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dbee
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Location: korea
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 Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:40 am Post subject: Is PC repair the new Java ???? |
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Having recently had a run in with win2000 myself, and also after reading other postings here and on bbc.com. I am beginning to wonder if perhaps pc repair is the new Java ??
What I mean by that, is it seems to be very popular (and lucrative) at the moment. What I find even more surprising is that every pc repairman/women I have ever know or heard about, seems to know how to do two things and two things only ... format a hard drive and install windows 
Has anyone thought about doing a little repair on the side ??? probably beats privates by a mile or two 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4387525.stm |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:45 am Post subject: Re: Is PC repair the new Java ???? |
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| dbee wrote: |
| What I find even more surprising is that every pc repairman/women I have ever know or heard about, seems to know how to do two things and two things only ... format a hard drive and install windows |
When friends/coworkers who don't know much about computers tell me of their experiences with "professional" PC-repair types, it seems they have at least one more skill: selling whole new systems.
"Erm... your computer has a virus. It killed your hard drive. And fried your memory. You didn't smell the smoke? Well it was there. I'm afraid you need to spend $1200 for a Pentium IV 3.0 in order to keep surfing the Net and send e-mail to your grandma..."
I'm SO in the wrong business. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:58 am Post subject: Re: Is PC repair the new Java ???? |
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| The Lemon wrote: |
| dbee wrote: |
| What I find even more surprising is that every pc repairman/women I have ever know or heard about, seems to know how to do two things and two things only ... format a hard drive and install windows |
When friends/coworkers who don't know much about computers tell me of their experiences with "professional" PC-repair types, it seems they have at least one more skill: selling whole new systems.
"Erm... your computer has a virus. It killed your hard drive. And fried your memory. You didn't smell the smoke? Well it was there. I'm afraid you need to spend $1200 for a Pentium IV 3.0 in order to keep surfing the Net and send e-mail to your grandma..."
I'm SO in the wrong business. |
I worked at this educational publishing company back in 1991. It was a small operation. About 10 people. Anyway, everyone was pretty clueless about computers. They used Macs. I remember once I was moving a woman's Mac from one desk to another desk. I was disconnecting the cables. She was watching me with a horrified expression.
"Don't you want to write down which cable goes where? How will you remember?"
I looked at her like she was the stupidest human on earth (because she nearly was).
"Ummm, it's a Mac. I figure it will be self evidence which cable goes where."
She looked at me like I just said "The solution to the Riemann hypothesis is pretty self evident."
Anyway, she seemed to think her Mac was bombing out too much.
(does Mac still use this kind of error?
 )
This was pre-system 7 and "inits" (little jive programs, like DOS' TSR programs) were the big thing to load up your Mac with. So she moans and complains and the owner calls some computer service company.
The guy strides in. "What's the problem?"
"I'm getting a lot of bombs."
"Oh, I've seen this problem a lot. Your Macs need new system boards."
So he installs a $800 system board in each of the two of the Macs she uses. $1600 in 1991 dollars. He runs no diagnostics. Doesn't even look at the error code. Wow.
So yeah. Computer repair. Lucrative. |
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dbee
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Location: korea
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:07 am Post subject: |
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"Oh, I've seen this problem a lot. Your Macs need new system boards."
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... wow, that guy was a real professional ... I'm not too sure I could pull that one off with a straight face 
... maybe a good poker face is the best thing you can bring to the pc repair industry !!!
... and as long as MS keep making buggy systems, all you have to do is sit back and watch the $ roll in  |
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redbird
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:03 am Post subject: |
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I currently work at a prestigious university in the Midwest doing computer software support with a little hardware support from time to time. I've been doing this for 4 years. Before 2001, I owned a WebTV and walked into this job knowing virtually nothing about computers. Yes, I knew someone and he gave me this job because he thought I could learn the technical stuff and that I had some other skills that would be good for our program. (I have a Poli Sci/Education degree and have been working most of my adult life in retail and service industries.)
I mention all of this just to make the point that being a computer novice is still fresh in my mind. I was shocked-- shocked! I tell you-- at the lack of work ethic in the computer field when I entered it. That seems to be slowing changing and now I'm more shocked at the lack of professional mgmt I encounter. The stereotypical hagwon owner might be a step up for me.
Anyway, here are some key things I've learned about computer support-- how you can lower support costs and keep things running. In no particular order:
1) Periodically, upgrade your equipment. Studies show that 3 or 4 years is about the right period of time to keep a computer in a business environment. After 4 years, the support costs are higher than replacing the hardware. Budget for this. (Computer support is going to run $30 an hour if you're lucky; it makes no sense to spend 7 hours repairing a computer that's worth $150.)
2) Have a support plan before you purchase the hardware. If you run a computer lab, for instance, try your best to purchase identical computers. If you have 15 different computers, then your support is going to have 15 times the hardware problems as you would with 15 identical computers. The software support becomes much easier, too. And, investigate the support that software vendors offer for their programs before you buy.
3) Even with a home computer, plan for a catastrophe. You should have an anti-virus program and sometimes a firewall, but it may actually be cheaper, easier, and more certain to back up critical data and not worry so much about everything else. I can put in an imaged hard drive and have a customer back up and running in about an hour and a half, which is often faster than researching some weird glitch.
4) And this may be the most important. Keep the number of programs you install at a minimum. Stuff off the web can be deadly. (I felt I had to install Real Player a couple weeks ago to use a Korean Language site and I've been getting these crappy little pop-up error messages about every hour.)
Businesses that ask their support people to help with Outlook and Thunderbird, Word and Wordperfect, a plethora or browsers, the Palm and Blackberries-- those businesses are going to run huge support costs. Make some choices and stick to them.
5) If you get an error message, write it down. Then Google it. You'd be surprised how often this can lead to a solution that you can perform on your own. |
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SuperHero
Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:23 pm Post subject: Re: Is PC repair the new Java ???? |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| everyone was pretty clueless about computers. They used Macs. |
You said it. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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| redbird wrote: |
4) And this may be the most important. Keep the number of programs you install at a minimum. Stuff off the web can be deadly. (I felt I had to install Real Player a couple weeks ago to use a Korean Language site and I've been getting these crappy little pop-up error messages about every hour.)
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I used to really like Real Audio. I liked the David vs the MS Goliath thing. I just found RA worked quicker. The sound kind of sucked but over all better, I felt, than Microsoft media player for a lot of low res media content. However, at some point RA became too intrusive. I hate programs that add themselves as a tray icon for no good reason and then make you work to remove them. Meh. I haven't installed in in the last year.
They do keep a legacy site:
http://forms.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html
Where you can download an earlier version that is presumably less loaded with spyware-ish crap. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:41 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for both those links. RA is loathsome, and borderline malware. But it's also, unfortunately, the only way for me to watch English news every night. The "real alternative" codec looks to be just the thing for me. |
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agraham
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Location: Daegu, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:08 am Post subject: |
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| Hell yeah. QuickTime Alternative too. |
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keninseoul
Joined: 09 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:54 pm Post subject: Players? |
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try ZOOM or Crystal
MMP sucks big time - too slow to load, no equalizer, clumsy, etc |
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