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Want To Learn How to Fix Laptops? Check out these Videos

Bryce Whitty — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:19:06 +0000

Laptop repair can be tricky. There are hidden screws all over the place, a certain order you have to pull it apart and sometimes the spare parts are hard to find. Laptops are also prone to damage that a desktop wouldnt normally have such as being dropped or having a damaged DC jack.

Steve Cherubino, who was computer technician until he went full time podcasting has worked on thousands of laptop computers in his shop and would now like to share his laptop repair knowledge with you in the form of high definition, narrated, downloadable videos.

He covers everything you would want to know about repairing laptops such as:

How to replace a motherboard
How to replace an LCD Screen
What to do when the laptop keeps shutting down
How to fix DC power jacks
The crucial difference between a bad screen and a bad inverter board
How to replace hinges
Where Steve buys all his parts
The best way to go about taking a laptop apart
How to solder
The art of fixing AC adapters
How to handle a laptop that has had liquid spilled in it
What to do when a laptop overheats
How to replace CD/DVD drives, RAM, processors, hard Drives and wireless cards
and much, much more!

This master course in laptop repair sells for $54.95 and Steve is so confident that you will find value in his product that he has a 60 day money back guarantee if you arent satisfied with the videos.
Seriously, it would only take only one laptop repair job for you to recoup your investment. The videos pay for itself.

As part of his launch, Steve is also giving away a Samsung Q1 to one of the next 100 people to buy the videos.

Go to the site, check out his sample videos and I am sure you’ll find that what he is offering is well worth the investment.

Link: Laptop Repair Videos

© Technibble - A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their computer business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit. If you want to learn how to repair laptops, check out these narrated, high definition videos. These would pay for themselves in 1 repair job.

Want To Learn How to Fix Laptops? Check out these Videos

Answers to Questions About The Computer Business

Bryce Whitty — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:01:45 +0000

A few days ago I asked the Technibble readers to ask me a question about the computer business. Here are the answers:

William H asked:
When installing Firefox on a clients computer. Is it immoral to set the homepage to a site I own if the client does not have a preference?

I believe its our responsibility as Computer Technicians to set it to what is most useful for the client, whether you own the site or not. If you happen to have made a site that is useful to them, go for it. If not, its best to set it to Google or something similar.

William H asked:
Using remote software (Teamviewer, Logmein, etc…) whats to stop a client from learning the software tools I use, and using it themselves?

There is nothing to stop the client from learning what you do when you fix their computer. However, in most cases there is a lot more to fixing a computer than just using an application. Its also identifying what the problem is and knowing what the appropriate application is in order to fix it, even if all you had to do is press a button. In my experience, most of my own clients are too scared to load up the antivirus that is already installed on the computer and run a scan because they are afraid they might break something.

Of course, you will always have clients who are tinkerers and will download AdAware or a similar “one-click-fix” application after they saw you use it, but once they hit something that AdAware cant deal with they will probably be calling you again. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Jonal C asked:
Ive always had a hard time coming up with prices for my services… I thought about looking at Geek Squad and other businesses so I could of course undercut them.. but by how much? any help would this would be appreciated…

Knowing how to price your services is always difficult. I wish I could tell you what to set your prices to but it is always different depending on where you live. For example, we have some very experienced technicians on the Technibble forums who charge around $40 per hour while another very experienced technician charges $120 per hour. The difference is that that $40 p/h technician lives in a small town in the country where everyone may earn less, but the cost of living is also much lower so the $40 her hour is about right. The $120 p/h technician lives in New York city where the cost of living is much higher so he needs to earn more.

I recommend you call the nearby mom-and-pop computer repair stores and find out their prices so you can get a price range. This will help you get a ball park figure that takes into account the cost of living in your area. Then, try to gauge the experience level of these stores and adjust your price based on where you believe your experience level is at. Once you have a figure in mind, take a look at this article and make sure you have set it high enough to cover your expenses. Don’t try and be the cheapest guy in town because you will most likely attract cheap customers which will make your job a living hell. You need to not only make enough to survive, but to thrive as well.

Tom M asked:
How much web development/design skills should a Tech support technician have?

If you are a computer repair business and would like to expand into doing web development then the developer should have very good HTML and CSS skills to the point where they can easily create a website in notepad without the help of a web page builder. They should have an understanding of web standards and know how to create valid XHTML/CSS markup that can pass the WC3 tests. (Yes, I know Technibble doesn’t pass WC3 tests but its difficult to do so with such a large and constantly changing site. However, I made my clients sites to these standards)

It used to be a case of firing up Frontpage/Dreamweaver, place an image here and some text there, upload to a server and your done. In the past 5 years or so the web has become more standardized and creating webpage’s in WYSIWYG editors without code knowledge is no longer acceptable. Its kind of like your clients 16 year old cousin calling himself a technician because he can run AdAware and a virus scanner.

Learn how to create a web page in notepad without the use of tables (use CSS div’s instead) and make it pass the WC3 tests and you are up to the right standard to do good web development work.

Tim Chesterman asked:
Is there a standard for how long computer repair tasks should take? i.e. Auto mechanics have a book that tells them how long each job should take so that they give an accurate estimate to their customers.

There isn’t a standard on how long a computer repair should take. In order to give your clients a ballpark time you need to base it off your own experience with how long it would take rather than comparing it to some sort of industry standard. What would take me 1 hour to fix might take a beginner two hours.
I try to avoid giving any sort of time and cost estimates but if I must I would say something like:

“Unless I see the computer, I cant give you an exact figure on how long it would take to remove the virus. However, in past repair work I can remove a virus in an hour most of the time. If its a really nasty one, possibly two hours. My rate is…”
This way, they are aware that the time and price can be open ended depending on the situation.

John Souris asked:
Ok,I have one for you. How long is too long at the customer’s home? For
example: On-site virus removal,tune-up,network setup and security.

Similar to the last question, it depends on what work is being done. Personally, I start to feel like I have been on-site for too long after 3 hours. I feel most single issues can be fixed in under 3 hours (not including the client asking you to fix multiple problems). For example, if I am doing a manual virus removal and I am not getting anywhere after 2 hours then I will take it back to my workshop to be formatted.

Ben asked:
I am having a hard time getting a client to get new servers the current servers are over 5 years old. I would love a document to show them that it’s time to replace the systems with new ones

The first thing you need to do is ask yourself “What is the benefit to the client if they were to replace the servers?”. You would probably be thinking that the old servers a slow, may not support the most recent hardware and parts are becoming unreliable.
If the servers are running slow and the employees have to wait for the server to load things then tell them about the increase in productivity amongst employees. It will only be a few minutes each day but after a year that is.. etc.

If the servers older operating system doesn’t support new applications that they want to do, tell them about the new features that are possible with the new operating system. I would also use a little scare marketing and tell them about the security risks involved in having an older operating system (that no longer receives patches) and what could happen in a worst case scenario such as all of their clients personal data or trade secrets getting published on the internet.

If the parts are becoming unreliable then tell them about the failure rates of old hardware and use a little scare marketing again saying “How would your business cope if the server went down right now? How much money would be lost?”.

To convince any client to do anything, you need to tell them how it benefits them. Not you.

Scott asked:
I’ve been in business a year now and I’m struggling financially and I was wondering if it gets any better in the second year? I realize its the toughest the first year but does it get better? Some months I’ve done really good other months nothing.

The first year is always the hardest but it usually gets better. The trick to gaining both income and clients is finding the most effective form of advertising for your business. When I found my most effective form of advertising, it cost me around $95 per week and it would almost always generate at least $300 per week. Also, those clients would continue to use my services later down the track which is where the real money is. I advertised every week and I could come out at least $205 in front while building up my client base. Once you find out a form of advertising that always puts you ahead each week, it gets much easier.

Thanks to those who have sent me any questions so far and if anyone else would like to ask me something please send them in and I will do my best to continue answering them. To those who have asked a question and it wasn’t answered it here, I will be answering them later in a post similar to this or doing a large article about it.

Resources for Repairing Apple Macs

Bryce Whitty — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:58:42 +0000

Over the last few years I have been helping my clients with their Apple Macs. It has been mostly simple stuff like unboxing the Mac and setting it up, entering their email settings, migrating data and the occasional hard drive/RAM upgrade or replacement. I didn’t venture too far beyond that because I wasn’t confident with my Macs skills and didn’t want to learn on a clients computer. I have years and years of experience repairing PC’s and rarely come across a PC I cannot fix, but my Mac knowledge was limited.

I can see that Apple’s computer market share has greatly increased recently (thanks to Vista I assume) so I thought that I should look into it further and I bought myself a 13′ Aluminum Macbook. I have spent the last few months learning both the operating system/hardware sides and how to fix it. I still have a long way to go myself, but I would like to share some of it with other technicians so here are some resources for repairing Apple Macs.

Repair Software

OnyX:
OnyX is a free, OSX repair multi-tool designed to help you maintain, optimize and personalize OSX. It has the ability to run hard drive diagnostics, clean out the operating system (similar to PC’s CCleaner) and change many of OSX’s hidden features. You can download OnyX here.

AppCleaner:
Something great about the way OSX handles applications is all you have to do to delete an application is to drag its icon into the trash. However, this can sometimes leave files behind such as the applications cache and preferences. After some time, this may build up and cause the system to eventually run out of space. Other issue with this is if there a problem with an application and you want to reinstall the application to fix it; and the issue was based in the preferences/cache that was left behind then the issue will remain after the reinstallation.

AppCleaner is a small, free application where you drag an unwanted or troublesome application into its drop area and it will delete the application including all of its preferences and caches that would have normally been left behind. You can download AppCleaner here.

Carbon Copy Cloner:
Carbon Copy Cloner is a free tool designed to help you back up a Mac system. It can be used as a long term back up solution and thus can be scheduled to do regular backups. It can also be used to back up a drive before you replace it or for when you are setting up multiple Macs with the same setup. You can download Carbon Copy Cloner here.

Tech Tool Deluxe:
Tech Tool Deluxe is a diagnosis tool that comes with Applecare and is designed to test the hard drive, RAM, video RAM, USB and the File system. After it finishes the tests, it creates a report that you can print out. Basically, its a good all round hardware tester. The “Deluxe” version is located on the Applecare CD but there is also a “Lite” version which is free and you can download it here.

Hardware
Some Macs, such as my Aluminum Macbook are incredibly easy to get apart to upgrade the hard drive or RAM. However, if I need to change any of the other parts the way to access them is not obvious. In fact, the Mac Minis have no visible screws anywhere on the outside. So, I recommend you have a disassembly guide to help you. This site and this site have some great disassembly guides.

Software
Apple OSX is not immune to software errors and when it happens its nice to know that there are some great resources out there to help you. One of these resources is a site called MacFixIt.com which has a large database of articles with problems and solutions that you can search.

Keyboard Shortcuts
As you know, PCs have special key combination’s to enter the BIOS, set the boot device or close a crashing application. Macs also have special key combination’s to do various tasks both inside the operating system and outside. You can view Apples list of system shortcuts here.

My Onsite Technician CD Wallet

Bryce Whitty — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:03:59 +0000

Here on Technibble we have covered computer repair applications for your USB drive fairly extensively, but what about a technicians CD wallet? Here is a list of disks that I carry around in my onsite CD wallet.

UBCD4Win – UBCD4Win is my preferred GUI repair environment because its Windows based and have already been loaded with many repair applications. Of course, you can use a Linux LiveCD flavor if that is more your style.

Ultimate Boot CD (dos version) – Ultimate Boot CD is a DOS based menu that allows you to do low level work to a system like testing the RAM for errors, doing a low level format or testing the condition of a hard drive. It contains the DOS versions of some commonly used applications such as Aida, Memtest86+, Dariks Boot and Nuke and more.

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor – Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is a freeware utility that allows you to change or blank the password of any user that has a valid account on a local NT/2000/XP/2003/Server 2008/Vista 32 & 64bit system.

Offline Update – Offline Update is a freeware tool that downloads all of the existing patches for the operating system you specify (choice of Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003) and creates an ISO file, for which you can later burn to a CD or DVD.

The DriverPacks.net CDs – The DriverPacks.net project is an open source project. The goal is to simplify the creation of a “uniform” Windows installation CD, i.e. an installation CD that works on every piece of hardware, without having to go look for other drivers after the installation.

Windows Installer CDs
A copy of:

Windows 98 SE
Windows 2000 Workstation/Small Business
Windows XP Home OEM/Retail/Genuine Advantage
Windows XP Professional OEM/Retail/VLK 32bit/64bit
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit / 64bit (contains all Vista versions)
Microsoft Office 2000, XP, 2003, 2007

How do I get all of these I hear you say? I personally obtained most of mine as I bought the OSes for my own personal computers over the last 7 years. Some technicians create a copy of their clients CDs as they come in (without the CDkey of course since that would be piracy). Another option is to subscribe to the Microsoft Action Pack which contains most of Microsofts Software. However, this only contains their current software and not older versions so you couldn’t get Windows 98 and 2000. I have also heard some technicians even suggest downloading the ISOs from bittorrent sites but not using the CD Key. However, this is not recommended as the internet version may be infected with all sorts of hidden nasties.

A copy of your USB Repair Tool Kit on CD – In some cases, the USB ports don’t work on a clients machine or you may not want to plug in your USB drive into a infected machine as your drive may also become infected. This is where having a copy of your USB repair tool kit on a CD is handy.

Driver Disks for Your Own Devices – I rarely ever have to use this driver disk for the devices I take onsite like my USB drive, USB DVD burner, USB network card & USB soundcard as Windows XP and above will automatically detect these. However, sometimes if I have to work on Windows 98 or a damaged version of a later operating system, it can come in handy if they are not being detected.

Windows Service Packs Standalone and .NET Installers
You can choose to keep this on your USB drive as well, but its nice to have them on a CD as well.

Installers for Commonly Used Applications – Another one you can also keep on a USB drive. Its a good idea to have commonly used installers on a CD like FoxIT Reader, nVidias Forceware Drivers, Skype, Thunderbird, iTunes etc..

Whats in your Technicians CD wallet?

Frustrations of the Computer Business

Bryce Whitty — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:06:09 +0000

Working in the computer business is great, especially if you have your own business. You get to choose your own hours, what jobs you want to work on and it stays interesting as there is often a new problem that you have never seen before.

However, there can be a lot of frustrations too such as clients who call you for advice and have no intention of paying you. Clients who are very slow to pay and clients who always ask for discounts. Thats just to name a small few.

What are you biggest frustrations in the computer business? Drop us a comment. As always, you dont need to sign up to comment and you can even post anonymously.

Should I Charge Businesses More?

Bryce Whitty — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:28:44 +0000

The question “Should I charge businesses more?” recently came up on the Technibble forums and the short answer is yes. Heres why:

Quicker Response Expected
Most businesses now days rely on some sort of computer system for their essential day to day work. It doesnt matter if its just the accounting machine in the back or the point-of-sale system in the front. It is usually essential to their operation.

If an essential system goes down they are losing money every moment you are not there and because of this, businesses wont blink twice at some sort of priority/business fee that gets you out to their business sooner. Think of it like this, if a business makes $2000 a day, they are open for 8 hours a day and one of their essential systems wouldn’t boot up this morning. They are losing $250 per hour you are not there so they aren’t going to contest your increased fee of $120 per hour for businesses over your $100 for home users.

Of course, its not always possible for you to get out to business clients in a reasonable amount of time so it is a good idea to get them on a preventative maintenance contract to fix things before they happen and therefor avoiding a “losing $250 per hour” emergency.

Higher Cost of Insurance & Higher Chance of Being Sued
Most computer repair businesses working with home users can usually get away with just General Liability Insurance that protects you from things like bodily injury, property damage, personal injury and advertising injury. However, if you are working for businesses, it is wise to step it up to Professional Liability Insurance which covers you for errors and omissions resulting in loss of client data, software or system failure, claims of non-performance or negligent oversell. Of course, this extra coverage will cost more so you should have a higher cost for business clients to cover this. If you need insurance, check out TechInsurance.com

Invoicing and Accounts
There will be few businesses that will pay you cash on the spot for your repair work so that adds in the extra work of having accounts and invoicing. I personally try to do all my invoicing and chasing up work as a big batch but that still takes me an hour or two, which I cant bill for even though I am still working.

So, should you charge businesses more? Yes, you should. They cost your business more though insurance and unbillable time and they also expect you to be onsite quicker. However, don’t let this turn you off business clients because they can also be the most lucrative clients because they need network setups like servers and VPNs, backup solutions and have employees who like “free” screen-savers and toolbars.

My Computer Technician Work Process

Bryce Whitty — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:49:18 +0000

I would like to share with you my (and many other technicians) process of working on a computer and dealing with a client. I have built up this process over many years after making many mistakes of my own and putting extra steps to make sure they don’t happen again. This is my process:

Ask What the Problem Is
When I first answer the phone, I will try and determine what the problem is as much as I can before I go onsite to make sure its something I can fix. However, what they say on the phone can often be wildly different to what the problem actually is. Once I arrive at the clients location, I ask what the problem is again and ask them a few extra questions to help pinpoint what the problem could be. Depending on the problem, I would ask something along the lines of: Did you install any new software or hardware recently? Was the computer making strange noises before this happened? Was there a power outage recently?

Inspect the Computer
If they leave the computer at your location, physically inspect it with them watching and look for any cracks, scuffs or any other sort of damage. If you find something, point it out to them and write it down on your work order. This will save you tons headaches down the track if they say you damaged the computer while it was in your possession, even though the damage was already there when you received it.

Another important thing to do is try to power up the computer in front of them for two reasons:
1, So you can try and reproduce the problem with them.
2, To prove it does (or doesn’t) power up when it arrived.

Prepare to Work Safely
Ask the client if there is any mission critical data on the computer or weird programs that you need to be aware of. If so, back it up. If the system boots, create a system restore point before you start any work and name it appropriately.

Start Working
Check the obvious to begin with. Is it plugged in? is it turned on?

Start with what would be the simplest solution and make your way to the harder solutions until you fix it. There is no point pulling the computer apart to test a possibly dead motherboard or power supply only to find that it was just unplugged at the wall.

Once you Found the Fix, Test It
One you think you have repaired the computer, try and reproduce the problem and see if it happens again. Also, one of the most important things to do after a fix is to reboot the computer to make sure that:
a, The problem doesn’t come back after you reboot.
b, The repairs you did didn’t upset something else.

Test Some More
I find its a good idea to quickly test some other things which you didn’t directly touch, like loading a web page or checking an email. I once had a job where I installed an antivirus on a clients machine but for some reason it didn’t play nice with Outlook Express and caused it to crash. So obviously, I had to come back and fix it even though I didn’t directly touch Outlook Express, the antivirus did.

Show the Client that the Problem is Fixed
Try and reproduce the problem in front of them to show them has been fixed. Once they agree it has been fixed to their satisfaction, get them to sign the Work Order. It is especially important to do this when you do virus removal jobs as clients can reinfect themselves and come back two days later saying you didn’t fix it.

Anything Else?
Ask the client if there is anything else they like you to look at. If so, do it. If not, find out the means of payment.

Get Paid
To make sure you get paid, this should be your preferred order.

Cash – The best form as there is no risk involved. Once you have been paid, that’s it. The only downside to cash is you have to either record it with a cash receipt or deposit it in the bank.

Check/Cheque – If the client dropped the computer off at my location, they cant pick it until the check clears in case it bounces. If I am onsite, then I make sure I have their details such as name, address and phone number (which I usually already have since I am onsite). Sometimes I may even joke “Remember, if this check doesn’t clear, I know where you live!”.

Accounts – I don’t like doing them because of the extra work involved in writing and sending invoices and chasing them up. I highly recommend you only give accounts to businesses and when you do, make sure you have plenty of contact details in case you need to chase them down. Again, make sure you have a signed work order that says you have completed the work to their satisfaction in case you need to take them to court

Credit Card – I only recommend that you offer credit card as a payment option only if you have a retail location. The fees per month are often high and there is always the possibility of a charge back.

Make it Easy for Them to Refer You
Be sure to leave them a few business cards and say something along the lines of “Here is my business card in case you need to contact me again. I have also left a few more cards if you think any of your friends will be in need of my services”. By saying this, it reminds them that they can help out their friends by recommending me to them.

That’s my process that I have fine tuned over the years. Is yours similar to this? If not, what do you do different? Drop us a comment.

Providing Computer Training

Bryce Whitty — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:46:40 +0000

You may be a brilliant technician, but providing computer training is a completely different game than fixing a computer. It doesn’t rely so much on technical skills; instead it requires social and teaching skills which many computer technicians don’t necessarily have. Here are some tips I learnt over the last 8 years to be the best computer teacher you can be.

Explain things clearly and in great detail
Instead of saying something like “open Internet Explorer”. Say “See that blue E in the top left corner that says Internet Explorer? Can you double click that with the left mouse button for me please”.

Don’t be surprised that many clients wont even know what Internet Explorer is, often they just use the top default link in the start menu which is labeled “Internet”. Always explain in detail.

Put them in the drivers seat
Most people learn better by actually doing the task themselves rather than watching you do it. Get out of the computer chair, give it to them and you can watch over their shoulder to guide them. I find this is the most important thing to help them remember what you are teaching.

Get them to write it down in their own words
Its quite common for the client to forget what they learnt once you leave the premises, especially if there were many steps involved in the task. Get them to write the steps down in their own words that they can understand.

Make them do it again without you helping
Many clients will say they are keeping up with you while its being done the first time, but don’t really understand or remember it. The best way to make sure that they learnt what you are teaching is to make them do it again, based off their own notes without you assisting. Be patient and let them take their time. Some people have narrow vision and have to look at every icon on the desktop before they find the one they want. If they get stuck, give them some hints and let them try again. If they are still stuck, show them that step again and afterwards, make them do the whole process again without your help.

Be patient
We need to remember that many people weren’t brought up in the computer age and/or it just doesn’t come as naturally to them as it does to us. Be patient with them and let them learn at their own speed (besides, who cares how long it takes if you are getting paid per hour?). Also, keep in mind that people who are not good with computers aren’t dumb. Everyone has their own skills somewhere (I can fix most computer problems but I can only do the basics when troubleshooting a car problem). For all you know they used to run a multimillion dollar business. Everyone is each to their own.

Make it easy
For the people who are very new to computers (we’re talking barely-managing-to-use-the-mouse new) and they want to do some basic things like how to find something with Google. Make it as simple as possible by putting shortcuts on the desktop like this and hiding unnecessary things. Other things you can do is make Google their browsers start page and make things happen automatically like the computer choosing the appropriate program when they plug in their digital camera without their intervention.

Once a client finds someone who is patient, lets them take their time, explains things slowly and makes them feel they’ve accomplished something because they can remember the steps, they’ll keep that person for a long time. Make sure its you.

My Story About Doing The Right Thing

Bryce Whitty — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:59:21 +0000

Yesterday, I had a client bring their laptop into my workshop because it kept turning off after a certain amount of time. My first guess was that it was overheating as I have seen this kind of thing before. I booted the laptop into BIOS and sure enough, the temperature was slowly rising until it reached the 90 degree celsius range and shut down.

I flipped the laptop onto its back and saw the cooling fan and plenty of hair in it so I am assuming the heatsink is probably clogged like in this picture of a laptop I took about a year ago.

Now, the client had driven about 45 minutes to my place because they got a really good referral about me from their friend. I figured this wouldn’t take very long so I told them they can stick around while I clear it out (I have done this many times before). I took out all the screws I could see but the laptop case wouldn’t open. I looked a little more and found some hidden clips, undid them but it still wouldn’t open up. I searched under stickers and the rubber feet for screw holes but it still wasn’t opening.

I got online and downloaded the service manual to look at the tear-down guide. According to the guide I had found all the screws but it still wasn’t opening. I spent about an hour working on the laptop in total until I decided that it was no longer worth my time and gave up. I told the client that I couldn’t find the last screw and that I apologise for wasting their time. I felt bad because I was highly recommended by her friend so there was a little more pressure for me to perform.

They asked “How much will that be?” and I replied “Nothing”.
“Oh?”
“Well, If I diagnose that something cant be fixed (parts are unavailable or whatever), I do charge because its not my fault it cant be fixed. However, if I cant fix something because its something I don’t know how to fix in this case, I don’t know where that last screw was, so I wont charge. Its not your fault that I don’t know”.

She was thrown back by this, as an accountant she knows that time is money and fully expected to be charged for the time I spend on it. Although I couldn’t help, she actually went away happy saying that she’ll recommend me to her friends that live down my way.

Its standard practice for tradesmen to charge for any bench time but I thought about what it could have been like if I was in the clients shoes. I drove 45 minutes, waited an hour, the computer is no better and they expected to be paid for this? Yeah right. I felt what I did was the right choice.

Anyway, that’s the story of how I failed but the client left happy anyway.

A Client Wanted Me To Do Something Illegal Today

Bryce Whitty — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:58:29 +0000

I had a shady client today. I first talked to them on Friday but it was only today that I released that they wanted me to do something shady. That Friday, I got a call from a new client saying that wants me “to make it so she can logon to the laptop without using the fingerprint scanner”.

I figured that wouldn’t be much of a problem to do since it should just be a case of her logging in and me switching it off. At the time, I couldn’t go into it further because I was already onsite so I just booked her in for a visit on Monday. Just before I hung up she told me that I must give her a call before I leave because her husband is going to a funeral or something. I just assumed she wants him around when I’m there because the husbands often take more interest in the computers than the wife.

Anyway, Monday rolls around and I give her a call before I leave my workshop as requested. She said it was OK to come over and I use this opportunity to ask her again what she wants me to do in more detail so I can bring the appropriate software and tools if need be.

She said that she wants me to make it so that she can see what the user of the laptop is doing remotely, without the knowledge of the user. This is when the alarm bells went off. Also, the reason she wanted me to call her before I arrived made more sense now. It wasn’t to make sure the husband was home, it was to make sure he wasn’t home. Just to confirm my belief that what she was asking me to do was malicious, I asked:

“You mentioned something about a fingerprint scanner on Friday?”
“Yes, I’d like you to make it so that I don’t need the fingerprint scanner to login”
“Are you able to login using the scanner at all?”
“No, I want you to bypass it”
“Is the laptop yours?”
“No, its my husbands”

In short, she wanted me to break into her husbands system and install a backdoor Trojan that allowed her to spy on him. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal and if it isn’t, its definitely unethical.

I know there are some technicians out there that wouldn’t care and wouldn’t have asked questions because her money is just as green as anyone else’s. However, think about it like this:

The husband and wife are obviously going though some relationship issues where she needs to spy on him. I’m guessing its because she thinks he is cheating on her via the computer. If I do the job and she finds it to be true, she may take him to court with this evidence for when they are deciding who gets what in the divorce. The judge is going to ask where she got this evidence and guess who is going to get called to court? Me. I also open myself up to being sued by the husband for unauthorized entry into his computer. Its just not worth getting involved in.

While I could technically break into the system using hacking tools and install legitimate “spy on my employees” software, I told the client that I wasn’t aware of any software that could do the job and that I couldn’t help her. It got rid of her without being confrontational.

I’m a strong believer in “Karma”. If I did this job which I consider to be bad karma, I’m sure it’ll eventually catch up to me somehow like one of my own systems having a security breach. Hopefully other technicians will maintain their morals and it might be your computer one day (whether used by an angry wife or having it stolen) that they refuse to do work on.