That’s right, our customer’s lives affect us too…

Today, I got a call from a very nice customer that I’ve helped a few times. Nothing major, but I’ve spent enough time around him that I know him decently well. He started off telling me that some things in his life had changed and he updated me on his situation then we discussed a new camera, new computer, etc. During that entire time, I couldn’t help but feel down due to his situation even though he kept a happy tone.

I won’t go into details, and I don’t know all of them, but his simple statement affected me more than it probably should have because we really do care about each customer… His life situation had changed, as had his technical requirements for a new computer.

When a customer asks what is best for them, we delve into their history, their attitude, their needs and FUTURE requirements. Knowing you, your family and a bit about how you use your computer allows us to tailor a solution for you, not the 200,000 people out there like Dell or HP.

In another situation, Protocol16 built a custom workstation for a very special customer. Knowing her needs and future requirements, we recommended a specific computer with multiple monitors. At first, she thought the extra monitor would be a waste, but if you’d try to take it away from her now, a week in, she’d probably end up chewing your arm off…

Give us a call and let us see what we can do for you. We’d love to get to know you before we start spouting off deals everywhere…
Justin

This is perhaps the second most asked question that my customers ask. I use to recommend Toshiba’s based on personal experience and quality. After spending a week fixing nothing but Toshiba’s, I now think that you really need to stay away from the low-end Toshiba’s, just like all the other manufacturers. Notice the hyphenated keywords: LOW-END.

But, so customers and others can do their own research, I present one of the papers that I regularly talk about in those one on one “What should I buy” situations.

eBay’ers will recognize SquareTrade. If you don’t know who they are, they’re a “middle man” company that settles a lot of high end transactions so no one gets the short end of the stick. They also provide warranties to some customers, which is where the data comes from.

Now, you will see a brand called ASUS listed in the study, which you’ll also see listed on our homepage (we’re a partner). I love this brand, they make decent electronics, servers, and they even started the NetBook craze. Historically, I wouldn’t recommend them since most people don’t know the brand name, which typically causes the “WHO?!” conversation, but that’s changed.

So, an introduction is due, in case you’ve never heard about them: ASUS has been around since 1990, but hasn’t really branched out until the last 3 to 4 years. As of now though, they handle about 29% of all motherboards in machines for Dell, Apple, Toshiba and others… Food for thought.

Again, this is a LAPTOP study, not a desktop study. There are certain laptops that I cringe at hearing about (HP DV series laptops are the top cringe-causing laptops), but I’ll recommend certain desktops on occasion as well. I need to find more comprehensive desktop study to publish before openly talking about them.
Justin

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 just wanted to put the word out that we will be closed on July the 3rd and July the 4th – Saturday and Sunday.

We will be back in the office on July 5th.
Justin

Once again, those pesky malware creators are trying to cause problems. Here’s the original message:

Dear Microsoft Customer,

Starting 17/06/2010 the ‘Conficker’ worm began infecting Microsoft customers unusually rapidly. Microsoft has been advised by your Internet provider that your network is infected.

To counteract further spread we advise removing the infection using an antispyware program. We are supplying all effected Windows Users with a free system scan in order to clean any files infected by the virus.

Please install attached file to start the scan. The process takes under a minute and will prevent your files from being compromised. We appreciate your prompt cooperation.

Regards,
Microsoft Windows Agent #2 (Hollis)
Microsoft Windows Computer Safety Division

This message also comes with an attachment. Delete it. The attachment has a few nasty things in it, to include the Fake Antivirus software that’s been going around.

Again, just delete the message and move on.
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

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….

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

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