Comments on: My Computer Technician Work Process

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:16:07 +0000

Great site…I agree with the majority of what was put here.

I use a program called TS Man – great software for a tech shop

http://www.blanchesoft.com/products.html

I think lots of you will find this helpful in keeping track of tech’s and their work or for future reference when you need to remember what you did on a computer from say 6 months ago.

By: Jean Paul S. Paras

Jean Paul S. Paras — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:01:11 +0000

I agree on all points that was raised by Bryce. In addition I would like to add that sometimes people bring their PC’s to our store and at first inspection, we cannot seem to replicate the problem they are telling us. Like the computer freezes or hangs, etc. One way to check is to look up the event viewer which is a utility of both Windows XP & Vista. This can be found by control panel, under maintenance. For Vista just try typing reliability on the search and it will give you the reliability monitor. Event Viewing in Vista is more graphical & you will see almost at once the problems represented by the X.

By: Davey

Davey — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:34:19 +0000

Once you get yourself good and seasoned with removal of malicious crud. You won’t really have to worry about them looking over your shoulder. I usually use Malwarebytes to do the main scan of bugs. I’ll do a full scan if the desktop looks outrageous with a sharewared to death computer or p2p is another reason too. Most of the time clean up is done with a gut feeling with how well they have described the issues at hand. The rest is all cleaned up. :p also the rest is a secret since technibble is all about secrets and money :p // Backup? I’d just assume you guys know how to image the data.

By: William

William — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:46:28 +0000

Before service I ask if the customer would like a free backup prior to repair, then I remove the drive and clone the drive using arconis. Once work is done I ask them if they’d like the same done and we’d store the backup for $1/day, min 15 days. Client pays for time while this is happening. Adds an extra 40 minutes plus $15 upsell to the call. An extra $80, why not?

By: mark

mark — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:41:57 +0000

Great article, does anyone clone the hard drive immediately once the computer boots? It seems prudent too, especially if there’s important data on the machine.

By: Heriberto t.

Heriberto t. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:00:17 +0000

i have a question on ONCE YOU FOUND THE FIX, AND TEST SOME MORE.

what is a good way to do this when you are onsite, say after a virus removal. i mean like, well…they might think you are just looking through their personal data when you open media player or their web broser, stuff like that. i especially dont like to do this when they are constantly looking over my shoulder, i always ask them if they would like me to test the computer after i remove the viruses because it might have messed up a program’s files and then i’ll have to go back later. this is why i perfer offsite. Another advantage i found with offsite, is that i can eat, or take a shower, or watch t.v. etc… while its scanning.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:15:39 +0000

Most of my Onsite work is done in one hour. All are delt with the Optimize/TuneUp/CleanUp. I never see the customer for 6 months after that, they call me throughout the days, and refer me. Using the simple rules above I’ve never really seen them typed out, but I use them daily. Only thing I put a head of that stuff is that I Optimize TuneUp CleanUp first, I hate a slow computer. And everyone likes that i treat there computer like mine at home.

By: Heriberto t.

Heriberto t. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:48:04 +0000

@ Muncher, that’s right! i had one yesturday who said their computer turned on but nothing was displaying on the screen. i thought it was the graphics card or maybe the monitor didnt work, i asked if he heard any beeps and said no. he brought it over to my place, and i hooked it up. it started beeping so i unpowered it and checked the voltage. he later said he remembered it beeping. so i opened it and switched the RAM from slot A to slot B and it booted up fine. im just going to remove the trojans it has and i’ll be done.

* i ran memtest over night*

im going to make them sign a simple work order that basically says that it works, and i’ll let them play with it before i officially hand it over to them.

great article!

By: Muncher

Muncher — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:18:43 +0000

“However, what they say on the phone can often be wildly different to what the problem actually is.”

Ain’t that the truth, brother!

By: hummingbird

hummingbird — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:12:04 +0000

thanks bryce this is really helpful – As you know (spoke to you on twitter) I’ve just got my diploma and am not yet really “in business” but getting more and more requests for assistance so this is helping me get started – thanks again
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