Let me state that I have been in the computer maintenance business for 36 years since I was discharged from the USAF after working on aircraft for 4 years. Granted a lot of the digital machinery was huge compared to the typical desktop system of today. Since retiring a couple of years ago from a FT100 company, I am running my own one man business servicing mostly WinTel machines. I have had only 3 Apple calls and two of those were re-installations.
I own 2 Macs currently and all my personal work is done using OSX. Windows pays the bills and puts food on my table. The couple of PCs I own only get turned on and booted when ever I feel the need to update my Anti-Spyware Utility CD I carry for system cleanups or software Utility evaluations.
My first reaction when I read about BootCamp from Apple was that the pristine and super clean OS from Apple Computer Co. was going to be violated and contaminated with the very stuff that makes my maintenance business a success. I maybe more sensitive about the 80K versions of spyware, adware and all the slimeware that is currently trying to break into every computer on the InterNet, but I see, on a daily basis, what it can and does do to my customer base. Not a pretty sight I may add.
I hate the thought that the Mac environment maybe polluted by Windows.
This will just give the Kiddy Scripters that much more time to fine tune their root kits and other nasties using one of the many beta version of Vista that are currently down loadable off the InterNet.
Sir, you obviously been living in an refrigerator box or under a rock. I am a long time Apple fan. OSX 10.4.5 ( Tiger ) is my personal choice for my own music and video work. It is extremely stable and is not at risk from virii and spyware and other malware. I am glad to see the World is starting to recognize the technical superiority of Apple products and software. Yeah, it is a closed shop, but they can and do control the hardware and, more importantly, the software. They don't try to be all things to everybody.
Let it be known that I make my living repairing, upgrading and cleaning up Windows boxes. I work on both sides of the fence. In the 3 years that I have been in my business, I have had exactly 3 Apple calls; two of those were re-installations of used equipment. In other words, I would starve if all I done was work on Apples. Bill Gates and his Windows OSs has assured that I will always have food on the table and my bills will get paid!
This reminds me of the good ole days of HV CRTs with the 20KV supporting power supplies. You would be watching TV and suddenly hear a large snap or crack. You know it was time to break out the vacuum cleaner and clean out the accumulation of dust into the unit. BTW good article on the defective cap problem on computer motherboards. I run a repair business and have personally seen this problem many times. I have a website that goes into detail about the problem and sells recapping kits for computer motherboards. It is a shame when a +$100 motherboard stops working for the want of a 50 cent part. The biggest problem I have is soldering the new caps on these multi layered boards. I have a hand drill with a needle bit to ream out the hole as my soldering tools can't put enough heat into the small area to clean out the holes. The ground and power layers suck up the heat too fast.
I am familiar with several individuals that tried to time the purchase and down load of several iTunes with the on line counter. I wonder what was the exact time of the winning purchased? A couple of forums I read stated that the song was purchased in the mid or late afternoon. The story says evening. Inexact science at best!
Thanks for the handy CPU comparison charts. Very timely as I am in the process of assembling a new 64 bit system based on a VIA KT800 chipset motherboard using a AMD Venice CPU chip socket 939. I have everything I need except the very expensive processor chip. I have been shopping for the biggest bang for the buck and the comparison charts are very handy. There doesn't appear to be much of a performance gap between the base model 3000 and the top of the line 3800. Delta 18% for Direct X v.9 and 23.5% for the video test (FPS), even though the gap is extremely large. Maybe somebody can explain the difference between the version E3 and the E6 chip. The difference is not apparent on the charts.
You guys are a rip off on the consumer. You charge these ridiculous rates repairing a computer that may only cost $500 to begin with. People would be further ahead to throw it out and buy a new one.
I know from experience, as I run a one man PC repair business myself. Charging the public is a tricky issue as the item is a low cost consumer piece of electronics. I have found that charging a fixed bench charge and a sliding ( downward ) rate for home visits work the best. Of course, I don't have the high overhead of supporting a corportate inferstructure.
I own a small PC repair business and have replaced more CD disk drives than I would care to admit. I feel and usually tell my customers that heat build up inside the case shortens the life of the CD drive. Most people cram as much as they can inside the case usually without any thought of power supply requirements or cooling. Most agree to an additional case fan after I replace the CD Drive.
Interesting comments on the development of vision from birth. Obviously, most of the readers did not see the movie " Terminator" with the cyborg's damaged eye.
Another thought came to mind upon reading the comments. It is called blind vision. I saw on TV several years ago a segment on people who's Optic Nerve had stopped functioning and the normal pathways to the brain had cease to function. But, a primitive secondary path developed in the brain that allowed the detection of movement without visualization. This is what allowed the Dinosaurs to capture prey while not being able to real see. They just detected the motion of their prey. I learned that in the movie '" Jurassic Park ". See going to the movies and watching TV is educational!
After working 35 years in the IT business as first a Computer Manufacture's CE, then internal maintenance for a Fortune 500 company and finally, since I retired last year, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer of my own company, I can relate to a lot of the comments posted here. As one Co-Tech stated years ago: " What is so difficult about Computer Maintenance? You just replace parts until it starts working again!!" Or as one of my Genius customers insisted that I bring the Boot Module for a machine that would not Boot!
The biggest difference between the typical Corporate User and the home user is: All Corporate Users are Computer Experts until something breaks, then you as the repair unit should know in 5 milliseconds exactly what is wrong and have it running before you take your second breath. It also helps to solve the problem by phoning your manager and bitch him out.
The typical home user usually looks at the home computer in the same class as a vacuum cleaner or dishwasher. All they want to know is how long will it take to fix it and how much. I keep getting asked for the magic button on the desktop you can click on and fix all the problems or the magic disk you can insert and fix everything.
Respect.........not hardly. It is your fault that they surfed all those X rated sites, downloaded MP3 and filled their machines so full of MalWare they will barely boot. You are viewed with a suspicious eye. Take the money and run!!!
I earn my living cleaning out Viruses, Spyware, Scumware and other noxious creatures living in the bowels of Windows OSs. So it was with high hopes I tried the new package from Giant...opoohs......I meant Microsoft. I am happy to report that on my first couple of test machines; that happened to be own by somebody else, MS's software was able to find and to correct malware that had been missed by AdaWare and SpyBot. It picked up fragments of programs long gone from the machine; Limeware, Grokster, Kaaza, etc. In addition it picked up trojans the other two passed over. This is not a surprise as an independent report form Eric Howes highlited the fact that this software picks up what falls thru the cracks with AdaWare and SpyBot. I was going to buy the commercial version, but MS bought the company.....Thumbs Up. I hope they keep it free as MS owes it's customer base on this issue!!!!
Running my own PC repair business, I spend 90% of my time cleaning up and updating clients PCs. I study the subject of malware, spyware, scumware etc. everyday to stay up on the latest topic. I was ready to purchase the Giant Anti-Spyware product just before M$ snatched up the company; all 12 employees! A couple of months previous Eric Howes ( graduate student of UI, I believe) ran a effiency test of Anti-Spyware products both free and commercial. He used captive machines off line, infected with a known bunch of infected files and rated them accordingly based and what they detected and removed. To my surprise, Giant's package rated at the top. What made this more eye opening, was that what Giant was picking up was what AdaWare & SpyBot missed. These results were posted on the Anti-Spyware website: http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?
Slashdot Mirror
I have seen AVG clean viruses that Norton detected but could or would not clean.
Who In their right mind would pollute their system with this CrapWare? And I thought Version 10 was a turd!
The first part of this sounds like a P-51 Mustang doing strafing run followed by a theater grand organ crescendo.
Let me state that I have been in the computer maintenance business for 36 years since I was discharged from the USAF after working on aircraft for 4 years. Granted a lot of the digital machinery was huge compared to the typical desktop system of today. Since retiring a couple of years ago from a FT100 company, I am running my own one man business servicing mostly WinTel machines. I have had only 3 Apple calls and two of those were re-installations. I own 2 Macs currently and all my personal work is done using OSX. Windows pays the bills and puts food on my table. The couple of PCs I own only get turned on and booted when ever I feel the need to update my Anti-Spyware Utility CD I carry for system cleanups or software Utility evaluations. My first reaction when I read about BootCamp from Apple was that the pristine and super clean OS from Apple Computer Co. was going to be violated and contaminated with the very stuff that makes my maintenance business a success. I maybe more sensitive about the 80K versions of spyware, adware and all the slimeware that is currently trying to break into every computer on the InterNet, but I see, on a daily basis, what it can and does do to my customer base. Not a pretty sight I may add. I hate the thought that the Mac environment maybe polluted by Windows.
This will just give the Kiddy Scripters that much more time to fine tune their root kits and other nasties using one of the many beta version of Vista that are currently down loadable off the InterNet.
Sir, you obviously been living in an refrigerator box or under a rock. I am a long time Apple fan. OSX 10.4.5 ( Tiger ) is my personal choice for my own music and video work. It is extremely stable and is not at risk from virii and spyware and other malware. I am glad to see the World is starting to recognize the technical superiority of Apple products and software. Yeah, it is a closed shop, but they can and do control the hardware and, more importantly, the software. They don't try to be all things to everybody. Let it be known that I make my living repairing, upgrading and cleaning up Windows boxes. I work on both sides of the fence. In the 3 years that I have been in my business, I have had exactly 3 Apple calls; two of those were re-installations of used equipment. In other words, I would starve if all I done was work on Apples. Bill Gates and his Windows OSs has assured that I will always have food on the table and my bills will get paid!
This reminds me of the good ole days of HV CRTs with the 20KV supporting power supplies. You would be watching TV and suddenly hear a large snap or crack. You know it was time to break out the vacuum cleaner and clean out the accumulation of dust into the unit. BTW good article on the defective cap problem on computer motherboards. I run a repair business and have personally seen this problem many times. I have a website that goes into detail about the problem and sells recapping kits for computer motherboards. It is a shame when a +$100 motherboard stops working for the want of a 50 cent part. The biggest problem I have is soldering the new caps on these multi layered boards. I have a hand drill with a needle bit to ream out the hole as my soldering tools can't put enough heat into the small area to clean out the holes. The ground and power layers suck up the heat too fast.
N/T
I am familiar with several individuals that tried to time the purchase and down load of several iTunes with the on line counter. I wonder what was the exact time of the winning purchased? A couple of forums I read stated that the song was purchased in the mid or late afternoon. The story says evening. Inexact science at best!
I was talking about the large price gap between the base model AMD Venice 3000 and the top of the line AMD Venice 3800 CPU chip.
Thanks for the handy CPU comparison charts. Very timely as I am in the process of assembling a new 64 bit system based on a VIA KT800 chipset motherboard using a AMD Venice CPU chip socket 939. I have everything I need except the very expensive processor chip. I have been shopping for the biggest bang for the buck and the comparison charts are very handy. There doesn't appear to be much of a performance gap between the base model 3000 and the top of the line 3800. Delta 18% for Direct X v.9 and 23.5% for the video test (FPS), even though the gap is extremely large. Maybe somebody can explain the difference between the version E3 and the E6 chip. The difference is not apparent on the charts.
You guys are a rip off on the consumer. You charge these ridiculous rates repairing a computer that may only cost $500 to begin with. People would be further ahead to throw it out and buy a new one. I know from experience, as I run a one man PC repair business myself. Charging the public is a tricky issue as the item is a low cost consumer piece of electronics. I have found that charging a fixed bench charge and a sliding ( downward ) rate for home visits work the best. Of course, I don't have the high overhead of supporting a corportate inferstructure.
I own a small PC repair business and have replaced more CD disk drives than I would care to admit. I feel and usually tell my customers that heat build up inside the case shortens the life of the CD drive. Most people cram as much as they can inside the case usually without any thought of power supply requirements or cooling. Most agree to an additional case fan after I replace the CD Drive.
Interesting comments on the development of vision from birth. Obviously, most of the readers did not see the movie " Terminator" with the cyborg's damaged eye. Another thought came to mind upon reading the comments. It is called blind vision. I saw on TV several years ago a segment on people who's Optic Nerve had stopped functioning and the normal pathways to the brain had cease to function. But, a primitive secondary path developed in the brain that allowed the detection of movement without visualization. This is what allowed the Dinosaurs to capture prey while not being able to real see. They just detected the motion of their prey. I learned that in the movie '" Jurassic Park ". See going to the movies and watching TV is educational!
After working 35 years in the IT business as first a Computer Manufacture's CE, then internal maintenance for a Fortune 500 company and finally, since I retired last year, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer of my own company, I can relate to a lot of the comments posted here. As one Co-Tech stated years ago: " What is so difficult about Computer Maintenance? You just replace parts until it starts working again!!" Or as one of my Genius customers insisted that I bring the Boot Module for a machine that would not Boot! The biggest difference between the typical Corporate User and the home user is: All Corporate Users are Computer Experts until something breaks, then you as the repair unit should know in 5 milliseconds exactly what is wrong and have it running before you take your second breath. It also helps to solve the problem by phoning your manager and bitch him out. The typical home user usually looks at the home computer in the same class as a vacuum cleaner or dishwasher. All they want to know is how long will it take to fix it and how much. I keep getting asked for the magic button on the desktop you can click on and fix all the problems or the magic disk you can insert and fix everything. Respect.........not hardly. It is your fault that they surfed all those X rated sites, downloaded MP3 and filled their machines so full of MalWare they will barely boot. You are viewed with a suspicious eye. Take the money and run!!!
I earn my living cleaning out Viruses, Spyware, Scumware and other noxious creatures living in the bowels of Windows OSs. So it was with high hopes I tried the new package from Giant...opoohs......I meant Microsoft. I am happy to report that on my first couple of test machines; that happened to be own by somebody else, MS's software was able to find and to correct malware that had been missed by AdaWare and SpyBot. It picked up fragments of programs long gone from the machine; Limeware, Grokster, Kaaza, etc. In addition it picked up trojans the other two passed over. This is not a surprise as an independent report form Eric Howes highlited the fact that this software picks up what falls thru the cracks with AdaWare and SpyBot. I was going to buy the commercial version, but MS bought the company.....Thumbs Up. I hope they keep it free as MS owes it's customer base on this issue!!!!
Running my own PC repair business, I spend 90% of my time cleaning up and updating clients PCs. I study the subject of malware, spyware, scumware etc. everyday to stay up on the latest topic. I was ready to purchase the Giant Anti-Spyware product just before M$ snatched up the company; all 12 employees! A couple of months previous Eric Howes ( graduate student of UI, I believe) ran a effiency test of Anti-Spyware products both free and commercial. He used captive machines off line, infected with a known bunch of infected files and rated them accordingly based and what they detected and removed. To my surprise, Giant's package rated at the top. What made this more eye opening, was that what Giant was picking up was what AdaWare & SpyBot missed. These results were posted on the Anti-Spyware website: http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?