Comments on: PC Repair Horror Stories

By: Best Registry Cleaner

Best Registry Cleaner — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:27:00 +0000

The local news here in Portland did a similar experiment.

By: Omni

Omni — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:01:10 +0000

There are plenty of ways to perma-delete your data without being very computer illiterate. Download pc-unrestore or eraser or kill disk and let it do its thing.

By: Remove Spyware

Remove Spyware — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:08:25 +0000

I never had this kind of PC repair horror story like you:)

By: uvox

uvox — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:25:10 +0000

Video is from the “IT Crowd” on youtube (“IT Crowd: truest moment ever!”) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt9j80Jkc_A. It's a comedy about two guys working in IT. Allegedly. Not sure if youtube allows global content anymore – should work (as I can see it going through a US proxy).

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:52:44 +0000

I've generally had pretty decent luck with auto repair shops, and now I know where my Britney CD went

There are always good shops out there, which is why I asked about Yelp. That would be great for repair shops of all kinds. I can't open that video, and now I'm curious.

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:17:06 +0000

A Rupert Murdoch company concerned about snooping - well, I never....

Usually, if I can't fix it myself, then it's probably time for a new machine. However, let's put all this in perspective. How many times have you got your car back from the shop and it runs just as badly but the radio stations are all messed up and somebody's put the Britney CD into the Kronos Quartet jewel case?

That said, there are some professional operations out there, I think it all comes down to recommendations, gut feelings and making sure the guys working behind the counter look like the ones from the IT Crowd (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt9j80Jkc_A).

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:49:10 +0000

You're probably right. People are conditioned to avoid any and all PC-help from the interwebs. It's a weird Catch-22. On the one hand, you're afraid to update b/c it will mess w/your PC-chi, but on the other, you won't get help from the best resource for fixing most issues b/c you're paranoid about baddies who would mess w/your unpatched PC.

By: joel garry

joel garry — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:34:56 +0000

Why people don't google any and all pc issues? Could it be because they suspect every top set of links found are come-ons for dysfunctional clean your registry and tune-your-pc ripoffs?

Local Fry's kept wife's PC for over a month before "you need new motherboard." New Dell laptop only a few dollars more, except stuck with non-XPable Vista.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:29:13 +0000

Yeah, I wonder about why people don't Google any and all PC issues. That's my secret in many cases too. I think you're right it's a confidence thing, plus a bit of paranoia too, since the interwebs are a bad place with bad advice.

Rich says Windows 7 is much better than Vista. If it weren't such a pain, clean reinstalls should probably be done on Windows boxes every year, just to wipe the slate. Forget limping along with defragging and scanning.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:14:26 +0000

I'm not too much of a techy, but my Dad often calls me for help on his PC. Usually the problem can be fixed by doing a quick search on Google, and I'm surprised that my Dad doesn't do the same. Maybe it's a confidence thing. Or maybe it's easier to call me. I don't mind anyway.

Recently my PC died – the power supply unit blew up complete with fizzes, pops, bangs and smoke. Took it to a PC shop, who tried a new PSU, which went the same way. Bought a new PC, which had Vista on it. Wow! I was amazed at how bad (i.e. slow, sluggish etc. – looked pretty, didn't do anything useful) that was. There was a downgrade to XP option there – tried that, and it was like a bad install of XP. Wiped everything, put a clean install of XP on it, and it was like new again.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:13:59 +0000

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:50:04 +0000

I'm sure some ring of data-stealing crooks who lifted personal passwords and information off of computers in for repair will eventually surface. Like I said to Bex, not being an easy target probably helps a lot, just like with botnet/virus/spyware. Being fully protected is unicorn, so why fool yourself?

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:36:56 +0000

“Personally, I would never take a machine in for overnight repair without wiping it clean first”. I did go through that exercise when I took a PC in for an upgrade. Full backup, erasing every personal file plus anywhere passwords may be stored, plus running an eraser program to REALLY wipe the space.
Got the machine back, reloaded a bunch of stuff then found one of the USB ports wouldn't work. Lucky it was just a disconnected cable I could do myself, as I didn't want to go through that again.
If they are real crooks (as opposed to just being nosy), duplicating even a formatted drive and scanning for something like a credit card number wouldn't be too hard.
Of course if it is broken (eg won't boot) you may not be able to do that.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:03:47 +0000

To recover a reformatted drive? Even so, you run into an effort barrier, i.e. why recover a cleaned drive when you can snoop on someone else's unprotected one?

By: Brian Huff

Brian Huff — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:34:12 +0000

wiping the drive won't help much… those tech guys are the ones with the un-eraser tools. o_O