nearly anyone willing to break a window out - or simply open the door.

In Germany, this situation is a legal one as well. The law there states that this is “temptation of theft”. That means that any would-be thief can actually sue YOU for tempting him/her to steal your property.

I understand that you can’t watch your belongings 24/7. I know that there are times when you must leave things, like laptops, in your car, but don’t do it like this. The rear of this vehicle was tinted. Simply placing it in the back seat would have been 100 times better than this. Under the seat is an even better option, but in a bag, or with something covering it is probably best.

Please be careful with your laptops, especially when it comes to physical security. Something like this takes seconds to disappear and it can have such a profoundly negative effect on your life, it’s not worth doing.
Justin