GeekNights 071210 - Asking Geeks to Fix PCs

Rym

Tonight on GeekNights we discuss normal people asking geeks to fix their PCs. In the news, the T-Amp is pretty awesome, and companies can't fool us about losing e-mails.

Scott's Thing - Su-30MK
Rym's Thing - People Pictures

Andrew

Psh, the Su-30MK ain't got shit on the F-22.

cosmicenema

I would listen to a low bandwidth feed I think. They don't like it when I DL a lot from work.

Erwin

I am sorry Scott but you really need to change the oil every 3 months, and it is not hard at all it only takes 15 minutes.

I am against overcharging for cleaning a computer from viruses. I mean 75 to 100 dollars to clean a computer is way to much. That is why I hate the Geek Squad, and any other company that take advantage of their costumers. Anyhow, if a friend of mine ask me to fix his/her computer I just ask for a sandwich and a coke.

However, I also have some conditions such as: "I am sorry but I am gonna have to erase a lot of stuff so if you have not save your files somewhere else is gone" if they tell me no then : " well, I am just gonna see if the anti-virus cleans it up but I do not promise anything" . Most of the time they go for the first option.

Also, if it is true that takes a lot of time to install an operating system is not like you have to be in front of the monitor all the time, you can do other things while that is happening. I remember back in the day when you had to use diskettes when installing the OS. That was a mayor pain the ass. The only problem I ever had when fixing my computer back in the day when my CD-rom did not wanted to work and that is how I learned about BIOS. Those were fun times :P

Also, it is good to clean the inside of your pc everyone once in a while. It gets nasty over there.

The thing about fixing or getting information about a specific filled of study is the same in every field of study. There have being a bunch of times in which people have asked me about a specific cancer or why cancer occurs, and then I give them an answer with all the knowledge that I know about that and then they tell me " what do you mean everything causes cancer?" or "I thought you science people suppose to know all of that" and that really annoys me and most of the time I just say " Well you should ask a Doctor since I am still a student" :S

am_dragon

Psh, the Su-30MK ain't got shit on the F-22.

You beat me to it, the F-22 Raptor is an incredible aircraft.

I remember when the first version of that Sonic Impact amp came out. There was a guy at work that went nuts with them. I think he bought 10 of them, he used several to set up surround sound at his house. He brought one in, it sounded really good and I was surprised it pushed my Polk Audio bookshelf speakers as well as it did. They use to be like $30 for the first generation. I guess they figured out what they had and raised the price. Although the first gen amps didn't come with a power supply either. You didn't say how you had it set up. Did you just plug in the Mac Mini or did you get some type of switch box so you can hook up other components?

Apreche

You didn't say how you had it set up. Did you just plug in the Mac Mini or did you get some type of switch box so you can hook up other components?

I took an RCA to stereo mini cable from the audio output on the television to the audio input of the amp. In the on-screen menu on the television I disabled the TV's built in speakers, which also disables the TV volume control and enables the audio output. The Mac mini and the Wii both have audio and video going into the TV. There is one button on the TV remote that does all the necessary switching.

Chris

I am against overcharging for cleaning a computer from viruses. I mean 75 to 100 dollars to clean a computer is way to much. That is why I hate the Geek Squad, and any other company that take advantage of their costumers.

They get far worse then just over charging for virus clean up. Over the summer I did a lot of research on GeekSquad, Fire Dog, and CompUSA's services and they do things like charge upwards of 30 dollars to DUST a computer. Meaning they take a can of compressed air and pull the fucking trigger until there is no more dust. Also depending on which company they may only do things in bundles so if you have say spyware instead of just charging you some small fee to run spybot or some other program to get rid of it they will charge you 150 dollars to run spybot, adaware, an anti-virus, and defragment your computer whether you need it or not.

Just to note those prices were mostly just made up and if you actually go look it up may be more or less at this point. It's been 6 months since I last checked

Andrew

They get far worse then just over charging for virus clean up. Over the summer I did a lot of research on GeekSquad, Fire Dog, and CompUSA's services and they do things like charge upwards of 30 dollars to DUST a computer. Meaning they take a can of compressed air and pull the fucking trigger until there is no more dust. Also depending on which company they may only do things in bundles so if you have say spyware instead of just charging you some small fee to run spybot or some other program to get rid of it they will charge you 150 dollars to run spybot, adaware, an anti-virus, and defragment your computer whether you need it or not.

Just to note those prices were mostly just made up and if you actually go look it up may be more or less at this point. It's been 6 months since I last checked

Prices are high because people are willing to pay that much for the service. If you don't like it, learn to do it yourself. I have no issue with companies charging prices like those for a service which anyone can easily do on their own if they just put in a little research. They aren't taking advantage of the customers, the customers are just too lazy to put in the work. That's their own damn fault.

Chris

I agree, they do it because people are willing to pay. Personally I can do anything they'd do probably more efficiently. I do however feel sorry for older people who never had access to this kind of technology in their earlier lives and now must either learn things that may be to much for them, or pay those outrageous prices. If you're 73 years old and can barely hold a pencil due to something like arthritis how would they be able to do work inside a computer?

Apreche

If you're 73 years old and can barely hold a pencil due to something like arthritis how would they be able to do work inside a computer?

What did people who had been riding horses their whole lives do when the car was invented?

Chris

Touché, that wasn't really the point I was trying to make though. I'll have to give it another shot later on when I'm not trying to pretend to be paying attention to a professor teaching For Loops in VB.

spiritfiend

What did people who had been riding horses their whole lives do when the car was invented?

They probably rode horses for the rest of their lives, while the world started building gas stations.

am_dragon

There is one button on the TV remote that does all the necessary switching.

Very nice, the TV is your pre-amp.

I try to help friends and family with computers when I can. That way at least some small group of people have half a clue. They call with a problem and I say bring it over. That way I can look at it on my own time. The last time we went on vacation we stayed with friends everywhere we went. I fixed at least one computer at every house, but everyone was very appreciative and we didn't pay for hotel rooms so it was a fair trade.

Most of the people I deal with are more worried about losing pictures than documents. I have also started encouraging everyone to get USB hard drives. Plus a quick lesson on burning DVD's and when a machine needs to be reloaded, it's not such a big deal.

Rym

Very nice, the TV is your pre-amp.

It doesn't pre-amplify: it just routes the audio at line level. ^_~

trogdor9

I've actually had some positive experience helping people with computer problems. I made $30 for helping someone with various problems, including PowerPoint and Internet stuff. I made $50 for helping someone reformat his hard drive and reinstall Windows (using HP-provided ghost discs) and all of his applications, plus advice on various things such as Gmail, Firefox, etc.

I mean 75 to 100 dollars to clean a computer is way to much. That is why I hate the Geek Squad, and any other company that take advantage of their costumers.

75 to 100? Try $250.

HMTKSteve

I charge a base $50 just to walk into your house for a computer call. I do not mark up prices on parts but I do charge $50 an hour for services rendered.

One reason why computer repair costs so much is because in order to make a living at it you have to charge a lot due to the lack of work. I do not get a lot of service calls so I have to charge a lot to make it worth my while.

As for spending hours reinstalling windows... You do a whole bunch of machines at once or let it run and check on it from time to time.

Those big box stores should be charging a lot less for services due to economies of scale. Unless they have too many techs and not enough stupid people coming in to buy their services!

A few weeks ago I got a call from one of my clients because their computer was stuck in a blue-screen reboot cycle. It turned out their hard drive was failing so they went out and purchased a new one while I got the old one up and running enough so that I could mirror the drive and save their data. I told them $50 but they paid me $75 instead. I give discounts to repeat customers and I give discounts to senior citizens.

Vhdblood

I've actually been fixing computers in the small town I live in for some extra cash, but I had no idea what to charge people. I do live in a small town in rural Alabama, so I definitely need to drop the price a bit from $50 an hour, but I'm glad I was able to get some idea of a fair price to charge.

HungryJoe

What did people who had been riding horses their whole lives do when the car was invented?

They probably rode horses for the rest of their lives, while the world started building gas stations.

Cars require a lot of infrastructure. Horses were viable long after the invention of the car. The adoption of automobile technology wasn't nearly as rapid and widespread as the adoption of computing technology.

Many milkmen and merchants used horses in some areas of NYC until way up in the 30s. Plowhorses were still used on farms in the 40s because tractors were crappy and unreliable. Hardly anyone could afford a car, and the roads were not very car friendly anyway, so many of those same plowhorses (and a wagon) were the only transportation a farm family had. The Army used mules in Italy in WW II. My dad still used a mule to plow tobacco in the 80s.

Starfox

Yeah, the 1880s.

HungryJoe

Yeah, the1880s.

Yeah, laugh it up fuzzball - when the apocalypse comes, you'll wish you had some horsemanship skills.

Apreche

Yeah, the1880s.

Yeah, laugh it up fuzzball - when the apocalypse comes, you'll wish you had some horsemanship skills.

Yeah, where do you think you're going to wrangle up a decent horse during the apocalypse? Going to hijack pestilence's ride?

HungryJoe

Yeah, the1880s.

Yeah, laugh it up fuzzball - when the apocalypse comes, you'll wish you had some horsemanship skills.

Yeah, where do you think you're going to wrangle up a decent horse during the apocalypse? Going to hijack pestilence's ride?

My dad has horses, my wife has a horse, and many of our friends have horses. There are horse patrol cops in DC and a couple of local racetracks. I am very attuned to the horsiness. If there's a horse left, I'll find him/her/it.

What do you think would be harder: Adapting to new technology or adapting to the sudden lack thereof?

Apreche

My dad has horses, my wife has a horse, and many of our friends have horses. There are horse patrol cops in DC and a couple of local racetracks. I am very attuned to the horsiness. If there's a horse left, I'll find him/her/it.

What do you think would be harder: Adapting to new technology or adapting to the sudden lack thereof?

I think that seeing as I am so good at figuring out this complicated new technology on my own, that I can very easily figure out simple old technology. It's not a matter of whether can you adapt to X, or can you adapt to Y. It's simply, can you adapt?

HMTKSteve

It depends.

As you two discussed a few days ago many people who do higher math are not at all good doing lower math. The same would apply here as well.

Omnutia

I'm starting a computer Fix-it business in January and while I get cheesed off at PC World (Best Buy UK, if I understand correctly) charging extortionate amounts (though it does make beating them on price easy.) the problem as I see it is trying to work how many of your jobs are going to be "run spyware cleaner" and how many are going to be "completely disassemble computer to find problem" and price accordingly. I'm starting at £20($40) an hour but advertising that as an "introductory rate". Being a penniless student I feel a bit tight taking that kind of money from people.

Conan-San

God, I hate having to sort other people's tech crap out.

My parents are horrid about this, not even computing stuff, "How do I shot VCR?"

I have half a mind to make a media pc out of an old case I have and seting it up to it's idiot proof and give them that, make it thier xmas 2008 gift.
Certainly beats Blackadder goes forth and a Sudoku game I'm geting them this year.

...

"How do I shot VCR?"

Doh! *facepalm*

To help everyone out on that one, the only proper advice imo is this: "Go find the manual, open it, look for 'configure time' (or something similar) in the index, go to the page mentioned, follow instructions, ???, PROFIT!!!" or the short version: "Have you checked the manual?" I mean, every VCR has its own way of configuring the time, not a single person knows right of the bat how to set up the time on a random VCR. Either you have to look for configuration buttons/on-screen settings, or have to get the manual.

As you two discussed a few days ago many people who do higher math are not at all good doing lower math. The same would apply here as well.

They'll just deduce it. Their thought processes concerning Math are just set to high math. After x amount of time without high math and just everyday things they'll just be doing simple math without major problems.

Apreche

"How do I shot VCR?"

With a 12 gauge shotgun.

dnguyen411

I just listened to Monday's episode (I know, I'm way behind). IMO, the reason why normal people can't seem to pro-actively fix their problems is that software companies have worked very hard to make computing easier. Before GUI OS were prominent, you had to be very tech savvy, or at least be able to read a manual or book, to understand how to do something. In today's world, normal people expect to turn on a computer and have instant access to the Internet w/o reading any manual or understanding how a computer works. Nobody is around to educate people that going to this "cool" website that a friend of a friend recommended to you could give you spyware or a virus. Hence why we have anti-virus and spyware erasing programs to try and do the protecting for us and why Microsoft believes it's in their best interest to "block" everything you are trying to do in Vista.

Omnutia

The thing is that, on a linux system, without the root password or administrator privileges it is actually quite hard to do any serious damage. You don't get viruses and Linux already has the UAC thing sorted in the form of "su" and "sudo" which requires you to put a password in whenever you want to open something that could potentially bugger the system. Even if you get someone to try and break a normal Linux installation without being all leet-hackerish then I doubt they could do it without the passwords.