A few years back I had a customer–I’ll call her “Jen”–who became a problem. She hadn’t started out a problem. In fact she was a pretty good customer for a good long run. Lots of issues, paid well and on time, gave referrals. The only obvious wrinkle was that she was pretty demanding, borderline neurotic actually, about getting things done […]
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A Modest Proposal
This posting will have nothing whatsoever to do with computers other than that it was written on one. It’s been some weeks now since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown Connecticut. Everybody with a forum has posted their thoughts on this awful tragedy, and so having some thoughts of my own, herewith my two cents. First, there is […]
Continue readingFBI Virus Wreaking Havoc across US
The warning, delivered under an official-looking Federal Bureau of Investigation logo, goes something like this: Warning: Your PC is blocked for one of the reasons specified below. You have been violating Copyright and Related Rights law (Video, Music, Software) and illegally using or distributing copyright content, thus infringing Article I, Section B, Clause 8, also known as the Copyright of […]
Continue readingAn Open Letter to Paul VanDevelder
Dear Paul: A recent op-ed piece by you in the LA Times captured my attention a couple of days ago. Not that this piece, about a secession petition making the rounds in a few red states, was especially important or even well-written. It got my attention for approximately the same reason that a loud, obnoxious drunk a couple of tables […]
Continue readingRequiem for a Heavyweight
It’s been a few days now since the passing of Steve Jobs, on Oct 5, 2011. It is a measure of his stature as a public figure that most people probably remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Steve Jobs had many admirers around the world, as well as more than a […]
Continue readingProfessional Discourtesy
Not too long ago I arrived at work one morning to find a message in my Inbox from “Concerned Citizen,” who had written us through the Contact Us form on our website. Concerned Citizen claimed to be a MacIntosh technician working in North Austin. He said that he had repaired a computer that we had previously worked on, and damaged […]
Continue readingThe Good and the Bad of Customer Service
In this business you often have to deal with the customer service departments of hardware and software manufacturers. The experience can be easy and pleasant, frustrating and difficult to the point of enraging, or anything in between. After a while you get a pretty good idea of what kind of company you are dealing with based on their customer service. […]
Continue readingOn the Care and Feeding of Digital Devices
A woman came into the shop the other day, obviously frustrated, even upset. She had two laptop computers that weren’t working. Both were older machines. One simply would not start, and the other had, apparently, a broken DC connector (the device that carries power into the laptop from an AC adapter.) One computer appeared to have a failed mainboard, making […]
Continue readingSecurity 2010 Continues to Wreak Havoc
Since January, the Internet has been bombarded with the latest iteration of the Security 2010 scareware, with fresh outbreaks coming every few days. This blog has written previously about it. This malware is the latest generation of a family of rogue software known by many names going back to at least 2006. The basic MO remains the same: On startup […]
Continue readingMissed Callings
The phone message, left by by an obviously irritated male caller, was brief and to the point: “The only way to get through to you is to send a (bleeping) message because you’re never around to answer the (bleeping) phone. Well forget it–I’m going to take my business somewhere else.” The tone of voice was borderline hostile with hints of […]
Continue readingNew Twist in Security 2010 Outbreak
Lately, we’ve been seeing a great deal of the Security 2010 malware, the subject of an earlier post. It comes in a number of different flavors but is, so far, removable without major disruption in most cases. It continues to surprise, though, with its clever little wrinkles. We recently encountered two separate cases of Security 2010 that were, apparently, successfully […]
Continue readingA Matter of Personal Responsibility
A few days ago I received a phone call from a young man who said that his Mac laptop was damaged and could I possibly fix it. I said, yes, probably, but needed to know a bit more about the problem before committing. It turns out that he had carelessly dropped the laptop from a height, severely damaging the case. […]
Continue readingMajor Malware Outbreak
Over the last few weeks, we have seen a major outbreak of a type of malware known commonly as Security 2010. In our experience, the speed of this outbreak’s spread and it’s tremendous reach are unprecedented. For maximum impact, the authors of this pestware have been releasing updated versions every few days to stay ahead of the common database-driven anti-malware […]
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