Reimage.com Experiences

[Bryce W]

As you may or may not have noticed, I have posted a Reimage.com banner on the left hand side of the forums. I have been beta-testing for these guys for some time and now their product is complete and I really like it. The Reimage product is designed to fix damaged Windows installs. It is not designed so much as a anti-spyware/anti-adware tool but it can easily repair the windows files that the malware damaged.

I find this product can be useful to find and fix "needle in the haystack" problems where Windows is having issues, but you cannot see what is causing it such like a corrupted Windows file.

It could potentially be a very useful tool for your business.

Anyway, give it a try by pressing that banner to the left, sign up to their free trial and post your experiences here.

 

[Blues]

My only beef I have found was it killed the wireless utilities which were controlling the wi-fi and only way to fix it was reinstall the wi-fi utility. This was a problem as there were 2 of them 3 if you count the built in windows one which Im sure would work if I could have made it the default with out reinstalling the other. I could open and run the other two but they didn't seem to function even tried to unset them as the default managers.

 

[gregjs]

Reimage experience

My experiences have been mostly positive. Of the 20 or so pc's I have reimaged, perhaps 2 were unable to be restored. I think the procduct does what it claims to do. Minor glitches aside, such as reinstalling Windows updates, are a small inconvenience.

 

[Blues]

I got a call from them today askin how my experience was and I more or less told them what I said here. I told them that most machines lately have been dead HDD or had too many apps to uninstall that a total format was just as easy and little better in my opinion. They tried to convince me to give reimage a try on those machines. These machines problems are more about applications we do not allow bogging down the system and needing to be removed along with fixing the system which has been slowed. The time it takes to uninstall each app and run reimage is equal to that of a reformat.

 

[Phishie]

How long would it take to run the Reimage process from a Boot CD? I had a computer with some stupid BSOD error that I could not fix today. I am thinking of giving Reimage a wack at it.

Is using a Reimage boot CD viable for on-site repair? And I would also like to know if I could create a boot CD using a VLK disk; could I use that to reimage a computer running Windows XP Pro or Home?

And.... I will answer my own questions after I get a response from Reimage support to answer all of my questions. =P

Answers: Reimage confirmed that I could use a retail or VLK CD to create a boot disk that will work on any Pro or Home installation. So I guess as long as the CD has the I386 files it's all good. I am gonna make a boot CD and carry with me in my toolkit and see what happens.

 

[Checkmate]

So far have to say good:

So far I have to say that my experiences with ReImage are good. Only bad thing I had was a Dr's PC that never got updated to SP2 somehow. But that is the only issue. I've done 4 repairs in field, all taking less than 45 mins.

 

[ittechsc]

BootCD depends on how much RAM and the speed of your internet and CPU. . All you need is a good internet connection and at least 512MB RAM - 1GB or more is better.

 

[ittechsc]

ReImage comes in very handy. Many clients do not backup their machines and do not have original CD's. ReImage will fix most corrupted OS issues without harming the data and applications. Plus it's fairly quick. Their support is Outstanding.

 

[cmonova]

reimage time

How long would it take to run the Reimage process from a Boot CD? I had a computer with some stupid BSOD error that I could not fix today. I am thinking of giving Reimage a wack at it.

I have used the boot cd and that is one of the best parts of Reimage as far as i'm concerned. Typically using that cd you still are looking at maybe 30 minutes or so depending on the connection. Actually rather fast.

Now that SvcPack 3 support is there it's even better, and hopefully soon they will throw Vista into the equation and then it will be pretty sweet.

 

[Wheelie]

I do not want to step on any toes. Really. But I just do not get this product. It just does not make sense to me as a business owner and repair technician. Someone help me so I can see what this tool gets me.

Below is a re-post I put up last week on another thread at this forum:

----------- BEGIN RE-POST ----------------------------------------

I wonder what Reimage does? How does it work. Is it a registry repair tool? DLL re-register? Replaces OS files? All of the above?

Firstly, I am reluctant to use a tool that it is not clear what it is doing. I probably should not perform repairs to PC's with tools I do not understand. I cannot be sure that I am doing the right thing for my customers if I am using a tool that either performs a partial repair or damages their system (and then I have to do something else afterward taking valuable time).

Secondly, why use a tool (that costs me $$) to fix a PC that I would have made more money on by fixing it reloading Windows? If I fix a PC using Reimage I probably cannot charge the customer what I would've charged for a format and re-installation (plus I get a pretty nice fee for backing up and transferring their data back to the PC). Under that scenario I know the PC is repaired properly and my customer is well-served.

If this tool truly works so well why the heck are they selling it to me? (a computer repair tech) If all you do is download it and press "repair" and it fixes any ailment why not just target end users?

------------------ END RE-POST ---------------------------------

 

[Req]

i was reluctant for similar reasons wheelie and this week i had a machine that after some tinkering and toiling it came down to having to reformat. i went through the process of starting to backup the data on the pc when i remembered reimage and figured why not try it out. i have to say, i was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to use and even more thrilled when, after the reboot, the corruptions on the machine were cleared out. it did not fix everything but what it left was easily repairable by me where as what it did fix, i had no way of repairing.

color me satisfied .. pleasantly so.

 

[MHCG]

I wonder what Reimage does? How does it work. Is it a registry repair tool? DLL re-register? Replaces OS files? All of the above?

Firstly, I am reluctant to use a tool that it is not clear what it is doing. I probably should not perform repairs to PC's with tools I do not understand. I cannot be sure that I am doing the right thing for my customers if I am using a tool that either performs a partial repair or damages their system (and then I have to do something else afterward taking valuable time).

I agree. I haven't even considered using it because I am ultimately responsible for whatever it is that reimage is doing to my customer's computer. They're targeting the computer repair business, yet they're very vague about what it is they are actually doing doing. Vague terms like "we fix what is wrong with the computer's operating system" do not cut it when you're talking to professionals that have their reputation on the line.

I have a laptop here that I've already made an image of. I went ahead and applied for a free trail and I'll give it a shot to see how it does.

 

[Wheelie]

i was reluctant for similar reasons wheelie and this week i had a machine that after some tinkering and toiling it came down to having to reformat. i went through the process of starting to backup the data on the pc when i remembered reimage and figured why not try it out. i have to say, i was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to use and even more thrilled when, after the reboot, the corruptions on the machine were cleared out. it did not fix everything but what it left was easily repairable by me where as what it did fix, i had no way of repairing.

color me satisfied .. pleasantly so.

All the posters giving reimage a glowing review with only 1, 2 or 10 total posts ... makes me wonder who the users are?

Either way - I'd have to repeat my earlier question: If this tool truly works so well why the heck are they selling it to me? (a computer repair tech) If all you do is download it and press "repair" and it fixes any ailment why not just target end users?

Really folks. Why not go for the big audience?

Furthermore - why should I pay $200 for something when I can go earn $200? And I know what I did to fix it and can tell the customer exactly what I did to fix it.

And I am not trying to step on anyone's toes here (oops - crunch) but something does not seem right here. I guess there might be some pc repair techs that do not have the skills to actually fix a PC that might be interested in such a product? They might view this product as a great find and think it could actually cover for their lack of skillz?

http://www.runcar4water.info/

 

[Phishie]

Either way - I'd have to repeat my earlier question: If this tool truly works so well why the heck are they selling it to me? (a computer repair tech) If all you do is download it and press "repair" and it fixes any ailment why not just target end users?

Really folks. Why not go for the big audience?

And I am not trying to step on anyone's toes here (oops - crunch) but something does not seem right here. I guess there might be some pc repair techs that do not have the skills to actually fix a PC that might be interested in such a product? They might view this product as a great find and think it could actually cover for their lack of skillz?

I think Reimage is a great tool for when you have a needle in a haystack problem. Some reasons that I can think of that Reimage is not targeting end-users is because:

1. End-users would probably have a hard time finding Reimage when they needed it. They don't exactly go out of their way to look for this kind of stuff when their computers are working fine.

2. End-users would require much more technical support than people like us who are experienced with boot CDs and such processes.

3. End-users are a one-time deal pretty much. All they want to do is use it when their computer is broken. Computer techs can theoretically use Reimage a couple of times a day if they want to go that route.

4. Maybe Reimage cares about helping computer techs instead of taking business away from us? For what they'd get from end-users, it isn't worth competing against techs.

5. For a tool like this, computer techs are the big audience.

I do agree that Reimage has its flaws, but it is still a great tool.

 

[14049752]

I think Wheelie hit the nail on the head. I tried Reimage.com on a couple of machines when it was first posted. I wasn't impressed. I'll admit, my first impression of the service was that it would take care of things like spyware, etc. I found that it "removed" some spyware, but after a couple of reboots the junk was right back in place. After giving it a second shot with an intentionally screwed up registry, a few intentionally corrupted files, it still didn't live up to expectations. The easy problems were fixed, sure, but I still had to double check everything.

I said the same thing; From what I can tell, Reimage is only capable of doing repairs that a decent tech should already know how to do. If Windows is damaged much more than that, I'd only trust a format/reload to fix the problems.

To me, this is a product that might be better suited for a squad of geeks.
I think part of it comes down to how much you trust the service and if it fits your particular style of service. I, personally, will never use it but I wouldn't necessarily call someone a bad tech for using it.....I just think that it's something that bad techs could gravitate to so that they don't have to learn or know how to fix problems.

 

[Crgky127]

They are aiming at techs due to advertising and tech support savings, but the marketing seems to be mismatched. They market it like they would to end users, but techs need more information. I think they would be more successful if it was more like Dial-A-Fix where you can choose exactly what it does.

 

[Wheelie]

... From what I can tell, Reimage is only capable of doing repairs that a decent tech should already know how to do ... I just think that it's something that bad techs could gravitate to so that they don't have to learn or know how to fix problems.

Ditto. I already know how to fix a given PC or when it's prudent to reload Windows. But who knows? Phishy - maybe you're right - maybe it's a viable product? Keep us posted on how it's workin ...

I work on somewhere between 20 and 30 PC's a week so I need reliable tools that help me quickly ascertain what's running and where. IMHO these are some excellent tools for FixinPCs (and they're all free except SpinRite):

* HijackThis
* Dial-a-Fix
* AVG, Spybot & Ad-Aware
* Winsockfix
* SpinRite (used in conjunction with chkdsk /r)
* MEMTEST86
* Your technical knowledge and skillz (i.e. how to use the above tools!)

.

 

[MHCG]

They are aiming at techs due to advertising and tech support savings, but the marketing seems to be mismatched. They market it like they would to end users, but techs need more information. I think they would be more successful if it was more like Dial-A-Fix where you can choose exactly what it does.

QFT. The tool may be great, but without full disclosure, I don't think I'd be using it. Most techs have seen the promises of automated computer repair over and over and are justifiably skeptical. With that said, I'll try it out and if it sometimes works, I might be convinced to buy the $200 for 20 uses package. Part of my process is to image the customer's hard drives so if it works sometimes, it may be worth it. If it doesn't work, well supposedly you won't get charged for its use and I won't have harmed anything because I still have a good image.

 

[Andyuk2007]

QFT. The tool may be great, but without full disclosure, I don't think I'd be using it. Most techs have seen the promises of automated computer repair over and over and are justifiably skeptical. With that said, I'll try it out and if it sometimes works, I might be convinced to buy the $200 for 20 uses package. Part of my process is to image the customer's hard drives so if it works sometimes, it may be worth it. If it doesn't work, well supposedly you won't get charged for its use and I won't have harmed anything because I still have a good image.

the $200 for 20 uses bugs me alot so i wont be buying it, I'd rather stick with my other tools like Ultimate boot Cd

 

[Prune]

I had a weeks trial of the service.
I ran thier process on about 8 PCs.
4 out of the 8 failed outright. Of the 4 which were successful, 2 of them took well over an hour. I was left thinking that I would have been better doing a repair install.
I agree with the comment that we are responsible for what is done on the client's PC. Just letting Reimage 'loose' to shake thier magic beans on my clients machine is maybe not a great idea. More detailed info is needed from Reimage. We are techs, not end-users.
I have a feeling that Reimage are most definately in Beta testing stage. Things arent working: I got phone calls from their tech saying thier servers were down and then that they were upgrading thier code etc etc.
The service could be useful in some cases as a kind of 'dial-a-fix' type fix, but after 8 uses I'm still unsure. Its certainly not worth $10 a go to me. Nor could I commit $150 a month for this serivce. If it was cheaper, I would consider trying it out for a month to get a better feel for what its doing and where it might be useful..