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Thread ID: 107241	2010-02-09 19:41:00	Fixing PCs at 1am	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
856711	2010-02-09 19:41:00	Had one bought over as there was "driver problems". I suspected actual system driver corruption rather than the specific HW drivers. Owners partner denies this and says it's a hardware fault and wants to bypass the built HW and buy external bits. Ignoring him, OK let's do a repair install. Check -laptop running XP Pro. Get all the way through to the COA, fail. Double check COA characters and then notice it's for XP Home! Contact owner, deny all knowledge of why this should be so...well now, let's do a factory restore. Owners partner insists he'll do this, I ask if he has a 2.5" to 3.5" ide adapter or something to connect this drive to. No, doesn't even know it's 2.5". He then insists on coming over and checking I have all their personal stuff OK. He has no idea how to drive Windows Explorer, no idea where stuff might be located (quite a lot in the actual Desktop), so I retrieve it all and show him, and show him where others things are hidden, like the OE .dbxs etc. He spends quite some time inspecting my PC to check everything is there OK. I wait patiently and go out to have a smoke and make a cuppa while he happily does whatever the hell on my PC. Finally it's deemed acceptable and he watches to make sure I CUT it all off my PC onto the portable drive. I would have then done the fix tomorrow, but he goes into my kitchen and makes himself coffee and then settles back to watch me fix it Right NOW. I then run the factory restore and show him a trick or two with the ASUS restore CDs to speed things up. Then I replace his stuff onto the laptop and install all sorts of things, SP3, anti-malware, various apps etc. He then checks the drivers - oh look, they no longer have any problem and everything works perfectly now. He THEN insists on viewing my portable drive to make sure I CUT his stuff from that too and haven't kept his boring documents etc. I say, you don't trust me with anything do you, no, he doesn't - including my ability to diagnose a problem. So just to make him really paranoid now - especially seeing it was after 1am now - I explain that even though his stuff isn't on my drive anymore, I could, if I felt like it, run an undelete on it and get it all back, and no, I'm not zeroing my drive for him, as it's also my backup drive.	pctek (84)
856712	2010-02-09 19:57:00	And now i remember why i dont fix pcs for the public.... You have great restraint Perhaps you should get a couple of mean looking pitbulls barking outside	Gobe1 (6290)
856713	2010-02-09 20:06:00	Bit paranoid isn't he -- AND I wouldn't at all be surprised if he wanted it done cheaply or at a discount as well. I wait patiently and go out to have a smoke and make a cuppa while he happily does whatever the hell on my PC. STUFF THAT - :eek: no one but me touches my own PC's - god knows what they may try to alter, esp if you are not looking. Whos to say he wasn't looking at your own personal stuff, or work related data.	wainuitech (129)
856714	2010-02-09 20:11:00	also tell him that the warranty chip in the laptop is looking a bit tired and may give out soon..... that really gets the tin foil hatters in a flutter	MAC_H8ER (5897)
856715	2010-02-09 20:18:00	You know the old story - Repairs during 'normal' hours 1x$/hr, repairs after normal hours 1.5x$/hr & repairs with owners "help" after bedtime hours 3.5x$/hr. I'd like to hear what he says after being presented with the bill!!...lol	fnphoto (2434)
856716	2010-02-09 21:05:00	"He spends quite some time inspecting my PC to check everything is there OK. I wait patiently and go out to have a smoke and make a cuppa while he happily does whatever the hell on my PC" This is where many techs would draw the line and give him an ultimatum,trust the tech or cancel the job. You have infinite patience: or was it becoming a bit of a game at that point?	sroby (11519)
856717	2010-02-09 21:31:00	Perhaps his files contain some things he would rather no-one see except himself? Porn, child porn, evidence of criminal activity of some other kind? Perhaps his account books for sales of mind altering substances? Maybe that is why he came over all paranoid.	John H (8)
856718	2010-02-09 21:33:00	To fix trucks I charge $75.00 just to walk out the door before 8 am and after 5.00 pm any sat and sunday. $300 on a stat day. The guy is paranoid if he had a broken down truck I would have got back into my truck and gone home after speaking with him. I then ring my competitors say some clown may ring, dont touch him with a barge pole. I get lady to fix my computer and go off to my shed, she knows somehow I visit porn sites.	prefect (6291)
856719	2010-02-09 21:37:00	Perhaps his files contain some things he would rather no-one see except himself? Nah. I've had that PC before. DIdn't search, but nah, I doubt anything like that. JUst paranoid about provacy issues, especially as last time I found an actual real live keylogger on their PC. His wife is a nice lady, which is why I let him go on..... My PC, my well, I have an image, I have all my data backed up. So if he stuffed it, well, not a major other than having to then fix it - which would have caused him a really really big bill. Yeah he could have snooped, well, I don't really have anything to hide, I'm not like him,if he nosed through my accounts he'd see I'm poorer than he probably thinks. But yeah, cheek, he's paranoid, but it's OK for him to be on mine? Anyway, the look on his face when I explained about undeleting his deleted data off my portable made it worth it. :lol: And no, he got a normal hours bill. So he better not argue it.	pctek (84)
856720	2010-02-09 21:39:00	What a moron....	qazwsxokmijn (102)
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