4AM yesterday, woke up ready to go. The only problem was that I really didn't have any where to go. Instead, I decided I would continue working on some website content. That lasted a few hours and then it was really time to go.
I arrived at the trailer, which looked more like a conventional house rather than the image I expected, met the man outside and he welcomed me in. It was 7:45 AM. He offered coffee, I declined and then I met his wife and computer.
We, the man and I, sat down at his Gateway computer running Windows 98. I asked him to tell me exactly what he needs to acomplish. At this point I hadn't heard of any problems with the computer. He told me that he was more interested in learning how to use the comptuer rather than having me fix any particular problem. I was a bit geared up due to coffee I drank earlier so I had to force myself into a slower mode. My biggest concern was trying to avoid speaking in terms that he might not understand. Anyway, we sat for a few hours talking about the computer. He asked questions, I answered. All the while his wife sat at a wooden dining table piecing a puzzle together. She too asked questions. Needless to say, it wasn't your average house call.
By the time I left, we had gone through the basis of how the comptuer is laid out (in terms of folders and files), how to use email, the power of ctrl+alt+delete, some Control Panel items, System tools, msconfig, installed anti-virus, set up his AOL account (that I was the first time I ever had to use AOL, I am okay now, but the clutter of the interface was driving me crazy, or was that the coffee?). I set up the printer and showed them how to use it, the basis of searching the Internet, what spyware is and a list of safety tips, etc... He was very receptive and eager to learn. I enjoyed being a tutor. It was relaxing to sit and talk about computers which such personable people.
The next part of my day was spent working on the music section of my site. It's really coming along and I must admit that the content is quite funny but I won't post the link to the pages until they are complete. Then I had a two hour meeting during which I discussed the future of one of the websites I am working on. After that I was on my way home.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
Monday, February 21st, 2005
I had to reschedule my appointment for today due to inclement weather. A winter storm warning is in effect for the entire day.
I called my client over an hour ago and set up an appointment for tomorrow at the same time.
I added some more content to my website. I have been a photography addict for quite some time. Yesterday I found some inspiration to create a section of my website dedicated to my photographs. Links can be found on all of my web pages under the Services category. Here is a quick link as well. I began these pages yesterday at about 3:00 PM. I went to sleep last night with an unfinished project which only means one thing - interrupted sleep. I crawled out of bed this morning at 4:00, fired up the old Mr. Coffee and set my obsessive mind to rest by completing the Photography pages. (I shouldn't use the word 'completed' because I am learning that websites are never really complete.)
The next project for my site will be a section dedicated to the digital music I enjoy creating.
I called my client over an hour ago and set up an appointment for tomorrow at the same time.
I added some more content to my website. I have been a photography addict for quite some time. Yesterday I found some inspiration to create a section of my website dedicated to my photographs. Links can be found on all of my web pages under the Services category. Here is a quick link as well. I began these pages yesterday at about 3:00 PM. I went to sleep last night with an unfinished project which only means one thing - interrupted sleep. I crawled out of bed this morning at 4:00, fired up the old Mr. Coffee and set my obsessive mind to rest by completing the Photography pages. (I shouldn't use the word 'completed' because I am learning that websites are never really complete.)
The next project for my site will be a section dedicated to the digital music I enjoy creating.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Friday, February 18th, 2005
It has been a busy week. I don't have any tales of troubleshooting, or symptoms of spyware of verse based on virues but, I did add an online user forum to www.vermontpcsolutions.com. The forum is set up so that users who have issues with spyware, viruses and other general issues can post questions, comments and answers. You can get to the forum by clicking here or by going through the main page here.
You must register first. Registration requires an email address but I promise your address will not be sold or given out. It is for verification purposes only!
Oh, I did pick up a new client, a website that I haven't started building yet. It will be for a Chiropractic office. I am waiting on the content for the site. As soon as it goes up I will post a link.
Monday, February 21st 8:00 AM is my next day to make a home visit. I got the call two days ago but I am booked up through the weekend. I think that it might be in a trailer park. I can honestly say that I have not had the privelage of working in a trailer home. As long as there is a computer in it I will be glad to repair the poor machine (another Windows 98 machine on a dial-up connection). I will let you know how it goes.
Snow keeps falling here in Vermont, snow keeps falling here in Vermont, snow keeps - you get the idea. The skiing is wonderful. This morning I went for a two hour adventure on my cross country skis, up and over a small mountain across the street from my house. Plenty of deer tracks, perfect conditions for wood skiing and the snow continued to fall as my beaten sticks carved gracefully (for the most part) through deep powder avoiding collisions with maple, birch and tamaracks.
I did the same run yesterday but with blue skies above. Using Photoshop I stitched together this panorama taken from Libby's Look, the highest elevation on the route.
If you would like to see a larger (much larger) version go here.
You must register first. Registration requires an email address but I promise your address will not be sold or given out. It is for verification purposes only!
Oh, I did pick up a new client, a website that I haven't started building yet. It will be for a Chiropractic office. I am waiting on the content for the site. As soon as it goes up I will post a link.
Monday, February 21st 8:00 AM is my next day to make a home visit. I got the call two days ago but I am booked up through the weekend. I think that it might be in a trailer park. I can honestly say that I have not had the privelage of working in a trailer home. As long as there is a computer in it I will be glad to repair the poor machine (another Windows 98 machine on a dial-up connection). I will let you know how it goes.
Snow keeps falling here in Vermont, snow keeps falling here in Vermont, snow keeps - you get the idea. The skiing is wonderful. This morning I went for a two hour adventure on my cross country skis, up and over a small mountain across the street from my house. Plenty of deer tracks, perfect conditions for wood skiing and the snow continued to fall as my beaten sticks carved gracefully (for the most part) through deep powder avoiding collisions with maple, birch and tamaracks.
I did the same run yesterday but with blue skies above. Using Photoshop I stitched together this panorama taken from Libby's Look, the highest elevation on the route.
If you would like to see a larger (much larger) version go here.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Sunday, February 13th, 2005
Got a call sometime last week, slow start-up on computer, slow Internet connection. Made an appointment for today. Arrive at the house. Met the owners and their week old baby. Sat down at the computer (Windows 98 SE machine) installed anti-virus (AVG), AdAware etc....Rebooted - took a little under 10 minutes to boot!! I checked out the system properties and found only 32 MB RAM. I ran a quick spyware check found KaZaa and thirty one other bits of the nasty stuff, removed them, ran msconfig, edited the start up menu to remove any unnecessary start up items (Real Player, AOL, Quicktime blah, blah, blah) rebooted, boot time zipped right along. Updated AdAware and found out why the Internet was slow - Dial up! Informed the owner of RAM limitations and where to pick up some cheap, used RAM, got in my car, turned on an Interpol cd, got a pizza and a sixer and came home.
Also this week, got more work on an ongoing web project SoHo2go.com, some graphics editing, more work on this site, purchased a domain for this site,a video conversion project for this company, created this page (which will move here and three days of cross-country skiing in a foot and a half of snow! Not a bad week in the life of a Computer Repair Technician!
Also this week, got more work on an ongoing web project SoHo2go.com, some graphics editing, more work on this site, purchased a domain for this site,a video conversion project for this company, created this page (which will move here and three days of cross-country skiing in a foot and a half of snow! Not a bad week in the life of a Computer Repair Technician!
Friday, February 11, 2005
Sunday, February 6th, 2005
I got a call on Friday. A previous client was having issues with his computer. The same thing as before - spyware, and viruses. I scheduled an appointment for Sunday morning. I woke up, drank many cups of coffee, drank many more cups of coffee and drove a half hour to his house.
It was 12 noon when I arrived. He looked like he just woke up and indeed he had. He was clearly hung over from the night before. He was getting geared up to watch the Superbowl and to get intoxicated all over again. Personally, I could care less about the Superbowl. I don't understand what is so Super about it. Anyway, my task was to fix his computer. Once he cleared all the cigarette ash off his computer desk I was ready to begin troubleshooting.
I sat down infront of his dusty machine, hit the power button and waited. His Windows XP machine stumbled along and finally got to the log in screen. "It won't accept my password", he said. I tried typing it in. He was right, the password would not work and neither would his Enter key. Strange, I thought to myself, how strange. I asked if his keyboard was having any problems prior to getting locked out of his computer. He said no.
The smell of cigarettes and stale beer began to overwhelm me as I attempted to boot into Safe Mode. Safe mode would not work. Last Known Good Configuration would not work. I couldn't even boot to a command prompt. I tried a boot disk. Nothing. I tried using an XP cdrom to boot to the Recovery Console, not a chance!
Two hours later it didn't look good. I was thinking that reformatting his hard drive was an option. He would loose all his school work, music and whatever else he kept cluttering up his machine. He said, "Do what you have to do. I need a computer, preferably one that works!"I decided that I should take his tower home to work on it. I am a stubborn man when it comes to computers. I don't enjoy failing and I tend to become obsessive when it comes to computer problems! They always have a solutions!
I got the computer into my shop, plugged in my own mouse, keyboard and monitor. I pressed the dirty power button and walked upstairs to get a drink. I would be in the shop for quite some time, I suspected. I walked back into my shop to see the log on screen. I typed in the password and Windows began to boot. "It was a damn keyboard problem", I laughed. I knew it within the first five minutes. Ha, this one is going to be easy.
I began the usual routine; check the start up menu for odd looking executables, check out to see what programs he had installed (some contain spyware) and then I began installing the software to remove any viruses and spyware on his machine. I installed AdAware, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Microsoft Anti-Spy and Free AVG antivirus. What did I find? Over 4800 infected files and registry values. It looked like the mass of downloaded music, movies and applications from some P2P file sharing network had gotten the best of Windows. Some viruses and spyware were more stubborn than others forcing me to search out the names of some of the executables in the start up menu. I found many that were know to be spyware, disabled them from start up and went on.
Finally, after several passes with AVG and spyware removal tools I was looking at a clean machine. I decided that before I connect to the Internet I would throw on a Firewall (He had a cable connection without a firewall!). I installed and configured Zone Alarm, connected to my router and began to download updated for Windows from Microsoft. After about fifteen critical updates I got to the big one; Service Pack 2. I accepted the download and walked away for a while.
Once the download was complete (about a half hour later) I began the installation process and walked away again. About twenty minutes later I went to check on the progress and noticed that the screen saver had kicked it. I jiggled the mouse to get back to the desktop and realized that the installation process had stalled. His computer was frozen and I mean solid! Ctrl + Alt + Del would not work. Swearing did not work. Punching thirty keys at one time did not work!! I had to power down the old fashion way; that dirty power button, the one with the finger print stain that was clearly wiping off onto my finger from pressing that damn button so many times!
Upon rebooting I received an error message that said the computer was "unstable". I thought to myself, "No, I am the one who is going to be unstable. I had this thing running smoother than a Belgian Wheat beer down my slippery tonuge!" I didn't panic though. I followed the instuctions on screen to use the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet to remove Service Pack 2. After a long, long time the uninstall was complete and I was told to reboot. Again, I pressed the now not-so-dirty power button and crossed my fingers as the clicks and beeps brought the operating system to life. I entered his password and hit the Enter key. His machine was alive and well; no spyware, no viruses and no Service Pack 2! I could have attempted to reinstall but I knew what kind of a budget he was on. His computer wasn't worth as much as he would have had to pay me for the total time I worked on it. I decided that I would let him download and install Service Pack 2 saving him $80!
I returned the following day and gave him his computer back. He handed me some money, thanked me and I went back out into the world. The only difference this time is that I had a pocket full of cash!
It was 12 noon when I arrived. He looked like he just woke up and indeed he had. He was clearly hung over from the night before. He was getting geared up to watch the Superbowl and to get intoxicated all over again. Personally, I could care less about the Superbowl. I don't understand what is so Super about it. Anyway, my task was to fix his computer. Once he cleared all the cigarette ash off his computer desk I was ready to begin troubleshooting.
I sat down infront of his dusty machine, hit the power button and waited. His Windows XP machine stumbled along and finally got to the log in screen. "It won't accept my password", he said. I tried typing it in. He was right, the password would not work and neither would his Enter key. Strange, I thought to myself, how strange. I asked if his keyboard was having any problems prior to getting locked out of his computer. He said no.
The smell of cigarettes and stale beer began to overwhelm me as I attempted to boot into Safe Mode. Safe mode would not work. Last Known Good Configuration would not work. I couldn't even boot to a command prompt. I tried a boot disk. Nothing. I tried using an XP cdrom to boot to the Recovery Console, not a chance!
Two hours later it didn't look good. I was thinking that reformatting his hard drive was an option. He would loose all his school work, music and whatever else he kept cluttering up his machine. He said, "Do what you have to do. I need a computer, preferably one that works!"I decided that I should take his tower home to work on it. I am a stubborn man when it comes to computers. I don't enjoy failing and I tend to become obsessive when it comes to computer problems! They always have a solutions!
I got the computer into my shop, plugged in my own mouse, keyboard and monitor. I pressed the dirty power button and walked upstairs to get a drink. I would be in the shop for quite some time, I suspected. I walked back into my shop to see the log on screen. I typed in the password and Windows began to boot. "It was a damn keyboard problem", I laughed. I knew it within the first five minutes. Ha, this one is going to be easy.
I began the usual routine; check the start up menu for odd looking executables, check out to see what programs he had installed (some contain spyware) and then I began installing the software to remove any viruses and spyware on his machine. I installed AdAware, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Microsoft Anti-Spy and Free AVG antivirus. What did I find? Over 4800 infected files and registry values. It looked like the mass of downloaded music, movies and applications from some P2P file sharing network had gotten the best of Windows. Some viruses and spyware were more stubborn than others forcing me to search out the names of some of the executables in the start up menu. I found many that were know to be spyware, disabled them from start up and went on.
Finally, after several passes with AVG and spyware removal tools I was looking at a clean machine. I decided that before I connect to the Internet I would throw on a Firewall (He had a cable connection without a firewall!). I installed and configured Zone Alarm, connected to my router and began to download updated for Windows from Microsoft. After about fifteen critical updates I got to the big one; Service Pack 2. I accepted the download and walked away for a while.
Once the download was complete (about a half hour later) I began the installation process and walked away again. About twenty minutes later I went to check on the progress and noticed that the screen saver had kicked it. I jiggled the mouse to get back to the desktop and realized that the installation process had stalled. His computer was frozen and I mean solid! Ctrl + Alt + Del would not work. Swearing did not work. Punching thirty keys at one time did not work!! I had to power down the old fashion way; that dirty power button, the one with the finger print stain that was clearly wiping off onto my finger from pressing that damn button so many times!
Upon rebooting I received an error message that said the computer was "unstable". I thought to myself, "No, I am the one who is going to be unstable. I had this thing running smoother than a Belgian Wheat beer down my slippery tonuge!" I didn't panic though. I followed the instuctions on screen to use the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet to remove Service Pack 2. After a long, long time the uninstall was complete and I was told to reboot. Again, I pressed the now not-so-dirty power button and crossed my fingers as the clicks and beeps brought the operating system to life. I entered his password and hit the Enter key. His machine was alive and well; no spyware, no viruses and no Service Pack 2! I could have attempted to reinstall but I knew what kind of a budget he was on. His computer wasn't worth as much as he would have had to pay me for the total time I worked on it. I decided that I would let him download and install Service Pack 2 saving him $80!
I returned the following day and gave him his computer back. He handed me some money, thanked me and I went back out into the world. The only difference this time is that I had a pocket full of cash!
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Welcome
In my line of work (repairing computers, mainly software related issues) I come across many a computer that has been beaten down by spyware and viruses. This blog is dedicated to those tales.
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